That was a most insightful poem,
In language and conception;
Now let me make one detail known,
In answer to your question.
If I'd been there that Easter day,
As witness on a visit,
And seen events, to you I'd say
That karma's what it ISN'T.
The karma doctrine is connec-
-Ted with reincarnation.
Plain cause that leads to plain effect
Can't fit that meditation.
To fit the Hindu notion, cause
Has to occur in one life,
While the effect, by Hindu laws,
Must be in the redone life.
This means that, if you buy this thought,
Our luck is really rotten;
Past lives were not lived as they ought--
But lessons are forgotten!
Not knowing what we did before,
It cannot be amended.
As each new life puts us ashore,
The same old thing's extended.
This wheel without a remedy
Could even wear down Bruce Lee;
But karma terminology
Is often used quite loosely.
Don't use the label "karma" if
The cause of things we do know;
There's other words to match up with
What we have some way to know.
If I say things which make you feel
Reactions that same minute,
That's clear causation, plain and real,
No trace of karma in it.
That Easter, I know you were not
Killed and reincarnated;
So karma never ever got
Into what you've related.
)
