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Yes they believe in Karma but they will rip you off in Bali

Updated: Jan 15, 2019

What is Karma?

Karma is the law of moral causation. The theory of Karma is a fundamental doctrine in Buddhism. This belief was prevalent in India before the advent of the Buddha. Nevertheless, it was the Buddha who explained and formulated this doctrine in the complete form in which we have it today.Human beings, according to laws of nature, must pay for all their wrong actions, but when they tune themselves to God through techniques of meditation and remember the perfect image within them, then, realizing their divinity, they need not suffer for their past human errors. But if they again become identified with their humanity by not forgiving others, then they again subject themselves to be governed by the exacting law of karma.

Im in Bali the Islands of the Gods, a culture rich of spirituality, ceremonies, offerings and rituals, a community who believes in karma and reincarnation. You would think it’s oh so holy.. but just like any other places it has its hidden darkness. Behind the strong tradition that they follow, they still are sinners just like everyone in Los Angeles. They try to get over on people, hustle you, sell you goods for way more than it’s supposed to, charge you for a beach bed, triple the price of the products they're selling, for pictures, for wearing a hat and taking pictures, for stopping traffic while you pull into a parking spot and just about for everything.. they will rip you off, anything to make a little money. I’ve been here for almost 4 weeks now and I kinda learned the Balinese lifestyle.

I’m currently staying in Canggu, a surfer hipster beach town on the southwest tip of Bali. Last night, I ran out of data so I had to get more from a mini Mart near my apartment. So I asked for 50k rupiahs worth of internet data, for some reason it didn’t go through. The cashier didn't know what to do so she called another lady. The lady came out and called the provider since their system said it was successfully transferred however I still don’t have Internet service. She called the provider multiple times and all they said was wait, I patiently stood by the cash register for 15 minutes. The lady was getting agitated, speaking in Bahasa with her hand on her forehead profusely shaking her head. A few minutes passed, a couple from Australia walked in and grabbed two bottles of Bintang. The cashier then rang it up and this is how the conversation went:

“Your total is 110,000 rupiahs”

The guy pulled out his wallet and his girlfriend was trying to count the money and she eventually got frustrated, rupiahs has way too many zeros.. think about it like this; a $1 bill is 14,500 rupiahs. When I first came here in June I was confused AF, counting it gets really annoying. But you get use to it after a while.

She then pulled a few bills.

He said “Ahh that’s 108k, sorry I don’t think we have enough” the cashier then answered “oh yea no worries, it’s okay”. They walked out saying “they’re so nice around here” and she did the gesture that every Balinese does, consists of a slight bow, with the palms pressed together in a prayer-like fashion.

As I was standing there watching the cashier put the money in the register.. I saw her count, it was a 100k bill and four 20k bills, total of 180,000. He gave her 70k way more than the total and she didn’t say anything, I instantly wanted to say something but I stopped and calmed myself down. After seeing that I felt quite sick to my stomach.

30 minutes later, still no data on my phone. At this point I’ve been waiting for about 45 minutes, I drank a bottle of Bintang. I told her I had to go and she said “But, it’ went through successfully on my computer” implying that I should still pay 50k even though I still don’t have service on my phone. I refused to, I told her to just asked the company for a refund or credit. I calmly left and thought to myself “Damn karma moved quick, she came up on 70k but may lose 50k”.

I went on about my night. The next morning, out of where I got 4G service and received texts from telkomcsel about the data I just purchased. That’s how I’m writing this blog at this very moment.. I got FREE data! Shoot, I don’t have to come back and pay them. But I have this thought in my head that I shouldn’t play as karma.. I headed back to the mini mart and paid them 50k.


Hopefully Karma doesnt bite them in the ass. What goes around, comes back around.


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CONSCIOUSNESS WITH CRIZZLE
"Travel within yourself, by yourself to find and love yourself" - CG

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
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