Dear Editor,
This is difficult and delicate, but I will try. Some time back, there was a flurry of letters in your esteemed newspaper, concerning Dr. Cheddi Jagan’s politics, his ouster from power and its consequences for Guyana and his mainly Indian supporters. After the initial article by Dr. Baytoram Ramharack, there were several robust interventions; some in support and some rebuttals.
For more than five decades, there have been numerous exhaustive discussions and writings about what happened in the past. This letter will not rehash that nor will it be concerned with assigning blame to various actors; which is not to say that some were not blameworthy. These are emotive issues but, with the passage of time, they can yield to dispassionate reflection. This will be a ‘meditation’ on the spiritual cause behind the external/apparent causes of what happened – specifically from a karmic perspective. If you are wedded to a completely materialist view of life, you can stop reading here. However, if you believe in a higher power and spiritual laws – as most Guyanese do – then continue reading. Given the limitations of space, there will be some compression, simplification and broad strokes.
When Indian immigrants arrived in what was then British Guiana in 1838, Africans had endured slavery in the colony for about two centuries. By virtue of the cruelties inflicted on them, and also the hard labour they provided (albeit coerced), the Africans, as a group, had acquired a substantial positive karmic account. They had endured the whip, the rack, the extreme cruelty of it all. What were the antecedents of the Indians? From what we know, they were generally on the margins of Indian society and their tenuous position was a factor in them leaving India. Once in the colony, with a few exceptions, they were practically on their own. Their mother country India had its own problems (struggle against the British) and teeming millions to worry about. While migration can bring new positives, it also comes with its own negatives. As those who migrated to “Region eleven” can attest, karma is like a tail – it follows you.
Both groups contributed to the colony but, as mentioned, the Africans had a significantly longer presence and experienced worse treatment. As per karmic law, their positive karmic account had to bear fruit. For them, that fruit came in the form of Forbes Burnham’s rise to power. Nearly two hundred years of slavery could not simply be swept under the carpet. It had to mean something. There was a debt to be paid. True, Burnham’s methods were unorthodox – to say the least – but how ‘democratic’ was slavery?
Like COVID-19, karma does not care if your skin is white, black, brown, red, yellow, green or polka dot; or how glorious your ancestral heritage is. Karma is karma, an iron law. The point here is that, at the time leading up to Independence, the positive karmic account of the Africans was significantly bigger than that of the Indians – and it had to be rewarded. Such was the karmic imperative. So while many ‘external’ reasons and factors have been advanced for Cheddi’s ouster from power, there was a powerful underlying karmic equation that was not in favour of him and his supporters. If we accept karma as a fact of life, we can’t cherry pick. We cannot use and apply it only when it favours us and ‘our group’.
Now, a question can be asked: after 28 years of PNC rule, was their positive karmic account enlarged, depleted or totally spent? Deng Xiaoping is the man who initiated the radical changes that made China what it is today. One of his favourite expressions was “Seek truth from facts”. After a run of nearly three decades, the PNC lost power did it not? The PPP had a 23 year run and then lost power did it not? Then the PNC had a five year run. Is there now karmic stasis?
At the individual level, the Indian masters categorized karma as follows: prarabhd karma, which is the karma that determined (and manifested at) your birth – your birth karma. Secondly, sanchit karma, which is past life karma not manifested at birth but ‘held in reserve’. Sanchit karma can manifest suddenly during a lifetime and could be either positive or negative. So, for example, you could win a lottery. On the other hand (in the vernacular) you could get ‘lick up’. Finally, there is kriyaman karma, which is the karma (good and bad) that you generate by your everyday actions. As regards karma, the masters’ advice to us would be: “Know your prarabhd, brace for sanchit, watch your kriyaman!”
Nothing written here should be taken to mean that the higher power has a detached and uncaring attitude to human suffering. Indeed, the opposite is the case. Karmic burdens can be alleviated by God’s grace and compassion, and by prayer, meditation and good works.
Yours faithfully,
Sieyf Shahabuddeen
