Should we keep tolerating all present suffering by seeing it as a result of our past Karma?

So, it is said that whenever anything happens to us, that’s because of our own past karma and the people whom we encounter in this life are basically people who we have had some interactions with in the previous lives. So when something bad happens to us, should we consider that it is our karmic debt being neutralized and we should tolerate it? And when does it cross a line and when we should stop tolerating? Answer, we can look at scripture itself for learning this. We see that Lord Ram accepted it when he was exiled and he said, it is probably destiny that Kaikeyi has turned against me like this.

But when Sita was abducted, he didn’t accept that as destiny. He didn’t say it is her karma or my karma. So why? Because the focus was on dharma, on duty.

He said, it is dharma to my father. I was ready to ascend the throne and as a duty to my father, I will go to the forest. So his decision was not based on what was whose karma in the past.

It was based on his understanding of what is his dharma now and how best can he perform that dharma. So when Sita Devi was abducted, naturally it is his dharma as a husband to protect her and he practically moved heaven and earth to rescue her. So the key is that we need to be dharma-centered, not karma-centered.

So, I would say there are three different degrees over here. In general, what is the right thing to do is not so easy to know, but we consider what is it that we are doing, that is the content of our action, why we are doing it, the intent of the action and what is the result of it, that is the effect. These three factors, the Mahabharata, many discussions on ethics are based on this, content, intent and effect.

So now, in terms of content, we could say that if somebody’s actions are interrupting or disrupting our dharma, our capacity to do our dharma, then we need to do what we can to protect ourselves. So, now we could say that Lord Ramakuda said even being a king was his dharma and Kaikeyi was disrupting that. But then he looked at intent over there.

He said the intent, she is not a bad person, but she is going through a bad phase, she is being misled and he still had hope that the family would be brought together or family harmony would be restored. And he felt that if he tried to rebel against his father at that particular time, as Lakshman was recommending, the effect would be that his family would be torn apart. So he considered the content, he could have said, he decided that content was, I want to stick to my duty and my duty is, I want to keep the family of my father and my family together.

So he accepted that, but in the case of Ravan, there was no doubt about his intent. Ravan was known to be a demon who had violated many women in the past and he had just continued a dark pattern with Sita. So therefore, even then with Ravan also, he gave him a chance that if he returns Sita, he won’t have to fight a war, but he didn’t listen.

So then he had to fight. So, with respect to the Pandavas, when they fought, it was not just to gain a kingdom. Of course, as Kshatriyas, they needed a kingdom.

They could have lived in the forest also further, they wanted to, but there was a principle over here that somebody who has by vicious means grabbed a kingdom should not be allowed to flourish. And such a person would only continue to do vicious things if that person was not challenged and checked. So therefore, it is important for him to be checked.

Now my understanding is that if our dharma is being stopped, then we need to do something to correct it. So, for example, if somebody insults us in office, we might say, okay, you know, these things happen. There are some bad elements always there.

Now, if somebody bullies our child at school, what do we do at that time? Should we tell our child, oh, it’s your own karma, deal with it? Well, it depends again, you know. If it is an individual case of one particular child bullying, then we might decide that we train our child to stand up for himself or herself, or we take it to the authorities, we correct it. But suppose we are in a particular place where there is some kind of racism, and that’s just the way it is, hopefully things will change in the future, but now it’s something unavoidable.

Then we have to train our child to become strong, to face it, because that’s how they will grow. So, in general, wherever immediate explanations are available and immediate solutions are available, we need to focus on those immediate explanations and solutions. Karma is used to make sense of things that don’t make sense in terms of immediate causes.

So, Ram had done nothing to anger Kaikeyi, and her behavior towards him could not make sense in immediate terms. So, that’s where he invoked destiny as an explanation. Say, if I’m feeling cold right now, should I just say, oh, this cold is my karma? Or I can say, can you just adjust the AC temperature a little bit? If it can be adjusted, if there’s an immediate cause and immediate solution, just go over there and finish the whole cycle.

But say, if I have come to Canada over here, and the weather here is cold, then I may decide that it is my duty that I am here as a speaker, and I have to tolerate certain things. But tolerate doesn’t mean that I don’t try to get warm clothes. So, I think once we start going into what is whose karma, we will just get caught in paralysis by analysis.

So, we focus on what is our dharma, and how best can we do our dharma. So, yes, I think inside a family, there will always be some people who will not be very pleasant to us. And that’s the flip side of being a part of, say, a large family or extended family.

Then some hurtful words are spoken. They can be tolerated. But if there is regular abusive language and tactics being used, then we have to create some boundaries.

It is not so much to get back at the other person, it is to focus on doing our own dharma. That we have our family responsibility, we have social responsibility, we have professional responsibilities, and we need to be able to do that. So, the purpose of life is not going to be fulfilled simply by exhausting our past karma.

The purpose of life will be fulfilled by executing our present dharma. It is, We should be humble and be tolerant. But for what? So that we can glorify Krishna constantly.

But say, if somebody is abusive behavior or hurtful behavior such that, that is consuming our mind and then we are not able to chant, we are not able to practice bhakti, our mind is getting so disturbed by that. Then, at that time you may say, I am being tolerant, it is my own past karma. But the point is, life success does not come by enduring past karma.

Okay, there is some negative, we exhaust the negative. But we need to do some positive so that we can develop our attraction towards Krishna and go towards Krishna. Even if we don’t go towards Krishna, we want to create a brighter future for ourselves, we have to do something positive also.

So, if our capacity to do something positive is being obstructed, then we have to do something to address it. If someone is a very talented cricketer, but they are in a particular area, where because of the community they belong to, caste, politics or whatever is there, they are never going to get a chance to play over there. And should that person say that, oh, it’s my own karma and stay over there? God has given you talent, it’s your dharma to do justice to the talent.

And go to some other city, join some other club where there will be more fair opportunity and move ahead. That’s why tolerate is definitely one option and there are many times when tolerate is the best way. We as a society are becoming quite intolerant in the sense of not intolerant towards other people in the religious intolerance, but in terms of our capacity to deal with provoking situations, to overreact to them.

We are tending to do that. So, tolerance is an important virtue. But tolerance is only one of the options at our command.