How can we escape the negative effects of past karma?

Prashant S. Iyengar
Interviewed by Christine Perre
(Prashant S. Iyengar is the son of B. K. S. Iyengar)

Christine Perre: How can we escape the negative effects of past karma?
Prashant S. Iyengar: You see, if you can escape, it is no destiny. There is no way to escape destiny. If it is escapable, it is no destiny. Why is there spiritualism, if you and me have to suffer, materialistic fellows have to suffer, unscrupulous fellows have to suffer, and saints have to suffer? What is the point in becoming a saint? This is an obvious question. If an unscrupulous materialistic fellow is going to face the fruits of his past actions, then the saint also has to face them. What is the point in taking all that, on going in spiritual path? The point is that, first of all, if it is escapable, it is not destiny. Know that. You can’t escape destiny. But the difference is that an unscrupulous materialistic fellow is going on his track of life, and the saint is also going on the track of life. Both are going on the track of life.

Now, a simple thing. Suppose you are all asked to travel from here to Bombay. There is only one road, you are all going to travel by the same road, but some of you are given bullock-carts and some of you are given Rolls Royce’s. What‘s the difference in the journey? Is there no difference? The track is the same. But one traveller is travelling on a bullock-cart and experiences lots of jerks and jolts, the sun, the heat, the rains, breeze, whatever; and this fellow goes in Rolls-Royce. He has all the windows shut, air conditioning working, super suspensions; he doesn’t feel even a pothole, no rumbles are felt on the road, because he has got super suspensions. Why? It is just because of the “vehicle.” The road is the same. Just because of the vehicle he has the difference. And will he appreciate the difference or no?

Do you say that both are on the same track and therefore both are in the same situation? Can you say that? Because they are travelling on the same track? The unscrupulous brute materialistic fellow and the spiritual saddhaka, the spiritually evolved person, they are all going on the track of life. So, understand the track of life as a road, as I told you, a good example is the Pune-Bombay road. But then the saint is going in a super suspension Rolls Royce, with all the facilities; they don’t even feel the sun, the heat, the rain or whatever. So, they are not escaping destiny, they are also getting the potholes, they are also getting the rains, they are also getting the sun, they are also getting the wind or whatever. But then, spiritualism gives them lots of suspensions, lots of cushions. Thereby, you do not feel the impact of destiny. A bull-cart gets every pothole; imagine his fate, he will break his spine. This Rolls Royce fellow doesn’t even notice, doesn’t even feel it. Why? Because he has got super-suspensions. He doesn’t feel the noise outside. So in spiritualism — the path of spiritualism and the path of yoga—all these things come to you, you’ve lots of protecting gears, you have lots of cushions. You have super-suspensions, shock absorbers, so you don’t have to bother about destiny. That is what spiritualism is, you see, what it has given to humanity. And naturally when your life becomes smoother and smoother, you can go on to higher hierarchies. If you are always getting hardship in your life, obstacles, if you are all the time getting potholes and jerks, well, then you know that you are uncomfortable in life. And you want to progress, but you can’t progress, for all those several reasons. But suppose you are given a Rolls Royce; you will say, “I will travel ten times! I will enjoy it!” Pune-Bombay. Bombay-Pune. Pune-Bombay. Bombay-Pune. The other fellow will say,“Not even once, it is enough!”

You can progress in spite of all the onslaughts that are inescapable, the onslaughts which you don’t escape. The escape is only possible at the highest point, because the vehicle is such that it will be altogether a different track. Until the liberation, you are going to face all those things but you will not suffer, because you will have a Rolls Royce and more than that. Imagine there is something greater than a Rolls Royce, then how is your journey? In spiritualism, you get all those things, the cushions. And ultimately, the last stage, “tatah klesa karma nivrttih”(Yoga Sutra IV, 30: “Then comes the end of afflictions and of karma.”) is the highest stage and you don’t have anything in destiny and even destiny itself is burnt out. Destiny is only destroyed at the highest point. Until then, it is not destroyed. You have to face it. So although I said that destiny is inescapable, it is in relation to all of us. It is only destroyed on the point of liberation(kaivalya). Until then, it is not destroyed; it has to be faced.

But apart from that, there are so many facilities in Karma-siddhanta. The Yoga Sutras say, “you can postpone,” “sometimes, your destiny can be postponed” or “your destiny can be suppressed.” And that’s a great advantage. That also doesn’t come to you and me. But yogis can keep the destiny suspended for some time. Now suppose that destiny is full of sufferings. And suppose you have to eat something very, very pungent. “What to do?” you say, and there are so many sweets you will call for, so that you will not burn your tongue. And there are many sweets: goulab jamoun, shrikhand, laddous, jalebis, and so on. All the sweets are of such a nature that you will also be able to taste pickles, which are hot and pungent and you will relish them. So there is a stage in life—when there are all jalebis and laddous in your life—where you will easily swallow that trauma. You will even call for it. When you are called for a party, you don’t just ask for sweets. You say, “give me some pepper, give me some chutney, give me some pickle. Why? Because you will relish it. But suppose you have whole a bowlful of pickles on your plate, a bowlful of chutney and just a salt pinch of shrikhand, will you appreciate that party?

So that facility is there, adyatma, that you can suppress your destiny, you can postpone it, keep it away for some time and invite it whenever you are in a convenient setting and finish it off. You have got to face the karmas. So, a yogi has an advantage, not you and me. It clearly comes in the second chapter of the Yoga Sutra, which is “karma siddhanta”; you can postpone, you can suppress, which is a great facility — but for you and me, we can’t do those things. But we definitely can have head gears, body gears, all sorts of sheaths, all sorts of bolsters, all sorts of suspensions and then, we can be facing destiny without suffering.

A simple example: Sri Ramana Maharshi had cancer but, to tell you, he did not have cancer; he had a tumour in the armpits, and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa had throat cancer. But suppose that you get a throat cancer, you say, “I have cancer.” Now, actually, cancer is a part of the body, too. But we say, “I have cancer.” Ramakrishna Paramahamsa did not suffer on account of his cancer, because he had the suspensions. As a matter of fact, even without cancer, you can suffer: the doctor comes and says he has diagnosed cancer in you — his diagnosis might be wrong, but still you will suffer. The doctor gives a wrong report, somebody’s report is given on your name, and he says you have got cancer. Now, even without having cancer you will suffer. So we are such people that we can suffer without a real cause of sufferance. It is our fate that we can be suffering without anything to suffer! On the other hand, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa definitely had cancer in the throat, but he did not suffer.

That you have to face your destiny is a fact; it is a reality. You can’t escape. But it doesn’t mean that you have to suffer. If you do yoga, in the authentic way, you’ll have lots of cushions, guards and suspensions. You can face destiny without any trauma, without any apprehension, without any fear, without any threat.