Karma can be washed off and eliminated right away through meditation.

Chapter 8 - The Veils Of Misery 

Day 67

If you don't cleanse your consciousness of these five miseries or impurities, then you will have to suffer in this life and the next, too. Patanjali said you will have to suffer in this life and in the next life too, because the miseries form a bank of karma. 

They get into the reserve bank In you. They form a karma tank. This karma can be washed off and eliminated right away through meditation. You should get rid of the karma and lessen the sheaths of ignorance over you before your body drops. Otherwise, there is no escape for you from these miseries.

Some karma will give you fruit in this life and some in the next. Some people may ask, if one day you put your finger in the fire, whether it will burn that day, the next day, the next year or in the next lifetime. They will point out that there is nothing like karma. 

They will agree that every action has its repercussions, which are felt in the current lifetime, itself. That is doesn't come with you to the next life. Some people have this argument. But it is not correct. Different seeds have different periods for sprouting. 

Alfalfa sprouts in 3 days, peanuts in 4-5 days and coconut may take several months. If you plant lettuce, you can use it for salads in 2 or 3 months. If you plant mango it will give you fruit in 10 years, avocado in 4-5 years, 7 years. It you plant a jackfruit, only the next generation will enjoy the fruit. Different fruits and vegetables have got different time periods to give fruit.

Likewise, different karmas will give fruits at different times. Many people ask why bad things happen to good people. Bad things never happen to good people. They may be good at present. But they have done something bad in the past, so they are getting the result for it. 

It is as if they had planted neem seeds long ago. So now, they reap the bitter fruit of neem tree. Currently, they may be sowing mango. They will have sweet mangoes in the future. As you sow, so shall you reap.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji 

PATANJALI YOGA SUTRAS