The beauty about space and universe is that no matter what you say about it, no one can say that you are wrong since the entire universe is not explored and so your theory can not be proved wrong and might stand true somewhere. Well, guess the same is true about the abstract concept of Karma too, writes Ms. Vidushi
We like to believe that theory of karma exists. Hinduism believes so. So does Jainism and Buddhism. Islam also believes in it, not in the name of Karma but in the name of “Kifarah”. It basically means that what goes around comes around.
But I always wonder. Is it actually true ? Or is it a way of finding balance in chaos? Or it is our attempt to pacify our mind whenever something unfair happens to us? And if karma does exist then answer me something. Hitler commitment mass murders and exodus of Jews. He committed brutalities of the highest order. But his death was by a single gunshot and that too by his own hand. When we imagine someone committing crimes like Hitler, we often imagine him facing severe punishments and facing his karma. Hindus call it “narak ki aag me jalna”, Muslims call it “dozak ki aag me jalna”. But basically we all envision the same thing that their death would be brutal and painful and their body would wither away.
But Hitler did not face such a death. He did not have to go through the pain of facing atrocities and waiting for death. His death did not justify the test of proportionality that karma has to satisfy to mark its presence in our mind. Or did it really not? Is it possible that he faced such mental traumas while growing up that his acts became proportional to what he faced. We might consider that no amount of mental trauma can justify any sort of physical retribution or retaliation but as it is said, “jispe beet-te hai wahi jaanta hai”. Or there is another perspective too, that what he did was maybe not wrong. Before you think I’ve gone crazy just hear me out once.
In Mahabharat, Pandavas killed Kauravas. Pandavas were five in number and Kauravas were 100. So handful of people killed 100 people and it was justified in the name of “restoring the correct order” and it was known as the fight for “dharma”. So what if whatever Hitler did, was his dharma. What if he thought that what he was doing was correct and was to restore order and so it became justified. What if right and wrong is decided on the basis of one’s own perception rather than the world’s perception? And that is why if I do something with the conviction that it is right then I have done no wrong in the eyes of GOD/supreme/Karma but if I do an act, knowing it to be wrong but still doing it, for my own benefit then it would come back to me. I had an Astrophysics professor who used to say that, the beauty about space and universe is that no matter what you say about it, no one can say that you are wrong since the entire universe is not explored and so your theory can not be proved wrong and might stand true somewhere. Well, guess the same is true about the abstract concept of Karma too. To each his own !
(Ms. Vidushi is Independent columnist)
