on Karma

Hindus believe that people are born into particular castes: the Brahmins or Priests, the Kshatriyas or Rulers, the Vaisyas or Skilled Tradespersons, Merchants and Minor Officials, the Sudras or Unskilled Laborers and the Pariahs "Harijans" or Outcastes.  You must do the best that you can with your lot in life.  If you are born a Vaisya, you can be a merchant, but be the best merchant possible, and even be a rich and successful merchant.  However, you are not supposed to cross over to another caste.  For instance, if you are a merchant, you are not supposed to desire to be a priest, that would generate Karma.  If you accept your lot in life, be happy and don't strive to be something else, you will eliminate Karma and make your future lives better.  If you live your life without generating Karma, then your next life may be in a higher caste.

This goes against the American grain.  In the U.S. we are told as children that we can be anything we want to be as long as we have the will and determination.  We can even become President of the United States!  For many people this concept develops itself into a constant dissatisfaction with their lot in life.  Let's face it, only one person, up to now always white male, gets to be the President every four to eight years.  That leaves an awful lot of people who will simply not be President.

I'm not advocating giving up and rolling over when conditions are truly bad.  Just think about where you are in life and ask yourself if you'll ever be satisfied.  Have you always told yourself, "I'm just working at this job as a stepping stone to something higher"?  Of course you have.  Very few people are at the "top of their game".  Once we have a supervisor position we are taught, even by our own bosses, that if we aren't shooting for upper management then we just aren't "motivated".  We must always desire to "better ourselves" and "move up the ladder".

I was at a dinner a while back when a dear relative announced after all the years of trying, she was finally pregnant.  Both her mother and her mother-in-law openly wept at the "miracle".  It had finally happened.  God had finally blessed them with a grandchild.  However, not more than a couple of minutes had passed when the mother-in-law announced that twins run on her side of the family.  Both of the mothers instantly burst into exclamations of how truly wonderful it would be if only they were blessed with twin grandchildren instead of just one.  I was appalled.  Their brief moment of happiness was immediately quashed with the instant desire for something better.

My father, as a senior retiree, was invited to take part in a project put on by the police of Eugene, Oregon.  He and a group of fellow seniors would walk around the downtown malls and write "tickets" on any vehicle parked in a handicap space without a visible permit.  The tickets were not-so-friendly reminders and carried no actual weight, but it scared the bejeebus out of people.  My father got huge satisfaction out of it.  However, once the ticketed person realized it wasn't an actual ticket, they usually threw the paper away.  My father decided to start wearing a jacket which looked similar to a police uniform.  He kept asking for a shirt that read "police", but of course they kept refusing him.  Eventually he quit the group.  Just issuing a reminder wasn't enough for him; he yearned for real power.

I think we have all, from time to time, felt inferior to others.  I don't make very much money, so I feel slightly inferior to rich people.  I don't have an expensive education, so I can get a bit inferior-feeling when surrounded by Harvard and Yale alumni.  Of course this is ingrained into us.  The colleges themselves drum the concept of superiority into their students, who are paying for the education and therefor want something in return for their money.  If the student is going to spend a great deal of money, more than someone going to a "lesser" college, they want to feel they are getting the superior education.  I've been in a room where people are discussing a not-present colleague and I've been absolutely flabbergasted when they say, "yes, but she went to Cleveland State", so obviously her education doesn't count for much.

All this striving, inferiority, superiority, power, yearning, is creating so much karma in the world.

My mother used to work for Key Bank.  She worked and worked, put up with office politics, suffered through strategic realignments as her branch was bought and sold several times, and always she had a goal in mind: one day she would retire and take it easy, or maybe travel, or maybe take up some kind of hobby.  She was never satisfied, always working for that elusive future.  When my father retired early, it forced her to put off retirement for a few more years than she had planned.  Then she developed breast cancer and passed away.  There never was a retirement, an easy time, a travel plan, or a new found hobby.  She spent her life striving for something better that never came.  So much karma.

So ask yourself, "when will I be satisfied?"  Is it in the future somewhere?