Sadhana Panchakam, Instruction 5

Translation and Commentary by Jayaram V

1.5. Stop the flood of sinful actions

The flow of karma is unending and ever flowing, as long as the soul is caught in the play of the tattvas and gunas. Since karma arises from both good and evil actions, no one can avoid it in the embodied state. It inexorably follows each soul from one birth to another, until the chains of bondage are broken. As the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (4.4.5) states, as one acts so does one becomes. One becomes good by good actions, and bad by bad actions. The flow of karma cannot easily be arrested. It keeps accumulating as long as a jiva is caught in the samsara. Karma is an aspect of Kala (Time) only. It is through karma that a being is bound to Death, which is again an aspect of the same Kala.

The Vedas suggest various ways to cultivate good karma with which one can neutralize or balance bad karma. Performance of daily and occasional sacrifices, fasting, penitence (prayaschitta), expiatory ceremonies, charity, seeking the blessings of enlightened masters, propitiating gods, giving gifts to Brahmanas, etc., are some of the well-known ways by which it can be done. Suffering is also a form good karma only since it can cleanse the sufferer by washing away a lot of bad karma. However, these are temporary solutions only, since they do not arrest the flow of karma. They help you accumulate good karma, but do not save you from further accumulation of karma or from rebirth and suffering.

The best way to deal with the problem of karma is to engage in desireless actions (nishkama karma), for which one has to suppress desire in all its forms. Desires mainly arise from the impurities of the mind and body due to the play of maya and the triple gunas namely sattva, rajas and tamas. They can be resolved through self-cleansing, which results in the predominance of sattva and its resultant virtues, and the suppression of impurities and evil qualities.

The virtues are nonviolence, nonviolence, truthfulness, non-stealing, non-coveting, etc. They have to be practiced while performing actions with detachment, dispassion, indifference, sameness and renunciation. When a yogi is purified thus, he sets the stage for his liberation from samsara. Liberation is achieved when the gunas are fully suppressed, when the tattvas are silenced and when the mind and ego are dissolved in the unified consciousness of the Self. Only in the liberated state, when the latent impressions are fully burnt in the knowledge of the self, the flow of karma is completely arrested, and one becomes a jivanmukta, a free soul in a mortal body. 

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