Do your Good Karma

A few days back I came across this post on Pinterest. It touched my heart so I shared it as my Whatsapp status.

Oblivious and innocent, my sister asked me what it means.  Explaining it in 2-3 lines seemed difficult at that point. I promised her to explain it later on a call. In the meantime it dawned upon me, why not write a small post about it?  That is how this post came into being 🙂

What is Karma?

According to Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita, Karma yoga is the spiritual practice of “selfless action performed for the benefit of others”. Karma yoga is a path to reach moksha (spiritual liberation) through work. It is rightful action without being attached to fruits or being manipulated by what the results might be, a dedication to one’s duty, and trying one’s best while being neutral to rewards or outcomes such as success or failure.

So performing Karma yoga (Good Karma as per the Pinterest post) is the way to fulfil our purpose of our life on this Earth 🙂

Moving forward, we are in this century of fast paced technology and speedy growth rate. We have immense exposure to information and are constantly involved (in another word – tied up) on social media. This era appears demanding and pushy on how we live, learn and grow. To keep up with this life, we tend to build these extraordinary plans and  heaps of milestones. We measure our value based on how many of these goals/milestones we have achieved. The purpose in life is blown up from a small bubble to a massive air balloon. 

Being exposed to numerous biographies of world leaders, achievers, our idea of “our purpose in life” or “Our Karma” is influenced. Karma appears to be an act that should impact a large number of people, bring a massive change in the environment, our state, country or world (in a positive way of course 😉 )

People like Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa fulfilled their Karma by raising the underprivileged, poor and the hungry humanity. Robin Sharma is revolutionising leadership for people seeking growth and achievement in their business or personal lives. 

Malala Yousafzai, a 1997 born Pakistani girl, defied threats of the Taliban to campaign for the right to education for girls. She has become a global advocate for women’s rights, especially the right to education.

My favourite, Anne Frank, just an ordinary teenage girl then, continues to fulfils her Karma by giving hopes to millions of people through her diary written during the Holocaust life in Amsterdam.

All these world icons did great things to serve humanity and make the world a better place. When we watch, listen or read about these people, somehow our agenda of what our purpose of life or “Karma” should be gets multiplied by thousand folds.

What we are currently doing seems negligible and the mind starts planning and rooting for something bigger, better and beyond the current horizon that we see.I don’t mean it happens to all 😉 It happens to me many times. Life seems larger and bigger than what I perceive and I push myself to step out of my 10 pointers. I start imagining that there is something brighter & supreme that I should work for. 

Before you raise your fingers to ask questions and doubt, Hey reader! I don’t mean not to aim higher. Surely do, there is a certain positive push in working towards something that is beyond your current capacity. It will stretch you out of your comfort zone and help explore your hidden potential. However, while we do that, we need to give equal importance to what we are doing right now, what we have already achieved or done for the people and society. There is still a great deal in the positive things we are working in the present, the bits we are doing to help and make this place better for one another.

Speaking about helping the people around us, our Karma doesn’t mean just posting on Instagram with #ImHereForYou. It surely moves beyond the thought, towards the act.  Our karma is in answering our friend’s call and listening to their painful story with an open heart & empathy.

Our Karma may not be to donate 1000 Euros to a charity to serve hungry poor kids but may be just to offer our food to the homeless person we met at the train station.

Karma could be to pull out a rose from the bouquet  and offer it to an old lady in the train. You need not give away your entire bouquet, just one rose should be fine 😉

Karma could be to help the old man fill up his withdrawal slip at the bank.

Karma could be to help the old lady cross the busy road.

Karma could be to offer your seat in a crowded bus to a mother carrying her child.

Karma could be to say no to the party/movie to stay back and help a friend in need.

Karma could be to motivate & give confidence to your friend who is nervous to attend a party full of strangers.

Karma could be to support your daughter in fulfilling her dreams & ambitions while you take charge of her chores and home.

Karma could even be watering the plants thirsty for water 🙂

Our Karma is an accumulation of these small daily deeds. Today is the day, today is all that is promised. Live for today not tomorrow. Do your Karma today, fulfil your purpose of life today with these small selfless acts of love, kindness & compassion. Karma is counted daily, not after decades to be later awarded with fame or medal. It is not measured based on “X” number of lives we have reached or touched. We don’t have to wait for that fine day to realise that we have fulfilled your purpose of life, our Karma could be already fulfilled 😉

Karma can be fulfilled by climbing that summit of the highest mountain. Similarly Karma could also be fulfilled by giving water to the thirsty dog at the base of the mountain. Then just like the love and gratitude of the happy dog, your bag of fulfilled Karma will tag along your climb to the top.

Always believe that you don’t have to be recognised, awarded with a medal or fame to believe that you have fulfilled or achieved your purpose of life. Your photo may not be posted on the newspaper or you may not have 1000 followers on social media. You could be sitting in some corner of this earth, unknown to the rest of the world but still done your Karma, by touching someone’s life with your one act of kindness and love, at some point(s) in life. And that, my dear reader, is enough! 🙂 🙂