As You Sow, So Shall You Reap

Patanjali Yoga Sutra Knowledge Sheet 57

"Te pratiprasavah heyah sukshmaha"(II Sutra 10)

te = these; pratiprasava = become inactive; heyaha = destroyed; sukshmaha = subtle

"When these become inactive and destroyed, then the mind becomes subtle."

Then you make them subtle, subtle and subtle. They let you come back to yourself. They bring the mind back to the source. When these miseries are very thick, they bother you. They captivate your mind. The moment they become thinner and thinner, they let your mind free and let you get back to yourself, the source.

See, when you are craving for somebody, for love, girlfriend or boyfriend in a teenager, when the craving is there, the mind is not subtle. The mind is unable to sit and meditate. But once the craving is limited, and then you are able to take a deep silence. You can sit down and go inwards. Do you see what I am saying? The grip of feverishness is loosened. As soon as this gets loosened, the klesha (suffering) gets reduced. It allows the mind to go back to the source.

Now, what is the way to get rid of these miseries?

"Dhyana heyas tad vrittayah" (II Sutra 11)

dhyana = meditation; heyas = destroyed; tad = their; vruttayaha = modulations of the mind

"Their modifications are destroyed by meditation."

These five vruttis(modulations of the mind) can be eliminated through meditation. If you do not do this, then what will happen?

"Klesha mulaha karma ashayo drishta janma vedaniayaha" (II Sutra 12)

klesha = suffering; mulaha = origin; karma = action; ashayaha = bank; drushta = visible (in this life itself); adrushta = invisible (in this life but bears fruit in the next life); janma = in births; vedaniAyaha = to be experienced

"Suffering has to be undergone because of the karma bank. Some bear fruit in this birth itself, whereas some bear fruit in the next births."

Before the body drops,Get rid off your karma

Through meditation, this karma can be washed off right now, here. Before the body drops, you get rid of the karma and lessen the sheaths of ignorance over you. Otherwise, there is no escape for you from there. Drishta adrishta janma vedaniyaha, some will give you fruits in this life itself and some will stay back with you to give fruits in the next life.

Now, some people have an argument. "If you put your fingers in the fire, will they burn today or tomorrow or in the next lifetime? There is nothing like karma. Every action has got its repercussion, but it has to happen immediately. It does not come with you for the next lifetime or the next year". Some people have this argument, but it is not the right analogy.

You sow some seeds. Some seeds will sprout in 2 days. If you put peanuts, they would sprout in 4-5 days, and if you want to grow a coconut, it would take several months. If you plant lettuce, it would give fruit in 5 months or even 2-2 ½ months. If you plant a mango, it would give fruit in 10 years and if you plant a jackfruit, the next generation would enjoy the fruit! Different seeds have different timing.

Different karmas will give fruit at different times

Similarly, different karmas will give fruit at different times. Many a times, people ask, "We are so good. Why do bad things happen to good people?" Bad things never happen to good people. Even if it seems to be happening, they were bad at some time. Now they will be good but they have done something bad and so bad is happening. Those seeds, they had sown neem (margosa) seeds long ago and now they have to reap the bitter fruit of the neem tree. Now, they may be sowing mango. They will reap that fruit later. As you sow, so shall you reap. Drishta adrishta janma vedaniyaha.

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(This is part of a series of knowledge sheets based on Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's commentaries on Patanjali Yoga Sutras.)