Pain through karma

There is inequality in the world. Someone is being born, someone is giving birth; someone is living, someone dying; someone is earning, someone losing; someone is sleeping, someone awakened; someone is smiling, someone crying; someone is happy, someone unhappy.

Wise men say that all this is the result of your previous auspicious or inauspicious karma. Many believe that someone is giving them pain or pleasure, but in reality, it is the opposite. None can give us pleasure or even pain. We get attached to or hate people believing that they are responsible for our present condition. Attachment and aversion spoil our life. To escape from this thinking, it is essential that we believe that none can be a cause of our pleasure or pain. If someone is distressed then that is the consequence of his own evil deeds. Everyone suffers because of his own deeds.

- Sutrakritanga Sutra 1/7/11