Image Credit: Photo by Hosnysalah via Pixabay
I think most of us heard of the term ‘karma’ later, having understood the concept much earlier. It’s been deeply entrenched in us since childhood. That’s been my case at least.
I grew up with a dominating older sister who drilled the concept into my consciousness: if you’re mean, you’ll get back meanness, don’t expect good things to happen to you if you don’t do good things, and so on and so forth.
And then there’s the influence of pop culture. I grew up watching movies in which ‘justice’ was served in the end — the ‘good’ were amply rewarded and the ‘bad’ were suitably punished. That poetic justice at the end of films usually filled one with a sense of satisfaction, an indescribable relief that doused the flames of distress much of the film might have provoked while showing ‘good people’ being wronged.
Then, reading stories like ‘The Black Cat’ by Edgar Allan Poe and ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens in my teenage years reinforced that belief. Even in ‘God Sees The Truth But Waits’ by Leo Tolstoy, the evil-doer is punished, albeit belatedly. This sad story by Tolstoy was a part of my syllabus in the tenth standard.
So, yes I did grow up believing strongly in the concept of Karma. But what I see around me today is seriously making me question it all.
For instance, what did those little children in Gaza do to deserve the fate they got? What did the young orphans or parents who lost their children do, to suffer as they are suffering in Lebanon? What about the men and women and children affected by hunger and disease in Somalia? What did they do to ‘deserve’ this? Whatever they might have done, could it be worse than what the wielders of power – people like Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu – are doing? These avaricious, power-hungry men spent much of their lives lying, cheating, fornicating, and willfully harming other human beings. I am mentioning only them because they are the face of the neo-imperialist apparatus. But I am talking about every person ensconced in their camp of evil. The oligarchs, the tech magnates, the media barons, the political minions – everyone.
And whatever happened to this global elite, evil beyond belief, I ask you? Many like Trump and Netanyahu are now in their seventies and eighties. What punishment awaits them now? They are probably enjoying caviar and champagne as I write this.
Some of you might remind me of karma being served in the ‘next birth’, or on the Day of Judgment. But that doesn’t quite fit into the filmic, flamboyant, soul-soothing template of karma delivery movies and books have got us used to. And I daresay hooked on to.
Sigh. This feeling that there is no justice, no karma is debilitating. It makes me feel that this world is a jungle, or a place where ‘Matsya Nyaya‘ (Law of the Fish, as ancient Indian philosophy calls it) prevails — the big fish eat the small fish and that’s that.
Can you explain why evil people aren’t being punished the way they should be? No-one I know has been able to put forth a cogent argument so far.