Grace.

Response:

Grace is the state of freedom that exists within every action and moment of existence. It is a state of consciousness in which the constant pull of God’s loving  presence overrides our attachment to the laws of cause and effect. 

Heartfelt atonement can open this state of grace within us and free us from the limitations of our karma. Grace doesn’t cancel the reaction of the action itself. It’s not that the principle of cause and effect in karma is altered, but the nature of the karma is altered when the  consciousness of the doer changes.

 What we call karma is really a synthesis of the actor’s consciousness, the action, and the object of the action. The state of grace exists as a choice we can make to move into God’s presence at any time. When we make that choice and transform our awareness, we change the one component of the karmic equation that we can. By changing our consciousness, we alter the influence of our karma. If we have hurt someone in the past and then attain a state of true atonement and love regarding that incident, then we have attained the goal of what the reaction would have intended us to learn. In a simplistic way we could say the emotionally painful part of the karma would be altered and only the more mechanical aspects of the karma would remain.

 Karma, as applied to real life, is incredibly complex. We are generating karma at every moment through our thoughts, speech and action. Even breathing and walking are actions that send an influence out to others, our environment and throughout the universe. Multiply this by every living being in creation and then factor in how all of these karmas influence each other across time and space. You can see why the rishis have said karma is unfathomable. Without the freedom that grace offers, there would be no way out of the labyrinth of relativity.

Love,
Deepak