Creation of Karma - a tale of action and reaction by: Arya Bhushan

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Time however passed. Ganguly was married and had two sons. In January 1934, a few years after the children were born, he was working as an Assistant Engineer on the East Indian Railway, stationed at Jamalpur. There was a severe earthquake, resulting in a huge loss of life and property. The bungalow in which Ganguly was living was razed to the ground. Mrs. Ganguly was burried under the debries and lost her life. The two sons were saved. It was a great shock to Ganguly, and he felt that he met his fate as a retribution for having killed the pregnant doe. In fact later, Ganguly was looking after his two sons and brought them up, but he lost both of them also in his life time.

The second incident was narrated by a friend of mine. He went on a picnic with some friends. While returning from there by bus, he bought some oranges. A female monkey rushed and picked one orange from his hand. My friend got so angry that he ran after her and kicked her hard. While doing so, his leg hit her stomach. The monkey dropped the orange and fainted. My friend was shocked and felt verry sorry in having acted so rashly but could do nothing except to leave the orange near her and pour some water in her mouth. As the bus was about to leave, he left the monkey there and did not know what happened thereafter.

Sometime later, his younger son became very seriously ill. , having his lever damaged. The best doctors in town were consulted, but all of them felt that the condition was really bad and it was a lost case. My friend was convinced that he was being punished for having hurt the female monkey and her unborn child. He was very repentent and prayed to God for days to forgive him as he had hit her in ignorance. Whether it was as a result of his prayers or for his having done the good turn in having attended the injured monkey, but a miracle did take place. His son started recovering and regained his normal health.

The two incidents are so dramatic that they leave very little doubt in the mind about the Karma theory and that one reaps, sooner or later, what one sows. It also leads us to believe that one could be spared lightly, if one was truely repentent and atoned for it. People continue to suffer as they are not able to inter-relate such incidents and consider them as mere chances, They would only learn their lesson if they were punished directly after their misdeed. But where would then be the mystery in living? Where would be the excitement? Wouldn´t life be boring? After all the excitement in a drama is in it´s suspense. One keeps watching in wonder of the next one, as the scenes unfold themselves, one by one.

One of the saints of India, Sant Kabir, said, "Don´t trouble the weak, whose sigh is so powerful, as one sees that even with the sigh of a dead skin iron could be melted." Here the poet saint has referred the dead skin of the bellows of a blacksmith and hints that if that has so much power, living entities would certainly be much more powerful. How much Philosophy has gome into this couplet of sant Kabir?