Sophia a mother of two had a peaceful and comfortable life. Her children, one son and a daughter, were very good at studies and focused about their career. They were obedient, sincere and helpful; just what every parent could ask from their children. They had a family business which was going on well and both the parents being of a helpful nature were involved in social activities. Then, suddenly, calamity struck and before anyone could understand it, one day, the mother receives a call that her son has died in a freak road accident. Not at all a rash driver, she is unable to digest the news.
Her world is shattered and she finds herself asking the question; “Why me”?
“What wrong have I ever done in my life to deserve such a disaster”?
Though being a student of Psychology herself, she had joined my program on counseling just to find out the answer to this very question. “Why did it have to ever happen to me?”
Individuals like Sophia are many, who would be asking this question. But at a deeper level it means only one thing – misery is related to some past Karma.
Is this the only way to understand Karma?
There are usually two paths that are taken as a reaction to any situation that has occurred, esp. if it leads to misery.
The Cause based approach – Here, the subject tries to find a reason for being in that particular situation. This is often necessary as this allows the person to acknowledge personal contribution in the problematic situation. For example, a person may suffer sudden losses in a business and on closer scrutiny may realize that it was some carelessness or a personal decision that turned out to be wrong and led to the losses. This awareness allows the person to be careful in future transactions and minimize the chances of any further losses. But what if, getting weighed down by the situation, the person loses focus of the larger goals and gets stuck in finding out the reason of the calamity that occurred?
More often,
- The person even takes up an attitude of self-pity, thus remaining busy in drowning one- self in the tales of suffering rather than taking the necessary action to handle the situation or
- Develops a feeling of guilt over some unknown wrong doing, or
- Also gives unnecessary consideration/ identification of some innocuous personal act as the wrong Karma, followed by guilt over it,
- Develops anger, frustration towards whatever one understands as The Divine.
- Over indulges in performing acts of pacification; including prayers, pooja, havans, etc. to nullify the effects of this wrong karma and maybe,
- Develops over anxiety with regards to every act under the fear of not repeating any further wrong karma
The question is whether this is the only way to understand karma?
Action based approach – Isn’t Karma actually about actions? Is it always important to find out the reason for being in a particular situation OR rather important to find
a way out or handle the situation?
As reported in a newspaper, a few years ago, a lady travelling with her family met with an accident. The lady, coincidentally a doctor herself, unfortunately realized that her family members are dead, but before she could grieve about it, she realized that there are some more people affected by the accident, still alive. Keeping her grief aside, she went on to attend and save the lives of those who could be saved, rather than wasting her time grieving over those who are already dead.
Now that the board exam results are out, daily, we read news about children who have overcome great odds to score brilliantly in the exams. There are children who have lost their parents; there are those who had to study every day in the midst of blaring music, or those who had to work to pay for their school fees. Then there may be those in the villages, who had to travel long distances daily, on foot, to reach their school, for whom a school bag, a uniform, or even footwear could have been a luxury. But they chose to remain sincere to their objective and certainly were successful at that.
Then there are also those who rise from poverty to set up their own business houses.
There are those who, after facing severe injustice, learn to fight it and soon reach a position to help the oppressed.
These are the people who usually do not waste their valuable time either asking or crying over the reason for their pitiable situation. They are rather those who choose to be responsible for their own life, the way they want it.
So, is misery related to some past karma? Maybe yes, maybe no.
For the real karma yogi, this question is irrelevant, since it relates to the past. The real Karma is about the present moment and, given a particular situation, the relevant question to be asked would be, NOW WHAT (action)?
Viewed from this perspective, misery thus rather becomes an opportunity to choose our karmas wisely and rise above the given situation. And, greater the misery, greater is the opportunity.