Book outline:
Karma, the 2021 book by yogi Jagdev Vasudeva, Sadguru, as he is commonly called, is a captivating book. The magic starts with the name: Karma. Who is not curious, seduced, or titillated by the Karma riddle? How can I build good Karma and protect my life from bad Karma? The author starts the first part of the book by dispelling common misconceptions about what it is and what it is not. For instance, he says that Karma is not a giant balance sheet of good and bad deeds meticulously scrutinized by some God in the sky. In the second section of this book, he shares insights into how to identify Karma and shake it off, get rid of, or dissolve bad Karma. Stay away from people who bring bad fortune to you, cut down your spirit, stop meaningful progress for you and generally drain you of your goodness, strength, and spirit. This powerful book jars the mind and shakes the soul. It’s like taking a jackhammer to the head. It will make you question everything about the now, today, yesterday, and tomorrow.
What’s the core message?
Karma is all you babe; or bubba! In the author’s interpretation, the memories of your past deeds stay embedded within you from one life form to another and one lifetime to another. Those embedded memories can be millions of tiny shields and swords that protect you and win battles against harm or they can be millions of needles that prick you even when you have done nothing to deserve the pain and bleeding in the current.
The earning of good Karma lies in the living of a fully immersed life in every moment, with full vigor, commitment, and intention. To not get tagged by bad Karma, act without expectations or entanglement with the outcome, and always act without bad intention. If you can’t pour positivity into your actions, stop. Don’t do it. Don’t act under obligation, duty, resentment, anger, or ill will. When you do, a minimum, the result will be truncated and diminished, and at worst, it will hurt you now or in the future. To make the action right, get the intention right. Then take action.
If what you are receiving is not given with genuine goodness, positive intention, and good Karma, don’t take it. Be it food, treasure, or companionship, decline it with grace and gratitude or reject it with bluntness because will harm you now or later. The message is very subtle and very impactful. Slow down and you will gain speed. Disengage and you will find full engagement. Do less and you will accomplish more. Such is the power of meditation, contemplation, and intention. Add positive intention to your deeds and earn good Karma.
If you can’t escape and must be a part of the bad Karma of a circumstance, place, or person, engage with advance preparation, immerse fully, and cleanse thoroughly. Like a firefighter wears fire protection to enter an inferno, mentally, physically, and psychologically, prepare yourself to face the turbulent fire of the situation. Work with the best intent and goodness that you can apply. Upon completion of the work, retreat to regroup and rebalance your senses. Wash off the necessary crud that will be on your body. Take a meditative shower and contemplate goodness. Indeed, a real shower also regenerates positivity and washes off dark energy.
Set ambitious goals? Yes! Work hard to acquire skills and prepare to achieve your goals? Yes! Do the absolute best? Absolutely! Focus on the intent, commitment, diligence, and execution. Consider the outcome to be irrelevant. Embrace the outcome whatever it is. Celebrate the outcome? Yes! It does not matter what the outcome is. The outcome is out of your hands.
How do these concepts compare with points raised in other books?
Karma is the subject of legend and myth, and we use it to explain away things we don’t understand. Many a sage and philosopher have spent a lifetime contemplating the nature and equation of Karma. Each of us must form and embrace the concept of Karma for our lives.
What the book does well.
This book covers a lot of ground on framing Karma as a construct of the author. It does a good job conveying that each of us is responsible and accountable for our Karma and that that intention matters in deeds and actions. The word the author repeatedly uses to convey this is “volition”. In giving and taking, we must be mindful of intentions and should take precautions when a transaction has the potential of blocking good intentions.
What could have made this book better?
This marvelous discourse could have been even more positive by a few simple steps. First, one point that the author emphasizes in earning and creating good Karma, is to remain unattached to the outcome and disentangled from emotion while doing the work. Surprisingly, the author himself falls victim to his own caution. For example, in his critique of what he describes as misconceptions, myths, or mischaracterizations, he goes well beyond a clean and crisp critique and laces his assessment of supposedly lesser authors with anger and condemnation. There was no need for this and it only hurts the author’s own integrity and authenticity. Next, this book stands strongly on the author’s interpretation of the concept of Karma. It’s a very meaty discussion. Unfortunately, at times it seemed like a cheap pamphlet for Sadguru’s Isha Foundation. A better way to elaborate on the sacred aspects of the Isha Yoga Center would have been to include an exclusive chapter on the magnificent center and the fine work that happens there. In this way, the reader would have gotten a more thorough and comprehensive understanding of Sadguru’s work.
Who would benefit from reading this book?
This book is great for high school students and all students of life of any age. What makes it useful is that it directly addresses life values that shape behaviors and guide actions.
What I got out of the book. Insights and takeaways.
While the author is a captivating and enchanting storyteller, we must remember that this is one man’s interpretation of Karma. No more. No less. We must all make our choices and be accountable for them. The following steps can be useful to living a life of full immersion and engagement.
(1) Form your own understanding where you take an account of your own life with a statement similar to the following: Karma and Karmic balance is entirely and fully a result of my actions, and I alone have the power and responsibility to create and destroy my good and bad Karma. Karma is action. Take action!
(2) To stop bad Karma from stopping you from realizing your full potential, stay away from circumstances, places, and people who drain you of your goodness and stop your good intentions. If your work and progress are stopped or slowed, you are experiencing bad Karma. If your work is accelerating and you are moving through effortlessly, good Karma is at work.
(3) When impossible to avoid circumstances, places, and people of bad Karma, prepare adequately to face the situation and cleanse thoroughly after the interaction. Seek the counsel of trusted mentors, get perspective.
Live with confidence, grace, and generosity. Keep good intentions in all you do. Be around good and do good. Karma will do the work to create a life of goodness and gratitude. Meditate, reflect, isolate, cleanse, recover, and be grateful. Karma will last through lifetimes. Pay now to clear the past dues or pay now and reap the benefits in the future. No matter how you look at Karma, live with the best of intentions. Smile.