What You Would Like to Know About Karma E-Book

J.P. Vaswani

• Herausgeber: Gita Publishing House
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 221

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

Is God fair? This question that haunts us all at one time or another. What can help us answer this question is an understanding of karma - the eternal universal law of cause and effect, which is at the very root of Hindu philosophy and thought.

Leseprobe

Published by: GITA PUBLISHING HOUSE Sadhu Vaswani Mission, 10, Sadhu Vaswani Path, Pune - 411 001, (India). [email protected]

What You Would Like To Know about Karma © 2012, J.P. Vaswani ISBN: 978-93-86004-12-3 1st Edition – 4000 copies – 2004 2nd Edition – 3000 copies – 2005 3rd Edition – 3000 copies – 2012

All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the author.

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CONTENTS

1. Is God Fair?

2. Why Me?

3. When Bad Things Happen to Good People ...

4. God is Fair!

5. The Law of Karma

6. The Choice is Ours

7. The Law of the Seed

8. The Baniya and the Sepoy

9. A Subtle and Profound Law

10. Are We Really Free?

11. Do Unto Others ...

12. We Are Responsible for What Happens to Us

13. The School of Life

14. The Law of the Boomerang

15. The Good That You Do

16. Fate and Free Will

17. Are All Men Equal?

18. Change Your Karma!

19. More about Karma

20. Intimations of Immortality

21. Karma is an Opportunity

22. How to Create Good Karma

23. We Create Our Own Destiny

24. The Two Selves Within You

25. Types of Karma

26. The Wheel of Karma

27. Freedom through Divine Grace

28. Breaking the Fetters of Karma

29. This Too Shall Pass Away!

30. Understanding the World of Maya

31. The Power of Love and Compassion

32. Aspiration for Liberation

33. What is Fate?

34. Change Your Thoughts — Change Your Destiny

35. Practical Suggestions

36. Take Care of Your Thoughts

37. Say No to Negative Emotions

38. God is Watching You!

39. As You Sow ...

40. Take Care of Your Sanga

41. Accept! Accept! Accept!

42. Leave It to God!

43. Do Your Duty!

44. Be Like the Tiger, Not the Fox!

45. Attitude Counts!

46. Yamas and Niyamas

47. Be Vigilant!

48. Cultivate Consciousness!

49. You Are What You Think

50. Right Livelihood

51. Live in the Present

52. Do Good to Others

53. Help Your Brother!

54. Make Your Life Beautiful!

55. Karma — FAQs

56. Karma in the New Age

57. Thus Spoke the Great Ones

IS GOD FAIR?

As I move from place to place, meeting people, offering them the message of the atman, the message of hope, love and peace, time and again people have asked me this question: Is God fair? Our life on this earth is full of pleasant and unpleasant experiences. We pass through difficult times as well as enjoyable times. And even as we move along the pathways of life a period comes – a time comes in the life of each one of us, when we are confronted by the question: Is God fair?

There are times when we are happy; we laugh and sing; we are content with the way things are; everything seems to be going our way; we have all that we need, and many of the things we want. We say, God is gracious; God is great; God is generous! But a stage comes when we hit a rough patch; we pass through a trying phase; we encounter not just one or two, but a series of bitter experiences. Nothing seems to go right with us. We are confronted by problems and sufferings whichever way we turn. It is then that out of the very depths of our hearts comes this cry: Is God fair? Is He just?

Some years ago, I met a young girl, who was just 12 years old. She was one of seven children. They lived a happy and contented life with their parents. They had very little to complain about.

Their father, so this girl said to me, was a wonderful man, who lived a clean, healthy, happy life. He had no bad habits whatever. He was not given to smoking or drinking. He did not indulge in selfish pleasures – he liked to spend all the spare time he had with his family, for he loved them all dearly. He was also an honest and hardworking man. He would often work overtime – just so that he could earn a little more money for the sake of his family.

When he spent time with his children, he would often speak to them of God and His holy saints. He would relate to them stories from the puranas and the great epics. He inculcated good values in his children and encouraged them to grow up to be good human beings.

One night, he complained of pain in the chest. By the time the doctor could be summoned, he passed away.

This girl said to me with tears in her eyes, “My father repeatedly told us that whatever God does is good for us. In every little thing that happens to us, there is a meaning of His mercy. Never ever question the Will of God. Never ever ask why God is doing this to you.”

She found that these wise words were of no avail to her now. Her father had been the only earning member of the family – and now, the seven children and their mother were bereft, lost without him. “Why did God snatch him away from us?” she sobbed. “How could He do this to us? Is God fair?”

There was a sister whom I met. She had been married to a kind and loving man. Soon after their marriage, they went on a honeymoon. They were away for a fortnight – which she found to be the most beautiful period of her life. Her husband loved her dearly, and took care of her with such loving kindness, that she was overwhelmed. He respected her least wish; there was nothing that she asked, which he did not give her. The honeymoon was indeed like a wonderful dream!

But all dreams come to an end – and as the happy couple were returning home, their car was involved in a terrible accident. A truck collided head-on with the vehicle, and the young husband was killed on the spot.

“It’s true God gave me a wonderful husband,” the woman told me. “But what’s the point of snatching him away from me, barely two weeks after we were married? If he had to die so soon, why did God let me get married at all? Is God fair? Is God really fair?”

There lived a devoted couple who had been married for fifteen years. They longed for a baby, but they had been childless for fifteen long years. At last, God heard their prayers, and the wife was thrilled. She whispered in her husband’s ears, “We’re going to have a baby!”

They belonged to a wealthy family and they looked forward to the happy event with great anticipation. Pujas and special prayers were organised; hundreds of people were invited, and everyone was fed and received special gifts. They also gave extensively in charity — old age homes and orphanages were visited, and special service programmes were carried out.

When the baby was born, their joy knew no bounds. On the day of the child’s naming ceremony, a grand banquet was arranged for friends and family. On the same day, the parents visited as many institutions as they could — they carried special gifts and food parcels and fruits for the handicapped, the underprivileged and the destitute. Truly, several lakhs were spent on the happy day!

But just a few days later, the wife passed away due to a mysterious illness. As the husband struggled to cope with this terrible loss, the doctors told him that his child was not normal. Barely a few months old, he suffered from a terrible syndrome — he screamed and howled like an animal; he flew into a rage and wept till he was blue in the face; he was uncontrollable. He was like a little wild animal.

The father was desolate with grief. “Why did God do this to us?” he asked himself repeatedly. “All these years, we got on well without a child. It is true we longed for a child — but we could have gone on without one, for we had each other, and we loved each other! Now God has taken my wife away — and left me alone to care for this child who is like an animal! What does He expect me to do? How does He think I can cope with it all? Is it fair?”

WHY ME?

Our rishis and sages have repeatedly emphasised one fact: every incident, every accident that happens to us, happens because we deserve it. Good and bad fortune are not handed to us on a platter; we have earned them through our own actions. Every action we perform, every incident that befalls us, is a reaction to our past actions. But when misfortune strikes, we fail to realise this.

There was a woman, who devoted the best years of her life to social service. She was pleasant and affable, obliging by nature and brought joy and comfort into the lives of those that were in need. She never ever thought of her own comfort and convenience, but went out of her way to serve as many as she could. Many were the people whose lives she touched, with her kindness and love.

One day, as she was walking along briskly, she suddenly lost her balance and slipped; but she picked herself up and carried on, heedless of the pain. A few days later, as she was returning home at night, she stumbled and fell across the threshold.

This time, she was worried, and went to her doctor for a check-up. The doctor examined her thoroughly and diagnosed her condition to be multiple sclerosis. She had never even heard of the term before. “What is multiple sclerosis?” she asked in perplexity.

The doctor explained to her that multiple sclerosis is a degenerative nerve disease which gathers momentum with the passage of time. It would affect her mobility in due course. She would not be able to walk without the help of someone. She could even be confined to a wheelchair. The doctor also added that the time may come when she could lose all bowel and bladder control. She would be dependent on others for all her routine chores.

The woman was dumbfounded. “Why me?” was her first reaction. “Why did this happen to me of all people? When all my friends are living very healthy and very happy lives, why did this have to happen to me? Is God fair?”

A young man whom I knew well, was running a pharmaceutical business in Mumbai. He was intelligent and hardworking and the business flourished. But as he grew in prosperity, he became more and more inclined towards matters of spirituality. Entrusting his business to the care of a good friend, he began to devote more and more time to spiritual pursuits. His trust in his friend was absolute; he was confident that his business interests would be protected.

Alas, his hopes were belied by his friend’s duplicity. Within a few years, all his assets were lost, and his business was brought to the brink of bankruptcy. He had to sell everything to settle the huge debts incurred.

Undaunted by this misadventure, he decided to seek his fortune abroad. He moved to Los Angles with the help of his friends, and here he set up a new business. He began to do well here too. He was especially proud of the fact that he was always honest and his dealings were all above board. As his finances began to improve, he began to dream of the day when he would be able to return home and resume the spiritual sadhana which he had been forced to give up earlier.

It was not to be. One day, two masked gunmen entered his shop. Holding their guns to his head, they looted the premises, taking away all his money and his goods. For the second time within a few years, financial ruin stared him in the face. On that occasion, he sent me the following letter:

As I write this letter to you, I shed bitter tears. Why is this happening to me? What have I done to deserve this misfortune? I begin the day with a prayer. I take the Lord’s name each morning as I open my shop. I go to bed with His name on my lips. I have never, ever, harmed anyone in my life; I have never wished anyone ill. But I have been exploited and defrauded again and again! Consider the fact that there were over a hundred shops in the arcade where my business is situated. All of them were untouched, while my shop alone was looted. Why did God allow this to happen to me? Is God fair? Is He really fair?

When they are faced with unpleasant or negative experiences, people react stereotypically: Why me? Why did it have to be like this? are the cries we hear at such times. The attitude of the sufferers is that they are victims – innocent victims – while someone else is the culprit, responsible for inflicting them with undeserved pain.

While we can sympathise with this attitude, we must realise that this will deprive us of the opportunity to reflect, introspect and thus recognise our own responsibility for our actions. In fact, by blaming others for our ills, we are only worsening the situation, or giving rise to new problems.

When we face whatever happens to us in a spirit of acceptance, we ward off very many negative feelings such as hatred, envy, malice and resentment. We rise above a sense of personal injustice and grow in the secure sense of Divine Universal Justice. In such a spirit and such a mood, despair and misery are kept out, and we are not overwhelmed by what happens to us.

A few years ago, I was told about a girl, who was a brilliant student at the University. She was doing her M.B.A. and she was expected to top her class. She was sure to get placed as a well-paid executive in one of the best companies in her city. Her mind was totally set on a professional career, and she was not interested in marriage at all.

However, her parents, being like so many parents we know, were very anxious to get her married. They had come across a handsome, wealthy young man who had flown in from the U.S. to visit his family. They were convinced that he would make an excellent husband to their brilliant daughter. They pleaded, coaxed and cajoled her into marriage with this young man.

They were married shortly, and the wedding reception was a grand affair. They went on a short honeymoon, and everything seemed perfect. Soon afterwards, the husband had to leave for the U.S. The girl had to wait for six months, until her visa formalities were completed. When everything was settled, she flew to the U.S. to join her husband.

He was not there at the Airport to receive her when she arrived. Just imagine the plight of a young girl who is flying into a foreign country for the first time in her life — there was no one to meet her. With the help of a kind-hearted fellow traveller, she managed to reach her husband’s house. Her heart beating fast with fear, she knocked at the door. Sure enough, he opened the door. But it was not the happy ending to her story.

“Look here,” he said to her harshly. “I don’t want you here with me. I am married to an American girl, and you can’t stay here with us.”

The girl was thunderstruck. Nothing that she had gone through in life, had prepared her to face such a situation as this. She thought she had not heard him right. What could he mean — he was already married? Why did he have to spoil her life and ruin her career and her future? Why did this have to happen to her — she hadn’t even wanted to get married in the first place!

You could not blame that girl if she raised the question: Is God fair?

A woman met me sometime ago. She had a woeful tale to relate. She and her husband had just one child — a son whom they loved dearly. He grew up to be a fine boy. He was intelligent, well-behaved and good-natured. He was endowed with many qualities of culture and character. He was studying to become an engineer, and was living in a hostel attached to the engineering college. One day, as he was riding on the pillion of his friend’s two-wheeler, they were hit by a truck. His friend, who was driving the scooter, escaped with minor injuries; but this boy was killed on the spot.

When the news was communicated to the parents, they were stunned. The mother became unconscious, and had to be hospitalised. The father caught the next flight to the city where his son had lived, for he had to undertake the painful task of identifying his son’s body and carrying out his last rites. While he was on board the plane, he had a massive heart attack. When the plane landed, the doctors who had been summoned to attend to him, pronounced him dead.

With tear-filled eyes, this woman said to me, “I lost my son, who was the apple of my eye. I lost my husband, who was everything to me. Now, I’m afraid I shall loose my sanity. Does God have no mercy on us? Does He have no sympathy for the souls whom He has created? Is there any justice in this Universe? Is God fair?”

I know a young woman who lives in Singapore. She is pious and God-fearing, and an active member of a Yoga Club in Singapore. A few years ago, she travelled to India along with her family members. They visited a number of sacred shrines. They met holy men, spiritual teachers whom they respected, and sought their blessings. Their trip to this country was veritably a pilgrimage. They returned to Singapore, spiritually rejuvenated.

A few days thereafter, their office premises were gutted by fire, and precious documents and equipment were destroyed. The girl was distraught. “Why did this have to happen to us?” she cried. “We visited India in a spirit of reverence, we sought the blessings of so many holy ones! How could God do this to us? Is God fair? Is He really fair?”

WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE...

The story is the same wherever I go. People say to me: we have been honest and hardworking; we have not hurt or exploited anyone; we have done as much good as we could; and yet we have had to suffer. What could be the reason for this? Could it be that God is not really fair?

Some people believe that there are certain disciplines, certain practices which they must carry out — certain obligations they owe to God; and if they fail to fulfill them, they or their dear ones will be punished. One such woman met me when I visited Ottawa in Canada. She told me that she recited the second, twelfth and the eighteenth chapters of the Gita everyday, before she took her lunch. She also observed the Satyanarayan fast every month. But during a whole month, she missed out on the recitation and the fast, due to one reason or the other. The day after the missed Satyanarayan fast, her husband, who was perfectly healthy and normal, suffered a stroke, and has remained paralysed since then. The woman put to me the question that was uppermost in her mind: “Has this anything to do with my failure to read from the scriptures and observe the fast? Is there any cause-and-effect relationship between the two? Is God such a rigid taskmaster? Is He really fair?”

A learned Rabbi has written a book entitled When Bad Things Happen To Good People. In this book he tells us how suddenly, his three year old son was afflicted with a disease called progeria. Neither he nor his wife were even aware of a disease of that name. “What is progeria?” they asked the doctor, bewildered by the suddenness of it all.

The effect of the disease, the doctor explained, would be that the boy would not grow taller than three feet; that he would remain bald, and would age rapidly. Even as a child, he would have the appearance of an old man.

The Rabbi was grief stricken. “Why has God permitted an innocent child to become the victim of such a terrible disease?” he asked. “This little boy has never harmed or hurt anyone. Why is he being exposed to such physical and psychological torture?”

In his book, the Rabbi gives us several other cases similar to this one, and comes to a startling conclusion:

God is not omnipotent, all-powerful as we believe Him to be. God has limited power. Within these limitations, God can exercise his discretion. But there are certain grey areas where He is helpless. There are certain forces that He cannot control. And when these forces operate, God has no way of helping you. His power is limited and defined.

This is the conclusion that the learned Rabbi reaches in his book. “Here was I, who had dedicated my entire life to the service of God,” the Rabbi tells us. “Why did such a terrible affliction strike my child?” Thus, he concludes, there are several incidents and accidents of life over which God has no control. When such troubles and trials confront man, God remains a passive spectator, who is powerless to intervene.

And so we return to the question which has haunted us again and again — Is God fair? Is God fair?

GOD IS FAIR!

If you look upon life as a journey, as many great writers have done, then you will know that this journey takes us at times through pleasant green meadows and lush river valleys; but at other times, this journey takes us through dry, arid deserts and dark, mysterious woods. Everyone of us knows this; everyone of us has experienced this in his or her own life. There are times when we feel on top of the world; there are times when we feel very depressed and despondent. When times are good, we are happy, we rejoice and offer gratitude to the Lord. But when things go wrong, we lose our equilibrium. We begin to question the justice of the Universe. It is at such moments that this question rises in the heart within — Is God Fair? Is God really Fair?

Before you try to answer this question yourself, before you finally decide whether God is fair or otherwise, I would wish to draw your attention to four very important points:

1. We have all been given the freedom of choice. God has bestowed on each and every individual, the right of freedom — the same degree of freedom that God has kept for himself. Man is free to choose — between vice and virtue, good and evil, selfishness and service. Man can choose to be selfish or unselfish. He can choose to be a sinner or a saint. He can choose to move on the path of evil, even become a criminal. He can choose to become a thief or a murderer. Equally, he can choose to move on the way of virtue, he can become a God on earth. The choice is entirely his.

But remember, if the right to freedom of choice is vested within him, it follows that the responsibility for his actions also rests with him; for we cannot have rights without responsibilities. At every step on the road of life, we have the freedom to choose the direction in which we move.

Now, if I choose to move on the path of good, I go forward; I progress; I evolve spiritually. If I choose to move on the path of evil, I regress; I am pushed backwards. If I choose wrong over right, evil over good, how can I blame God for what results from my action?

This is the difference between men and animals. Animals do not have a mind or will of their own, to act as per their choice. They act without ulterior motive. They are only impelled by blind instincts. Suppose a man is crossing a jungle; he is confronted by a hungry man-eater who leaps on him, attacks him, tears his flesh to pieces and feeds on him! How can any blame accrue to the animal in this terrible incident? The animal was hungry; it killed and ate its victim. It was only acting according to its instincts, for it can act in no other way.

Now, if you or I were hungry, we do have a choice. We can lay our hand on the nearest chicken or lamb that we find, kill the dumb, defenceless animal, and feed on its flesh. Or we can shun this kind of violence, and choose the food of ahimsa, in the form of fruits and vegetables. The choice is ours, and the responsibility for our action rests with us. If we make the wrong choice, we must prepare to face up to its unpleasant consequences.

We have no right to take away the life of a creature, just to satisfy our appetites. Life, after all, is God’s gift, and when I cannot bestow life on any creature, what right do I have to take it away? When we make the choice between good and evil, right and wrong, we determine the consequences of our own action. If we choose right, we attain happiness; if we choose wrong, we have to confront distress and misery. Amidst joy and pleasure and success, we invariably forget God; but the moment sorrow strikes, we rush to God with prayers and entreaties. We complain, “What have You done? Why is this happening to me?”

The Upanishads