Swamiji explains karma and why we experience it. Disc 133 track 3.

To listen to Swamiji explaining the concept of karma like you may not have heard it before, please open the post and then click HERE.

This is a clear audio clip in which Swamiji is being asked questions about and responding to, the matter of prarabdha karma – karmic fruits which will manifest in this birth. 

He addresses the argument used by so many people, that a baby born with some or other defect, points to an unkind or partial God. No! says Swamiji – it’s got to do with what that soul – regardless of the fact that it’s now in a baby’s body – did in multiple previous births. Right down to the extent of us choosing to come through specific parents and family conditions to work out desires and balance the books of our good and bad deeds.

Swamiji emphasises that it’s only when we get tired of repeating these cycles and habits that we will turn to serious spiritual pursuits, and bring to an end the cycle of birth and rebirth [samsara].

He gives example after example, to illustrate that we are the architects of our own misfortune or blessings. 

In a nutshell – this is a powerful lesson about consequence management. We have choices. We do something foolish or without thinking it through and there’s a price to pay. In exactly the same way, Swami Sarvapriyananda of the Ramakrishna Mission has a very brief video on YouTube at the moment, saying the same thing. That it’s only when we get tired of this world and fail to find that thing called ‘happiness’, that we turn to spiritual life. To watch it, click HERE. 

The free-to-read or download, 396 page Flipbook version of Swamiji’s biography is available by clicking HERE. If you’d prefer the PDF version, please click HERE.

These recordings or the excerpts from them, were made from the early 1970s onward, by Mother Radha, a close devotee of Swamiji’s and edited for uploading here by our gurubhai and her son, Brother Tim. Please be mindful that what Swamiji was saying may have been specific to an individual or a group of people with him, at the time.