LIFE

Good begets good

Karma simplified

Photo by Isabella Fischer on Unsplash

This is an ancient tale handed down from generation to generation, to encourage us to do what we ought, and to desist from what we ought not.

It requires a blind belief in cause and effect to do good just because it will lead to good, and not to do bad because it will lead to bad.

Here goes the story.

The place

Back in those days when civilization meant a cluster of homes in a village, with a temple and a god installed in that temple, there were two persons, known by their qualities and not names, Aastik and Naastik.

The believer, Aastik

Aastik was a person who was devout and would worship gods because it was the right thing to do. He would carry a broom, a mop, water, flowers and leaves; sweep and wash the temple every day, and decorate the idol with flowers and leaves, performing whatever ritual he had learnt, to worship the gods. He subsisted from day to day, living on alms from generous people, and was tolerated by everyone despite his poverty, because of his piety.

The non-believer, Naastik

Naastik denied the gods altogether. “What can a stone do?” he would ask. “It is not going to react, whether I beat it with a stock, or defile it with dung”. He would do the wrong things, if at all, like circumambulation in an anti-clockwise direction instead of the traditional clockwise direction. He would then thump his chest, and boast, “See, nothing happened. There are no gods!”

This went on for some time, Naastik growing more and more belligerent and rude, and seemingly unaffected, because he prospered in whatever he did, and never suffered for his insults to the gods.

Aastik was steadfast in his rituals. He would take extra care to clean away the defiling done by Naastik. He continued to take care of the temple and the idol. He would find fruits and food to offer to the idol, and would distribute them as the gods’ offerings to people who would accept them. He found scholarly priests and learned lessons on how to perform rituals effectively and efficiently.

The day of reward and punishment

A day came when Naastik reviled the gods once again, and KICKED the idol. Aastik remonstrated with him, and beseeched him, “Why don’t you just leave god alone? Why must you be irreverent and rude? Why don’t you just mind your business and stay aloof from the temple?” Naastik showed no remorse nor repentance. He just walked out and stumbled upon a coin. He picked it up and found it was a GOLD coin! He started dancing and prancing about, and said, “Look, this is what happens when you are not devout! I found a gold coin!” He skipped, tripped and hopped along to spend his coin and enjoy the pleasures of money.

Aastik thought it was all fated. He went about his cleaning and rituals with greater application than ever. He swept and mopped, and cleaned and polished, till everything shone. He made the offerings of flowers and leaves, food and fruits, and picked them up for distribution. He exited the temple and took a few steps when he stepped on a scorpion and was stung. His stoicism was lost. Oh! he lamented, God, why this pain?

Aastik decides to give up his life

He resolved that he would not waver from the path of devotion and austerity. However after his lament he decided that renunciation of life itself was the only course left to him. He assumed a sitting posture and started to meditate, internally weeping, praying to god to explain his irrational treatment of his devotee compared to the unbeliever.

Aastik’s meditation continued. He took neither food nor water, only breathing for survival. And he had a vision.

The vision

“Arise, my child”, said the Lord in Aastik’s Vision. “You had accumulated a big burden of sins from your previous births. In this birth you have been kind gentle and believing. You have performed several good deeds and acts of virtue. You were to be stung by a venomous snake and die, but you expiated for your sins by your good deeds. Therefore you were bitten by a less venomous creature, the scorpion, besides being granted a second life. You will be all right!”

Aastik was still in his meditation. He was still in his trance. He could remember thinking, But why was Naastik rewarded with a gold coin after all his bad deeds? The vision answered Aastik. “Naastik was born with a balance of virtuous deeds from his past births. He was afforded all facilities in this birth because of his balance of good from his earlier births. He eroded away all the virtues by his crass and obstinate abuse of god. As a result, instead of finding the pot of gold that was intended for him, he found just one coin. You by your good deeds and devotion have earned enough virtue in this life to deserve that pot of gold. Go where he found his gold coin, scrape the earth, and you will find the pot!”

Aastik came out of his reverie. Was it all a reality? he wondered. He walked to the place outside the temple, scraped the earth, found the pot of gold, shared his treasure with others, and continued his devotion and rituals.

Moral of the story

It is not a matter of wonder that after being brought up on powerful stories like the one above, people are motivated to perform deeds of virtue and to abhor sin. If not in this birth, then in the next, the virtuous deeds will bear fruit.