We’ve all heard the phrase “instant karma”, usually to describe an occurrence of someone getting their comeuppance shortly after being antagonistic or doing something bad. The concept of karma originates from many primarily Indian religions and spiritualities such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism as well as Sikhism and Jainism. Basically, the concept of karma dictates that the actions or inner intents, both positive and negative will have consequences that will return to us, either in this life or the next.
In common western usage, karma is often used as a stand in for the adage “What goes around comes around”.
This means that seeing someone receive “instant karma” can be oh-so satisfying after watching them being mean or do something bad. One recent video to go viral is this one of a man in Britain who decided to unleash an angry torrent at an unsuspecting driver.
As the driver approaches the red light at an intersection, he comes to a stop. As he does, another angry man in the red cap is just coming up to the crosswalk, where he intends to cross the street with his dog.
Before he knows what’s hit him, the driver is being berated by the pedestrian.
It’s unclear why this pedestrian is so angry but it could be that he thought the driver wasn’t going to stop, or that he stopped too abruptly. Either way, you have to ask the question: Is it worth this level of outrage?
The pedestrian continues his barrage as he walks in front of the car.
While pointing, yelling, and generally verbally abusing the driver, this infuriated man will not seem to let it slide. The driver can be heard exasperatedly saying “Oh, p*ss off…”
I don’t think that’s a bird?
Using a sort of “rock n’ roll” hand gesture, he seems to want to flip the driver off, but doesn’t quite get it right.
Now, let’s just take a moment to appreciate that we never really know what’s going on in people’s lives.
We don’t know what’s happening to this man personally, or what he’s going through even just on this day. Having said that, does this driver deserve to be yelled at? I’m inclined to think not. In fact, this man is so busy yelling at an unsuspecting stranger that he continues to walk straight toward an equally unsuspecting pole.
He’s so angry that he spends as long as possible yelling at the driver.
Utilizing the entirety of the crossing to yell at this driver, he gets the most out of his time crossing. Where a simple flipping-off or a side-glancing curse may have sufficed, our pedestrian wastes no time on his journey across the street. This of course means that by the time he turns to look where he’s going…it’s too late.
The man comes face to face with the traffic light…and apparently also with karma.
According to Dadabhagwan.org, karma does not work by one negative and a positive balancing themselves out, but both forces work independently of each other.
“One negative deed does NOT get offset by another positive deed; both will deliver their results individually.”
In this case, the pedestrian being abusive to the driver delivered the result that the pole was equally abusive to his face.
After he walks straight into the pole, he reels back.
Knocked back a pace, he seems to have to shake it off.
Though I think he wants even more to shake down. Any embarrassment, pain, or shock becomes instantly converted to pure fury, which he directs back at the driver, who now is chuckling at karmas quick work.
Madder than ever, the pedestrian approaches the diver, raising a fist.
If the driver didn’t deserve to be yelled at, he certainly wasn’t to blame for making the man walk into a pole. The pedestrian can only blame himself for being so blindly abusive that he literally didn’t see where he was going.
Watch the full video below to witness karma in action.
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