By Narayan Prasad Mishra
We have a word, Karma, in Hindu philosophy. This word is also used in English and has the same meaning. Karma means deeds and actions in Hindi and Nepali. It is said that Karma takes its course, and our actions have consequences. According to it, you are rewarded or punished based on your Karma. You get rewarded if you do good Karma and get punished if you do bad Karma. The benevolent things in thinking, speaking, writing, or doing are considered good Karma, and evil in thinking, writing, speaking, or doing to harm others or cause pain and suffering is considered bad Karma. Almighty God records your good or bad work in his office. According to the saying or belief, no one can escape from it. Hindus believe in rebirth. According to Hindu belief, your account of good and bad work accompanies you when you die. You will get a reward or punishment even in your rebirth after your death. At the same time, people often say that in Kaliyug, the period of conflict and sin, most people get rewards and punishments while living. The present is considered Kaliyug. This means you get a reward or punishment before you die right in this present life. You need to see and experience the result of your good or bad work before your life ends. When you help someone, you get peace. Similarly, when you hurt someone, you get stressed. This is the place where you see the natural face of Karma. This is because Karma is real.
The words Karma and Prarabdha are inseparable and correlated. Prarabdha is defined as a collection of past karmas – good and bad deeds you did in your past life. According to Sri Swami Sivananda: “Prarabdha is that portion of the past Karma which is responsible for the present body. Sometimes, people say,’ I do not know why I am in such a problem, pain, and suffering. I have not harmed or given trouble to anyone knowingly in this life. It may be because of my Prarabdha (evil Karma of past life).”
If we believe in Karma and Prarabdha based on the meaning mentioned above and understanding, in that case, I assume the people who were and are in power in the government with the different high positions to run the country – prime ministers, ministers, heads of the constitutional bodies, ambassadors, secretaries, judges, etc. must have accompanied good Karma from their past life. I think that is why they are in high positions, not because of their noted work in this life, as we have not witnessed any good performance from them with some exceptions. But I am sad to see that most of them are doing evil Karma, forgetting their duty (dharma to work for the welfare of all people and the development of the country), and indulging in mismanagement, nepotism, favoritism, and corruption instead of doing good Karma in this life. Because of this, only a few of their near and dear people are benefiting, and all others, the majority, are suffering and have hard lives. For this, I think the cabinet and the parliamentarians of the governing parties are more responsible than any others who hold more power.
We remember our leaders of different political parties assured our people a happy life with good food, pure drinking water, shelter, and many other things when they removed the Panchayat system and introduced the multiparty parliamentary system in 1990. They blamed the same system for being unable to develop the country and not working for the People’s welfare when they started the movement against it in 2006. Then, they introduced the federal republic multiparty parliamentary system after the revolution of 2006. Thirty-three years have passed since we introduced the multiparty system. We are sad to say that even after 2006, we see only the leaders of governing parties and their close and near party followers getting wealthy and enjoying all kinds of luxuries.
On the other hand, the majority are getting poorer and weak with food, clothing, and shelter problems. In general, people have more problems than before. One can see the disparity clearly if we analyze and evaluate the assets, life, and living standards of our prime ministers and ministers and their henchmen.
If we believe in Karma and its consequences, our political leaders are bound to get punished for their evil deeds sooner or later; however, they believe they are not accountable for their actions. They assume they have escaped the consequences of their wrongdoings to the people and country; one day, Karma will catch up to them. According to the believers of this philosophy, Karma tends to come back with a vengeance. Karma will gradually devastate the kukarmis, the people involved in evil works.
The believer in karmic philosophy trusts that Karma will work in its divine wisdom, and we should know that the ultimate authority belongs to God. So, no one should be dishonest and devoid of empathy. It is undoubtedly good for all to believe in the power of Karma. Let us pray to God to bless all of us to do good Karma for the betterment of our nation. Let us pray to God to destroy all who are doing evil works and being the cause of the pain and suffering of the people and country. Let us pray to God to show the result of good and bad Karma ( reward and punishment ) right in this life, not after death, as Kaliyug demands.
narayanshanti70@gmail.com
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.
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