As you sow, so shall you reap

          “As you sow, so shall you reap.” It’s a very common wise-saying that we may have heard right from our childhood. As we grow and mature, we get indulged in the materialistic world full of rivalry and jealousy, ingratitude and infamy. We tend to forget the very gist of this well-heard and simplest rule of nature. Blaming others for our  sorrows and problems and considering all our achievements creditworthy becomes a common practice. We forget that life is merely a reaction to our actions.

          Most of us believe that unless we do something wrong, we do not earn bad karma and hence, should not be exposed to sufferings and sorrows. What we are unaware of is the fact that, even our thoughts and words have an equally forceful impact on our destiny as our actions. A human’s intentions, utterances and actions at present are the foundation stone for designing his future.

          To believe that others are responsible for your sufferings and sorrows is a big falsehood. Lord Krishna has himself promised in the Bhagawad Gita that all the forces of this world put together cannot do us any harm if we don’t deserve it.

          Sometimes we feel that the nice and noble suffer in this world, while the crooked and cunning ones prosper, having full accessibility and right to a luxurious and happy life. This might be a possibility at some point of time because all our karmas do not yield an immediate reaction; but, for sure, they do bear fruit in the due course of time. In the end, God promises a bright future for the good and a dark one for the evil. Our sufferings today are undoubtedly a result of our past doings that can be undone only by keeping good intentions, uttering good words and doing good deeds inexhaustibly. Maintaining a firm, unshakable, immovable faith in God is an essential part of recovery process. Once we start walking on the right path, we are bound to be rewarded with happiness and pleasures of life in the coming future.

          According to the sacred Hindu text, Garuda Purana, “A calf has the capability to follow and find out its mother in a herd of thousands of cows. Similarly, doings of a man (karmas) in one birth follow him till any next birth, until they bear fruit.” Brahama Vaivatra Purana also says, “Millions and billions may pass trillions of times, but the doings of a man chase him out for sure.”

          An interesting episode in the great epic of Mahabharata further clarifies how often we summon the uninvited, unwanted sufferings on ourselves by committing an unintentional sin. After the historic battle of Mahabharata was over, Lord Krishna decided to take into account the repercussions of the war. Feeling pain towards Gandhari, the mother who had lost not less but a hundred sons in the ruthless war, Lord Krishna decided to pay her a visit for consoling her deep wounds. Instead of being grateful towards the merciful Lord, Gandhari chose to blame Him for all the destruction in her life. Holding the Lord himself responsible for the entire catastrophic war, she told Lord Krishna that only if He would have wanted, he could have saved her from the pain of her sons getting killed one after the other. With all her anger and sorrow, she exploded like volcano and started mortifying the glory of Shri Krishna with her poisonous words. The inconsolable mother told Lord Krishna that He is actually unaware of the agony caused by the destruction of one’s lineage before one’s own eyes. As her venomous words kept digging deeper into her distressful woes, she ended up casting a devastating curse on Lord Krishna. She cursed Him, “All your progeny will fight among themselves till the last one is dead and this havoc will take place in front of your own eyes, with You standing as a helpless, powerless viewer.”

          Merciful tears flooded down the Lord’s eyes. Gandhari, proud of her revenge, asked Him scornfully, “So now You do seem to understand the ache of losing the near and dear ones.” As humble as possible, the Lord replied, “Mother, you have suffered this terrible grief as a result of your own karmas in the present and previous births and not because of may or anyone else’s wish. As far as my Yadukul is concerned, it had to suffer this very fate that you have just spoken about, because it was already destined. Now, by authoring this curse, you have made yourself a part of the pre-planned, impending destruction of the Yadukul. You had not yet succeeded in coming to terms with your previous karmas and you have dug yet another ditch for yourself. Now you are bound to bear the consequences for cursing the entire Yadu clan in your next birth or the next world.”

          Our sufferings as well as our achievements are a direct corollary of our own deeds. If we trust God and presume that He’s the one to administer pain and pleasure in our lives, then we must also know that He does give us the freedom to choose our own deeds in a given situation. Only on the basis of this independence of actions, He judges us and decides whether to reward us with pleasures or to make us suffer. If we really want to be happy, we have to prove ourselves to be worthy of it in the Lord’s eyes!

          When a child is born, the first thing it does is cry. All others greet the child into this world with a smile on their faces, but the child itself weeps. If this situation reverses at the time of his/her death, then it can be considered a truly accomplishing and satisfying journey. During the last moments of life, the person leaving the earth should have gratifying smile on the face and all others should be the ones shedding tears with the pain of his/her parting in their hearts.

          So the only mantra that seems to be workable in achieving a trouble-free life is, “Sow well and you can earn a right to reap the best!!”

(From a magazine Akhand Gyan April 2013 with thanks)