People should primarily know the mode of achieving contentment in life and attain higher spiritual and material standards. If not, their life would be miserable with full of hardships, alike who didn’t learn how to drive and started driving a vehicle. People would question the existence of God and how does He manages it. If we keep aside this question and think about what drives this universe, the answer would be ‘Karma’. It is also known as Destiny.
God and Karma
Understand that God exhibits no favouritism, and everything a person experience, whether it be good, is because of the fruits of their karma. There is no relation between God and the results of an individual’s Karma. Karma itself plays a major role. The Universe is the kingdom of God. A king always has authority over his kingdom. Similarly, God has the authority over and above the Universe. Nothing happens without His order, plan, or strategy.
Sanchita and Prarabdha Karma
People are born, enjoy many comforts, sorrows, endure a variety of circumstances in life and die one day. The basis for all this is the karma they performed and one deduces that the effect of karma isn’t restricted to one or hundred or lakhs and millions of lives. This is called ‘Sanchita Karma’ i.e. accumulation of deeds of a person’s millions of lives. A component of Sanchita karma is Prarabdha Karma, which is the fruit of a few of the deeds performed. Unfortunately, there is very little awareness of the principle of Karma, as many of the preachers indulge only in poetry, fiction, or mythological stories. The Karma created in past lives yielding results in the present life is quite inevitable, yet remarkably many are still ignorant of the law of Karma.
Karma, do with common sense
One must be able to perform Karma with common sense. For example, meditating near a pile of ants and feeling discomfort by an ant bite is merely a lack of common sense, but not because of Karma. Even if a person is cautious enough walking on the street and still slips into a hole, then that accounts for his Karma, and doesn’t be silly to attribute everything to past Karma. Any man can’t be idle doing no deed, though it is for a second. Just like breathing and heartbeat, the execution of Karma by anyone is continuous. Here, sleeping, taking a tablet, talking, thinking everything becomes Karma. Usually, the root of evil deeds is Karma itself. A person’s intellect is controlled by his previous Karma. In a cyclical process, one should understand that ethical deeds will lead to good Karma whereas, bad Karma will provoke to carryout unethical deeds.
Gautama Buddha's life -Two instances :
“Karma has no Menu you get served what you deserve.” - Gautama Buddha.
The First Instance:
A disciple of Buddha, by name Chakshupala, was a blind sage. One day, Buddha revealed the reason behind the impaired vision of Chakshupala to all the Bhikshus, teaching them the essence of Karma. In one of his births, Chakshupala was an ophthalmologist. A blind lady had approached him, asking to restore her eyesight for serving him for a lifetime in exchange. He accepted the offer and restored her eyesight. But the lady deceived him. Furious at her betrayal, he made her lose sight by giving a medicine. You know the fruit what he accrued? Born blind for many incarnations. This is the law of Karma..
What to learn from it?
Karma leaves no one unpunished, no matter it be a man in power or an amateur. There was a system in Indian monarchy, where the king orders his ministers to validate the criminal investigation and then announces the punishment. Karma executed the same here, where Chakshupala took away the lady’s sight easily but was unknown of the fact that he has to bear the consequence of that sinful act, by living a disabled life of being blind for several incarnations to come.
“When a bird is alive, it eats ants. When the bird is dead, ants eat the bird. Time and circumstances can change. Don’t devalue or hurt anyone in life. You may be powerful today, but remember, time is more powerful than you. One tree makes a million matchstick, but only one match is needed to burn a million trees. So be good and do good.” - Gautama Buddha.
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