At times, we worry that our past sins are troubling us and they are inescapable. Is it really so? Can nothing help us? Bhagawan, with a beautiful analogy, infuses confidence in us.
If we think that the effect of prarabdha karma (the destined consequences of past actions) is inescapable, then what is the use of worshipping God? Even though prarabdha is there, the grace of God will certainly remove, to a large extent, the bad effects from it. Here is a small example. There is an injection bottle. It is written on it that the medicine inside can be used up to 1970. In 1972, that very bottle is there, and so is the medicine in it. But the medicine will have no potency. It cannot serve its purpose. In the same way, in our destiny there may be the medicine or prarabdha; but by the grace of God, we can weaken and blunt its effect. Even though it is there, it cannot trouble us. We can become beneficiaries of God’s grace; we need not be afraid of either prarabdha or sanchita or agami (the different types of karmas). If God is pleased with our worship, He will certainly annul the bad effects of these. Therefore, the most important thing we have to try is to earn the grace of God, through which we can overcome all these bad effects.
– Summer Showers 1972, Ch 11.
