ON a weekend binging spree, I stumbled upon a quaint restaurant stashed away in a corner of PJ, as if shying away from the city’s buzz. I found the quiet atmosphere appealing.
I decided to check it out and as I took my seat, I noticed a quote on the restaurant’s well-decorated wall, conspicuously staring at me.
It read: “Welcome to Karma Café. There are no menus. You will get what you deserve.”
Strange words and the meaning runs deep, I thought. Moments later on closer look at the poster, I felt a nudge and a tug in my heart and I realised these words were something so basic and yet it blows over without much attention.
It is karma in its simplest form and the words, I would say, just like gravity, are often not noticed because it is beyond the experience of our five senses.
A simple definition of karma would be the ethical and unethical actions of our past and some religions associate these actions to previous births as well while others discuss it in the context of this lifetime.
Regardless of the theories and beliefs, karma is both intriguing as much as it is ambiguous and is often a contentious table topic. Many shun it with the misconception that one needs to study for a university degree to understand the principles related to karma.
Contrarily, the simplest and widest known definition of karma is, “what goes around, comes around”, the often-used quote which applies to all of us, whether good, bad or anything in-between. In other words what you do or say will come back to you one way or another.
Having said that, experts’ view of karma goes beyond reward and punishment system. Rather, it is a completely connected series of events between the ever-growing numbers of people.
There are 12 laws of karma often discoursed and the first and most important is The Great Law, one that all the others are premised on. It is believed that if you do not know the 11 others, this one can guide you to a better life through building good karma.
The Great Law asserts “as you sow, so shall you reap”. You have complete control over all of your actions and absolutely no control over many of the consequences. However, eventually, all your good actions will lead to good consequences.
If you are the discerning few, you would have guessed my intention by now and you are right, the genesis of the topic today is from the circuitous political poser the country is consumed in since the 14th general election.
It is like all the forces are contorted in a strange way and teaming up with the objective to completely wipe out Malaysia. The big names which are keeping our legal system and profession alive and thriving would by now know that power, position and the gauche temperaments that go in cohort can never be yours forever.
If you earned your respect and recognition through these means, they leave you when you are relegated. Unlike kindness and humility which are yours to keep and they give you great dividends, the very principle of the law of karma. Those whose ethical balance sheet is in the deficit need to rethink and function beyond the basic gratification level.
This garbled period we are in now in Malaysian political history will make excellent read for generations to come. The real victims are the unwitting spectators caught in the bind in the melodrama that have been unfolding, the readers will have to deal with all the negative emotions watching greed to wickedness and apathy gloriously reeking. In the midst of morality and ethics on parole, humanity has taken a back seat.
Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
