How to get rid of previous karma?

[kireet]

I often hear spiritual leaders that when you have very light karma , then only you can attain self realisation, but how to actually burn through karma? Most people (including me) are just creating more karma , and I suppose even meditation and self inquiry and concentration , they are karma too . So , how does burn his past karma ? 

[Recursoinominado]

According to Vipassana meditation instructions given by the Buddha himself, every time you are in equanimity, you are burning Karma, so to speak, in the vipassana retreat, they talk about Samskaras, which are relatable with the concept of karma. 

So, to burn karma, you have to observe the present moment with equanimity, whatever it may be. Through our day-to-day life, we are presented with endless opportunities to apply equanimity to situations, some more or less difficult, depending on your specific karma. 

When, for instance, restrain myself from indulging in a particular addiction and practice equanimity, i am burning this particular karma. 

In conclusion, just learn to be present in all situations and see them as they are, beyond the filter of the mind and its labels.

Feel reality completely, without desire or aversion. 

[kireet]

@Recursoinominado hmmm ..... thank you 

[Brahman]

Yes @Recursoinominado is right according to Vipassina theory. I'll add that samskaras (impressions) are essentially the seeds of karma and multiply through craving and aversion. Everytime we crave and avert (which is reactionary at this point for most humans) we accumulate more and more samskaras - thus more and more karma. 

 

From my formal teaching of Vipassina, they say in order to purge these samskaras you need three things: equinimity, awareness, and understanding of anitya. Anitya meaning impermanence. Everything is always changing. By sitting with awareness, equinimity and deeply understanding anitya you no longer express craving or aversion to any thoughts, sensations, or experiences. Past or present. When you no longer crave and avert you purge your old samskaras and stop the process of creating new karma.

 

The trick is to sit in what they call "witness consciousness." Sit in the seat of pure awareness and watch everything as an object of consciousness. Notice everything arises and fades within consciousness and you are this awareness through which everything arises. Sitting from this place you are now watching everything like it's a movie.

It's like watching a horror movie when you were a kid. You'd get completely sucked into it and it would freak you TF out cuz you thought it was real. Once you realise oh this is just moving pixels on a screen and watch from this place you are not effected, until you get sucked in again. The mind is constantly sucking you in, creating craving and aversion and multiplying samskaras. Sitting in witness consciousness you start to stop this process. Remember this is all theoretical for now and it takes much practice to get used to sitting in witness consciousness. In a 10 day retreat it took me til day 6 to reach a consistent place of sitting in awareness like this. But the rewards are unspeakable!!

 

Good luck and hope this helped.