Is God fair? This is a question that troubles our mind at some time or other. A young girl of age 12 had six siblings. They all lived a happy and contented life with their parents. They had very little to complain about. One night the father complained of pain in the chest and before the doctor could be summoned, he passed away, leaving the family grief-stricken. The 12-year old daughter wailed, ?My father repeatedly told us that whatever God does is good for us. In every little thing that happens to us, there is a meaning of His mercy. Never ever question the will of God. Never ever ask why God is doing this to you.?
But in his period of grief, she could find no solace. She could not understand how God could be so cruel. She sobbed, ?How could He do this to us? Is God fair??
When faced with such unpleasant experiences, man is tempted to ask, ?Why me? Why did it have to be like this?? We already know what Dr Annie Besant, the founder of the famous Theosophical Society of India had to go through when she gave birth to a baby girl. The child fell seriously ill soon afterwards. As the fever shot up, she developed convulsions. Seeing those violent fits, Annie Besant became deeply distraught and could not see her innocent baby suffer. She said to herself, ?They say God is all mercy and love. Is this the kind of mercy and love He shows my child? What has the tender and innocent babe done to deserve such suffering?? On a friend'ssuggestion, she began to read Madame H.D. Blavatsky'sbook, entitled The Secret Doctrine in which, under the head ?Karma and Reincarnation?, it was written that a child'ssuffering is a result of karma of the child'sprevious births. Enlightenment came to her in a flash of lightning and she concluded that the present life was not the first life, the only life, lived by her or her child. She had lived many, many other lives before the current life. The baby girl had done something earlier ?the effect of which, the fruit of which, it was now faced with.?
The answer to the vexing question, ?Is God fair?? then became clear to her.
What is karma? The author Dada J.P. Vaswani analyses abstract issues associated with karma, such as free will, fate, reincarnation and liberation by saying that positive thinking, right attitude, faith and optimism are the hallmarks of an ideal life. He tries to throw light on the law of karma in a refreshingly interesting manner. ?It embraces our past, present and future, linked in a continuous cause-effect relation. The impact of this law is inescapable and inexorable. Its effect, reaction and response are absolutely impartial. We could say that it is the law of karma that upholds Dharma, and maintains justice, equity, order and balance in the universe.?
One who leads a virtuous life leads a finite period of existence on the astral plane but a relative experience of pleasures. This period exhausts when the soul'sgood karma get exhausted and the soul is re-born into a new life.
One who accumulates no good karma at all faces intense suffering. But this also comes to a close when the sinful karma is exhausted and his soul is born as a new embodiment.
In other words, the author explains the law of karma thus: ?In the first two cases liberation is attained. In the third and fourth cases, the soul returns to earth for further evolution. Here karma determines its next embodiment. For there are residues of karma that do not exhaust; they instead influence one'srebirth and life experiences. Thus he is born in this world with a clean slate. What we consider to be hereditary traits are in reality determined by the karma of previous births. Thus our lives are the products of the karma that we have accumulated in previous births. We carry our past karmas with us; and his burden may have to be borne by us even as we journey from life to life?This credit and debit is what we commonly refer to as punya and paap.?
Once we understand the law of karma we shall never ever blame God for anything that happens to us. Ultimately ?as we sow, so shall we reap.? Finally change your thought, change your attitude and change your destiny: for here is a book that teaches you to take charge of your own karma!
(Sterling Paperbacks, A-59 Okhla Industrial Area, Phase II, New Delhi-110020.)
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