The Art of Happiness

on top of that having children with both eyesblind or sometimes retarded. And somehowthese poor ladies still manage to look after them,simply saying, ‘This is due to their Karma ; it istheir fate.’“In mentioning Karma, here I think that it isimportant to point out and understand thatsometimes due to one’s misunderstanding of thedoctrine of Karma, there is a tendency to blameeverything on Karma and try to exonerate oneselffrom the responsibility or from the need to takepersonal initiative. One could quite easily say,‘This is due to my past Karma, my negative pastKarma, and what can I do? I am helpless.’ Thisis a totally wrong understanding of Karma,because although one’s experiences are aconsequence of one’s past deeds, that does notmean that the individual has no choice or that