KARMA, LIBERATION and DEATH
The definition of karma is the one that describes the law of cause and effect. All religions and spiritual organizations speak of this. In the West it appears in the parable that says that you reap what you sow, either the good seed or the bad seed. Asian religions give a lot of importance to the law of karma and that is why Asians are generally more respectful than the West of family and social conventions. Indeed, understanding the law of cause and effect predisposes to a more just, moral and ethical behavior. The golden rule of doing and giving to one’s neighbor as we would like to be treated and as we would like to receive is the perfect illustration of this principle.
On the other hand, many believe that the law of karma is immutable and that bad thoughts, words and actions from yesterday and past lives will inevitably create suffering in the future. While this is obviously a possibility, it is not inevitable.
This reminds me of a story about the Buddha. One day, Buddha had a headache that lasted a few hours. This made his disciples curious, how could an enlightened master suffer from a headache? He explained that thousands of years earlier he had been the leader of an army that had killed many people. He explained that this karma had just matured, and that all his reincarnated companions had perished that same day in another armed conflict. Because of his spiritual attainment, Buddha had not died, but he had paid his karmic debt with this headache.
Many enlightened masters also teach us that it is possible to neutralize karma. Many techniques and prayers exist with this intention. An even deeper teaching explains that all karma can be neutralized by our awakened consciousness, that unity with the divine within us eliminates any need to suffer negative circumstances because of our past actions. I have experienced this and can confirm that it is true. To be fully and completely aware in the present moment in harmony with the laws of the world negates the weight of karma. I have studied the Tibetan Buddhist teachings of the Dzochen, those of the Cherokee spiritual elder Dhyani Ywahoo, as well as the teachings of Daniel Zekkoute, a French spiritual master, which all speak to this reality that I have experienced. This is a very important and meaningful concept. We are not the victims of our past lives, condemned to suffer because of our mistakes. The path to enlightenment is with us every moment and we are free to accept this ultimate and pure reality, which carries with it bliss and freedom from all karmic impediments. We are Men (Man with a capital M designates Woman also) created in the image of Great Spirit, with free will given to us by a good God who loves us. Great Spirit does not want us to experience suffering, but does give us free will to have our own experiences. The laws of the universe create balance in all things. If we eat toxic foods, we get sick. This is a good thing because it teaches us to eat pure foods. In fact, sickness and disease are a conversation between us and Great Spirit showing us the right path.
Our soul is eternal, immortal, and has the potential to know everything naturally without the need for teachings or practices. Many people have spoken of that moment of passage into the afterlife when our whole life flashes before our eyes in a moment of penetrating awareness. In this brief moment lies the opportunity for awareness in the light, illumination. Man has, in this precise moment when he abandons his physical envelope to the earth to rise to other dimensions of being, a very special and powerful opportunity to reach liberation. The idea that we need external teachings and practices, a master or guru, or any other kind of external influence to attain wisdom, knowledge or enlightenment can be misinterpreted. We were created perfect from the beginning, and we always have access to the inner light that offers this wisdom, at all times. Of course, teachings and teachers can be helpful. But sometimes they obscure the path to truth in their effort to secure our devotion and financial support. As sad as it is, we have seen time and time again the human consciousness become a slave to the occult (hidden) causes of dogmatic religions or ill-intentioned spiritual teachers. We need to evolve, and spiritual teachings are a means to that end. As we are growing, they should also be constantly evolving. Thus, any teaching or religion that is static and dogmatic can eventually become a hindrance.
Our evolution is not static and the means, practices, prayers, meditations, spiritual and charitable activities, etc., should be constantly changing according to our level of evolution. Thus, to adhere strictly without discernment to a religion or a spiritual movement can hinder our progress. It is not the practice or the faith that is important, but what it contains, i.e. tools for our evolution towards ever more power and purity in our co-creative abilities. Discernment, spiritual sovereignty and liberty are the hallmarks of an enlightened being.
Thus, this opportunity to free ourselves and to access the light is always there and we can reach it at any time. This is why there is no need to feel dismay or sadness at the moment of death. Instead, an incredible window of transformation and liberation is then available to us.
Indigenous people all over the world have always cultivated an awareness of that courage, that freedom from fear that is so important at the time of departure for the next world. As our spiritual elders have said here in North America, there is no such thing as death, it is but a change of worlds. Thus, our traditions teach how to go to this moment of transition with joy in our hearts, singing the death chant.
I have been deeply spiritual and in search of light and truth from a very young age. My experiences with my parents’ Catholic religion and then the study of various Western religions has shown me that the teachings of indigenous peoples that teach courage and understanding of spiritual truths are superior to those who teach fear of hell and purgatory. It is also far superior to that of this modern atheistic technocratic civilization that is afraid of death and does not know how to leave the dying person in the peace of an environment conducive to enlightenment. In fact, at the moment of death, our thoughts must turn to life, to our love of the earth, our children and our family. In this way, our anchorage in life, in what is right and good, in the confidence of the immortality of the soul and our eventual rebirth in this wonderful world, mother earth, our school and university of enlightenment and evolution, is guaranteed.
We are on our way to a luminous state where physical bodies will no longer be necessary, as we will then be creators of new worlds. These new worlds always originate in the mind, in the world of light! We are in fact in the kindergarten stage here on earth. Our journey will never end! Let us be joyful and attentive to do for others what we would like them to do for us, let us be good, just, loving and true and we will be happy and joyful when we leave the beautiful and holy mother earth for other worlds in the beatific state of our divine immortality.
Peace, Love and Joy
Blue Eagle