Acharya Shree, if one accumulates bad karma in their previous or present life, can their karma be removed or is it permanent?
Karma is a very complicated theory in Indian culture.
But it is true that we are surrounded, our soul is surrounded, by the karmas.
I'm not saying bad or good. Our soul is in the grip of bad karma and as well as into good karmas.
People are concerned mostly about bad karma.
Their is a belief that we are here because that in previous life we collected bad karma and we are in trouble, we are unhappy...
or we are not having good money or good house or a good business. It is because of bad karma.
That is belief. And also people are accumulating in this life also lot of bad karma.
What happen? They stay forever?
Bad karma has many categories. You have to understand step by step.
I can try to put the all karmas into four categories.
Sometimes the karma can be removed, sometimes the karma cannot be removed without giving the result.
They have to give the result. You have to have the result.
But few karma is like a ... one is like a wind is touching to your body. It is just a touch.
As soon as it is touched it goes away. Those are karma like that you think bad about something, of negative thinking...
so you accumulate. It is like touching to your body.
Second category, it is a little more. Like a raining. It is raining and you are in the open sky. You are wet, your clothes are wet.
So it will take little more effort if you put efforts. You can dry your body and your clothes.
You have to come somewhere - the shelter or to the house.
So you put a little efforts. The second category also can be removed.
But it takes a little effort.
Third category of karma is a little more. It is like a soil which is clay and you make a pot.
And on the pot you make little name there. So now when it is a pot, is done fully, it is ripe fully, so...
when it is hard to remove that name there from that pot. But if you put efforts, little efforts, you might be able to remove it.
Because you need a little instrument or some kind of things it can like chisel or something and you can remove it.
But fourth category is the very difficult one. It is like a rock has a little line and it is like falling apart.
But it is not yet, it is just a deep carving kind of.
It is very difficult to remove that carving because it is a big stone and it is very hard rock.
It's very difficult to like if you have a hammer and chisels you cannot even break it.
So those kind of karma always stay with us.
And they don't go away if no matter how much effort you put.
You might make a little lighter of that carving. But you cannot make it disappear.
You put lot of efforts it still can not be removed. So, fourth category karma they will give you result.
They cannot go without giving you result.
So, that is your fault because you have accumulated it.
Accumulation happens many different way. So, like if somebody is a hunter
and he loves hunting, not only loves hunting - it is his passion to hunt.
And when he shoot the arrow or the gun, and the animal which is very big animal and running, and you really hit the target...
and animal just die. And you jump with happiness that "I did it! I did it!!"
So that kind of negative thinking first you kill the animal, second you are jumping with happiness...
It will create fourth category of accumulation. And it is very difficult to remove it.
So, that's what people need to know which category you are in.
If you're in third category, your karma will be removed by sadhana - spiritual practices. By repeating mantra or if master gives you some kind of technique.
Or you stay in very good thoughts, you start helping other people, have a lot of compassion for animals, for poor, for poor children or you can have a compassion for the Earth even.
For the trees, for the vegetation. Any kind of...no pollution, you don't make any pollution. You clean everything.
You keep the Earth clean. That kind of...this is all steps towards spirituality. That is called sadhana - spiritual practices.
You can do it. And you can make it happen without giving you result - third category. Up to third category you can remove all the karma.
In the fourth category you can remove just a little bit portion of the karma. Not 100%.
So I will suggest you don't accumulate fourth category type of karma.
That you have to get the result. And the result is you will born again and again and again.
And you may be a bad person. You may be again a hunter, you may be a killer, you may be a drug addict, you may be born in very poor family.
And you will reap the fruits of that accumulated fourth category. Fourth type of category's karma.
And you will suffer. You may be in pain. Maybe you are born with sickness. Maybe you are born retarded.
So there are many ways the fourth category can not be removed 100%.
But it doesn't mean that you cannot put effort. I will suggest you always put effort.
So if it is not 100%, maybe you will be able to remove - maybe - up to 40%.
That is a big result. But only by purushaartha. In Sanskrit we call it purushaartha. Like effort.
Purushaartha means purush...purush means soul, artha means for the soul, what can you do for the soul.
What kind of sadhana...what kind of spiritual practices. That is all called purushaartha.
If you do purushaartha you are able to remove lot of in fourth category's karma. And that spiritual practices, spiritual sadhana...
it can be very very difficult. You might be in pain when you practice it. Buddha did it. Mahavira did it.
Krishna did it. Rama did it. You can do too!