The Western world is familiar with the word 'Karma.' I don't think the concept of 'Karma' is well understood. Karma is 'not' a bitch. Bhagavad-Gita explains the notion of Karma really well. There are 2 aspects to it. One is your destiny. The Sanskrit word for destiny is 'Prarabdh'. We all have certain Prarabdh in our accounts. We reach specific points in our lives based on that. Now, everyone's destiny is intertwined. What others do is not in our control; how others react is not in our control. When we get a particular opportunity, we have little control over what 'we' can do.
Now, this little control is basically our free will. That's the second aspect. Only human beings are gifted with 'free will.' Animals don't enjoy this freedom. Animals just follow their natural instincts. They eat when hungry, mate when there is a need to reproduce, sleep when tired, and leave this world when it's time. We humans do not behave in this manner. We eat to satisfy our taste buds, our sexual needs are not just for mating purposes, we like to sleep even when we are not tired, and most importantly, we try every possible means to extend our stay in this world. This free will is nothing but the choices we make. The choice we make then has a domino effect. The ripples are felt for a long time.I'm curious about some of those decisive moments in my life today. How could things have been if I made a different choice then? I was delighted with some of my choices, but I also regretted many choices. The choices we make are our Karma. Once we choose, there is no point in pondering the results. That's because the result is decided to ensure the entire system remains balanced. Some are happy with the end result, and some think it's unfair.
The sum total of Karma affects our Prarabdh. Is there a Good Karma and Bad Karma? It's not so easy to define. Good and Bad are always relative terms. There are only perspectives. So why is everyone's destiny different? If there is no real Good or Bad Karma, why is there no parity in society? I would really love to decode this logic someday. Eventually, everything gets balanced out.
No matter our choices, there is always a reason to regret, and no matter how regretful we are, there is always a reason to be happy about something. End of the day, nothing really matters. We are just a part of a very well-balanced system. When our role ends, someone else takes our place to balance it out. The pursuit of happiness is an unending race. A new shiny object always comes on our horizon, and we feel we will be happy once we get there. We don't realize it's just a mirage we are running after.