TALLAHASSEE, Fla–A Buddhist man was fired from a Florida company last week after he claimed to remember a past life where he had made sexist comments, sparking online outrage and spurring his employer to take action.
Nari Kabdul, 44, was a lead consultant at Data Keys, a digital storage management firm in Tallahassee. A lifelong Buddhist practitioner, co-workers say he was one of the nicest and most honest men they had ever met, until recently.
“This guy would literally give you the shirt off his back,” said Bill Collins, assistant director of marketing. “He always puts others ahead of himself. That’s why everyone was so shocked when we found out about his past.”
Kabdul was born in Tibet, but his family immigrated to America when he was only five years old. The family were devout Buddhists and carried the religious practice with them. The Buddhist belief in reincarnation is a foundation of the religion. It is said that some practitioners are able to remember past lives when they achieve enlightenment, a rare but powerful experience in which the full nature of reality is understood.
“We always believed Buddhism was the way,” said Kabdul. “I never expected to have these sorts of experiences, not in this lifetime. But it happened.”
Enlightenment at a Cost
Kabdul claims that after an intense meditation he began to remember his past lives:
“I’d been meditating for years but had never experienced anything like this. The world around me shattered, and I began to see reality for the first time. There was no time. I knew the true nature of existence, and I saw all of my past lives.”
“We were happy for him,” said Collins. “I mean, I don’t really believe in all that stuff, but it really changed him. He began delivering these life changing speeches. It was like talking to someone who had all the answers.”
Another source said Kabdul became such a presence of peace that he had a calming effect on the entire staff. “It didn’t matter what your problem was. If you talked to him, you’d realize it was such a stupid thing to waste energy over. He really was a great spiritual teacher.”
But when Kabdul detailed his past not everyone was happy.
“I told them countless stories,” said the Buddhist. “I was once a warrior, and then a serial murderer, perhaps one of the worst in history, and also a thief. They all seemed so fascinated. Each life was like climbing the rung in the ladder. Sometimes I went up, and sometimes I slipped back to the bottom, but eventually I found my way to the top. But then I told them about one lifetime where I had made a lot of sexist jokes.”
Ruby Sandridge, who also works at Data Keys, was present for the comments. “It was disgusting. I tried to keep my mouth shut, but he was just sitting here confessing all of this horrible stuff. Did it really happen? I don’t know, but I felt like we couldn’t give him the benefit of the doubt.”
Sources say Kabdul described himself as a womanizer and a sexual deviant in that particular lifetime. His behavior included using a powerful position as a government official in the Persian Empire to mock women who spurned his advances.
“He said he liked to make fun of ugly women. He had a degrading nickname for all the women in the palace too,” said Collins. “Like he would refer to them as ‘little girl’ or ‘milk maker.’ He said he liked to say they were only good for reproducing and cooking. He would often find their best attribute and make that their name. So women would only be known to him as ‘legs’ or ‘tits.’ He would call out these humiliating names as they passed him by, and then all of the men would start laughing.”
For Sandridge, it was too much. “What made me so angry was that he seemed to be contextualizing this horrible behavior as a positive learning experience, like he was now better for it. I was so mad I wanted to scream.”
Kabdul admitted the behavior was abhorrent, but he said it was only one of hundreds of lives he had lived. “As I said, I was a murderer, a thief, a sexist. You name it. But for some reason they became obsessed with that one lifetime.”
Twitter Erupts
Hours later Sandridge posted about the experience on Twitter:
The story was shared over 20,000 times, and only spread from there to other social media sites.
Other Twitter users replied:
The Buddhist, who had his own Twitter handle, tried unsuccessfully to reason with another user.
Data Keys was soon inundated with angry callers demanding Kabdul’s firing. The firm initially stood by Kabdul, but according to Collins, the online outrage was only growing, and several groups began threatening to boycott the company.
Upper management soon discussed the issue and released the following statement:
Data Keys has a no tolerance policy toward racism, sexism, or any form of bigotry. We recently learned of allegations that an employee had made sexist statements toward women in the past. After an internal investigation, we determined that this behavior does not reflect our values. We have terminated Mr. Kabdul's employment. At Data Keys we believe accountability is the bedrock of trust, and we hope our clients and the world know we will always do what is right.
Kabdul admitted that he was surprised at his employer’s decision but understands their point of view.
“It will give me the opportunity to teach others,” he said, “though I do believe their action is a form of ignorance.”
The issue which has been largely ignored in the midst of the outrage is the credibility of Kabdul’s memories. Was he really remembering past lives? Currently there is no scientific evidence to support reincarnation. Perhaps it is more interesting that most of social media didn’t even seem to care enough to address the issue.
One Twitter user by the name madwoke462 said:
Kabdul says he will now travel the country and teach Buddhism to others.
