My Dear Student: Karma is an interesting thing. The truth is that one is creating "anew" all the time, but one must understand that the "anew" is layered on top of the old. The mantra you are using is a very powerful mantra, and I encourage you to rigorously apply it often during the day. Redouble your efforts to heighten your concentration, and you will begin to see results in the shifts of the placement of your mind. This is how the cleaning up process with old karma works. The first movement allows the mind to begin seeing the world around you a bit differently. Celebrate any moment wherein you notice a shift in how your relationships appear (this is true of your relationship with yourself, also), as well as even small shifts in your general mindset. As you celebrate the movement, you reinforce the new way of seeing. This is important even in the very smallest of shifts. To reinforce the mantra, you must remain in a positive focus, with great appreciation for every shift. Of course, it takes tremendous mindfulness to be aware of the tiny shifts. In some ways, they are perhaps the most important. Most people look for the big shifts, but the truth is, even the big shifts may not be permanent until the small shifts can be observed, appreciated and celebrated.

It is important to realize that burning karma, is a big task. At first it appears that one is burning off the residue only from one's own past experiences. However, as one deepens into the destiny of the Soul, one begins to recognize the picture is much bigger than simply a single life stream. Indeed, if you are like most spiritual aspirants who have accomplished liberation from suffering, you will feel at some point that you are literally clearing the karma of the whole world. While such is, of course, literally impossible, there will come a point wherein you feel as if that is what is being asked of you. This is the point where some fall into despair, and perhaps sink into an inconsolable state that can last for several lifetimes. When this happens, the aspirant actually "loses ground," so to speak, on the spiritual path. When one has been given so powerful a mantra, one must exercise great diligence in watching - ceaselessly - the mind. Other disciples who before your time have used this mantra, have often used it for several lifetimes to achieve the complete clearing of karma. The most important thing to remember in using any mantra is that its efficacy is directly proportional to the earnest attentiveness one brings to using it and the diligence one calls forth in watching the mind.

As you know, the mind often has inappropriate "feedback" regarding what is transpiring in one's spiritual development. For example, the mind can simply be in a negative, or grumpy, place on a given day and try to convince the aspirant that, in spite of all efforts to the contrary, nothing is really happening. Along with this thought, the mind might also provide a bit of depression, perhaps even a sense of hopelessness, at the notion of cutting through all the karmic influences one has amassed through countless lifetimes. One does not actually try to have these thoughts, but they simply arise, due in large part to the karmic influences one is trying to overcome. If one is not paying diligent attention to virtually every movement of the mind, one may "wake up" to discover s/he has been in a depressed state for two or three days. Careful attention to movements of the mind, however, is the perfection of not only the mantra, but what could be called the "lower self," as well. As you know, some of the mind's movements are quite subtle; and if one does not pay careful attention to the direction the mind moves, or goes, one is subject to being deluded by the very mind one seeks to liberate.

To accomplish powerful transitional shifts through use of a mantra, much more is required than simply repeating the words. I have noticed among my students, and with students of other Teachers as well, that often a student will use a mantra as a means of "checking out" from a painful situation. By mindless recitation of a set of words - often in a seeming exotic language - one can actually move into a sort of trance state that some attempt to use as a buffer against painful or overwhelming situations in life. In such cases, while there might appear to be some mental or emotional relief arising from the incantations, we cannot really call this transcendence. When one is merely seeking relief from the tyrannical mind in a moment of pain, the use of mantra (or other incantations) is little more than a means of avoidance - perhaps even denial. The use of mantra should not dull the mental/emotional awareness, but rather enhance it. The goal of any mind training (which is what mantra usage is all about) practice is to become more present in the moment, not less so; to become radically alive rather than a checked-out zombie.

As with any spiritual practice, the use of mantra in unskilled (untrained or unknowing) hands often generates unskilled results. If one uses a mantra as mere avoidance of pain, the mind becomes dulled and lacks the luster of its original luminous quality. If, on the other hand, one applies oneself fully to a mantra - literally giving oneself over to it - diligently seeking to liberate all sentient beings from their respective levels of suffering, then one can actually give something back to the mantra, as well as to all sentient beings. One can learn the magic of becoming the mantra, embodying the divine vibration and/or perfecting the creative emanation on behalf of all beings everywhere. Such is a valid introduction to enlightenment; and when held in the light of helping all beings, it can take one into the depths of compassion and wisdom.

I encourage you to continue working with this mantra, for it came to you for a particular reason. Know that your efforts are never in vain (unless you believe them to be in vain), and that the world is somehow better for your having embarked upon this path. Take confidence in the fact that others before you have used this mantra to cut through all manner of illusion, and rejoice in the fact that you have been fortunate enough to find so powerful a mantra. There is only one thing I would add to your mantra practice, and that is the practice of infinite gratitude. In being thankful for everything (yes, even the karma you came to clean up), one trains the mind to be particularly receptive to the fruits of this (or any) mantra. If one can embody gratitude, then the mantra will thoroughly transport one into profound bliss - which is the state of the luminous mind.