Good Karma Music Stories

On a chilly rainy day here, I just felt like cooking lentil vegetable soup for the six of us in an office apartment. They are my former colleagues and their spouses, and still good friends a year after I left the company. It was a simple, wholesome vegan meal, and we sat around a warm table while the Californian rain pours outside. Family style. I was very happy during the cooking, meal, and clean-up, as old friends come together to “break bread together”. So simple, so good! Thank you for the prompt and nudge, which put the idea in my mind in the first place!

One day in an Orphanage On my 33rd birthday, me and my friends went to an Orphanage and treated the lunch for children. Seeing them ate well, we all were in tear. There are about 100 children there, after eaten lunch, we gave them the stationery, snack and money. Seeing they were happy and prayed for us, we were very happy and satisfied what we have done.

This happened about ten years ago. I was living in Guadalajara, Mexico, teaching English on a low salary. I walked past an overgrown lot going to and from the school every day. A stray dog lived there who I called Chucho. Most mornings I brought her my table scraps wrapped in a tortilla. One morning I called her and she came running and waited in anticipation as I opened the bag and discovered — a tasty snack I had been saving for myself! I had grabbed the wrong bag! When I looked at her hungry face, what could I do but give her my yummy treat? (I had to think about it though!) But it was a small sacrifice to bring a little bit of happiness to a sad and hungry dog.

I stopped eating meat in 1970. I wonder how many lives of pigs, cows, chickens, fish and sea creatures I have saved simply by NOT eating them? Now 47 years a vegetarian, nearly 20 a vegan, I’m aware of my body being powered by vegetables. I consider subtracting from my karmic balance sheet all the animals still alive and not swallowed into my stomach to be “kindness by subtraction.” A good deed, worth the music!

My daughter is graduating public high school this year. One of the many activities open to the seniors is a “Grad Night” at a local theme park. The cost is over a hundred dollars. I’m happy that my wife and I are able to afford to pay for this so she can participate in a social gathering of her peers. However, I know that not all parents will be able to afford to have their student participate. I began to think about this and wondered why the school PTSA would spend time organizing an activity that would knowingly exclude some disadvantaged students. After all, is not the aim of public school an egalitarian system of education? After an email exchange with the president of our PTSA I learned that there were many students who would not be able to participate purely because of financial reasons. I told her that my wife and I wanted to sponsor a disadvantaged student by purchasing a second ticket and adding some pocket money as well. After the next PTSA meeting the president called me to tell me that, upon hearing what my wife and I had done, that others in the PTSA were touched and they too wanted to sponsor a student as well. I told her it was nice that we had been this inspiration; however we still believe that the PTSA should not be working on activities based on financial ability because it was exclusionary. Not sure this message was well received. But we are happy that at least one senior, that would not have otherwise done so, will feel included.

Hello!I have submitted a couple of the same story, because the download on my computer hasn’t been going through. Hopefully this time it goes through :)I am currently in my paternal village in India and have been finding acts of kindness everywhere I go. From the individuals who work my family’s farm to the stray puppies who come to our front door step. I know the process is to do an act of kindness, but I thought I would share one that has happened in the past rather than the one I did today. There was a man who lived in my father’s village long ago. He was closed to my grandfather and always would speak to my father after my grandfather died. He was a man of compassion and selfless love. He lived his entire life feeding the dogs and birds of this village. During the last years of his life he made a temple honoring the animals of this village that invisibly and silently provided so much for generations. To this day, this village has prayer each evening and supports the animals who come through this village. I thought I would share this because this is something that, too, is lost in our village and day and age. To take care of the things we perceive as small in nature.

Hello!I have submitted a couple of the same story, because the download on my computer hasn’t been going through. Hopefully this time it goes through :)I am currently in my paternal village in India and have been finding acts of kindness everywhere I go. From the individuals who work my family’s farm to the stray puppies who come to our front door step. I know the process is to do an act of kindness, but I thought I would share one that has happened in the past rather than the one I did today. There was a man who lived in my father’s village long ago. He was closed to my grandfather and always would speak to my father after my grandfather died. He was a man of compassion and selfless love. He lived his entire life feeding the dogs and birds of this village. During the last years of his life he made a temple honoring the animals of this village that invisibly and silently provided so much for generations. To this day, this village has prayer each evening and supports the animals who come through this village. I thought I would share this because this is something that, too, is lost in our village and day and age. To take care of the things we perceive as small in nature.