I must stress one important aspect here. While we all take birth with a karmic residue which determines our personality, we are also born with a certain freedom of choice with which we can succeed in accumulating new, good, positive karma. This choice, this freedom, this ability is available to every human being, and it is this which gives all of us the possibility of determining our own future destiny — not only for this life but in the lives to come.
To sum up: our life now is the product of the karma that we have accumulated in previous births; simultaneously, this present life is also the seed of the future of our soul. We carry our past karmas with us; and this burden may have to be borne by us even as we journey from life to life. The good and bad karma that we accumulate are entered in the credit and debit column of the account of our life. The balance is carried forward from one life into the next. This credit and debit is what we commonly refer to as punya and paap.
The law of karma is neither fatalistic nor punitive; nor is man a hapless, helpless victim in its bonds. God has blessed each one of us with reason, intellect and discrimination, as well as the sovereign free will. Even when our past karma inclines us towards evil, we can consciously tune our inclination towards detachment and ego-free action, thus lightening the karmic load.
A recognition and full awareness of the law of karma can help us to face life with a positive outlook; it can evoke in us the spirit of willing acceptance, and thus help us evolve as masters, rather than slaves of circumstances. Above all we can take control of our own actions and thereby shape our own future positively.
When we begin to understand the concept of karma we will never ever blame God for anything that happens to us. We will realise that we are responsible for all that happens to us. As we sow, so shall we reap. Rich or poor, saint or sinner, miser or philanthropist, learned or illiterate — as you sow, so shall you reap. This is the Universal Law that applies to individuals, to whole communities, societies, nations and races. As we sow, so shall we reap.
Dada J P Vaswani is a humanitarian, philosopher, educator, acclaimed writer, powerful orator, messiah of ahimsa, and non-sectarian spiritual leader
