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Living Section of the San Bernardino SUN January 11, 2004 Issue 
Creating Good Karma By Nevill Drury 
The Little Karma Book New Year's resolutions are nothing more than efforts to improve upon ourselves and become better people be it physically (diets and workout plans) or mentally (sharpening our brain power and expanding our horizons by reading, learning, taking on new hobbies, volunteering, taking classes, going for that extra degree). Sadly, by February, most people's New Year's resolutions are only a distant memory. I remember when as a new college graduate, I resolved to continue learning all sorts of new things and never let my mind stagnate. I talked a great deal about learning to play the balalaika. But the only person who taught that in Indianapolis died and I started talking about learning to play the lute. Then it was the viola da gamba. Needless to say, I never did learn to play any of these instruments but occasionally, would still talk about them wistfully. After decades of failed New Year's resolutions I realized that I needed a new approach. I needed to establish an inner balance, a tranquil and content spirit from which all other specific resolutions would flow and fall into place naturally. I decided that creating good karma would be the way to do it. Perhaps it is a bit simplistic to think that if most people's actions were motivated by the desire to create good karma, the world would be a much better place. The purest concept and practice of karma are complex, containing a number of Eastern religious beliefs alien to the three monotheistic religions - Christianity, Judaism and Islam. However, when distilled and modified to fit contemporary Western life, one can see in the practice of karma similarities to these religions. It is possible therefore, to focus on those similarities and practice good karma. The trick is to find a book that simplifies it without sacrificing the core meaning and content of the philosophy of karma. That book is the tiny, compact, and beautifully illustrated "Creating Good Karma" by Nevill Drury. It explains the principles of karma in simple but not simplistic terms. The notion of karma is based on the principle of cause and effect. "According to the karmic philosophy of life," writes the author, "positive thoughts and actions produce a positive outcome and create good karma. Negative thoughts and actions result in negative outcomes and create bad karma." Basically, this means that we are responsible for the consequences of our actions - a rather daunting thought but not very different from our more familiar beliefs - "we reap what we sow" and "what goes around, comes around". In Sanskrit, the word karma means "action" or "work" and therefore it is not the same as fate. Karma is not a predestined fate; it is something we create on our own. Our lives are the direct results of our past actions and thoughts. Working on good karma becomes more complex and intimidating if one believes in the Eastern philosophy of reincarnation. Then our actions and thoughts from many previous lives come back to haunt us. "According to this teaching," comments the author, "our present thoughts and actions will in turn affect the nature of our future lives to come." Regardless of beliefs in reincarnation however, the philosophy of karma teaches that "we can become the masters of our own destiny if we begin to take responsibility for how we treat those around us." I personally am skeptical about anyone's ability to control one's destiny but recognize that specific outcomes in our lives are determined by the similar golden rule of our Western culture of treating others as we would like them to treat us. In this book the author also gives suggestions of how to bring karma into everyday life, how to overcome suffering, ill - health and unhappiness through the practice good Karma, how to release ourselves from negativity, how to learn to step outside ourselves and watch our actions, thoughts and emotions and how to protect ourselves from bad karma. Karma is not only a philosophy but also a way of life according to an ethical code of conduct through which we can change our lives. More poetically put by Swami Vivekananda, "karma is the eternal assertion of human freedom... Our thoughts, our words and deeds are the threads of the net which we throw around ourselves." Ophelia Georgiev Roop Library Director San Bernardino Public Library |
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