It is believed generally in India, that when a person sets out on the way of liberation, his first problem is to become free from his past karma. The popular theory of karma - the word that literally means “action” or “doing” in sanskrit, so that when we say that something that happens to you is your karma, it's like saying in English “it's your own doing” - but in popular Indian belief, karma is a sort of built-in “moral law” or a “law of retribution”, such that all the bad things you do nd all the good things you do have consequences which you have to inherit - so long as “karmic energy” remains stored up, you have to work out. And what the sage endeavers to do is a kind of action which in sanskrit is called ni?k?makarma - ni?k?ma means “without passion” or “without attachment”; karma: “action” - and so whatever action he does he renounces the fruits of the action, so that he acts in a way that doesn't generate future karma, because future karma continues you in the wheel of becoming (Sa?s?ra - “the round”) and keeps you being reincarnated.

Now then in that case, when the time comes that you start to get out of the “chain” of karma, all the creditors that you have start presenting themselves for payment. In other words, a person who begins, say, to study yoga, is felt that he will suddenly get sick, or that his children will die, or that he'll lose his money, or all sorts of catastrophes will occur. Because the “karmic debt” is being cleared up; it's in no “hurry” to be cleared up if you're just living along like anybody, but if you embark on the spiritual life a certain “hurry” occurs. And therefore, since this is known, it's rather discouraging to start these things. The christian way of saying the same thing is that if you plan to change your life - shall we say to turn over a new leaf - you mustn't let the devil know. Because he will oppose you with all his might, if he suddenly discovers that you're going to escape from his power.