Discovering the Deep Secrets of Karma

12.December 2009
Conference Hall, Diamond House, London
With
Sister Manda
What is the key to understanding the deep secrets of karma and how will it make a difference to
my life once I know?  Is there a relationship between today’s actions/karma and
tomorrow’s reality?  Can knowing these secrets make life more meaningful and enjoyable?
Margaret Barron opened the afternoon and introduced speaker Sister Manda as someone known
as being very practical and who has a great love for truth and openness.
The programme commenced with a shared mediation with guided commentary.
Meditation Commentary:
Sit comfortably, relax, feel alert….meditation energises the mind and spirit….relaxation is
something different……we are not here for a siesta so we need to stay awake….rest your eyes
in one place……be here and now…in this space…..ensure you stay in this environment…stay
focused here….become present in this moment….the past of yesterday, this morning, a few
moments ago is flown and the future is yet to come…this is the present moment…the most
precious moment….to explore within….become aware of the energy that is behind the
eyes….in the centre of the forehead…the living, conscient being…separate from this physical
body…..an energy of light…I am a thinking, conscient being….the absolute essence of
peace….tranquillity ...become aware of the power of peace…….then there is love…..love is the
nature of I, the spiritual being…..a being of light…this is my truth…..I allow nothing to take
this away from me…this is also purity of the soul….the treasure….I am the perfect image of the
Supreme, the Divine…God, is my eternal parent….my companion throughout the journey in
time…..I see myself as a reflection….of that perfect being of light…overflowing with same
love, same peace, same purity, same truth…I am that energy…invisible, invincible and
eternal….
Extract from Sister Manda’s talk:  24 Spiritual Points
 Karma is the whole story of our interactions in life.  We are often told ‘it is karma’
as the reason why we are experiencing sorrow.  It can come across as a condemnation
when we think ‘it is my karma’ along with the feeling that we cannot do
anything about it.  Yet we can!
 What does karma mean and how does it work?  Karma is another word for action.  And
actions are the method by which we express ourselves and relate and respond to the
world around us.
 The Law of Karma is a system that is at work naturally and automatically to create
harmony in our world; it is a cycle of actions and reactions that is constantly spinning
i.e. ‘what goes around comes around’.
 When there is a rule, a law, a system in place it is there to make everything function in an
orderly manner where everyone is held responsible.  Everyone then knows where they
stand.  For example traffic laws, which when followed enable everyone to travel safely.
 When we understand that we are constantly doing something, be it in the form of
thinking, feeling, experiencing, our subsequent attitudes, words and activities are
actions and therefore creation of karma.
 The Law of Karma is a spiritual law which means no human has written this law and
there is no external body to which we are held responsible regarding its adherence. 
Instead, we are held responsible to our own self.  We take charge of our own thoughts,
attitudes, words and actions, and therefore also the resulting consequences be they
positive or negative.
 If not now, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow we will receive the response to our actions
… somewhere in the journey of time there will be repercussions.
 Fundamental to this aspect is that we understand we are spiritual beings.  This means we
are conscient living thinking energy separate from our physical entities.  This point of
energy resides within the centre of the forehead and is filled with the innate qualities of
peace, love, truth, happiness and strength.
 The main capabilities we all share are a mind that thinks and feels, an intellect that is able
to understand, has a conscience and is able to discern, and personality traits that result
from the actions we perform.  These three faculties combined – mind, intellect and
personality – is the spirit, or soul of a living being.
 Because the natural quality of the soul is truth and desires to perform actions that are
truthful, when we suppress and try to ignore our conscience, we become unhappy and
peaceless.
 Sooner or later our conscience makes us realise and admit when we have moved away
from our true selves and our innate qualities.  This is something that has been done
through our own choices based on the ability of our intellect to discern and decide.
 Accepting responsibility for our own actions and that no one else can force us to think
and act in a certain way enables us to stop feeling powerless and a victim.  When I take
responsibility in this way, I can start to create the changes that I want.
 In religious philosophies there is a vision of God as one who is keeping a record of all our
activities and who is responsible for all that happens to us.  It is true that the Supreme
Being is the only One who accompanies us throughout our journey, throughout time. 
However, this relationship does not extend to God being responsible for our actions
and hence our karma.
 God is the Supreme Soul, and we are created in the perfect images of the Supreme Soul
in that our original form contains only the qualities of peace, love, truth, happiness and
strength.  Our mind and intellect are also fundamentally pure and perfect, and to
reclaim this perfection it is helpful to direct our thoughts to God as much as possible.
 Raja Yoga is what we describe as the means to connect accurately with the Supreme
Being, and not surprisingly we may also call this Karma Yoga.
 The connection and relationship with God allows us to re-emerge the beauty within us,
which then allows us to see others with that same vision … then there is compassion,
love and truth in our actions.
 Whatever we think and feel we radiate out.  When we think about someone in a certain
way, these thoughts reach the other person.  They will pick up those thoughts and are
likely to respond with the same kind of thoughts.  Situations of either harmony or
friction are thus created.
 To use the understanding of the Law of Karma, means to give space between thought and
action in order for our intellect to have time to bring into our full awareness what we
are about to do
  When we understand that our reaction creates a further reaction …and that peace is our
nature and love is our original quality, then we can stay true to ourselves and respond
with tolerance, patience and strength when negative situations arise.
 Sukarma – actions performed in a spiritual consciousness … will always be fruitful to
the self and everyone else.
 Vikarma- actions performed in a physical consciousness ... body awareness … there is
some negative debt that we create and will need to be amended.
 Akarma- actions performed stimulating no reactions … no exchange taking place or debt
being created.
 When we maintain awareness of our spiritual power and strength and stay soul conscious
whilst in action, then no karmic debts are created.
 Our aim it to get to that place where we are creating sukarma to such an extent that we
encourage others to do the same and so enabling relationships to be spiritually
nourished.
Meditation Commentary:
Rest your eyes in one place…be aware of the stillness in the room…allow the idea of the
self as a spiritual being …conscient living, thinking energy …to penetrate deeply inside of
the self….so we become conscious of thought as an energy…..peace…the deep energy of
harmony and alignment…..of tranquillity…..as we think about it we feel the vibration go
through the whole being and body….becoming conscious that as we become peaceful…..we
radiate peace around us….as we look through our eyes we become conscious of the light of
peace behind the eyes…..as we look…..when we are aware of being peaceful inside the
vibration through the eyes is of peace so that whoever we look at will feel that peace….tap
into this peace……see it is a fortress that we create around us…….that allows nothing else
to enter unless we give permission…..as we give permission peace comes back to us as a
gift…..I become aware of the self as the seed ……..that allows the whole tree to
emerge…my life today is the tree that I have generated……now I become aware that it is
possible for me to recreate and re-emerge the essence…..and take charge of  myself…my
actions and reactions….strength comes when I connect with the Supreme…the Divine…the
Essence…the Power….as I connect with that one I become aware of the Ocean…the
selfless unconditional love that embraces me no matter what I feel or have done….in that
embrace of love the soul cleanses and I emerge with my original true self….then when I
interact with the senses I reflect what I have received from that One….and I can reverse the
pattern of my karma…this strength from the Supreme helps me to return to my beginning
and my heart becomes open…..I begin to become aware of the power of patience,
compassion and love…….so that I respond with that, I respond with love and
compassion…..to remove whatever that may have been there.  It is I have been the slave of
my mind….now I take up the pen of my actions to rewrite my destiny and future……OM
SHANTI
 
QUESTION AND ANSWER with SISTER MANDA
After a tea break there was a lively discussion based on Sister Manda’s talk where groups
formed to prepare questions subsequently addressed to Sister Manda.  Sister Manda took on the
challenge of answering these questions with great enthusiasm and clarity.
If I do something good without any expectation in return – which category of action is
this in?
 Any karma I do without expectation is sukarma.  It is not akarma  because at this point of
time whatever good karma I do I receive the return of it because everyone is in need.
Akarma happens at the time on earth when we are not needy.
How do we interpret karma not only on an individual basis but also on a national or
international basis?
It can get become very complicated when we look at the national and internal levels of
karma.  The best think is to retain the attitude of performing pure karma myself and if
something happens to me or my family see it as something that I have to settle.  Although
there is such a thing at communal karma, we recognise this time in the world as the age of
darkness and ignorance and it is in this period that so many complicated things happen.  We
have to just keep moving on and keep mind clean and clear and stay empowered and not be
affected by it.  Rather we must maintain a positive state of mind so that we can lessen the
effect of it.  We don’t need to get caught up in intellectualising and in being judgemental.
What do you say to someone who is displaying a lot of anger towards you especially in a
work situation and is someone from a higher position?
I have to use my inner strength to build self respect within myself to keep myself safe from
being affected by another’s reactions.  I will make it into a vikarmic situation if I am
affected by it.  I can choose to see it as belonging to the other person and to keep it separate
from my personal situation.  With strength we can respond with calm and security.  If I get
affected they will influence me in an unproductive way. 
What to do in a primary relationship eg a circumstance say between a mother and
daughter, when doing all you can but hatred is returned for love?
Keep doing it.  Again see it as the ongoing karmic story, stay unaffected and positive within
the self and respond with positive.  None of us know each others’ stories.  We might
know someone for 5 or 10 years but not for 1000 years!
It is important to keep ourselves in the context of this then we can have greater compassion
and understanding towards each other.  When there isn’t strength within yourself keep a
distance, to get your own perspective right and then go into it from a perspective of power
and separateness.
What if one is trying to be positive but the negative is still approaching from
another…how to get to that place when we can separate ourselves from the negativity of
someone else?
We need to work on cultivating love as a part of our own nature.  We need to explore this. 
When we see another’s negativities it is not our role to judge.  Cultivate love,
compassion, and mercy within the self and use this instead.
Why does karmic debt take place and for what reason?  If our original nature is of pure
love and happiness and truth why does the opposite occur?
When we have money in the bank and keep taking it out, there will come a point where there
is nothing left and we start to use what we do not have and create a debt.  With time we lost
sight of our qualities and when we lost sight of them we started to seek those things from
others.  I wanted others to give me peace, love and happiness and when someone gives it to
me then I am karmically bound to give it back.  It is as simple as that.
I lose sight of my peace, I seek to be peaceful at someone else’s expense and then a debt
occurs.  Someone gives something and the natural feeling is to give back and so the cycle of
give and take continues.
Do we have to be physically healthy to grow spiritually?  Does the state of our physical
health affect our spiritual health?
If you start working on yourself spiritually then you will be able to use spiritual health to deal
with physical illness.  Our perspective on physical health changes and when there is ill health
the strength within allows us to separate the spiritual self from it and the pain feels reduced.
In order to deal with ill health, we need the help of three things – good karma, a good
connection with God and use of medication in an appropriate way, where we are not reliant
on it.  A connection with God, yoga, can account for 50% healing, spiritual blessings from
others can account for 45% healing and medication 5%.  But it doesn’t mean we
don’t take the medication!
How does the law of karma and the notion of drama come into play?
We would say drama after we have done our best.  Until we have done what we do we have a
choice and an option at every moment.  Whatever we do we make a choice to do it, we can
only say it is drama after we have done it and there is no possibility to change anything.  In
this we say that drama is predestined.  We make a choice according to our past karma
anyway.  When we prepare our intellect in such a way then it works in an effective way we
make the most empowering choices.  The best method to do the right thing is to clear out all
the rubbish in the mind, through meditation.  So the answer is to prepare the intellect by
making ourselves clear thinking and in this way make the right choices.
How do we break the cycle of painful experiences from childhood?
This is interesting for many of us especially as we tend to remember the pain and not the
good things.  One thing I would say is to start looking at all the good things that were in our
childhood as well.  Make a note of these and the mind will start thinking differently.  An
understanding required to be free of bad memories is that whatever happened in the past is
finished and it is not going to repeat now.  The only time it repeats is when I remember it and
I keep bringing it to the forefront of my mind.  Instead, I need to do the things that I find
nourishing and in the company of the people who help me do that.  The other thing that is
important is to do the spiritual work within to create and sustain the positive experiences
within myself.  Forgiveness, compassion, moving on, are all part of that category too. 
Forgiveness is necessary, and the reason why we keep feeling pain from the past is because
we haven’t learnt the lesson of it and therefore cannot move on from it.  It works to
practise forging a relationship with God in my life so that it becomes a way of living, 
allowing the Supreme Being to play the role of cleaning out what is stuck inside so the truth
can emerge.
In more recent history we have had brutal leaders such as Hitler and Saddam Hussein.  In
these cases how does karmic debt work?  Also how does forgiveness work and how do
Jewish people let go of that time especially when we keep the memory alive year after year
as we remember it?
Whether it is Hitler or Saddam Hussein it is not up to me to go into what must have happened
for them to inflict that much pain on others.  The Law of Karma is such that everyone will
get the return of their karma and I think, we as human beings should not seek to inflict
punishment on others as the law of karma is justice anyway.  When we seek to punish others
for their misdeeds we are creating more karmic accounts.
After 9/11 Dadi Janki noted how everyone was thinking about the victims yet did anyone
think of the ones who did this before, during and after?  Did anyone have such a big heart to
 think of them?  We need to help others settle their karma with ease and love.  When we keep
memories of atrocities alive how can we expect our children not to suffer from it as well?
Does the progression of karma happen from animals to human beings?
Animals will transmigrate into the same species.
CONCLUSION
We do not need to judge, punish or feel that anyone else needs to pay for what they have
done, because the Law of Karma ensures justice.  So what do we have to do?  Learn to be
loving and peaceful and compassionate towards oneself.  We learn to do this by forging a
relationship with God and performing actions that nourish the hearts of others.  The more we
do this, the more we have nothing to fear.  Why is everyone interested in learning about their
future?  Deep down inside we all know our destiny because our inner wisdom tells us that we
have created it.  We have a choice to continue carrying the influences of the past or to see
that our future is in our own hands.  If we do not use our present moments in the right way
then we will worry about the future.  Only we can do something about ourselves for
ourselves and that is it.
Meditation Commentary:
So go within the self where there is power and strength….this is my place of safety, where I
can touch on inner power... the place where there is the energy of sacredness…..energy of
peace... but most of all the divine sense of self….that which no-one and nothing can take
away from me no matter what….I enter this place each day….as many times in the day as
possible creating space and cleanliness...so God can enter this space…to be by my side and
be my companion and to hold me in his rays of light…..so that I can see clearly the way
forward….so that I can allow His love to heal my heart .....and move on from the past in
such a way that my future is totally and completely in my own hands... I use my mind,
thoughts, words and actions to pave the way….to clarity, to faith, to conviction, so that I can
have love, compassion, and kindness towards all creatures….and to the world around
me….this is the greatest gift that I can give to myself… the gift of peace and this space of
love….the space of purity and sacredness……OM SHANTI