Delusions in Indian thought - I

 While Indian thought has profound fundamentals, like every other hermeneutic framework, there are a number of mistaken notions and delusions that continue to bring untold misery. Reform and rejuvenation is nothing new to Indian thought-- which has seen several reformers over the years including Buddha, Mahavira, Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhwa, etc. Indeed, the resilience of Indian culture is due to its ability to reflect, question and reform itself. 

In this series, I'll put forth some delusions that I've encountered, that continue to complicate our lives and brings unnecessary hardship. 

One of the most damaging delusions in Indian thought is the idea of "prarabda karma" or the "karmic baggage" (whatever that means), that we start off at the beginning of our lives, based on our actions in our "previous life".

This mistaken concept leads to a variety of cognitive fallacies like self-fulfilling prophecies, affirming the consequent, begging the question, etc. Somebody is suffering? Oh, he must have done something bad in his past life. Someone feels they have bad prarabda karma? Well then lead your entire life under a cloud of guilt and be defensive.

Firstly karma simply means action. It is not some kind of retribution, and there is no such thing called "karmic baggage". "karmaphala" means the response we get to our karma-- and it is not the same as some kind of moral retribution. Karmaphala for our actions is based on systems and their sustainable states, which I've explained in my book called the Theory of Being. It is not a simple, moral retribution of the form "As you sow, so shall you reap." It is a much more profound concept that is based on a deep understanding of systems and ergodicity.

To be sure, we are born with "prarabda guna" or some characteristics (guna) that are hardcoded into us by birth. Some of us are nervous by nature, while some are gregarious by nature, and some are hypersensitive by nature, and so on. Our birth characteristics or our emotional disposition, comes from our genes. We are pretty much stuck with our prarabda guna and it is futile to change our basic nature. What we can do however, is to become aware of our basic nature, and this awareness leads us to better strategies for managing it. We can use our basic nature to our advantage, if we are aware of it-- without which, our basic nature will be using us.

But this is not the same as "prarabda karma". Sure of course, we may get undeserved accolades or brickbats. We may be adored or hated just for being who we are. That again is not some "karmic baggage"-- it is a question of what we identify with, and the history of that object of our identification.

For instance, Indians and Indian thought faced and continue to face a lot of contempt in the Western and West Asian world. By calling this our "karmic baggage" the guilt is put back on Indians by saying that Indians must have done something bad in our "previous life", etc. And there is a whole ecosystem called "atrocity literature" that does just this. The contempt of course, comes from the oppressor's need to justify oppressive policies. How can one morally justify colonial occupation or plunder and loot of a vast civilization, other than by calling it the "white man's burden" to bring civilization to the primitive natives, and so on?

The saddest part of this story is the extent to which, flawed concepts like "prarabda karma" are internalized within India itself.

If we need to unshackle ourselves, it is imperative that we "smash" such delusions and understand the law of karma for the profound concept that it actually is.