Good Karma

In may ways, experiencing India has changed the way I view poverty, and maybe it will take me a few weeks to articulate how. But, to begin, in India, the notion of Karma is widely accepted. My basic understanding of Karma is that your good deeds lead to good fortune and your bad deeds lead to bad fortune. I do think that a belief in Karma can encourage good behavior. However, I find the notion of Karma to be very problematic when it is applied to the belief of reincarnation. For example, according to Karma (please correct me if I mispeak), if one is born into a life of desolate poverty, it is due to bad action in a past life. I find this belief to justify inaction on the part of the more affluent in regards to social justice issues. Why help someone who is living out their deserved fate? However, this weekend, traveling in Coimbatore, after attending an Indian wedding (much to relate), watching an old woman with a beaten sari selling peanuts or a banana vendor sitting pleasantly all day on his blanket, I noticed a casual surrender which struck me as beautiful. In the US we clutch an ethic of more. Always work for more. That wasn't the case in the impassive serenity of these vendors.