My grand-daughter Ayrra, five and half year’s old, goes to a Vedanta class, once a week. Last month on her return she asked me:

Ayrra: Nana, were you in fighting Navy? Have you taken part in war?

Me: Yes darling. Why?

Ayrra: You must have killed many people.

Me: Yes, sometimes you have to kill to protect your motherland.

Ayrra: Very bad karma, Nana….!

This prompted me to do some more study and sharing my thoughts on the law of karma, which governs our life. The subject of karma, the universal law of cause and effect, is vast and has many levels of understanding. At times, unkind actions serve a good cause, like a soldier who kills the enemy to protect his motherland. On the other hand, actions that may seem to be kind can be bad karma, as shown in the story below:

Long ago in the city of Banaras, there lived a widow with her young son. Being the only son, she gave all her love to him and never corrected him when he misbehaved or stole petty things from his friend’s place. Finally, the boy grew up to become a notorious robber who one day was caught for the act of stealing and murdering a woman, for which he was sentenced to death. Before he was hanged, the judge asked if he had any wish and he replied, “I want to kill my mother, she never corrected me when I was wrong, and because of her I am punished today.”

A kindness shown without discrimination and inaction when action is needed makes you incur karmic debt. Even if you do not sin but encourage others to do wrong actions, it is still karma.

Levels of Karma

The subject of karma, the universal law of cause and effect, is vast and has many levels of understanding. Also, you bear the effects of karma in varying degrees according to your actions, motive behind those actions, conditions under which you acted and the level of people involved. For example, the karma of harming an ordinary person is milder compared to the effects of causing harm to a saint. And similar negative or positive action of a wise person and an ignorant man produce different effects. The effects of karma on wise person will be strong and severe, while that of ignorant will be mild.

You can derive full benefits of the knowledge of karma with an open mind. The Lord Buddha said:

“Some seekers come with bowls that are full; you cannot add more to what they already know. Some seekers come with empty bowls, but with cracks; they are eager to learn but cannot retain what they learn. But true seekers come with empty bowls and without cracks; they assimilate all that they learn and are open to receive more.”

 

My Life Story

Unlike many my life too had been full of goodness, except that my mother passed away when I was barely eight. I do miss her a lot. My father was an upright civil servant and one of the most respected person in the town. At the age of nineteen I joined Navy. As I look back, I find that in spite being knowledgeable and worldly wise, I did not get success that I deserved, according to my well-wishers. But the biggest challenge that I face from childhood till present are the migraine attacks, increasing with age. Not been able to find a cure. Now when I reflect upon all that happened during those years, I realised that I had seen and experienced one single truth that existed in every situation – the truth of karma:

“It is impossible to sow a bad action and reap something good in the long run; you cannot be happy when you make others suffer; truth will eventually triumph; no matter how painful an event is, something good will always emerge out of all that happens to us, even though we may realise this much later.

Awareness of Law that Governs Life

Awareness of karma brings many positive changes in our lives, sometimes even life-transforming experiences. Many realise the power of blessings and sharing; some improve relationships that were on the verge of breaking down. People start to bless even those who had harmed them and become more tolerant and kind towards others. Those struck by tragedies accept them as part of their learning and balancing process and inspire others to grow as well. Overall, people regain control of their lives just by developing the right awareness of the laws that govern life, the law of KARMA.

Why Only Me?

Sometimes life goes from bad to worse, and we end up with a miserable life that we feel we do not deserve and ask: “Why only me? Is it my fate to suffer? Why is God being so unfair?” even the great positive thinkers and highly successful people are equally affected during natural calamities, war or economic recession. The truth is, there is a force that overrides our attitudes and efforts – the force of karma. No matter what you do or accomplish, if you do not have the right awareness of this force that governs your life, neither will you find a long-term solution to your problems nor will you experience lasting peace.

Karmic Income vs Karmic Debt

One needs to work on the root cause of the events rather focusing more on the effects. Kind actions and activities that benefit everyone generate good karma, and accumulate as karmic income. Whereas unrighteous and unkind actions and activities that are harmful to one and all, create bad karma, add to karmic debt. Generally good things in life are due to accrued karmic income, whereas pain and miseries are often the effects of karmic debts that one must pay.

Mental & Verbal Karma

Apart from physical actions, karma is created mentally and verbally as well. At times, as you think of someone, that person calls you at that very moment, and you exclaim, “I was just thinking about you.” Thoughts are energy and are real. While your positive thoughts produce positive effects, negative thoughts create negative effects on people and your surroundings. Like thoughts, words also carry power. Buddha said, “What comes out of mouth is more important than what goes into the mouth.” While your kind words create good karma, your unkind words cause bad karma and make you incur karmic debt.

Unkind Actions for Good Cause

Sometimes actions that may appear to be unkind can be good karma. My grand-daughter Ayrra is quite fond of mythological shows on TV, such as ‘Siya ke Ram’ and ‘Mahabharat’, etc.  So, I narrated a story to her, after she finished questioning me. In the great epic Mahabharata, Lord Krishna narrated this story to the Pandavas:

A hunter by name Valaka shot an arrow at an animal that was drinking water from the lake. Later he realised that it was blind and regretted much for his act. However, the deities showered flowers upon him and thanked him as the beast was a great demon that was planning to destroy the world. “Thus,” Krishna said, “Actions that we think are bad can also be good karma.”

At times, unkind actions serve a good cause, like a soldier who kills the enemy to protect his motherland. On the other hand, actions that may seem to be kind can be bad karma, as shown in the story below:

Long ago in the city of Banaras, there lived a widow with her young son. Being the only son, she gave all her love to him and never corrected him when he misbehaved or stole petty things from his friend’s place. Finally, the boy grew up to become a notorious robber who one day was caught for the act of stealing and murdering a woman, for which he was sentenced to death. Before he was hanged, the judge asked if he had any wish and he replied, “I want to kill my mother, she never corrected me when I was wrong, and because of her I am punished today.”

A kindness shown without discrimination and inaction when action is needed makes you incur karmic debt. Even if you do not sin but encourage others to do wrong actions, it is still karma.

Hidden Cause

What you experience now has a connection with your actions in your past embodiments. So, despite being good and doing good if you suffer, it is because of your past actions. Similarly, despite being bad and doing unkind actions if you prosper, it is also because of your past good karmas.

You may also read my BLOG / POST “What is Law of Karma?” dated 24 Dec, 2016 on my website .