Hari Om
The way you think becomes your karma
When Buddha was sitting with his disciples, one of them asked him “What is Karma?”
Buddha responded saying, “Let me tell you a story…”
A king was going around the kingdom on his elephant, touring the various spots. He stopped in front of a shop in the market and said to his minister, “I don’t know why, but I want to hang the owner of this shop.” The minister was surprised and puzzled. However, before he could ask the king for any explanation to why, the king had moved on.
The very next day, the minister who was really inquisitive about the shop decided to dress himself as one of the locals and visited the shop. He saw the owner of the store and enquired about his business and sales. The owner, a sandalwood merchant, was really upset and mentioned that while many people came to smell the sandal he didn’t have many sales. While they loved the smell, applauded the quality no one had any intention to buy. He then went on to explain that his only hope was that the king would die soon. Then there would be a huge demand for sandalwood for performing his last rites. As he was the only sandalwood merchant around, he was sure the king’s death would imply that his sales would definitely rise drastically.
The minister could now comprehend as to why the king had stopped in front of this particular shop and communicated his desire to kill the shopkeeper. Possibly, the shopkeeper’s intentions and negative thinking had subtly affected the king, who had, in turn, felt the same kind of negative thought arising within.
The minister; a kind, nobleman pondered over this problem for a while. He then decided to buy some sandal wood from the merchant without revealing his identity. The shopkeeper was surprised and very pleased. He packed the sandalwood and handed it over to the minister.
On reaching the palace, the minister went straight to the court and approached the king, where he was seated and reported that the sandalwood merchant had sent a gift for him. The king was startled. When he opened the package, he was satisfyingly surprised by the vivid golden colour of the sandalwood and its pleasant fragrance. Pleased, he sent some gold coins to the sandalwood merchant. The king also felt guilty and sorry in his heart that he had harboured unbecoming thoughts of killing the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper, when he received the gold coins from the palace was completely astounded. He was extremely grateful and touched by the action of the king that saved him from the brink of poverty. After this occurred, he often recollected the dark thoughts he had felt towards the king and repented for having entertained such negative thoughts for his own personal goal. He also sought forgiveness from God, for such bad thoughts
If we have a good and kind thought for another person, that positive thought will come back to us in a favourable way. But if we harbour evil thoughts, those thoughts will come back to us as retribution. One should always remember that we reap what we sow and we should always wish and pray good for others even when the situation doesn’t seem favourable.
“What is Karma?” then asked Buddha to his disciples.
His disciples replied, “our words, our deeds, our feelings, our actions……”
Buddha shook his head and said
“Your thoughts are your Karma!”
GF’ Blessings.
