Modified Religion by Maitreya

When we do a good deed, its consequence may be felt immediately or sometime later. It may also be added to our "pool" of resources which will materialize in an indeterminate future time or it may cancel some previous bad action. Lastly, it may still play a role in the next life. Thinking positively, it means that a good karma is never forgotten or negated; it always gets transformed into our favor. Instead of going into details of when, how and where karma will take place, we should look at it as proof that there is a universal law which guides us through life and death. Even if God is detached from mankind, we still have a path to follow to achieve our goals. We may not have some divine being to whom we can pray for success for ourselves or to inflict punishment to our enemies but we should find comfort and confidence in karma that there is justice after all. It does not matter that we may not actually see our tormentors punished, forgiven, or converted into the side of the law sometime in the future; what would matter is how we are doing by ourselves. Are we advancing in the path of evolution or are we too busy looking over our shoulders waiting for our enemies to turn into salt or wishing them to drop dead? And here's a little consolation: for those who are oppressed, injured and denied justice in this life, they will get good karma for their pain and suffering.

To make oneself as bait and candidate for martyrdom is not very right either. It is natural that man should defend himself from injustice and highly probable risks when he can. Defending oneself, family and country is a duty. Inaction in some cases might result in bad karma, for example, when the reason is cowardice resulting in pain and injury to others when these could have been prevented or lessened in some degree. In this regard, I personally do not believe that man should fight and die in the name of his religion; like Socrates, he can die for his principles and for what he believes is true; but a good religion will allow man flexibility to save his neck.

In the Bhagavad Gita,a popular Hindu scripture, the duties of man on earth and his religious obligations are discussed. It opens with a story of an old king who had a son who was still very young. Anticipating that he would not live long anymore, he asked his brother to be the caretaker of his kingdom until such time when his son would be old enough to rule. His brother agreed. However, when the young son grew up and claimed the kingdom, his uncle refused to hand over it to him. Set against this background, we see Arjuna with his army ready to do battle against his wicked uncle.

When Arjuna sees his cousins, teachers, and kisnmen all ready to fight, he begins to question the futility of death and expresses his doubts about the wisdom of war: fighting against his enemies which are his kinsmen and relatives, he will gain no pleasure. There will be pain, bloodshed and killing. He interprets his action as a vice of greed of an earthly kingdom. By winning the battle, he believes he is not really victorious for he shall have only incurred sin.

The Lord Krishna who is on his side hears his lamentations and urges him to be brave and fight. He says that even before the battle, the wicked are already dead. Arjuna should not waver, but treat victory and loss alike, and do his duty because if he will not do it, he will incur sin. Krishna also tells Arjuna that the spirit is indestructible and therefore should not be a cause for his lamentations. After Arjuna gains knowledge of the afterlife, he is enlightened and proceeds to win the battle.

Not everybody can be a hero but for each of us, everyone has his duty to do - whether as a father, mother, son, daughter, employer, employee, civil servant and others. Beyond work related and civic responsibilities, we have moral obligations to accept and finish. These extend beyond our work and sometimes even beyond our family because it is ourselves later on who will carry the consequences of our actions or karma and answer for any deliberate failure on our part.

A limitation of karma is we cannot accumulate good karma and pass it on to our favorite child or friend like an heirloom. In the same line, we cannot do something detrimental and pass the responsibility to our elders or boss or to anybody else. There is a time when we know what we are doing is good or bad, and it is during these times when we practise free will. When we choose not to exercise our will, such as refusing to decide on a course of action or postponing it when circumstances do not warrant, we effect bad karma on ourselves again. We should question our own motives deeply when we do follow a course of action or when we choose to be inactive. Is our motive selfish or is our inaction really laziness covered by rationalizations? If we trust our own motives in practice and in our deeds, we never question the intentions of other people. We always take them to be the best. By assuming this, we protect ourselves from possible error, and likewise, we prepare and ready ourselves for our next move.

Karma is the path we make for ourselves. We may have the best of intentions but it should never obliterate the efforts expended by others, for they also have their own lives to live.

MODIFIED RELIGION
by Maitreya

Restrictions

MODIFIED RELIGION by Maitreya

Restrictions

MODIFIED RELIGION
by Maitreya