(commissioned by craigie p)
up until 1971
i and most of the western world
had never heard of karma
then john lennon
appeared on tv with his new single
instant karma
and i still didnt know what it meant
but it sure was a groovy word to chuck around
instant karmas gonna get you
gonna knock you right off your feet
wow
those primitive drums
and what about that fucking drum roll about halfway thru
it sounds mathematically impossible
how he crams that much drumming into such a short space
and lennon
like hes talking down the phone at ya
like he really knows what hes talking about
like a semi- detached english bob dylan with his hip putdowns
karma baby
yeah!
whoah!
instant karma …its like instant…aint it?
instantly everyone started talking about karma
oh man it was his karma
watchout for karma
your karma ran over my dogma
and soon even kids at school (the cool ones)
were using the word
the concept of karma was kinda invented by the hindus
and pretty much adopted by buddhism
seeing how buddha was originally a hindu
it is unsurprising therefore
that he chose to keep karma as part of his trip
in the west we have long known an aspect of karma
but we have called it
the law of cause and effect
we westerners have mainly applied this to technical
or scientific events
not really acknowledging the whole spectrum of cause and effect
vis a vis personal spiritual or even national karma
that is what goes around comes around
even if you dont think it will
it will
karma is not administered by some god in judgement
it is an automatic law that functions like gravity
especially when you consider the old adage
what goes up must come down
vishnu or shiva or krishna or
(insert name of fave god here)
dont look down saying oh that..
(insert name here)
has gone and done some naughty things
or has gone and done some very nice things
(yes theres good karma too!)
its like if you fall off a ladder you hit the floor
not an act of god
now the complexities of karma are manifold
not least of which is that it can stretch over many lifetimes
skipping some and then bang
something naughty or nice you did five lifetimes ago
finally catches up with you…
and it seems that outta the blue
all these bad or good things begin to happen
but karma is a shaping inexorable force behind everything
and you sometimes see in hindu literature
the picture of a man with a bulls head
chopping off the head of a man on a cows body
obviously the man is terrified
yet the bull snorts with blood lust
you see
what you do will be dished out back to you
karma can work backwards and forwards in time
it can move anywhere and anyhow it likes
it is often instant or quick
and you often get to see the villains getting their comeuppance
it is not often possible to trace karmic events
murdering idiots seem to get off scott free
while gentle martyrs cop the slings and arrows
i dont know
its a concept
in my own life i have observed it
i have felt its hand
i have been knocked off my feet by it
its so simple : be good n sooner or later good will come back
and vice versa natch
especially vice versa
if yer a miserable sod things wont be very nice
believe me
if you try to be nice
well people MAY try to be nice to you
its a win/win situation
but not all karma is instant
so your niceness may come back in other ways
it definitely cant hurt
it has seemed to work in my life
voice in another lifetime : the few times he was nice..
it only seems logical after all, doesnt it ?
do as you would be done by
easy to say but hard to do
just like all the very best ideas
thats why you hardly ever meet a real saint
all you got
is
the saint who is no saint
voice in another song : thats the one thing he aint
sigh
ok
thanks craigie p