Karma

Eckhart teaches us that karma is not what happens to you, but rather, how you react to what happens to you. In other words, how you deal with challenges, situations and people in your life can create more karma, if you are reactive. The arising of Presence transmutes karmic patterns.

Eckhart explains that karma is the complete absence of consciousness. Time does not free you of karma because karma repeats again, and again. The only thing that can free you of karma is Presence. As Presence arises within there is a fading of your old unconscious reactive mind patterns. In the light of awareness, your unconscious mind patterns no longer run your life.

Source: https://www.eckharttolletv.com/p/82bmwb

Fate and freewill

FREEWILL AND DESTINY ARE EVER EXISTENT. Destiny is the result of past action; it concerns the body. Let the body act as may suit it. Why are you concerned about it? Why do you pay attention to it? Freewill and destiny last as long as the body lasts. But jnana transcends both. The Self is beyond knowledge and ignorance. Whatever happens, happens as the result of one’s past actions, of divine will and of other factors.

There are only two ways to conquer destiny or be independent of it. One is to enquire for whom is this destiny, and discover that only the ego is bound by destiny and not the Self, and that the ego is non-existent. The other way is to kill the ego by completely surrendering to the Lord, by realizing one’s helplessness and saying all the time, ‘Not I, but Thou Oh Lord’ and giving up all sense of ‘I’ and ‘mine’, and leaving it to the Lord to do what he likes with you. Complete effacement of the ego is necessary to conquer destiny, whether you achieve this effacement through Self enquiry or bhakti marga (path of devotion). Everything is predetermined. But a man is always free not to identify himself with the body, and not to be affected by the pleasures or pains consequent on the body’s activities.

Those alone who have no knowledge of the Source whence fate and freewill arise, will dispute which of them can conquer the other. Those who have realized their Self, which is the Source of both fate and freewill have left such disputes behind, and will have nothing more to do with them. Success and failure are due to prarabdha karma, and not to willpower or the lack of it. One should try to gain equipoise of mind under all circumstances. That is willpower

Bhagavan

The Mechanism of Destiny

Every act produces in the performer a double effect, on in the inner nature in the form of a tendency, good or bad, and the other in the form of fruit, reward or punishment. The past Karma influences the present life in two ways-first in the form of character or tendency internally and as fate externally. If you do an action, it creates a samskara or subtle impression in the subconscious mind or chitta. Samskara causes a tendency. Tendency develops into a habit by repetition of the actions. The habit manifests as character. Character develops into destiny. This is the order: samskara, tendency, habit, character and destiny.

Swami Sivananda

Karma

We learn in time to accept everything that happens to us as the will of the Supreme Father, and hence never grumble or complain about misfortunes. The karma made in past births is like a shot from a gun; we cannot recall it and must endure the consequences. But once we have surrendered ourself to the Spiritual Preceptor, he guides our hands and prevents us from shooting out further bad karma.

Paul Brunton

Death and dying - The Hindu view

I found an informative article on death and dying in Hinduism today. The link is given below.

http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/2007/1-3/64-67_dying.shtml

The first book of Swami Sivananda that I had read was "What becomes of the Soul after death". The book describes in great detail the subject of death, karma and the passage of the soul from one body to another. I was amazed at the entire process of transmigration especially the soul's ascent/ descent to various worlds or lokas. Though this is unreal from the view point of non-dual teachings, the subject is interesting and thought provoking.