The Web Of Life
Charlie Badenhop
The web of life is always there, ready to teach us a
"special" lesson of some sort or another, if only we would notice.
* * *
One of my very first days visiting Katmandu Nepal, a
shopkeeper and myself sat drinking tea on the steps of his
shop, and a beggar soon appeared. He looked to be anywhere
from thirty to one hundred years old, he had long scraggly
grey-brown hair, and he was barefoot and wearing a filthy
garment that looked like a bed sheet that had not been
washed for an awfully long time. On top of this garment he
was wearing a suit jacket! He had beautiful piercing dark
brown eyes, and he smiled in an inviting manner as he asked
us for alms. The shopkeeper gave him the equivalent of about
one cent. The man smiled and bowed, made one last gesture
towards me, just to make sure that I did not want to add to
his riches, and then he was on his way.
"Do you know about "karma" the shopkeeper asked?
"In the West, perhaps you call it destiny. We are all
connected to each other in some way and the life we are
living now is the result of how we have lived in other past
lives." I nodded and said I was familiar with the concept.
"If you give alms of any significant amount to beggars, you
intertwine your karma with theirs, and their fate will be
dependent on your fate. If you do give, only give a cent or
two so that your karma and their karma remain separate. If
you give more than that, please know that you are not
performing a random act." I nodded and thanked him for his
sage advice.
A week later, walking with a Nepali friend, we came across a
woman squatting alongside a very busy road, as she prayed
and begged. Her face showed obvious scarring to her eyes and
ears. Such scarring usually takes place for various
religious reasons, and is not totally uncommon. I was
attracted to the energy of this woman and we stopped to
converse with her. It turned out that she was totally blind
and partially deaf, and my friend had to scream in order for
her to hear him. Without her asking I gave her about one
dollar and we were quickly on our way.
After that I saw this woman almost every morning and I
started giving her two or three dollars each time we met.
When I left Nepal for the first time I sought her out with
my friend, and had him scream to her and tell her I was
leaving, but that I would be back some time in the future. I
gave her about twenty dollars that day to help tide her
over.
On the last day of my second stay in Katmandu I brought my
friend with me again, to tell my beggar friend I would be
leaving the next day. There she was crouched down on the
noisy, crowded street as she prayed. We approached her,
walking amongst boisterous children, busy adults, and
livestock with clanking bells around their necks. When we
were still about ten feet away she turned towards us, smiled
with her scarred eyes and as we reached her she said
"Namaste." Before we could crouch down and scream a reply,
the woman asked my friend to thank me for my kindness. "How
did you know it was us?" he asked.
"I can always feel the warmth of a kind hearted person." she
said.
I think of her now, and hope in some small way, I might have
eased her suffering, if only for a moment, as much as she
has eased mine.
Charlie Badenhop is the originator of Seishindo, an Aikido
instructor, NLP trainer, and Ericksonian Hypnotherapist.
Benefit from a new self-help Practice every two weeks, by
subscribing to his complimentary newsletter "Pure heart,
simple mind" at http://www.seishindo.org
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