Jain Spirit 2002 10 No 12

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 30

LIFESTYLE
WHY ME?
Blame is easy, but acceptance and self-renewal are the real keys to happiness, explains Ravi Khanna
In
THEN I WAS YOUNG, MY HEAD ALWAYS SEEMED FILLED with questions: "Why do the people on the streets of Delhi have so little to eat?" or "How come some children get nice parents, whereas the parents of others don't seem to care?"
W
As I moved through adolescence and into my early adult life, the nature of my questions began to change and became more focussed upon my day-to-day experience: "Why couldn't I be as good at sports or as good-looking or as popular as the other people I know?" "Why did I have to be born an Asian in a western community, where I may be treated on the basis of my colour rather than my ability?" "Why are particular people at work aggressive towards me, even though I always show courtesy and consideration towards them?"
Such questions would come to me, particularly when I was alone, so for many years I would seek out older people in the hope of finding some answers. Invariably though, whilst I found a degree of temporary emotional comfort from explanations suggesting that "that's just the way it goes,' or 'but life isn't fair,' or
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Jain Spirit September November 2002 Jain Education International 2010_03
even 'forget about these things and just learn to accept yourself for who you are,' I wasn't ultimately satisfied.
The idea of destiny appealed to me for a while, but later I began to think that this wasn't good enough either. I still wanted to know what my destiny was based upon or caused by. I also became concerned that perhaps such a belief may lead me to become apathetic or uninterested in trying to make a difference to my life.
So the questions continued, until I stumbled across the word karma. I was told that every thought I had and every act I performed would release a form of energy into the world, and that at some point in the future that energy would come back to me. Therefore whenever I felt sad or unloved in my life, the best thing I could do was to practise being loving or giving happiness, and I hoped that in time those forms of energy would return to me in the experience of my daily life.
"That's cute," I thought, "but does it help me answer my questions?" Not immediately, but the more I delved into my research of karma theory, the more I began to realise that perhaps