Dr. Ian Ball is a Canadian physician and a pioneer in what is known as Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID). This procedure is for those diagnosed with a terminal illness. There is no hope of recovery or prognosis. For instance, if a patient suffering from cancer finds their pain unbearable, they may request MAID. In these instances, Dr. Ball or a colleague arrives to administer death through a specific set of lethal injections.
The scale of this practice has grown significantly. In 2024, in Canada alone, 16,499 people died by MAID, lives ended by the choice of patients. These are deaths through the direct actions of a doctor. This staggering figure represents over 5% of all registered deaths in Canada for that year. For those who know the value of life through spiritual knowledge, this trend is deeply distressing.
It is to be noted that doctors are also heavily involved in the other side of assisted death. They call it abortions. This has already resulted in a massive reduction of life expectancy rates around the world.
The Infallible Law of Karma
The law of karma is perfectly just and infallible. It is a misconception to say that “life is unfair”; in reality, life is perfectly fair to everyone. The principle is simple: As you sow, so shall you reap. What goes around, truly comes around. The cycle of actions and reactions is incredibly complex. As a result, many fail to understand this intricate chain of cause and effect.
Alas, a materially motivated person continues in this cycle:
नूनं प्रमत्त: कुरुते विकर्म
यदिन्द्रियप्रीतय आपृणोति ।
न साधु मन्ये यत आत्मनोऽय-
मसन्नपि क्लेशद आस देह: ॥ ४ ॥nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma
yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti
na sādhu manye yata ātmano ’yam
asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥWhen a person considers sense gratification the aim of life, he certainly becomes mad after materialistic living and engages in all kinds of sinful activity. He does not know that due to his past misdeeds he has already received a body which, although temporary, is the cause of his misery. Actually the living entity should not have taken on a material body, but he has been awarded the material body for sense gratification. Therefore I think it not befitting an intelligent man to involve himself again in the activities of sense gratification by which he perpetually gets material bodies one after another.
The intricacies of action and reaction are extremely difficult to understand, actually – it is not always what it looks like:
किं कर्म किमकर्मेति कवयोऽप्यत्र मोहिताः ।
तत्ते कर्म प्रवक्ष्यामि यज्ज्ञात्वा मोक्ष्यसेऽशुभात् ॥ १६ ॥kiṁ karma kim akarmeti
kavayo ’py atra mohitāḥ
tat te karma pravakṣyāmi
yaj jñātvā mokṣyase ’śubhāt
Even the intelligent are bewildered in determining what is action and what is inaction. Now I shall explain to you what action is, knowing which you shall be liberated from all misfortune.
Our joys and sufferings are the direct result of our own past karmic reactions. We are affected by everything in this material world. This includes our genes, family, brain, body, work, health, money, and relationships. These are reactions to our past activities. These reactions are not punishments, but lessons meant to help us advance toward spiritual perfection. We are meant to accept them with grace, tolerance, and love, while maintaining gratitude toward God, as expressed in the mood of:
तत्तेऽनुकम्पां सुसमीक्षमाणो
भुञ्जान एवात्मकृतं विपाकम् ।
हृद्वाग्वपुर्भिर्विदधन्नमस्ते
जीवेत यो मुक्तिपदे स दायभाक् ॥ ८ ॥tat te ’nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo
bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam
hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te
jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya-bhākMy dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim.
The Himalayan Mountain vs. The Spoonful
To truly grasp the gravity of our situation, we must realize that our karmic reactions are virtually unlimited. We have been in the material realm for millions and millions of lives. Many of these reactions are mostly hidden from our view. Our total accumulated karma is comparable to the size of a Himalayan mountain. We bring only the equivalent of a single spoonful into any one lifetime. This portion is known as prarabdha karma. It progresses through three stages. Kutam signifies the hidden potential. Bijam is the seed form. Phala represents the visible “flowers and fruits” of pleasure or pain. When a doctor administers MAID to “stop the pain,” they aim to pluck out a single piece of “bitter fruit.” This action leaves the vast mountain of seeds and latent reactions untouched. These seeds are then ready to sprout again.
This statement is confirmed in the Padma Purāṇa:
aprārabdha-phalaṁ pāpaṁ
kūtaṁ bījaṁ phalonmukham
krameṇaiva pralīyante
viṣṇu-bhakti-ratātmanāFor those who are engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, all sinful reactions, whether fructified, in the stock, or in the form of a seed, gradually vanish.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/9/2/ – purport
The Alchemy of Perseverance: Burning the Mountain
On the other hand, when a soul chooses to persevere for spiritual perfection, a miraculous transformation occurs. This happens through the fire of pain. By meeting suffering with equanimity and devotion, the soul doesn’t just pay off the spoonful of current karma. It actually burns off a vast amount of accumulated reactions from that hidden Himalayan mountain. This conscious endurance acts as a spiritual furnace. It incinerates the seeds (bijam) and latent potentials (kutam). These would have otherwise forced the soul into countless future births of suffering. What seems like a tragedy to the material eye is actually the soul’s best chance to clear the books. It is also the final liberation.
The Gift of Human Consciousness vs. Animal Instinct
It is vital to understand the distinction between human life and the lower species. In animal life, there is neither agency nor freedom, nor is there any inherent desire to do better. The specific animal form imposes its conditioning completely; the creature simply acts according to instinct. In contrast, human life is a unique gift. We alone possess the ability to reflect upon our condition, to tolerate our circumstances, and to grow. An animal is a prisoner of its biological programming. However, a human being can use even the most difficult suffering. This suffering can serve as a catalyst for spiritual evolution.
नृदेहमाद्यं सुलभं सुदुर्लभं
प्लवं सुकल्पं गुरुकर्णधारम् ।
मयानुकूलेन नभस्वतेरितं
पुमान् भवाब्धिं न तरेत् स आत्महा ॥ १७ ॥nṛ-deham ādyaṁ su-labhaṁ su-durlabhaṁ
plavaṁ su-kalpaṁ guru-karṇadhāram
mayānukūlena nabhasvateritaṁ
pumān bhavābdhiṁ na taret sa ātma-hāSynonymsThe human body, which can award all benefit in life, is automatically obtained by the laws of nature, although it is a very rare achievement. This human body can be compared to a perfectly constructed boat having the spiritual master as the captain and the instructions of the Personality of Godhead as favorable winds impelling it on its course. Considering all these advantages, a human being who does not utilize his human life to cross the ocean of material existence must be considered the killer of his own soul.
The Moment of Death and the Karmic Demotion
Furthermore, the consciousness of the soul at the moment of death determines its next destination. By choosing the “easy way out” through MAID, the soul avoids its challenges. This decision leads to spiritual stagnation. Instead of finding liberation from pain, the soul returns to the karmic cycle. It suffers even more than before. The individual has wasted the precious opportunity to use the human form for spiritual growth. As a result, they face a demotion. They are forced to take birth in a species characterized by tremendous suffering. In this new form, the light of human reason is no longer available to them. If I die like an animal running away from mere bodily pain, I will take life as an animal.
यं यं वापि स्मरन्भावं त्यजत्यन्ते कलेवरम् ।
तं तमेवैति कौन्तेय सदा तद्भावभावित: ॥ ६ ॥yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ
tyajaty ante kalevaram
taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya
sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥSynonymsWhatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kuntī, that state he will attain without fail.
Temporary Suffering as Education
Karmic reactions act like the discipline of a benevolent, loving parent. If I have caused pain to other living entities, I must learn what that pain feels like. If I have brought joy to others, I am given a proportionate reaction. When this educational process is cut short by artificial means, the lesson remains unlearned. It is like dropping out of a difficult course of study. You will not get the “degree” until the requirements are met.
- The Compounding Debt: When “therapeutic” pain is cut short, the patient suffers even more in the future. A debt balloons if not paid on time. A fire rages if unchecked. A disease festers when untreated.
- Treating the Symptom: The terminal patient’s pain is not the disease! The terminal illness is not the disease! The true disease is the unfortunate attitude and impious activities that led to a material body. The material body is already doomed with a terminal illness the day it is born. Alas, the disease remains untreated, and the doctors are responsible for letting that spiritual disease flourish.
जातस्य हि ध्रुवो मृत्युर्ध्रुवं जन्म मृतस्य च ।
तस्मादपरिहार्येऽर्थे न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि ॥ २७ ॥jātasya hi dhruvo mṛtyur
dhruvaṁ janma mṛtasya ca
One who has taken his birth is sure to die, and after death one is sure to take birth again.
Intelligence vs. Mere Cleverness
To understand why this happens, we must distinguish between true intelligence and mere cleverness. Intelligence is the higher capacity to see right from wrong, the power of discrimination. Cleverness is simply the mental ability to solve material problems. One can be incredibly clever at administering a medical procedure while remaining completely unintelligent about the moral and karmic consequences. Without the ability to discern what benefits the soul, cleverness can harm it. Cleverness becomes a dangerous tool under these circumstances.
तेषां सततयुक्तानां भजतां प्रीतिपूर्वकम् ।
ददामि बुद्धियोगं तं येन मामुपयान्ति ते ॥ १० ॥teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ
bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam
dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ
yena mām upayānti teSynonymsteṣām — unto them; satata–yuktānām — always engaged; bhajatām — in rendering devotional service; prīti–pūrvakam — in loving ecstasy; dadāmi — I give; buddhi–yogam — real intelligence; tam — that; yena — by which; mām — unto Me; upayānti — come; te — they.Translation
To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.
The Blind Leading the Blind
Physicians who perform these acts suffer terrible karmic reactions themselves. It is not that Dr. Ball and his colleagues set out with ill intent; they do this because of their lack of spiritual education. They are in ignorance, acting in ignorance, a classic case of the blind leading the blind.
Dr. Ball is undoubtedly a highly trained physician. He has an above-average mental capacity. He also has the courage to perform a very difficult task. Unfortunately, I presently have no influence over him or his colleagues. It is said that “fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” He is very clever, but he is unintelligent. He has no clue about the laws that govern the soul in the material world.
न ते विदु: स्वार्थगतिं हि विष्णुं
दुराशया ये बहिरर्थमानिन: ।
अन्धा यथान्धैरुपनीयमाना-
स्तेऽपीशतन्त्र्यामुरुदाम्नि बद्धा: ॥ ३१ ॥na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ
durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ
andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās
te ’pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥSynonymsPersons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṇu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.
A Final Plea
I pray that God grants all such people the proper intelligence to do the right thing. At the very least, doctors should not be in the business of killing. That is the business of butchers, not healers.
Hare Krishna!
Please chant:
Freedom through Genuine Spiritual Progress 