Life is cruel because we have a flawed understanding of Karma.
Good and bad karma do not cancel out each other. For good Karma you'll get good results and for bad Karma you have to suffer its consequences. Also, correlating Karma with time is futile primarily because nobody understands how it works. Besides, we have a limited vision and cannot realize which result is due to which particular (past) action.
Your Karma doesn't become good because you think so. A good karma is a deed which is done in accordance to your Dharma. Shri Krishna told Arjun during his pre-Mahabharata war dilemma that being Kshatriya Arjun's dharma was to protect people by fighting for righteousness. Hence all his killing were justified.
Bhishma Pitamah had the boon of dying at his own will, so he was lying on the bed of arrows till the moment the war did not end and he saw Hastinapur in safe hands. Later when Krishna went to meet him with all Pandavas, after offering pranama,Bhishma asked him this Mrityuloka or Earth is the land of Karma and this is place where we receive the result or fruits of our past karmas.
He said,"I know about all my past 100 births, but I never caused any pain to anyone, then why I have received so much pain through this bed of arrows?”
Listening to this question Krishna smiled and asked him,“You do remember all your past 100 births. What about the 101st?”, then Pitamah said,“I don’t remember about my 101st birth”. Krishna told him that “in your 101st birth you were a prince and committed a sin by throwing off a snake with your arrow, when you had thrown it away then it had fallen upon a place which was full of thrones, many thrones got pierced through the body of that snake, it was causing great pain to him, later all family members of that snake tried to help him to get rid of those thorns, but they failed, then before dying the snake cursed you “O King! I don’t know your identity, but the way you have caused me pain of thorns similarly one day you too will experience the same, you too will have a huge family, but no one will be able to uproot those thorns from your body and in this way you will die.”
Krishna added,“as you followed the path of devotion in all your births so it was protecting you till date from the sin you committed, but as now you have fought from the side of Adharma so the dormant sin has ripened now.”. After listening to that Pitamah Bhishma was satisfied and he wished to die, then a divyajyoti (soul) came out of his body and found it’s place at the lotus feet of Shri Krishna.
Karma acts for everyone. Nobody escapes from it.
Now this may sound humorous but I find a particular song Urvashi-take it easy to aid in such moments of frustration-bad people getting successful and we keep struggling. It says, for winning we need to follow "Take it easy" mantra. No matter what the result is, in spite of your continuous good effort, always take it easy.
On a serious note, Lord Krishna told Arjun
So stop worrying. Don't expect anything. Keep doing good Karma. We never know how it will pay off. But it sure would.
Good and bad karma do not cancel out each other. For good Karma you'll get good results and for bad Karma you have to suffer its consequences. Also, correlating Karma with time is futile primarily because nobody understands how it works. Besides, we have a limited vision and cannot realize which result is due to which particular (past) action.
Your Karma doesn't become good because you think so. A good karma is a deed which is done in accordance to your Dharma. Shri Krishna told Arjun during his pre-Mahabharata war dilemma that being Kshatriya Arjun's dharma was to protect people by fighting for righteousness. Hence all his killing were justified.
Bhishma Pitamah had the boon of dying at his own will, so he was lying on the bed of arrows till the moment the war did not end and he saw Hastinapur in safe hands. Later when Krishna went to meet him with all Pandavas, after offering pranama,Bhishma asked him this Mrityuloka or Earth is the land of Karma and this is place where we receive the result or fruits of our past karmas.
He said,"I know about all my past 100 births, but I never caused any pain to anyone, then why I have received so much pain through this bed of arrows?”
Listening to this question Krishna smiled and asked him,“You do remember all your past 100 births. What about the 101st?”, then Pitamah said,“I don’t remember about my 101st birth”. Krishna told him that “in your 101st birth you were a prince and committed a sin by throwing off a snake with your arrow, when you had thrown it away then it had fallen upon a place which was full of thrones, many thrones got pierced through the body of that snake, it was causing great pain to him, later all family members of that snake tried to help him to get rid of those thorns, but they failed, then before dying the snake cursed you “O King! I don’t know your identity, but the way you have caused me pain of thorns similarly one day you too will experience the same, you too will have a huge family, but no one will be able to uproot those thorns from your body and in this way you will die.”
Krishna added,“as you followed the path of devotion in all your births so it was protecting you till date from the sin you committed, but as now you have fought from the side of Adharma so the dormant sin has ripened now.”. After listening to that Pitamah Bhishma was satisfied and he wished to die, then a divyajyoti (soul) came out of his body and found it’s place at the lotus feet of Shri Krishna.
Karma acts for everyone. Nobody escapes from it.
Now this may sound humorous but I find a particular song Urvashi-take it easy to aid in such moments of frustration-bad people getting successful and we keep struggling. It says, for winning we need to follow "Take it easy" mantra. No matter what the result is, in spite of your continuous good effort, always take it easy.
On a serious note, Lord Krishna told Arjun
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥
which means
You have the right to perform your actions,but you are not entitled to the fruits of the actions.
Do not let the fruit be the purpose of your actions, and therefore you won’t be attached to not doing your duty.
So stop worrying. Don't expect anything. Keep doing good Karma. We never know how it will pay off. But it sure would.
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