Karma. Always.
1. When chased, a serpent escapes into a well, an elephant to the trunk (to which it can be tethered); a mouse to its hole............... but who can fly from karma which is quicker than all these?
Garuda Purana.
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2. There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions. In a little while the servant came back, pale and shivering, and said, "Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd. When I turned I saw it was Death herself that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture! I pray you lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will flee to Samarra and Death will not find me there".
The merchant gave him his horse, and the servant mounted it. He dug his spurs in furiously and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. The merchant then went down to the market and he saw Death standing in the crowd. He came to Death and asked," Why did you make a threating getsture to my servant when you saw him this morning?" "That was no threatening gesture...", Death said, ".....it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra".
Appointment in Samarra.
Babylonian folktale, popularised by Somerset Maugham.
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Duryodhana and his vulnerable thigh.
Gandhari's one-shot Yogic power, gained through a lifetime of devotion would have made her firstborn impervious to anything the Pandavas could muster, and carried the day for the Kurus. But it took Lord Krishna's briefest taunt to sow a dragon seed of unnecessary shame in the mind of Duryodhana..... the Kuru prince signed his own death certificate that night.
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The very virtuous, but doomed (by his own vanity) Emperor Pareekshith in his "secure" fortress...... vainly trying to hide from Takshak, the instrument of his Karma.
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The mighty Achilles with his vulnerable heel.
The Goddess Styx herself becomes the unwtting instrument of her son's Karma.
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Sinnerman where you gunna run to,
Sinnerman where you gunna run to,
Where you gunna run to,
All on that day?.....
Sinnerman, by Nina Simone
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Hoichi was a blind mistrel in medieval Japan, a man so gifted in the arts of the Biwa ( Japanese Lute) that even the demons couldn't refrain from tears. He was particularly skilled at playing the Tale of the Heike, the saga of the fall of the Antoku Emperor and the Taira clan..... the Emperor being buried in the Amidaji shrine cemetery where Hoichi lived.
One night a Samurai visits him and asks Hoichi to play for his master, a powerful lord. Hoichi agrees and follows the Samurai to the palace of the nobleman, a realm of much splendour and gaiety (from the sound of things) where the assembled guests asked him to play the Tale of the Heike. The performance moved the audience to tears and amidst thunderous applause the nobleman requested Hoichi to make a follow up performance the next night. Before the retainer returned him to his temple, Hoichi was warned not to speak of the evening's events as his master was travelling incognito.
The following evening, the samurai returned to Hoichi's quarters and led him back to the nobleman..... and this continued for a few days. However, Hoichi's absences were soon discovered by his friend, the priest of the Temple. The priest grew suspicious and instructed his servants to keep an eye on Hoichi. It was not just his bouts of absence, Hoichi seemed to be turning weaker, paler and drained these days..... it seemed he was being slowly erased out of existence. When they saw him leaving the temple the servants followed and eventually found Hoichi playing his biwa in the middle of the cemetery! The servants dragged him back to the temple and Hoichi explained the previous night's events to the priest.
Realizing that Hoichi had been marked and bound by the restless Hungry Ghosts who tried to relive their mortal days and listen to their own tale.... and (perhaps unwittingly) were draining Hoichi of his life-force, the priest vowed to save his friend from further harm. He painted Hoichi's whole body with the sacred text of the Heart Sutra and instructed him to remain silent and motionless when he is called upon by his ghostly escort. But the priest forgot something.......
That evening the ghost of the samurai retainer called for Hoichi as before, and was angered when he received no response. The ghostly samurai approached Hoichi but was unable to see anything but his ears. The holy sutra had rendered the rest of Hoichi's body invisible to the retainer but the priest had forgotten Hoichi's ears! Attempting to comply with his orders, the samurai ripped Hoichi's ears off as proof that they had been the only portion of the lute player that was available.
The Legend of Hoichi the Earless,
Japanese Folklore
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It always gets you, right?
In Eastern, non-semitic religions, Karma is the perhaps the greatest cosmic truth. IMO, it is the measure of what you have done if your lifetimes........ plus what's "ordained" for you. Yea, the latter is a factor too. Some cultures say karma is entirely tangible..... like the Ancient Egyptian funda where your heart is weighed against an ostrich feather by Anubis. It binds both humans and Gods, even if the intent was "noble".... from Lord Shiva himself doing intense penance for Brahmahatya to the King of Qin paying for his "tyranny" at the bitter end. It will visit you and/or your progeny...... and anyone or anything can be an insrument of this cosmic force. You might attempt to deflect it or escape it altogether, but it *always* comes around. Wise are the ways of Karma.
Notice how the religions of the world try to tackle this CORE issue? Some seek an attenuation of bad Karma through life-cycles among other paths, some promise offsetting it through various means..... sometimes even corporal mortification, some apparently "skirt" the whole issue by providing grace based relief and salvation.... with a simple leap of faith and some provide eternal, but material bounties in return for simple, unwavering assosciation and adherence.
This might sound too simplistic and somewhat reductionist, but don't they ALL boil down to Karma-Causality?
PS: Extremely tangential and spin-off thoughts after seeing (for the nth time) that scene where a dying Captain Miller says "Earn This!" to Private Ryan. In a rare philosphical mode.... damn! Don't worry, tiger...... it's nothing that can't be cured by any one of the seven sins you are so familiar with! I think I'll do some gluttony and envy today. ;)
PPS: I don't exactly remember how I reached Karmic concepts from that point.... maybe I should reconstruct it sometime later. Some train of thought, eh? Now you know why I chose the title, The Wanderer? :P
posted by Anand K @ 6:24 PM
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