On a daily basis, I hear young people using the term “Karma” in their conversations to express that an action that you do will come back to you in another way.
That is exactly the meaning of Karma. There are many scholarly definitions of Karma, most of which are too complex for us to understand. But in simple terms, the conceptual principle of Karma originated from India thousand years ago. It is defined that good or bad actions have consequences of the same nature, or in other terms, your current circumstances have references to your past actions. The concept of karma encourages one to live in a morally acceptable way because eventually good actions will be rewarded with good circumstances and bad actions will be rewarded with bad circumstances.
The Golden Rule; “Do unto others, as you wish to be done unto you”, also teaches us the importance of our actions and how our characters influence others. According to the ‘golden rule’, we are not only supposed to do good because we are afraid that Karma will catch up with us but we must do good because it is the right thing to do. Serve others exactly the same way you would like to be served. Address others with respect, the same way you would like to be addressed and respected. All the good, according to the Golden Rule, is not to be done in fear of Karma but rather out of compassionate that makes humanity different from other creatures.
Every human being, regardless of her/his economic status, racial background, citizenship shall be treated equal. It is your duty to build respect, empathy and compassionate in your character. It is a matter of doing something good without being asked, and I assure you there is no greater feeling than seeing someone grateful for what you have done for them, without being asked. A noble character is not build in fear of Karma, or in order to abide to the Golden Rule, it is built out of free will. You have to find it in yourself to care about other people, just as much as you care about yourself.
In our own lives, we have encountered many circumstances, some good, some are bad, some are confusing and weird, and we often are left wondering why we have to go through certain circumstances. Life is going to have ups and downs, whether it is the effect of Karma or not. What we need to learn is how to react to and handle these circumstances. If you are going through tough times such as failing your examination or losing your job, the right thing to do is not to keep wondering what you have done badly in the past but rather how you are going to move ahead from there. You are not going to be failing forever, you are not going to be unemployed forever, unless you really want to.