GUIDING LIGHT
Karma, destiny and ‘Heartfulness’ — Kamlesh D Patel (Daaji)
Can one change their destiny with meditation is a question that is often asked? My response is we ha ve m any elements in Heartfulness. O ne is meditation with tr ansmission an d another is ca lled cleaning – removing the cause of the effects we are going through in life. Everything has a ca use – why are y ou here, it is a cau se. T hings th at you will b e d oing next will have a cause; our happiness or sadness is also a cause of our actions in the past. Since our past is going to cr eate so many th ings in our life , we th ink of how we can selectively erase th ose things. This is the process of cleaning. Whatever I cr eate now, I w ant to be free and clear of my toda y’ s karma so that I can create a fresh destiny again. That’s why in my book Designing Destiny, I m ention that we are no longer a slave of our past or k arma. We ca n create a d estiny out of the free will for ourselves.
While we are on the topic of karma, destiny, I w ould like to share some insights on genetic and epigenetic components. When we transfer our g enetic code to our offspring, there are many things that are fixed (physical appearances like hair, colour, h eight) but there is one epigenome portion in this transfer also that is flexible. This flexibility component is affected by our environment – the way we have been brought up, t he environment we live in, our homes etc. External things can change . S uppose y ou’re li ving in a go od neighbourhood, your mental development will be of a ce rtain order if y ou are li ving in a violent n eighbourhood, development is of a different kind. Even if you are born to a great saint, your genetic patter n will not allow you to grow if the environment is not conducive.
In epigenetics, we a re n ot fix ed by genetics. My fa - ther may be a farmer but my circumstance can make be better in the field of education. A lot of theory and research has gone into this by Dr Bruce Lipton, a pioneer in th e field of e pigenetics. W hen apregnant woman is in a violent environment, her stress system and adrenalin are r ushing, when she is str essed, the hormones, which get circulated in her b loodstream, will pass through the placenta and go to the foetus. The baby also re sponds – b lood rush is more i n the limbs, but when there is more blood rush to the limbs it is at a cost. It is d iverted fr om th e v ital o rgans. C hildren born to su ch mothers with str ess w ill h ave co mpromised brain and digesti ve functions. The back portion of the brain will be more p rominent than the frontal cortex. Cognitive abilities will be lesser. In children of happy mothers, co gniti ve skills will be better. In both cases, parents may be intelligent but the environment and genetic expression will change the brain pattern.
(The author is th e Guide of Heartfulness meditation and can be reached at daaji@heartfulness.org. Visit: www.heartfulness.org)