The idea of Karma

Since my childhood, having grown in a slightly religious Hindu family, I have been told by people around that we have to retribute for the past life Karma. My parents had not much belief in this idea but few of my relatives or parents of friends had a firm belief that Karma is real and we cannot avoid its’ impact on our current life. I could not buy in to this idea with certainty but was always curious to think about it and come to my interpretation.

My problem is with the dichotomy in the notion of Karma itself. On one hand deeply religious people claim that nothing happens unless it has the approval by God (there is a proverb in India which says that “without the God’s consent, even a leaf cannot sway”). My question is that if some action which I took in my past life (if there is a possibility of such a facade) which was totally evil, surely it would have had the consent of God. If that is the case, why should I be forced to retribute for that, if I was not the action taker but God? Secondly, I do not remember of that supposed past life. If I am not aware of it at all, why should I douse myself in the fury of retribution? Thirdly, till what end should I attribute everything to the past life Karma? A friend of mine was suffering from flu like symptoms last year and it was repeating all through the year. As a believer in the Karma theory and chakra healing, he claimed that his frequent illness was the result of some karmic problem of millions of lifetimes and hence he had to suffer so that his next life would be better. I have bouts of extreme Acid reflux when I eat heavy food and it leads to constipation and indigestion. Should I attribute this to the past life Karma as well? Or alternatively should I seek advice from a good physician or a nutrition expert in planning my meals better?

There are certain situations in life that do intrigue me. For example, when we see people talking ill about others or claiming their superiority about something or passing judgements about others, we also see the rippling effect on their own lives. I will share few examples to manifest my point. A distant relative always used to predict about who would get divorced in their known circle. Eventually, none of them got divorced except for her own daughter (which was not in the list of those predictions, obviously). In second case, a friend used to crack jokes on mental ailments and make judgements on people who were suffering because of poor mental health. His own son had to be treated for Depression a few years back. I also know of an individual, a senior executive in the tech space who used to claim that because of his deep project management knowledge, he would never be in the line of fire. He recently got laid off. Perhaps we should not see the Karma factor here. These may be mere coincidences but are certainly intriguing. Perhaps when we pass judgements, we are not aware that our lives are hollow and not perfect and when the rippling effect happens, we are taken by surprise. These are random examples. Perhaps there are such people as well who make such opinions and judgements and live comfortable lives without any major consequences.

My last point is about the belief itself. Why do some people believe in Religion or God or rituals while there are some who think rationally and ask questions? I agree that there are many realms of life which we are not aware of. As an agnostic I ask these questions as well — why are we here and is there a method in this madness? Scientists claim that there are infinite galaxies. The size of this Universe is so vast that perhaps there may be life in many more places than Earth, but it is still a hypothesis as there is no evidence to support this imagination. In most of the sci-fi movies, the aliens are shown to have better technologies and totally different belief systems than ours, while the religious people espousing different religions on this planet claim that the mysteries of creation can only be solved by the religions created on this planet. When I see randomness of such things around, my faith in a spiritual process dilutes and more so in the notion of Karma.