India
Karma - Hanging in the Balance of Life


                       06 Dec 2007

  

In Mumbai, the cow is sacred … (long pause)

A cow is fed, touched and worshipped …  (long pause)

When a man or woman worships a cow, their good karma is increased … (long pause)

Karma … good and bad deeds hanging in the balance of life.  (long pause)

 With more than 330 million gods available for worship, how can he know when the right god has been sufficiently appeased? …

 When the good and bad deeds from his previous life were brought with him into his present existence, what was the "opening balance" at his birth? …

 With each act of worship, what is the state of his karma? …

What difference did today's worship make? …

 Clearly, a Hindu man cannot think of himself as being created equal when he carries with him karma from previous births that have determined his current circumstance of life – high caste or low.

 Implicit and intrinsic to being Hindu is being unequally born. The Indian Constitution decrees equal rights for every citizen.  Yet, … daily life for a committed Hindu is veiled in a striving after better karma for his next life … a higher caste …long pause

 and the quest for a god or guru who will promise to ease the suffering in this present world. …     Someone who will offer protection and prosperity for his family. 

 Appeasing his gods is an uncertain and endless task.  Determining which god to worship, which offering to present that will be adequate to achieve the desired outcome can be perplexing and frustrating. 

 Although worship for a Hindu is individual, and most often practiced at home, worship at temples and shrines is practiced for some on a daily basis … for special occasions or in supplication for the most critical of life's circumstances….long pause.

In search of more good karma, better karma, Hindu pilgrims share in worship along side Muslims at Haji Ali, a famous Muslim mausoleum. 

 Pictures of Jesus are often included in Hindu temples as another option … another possibility for their devotion and hope.  Hindus are proud of their religion being "inclusive" of all forms of worship, of all gods.  Jesus is easily assimilated into the menagerie.

 In a large new temple, Hindus worship the god or goddess of their choice.  They worship the most ancient of gods as well as the most recent, along with many other popular deities in Mumbai. 

 Idols and images of Sai Baba are also here. Even in death, this guru, … who died in 1918, … continues to be worshipped as do a huge array of living holy men, spiritual guides and deceased relatives.

Today, … in caves centrally located in Mumbai, … the gods worshipped by their ancestors 3000 years ago are still worshipped.  At one of the city's "high places", devoted Hindus climb the 168 steps to worship the ancient gods and goddesses there.   

 The choices of how and what to worship … where and how to worship … and with whom are endless. 

 Where will the Hindus find the answers for life’s problems?  The choices of how and what to worship … and with whom … are endless … as are the sacrifices that must be made.

 These Hindus have made a sacrifice.  They have worshipped.  They have done a good deed.  Their good karma has been increased.

 However, just as the cow will need to be fed again, so it is with their karma balance.

 The Hindus need to hear the words of Jesus, “I am the way, and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.”

 Speaking to Believers in Chapter 5 of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says, “YOU are the light of the world. … Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  Will YOU take the Light to the people of Mumbai?  Will YOU introduce them to Jesus?  Will YOU show them that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life? What will YOU do?

  

***

Pronunciation guide:

Karma:  CAR-ma.

Mumbai:  emphasis on last syllable.  Moom-BYE

Sai Baba:  Saibaba – Seye BAH ba (pronounce all together, with a long I as in ice cream)

Haji Ali:  Ha-jee-ah-lee.  Pronounce all together…

 

 

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