Karma

I read about the Jap royal family's heir woes today
and started thinking about karma, especially war related ones.
I can't help but wonder if their situation today is no fault of thier own
but the accumulation of bad deeds from generations before
And I guess no deed can be more damaging to a family's karma than the taking of lives.

If the story that my father once told me is true,
then long ago one of my forefathers was a powerful war general in China.
The general had 2 sons, but no male heir for generations thereafter. (sounds familiar?)
To perpetuate the family line, they got willing chaps to marry into the family,
So that their blood can be passed through their daughters into their future generations that carry the family name.
I have no idea for how many generations this son-drought continued,
but i know it was still the case in my grandmother's time.

My grandma had 2 sisters and yes my grandfather married into the family.
To accumulate good karma, she was a strict vegetarian for 60 or more years of her life.
She did not eat eggs and dairy products.
I remember fondly how she insisted on drinking milo only and not overtine because overtine contained egg extracts.
She took no lives, not even ants or flies.
Because of her dedication, I guess the gods relented and she bore 3 sons.
And her sons bore more sons so it seems like our family's karma came out of the red.

Can karma ever be reversed if we practice respect for all lifeforms?
I wonder how many ants I've squashed out of irritation, out of convenience so far
And I have no idea how many lives I've consumed in my lifetime
Will my eating habits and thoughtless killings of pests destroy the good karma that my grandmother had accumulated for us?

Some people believe that it is okay to kill animals in moderation for sustenance,
Many don't believe in moderation.
Is turning our omnivorous homo sapien bodies into herbivorous ones defying nature? Is it modern-age ideological rubbish?
The fruitarian in Notting Hill believes that cooking vegetables is murder.
I don't know what to think of that but I thought it was pretty funny.

Food preferences aside,
I firmly believe that if I don't bring harm to others,
I'll be fine.


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Well if any friends out there do believe in karma,
I guess not all hope is lost yet for the royal family.
There is no need for the entire country to turn vegetarian,
though that might be good news for the underwater lifeforms.
If karma is the cause, then maybe if the entire nation tries to accumulate good karma for them,
the unfortune can be lifted.
The japs have rendered aid unobstrusively, humbly, sincerely and generously to the tsunamis hit countries.
They don't splash their good deeds all over the papers like some countries do.
I like their humility and the zen like quality many exudes
I also love stories of royal families, of kings, queens, princes and princesses,
And the wonderful feeling of goodness, of hope, these associations brings
I might have an overdose of fairytales while I was young
but who cares?
I refuse to give up hope and
I wish alongside her people to hear the princely platter of little feet soon.