There just ain’t no a ‘counting Karma

Those who seek undertaking an act of kindness need not go farther than the local supermarket.

Twice this afternoon did I stop to perform a good deed for two different elderly women who were disabled. A two-fer, if you will. I did it first and foremost because I was asked to do so. At least, in the first instance I was asked to in some degree and in the latter I was more or less ordered.

A silver-haired lady in a motorized shopping cart accosted me in the bread section and asked if I would help her find a loaf of sourdough. I scanned the breads and finally landed one brand. Of course, this was not what the woman wanted. She already had this kind and wanted another kind. However, after looking some more, she accepted the loaf and thanked me.

Feeling all good about this encounter, I got in my pickup to drive off and I saw another sliver-haired damsel. This one was standing beside her car, its hood opened and jumper cables were dangling from her hand. This elder had a “disabled” tag on her mirror although she was not parked in the disabled area. And the lady was pointing toward her battery, indicating that’s where her battery was located, and indicative of the notion that I would pull up to jump her car.

Following the elder lady’s orders I helped get her car running — an elderly gentleman had come to where we were to give us benefit of his expertise — and left.

These two encounters got me thinking about karma. And when I say “karma” I mean it in a more simplistic American sense which is somewhere between that of the Buddha’s “I declare, O Bhikkus, that volition is Karma. Having willed one acts by body, speech and thought.” And the Biblical: “ … whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)

Many Americans who are not familiar with Eastern religion tend to have the “TV version” of karma in mind. That would be a take that is not quite as thought out as in the irreverent comedy “My Name Is Earl.” It is more simplistic like the long ago song title by Southern rockers Wet Willie: “Everything That ‘Cha Do (Will Come Back to You.) Personally, I like the simple version just fine. The key word is “simple,” as in “KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid!)”

While I continue to see some spiritual value — still not totally figured out in my mind — in the Buddhist and Hindu concepts of karma, I also like the one-for-one concept. You do a good deed. A good deed is done for you. Inherent problems exist by the goatfuls with this concept, of course. First, I have no idea how many good deeds have been perpetrated on my behalf in the past. I, likewise, don’t really know how many benevolent episodes I have done in my lifetime other than the two this afternoon. And what about the cause and effect? If I wake up tomorrow and found out someone left me $10 million with no explanation why, what good deed was done that led to this good fortune? Or perhaps the moolah was left for me for no specific act of kindness.

See the problem?

It’s like someone told once way back in the 70s when we were doing something or the other: “Karma is a heavy thing, dude.”

Yes, heavy it is. If you like doing good things and/or you think they are the right things to do, perhaps you should just keep doing them and leave the counting to accountants. Counting Karma is just too darned complicated.