Sutra 14
According to our good, bad or mixed actions, the quality of our life, its span, and the nature of birth experienced as being pleasant or painful.
Again, Patanjali is focusing on Karma yoga and actions that cause pain or pleasure in one’s lifetime. Since he pressed this point three times, I have had time to contemplate and study about good and evil actions, and the importance of following God’s commands. In the gospels of Luke, John, and Mark, as well as many of Peters letters, neither they nor Jesus state (that I can find) that we can live a life of evil and sin and not be punished/judged for it. They all say to follow God’s commands, to love each other and serve God with all our hearts. They all say that the Holy Spirit lives within each of us (as believers of Jesus Christ) and we have free will to live by his commandments or ignore them. In Matthew 4 Jesus himself was tempted by Satan, Jesus had to choose good from bad, his own actions, his quality of life. He knew that choosing the father God would end up with him being rejected by the people crucified, yet he told Satan 4:10 “Away from me, Satan! For it is written Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”
In Luke 14:25-35, the Bible tells us to weigh our actions (choices) even when choosing to be a disciple of Jesus. Everything has a cost and we all have free will. Read Luke 14:25-35 to sum it up. We must be willing to drop everything including all human comforts, our families, and our own lives to be true disciples of God. This poses the question: If we do less than this, do we deserve nothing for our good works? God gives us the free will to choose our own actions and to choose Him over our own lives. Like the great servant Job, at any moment you may be used for a greater purpose in God’s great plan. Sometimes that is very difficult, painful, or even deadly. But as Christians, we have the promise that all who serve God with a whole heart will be rewarded in heaven.
So no matter how perfect you think you are as a Christian, we all sin. No matter how much you think you deserve for your good behavior, you may suffer greatly for your faith in Jesus. Yet, we are all to strive to be in control of our human frailties and live in Jesus’ light following Gods commands with a joyous heart, no matter what is going on in our mortal lives. This is faith, this is yoga, and this is being a servant of God.
The Bible agrees and disagrees with Sutra’s 11-14 because there are cause and effect. How much pain or pleasure we experience as servants in God’s greater plan is not determined by how good we behave, but by how well we hold onto our faith and connect with his Holy Spirit.
This comparison is option only – by Antiqua Lisha
