In my younger days Valentine's day was not popular in India. However as I was growing up I saw it's popularity soar and knew it was a ploy by Archie's cards to sell more of their cards and gifts. They were a yuppie, premium brand that had come into the market.

Last blog we saw the many ways platitudes and sayings can be off the mark and distort our understanding of karma. We also saw the difference between simple and simplistic. Here is one statement that is outright dangerous when used inappropriately. Especially when a tragedy happens, please do not tell the victim, you got what you deserved. This shows an absolute lack of empathy. Imagine telling a child that she or he was raped, or worse, deserved to be raped because in some past life she must have been a rapist - that this is her karma. I remember one of the teachers speaking at a conference said that, to which a student sitting next to me was triggered and asked me after if it was so. I said that even if the guy was such a gyani (or all knowing person) the fact that he used that example put me off him.

Karma, as we saw in the previous three blog posts in this series, is a simple cause and effect, yet has many nuances. The previous blogs also had the different classifications of karma. As you can see it is a topic worth delving into and understanding clearly. It is not simplistic, yet is simple. When we see karma as something we can influence through our thoughts, words and actions as well as collectively, we start taking responsibility for our lives.

However it is used in the wrong context many times and is often misinterpreted. It is not a concept to be used as a way of victim blaming or shaming, as I have seen many times, or to be used as an excuse to bypass practical solutions and systems.

“New age” principles also get mixed in which only causes more confusion. The new age saying that “everyone we meet is a mirror for something within us” is a classic case of distorting what karma means.