Karma - 4

As all of us go about conducting the business of living, we make plans and put in the required effort to execute those plans. Simultaneously something else happens around us – Nature goes about unfolding our karma at the appropriate times throughout our lives – a timing known to Nature alone. We thus face the results of two types of actions, first our own and secondly those of others and the world around i.e. Nature. This second set of results is our karma, that some call fate or naseeb, executed for us by Nature through various means including the people we interact with and the lightening in the sky.

Karmic results require no special effort on our part in order to unfold. Thus, whereas it takes a lot of effort to get a home built and many make that effort, it takes little effort to accept another as a part of an inheritance. The first home comes primarily as a result of our efforts whereas the second comes mostly from our karma – which too is a result of our own deeds, an indirect one though, that was noted by nature on some past occasion and the resulting karma then allocated.

We can move with the flow, making little effort, and watch our karma as it unfolds. However that might include an unfortunate encounter with the mad slapper who goes about slapping strangers on the street. If we make no effort to resist we would get hurt. If we make the required effort than we can prevent getting hurt. We could get slapped and slap back, but then we might cause another similar encounter in future because of having generated that sort of karma. The right thing to do would be to defend, even run away and report the matter to the authorities. The right thing to do in any given situation, if it does not involve any personal motivation, anger or gain is often the will of the Universe.

Of the innumerable sorts of karma that lie in store for us, each has a certain weight or significance. Those that affect others and us only slightly for brief periods of time are the less significant and lighter ones. Others that affect a large number of persons or affect us for long periods of our life are heavier ones. It takes little effort on our part to change the results of the lighter karma but the heavier karma requires an immense effort to change. It may be beyond our capacity to change and one must decide in each situation if the effort is worth it.

If it is Karmically destined that we should have a meal of rice for dinner today, then that is a light karma that can be changed with little effort. You can have noodles instead. If it the design of our nose that is a heavier one and perhaps we might wish to reconsider getting a nose job done. The day we decide to go to the ocean for a holiday is not an extremely heavy karma. With little effort we can choose the date. The day Tony Blair becomes the Prime Minister of UK is a heavier one because that choice affects the lives of millions. It may be beyond Tony’s efforts to change that Karma. It is for this reason that Political leaders and kings of lore had great faith in oracles and astrologers- persons who could divine the future. The fate of kings was so beset and controlled by heavy karma that it could not be changed easily and was therefore a fit subject for prediction. A gypsy woman predicted the fate of Queen Victoria while she was still in the womb, prompting her father to rush to England with the unborn child even though he did not have the money for the trip nor a room to live in England. The day I visit the beach, on the other hand requires so little effort to change that it is beyond the effort of the best clairvoyant in the world to predict. I will just go on another day.

As we go about conducting the business of living, it requires tremendous effort to achieve our goals. There are millions who struggle from morning to night, some like the ants on our planet, achieve no more than decent survival. There might be another easier way to meet these goals. There is in fact, and it is the Karmic route. Produce the sort of Karma that will get you the same results and the Universe will grant the results with relative ease. People like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and the Queen of England have taken that karmic route, whereas the rest of us continue to struggle. Without doubt, an understanding of the workings of Karma and the Will of the universe will help us discover those routes and help us minimize our efforts. The angels of this universe do not work a moment for their living yet all the comforts of the Universe are at their command.

Many rich persons make large donations to churches, school and temples. Religious organizations thrive on it. It is not because these human organizations are fully sound. Some of the donation is misused. The donor knows that. But the donor also knows that these organizations bring solace and a place of prayer for the innocent and gullible. Thus they help to bring about a positive change in the lives of many. Nature records it as positive karma and gives back greater riches until one becomes as rich as a King. In the meantime, those of us who are wiser and understand the hypocrisies of such organizations suffer because of such wisdom. Some who are not so rich spend a portion of their incomes to aid the poor, producing results in the same direction. The rewards of good karma cannot be escaped just as the results of bad karma cannot be avoided. Nevertheless, the rich man who has made a donation to a temple as a trick to produce good karma generates the karma of getting tricked back. Some day when the good karma is exhausted and his name has faded from the announcement plate, Nature tricks him by leaving him high and dry. A politician who earns his bread and butter by making false promises to the electorate, finds one day that his bread has been snatched away through false promises by the very same electorate. The thief who becomes rich finds that he loses his riches through theft. As you sow so shall you reap! Some of the Karma unfolds in the human courts of law that too are a part of Nature. One may however escapes the eyes of the law. One cannot escape the Universal Eye.

Deep within us lies an unaffected and pure part of the Universal Consciousness that knows the truth of matters. Often we move happily without any doubt or resistance on a course of action. It is the inner voice guiding us and assuring us that our effort is in the right direction. There are other times when we have a great reluctance to do something that we have planned out to do. It is the inner voice that is telling us that there may be a better way or better time to do the same thing. As we go about doing whatever we do, we generate more karma. However if we do whatever we do out of a sense of duty and because it is the right thing to do, leaving the results and outcomes in the hands of the Universe then the very same act becomes a co-operation with Nature. It may generate no karma and the Universe may then co-operate with us in meeting our genuine needs.

More about Karma here:
http://someitemshave.blogspot.in/2010/08/karma-1.html