Every day, we see good things happen on earth just as we see bad things. While we are happy when good things happen, we get shattered when tragedies attack. Of course, it's bad when some good people known to us seem to be victims of injustice. It is even worse when believers in God, face helpless situations when seemingly unfair misfortunes strike them. Many people continue to live in ignorance as to why such things happen, but there are some who believe that there must be a reason. These bad things are not happening without something causing them to happen.
No doubt bad things happen in this world, but they are not a dictate of the Divine. Everything in this world unfolds based on a Universal Law – the Law of Action and Reaction. Recently, this has gained popularity as the Law of Karma. What is this law?
The Law of Karma states, “As you sow, so shall you reap.” If you plant apples, you will get apples, not mangoes. It is the law that prevails everywhere in the universe. Nobody can escape from this law.
While we see this law unfolding on planet earth in many ways, there is no proof of this law. Just like the several Universal Laws in this world, these laws exist and we know of them only through inference. Can we prove the Law of Gravity? We can't! But when we throw an object up in the sky, why does it come back down to earth? We infer that this is due to gravity and this establishes by inference, the existence of the Law of Gravity.
Just like the Law of Gravity has no proof, but is accepted through inference, so is the Universal Law of Action and Reaction accepted through inference. When we plant mangoes, we don't expect jackfruits to appear on the tree. Such is the law. Just as this law unfolds, and we reap what we sow, its application is universal – it applies to everyone and everywhere on earth.
This law is also known as the Law of the Boomerang which states that what goes around, comes around. It is very natural for good deeds to beget good responses just as bad deeds can expect bad reactions in return. Despite the existence of this Universal Law of Karma, we human beings are unable to decipher why bad things happen to us. Isn't it obvious that it is our own bad deeds that are coming back to us? When good people suffer, why are we unable to realize that it must be the Universal Law that is causing the suffering? More so, why do we blame God for everything that happens on earth? Why don't we understand that whatever is happening, is happening as per the Divine Universal Law of Action and Reaction, also known as the Law of Karma?
What is this Universal Law of Karma and how does it work? The law as we understand states 'what we give is what we get'. Every action of ours, good or bad, is recorded by the universe. Our good of the past unfolds as good circumstances, just as our bad deeds will cause us to suffer. The Universal Law of Karma makes no mistake. It keeps on recording our actions. Even at death, our karmic account is not wiped out. The balance in our karmic account becomes the cause of our next birth. Therefore, all our actions, good or bad, become the cause of our circumstances and we cannot escape from our own actions. The law is so powerful that even death cannot nullify our score. In fact, the law seems to have 3 types of accounts. One account is the corpus or the carried forward account with the reservoir of our actions. At the end of our life, whatever be our balance, plus or minus, it gets added to our corpus. It is from this corpus, positive or negative, that our next life is decided.
To understand the Law of Karma, and appreciate it in its entire context, we must understand the 3 accounts and how these 3 accounts work. Each of us human beings must act. We cannot escape from action. Action may be either good or bad. Every good action will be marked positively and beget a good reaction, just as every bad deed will be marked negatively and will be returned as an unfortunate circumstance. The Universal Law of Karma cannot be circumvented. Nobody can escape from the law. As we live, we have a current account of Karma. The current account is recording all our current actions, good or bad. Sometimes, our good and bad actions cause an immediate positive or negative reaction as per the law. But there are times when these deeds get deposited in our account for a future redemption. No human being dies settling their entire karmic account. Death is uncertain and sudden, and whenever it comes, there is an unsettled account of good and bad that gets transferred into our corpus or 'carry forward' account. This is like a warehouse of our Karma. Because there is an unsettled good and bad account, our body dies, but ME – the Mind and the Ego, has to be reborn to face the good and bad that is unsettled. In fact, the circumstances of our birth or rebirth as we may call it, depends on our karmic account. If we have large positive balance, we are born in very fortunate circumstances. But if we have a large negative balance, then we may be born, only to suffer misery, misfortune or poverty.
Our corpus or warehouse of Karma is not just the closing balance of this life, but probably a cumulative balance of several lives that we may have lived. Each life has a current account for the present life, but each life also has an opening balance. The opening balance is derived from the corpus or warehouse and is to do with what will unfold in our current life.
To understand the Universal Law of Action and Reaction, popularly known as the Law of Karma, we must be absolutely clear with all the 3 accounts that exist in the law. Let us imagine that John was a criminal who created misery, not only in the life of the rich but also stole from the poor. There was no crime that he did not do. He murdered, he raped and he stole, but it seemed like his life was perfect. It looked like he was immune to the Law of Karma. He was rich and famous, and enjoyed all the luxuries of life. These present circumstances of John were the result of his previous actions when he was Smith. Smith was a pious, God-fearing human being, who served not only his family, his neighbours and his community, but also reached out to animals on the street that suffered without any care. Smith had a lot of positive Karma, but he died without redeeming the fruit of his good deeds. Smith was reborn as John and thus, was enjoying the rewards of actions that were performed when he was Smith. Suddenly one day, John got cancer and died. Was it all? No! John had wiped out the good deeds that he had earned when he was Smith. Now he has tonnes of negative Karma for all his crimes that are left unsettled as his death.
John now takes rebirth as David. David has no feet and is blind. To everyone, it seems that God must be cruel to let such a child be born. But those who understand the law realize that this child who would soon be called David is carrying forward the negative Karma of John.
We must clearly understand that death is not the end - only the body dies, but the one who was alive, the ME – the mind and ego, is reborn and carries the unsettled Karma, not just of the previous life, but sometimes of several lives. In this case, if John's crimes are too heavy, then David cannot settle the negative Karma in his lifetime, but may have to be born one more time with even more misfortune and suffering to negate the crimes done by John. Such is the way the law seems to work.
Therefore, how many accounts must we be conscious of that every 'ME' creates? A Mind + Ego =ME, never dies. It moves from one body to another along with its Karma. It carries a carried forward corpus or warehouse of Karma. In the above instance, the ME was rst born as Smith, then John and nally David. It seems like 3 different lives, but actually it is one. Just because I change my shirt and wear a T-Shirt, do I become a different person? So also, the one who was Smith, changed the body to John and later David, but the account of the Karma was the same. When Smith was born, the circumstances of his birth depended on what his corpus balance was. Probably, it was positive balance and Smith was a peaceful man. Because Smith did good deeds, his current account was also positive and in the end, his corpus became even more positive.
From this very positive corpus of Karma, a large chunk was used as the opening balance of John's life. If there was no balance in the corpus, then this chunk could not be used to ensure a luxurious life for John. By using the corpus, the good Karma no more exists because it is redeemed. Instead of making the opening balance of positive Karma increase, John's crimes not only wipe away the positive balance of the opening Karma, but also creates tonnes of negative Karma which gets added to the corpus when John dies. Prior to being John, the corpus was positive. But after living as a criminal, the corpus is now burdened with a huge negative. Therefore, when David is born, he is born in miserable circumstances. This is needed to wipe off the negative corpus. There is no opportunity for David to be born in positive circumstance. However, David's birth with so much misfortune has wiped out the negative corpus which was redeemed as a negative opening balance. Now depending on David's actions, his Karma will get added to the corpus at death and will ultimately decide what the 4th generation of this ME will be.
To understand why bad or good things happen, we must perfect ourselves in the understanding of the Law of Karma. Those who understand the law and accept it, do not question whatever happens on earth. They know that they cannot stop certain things from happening as these are our own Karma returning to us. Those who understand the law well, do not question why bad things happen. They do not wonder why good people suffer, nor do they hold God responsible for our misery. They know the answer to all these questions is the Law of Karma , the Universal Law of Action and Reaction. However, it is not easy to understand this law. The karmic law which is a universal principle unfolds in a manner that bafes humanity. Although it is a law that operates everywhere on earth, and no nation can escape it, no religious group can avoid it and no living being can circumvent it, we human beings continue to ask questions because we are ignorant about this law and how it unfolds and operates.
Why are some people born in fortunate circumstances, just as some others are born in unfortunate ones? This is because of their karmic account. People who have lived a good pious life, with kindness and compassion, doing good deeds, have built a positive corpus of Karma. Their next birth will be in happy and healthy circumstances. On the contrary, those who have lived bad lives, with cruelty and heartlessness, harming others, causing terror and destruction, build a negative karmic account. They can be expected to suffer in their next birth. While there is no proof of this, we understand the existence of this law by inference. Why else would some people suffer and some celebrate on their next journey on earth? It seems there is no other option than their own past actions that are the cause of joy or sorrow in their next birth.
When we are born, we carry with us some portion of our corpus as an opening balance of our present life. This is the cause of our positive or negative circumstances. Added to the opening balance, are actions of our present life. Good or bad, positive or negative, all our actions get recorded in the current balance which merges with the opening balance. While the opening balance causes our present circumstances, our present actions can do both – wipe out the sins of our past Karma and lay the seeds of our future through good present actions and create a destiny of our dreams.
At the end of our life, whatever be the balance, the ones we carried forward, as well as all the actions of this life, will be accounted, totalled and the balance will be added to the corpus so that it decides our next birth.
God has no direct role to play in the working of this law. God has created this Universal Law but God doesn't decide whether we will have positive or negative circumstances. God doesn't decide whether good things or bad things will happen in our life. This is decided by the Law of Karma as per our own actions. Such is the Universal Law!
While the entire universe works on the principles of Universal Laws and the Law of Karma is one such law that we cannot escape from, it is strange that we human beings blame God for what happens in our life. When bad things happen in this world, we are unable to realize that these our own past actions unfolding as per the Universal Law. When good people suffer, we are unable to understand because we are ignorant about this Universal Law. Our ignorance is so deep, that we go about blaming God for the bad things that happen to us on earth. If only we understand the meaning of this Universal Law of Karma and how it works, we would not blame God. We would not regret the tragedies that unfold in our life. We will not be surprised when we see some good people suffer. If we realize the truth, we will not ask the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
