The Cost of Karma

Our freedom of speech should be limited to berating your fellow neighbor or for that matter a stranger simply because they look or act different than you. We have made putting others down a hobby! We have lost common courtesy because it is so un-hip! Our television shows are full of cracking insults and doing each other in…Gossip Girl, anyone? I don’t know if the way I think will ever be in vogue but I do know that it hurts every last one of us! Every tragedy that has happened in this country affects all of us no matter your race, religion, sex or social standing! Some of us will revert back to our 9-11 thinking and send hatred to someone Muslim; and yes I will tell you; you are NOT justified! This was a man who wanted to get out of the Army; so why would you send this man to Afghanistan? As far as this war goes, I am beyond tired. I am tired of the traditional way business is run from the codes of the policeman to the ranks of the military. All of these roads lead to death and destruction!

Most of us used to be afraid to speak out on this war because we were suddenly accused of not being patriotic. Yet everyday, there is a family in grief from the life of a loved one lost. You know it is the name of the game as a soldier; you may come home, you may not. What is the karmic debt of war?Can there be any price tag paid to heal the impact of war on the soldier’s psyche? We have turned away from God because we have declared as intelligent human beings that he does not exist. We have taken prayer out of schools because it too is so un-hip. We have fired a man because he wore a God pin; so the last thing you want to hear is a sermon. Karma as with God is a free will issue; however that does not mean it is without consequences.

I believe and know it is time to truly look out for each other! Am I my brother’s keeper? Cain said to God when asked about Abel and we have the same attitude regarding life until it happens in our backyard. But what would this world be like if we all mourned wherever life is destroyed? It would not matter whether I knew you or not; it would be the natural procession because what hurts one truly hurts all of us. This is a huge concept to consider but I guaranteed you we would be having a wake in every country. Now turn this concept around to celebrate every birth or wedding or graduation; what would this world be like if we empathized with everything our neighbor goes through from happiness to sadness.

We have to find a way to outlaw negative destructive speaking; we think it is no big deal but on a spiritual level it is huge. Even that old outdated but everlasting book the Bible has some wise words that deserve recognition:

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life].” Proverbs 18:21 [1]

“And the tongue is a fire. [The tongue is a] world of wickedness set among our members, contaminating and depraving the whole body and setting on fire the wheel of birth (the cycle of man’s nature) being itself ignited by hell [Gehenna].” James 3:6 [2]

Lastly, since my whole point was about karma and/or karmic debt; I ask that you consider the words you speak to the person who is a so-called outcast, to the nerd, to the person who is the opposite race or sex or religion, to whom ever you feel the need to put down or make fun of…be careful, you never know when one is hanging on the last thread of their threshold.

Everything that we have ever thought, spoken, done or caused is Karma; as is also that which we think, speak or do this very moment. After death we lose Kriya Shakti (ability to act) and do karma. Actions performed consciously are weighted more heavily than those done unconsciously. But just as poison affects us if taken unknowingly, suffering caused unintentionally will also give appropriate karmic effect. [3]

[1] The fore noted Scripture taken from the Amplified Bible.

2 The fore noted Scripture taken from the Amplified Bible.

3 Wikipedia – Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda, The hidden power in humans, Ibera Verlag, page 22

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