Karma And Bhagya!

The bank manager was quite a gossip monger. He had tales to tell about everyone in the neighbourhood.

One day as Bhagyashree was waiting for her turn to operate her bank locker, she started flicking through the pages of a newspaper on the table. An article called ‘Karmyogi’ caught her eye. The bank manager saw her reading it and picked up a conversation. He said, “Madam, do you think we get what we get in life due to the Karma that we do or due to our Bhagya” She said, “Of course it is due to Karma. Tell me, if you are a manager today, it’s because you did your education in Banking and have worked your way up the ranks from being a Probationary Officer in the beginning. Had it been just about Bhagya (destiny) then you should just sit at home and let the letter of appointment for being a Manager, come to you. Better still, you don’t even need to come to work. The salary in your Bhagya shall just get credited to your account.”

The bank manager was as full of wisdom as he was of gossip. He shook his head disapprovingly and cleared his throat to speak. Just then the aged lady who had been operating her locker came out and the manager ushered Bhagyashree into the safe vault room. He waited for her to insert her key into the key hole of the locker, before inserting his master key in the key hole adjacent. Then he said, “Your key is your karma, mine is Bhagya. Unless both the keys are operated, the locker is not going to open”. So saying he swiftly twisted the keys simultaneously; opened the safe, turned around on his heel and left the room.

Bhagyashree was stumped. Yes! Both the keys were equally important. Either one, without the other was useless. Slowly she took out her gold bangles from the locker and slipped them onto her wrist. As she closed the safe, she realised that locking it could be done just by the karma key. She realized that karma was the present. Without it, even the Bhagya key alone wouldn’t work. And only karma was in her control. Bhagya came into the picture only when karma was at work. If karma sat around doing nothing, what could Bhagya do alone? It as simple as saying, if you want to win a lottery, you have to at least buy a lottery ticket!

God gives us the opportunity to perform. He gives us the opportunity to do good karma. But Bhagya is in His hands. Nothing happens unless He wills it to happen. But at the same time, He too expects you to do your bit.

Don’t let time just tick by. When you wake up, get up. When you get up, do something. Now whether you do good or bad is what decides what kind of future you are headed for.