As you sow so shall you reap

‘As you sow so shall you reap’ is a proverb which means that actions or deeds of a person repay him/her in kind. Origin of the proverb is traced to the Bible, Galations VI (King James Version): Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. To understand the proverb better, one has to know the meanings of terms used in the proverb and relevance of such words with the actions and results. Seeds are the grains of a crop harvested at the maturity of the crop. These seeds are sown in the field to multiply them through reproduction. If seeds are healthy, these will produce healthy plants and they will produce a good crop. Contrary to this, if one sows week and diseased seeds, there are chances that plants emerging from these seeds will be week and diseased as well. Our actions and deeds are alike seeds. If one sows seeds of grasses, one shall harvest the crop of grass and not a cereal crop like wheat or rice. He has to sow seeds of wheat or rice to harvest the grain or cereal crop. Law of the Karma stipulates if a person is spreading happiness through charity and kind it means he is sowing the seeds of happiness that will produce the fruits of happiness.  This simply means that good things happen to those who do good work and bad things happen to people who indulge in doing bad things always in their lives. You can read here a very interesting story of a rich and beggar who were destined to heaven and hell as per their deeds after their death.

I read a good article wherein author disagrees with the popular saying. Author visited an old age home and found several old people suffering physically and emotionally. These people kept themselves busy for earning and caring for their children, they got neglected by the children and even tortured to such an extent that they have to take shelter in old age home. This is true that this is the story of betrayal by their own children but they are themselves responsible for their fate. In most of the cases, these people were busy all their life caring about their children future and nothing else other than this. They did it with self interest and never cared for their duty towards society, poor and downtrodden. It’s difficult to ascertain without scanning individual cases whether means used by them to earn money and shelter to their progeny were fair or not. Other mistakes made by them  not to keep some resources with them for their own utilization and this resulted in their ouster from the house that they have made with their whole life earnings. What they forgot to include in their actions was to inculcate the values related to moral and ethics in their children or if they ever remembered that they give it less weight- age than earning the wealth and comfort to their children. Even such cases validate the proverb that what you sow so you reap.

There are lot of people who believe in the theory of Karma. According to belief of such people, one has to pay for one’s deeds either in this life or in the next life (rebirths).