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Karma. Is it real?

We have been bombarded with so many movies on karma, that it has become some sort of a storyline. It barely seems real. Yet recently, I experienced something so profound and so real, that I begin to marvel at the awesome power of God. If you have the time, do read the following story :)

Someone I know (lets call them Mr. and Mrs. A) runs a business of managing an old folk's home in Australia. Since the home is partly owned by the government, they get loads of government subsidy. Now, the old folks who go there put around $200,000 as a guaruntee, on top of their payment to the home. When they die, the money is supposed to be paid to their family members. What Mr and Mrs A do is to keep the money and not return it after the death of the old folks in their care. When family members request for the money, they get hostile, put a lot of paperwork between them and the money and generally make it hell for anyone to get the money back.

They then take the money and spend it on their own. In recent years, they got so greedy that they started to water down the milk and juices. They buy cars and bill it to the company. They never spend a cent on household items. Instead, they bill everything to the company. As a result, they have become filthy rich. WHen they left Malaysia, they had practically nothing. Now they are multi-millionaires.

But are they happy?

Mrs. A spent a lot of money buying her doctor son an apartment in the heart of Melbourne, and a BMW 3 series. Her younger son got jealous, so she bought him an apartment as well, and a BMW Z3. Now her elder doctor son is very jealous as he felt he "suffered" more than his brother but his brother has a better apartment and car. Mr. A is forever suspicious of people cheating him and goes hysterical every time he finds a little money missing. He once caused an uproar in a bank because they charged him $2.00 for service.

Mr. A beats his wife regularly. He has a problem with anger and abuse. His sons suffer from depression and abusiveness. His doctor son has a massive self-esteem problem, and always seems to point out that he is a doctor, he drives a BMW and owns an apartment to prove that he is a wonderful man. He can't seem to ever admit his mistakes and for that reason, he has become some sort of a loner who is suspicious of everyone he meets in his life.

Why has this happened?

I experience this huge wave of pity and compassion for them. Upon learning to cheat and fraud, they have become money-obsessed. Yet all the money in the world cannot satisfy them. They are suspicious of everyone, they are envious of each other and they are such angry people without even realising why. Handling too much money became such a temptation that they couldn't keep their hands off it. Yet by yielding to temptation, their sadness increased day by day.

That money was really cursed. It was cursed from the beginning not because of some "ghost" haunting them. It was cursed the moment their characters became moulded into one with it. Perhaps prior to that, they already had a "seed" in them, a seed of greed and envy just like the rest of us. But they were put in an environment where that seed had a chance to grow, and now it has taken over their lives and their sons lives as well. And maybe even their future grandchildren's lives. So much sadness, tension and anger propagate from parent to child and I despair that they will ever find happiness. For they define happiness in terms of wealth, status, the clothes they wear, the car they drive, the place they stay in, the jobs they are working, and the life that they lead.

Karma. This is what it is. They say bad things happen when you do evil. SOme say God is unfair, for those who cheat and lie seem to do a lot better than honest folks. But we are only looking at the surface. For on the surface, Mr and Mrs A look so wonderful, they stay in a big house, drive a big car, have successful sons who also stay in big apartments and drive big cars. They are always smiling, they dress well, they have vacation homes in countrysides. But under all that "happiness" they are suspicious, angry and insecure. Imagine not being able to trust anyone. Imagine always feeling so angry that your partner isn't living up to your expectations. Imagine always feeling frustrated that you are not driving an even better car and staying in an even bigger house. Imagine meeting just about anyone and thinking "this person is playing tricks and mind games" or "this person is attacking me". That is really Hell on Earth.