Karma (Or Not)

So, as a rule, I grew thinking of the concept of Karma as the sort of "what did I do to deserve this?" thing in a cosmic sense. Whose dolly did I bust? What did I do to deserve - say - a spouse dying of cancer?

Nothing. I did nothing to deserve that.

But I see people - including myself until I was gently corrected by people who actually grok the concept - referring to 45's getting Covid-19 as karmic retribution in that "the universe is out to punish me" sense.

In one sense, this is BS; it doesn't work that way. The universe is not out to get us, no matter what we've done, and it is a particularly Western way of looking at it.

On the other hand, according to friends who are Hindus (where Karma as a concept is from) have said that what's going on with 45 is Karma at it's best; Karma is the natural consequence of one's actions.

In other words: 

Don't wear masks = catch Covid.

That's Karma.

My friend Vijay said it this way:

Thank you for checking yourself with regards to the usage of Karma. Love you for doing that. ♥️

The definition of Karma in the west ha gotten twisted and has gotten totally associated with bad action.

Karma in its simple definition is “act or action or doing”

The principle of Karma as taught to us in Hinduism is purely a cause and effect phenomenon. Consequences of ones choices or action is to be faced then. Choices and actions, no matter good or bad, we must be ready to face the consequences in the current life or in the next life. Hinduism believes in concepts of rebirths. The luxuries and difficulties we have been experiencing since our birth is a result of our actions in previous life.

Also, the beauty of Hinduism is flexibility. There is no dogma. You are able to customize it to your way of living. There have been several variations of how Karma is defined.

Thank you for reading through my comment and letting me ramble.

So yeah. Not wearing masks? check. Getting up in people's faces? check. Having other risk factors? check. These are actions that have the karmic consequence of getting Covid.

Being a general asshole and some of the other awful things this "president" has done? These are choices, but they do not result in the karmic consequence of getting Covid, not directly. 

The "president" claims to have the Christian God on his side; maybe he can take the other behaviors up with Him.