Tom wrote:
Can you explain why someone is born rich or born a King, Queen or Emperor?
Not everyone can be born a king out of the billions of lives that inhabited the earth. What makes that person so special? Is there karma behind this?
JJ
You are right in that it is mathematically impossible for all of us to take a turn as a king, a famous movie star or President of the United States. What then is the criterion that allows one to assume a position of power where he can influence millions?
The principle is this. If a person has karma that pertains to millions that were harmed then he will eventually be born in a situation where he can undue that damage by performing a good service for millions. This is true if he seeks redemption and has not taken the dark path.
Let us say that a tyrant who brought suffering to millions has seen the error of his ways and after a series of redemptive lives he finally has an opportunity to pay for much of the damage he did. Because he damaged millions of people he cannot pay off this dept with average lives. He must be in a situation where he can benefit a similar number of people that he previously hurt.
Just as not everyone becomes a king, even so not everyone was a Hitler. Even so, all of us have lived like kings in some lives and in others made grievous mistakes. Fortunately, most of us haven’t done enough damage that requires us to positively influence millions of lives to pay off our karma.
Unfortunately, when the big opportunity comes for the seeker to pay off his karma through a position of power he will sometimes revert to his old patterns and create even more bad karma for himself. The difficulty in paying off great karma is therefore very hazardous and thus the seeker should always do everything in his power to tread the path of harmlessness.
So, was everyone who is now in a position of power paying off a huge dose of karma from being a bad dude in the past?
Not necessarily. Not all positions of power are reserved for working out karma. Sometimes disciples who owe little karma seek and obtain positions of power merely so they can have greater power to serve. Sometimes the need is great and hierarchy supports a karma-free disciple obtaining power so divine purpose can be more easily worked out.
In almost every case and situation general laws and principles apply, but not in the black and white mode with no judgment involved. There are always exceptions to every rule of thumb.