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WHY DO GOOD PEOPLE SUFFER? – Part 3
Question: What is the concrete proof for this?
Answer: You will get concrete proof when you practice silence and enter the depths within you. The meaning of the mystery of the endless adventure of existence is there within you. As you enter into the depths within, the mystery is unravelled.
Question: Can you give us some concrete example?
Answer: An example has been given in the Mahabharata. It concerns the blind King Dhritarashtra. After the Mahabharata war was over, Sri Krishna said to Pandavas and Kauravas and all others: “It is time for me to return to Dwaraka. But before I leave, tell me if there is anything I can do for you?” The blind King Dhritarashtra said to him: “I have bee good to everyone: I have not been cruel or unjust to anyone. Why is it that I am blind and have lost all my hundred children?” And Sri Krishna said to him: “I would wish you to get the answer for yourself. Meditate, go deep within yourself until you touch the astral self, and you will know!”
Dhritarashtra entered into deep meditation and contacted his astral self. The astral self keeps a record of our earlier incarnations. Dhritarashtra discovered that in an earlier incarnation, he had been a tyrant king. One day as he walked by a lake side, he saw a swan-bird surrounded by a hundred signets. He asked his people to remove the eyes of the swan-bird and kill all the hundred signets just to please his passing fancy! He then understood why he was blind and had to suffer the loss of his hundred sons.
Question: But isn’t that a very lengthy process of getting to know?
Answer: It is well worth it. You do not acquire a post graduate degree overnight. You have to put in years of study. Just as there is the science of nature, so also there is the science of the spirit.
The rishis of ancient India called it Atmavidya. Vidya means science. As natural sciences have their laws, so does Atmavidya, - the science of the spirit, - have its laws. One of those laws is the law of karma; another is the law of re-incarnation.
Question: Could you explain this law of karma?
Answer: The law of karma, simply stated, is the law of cause and effect. My Beloved Master referred to the law of karma as the law of the seed. As you sow, so shall you reap. You cannot sow thrones and reap apples. The law of karma is universal in its application: it applies equally to all. We are sowing seeds everyday in the field of life. Every thought that I think, every word that I utter, every deed I perform, every emotion I arouse within me, every feeling, fancy, wish that awakens within me, are seeds I am sowing in the field of life. In due course, the seeds will germinate and grow into trees, and yield fruit, - bitter or sweet, - which I shall have to eat. No one else can do that for me. There are causes that produce their effect immediately. There are other causes that produce their effect after a long time. As an example, if you go to a party and overeat, it is a cause you have created. This cause produces an immediate effect, - acute indigestion. There are other causes which take very long to produce their effect. But every cause must produce its effect; every seed must yield its fruit. This in simple words is the law of karma.
We are told, all men are created equal. No one can be so blind or foolish as to imagine that there is actual equality of ability or environment or conditions of birth for all. Why, in the same family, all children do not have equality of ability or intelligence. There is a family of which the eldest son is an IAS officer and the younger is unable to pass the SSC examination. We have a proverb in Sindhi which says: “The mother gives birth to children, each brings with himself his destiny.” In other words, each one brings his karma with himself. There is a family of which youngest son is a multi millionaire, while the eldest is so poor that he and his children are virtually starving, literally begging for food.
Two questions arise:
1. Is this inequality the result of karma?
2. And if so, is it fair?
The answer to both, - as the great teachers of India have taught us, - is in the affirmative. You are the architect of your own destiny. You are the builder of your own life. Every thought, emotion, wish, action creates karma: and we have been creating karma for thousands, perhaps millions of years. If our thoughts, emotions and actions are benevolent, so called good karma results. If they are malevolent, evil or difficult karma is created. The good or evil we generate attaches its effect to us and remains in our life current until we have satisfied it by balancing it out.
(Author: Sri J. P. Vaswani)
Question: What is the concrete proof for this?
Answer: You will get concrete proof when you practice silence and enter the depths within you. The meaning of the mystery of the endless adventure of existence is there within you. As you enter into the depths within, the mystery is unravelled.
Question: Can you give us some concrete example?
Answer: An example has been given in the Mahabharata. It concerns the blind King Dhritarashtra. After the Mahabharata war was over, Sri Krishna said to Pandavas and Kauravas and all others: “It is time for me to return to Dwaraka. But before I leave, tell me if there is anything I can do for you?” The blind King Dhritarashtra said to him: “I have bee good to everyone: I have not been cruel or unjust to anyone. Why is it that I am blind and have lost all my hundred children?” And Sri Krishna said to him: “I would wish you to get the answer for yourself. Meditate, go deep within yourself until you touch the astral self, and you will know!”
Dhritarashtra entered into deep meditation and contacted his astral self. The astral self keeps a record of our earlier incarnations. Dhritarashtra discovered that in an earlier incarnation, he had been a tyrant king. One day as he walked by a lake side, he saw a swan-bird surrounded by a hundred signets. He asked his people to remove the eyes of the swan-bird and kill all the hundred signets just to please his passing fancy! He then understood why he was blind and had to suffer the loss of his hundred sons.
Question: But isn’t that a very lengthy process of getting to know?
Answer: It is well worth it. You do not acquire a post graduate degree overnight. You have to put in years of study. Just as there is the science of nature, so also there is the science of the spirit.
The rishis of ancient India called it Atmavidya. Vidya means science. As natural sciences have their laws, so does Atmavidya, - the science of the spirit, - have its laws. One of those laws is the law of karma; another is the law of re-incarnation.
Question: Could you explain this law of karma?
Answer: The law of karma, simply stated, is the law of cause and effect. My Beloved Master referred to the law of karma as the law of the seed. As you sow, so shall you reap. You cannot sow thrones and reap apples. The law of karma is universal in its application: it applies equally to all. We are sowing seeds everyday in the field of life. Every thought that I think, every word that I utter, every deed I perform, every emotion I arouse within me, every feeling, fancy, wish that awakens within me, are seeds I am sowing in the field of life. In due course, the seeds will germinate and grow into trees, and yield fruit, - bitter or sweet, - which I shall have to eat. No one else can do that for me. There are causes that produce their effect immediately. There are other causes that produce their effect after a long time. As an example, if you go to a party and overeat, it is a cause you have created. This cause produces an immediate effect, - acute indigestion. There are other causes which take very long to produce their effect. But every cause must produce its effect; every seed must yield its fruit. This in simple words is the law of karma.
We are told, all men are created equal. No one can be so blind or foolish as to imagine that there is actual equality of ability or environment or conditions of birth for all. Why, in the same family, all children do not have equality of ability or intelligence. There is a family of which the eldest son is an IAS officer and the younger is unable to pass the SSC examination. We have a proverb in Sindhi which says: “The mother gives birth to children, each brings with himself his destiny.” In other words, each one brings his karma with himself. There is a family of which youngest son is a multi millionaire, while the eldest is so poor that he and his children are virtually starving, literally begging for food.
Two questions arise:
1. Is this inequality the result of karma?
2. And if so, is it fair?
The answer to both, - as the great teachers of India have taught us, - is in the affirmative. You are the architect of your own destiny. You are the builder of your own life. Every thought, emotion, wish, action creates karma: and we have been creating karma for thousands, perhaps millions of years. If our thoughts, emotions and actions are benevolent, so called good karma results. If they are malevolent, evil or difficult karma is created. The good or evil we generate attaches its effect to us and remains in our life current until we have satisfied it by balancing it out.
(Author: Sri J. P. Vaswani)
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