Points to Ponder: January 23, 2018
It is said that the intention is more important than the action. On some reflection, it will be clear to us that what drives each of our actions today is lust, greed and attachment. Behind every action, there is more often than not, the expectation to receive. In case of attachment, it may appear that our actions are selfless, but it is not so. Let us explore this in detail. Attachment is love based on relationship consciousness. Love of a father, child, mother, spouse, is all relationship based. Relationship based love is never unconditional. Relationships, by default subscribe to the social code of mutual expectations. For example, the role of a father for a child and vice versa come with specific responsibilities and expectations on the part of both parties and the each one is bound to carry out his responsibility in accordance with the social code , failing which we fall in the category of being a bad father or a bad child. So unconditional love is a misnomer when applied to relationship based love. So, in short, all our actions, whether driven by our desire for things or sensual pleasures or driven by our sense of relationships are not selfless. Only selfless actions can be considered as good karma. So, most of our actions do not qualify as good karma.
Today we will also consider another situation. Just visualize a situation where someone is in need of help and I help them and do not expect anything in return. Does that qualify as good karma? Even here, what we need to check is whether the cause of the action is the other person’s need or my own fullness. Do I help and give anyway or do I help because the other person needs it? What if the other person does not acknowledge that he needed it or what if the other person does not acknowledge that my help was any good to him? Would I then regret my action of having helped him? Would I feel violated? Where do my actions come from? Do they come from a place of being full of God’s grace and the desire to share God’s gifts with humanity or do they come from a place of ego where I consider myself as the giver and the other as the taker? Please reflect on this today. We will explore more on this tomorrow.