Theosophy proposes that order pervades the
universe, that nothing exists which is not under the sway of law. A divine plan governs
all things.
Natural law operates not only in the physical world, but in the realms of thought and
feeling as well.
Karma is the law of spiritual dynamics that can be related to every act in daily life. The
word ''karma'' is Sanskrit, meaning action and implying the entire cycle of cause - effect
Emerson's " law of compensation'' approximates it in meaning and understanding. The
law refers particularly to the accumulation of effects brought about by causes set in
motion through our attitudes and actions in the past, and includes the new causes
initiated in the present that will result in future effects.
The science of physics demonstrate that no particle of energy can be put forth anywhere in
the universe without a natural result following. A stone tossed into the air returns at
once to earth as a result of the law of gravity. The energy expended in winding a clock
will produce a more delayed result, but the resulting force will exactly equal the
original expenditure of energy or cause.
In mixing chemical elements, the reaction may be immediate or long delayed. This is no
less true in the chemistry of living, as we bring together actions, thoughts and feelings.
The result may follow at once or be postponed in accordance with obscure factors. All
thought, desire and action disturb in some measure the equilibrium through a process of
readjustment. The operation of this law is as truly a moral law as it is a physical law
and can be directly observed as such.
We Choose Our Destiny
The law operates wether or not we are conscious of it. By its functioning our destinies
are shaped. Its continued action arises from and depends solely upon our own free will. By
our ignorance, we bind ourselves through selfish actions, feelings and thoughts. Only when
we have learned that in order to find happiness and peace we must cease the flow of
selfish action. Will we begin to use the law consciously for our liberation from the
cyclic necessity of reincarnation. Even the slightest thought
or act has its inevitable consequences. Death does not settle the score, anymore than
moving to a new town will cancel the debts incurred in the old one.
Each of us is born with a character, in an environment and family that seem either helpful
or inimical to our progress. In reality all sets of circumstances are opportunities for
us, for they are natural results of past living and should be viewed as the
stepping-stones for our future growth. Our destiny is not imposed upon us. It is of own
making, and we daily weave the threads of our future destiny.
Cause - Effect
Sometimes the result alone is seen without the preceding cause, and it therefore seems
entirely unaccountable. Or the cause is witnessed and the result seems non-existent. When
one first meets the knowledge of reincarnation and karma, One is apt to feel resentful
over the fact that one now suffers the result of causes set in motion by some body else.
But when viewed from the pattern of Immortal Life and the inner being is seen as truly
imperishable, living through successive lives, all
events are perceived to have their natural cause and logical consequence. In fact cause
and effect can be seen as inseparable, for effect is inherent in the cause, and the two
may be thought of as one cause -effect.
The law of spiritual dynamics makes us self -reliant beings with the realisation that we
neither desire nor seek to escape responsibility. Rather, we wish to become self-conscious
masters of our environment. Only by understanding the law and working with it, can we
master natural law, as an aviator learns to fly by understanding the law of gravity and
opposing to it other natural principles.
Similarly, in the moral world we transcend the inevitableness of consequences by
understanding the law of karma and setting in motion causes that will produce the
desirable effects, neutralising the under desirable. In the inviolability of law lies our
change and remake the character that is the outcome of our past living and create our
future character more perfectly.
Certainly without such a law, we would be drifting aimlessly on a shoreless sea, without
chart or compass, at the mercy of every adverse wind, borne onward only by the ceaseless
tide of evolution.
Not Predestination
Karma is neither predestination nor fate. The application of this natural law does away
with any possibility of such a thing as luck, either good or bad. Behind every piece of
good fortune lie the causes that the individual has consciously or unconsciously
precipitated, perhaps recently or in a previous life. Behind every bit of misfortune lies
the energy likewise generated by the individual. While it is true that the accumulated
karma of an individual helps or hinders one's progress, we are still
free to choose within the limits of our making. By successive efforts and choices or lack
of effort; we determine the orbit of our freedom. Fatalism or predestination implies that
we are so bound by circumstances or by some power outside ourselves that no effort of our
own can free us. Under the operation of the law of karma, the ones who generate the causes
or forces can modify or neutralise them. We may be temporarily bound, but we do own
binding. In the present we have the power
to modify and improve our future.
Basic Principles
While the working out of the law may be very complex; with almost infinite permutations
and combinations in human lives, yet certain basic principles of operation may be grasped
and employed immediately.
We are normally living in three worlds-physical, emotional and mental - in vehicles
appropriate to each world. We generate energies or forces as we act in each of these
worlds. These energies bring corresponding results on their respective levels. Physical
acts or deeds create physical environment, desires determine family and social links with
other individuals and thoughts result in mental abilities or inability's. The summation of
all these is what we character.
Action on the Physical Level
If we act in such a manner as to bring happiness to others, we will find ourselves sooner
or later in a fortunate physical environment, with an increased opportunity for spreading
happiness and goodwill.
If, on the other hand, we cause pain to others by our actions or our failure to act ,we
will find ourselves eventually in unhappy surroundings until we learn by experience a
greater wisdom in living.
The law itself is impersonal, neither good nor bad. Good or right may be defined from the
evolutionist point of view as being all that is in line with the furtherance of evolution,
bad or evil is therefore all that opposes progress toward perfection. Even in the case of
bad actions, the law functions not to punish the evil-doer, but to teach him With the
lesson learned is beyond the possibility of failure, natures purpose is accomplished.
Action on the Emotional Level
The force generated on the emotional level is that of desire or feeling. The pursuit of
desire stimulates exertion and aids in our development by binding us to the objects of
desire. We may judge the wisdom of a particular desire by experiencing the results of its
gratification. Through experiencing the unpleasant results of unwise desires, the soul
learns to raise lower desires, into higher ones and finally to attain liberation from all
desires Through the happiness enjoyed by wise desires, the soul gains expansion and
illumination, with the final power of being happy in all circumstances.
Desire also makes opportunities. Once we perceive this principle, we will understand that
if we wish to have future opportunities in any particular line of endeavour ,we should not
only cultivate the present desire along that line ,but try to put that desire into action
now so far as is possible
Action On The Mental Level
The third force is that of thought. The force generated in thinking increases our ability
to think, and increases the power of the mind as an instrument.
Most thoughts are primarily associated with emotion and therefore may bring the thinker
into contact with other persons in the relationships of every-day life, either pleasant or
unpleasant.
Thought is also a great creative power by which one can build both habit and character,
which is the sum total of our habits. Action is but the physical expression of thought, as
natural and inevitable in kind as the growth of a plant from the seed.
This is our key to power. Knowing that we become that which we think, we can deliberately
set our ourselves to think of those virtues and qualities which we desire to possess.
Slowly the moulding power of thought builds those virtues into manifestation. The process
is as natural as that of developing muscles by exercise and can
be scientifically employed.
Reincarnation A Necessary Means
Every human being is constantly generating these three types of force-physical, emotional
and mental. These determine not only our mode of life now, with its successes or failures,
and the state of consciousness after death, but also our environment and relationships
with others in succeeding incarnations. Obviously the balance of justice is not always
struck within the limits of one life. That is why reincarnation is said to be a means to
an end, rather than an end in itself . The cycles of
reincarnation provide the necessary extension in time for the operation of the law of
causation. The law of justice and the re establishment of equilibrium in the universe must
work out in individual experience. We must also gradually develop our power, knowledge and
skill in action and unfold our divine nature.
It is important in understanding karma to realise that motive must be differentiated from
action. Deeds react upon the environment, but motive reacts on character.
When we are faced with a piece of unpleasant karma ,we must seek to meet it constructively
and modify it, remembering that it is in reality an opportunity to build new qualities of
character. Courage and serenity in meeting misfortune, and the persistent effort to
eradicate all feelings of ill-will resentment toward those who seem to be responsible for
our unhappiness will do much to mitigate both present and future effects.
Opportunities
Occasionally, an opportunity comes to us that we feel is impossible for us to fulfil. But
it would not be there unless the law had brought it as a result of past desire and effort.
Such opportunities should be seized bravely. If we can nearly do a thing, we have worked
for it in the past. To the strength of past efforts we may be adding the final step to
bring a latent power into active expression.
Very often the action of karma is not felt immediately. It is like a seed that lies
dormant, seemingly dead, but eventually sprouts, matures and the harvest is reaped. In the
fertile soil of our physical, emotional and mental natures, we plant the seeds of our
future, and we carry with us the rich harvest of many past sowing's. If the harvest
seemingly is poor and unfruitful, it can be improved by planting better seed. We are never
without opportunities to plant anew, to plant the seeds of love, of kindness of beauty,
that we may reap the harvest of tolerance, faith and loveliness.
Character is the visible record of the past, and the promise of the future. The qualities
and capacities of today are the results of our yesterdays and rungs on the ladder
stretching to greater tomorrows. As we climb we reshape the present more nearly in the
image of the future, and so change the past. The failures become but steps up the ladder
leading to perfection, When the whole of time is glimpsed at last as an Eternal Now. |
The Theosophical Society in Australia