AVOIDING FUTURE PAIN

"There are three kinds of karma:  the karma that has already been created and stored up, so that it will bear fruit in some future life, the karma created in the  past or in some previous life, which is bearing fruit at the present moment, and the karma which we are now in the process of creating by our thoughts and acts.  Of these, the already existing karmas are beyond our control; we can only wait until they have worked themselves out, and accept their fruits with courage and patience.

But the karma which we are now creating--'the pain which is yet to come'--can be avoided.  Not by ceasing to act--that would be impossible, even if it were desirable--but by ceasing to desire the fruits of action for oneself.  If we dedicate the fruits of action to God, we shall gradually unwind the wheel of karma and thus avoid its pain."

--Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood commenting on The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali