The Second Coming by John Dalmas

He paused, scanning around, seeming to register each person his eyes touched.

“Then, you might ask, what becomes of the negative energy created by lesser acts? As our lives roll by, we find ourselves doing innumerable good acts, large and small, not because of any karmic nexus to be canceled, but because it seems appropriate. Often these are simply random acts of kindness. But at other times we are making amends for old wrongs of lesser sorts than those which create a karmic nexus. In either case, these good acts serve to clean up the environment, so to speak. We do not graduate from the cycle of lives and deaths without having approximately extinguished the negative energy we’ve created. Including, of course, extinguishing all our karmic nexuses . . .”

Cochran glanced again at his watch; the talk was barely under way. Then he looked around at the audience. Their attentiveness was nearly total, so far as he could tell.

Ngunda continued for fifteen minutes more, then sat down again, and the mayor stepped to the podium to introduce the singer: Jenny Tallhorse. “The Dakota Nightingale,” someone had dubbed her. She wore what appeared to be doeskin, bleached white, and ornate with beads and fringe. The “tall” in Tallhorse was appropriate. According to the critics, the nightingale part was too. She was a contralto, comparable, it was claimed, to Marian Anderson.

She sang two numbers. Then the crowd stood and applauded until, smiling, she stepped again to the microphone. Her encore was in what he supposed was the Sioux language. Somewhere he’d read or heard that her family was from the Devils Lake Reservation, though she’d grown up in Minneapolis. It occurred to him that when he was done with this Ngunda gig, he might approach her about co-authoring her autobiography. It ought to be interesting, and it ought to sell well. And she was a great-looking woman, worth getting close to.

When she’d finished to another standing ovation, the professor moved to the podium, Ngunda with him. “In the front row,” the professor announced, “are twelve undergraduate students from Cal State Sacramento, volunteers from the University Discussion Club, that meets weekly to discuss current issues, events, and personalities. Students, if you will please stand up . . .”

They stood to mild applause, most of them looking self-conscious as the professor named them. Then they sat again. “They will,” he explained, “ask Mr. Aran questions related to the subject of karma. Ms. Guzman, you are first.”

A student from one end of the row stood up and approached the microphone. “Mr. Aran,” she said, “I don’t believe in karma, and I don’t see how you can. I can’t see any legitimate evidence for it.”

“It’s your choice to believe or not,” the guru replied. “Karma operates regardless of disbelief. And it’s all right not to believe. There is no punishment for not believing.”

The student sat down, a little perplexed at the answer. Another was recognized and answered, then a third arose to ask his question.

“Should you even be teaching karma?” he asked. “If people believe in karma, they’ll use it as an excuse to do harm. In India, the Brahmins have used karma for thousands of years, as an excuse to dominate and abuse the lower castes.”

Ngunda looked mildly at the young man. “The key term there is ‘excuse.’ The word ‘karma’ is sometimes evoked to justify doing harm. In general, however, the harm would be done regardless.”

The young man looked somehow annoyed as he returned to his seat. A young woman took his place at the microphone.

“What about professional abortionists?” she asked, her voice accusatorial. “They’ve killed millions of babies! Innocents! That’s worse than any other kind of murder!”

Ngunda’s reply was calm and mild. “The soul—that which makes a person human—does not unite with the body until the first breath is taken after birth. Karma-wise, to abort a fetus is equivalent to aborting a puppy.”

“That’s not what the Bible says!”

“The Bible says nothing about when the soul assumes the body. But even if it had, the people who recited and wrote the Bible were limited in both their knowledge and their understanding. And some had agendums beyond what they may or may not have thought were the intentions of God or the words of Jesus.”

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