By Nandita Chennakrishnan, Yashas Ramakrishnan and Others

Hi there! We’re back in February, which means the Casual Observer is bringing you another edition of the much-anticipated teacher interview segment. This month, for the highly controversial theme of Karma, we asked our beloved NPSi teachers (Ms. Radhika, Mr. CK Tan and Ms. Shiba) engrossing questions to uncover their views on fate, astrology and the divine laws of the universe. Read on to find out more! 

Do you believe in Karma?

Ms. Radhika: Yes, I do believe in karma. I do believe in karma. I feel that good actions can result in good results and bad actions lead to bad results.

Does fate exist?

Mr. CK Tan: Yes, I do believe fate exists.

Do you believe all things happen for a reason, or is the universe random?

Ms. Shiba: I believe that everything happens for a reason. You see, I very simply believe in the law of cause and effect. As an economics teacher, we understand that every cause in economics will lead to an effect. And so everything must happen for a reason, or a ‘cause’. Whatever causes you may, you will see the same effect. Hence, I believe in this philosophy. 

Mr. CK Tan: I believe it’s a bit of both. The random part is, we never know what we’re gonna face. The reason is things happen, so that we can learn from it and then learn. As an Economics trained person, it’s an opportunity to expand our personal PPC.

What is your opinion on astrology?

Ms. Radhika: There was a point where I used to love astrology. In fact, I used to read charts and I learnt astrology for a while as well. I knew how to make and interpret charts as well. It was a fun pastime and I spent close to a decade reading a lot of books on astrology. In fact, I’ve attended classes also! From an academic standpoint, I loved it. But, I later realised that good predictions can only happen when you have the correct data. Many times, people do not have the proper resources and the data that is required to make the proper charts. Then, the predictions go haywire. Secondly, when you learn more about astrology, you see how planets work and the theory behind them. There’s also a lot of literature available as well. Since I also believe in karma, karma can also nullify a lot of effects. So when that happens, the predictions no longer hold true. Ultimately, I came to a point where I questioned what the point of astrology was. Instead, you can just focus on your work, do good work and you will reap whatever be the results. 

Ms. Shiba: So, we must first see what astrology exactly is. Astrology is a human science created based on some calculations, that sometimes may be correct, but sometimes may be completely wrong, since calculations can go wrong. So, I do not completely trust astrology. I can tell you something interesting – you see, I was a palm reader for a very long time. Sometimes when I read palms, things would come out of it, but sometimes not. It depends a lot on a number of factors, such as a person’s birthdate and birthplace. So for example, two people born at the same time on the same day could have very different ways of life, due to different places of birth. Simply put, astrology is complicated, and can go wrong in its calculations.

Do you think astrology is the key to making life decisions?

Ms. Shiba: No, not at all. For the reasons I stated above, it is pretty self-explanatory why. 

Mr. CK Tan: My understanding is that astrology is based on observations of stars and planets and alignments. It may have been one way to make life decisions. I doubt that one should focus solely on it to make decisions, especially not life’s major decisions.

When making major life decisions, what do you put first: faith or fact?

Ms. Radhika: I think it’s a mix of both. For example, when you go and see a new house, the facts as to why I would want a house in a particular location definitely plays a role. At the same time, the feel that you get is also important and many times I go by that. So essentially, when making major life decisions, it’s always a mix of both.

Do you believe in true love or soulmates?

Ms. Radhika: A while ago, I read a book called Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian Weiss. He’s a neuroscientist and has conducted experiments where he would put people into sedation and they would go back to their afterlife. One of the books he has written is about soulmates and at one point I was quite influenced and I liked the way the book was written. So I kind of believe in soulmates but this belief isn’t something that I would use to make practical decisions. It is a feeling that I feel does exist. For me, soulmates are people whom you meet for the first time and yet you feel that you’ve known them for a lifetime. Perhaps, these people might be a past life connection. It makes me extremely happy when I meet people who share similar thoughts as me but I never choose somebody thinking about the concept of soulmates. 

Ms. Shiba: No, I don’t believe in that at all. You see, soulmates are a complicated term. Love is a complicated feeling. This feeling is based on a variety of emotions and thoughts at a certain point in time, and these are subject to change. Since emotions can change drastically over time, I do not believe in any such thing as ‘true love’ or ‘soulmates’.

Mr. CK Tan: Yes I do. However there’s no guarantee one can find his or her soulmate.

We hope you learned more about your teachers and had as much fun reading as we did interviewing these teachers. What we realised was that our everyday mentors each have different views and principles that govern their lives and – to some extent – ours.

Until next time!