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Liberating Beads and Tending Karmic Seeds: Each Thing in Its Time and Its Place April 30, 2025 18:45
If you prefer to listen to this month's offering, please click HERE for the audio link.
Over the past ten years, I have collected an assortment of beads that I had intended to use as guru beads for mala designs. I purchased some online, I found some in local bead shops, and I received some as gifts. However, I couldn’t use them—all four cords of the mala—two from one side, and two from the other--wouldn’t fit through the openings of these beads. These lovely focals were too beautiful to return or to donate, but because the openings were too narrow, I couldn’t use them in mala designs. They were haunting reminders of what could be.
This was so disappointing because these stunning beads carried lovely potential. So, I kept them safe, storing them in various compartments in my bead boxes, knowing that I couldn’t use them…yet! However, I was hopeful that one day I would be able to.
For my birthday this year, Jim gave me an electric drill with several tapered pins designed specifically for reaming beads. I was overjoyed! Honestly, I didn’t know such a thing existed.
I searched through all of my cases of bead boxes and found over 100 gurus that, until now, I could not use—Tourmalinated Moonstone bicones, Eagle Eye ovals, Chalcedony puff coins, Carnelian barrels, Mookaite Jasper twisted spirals, 30x40mm Goldstone, Silver Leaf Jasper, Red Tiger Eye, and Dragon Blood oval discs, and Ocean Jasper teardrops—truly, it was like finding hidden treasures in my own workspace.
I sat at my kitchen table and submerged each bead, one by one, in a shallow container of water with one hand—and held the drill in the other hand. Slowly, slowly, I liberated these beads and possibilities for future designs. While I worked at my kitchen table, I thought about a line from “Streets,” a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye:
“Each thing in its time, and its place/it would be nice to think the same about people.”
It took weeks, and several tapered pins, but in the end, the patience and effort paid off.
Some of these beads took hours to liberate; others, just took a few minutes. One by one, bead by bead, possibilities were opening up, literally, for new mala designs. I’d been hanging on to some of these beads for over a decade. Now, they had potential and beautiful purpose.
I also discovered that I have a new problem, and it’s a good problem to have. I have an abundance of guru beads to choose from, and these “teachers” and “mountains” are waiting to fulfill their potential and realize their time to shine.
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Whether we know it or not, we create the causes for happiness, and we also create the causes for suffering. We plant karmic seeds all the time with our thoughts, words, and actions.
Our intentions and our motivations drive us to act, and our actions produce effects. That’s karma, in a nutshell—actions and their corresponding results—cause and effect.
Actions and Results
Positive results tend to arise from positive actions, and negative results come from negative actions. Of course, positive and negative actions are relative, and they are also dependent on the results.
For example, last year, we planted a few cherry tomato plants in a sunny patch of our front garden. The soil was hard and rocky. Even though we watered, weeded, and tended to these plants, the results were three cherry tomatoes…three! The conditions were not right for a bumper crop…or even a decent salad.
We also planted two irises in front of our kitchen window. The soil was softer, and we surrounded the plants with mulch. Thankfully, both of these plants are still thriving, and iris blossoms are almost ready to bloom.
Big Results from Small Seeds
Small causes can create big results! Small seeds can produce a plant or tree that has many fruits…that is, if the conditions are conducive for abundance.
I observe this daily in the halls of the school where I work. I’ve witnessed a single snide remark, eye roll, or dismissive comment from a student explode into a full throttle shouting match that affects everyone in the hall. By contrast, a simple smile or a sincere compliment can have a positive ripple effect that not only keeps the peace, but also keeps the flow of traffic moving during a passing period.
Causes Create Results
Constructive causes create constructive results, and destructive causes create destructive results. This is why our intentions, motivations, and actions matter so much. Karmic seeds are principal causes. They are little, but mighty.
Accumulating, organizing, and keeping the various guru beads over the years was an essential principal cause for me. I didn’t have any expectations. I wasn’t grippy, clingy, or impatient about how I was going to make use of these beads. Honestly, I didn’t know if I would ever be able to use them.
I just kept doing my thing, creating hand-knotted malas with the beads that I COULD use, and over time, when the conditions were right, I was literally given a tool that would enable me to liberate all of those gurus that were waiting for me.
“Each thing in its time, and its place…”
Results WILL Manifest
Results come from corresponding causes and conditions. We may not know exactly when or how, but they ARE coming.
I don’t know exactly what designs I will create from these liberated gurus, and I don’t know who they will eventually benefit. I do know that through right motivation, patience, and skillful effort, I have the confidence and ability to create meaningful designs for others.
These liberated guru beads are like karmic seeds, and their potential is just beginning to germinate and grow.
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Thank you for taking the time to read or listen to this month’s offering. The photo above includes some of the liberated gurus mentioned in this article. If you are interested in a custom design with a guru of your choice, please send me a message using the Contact Us page. I would be happy to create a one-of-a-kind design to support and inspire your own meaningful practice.