If a well-thought decision turns out to be a mistake then do we get the karma for it?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Okay, I will answer briefly.
And if others have something, we can talk afterwards. So, if we are put in a situation where we make a choice based on our intelligence, but then that choice backfires. You know, say like Indrajan Maharaj was cursed so that it seemed like he couldn’t do much.
So, in the Mahabharata, it is said that how do we decide what is right and wrong action? So, how do we know a particular action is right or wrong? So, there are broadly three parameters. Intent, content and consequence. Why am I doing a particular action? That can decide whether it is right or wrong.
Content, what am I doing actually? And what is the result of what I do? So, for example, normally we say speaking truth is good. And in content, speaking lies is bad. But if say some terrorists are chasing a person and that person is our friend and we shelter them in our house.
And the rioters knock on our doors. Is he here? Should we speak the truth at that time? No, it will cause the death of that person. So, there is right and wrong which is content.
Speaking truth is right, speaking false is wrong. But there is, we have to look at the intent. I may speak a lie because I want to protect someone.
Or I can look at the consequence. If I speak the truth, what is going to happen? This person is going to die. Therefore, I should not do this.
So, basically morality, right and wrong is not categorical. It is also contextual. Sometimes it is determined by context.
So, sometimes life puts us in situations where we make the choice using our best intelligence and afterwards that choice turns out to be wrong. So, we get a particular consequence for that. So, then we understand that this is simply karma.
Sometimes with our best intelligence, normally we say action has consequence. That is true. That is the law of karma.
But sometimes a small action can have a big consequence. And sometimes a big action may have a very small consequence. So, this magnitude, so karma is not simply linear one to one correlation.
Sometimes a small action can have a big consequence and that means that some past karma was involved over this. I have one of my, one devotee is a traffic cop and he was telling, there is one boy and there is a baseball match going on. And he had his phone and while the car was, he was driving the car, he looked at the baseball score.
So, the match was going on in his mobile TV and what happened? In that moment the car veered off control and it went and hit someone on the curb. That person was badly wounded and this boy was jailed for that. Now, many of us, we look at our phone messages when we are, when we are driving.
But he has a small mistake but big consequence. So, sometimes what happens is certain things are just, if a small action leads to a big consequence that means that some karma is involved over that. So, because of bad karma that thing was meant to happen.
We can try to learn. Okay, maybe I should not do this at all. So, like say some people, nowadays obesity is a big concern.
Some people, they eat a little and still their health gets spoiled, their figure gets spoiled. Some people treat their tongue like a conveyor belt. They eat anything and still nothing happens.
They stay healthy, they look fit, nothing happens to them. Why is that? Because by bypassed karma, some people are meant to have healthy and fit bodies in this life. And some people are meant to have sickly bodies.
So, for a person who is meant to have a healthy body, even if there is some indiscretion in eating, it does not lead to much effect. For somebody who is meant to have a sickly body, a slight indiscretion can have a big consequence. So, then what can we learn from this? Okay, we say that person ate that much, I also ate that much.
But it created a big problem for me. So, I have to eat according to what is my nature, what is my situation. So, we can learn some lessons.
But in general, life doesn’t come with a guarantee of right results. Okay, let’s not get into aparadha right now. If somebody commits an offence to someone, and then there is a result.
Generally, in the Bhagavatam, often principles are illustrated through extreme examples. That means that a small mistake, like Bharat Maharaj trying to save a deer, that causes him to get a deer’s body. So, both the positive and the negative.
Ajam is just chanting once. He saved from the avalokas. So, in order to illustrate universal principles, the Bhagavatam gives extreme examples.
But the extreme is not the normal. And fortunately, this is Kali Yoga, so no sages have power to curse like that. So, no need to worry about that.