Decoding Karma - Part 1

Posted on Sep 26, 2020 by Ms. Sonal Narang

Listen to this audio blog:

Nidhi:

Hello Ms. Sonal, it is lovely to explore and share thoughts with like-minded people. Welcome to the School of Unlearning. To begin with, how would you describe karma?

Ms. Narang:

Karma! The mysterious karma is considered to be a cool word today, so much so that it has a place in the English dictionary now, and the Gallup polls show an increase in percentage of people, not only in the eastern world, but also in the western world, who believe in karma.

Many memes doing the rounds also suggest that Karma is a restaurant where we do not need to order food, we are served whatever we have cooked all our lives.

Here, we cannot overemphasize the fact that karma is not just a belief or a cool concept but an accurate science, a science of consequences to be borne by each one of us.

Nidhi:

Wow! That’s a nice thought; can you decode karma a little further for us?

Ms. Narang:

Taking a leaf from the manual of our lives, Bhagavad Gita, we can attempt to decode karma, where Krishna says in 4.17…

“The intricacies of action/karma are very hard to understand. Therefore one should know properly what action (karma) is, what forbidden action (vikarma) is and what inaction (akarma) is.”

Karma means action. For everything we do through mind, word and body are all considered as karma.

Also, karma stands for the accumulated account of our action over multiple births. It is like an eternal bank account of a soul. All your good and bad deeds are accumulated in that. Both good and bad are maintained separately. We accumulate this karma in numerous births we take in different forms (rocks, minerals, plants, birds, animals and humans).

Nidhi:

So you actually come to the point, that one’s Karma has a direct contribution towards how your life unfolds?

Ms. Narang:

Absolutely!

Illustrating this point further, let me narrate a short story about the all-attractive Krishna in an ancient temple, standing all day with His flute and bestowing His mercy on His devotees. He shared a beautiful relationship with the sweeper of the temple. One fine day, the sweeper wished to relieve the Lord of the stress of standing the whole day by taking His place instead and giving Him the comfort of some rest. Krishna warns him not to take any decisions or actions but simply take up His position on the temple altar.

The day begins with a wealthy businessman coming to pray who forgets his loaded money purse behind. He is followed by a poor labourer who begs for some money for food for his family. As he opens his eyes after praying, he sees the purse and takes it along as a blessing from the Lord. Next comes a sailor in a prayerful mood, wishing for his safe journey and for the protection of the family that he was leaving behind. His prayer is rudely interrupted by the arrival of the rich man with the police, accusing him of the theft of the money purse. At this point, the duplicate Lord on the altar, unable to tolerate the injustice being meted out to the sailor, intervenes and clarifies the entire matter.

That evening, when Krishna and the sweeper exchange their places, Krishna is aghast to know of the turn of the events that had taken place during the day. The sweeper had interfered with Krishna’s plan which included the rich man meeting with an accidental death in the coming few days. Since the rich man had not done any good karma, Krishna had planned to utilize his money for the poor labourer, not only to help the rich man accumulate some good karma before his death but also to provide the poor man’s family with food. The sailor, on the other hand, was destined to be arrested by the police in order to save his life from the sailing ship that was going to sink.

The intricacies of Krishna’s plan amazed the sweeper. This is exactly how our lives are coded by Him based on our karma though he does give us some free will and independence but the consequences are predominantly predestined.

Nidhi:

That was interesting. So if we ever are at a crossroad, confused and disturbed about the direction your life has taken, we should not fret and fume but accept that this was destined to happen?

Ms. Narang:

Yes, indeed, acceptance and tolerance are the key pointers to a truly peaceful and happy life.

We can also understand this well using the example of a credit card and a debit card. In the case of a credit card, a metaphor for forbidden action/vikarma, we enjoy first in terms of committing sins and pay later whereas the vice versa happens with a debit card, we pay for it first through some good karma and then enjoy the results later.

Now, interestingly, the law/science of karma is a universal law like Newton’s law of gravity. As per this simple law, every action has a reaction and every cause has an effect. The Bible also emphatically states that - As you sow, so shall you reap!

This law of karma is unbelievably accurate and nobody can escape its glance. Hundreds might walk on the roads, but only that one particular person might meet with an accident.

Also, the law of karma, like any other law, is completely impartial.

Nidhi:

That was quite insightful, but it also churns a few doubts in our mind, like, why then do we see many vikarmis enjoying life without any apparent effects of bad karma?