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Thread: Good karma or bad karma?

  1. #1
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    Good karma or bad karma?

    Namaste,

    To bury the terrorist Tamerlon Tsarnaev, someone has donated a burial spot in Virginia. I was wondering if the person who donated thus inherited good karma or bad karma? Any thoughts?

    Btw: In my ancestry, a forefather is said to have done full cremation of an abandoned body that came floating by the river - about 100 yrs or more ago. Hence he earned the name 'Nallaan Chakravarthy'. He is praised by us all for his generosity and kindness. Does it apply to this case?

    Thanks.
    jai hanuman gyan gun sagar jai kapis tihu lok ujagar

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    Re: Good karma or bad karma?

    Namaste.

    I don't think Karma can be 'good' or 'bad' because it can't be categorized in basic terms of reference like that.

    People say it that way though, but it's way more complex than just being 'positive/negative Karma'.

    So, the person donated a grave site to bury a dead terrorist. The terrorist is dead, what else can he do? He is now a rotting corpse without a soul.

    We all know we are not our bodies, so donating land to dispose of a corpse (no matter what he did whilst alive) would be like giving your friend permission to bury their dead pet in your backyard.

    If you look at it that way, the Karmic result is negligible.

    It's a very nice thing to do though...to dispose of a corpse and give it a decent burial rather than letting it float in the river.

    I am tempted to give examples of the Aghori, who will tell you that all corpses are, are rotting flesh with no soul, no mind, no relevance...no nutritional value...

    Karma is very difficult to even try and work out...even Brahma cannot work it out, so we mortals have no chance.

    All we can do is try and do the right thing and hopefully score Karmic 'brownie points' in the attempt...because often, very often, the intention outweighs the act.

    This is all in my opinion of course.

    Aum Namah Shivaya
    Last edited by Necromancer; 14 May 2013 at 01:27 PM.

  3. #3
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    Re: Good karma or bad karma?

    Quote Originally Posted by Necromancer View Post
    Namaste.

    It's a very nice thing to do though...to dispose of a corpse and give it a decent burial rather than letting it float in the river.

    Aum Namah Shivaya
    I agree to the above. But it is a little confusing if the donor did inherit bad karma, given that even the Muslim clergymen refused to take the body and give it proper rights after he demised. And people such as mother of a 3-yr old who died of Cancer protested fearing the reaction her 'son' would get with his body being laid so close to the terrorist. All this confuses.. Besides in Hinduism it said that even if you offer food to someone unknown, and if this person goes and later butchers a cow, you end up getting some negative karma via that person! So my question.
    jai hanuman gyan gun sagar jai kapis tihu lok ujagar

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    Re: Good karma or bad karma?

    Quote Originally Posted by Viraja View Post
    I agree to the above. But it is a little confusing if the donor did inherit bad karma, given that even the Muslim clergymen refused to take the body and give it proper rights after he demised. And people such as mother of a 3-yr old who died of Cancer protested fearing the reaction her 'son' would get with his body being laid so close to the terrorist. All this confuses.. Besides in Hinduism it said that even if you offer food to someone unknown, and if this person goes and later butchers a cow, you end up getting some negative karma via that person! So my question.
    Namaste.

    There's no way you could possibly know that the person to whom you generously donated food is going to kill a cow.

    You donated food out of the goodness of your heart...you gave unconditionally...you did so in the name of the Lord.

    Whatever 'bad Karma' you will get from the cow-killer will now be outweighed by the 'good Karma' you got by feeding him.

    *I'll use 'good Karma' and 'bad Karma' for ease of reference here.

    If you perform any act in God's name, it automatically extinguishes all negative Karmic repercussions from your actions (provided you are not committing deliberate acts of sin according to the Holy Scriptures).

    It is like 'the sins of the fathers'...like how if your great, great, great grandfather killed a cow, you will still be burdened with the Karma from that act.

    Unfortunately, there are a lot of things in Hinduism I disagree totally with. I just cannot follow this religion blindly and accept every word of scripture as truth.

    Most of it, I can...but some of it, I just cannot.

    We are not responsible for the actions of others and it's totally unfair that God burdens us with these as well as our own. I refuse to believe/accept this.

    In my mind, the person did a good thing...and also, it's really idiotic how people treat dead corpses as if they were still living...

    "I am not gonna let you bury a terrorist in the grave next to my son...."

    What's the terrorist gonna do, kill the boy again? What's the son gonna do, complain to his mum?

    Sorry I am like this, but I honestly don't see the point and purpose in things sometimes.

    Maybe somebody else can quote scripture here or something for you that will explain it to your satisfaction.

    You don't need an Advaitin's view on this. lol

    Aum Namah Shivaya
    Last edited by Necromancer; 14 May 2013 at 02:04 PM.

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    Re: Good karma or bad karma?

    Namaskaram to all.

    Bhagavan alone knows what karma is. Yes, there are seers who have their insights. But in general, human beings merely speculate. Suppose I refuse to speculate on matters that are far beyond my purview. Would that make me a Hindu heretic?

    What disturbs me sometimes is the observable social consequence of blindly subscribing to a theory of karma. In some cases the theory seems to be helpful (deterring vice and encouraging virtue). In other cases the theory seems to be harmful (supporting baseless fears, superstition, fatalism, indifference to the plight of others, or arrogant self-congratulation for being the cause of one’s own good fortune).

    Above all, apart from any practical consequences, isn’t it a cause of shame that human beings require such a theory to turn from vice and practice virtue? Are we mere beasts to be trained by the carrot of hoped-for rewards and the threatening stick of a painful afterlife? Furthermore, is reward-and-punishment our underlying motive for worship? If so, how disgraceful!

    Perhaps a theory of karma is required to relieve the Creator of any responsibility for the mixed nature of this world. We want to have God, even though we don’t approve of His creation, and so we hire Him a good lawyer in the form of a theory of karma. Well! Let others pay the fees for that lawyer. For me, the following story suffices:

    There once was a saint who walked through her village with a torch in one hand and a bucket of water in the other. When people inquired, she replied to them. “Set fire to heaven and put out the flames of hell. Then God can be loved for His own sake.”

    And along with God, is virtue not worthy of love for its own sake?

    Mahadeva Smaranam OM namah shivaya
    Mrtyunjayaya rudraya neelakanthaya shambhave
    Amrteshaya sarvaya mahadevaya te namah

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    Re: Good karma or bad karma?

    Namaste
    Quote Originally Posted by Viraja View Post
    Besides in Hinduism it said that even if you offer food to someone unknown, and if this person goes and later butchers a cow, you end up getting some negative karma via that person! So my question.
    Actually I've heard that's going just the opposite.
    If you offer food to someone, this person will receive some of your karma. It is a transfer of karma from one person to another.
    So it is said that it's not good to receive food and gifts from the sinful people because a part of their karma will be passed on to you.

    regards

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    Re: Good karma or bad karma?

    hari o
    ~~~~~~
    namasté
    Quote Originally Posted by Necromancer View Post
    If you perform any act in God's name, it automatically extinguishes all negative Karmic repercussions from your actions
    Would you be so kind as to show us where this is supported in our śāstra-s. Why do I say this ? I find support from the bhāgavad gītā... kṛṣṇa-jī informs us : in every case actions are performed by the 3 guna-s of prakṛti (nature). He whose mind is deluded by the sense of 'I' and 'mine' holds 'I am the doer'.

    iti śivaṁ
    Last edited by yajvan; 14 May 2013 at 08:44 PM.
    यतसà¥à¤¤à¥à¤µà¤‚ शिवसमोऽसि
    yatastvaṠśivasamo'si
    because you are identical with śiva

    _

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    Re: Good karma or bad karma?

    Namaskaram.

    What will happen to ME, if I feed a hungry person who may later do this or that? Did Bhagavan Sri Krishna ask us to consider any such eventualities? Rather He said (not an exact quote): “Just perform your duty, and let the chips fall where they may.”

    In the case of accepting gifts from those whose wealth is known to be sinfully acquired, e.g., stolen, received from the manufacture of harmful things, or acquired through the gross exploitation of others, it is dharma to avoid such company, together with any gifts they might offer. Otherwise the maxim applies: Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.

    Pranam.

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    Re: Good karma or bad karma?

    hari o
    ~~~~~~
    namasté

    Quote Originally Posted by TrikonaBindu View Post
    Namaskaram.

    What will happen to ME, if I feed a hungry person who may later do this or that? Did Bhagavan Sri Krishna ask us to consider any such eventualities? Rather He said (not an exact quote): “Just perform your duty, and let the chips fall where they may.”
    What if the food you gave to this person was stolen; What if the flower that was used to make bread, while it was in the sack, was used to hit another over the head ( before the bread was made) and brought harm to a person...

    'unfathomable is the course of action', bhāgavad gītā chapter 4, 17śloka

    iti śivaṁ
    यतसà¥à¤¤à¥à¤µà¤‚ शिवसमोऽसि
    yatastvaṠśivasamo'si
    because you are identical with śiva

    _

  10. #10
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    Re: Good karma or bad karma?

    Quote Originally Posted by yajvan View Post

    'unfathomable is the course of action', Bhāgavadgītā chapter 4, 17śloka


    Wonderful quotation, Yajvan-ji! This my 100% feeling. Thanks.

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