The Science of Karma 35
Questioner: If we have to suffer for mistakes made unintentionally, then how much do we have to suffer for the ones made knowingly?
Dadashri: If a man creates a lot of punya karma, these karmas are such that he will become a king, but he creates these karmas unintentionally, without any understanding of what he is doing. Then he will become a king without having any conscious knowledge of how to be one. In his next life he inherits his father’ s throne at the age of five, he reigns for about six years before being ousted by another king. Compare this to a man who becomes a king at the age of thirty, who also reigns for six years before being replaced. Of the two, which one is able to enjoy the fruit of his karma the most? They both ruled for six years.
Questioner: The older one.
Dadashri: Because he had knowingly bound good karmas, he enjoyed its fruits with awareness, while the child king, enjoyed the fruit of his karma without awareness. Similarly if you create good or bad karmas unintentionally, you will enjoy their fruits without awareness also. Do you understand that?
I will give you another example. Two friends are walking along and one of them accidentally steps on a cockroach and kills it while the other deliberately steps on another cockroach and crushes it to death. Now what did both the men do?
Questioner: Kill the cockroaches.
Dadashri: According to the laws of nature, they are both killers. Their crimes are the same. Both are guilty of killing, but their methods were different. What consequences will both of them face? They will face an insult and a couple of slaps on the face. The one who killed accidentally will come across someone who will insult him and slap him, but because he is born in a lower social status, he will not suffer the insult for too