My having asked the marvelous Deepak Chopra for some advice, he told me this: “Every moment you’re making a choice: either you’re chosen by your karma, or you’re choosing your dharma.”
Wow. Brick to forehead moment. I knew what he meant of course, but hearing him say it brought it home.
Our karma is the collection of stories, circumstances, details, and others items that constantly assault us, mentally drain us, and keep us bound to the past. We’re like spiders caught in a web of expectations and anxieties, all resulting from past associations and relationship rights and wrongs. No freedom there, no living fully in the present, no liberation from the limits that others have imposed on us and that we’ve imposed on ourselves.
But there’s another way of living. Another choice that can be made, and consciously or unconsciously we make that choice in every moment. We can free ourselves from the clutches of karma when we embrace the limitless expanse of dharma.
I’m only here to love. I’m only here to serve. I accept the limitless possibilities of any given instant. I forgive others and I forgive myself. I surrender the past and let love work miracles in me and in the world.
Our dharma is our mission, our destiny, our fate when we’re aligned with the love of an intentional universe. Dharma cancels karma. In a moment of grace, all karma is burned.
We meditate in the morning to train our attitudinal muscles, free ourselves from karma, and rise to the level of dharma energy. Forgiveness and love rather than blame and victimhood. We all know the principles by now; if ever there was a time for us to practice them more meaningfully, to apply them in more practical ways, it’s now.
So if you’re wondering, like I was when I asked my esteemed friend what he thought I should do about something, perhaps Deepak’s advice will do for you what it did for me:
Free yourself from karma.
Choose your dharma.
Enjoy the energy that follows.
Marianne, Thank you for your words! It is because of your dedication to being the light that the rest of us have many “tools in our problem solving repertoire”, and hopefully, can do the same.
Dharma >Karma
What a beautiful reminder to listen to our inner wisdom & truth. I’m ever grateful for your light.