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THE NOTION OF GROWTH
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bonding determines in which area of life karma will manifest upon its activation.
It is important to understand that we ourselves determine which themes of life we feel so strongly attracted to. It is nothing other than our own positive or negative emotional engagement that programs us to experience these themes again and again. Karmic matter is only the carrier-substance that allows this process to manifest in physical reality.
- The termination of the process that binds karmic matter to a living being (samvara) stops the attachment of new karmic matter to our consciousness.
The intake of new karma into our interactive karmic field is the main cause for our confrontation with ever the same - uncomfortable - situations. As long as we are unaware of this mechanism, we may accumulate new karma even if it is against all our intentions and our will.
The most important - and the simplest - method to stop this cycle is to prevent the bonding of new karma (samvara). The process takes two steps: - Step one is our decision to stop all activities that cause the binding of new karma (i.e. the resolve to end ignorance, error, skepticism, intense negative emo
tions, laziness, etc). - Step two is the actual dissolution of our attachment to karmic matter. This happens automatically when we
put the decision taken in step one into action. If we want to prevent new bonds, we need to direct our attention to our very initial attraction to karma (asrava). This is a highly sensitive point: All initial attraction to karma stimulates us with (new) activity. At this particu
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