Karma...the Bad, the Worse, and the
Worst
Hello, everyone. My
name is Karen. I want to start out by giving
you a little information about who I am and what I do, so that you can
understand the four stories included throughout this
storybook. First
of all, I am with the FBKI, the Federal Bureau of Karma
Investigation.
I am an investigatory journalist, a.k.a. Karma
Watcher! If someone is
acting up, you better believe I will follow that person around
everywhere to see where karma will rear its ugly head. Now
just so
you know what exactly I report on, here is some information about my
storybook.
In this
storybook I will be retelling four stories that show how
karma works. Before I introduce you to the stories though, I
would
like to give you a little information about what karma is. Karma
comes
from Sanskrit and means "action". There are several different
ways
that you can define karma. This is the definition I thought
would be
most helpful for understanding my stories: karma is the consequences of
how a
person acts during their lifetime, and it determines the person's
fate.
When
I think of karma, I think of a person who treats everyone with
disrespect. One day karma will come into play and there will be
consequences to that person's prior actions. Most likely that
person
will be disrespected just as badly if not worse than he had
disrespected
everyone else. When you look into Hinduism,
you
must consider that the belief is not that karma will render
consequences only in this life, but in your next life or in the lives
of
others. The way your life works out right now has to do with past
lives of yourself or others. Reincarnation is a belief in
Hinduism,
which means that karma can have consequences for your future lives as
well as your present life. The Vedas in Hinduism say that if you
are
good,
then good will come to you, but if you are bad, then bad will come to
you.
The
stories that I have chosen for my storybook
show prime examples of karma. In my storybook I want to show how
when
someone does something that they shouldn't do, there are negative
consequences and bad things can happen, anything from being
disrespected
to dying. My first story is about Sita being kidnapped by Ravana,
which culminates in Ravana's death. There are several parts that
have
to do with karma in this story. First off, there is Sita.
She
wants
Rama to go get the golden deer for her so badly, so he does, then when
she hears the fake cries for help she sends Lakshmana, against his
advice, to rescue Rama, therefore leaving her alone in the woods.
She
brought being kidnapped on herself by being selfish and not listening
to anyone else. There is also karma in play for Rama. Rama
is
an incarnation of Vishnu and Vishnu killed the wife of brahmin's,
therefore
leading to consequences for Rama, which would be losing
Sita.
I also chose the story of Jatayu and
Sampathi
flying up to the heavens because it doesn't necessarily have horrible
consequences, but there are still some negative consequences.
Jatayu
and
Sampathi flew up into the heavens because they wanted to get a glimpse
of what the gods looked like. They knew that it was
probably not the
best idea and that they might get in trouble, but they did it
anyway. In
turn, Sampathi ended up getting his wings burnt off by
the sun god and
fell to the earth, but his wings were burnt off because he was trying
to save Jatayu. I think this results in Jatayu trying to save
Sita
when Ravana is kidnapping her, which eventually ends with Jatayu's
wings
being cut off and eventually his death.
My third story is the story of Draupadi. The
karma that comes from her story has mostly to do with the fact that she
is an incarnation of Nalayani. Nalayani wished for things in her
life that are now becoming part of Draupadi's life, whether she likes
it
or not.
My final story is the story of Yudhistira and
his poker game. Yudhistira is a very competitive person and finds
himself in a lot of trouble when he can't stop betting in a poker game
against his cousin, Duryodhana. He refuses to listen to the
others when they tell him that he should stop playing, which eventually
leads to his family's exile. The exile is karma from Yudhistira
not listening to anyone else and betting his family.
