Recycled Karma

When you criticize someone, you get some of their bad karma. It's the great law of karmic recycling.

Speaking ill of others does not help with spiritual progress. Others are doing the best they can with the knowledge they have. Considering sinful people as worthy of hatred and punishment and not worthy of love is a miserly way of thinking. A big heart sees a potential saint in every sinner.

If you hate the disease instead of the diseased, you can save yourself from getting bad karma from others for the very things you would never do - like killing and abusing.

Likewise, when you are denounced or insulted, take shelter in the understanding that this is Krishna's plan to help you recycle your karma so you can chant His name with more purity than when you have all the karmic burden from the past.

Krishna's actions are always blessings. We simply need to tune in to the sastric point of view to appreciate this.

Sometimes we apologize even for things we didn't do, because no one understands us. At such times, we can check our ego's need to be angry by seeing that this is a chance to connect more strongly with grace. And we can pray that this same knowledge become available to everyone, so that no one has to get anyone else's karmic reactions for speaking ill about them.