The Misuse of One’s Talents
The following is an exchange between author Robert Svoboda and his teacher, Aghori Vimalananda
Aghori Vimalananda: I was an inveterate gambler, uncontrollable . . . I gamble now, but I control it; it doesn’t control me. Still gambling is a serious karma; it permanently devastates your mind. In fact, they say that it is one of the three things that cannot ordinarily be atoned for in this lifetime.
Robert Svoboda: What are the other two?
VM: Rape and guru-murder.
RS: Gambling is that serious?
VM: It is very serious, but I have learned how to karmically atone for my gambling, so I’m not worried about that karma. What I AM worried about is misusing my other talents. I am always happy to bet on my own fancies, on the horses that I have selected as winners on the basis of their pedigrees, records, handicaps, and recent track work. But suppose that someone, some ethereal being, comes to me and says, “Why do all that work? Here are the winners for today’s races; go out and enjoy yourself!” I could take his advice and make lots of money that way — but what about the karma? What about the gambling karma and the karma of taking money that I didn’t deserve, and most of all the karma of going under the obligation of that ethereal being? Somewhere along the line he will want me to do something for him, something I may not want to do. How will I be able to refuse him if I am in his debt?
Robert Svoboda
from Aghora III; The Law of Karma