Karma Sutra: How to earn blessings and avoid bad karma
The thing to remember about ‘blessings’ is that it is rarely ‘deliberate’, that is, said out loud. But, that does not make it ineffective.
In ancient times, blessings were considered to be the ultimate gift. (Source: Thinkstock Images)
In ancient times, blessings were considered to be the ultimate gift. From the sages to the rulers, from the student to the householder, everyone sought blessings from their respective sources. The sages sought blessings from the divine source, the rulers from wise men, the householders from elders and students from gurus.
The way to earn blessings was through service (seva) and devotion (bhakti). So what was it about ‘blessings’ that made people seek this abstract and intangible gift? After all, it was not something that solved their problems immediately or elevated their status instantly.
Most people in ancient times were aware of the power of blessings. Blessings are nothing but ‘effects’ of good karmas, karmas earned primarily through service. It gave people what they sought most in life, whether it was peace, prosperity, knowledge or good health.
But how does one procure this positive energy from others in our modern day life? In today’s day and age, not only are people ungrateful for what we’ve done for them, they are also out there to exploit our goodness.
The thing to remember about ‘blessings’ is that it is rarely ‘deliberate’, that is, said out loud. But, that does not make it ineffective. It works on a simple principle. When we serve a ‘soul’, it emanates a sigh of relief. This energy that it emanates travels as a blessing to us.
The quickest way to earn it is by serving our parents. Our equation with our parents is mostly that of entitlement. We feel entitled to everything they do for us. But when it comes to our role as children, we become a bundle of complaints. Our parents always fall short of our ‘great expectations’.
While there may be cases where the parents have failed to do their duty as parents, it’s still no excuse for us to forsake our sense of duty towards them. If we serve them irrespective of what they do for us, the blessings we earn is multi-fold because according to most sacred books, parents are the living representations of God.
However, if we make our parents feel inadequate and show them disrespect, we earn ourselves bad karma. No parent would deliberately curse their child, no matter how much we trouble them. But they work on the same principle as blessings. It’s not deliberate either. When we inflict misery on our parents, their soul emanates a cry of pain. This cry travels as bad karma for us and acts as an obstacle in our life and in spite of all our efforts, we may not be able to succeed in life. This principle of curses and blessings is not just limited to our parents but valid in all our life’s relationships.
The second most important area where curses and blessings are very vital, is related to our source of livelihood. Whether we inherit our source of livelihood (family, business) or follow our profession, our source of livelihood is and should be sacred to us because it sustains us and people who are dependent on us (our family). When we disrespect the very source that sustains us by being dishonest to it, the curses that we earn from the people to whom we render inauthentic services, not only interfere with our life, it also afflicts our future generations. It has been said that- ‘the sins of the father are the sins of the sons’. The progeny of the corrupt never make a mark in life.
And last but not the least, serving the needy, the ailing and the helpless souls is a sure shot way to earn boundless blessings. This is not just limited to fellow humans but animals as well. And in the same spirit if we exploit the needy, the ailing and the helpless souls, know it for a fact that we are doomed.
Hence, ancient or modern, the power of curses, or bad karma, and blessings continues to be a potent source of energy. Tap into this intangible gift through sincere services and devotion to the elders, to your work and to the fellow beings and watch the obstacles recede magically from your life.
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