How to get rid of negative karma?

Q: How to get rid of negative karma?

Guruji: By meditation, service and knowledge. Serve the needy. Know that it (the negative karma) does not touch you; a shadow does not touch me.
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Q: What if Abhimanyu, Nachiketa and Eklavya (characters from the Indian epics) come together? What lessons can today’s youth draw from them?

Guruji: Eklavya teaches us how to be a student; how to learn, and how to feel the connection with the master. He teaches us how to have that one-sided love, one-sided connection, and how that can bring about skill within you. That is what we can learn from Eklavya.

Nachiketa teaches us steadfastness. He was determined and he was steadfast in getting to know what he really wanted to know. He could not be tempted by anything. He could not be deviated from his goal.

From Abhimanyu, we can learn valor and finesse. And how, alone without losing courage, he could face everyone in all directions. If someone else was in his place they would have run away. He challenged thousands of people everywhere. Only a person who is firmly centered can accept challenges from thousands of people. He could fight thousands alone, that was Abhimanyu’s greatness.

If you go into these scriptures, you can find so many glorious qualities, and imbibe them all in you. In fact you should know that they are already present in you. If you think you don’t have them, and you try to imbibe them, it becomes a strenuous thing to do, and success becomes doubtful.

You should know you already have these qualities and you only have to nurture them. Then it becomes easier.

Do not try to develop divine qualities and think it is difficult. Whenever we think something is difficult, our mind moves away from that. This is the nature of our mind. We don’t want to do something that is difficult. One is challenge, another is difficulty. Young people want to take up challenges. A young person says, 'I want to do something challenging'. But even young people, when they find something difficult, and when they think, 'Oh, this is very difficult', that means they want to move away from it. But for a challenge, you say, 'Yes, I want to take that challenge'. There is a slight difference in our attitude. The moment we say, 'Difficulty', the mind or the spirit tries to withdraw from it. It is not natural to be in difficulty. So, you should assume that all the good qualities are already within you. Never think it is difficult to attain them. And when you acknowledge that they are present in you in the form of a seed and you need to nurture them, then you will be able to nurture it. If you think you don’t have them, then you will not even make that little effort to nurture those qualities.

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Singing, Communication and Ego

There are three modes of communication: in head to head communication you talk, in heart to heart communication you sing, and soul to soul communication happens in silence.

When you meet with people, often you communicate from head to head. When you are with nature, you start singing, you communicate with nature from your heart. Often when you are with people you keep talking, blabbering, and you keep the communication on the level of the head only. But when you are with nature, you start humming and your communication comes through the heart. And when you are with the guru, you go blank and forget all the questions. Then communication comes through the soul in silence.

When you meet with people, you like to remain in the head, you seldom sing with people (other than when it is organised). Your ego obstructs you from singing. Many do not feel comfortable singing with people. When you sing with people then you descend to the heart level or feeling level. Some feel comfortable just listening to music. Some feel comfortable singing only when they are alone. Some sing to draw attention or to charm others. Some only want to join in when all the others are singing. All this singing comes from ego.

Bhajan means sharing, sharing from the deepest level of our existence. Bhajan is authentic sharing. If you could sing with people, then your ego shatters. Children can sing with people for they do not have ego. To sing with a stranger you have to be free of ego. Ego doesn't let you sing with a stranger. Head level is safe for the ego -heart level breaks the ego - soul level dissolves the ego. All communication gaps happen because of ego.

Exercise: when you are with people, rather than chatting just start singing and you can feel the shift of energy that is happening. If you want to have more fun, greet a stranger with a song.

Om Namah Shivay