I have been thinking a lot about Karma and the positive vibes you send into the Universe. There are a number of reasons why I am thinking about this. I made a conscious choice to live a principled life, what that means is to try to do the right thing everyday. I wrote a small status update on my facebook timeline, I literally mean it when I say:
To those I may have Wronged, I ask Forgiveness.
To those I may have Helped, I wish I did More.
To those I Neglected to help, I ask for Understanding.
To those who helped me, I sincerely Thank you!
Trying everyday to work on myself and be a better human being. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
I have to thank my friend Ajay Chaturvedi, for posting this at the turn of the new year. I added the last sentence to this. I try very hard not to gossip, lie or talk behind people’s back or do something that is not integral to my living philosophy, I strongly believe that there are 7 things that will destroy anyone
- Wealth without Work
- Pleasure without Conscience
- Knowledge without Character
- Commerce without Morality
- Science without Humanity
- Worship without Sacrifice
- Politics without Principles
I try to give with absolutely no expectation to Entrepreneurs and Startup Founders and to basically anyone who wants my help. I believe I am building good karma with these actions. It pains me to find out that people talk on my back say things that are untrue and more or less jeopardize what I plan to do. I guess that is part of life, there are always people who do this. I am not here to judge them but I just pray and ask for forgiveness I must have done something awful to deserve this back stabbing. To all those who spread rumours and talk badly about what I am trying to accomplish, I have this saying popularized as something that Mother Theresa said:
- People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
- If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
- If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.
- If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.
- What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.
- If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
- The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
- Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.
I will continue on this journey with the above wise words. I don’t want to preach but whatever you sow you will reap. I try hard not to sow negativity or evil or lies, for those who do all I have to say is Karma is a strange thing, it always comes back to you.
Life is funny! It’s hard being who we truly are and not letting the outside world bother us mentally, physically and in our hearts. I think all we can really do is continue to keep being better people. I mean really, as long as we keep trying, then it continues to lead us to a kinder place. A place where we can find compassion, mindfulness, and peace. Karms is a bitch for sure! The good thing, if we keep trying I’m pretty sure we can reverse it.
I’d agree with all of these – except for “Worship without Sacrifice”. The whole sacrifice concept has been promoted and mandated by religious leaders – the ones who write the rules – for two reasons:
(1) the leaders are enriched by material sacrifices (let’s face it, the god didn’t eat the food animals, and the gold didn’t go to a bank account in heaven/Valhalla/Vaikunta), and;
(2) personal sacrifice (of any sort but, in cults, up to and including even friends and family) creates a powerful demotivation to leave: “If I abandon my faith, all that I gave up was for nothing.” Religions ambivalent about apostasy are few and far between, and almost all require some degree of control of the followers. Sacrifice provides one element of control.
I believe it’s possible to have religion without sacrifice. In fact, one that neither asks for, nor expects, sacrifice is clearly more difficult to accuse of venality, control or manipulation, thus arguably that much purer of spirit.
You could validly ask: do any religions exist that fit that description? In truth, they’re rare. I guess I’d uphold one example. In Wicca, every adherent is their own priest. There’s no concept of gateway access to the deities: each follower has their own direct hotline. The purpose of High Priest/esse/s is not to provide a conduit, but to co-ordinate ceremonies, just as a caller co-ordinates a line dance. And because of that, sacrifice is not a required thing, but a personal choice. If you, as your own Priest, decide that sacrifice isn’t needed for your own worship…then it isn’t. I’m sure there are other examples, but I’m racking my mind to try to recall one.
Hi John,
What is meant by the Sacrifice part is much like a mother sacrifices for her child or a father. I have absolutely no religious context to it. I think Religion is a personal matter and everyone has their own religion even the Atheists have a religion, they just use different words. I am not sure if you have sat in meditation and tried to focus on your thoughts, that requires sacrifice, where you are not checking your smartphone for updates or browsing or tweeting or posting your status on FB. There are several layers of sacrifice. Those who get into the habit of mindfulness and meditation have to embrace sacrifice that is what is meant in worship without sacrifice. These were words from Mahatma Gandhi, he was religious but he focused on all Gods. He did not discriminate. The same way I don’t discriminate or rank religion vs God. The concept of sacrifice is important. As an entrepreneur you sacrifice something good today for something better in the future, maybe you get to experience it but sacrifice you must.
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As always you are in inspiration Bala. LoVe you!
Mother Theresa’s Anyway no. 2. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
Is one I come up against often. I know their accusations are probably from jealousy or shamefulness that they are not kind to others themselves or perhaps they got stung by someone pretending to be kind and are now wary of all who are kind, but it does hurt. Still as Mother Theresa says: Be kind anyway! 🙂
Re, those stabbing you in the back, they are probably in the same category of jealous or shameful. I’m here to tell the world that you are the real deal. Did you see the interview where I mentioned you as my Hero! 🙂 http://www.startupchronicle.com/candy-empire-pauline-mccarthy-island-treasures/
LoVe Pauline
Thank you Pauline. I appreciate your comments, thoughts and encouragement. You inspire me to do more.