Curses, Blessings and Spiritual Bypassing

Each time I think that I have written enough of my Spiritual Musings, a new thought pops-up in my head and I start planning to write on a new topic all over again. The newest topic which has come-up in my head is Curses and Blessings.

What are Curses and Blessings?

Are they effective?

Is there any spiritual significance of the curses and blessings, especially when our mythological stories are filled with these stories of curses and blessings/boons?

Let's understand this,

1. This thought dawned upon me from watching the final part of Mahabharat where after the war, Krishna goes to Gandhari and Gandhari, in her frustration of losing her family, shoots two curses towards Krishna. Gandhari does so as she believed that Krishna, being the divine incarnate, could have done much more to prevent the war from happening.

2. In return, Krishna accepts the curses given by Gandhari as blessings, without any resistance.

3. Then in some versions of Mahabharat, it is said that Gandhari had shown her repentance or regret at cursing Krishna and then Krishna says something to the effect that "Life moves on its own way naturally. Events will happen on their own, regardless of any curse or blessing or boon."

4. This is good enough statement to send someone on the mental trip of questioning the validity or "lack of it" of Curses and Blessings.

5. In all these years of practicing as an astrologer, I am also asked multiple times about effectiveness or otherwise of Black Magic or Evil Eye. I think the conclusion which we will reach here could be applied to any of these types of queries too.

Let's first understand, what is a Curse and what is a Blessing or a Boon?

6. As I understand, when someone hurts you or tries to hurt you or your plans or your loved ones and either you don't want to do anything against them directly or you are not in any situation of doing anything against them directly then the frustration which comes out of your mouth as words are Curses. We can even say that Curse serves to the cursing person as Catharsis.

7. Likewise, when someone does something good to you which benefits you or your loved ones then in your blissful state whatever comes out of your mouth for well-being of that person is considered as Blessings or Boons.

So in a way, we can say that both Curses and Boon are coming out from you on their own, spontaneously. More or less, you don’t have any control to stop them.

8. Now, first of all, if we look little deeply, in both cases the individual ego is involved. In one place, someone made you Sad and in another place, someone made you Happy. So, I think it is safe to say at the outset that Curses and Blessings both are assertions of Ego.

9. Now, if we just reflect back at those curses given by Gandhari to Krishna and see their futility then we may realize that why Krishna had no problem in accepting those curses as blessings?

a. First curse was that Krishna will see end of His dynasty and family as Gandhari had just witnessed it during Mahabharat War.

My understanding - People like Krishna are well aware that whatever begins comes to an end one day. That's what He was telling to Arjuna throughout Bhagwad Geeta. So, at least Krishna won't have any issue in accepting this fact of life. He knew very well that if His dynasty and family has taken birth then there will be one day when they will die too. Actually, if Krishna had resisted this then it would have made whole of Geeta as ineffective.

b. Second curse was that Krishna will die all alone.

My understanding - Well, who doesn't die alone? Who dies along with anyone? Death is the most individualistic experience of existence. You can never be part of anyone else's death experience nor anyone can be part of your death experience. So, is there anything new about this curse?

Now, if we look from this angle then we can understand why Krishna had no problem in accepting these two Curses from Gandhari as these two events were anyways going to happen. Anyways His dynasty/family will be done & dusted one day and anyways, He is going to die all alone.

May be that's why; He could add that "Life moves on its own way naturally. Events will happen on their own, regardless of any curse or boon."

So, when He knew the futility of curses then by accepting them as blessings from Gandhari at least He helped Gandhari in getting some Cathartic Relief.

Now, if we talk as to the effects of Curses and Blessings then we can divide the effects at two level –

Existential Level (Krishna) - No effect of Curses and Blessings as those events, for which Curses or Blessings are given, were anyways about to happen. Your curses and Blessings were not necessary for existence to function.

i. If someone is following a destructive (Tamasic) path of life like Duryodhana then anyways he will destroy himself one day. Your curse is not needed for that. Or

ii. If someone is following a balanced (Sattvic) path of life like Krishna then anyways he will prosper one day. Your Blessings are not needed for that.

At existential level, everything is flowing in life at its own. Hence, in that flow, Curses and Blessings can also flow.

This is what I always said about Black Magic or an Evil Eye. If a person is anyways supposed to suffer then only these things will look like working on him. That suffering was anyways coming but mind is finding connection with Curses, Black Magic and Evil Eyes etc.

Existence has place for everything. Hence, it has place for Curses and Blessings too. We all can have our parallel existence in this existence but the mistake will happen when we start thinking in terms that events in life are happening because of this or that person or thing or Blessings or Curses.

Nothing!!!! Life moves on its own.

Individual Level (Gandhari) - But at individual level, these Curses and Blessings serve a few purposes –

a. Catharsis - As I said, Curses provide a Cathartic Relief to the person giving Curse. He might not have any other way for venting out his frustration. So, it is a good relief for him. Maybe, after getting this relief, he may get back to his usual way of living. As I see, this is benefic use of Curse.

b. Ego Boost - But where it can bring negative result to individual is unnecessary Ego Boost. For example, if I happened to curse or bless anyone and then events in his life also happened (which was anyways about to happen) as per that curse or blessing, as the case may be, then it would give me unnecessary Ego Boost that "see, I am so great that events in other's life happens as per my blessings or curses.”

This is where we can miss the whole point.

Whenever any such ego boost kicks-in then reflect back on the fact that if all your curses and blessings in all your life manifested just like that, or is it just one of the case?

An honest reflection can help you comeback to the ground quickly. So, at individual level, Curses and Blessings can have a positive result of Cathartic Relief and a negative result of ego boost. Again, how that individual utilizes it is his free will and consciousness level.

So, Curses and Blessings are useful for individual who is giving them but they have no use for existence as existence flows on its own and it takes curses and boons too along in that flow.

c. Level of Evolution- Another good use of Curses and Blessings at individual level is to get the idea as to where we stand in evolution level. Crisis situation shows our reality. As Osho says that it is easy to talk about peace and non-violence in Sunday Morning Church Meeting but test of that peace and non-violence will be when you have weapons in your hand and your biggest enemy unarmed in front of you.

So, if a crisis situation in our life pushed us down to the level of cursing other person rather than having compassion for them then this shows where we stand and maybe all the talks of compassion was only superficial.

Eternal Confusion - Now, the main message which I want to convey here. Where is the main difficulty in understanding all these spiritual talks?

As I went through all these articles on Spiritual Musing, one common theme I realized that all these higher spiritual talks are always happening at two levels; either it is Krishna & Arjuna or it is Krishna & Gandhari or any other pair of Guru & Disciple.

Guru is speaking from the heights of his knowledge and what he has experienced but the poor disciple like us are trying to understand at our teeny tiny level.

This is the cause of all misunderstanding in Spiritual World but it is worth having these misunderstandings as through reading, talking and listening to Guru only, one day disciple will be able to rise higher at Guru's level.

As Osho says - "One, who understood the Guru, becomes the Guru". So, this is the only meaningful discussion which can happen; i.e. between a Guru and a Disciple, where we can hope for transformation of Disciple through knowledge gain from Guru.

Understand it like this –

i. Discussion cannot happen between two Gurus about anything as they both have attained the truth. There is nothing to ask or reply.

ii. Discussion happens most between two Disciples but it is useless discussion as none knows anything.

iii. Useful and meaningful discussion can only happen between a Guru and a disciple where one person is imparting knowledge and another person is receptive towards knowledge.

Main problem is not that Gandhari or Arjuna is not able to understand Krishna. That is something supposed to happen as the gap between their consciousness level is too big and with time and effort only this gap will be bridged.

The real problem happens when Gandhari or Arjuna starts speaking in Krishna's words without actually having any real experience or bridging that gap.

I will give a few example of this then we can close it with Osho –

a. I am sure that many of us have seen such comments on astrological posts or videos where people are quoting Swami Vivekananda saying - “Astrology and all these mystical things are generally signs of a weak mind; therefore as soon as they are becoming prominent in our minds, we should see a physician, take good food, and rest.”

Agreed. But now there are two ways of reading this quote. One from the heights of Swami Vivekananda's understanding and the other from the depth of our mind.

We will do a great service to ourselves if we try to read from Swami ji's understanding only when we ourselves reach that height. When we become like Swami Vivekananda then speak in this language but as long as we are at mundane level of existence then at least don't have this illusion that we have already attained Swami ji's stature.

And if you want to test where you stand then reflect back if your mind is weak or strong? How many times you change your decisions within a few hours? How many times you commit to something then you fall back from it? How many times you make excuses for your mistakes?

If it is happening then accept that you are of weak mind and you need help of astrology and occult right now. Human Ego wants to feel that I am at the highest level and I am not a weak mind but in our current state right now, with majority of us, it is nothing but wishful thinking.

Understand this quote from this analogy. A child plays in sand or with dolls and then after a few years, he stops playing with them. Why? He has grown-up. Sand and Dolls are not of use for him now but they were very useful when he was child.

Likewise, if our mind is not strong as of now then we need support of occult and mysticism. They are very important for us right now. When we reach the awakened state of Swami Vivekananda then we can also say that Astrology is for weak minds, but not before that.

b. This reminds me of an incident when a person said to Osho that you emphasize so much on presence of Guru in life but Jiddu Krishnamoorthy says that there is no need for any Guru?

Osho responds - Even this is not your own knowledge that there is no need of a Guru. Even for this you needed a Guru of stature of Jiddu Krishnamoorthy.

And even if you accept this statement from Jiddu Krishnamoorthy then in a way, you accepted Him as your Guru.

c. In a serial killing case from Kerala, it is reported that main accused Jolly Joseph happened to say that "Bible says that God forgives everyone anyhow. Hence, God will forgive me too."

Now, this is nothing but spiritual bypassing. If the allegations are true and if she gets convicted eventually then one thing is sure that this lady has no idea about God or else if she is so much aware of compassion of God then how can she kill 6 people who were also given life by same God?

This is why, in many spiritual traditions it is said that Guru should not even try to speak the highest level of truth and should only help Disciple through devices to realize or experience the truth by himself.

Reason is that Guru might try his best to explain the spiritual truth but if disciple is not aware; which is a big chance, then disciple will only understand from his own level and may take any meaning of words which he wants to take.

As I understand, this mention from The Holy Bible only talks about compassionate nature of God or Divine or Existence that it never loses hope or faith in us and no matter how many misdeeds we do, existence is always ready to give us another chance to improve; i.e. another life to live a better life.

Nowhere it says that go on killing people and some God sitting in sky will always forgive you.

But if a criminal is interpreting that no matter how many murders I do, God always forgives everyone then it only shows his level. Such person should stay away from interpreting any spiritual text for now and rely on Gurus who are at higher evolution level to realize and understand the true meaning.

d. It is better to be as honest as Otto in movie A Man Called Otto who eventually accepts that he was stupid in attempting suicide and when he is unable to commit suicide then eventually a realization has struck that God wants me to live life. He was honest enough to accept his stupidity and not seeking any spiritual bypassing.

There is a hope with such person to evolve to a higher level but not with that person who is not at Swami Vivekananda's level and doing nothing to become like Him but quotes Swami ji’s words as if those words are his own experience.

This is why; it is so difficult to understand and interpret a true spiritual master as you have to raise your standards time and again, but still this is the only discussion worthwhile to have; i.e. between a Guru and a Disciple. If there is any hope of evolution then it is here only.

Let's close with Osho –

Question - "Osho, what is a blessing?"

Osho - I am!!!

Gratitude!!!