Question : We often hear devotees saying that whatever they or others are experiencing is due to their karma. So our question is, how does taking responsibility come into the picture? Can we just ‘lay the blame’ on past karma for our present misdeeds and wrongful activities and get away with it?
Answer by Romapada Swami:
The principle of karma is misused by many people as a `rubber crutch’, ie. the ‘fall guy’ or an external blame for one’s unfortunate circumstances. However, one major purpose of educating persons in the principle of karma *is* to create within them a sense of being held personally responsible for their present actions via the reactions that will come back upon them. This seems to be your main point, which I am confirming.
One’s present situation in life may be the byproduct of his/her past actions, but their present actions are not predestined; one’s present actions are executed by one’s own volition, albeit within the limited framework that they received due to their past actions. For example, someone may be put into prison for some crime; while in prison, they are not fully free to act like a non-imprisoned citizen. However, while in the prison, if they get into an altercation with another prisoner, it only implicates them further in being restricted, even within prison! Is this not the case?
Here is the point: past karma does NOT dictate nor mandate my current choices of action. I can choose to act within the mode of goodness, or I can choose to serve Krishna always, no matter what the past’s impelling forces dictate.
