We should do good deeds without any expectations

We live increasingly in a world where any action or commitment must be linked to a tangible, expressly negotiated incentive. This attitude betrays ignorance of the fact that some sort of reward is always attached to giving our best at all times — call it a preordained feedback loop or reciprocity.

Even when we appreciate that a positive input can only yield a gratifying output, we fall prey to dejection due to certain misconceptions.

Unlike an annual bonus, a Karmic payout is not credited to our salary account at a certain expected juncture. Sometimes, it is awe-inspiringly immediate, at other times it is a test of patience. Just as we cannot determine when, we do not have much say in what form this reward will take.

Yet it so often happens that the things we did with minimal planning and premeditation go on to enrich us more than investments of time and energy that were deliberate and meticulously designed.

A third fallacy related to the rules of reciprocity can be described as trading like for like. We are taught to treat others as we would prefer to be treated and this gives rise to the expectation that if we are good to someone, they will return the favour. It then becomes hard to understand when someone who has benefitted from our kindness and generosity in some way, fails to live up to it.

At such times we must remind ourselves that many people help and appreciate us without at any point having received anything from us. The rules of reciprocity then are simple — knowing it is out there and not worrying about the details.