Negative karma by default in mankind
Man by nature is into performing bad karma. It is always so easy to harm someone or something, steal, quarrel, and be selfish. It is in our nature to pick up undesirable and negative habits or go about performing negative karmas all the time. This is why it is for the parents to inculcate good habits in children. This is why children spend so many years in school to learn about the world, good habits and discipline themselves.
The easiest of all things that most people do when in a group, is talk about other people; criticize and find faults in others. Plan ways, to get their own way, even if it hurt others. Sometimes, you find someone speaking to another person very politely, giving an impression of being a good friend, no sooner the person turns away, his expression changes and he criticizes and talks badly about the person. This is bad karma and such karma is built into mankind. It is upon us to shed these types of karmas from our personality and discourage those with such habits. Such karma brings sadness and misery upon us; it is the bad effect of criticizing someone behind their back. It is better, we tell that person very politely, about his habits, we do not like in them, rather than talk behind their back.
Man, the king of his karma.
Electricity, you can use it to light a bulb or run your fridge, it is all productive. When you use electricity to electrocute and kill someone, it is counterproductive. Fire, you can use for cooking or heat your room, it is productive, but when you use it to burn down a home it becomes counterproductive. In the same way, your mind could be used for productive actions, words, thoughts, and behavior. In the same way, your mind could also be used to plan and plot criminal, unproductive activities, thoughts and actions. These decisions to use your mind for drifting into your imaginary kingdom, productive or unproductive and criminal thoughts are all influenced since your birth. So many factors influence your way of utilizing your mind, in the way you are utilizing it now. Your mind is influenced and shaped to think the way you do, is how your parents had treated you as a child, their response towards your actions and their concern for you. What you observed all your life and who treated you how, what you studied and what type of people you got associated with. The entire lifetime of observation, experience and learning goes into shaping your mind, which in turn, thinks, acts and uses words that builds up your personality. This is why you see some people are so dignified and speak in a manner befitting a gentleman, while in the same breath you see another person who cannot even utter a single sentence correctly and disgusts people around them. They may be people with almost the same intellect but with different family background and influence. Same situation may be dealt with one person in a very tactful way avoiding any animosity or violence while another person may go all out in creating violence and animosity, creating undue stress and excitement in the process. How varied is man’s mind is anybody’s guess. It is a pity, since time immemorial man was born and died without using his mind to the fullest. Most of us may have utilized about 3% to 5 % of our mind’s ability to reason, think, and act. Only some successful people may have been able to utilize their mind up to 60% or above their capability. This figure is also doubtful when you see the potential available to man in furthering his knowledge in all spheres of science, technology, and spirituality. With time, we see that we have not been able to conquer even a percent of what our mind can do for us. We have mostly been able to use our mind for survival strategies and sometimes in philosophical thoughts, which again forms a very small percentage of what we can think and learn. Why are there so many limitations and hurdles for mankind in utilizing their minds? Perhaps I would say it is natural and inherent to mankind to underutilize his mind. Mostly, because man, by nature detests making efforts in any form, mental or physical and again because mankind had always been busy, first learning and then earning to survive. Nature has smartly put man into a situation where man spends most of his lifetime in first growing up, then learning, gaining experience and finally earning for himself and his family. Therefore, out of the limited life span that man is gifted with, very little time is left for mankind in fully utilizing his mental capability, thereby leaving a major portion of his mind underutilized at the time of his death.
It is not up to what extent we could use the capability of our mind, it is important to know the way we used it. As I said earlier, the same mind could plan a bank robbery or plan opening a school or hospital for the masses. In the same way, every living mind needs to see his capability being utilized for progressive and positive purpose. When we plan, plot, and organize any negative deeds, naturally, it is never progressive, it is also against the society we live in, and never healthy for the mind itself, that thinks negative.
The minds of each one of us belong solely to each one of us. We control our minds; we plan, imagine, and update our minds with different materials at different times. Our minds will respond and function to the input we had provided to it, day after day and year after year. If we provide healthy input to our minds, in the form of reading self-help books, watching reality and nature’s way on TV, discuss, and think rationally and logically, naturally our mind will be geared to perform in a noble and progressive way. Instead, if we watch pornography on TV and read books and magazines with derogatory subjects, we will be pathetic in our ways and actions. It is our mind and we can do as we please with it. There is no law yet, that will monitor our mind and punish us for any unkindly thoughts. Again coming back to nature, as I said, nature’s ways are smarter and logical. Even though there is no law restricting you or punishing you for any unholy or negative thought that you may harbor in your mind, but certainly all such thoughts that influence your mind, one day, let you pay the price heavily. These are the results of your planning and plotting with your mind for years together. Let us see this from a different perspective.
Man owns his mind and therefore, he can charter the course of his mind first by collecting thoughts and then putting those thoughts into planning and then putting those plans into action. This is why man is the “King of his own karma”. This is why we have billions of different people each with his very own mental signature and his mark upon this world we live in, significant or insignificant, whatever it may be. On one side we have Aristotle, Hommer, Plato, and Paultrich; who used their minds in finding secrets of nature and discovering various natural laws while we had Jesus, Lord Buddha and Mahavira showing the path of peace and repentance, in contrast we had people like Hitler, Barbarians, and Huns who used their minds in destructive ways. These people are the living examples of the capabilities of mans’ mind.
Man can definitely be the king of his own karma, there is no law allowing him not to be so; but at what costs? Your thoughts, ideas, input into your mind and all that you plan and plot are 100% free. You have a free hand into delving deep within your minds all for the sake of what gives you pleasure or profit. The more you learn, observe, practice, preach, and teach, the more you harness your mind into collecting further information and improving your capability. This could be channelized according to what you learn, observe, teach, or preach. If your thoughts, action and words are noble and society friendly it is a part of the good karma and you will definitely be rewarded either with respect, money or enlightenment or all the three, but if your thoughts, actions and words were repulsive and derogatory you will be punished severely and equally in the society you live in . The punishment may be subtle which may or may not be known to others. Punishment may be in different forms and not necessarily monetary. Sometimes spiritual punishments are much more damaging and distressing than financial punishments, such as the loss of children, family disputes, unhappiness, and miserable feelings within oneself. Money cannot buy happiness under such situations. You will see some people turn philanthropists after they amass much wealth all their life. This is because they get tired of earning money and collecting wealth for themselves and their family. Within themselves, they see emptiness and the act of deceit; perjury and false promises and false hopes to people, all distress them badly. They cannot get away from their empire that they built on such principles, they need spiritual treatment for which they get attached to different spiritual Gurus and Masters, becoming charitable, channelizing their time, wealth and mental focus in meditating, helping and ways to find them peace, solace and spiritual satisfaction.
Unfortunately, we always think that we are good people and do not harm anyone, as such, we should never experience bad times ourselves. What we do not realize is we could be good to others and always eager to help people and earn their blessings. By not hurting others and by being blessed by others is one thing while abusing and hurting our own selves is another. On several occasions, I tried to explain people my point of view about self-abuse but people think and act superficially and cannot accept that they could be bad people in anyway. People may be good to others but when it comes to their own selves, they abuse their body, their mind, and their souls. This way they cannot find respite in their approach towards life. By indulging in bad living and eating practice mankind hurt their own body and abuse themselves that lead them to illnesses and diseases. This way a so-called good and humble person may be bad for his own self. How much do we abuse ourselves? See the way we eat and the kind of food that we eat. See the way we indulge in alcoholic beverages and indulge in smoking and other acts of abuse. See the way we eat and how we eat. The complete lifestyle and habits of some of us leads us to abusing our body and mind. Eventually, we are greeted with diseases and organ failures. In spite of being “good people”, such people cannot accept the fact that they should be facing such malady in life. They least realize the way they abused themselves all their life and the resulting maladies being the repercussions of such disrespect to their body and mind. To be a truly good person one need to be respectful to others, to oneself, to other sentient beings and to all things natural. Being only a holy or a noble person does not necessarily absolve one of one’s duty in respecting oneself and other members of this planet.
When you practice being good not only to others but to your own self and other sentient beings as well as all other living beings, you still remain the king of your own karma but with a difference. You do not drift your mind into imaginary happenings but like a true king who seeks the advice of his ministers, you seek judgment from your within and decide upon the course of action which may not hurt anyone including your own self. This is when you break away from the chain of misery, malady, stress, and suffering from your life. This is when you find satisfaction and learn the meaning of true living. None, other than you can influence your very own self in charting the course of your mind by listening to your inner voice and taking decision that may be healthy and happy.