Lesson XI. The Law of Karma
"Karma" is a Sanscrit term for that great Law known to Western thinkers as Spiritual Cause and
Effect, or Causation. It relates to
the complicated affinities for
cither good or evil that have been acquired by the soul throughout its many incarnations. These affinities manifest as
characteristics enduring from one incarnation to another, being added to
here, softened or altered there, but always pressing forward for expression
and manifestation. And, so, it follows that what
each one of us is in this life depends upon is what we have been and how
we have acted in our past lives.
Throughout the
operations of the Law of Karma the manifestation of Perfect Justice is
apparent. We are not punished for our sins, as the current beliefs have
it, but instead we are punished by our sins. We are not rewarded for our
good acts, but we received our reward through
and by characteristics, qualities, affinities, etc., acquired by reason of
our having performed these good
acts in previous lives. We are our own judges and executioners. In our
present lives we are storing up good or bad
Karma which will stick to us closely,
and which will demand expression and manifestation in lives to come.
When we fasten around ourselves the evil of bad Karma, we have taken to shelter
a monster which will gnaw into our very
vitals until we shake him off by developing opposite qualities. And when we draw to ourselves the good Karma of Duty well performed, kindness well expressed, and Good
Deeds freely performed without hope of reward, then do we
weave for ourselves the beautiful garments which we are
destined to wear upon the occasion of our future lives.
The Yogi Teachings relating to the Law of Karma do not teach us that
Sin is an offense against the Power which
brought us into being, so much as it is an offense against ourselves. We cannot injure the Absolute, nor harm
It in any way. But we may harm each other, and in so doing harm
ourselves. The Yogis teach that Sin is
largely a matter of ignorance and
misunderstanding of our true nature, and that the lesson must be well learned until we are able to
see the folly and error of our
former course, and thus are able to
remedy our past errors and to avoid their recurrence. By Karma the effects
arising from our sins cling to us,
until we become sick and weary of them, and seek their cause in our hearts. When we have discovered the
evil cause of these effects, we learn to hate
it and tear it from us as a foul thing, and are thence evermore relieved
of it.
The Yogis view the sinning soul as the parent does the
child who will persist in playing with forbidden things. The parent cautions
the child against playing with the stove, but still the child persists in its
disobedience, and sooner or later receives a burn for its
meddling. The burn is not a punishment for the
disobedience (although it may seem so to it) but comes in obedience to a natural law which is invariable. The child
finds out that stoves and burns are connected, and
begins to see some sense and reason in the admonitions of the parent. The
love of the parent sought to save the child
the pain of the burn, and yet the
child-nature persisted in experimenting, and was taught the lesson. But the lesson once thoroughly learned, it is not necessary to forbid the child
the stove, for it has learned the
danger for itself and thereafter avoids it.
And thus it is with the human soul passing on from one life to
another. It learns new lessons, gathers new
experiences, and learns to recognize the pain that invariably comes from Wrong Action, and the Happiness
that invariably comes from Right Action. As it
progresses it learns how hurtful certain courses of action are, and like the
burnt child it avoids them thereafter.
If
we will but stop to consider for a moment the relative
degrees of temptation to us and to others, we may see
the operations of past Karma in former lives. Why is
it that this thing is "no temptation" to you, while it is the
greatest temptation to another. Why is it
that certain things do not seem to have any attraction for him, and yet they attract you so much that you have to use all of your will power to
resist them? It is because of the Karma in your past lives. The things that do not now tempt you, have been
outlived in some former life, and
you have profited by your own
experiences, or those of others, or else through some teaching given you
by one who had been attracted to you by your unfolding consciousness of Truth.
We
are profiting to-day by the lessons of our past lives.
If we have learned them well we are receiving the
benefit, while if we have turned our backs on the words
of wisdom offered us, or have refused to learn the lesson
perfectly, we are compelled to sit on the same old
school-benches and hear the same old lesson repeated
until it is fairly driven into our consciousness. We
wonder why it is that other persons can perform
certain evil acts that seem so repulsive to us, and are apt to pride ourselves
upon our superior virtue. But those who know, realize
that their unfortunate brethren have not paid
sufficient attention to the lesson of the past, and are having it repeated to them in a more drastic form this time. They know that
the virtuous ones are simply reaping the benefit of their
own application in the past, but that their lesson is not over, and that unless they advance and hold fast to that which
they have attained, as well, they will be outstripped
by many of those whose failure they are now viewing with wonder and
scorn.
It is hard for us to fully realize that we are what we
are because of our past experiences. It is difficult for us to value the experiences that we are now going through,
because we do not fully appreciate the value of bitter
experiences once lived out and outlived. Let us look
back over the experiences of this present life, for
instance. How many bitter episodes are there which we
wish had never happened, and how we wish we could tear them out of our consciousness.
But we do not realize that from these same
bitter experiences came knowledge and wisdom that we would not part with
under any circumstances. And yet if we were to tear away from us the cause of
these benefits, we would tear away the
benefits also, and would find ourselves back just where we were before
the experience happened to us. What we would like to do is to hold on to the
benefits that came from the experience-the knowledge and wisdom that were
picked from the tree of pain. But we cannot separate the effect from the cause
in this way, and must learn to look back upon these bitter experiences as the
causes from which our present knowledge,
wisdom and attainment proceeded. Then may we cease to hate these things,
and to see that good may come from evil, under the workings of the Law.
And when we are able to do this, we
shall be able to regard the painful experiences of our present day as the
inevitable outcome of causes away back in our past,
but which will work surely toward increased knowledge, wisdom and
attainment, if we will but see the Good underlying the working of the Law. When
we fall in with the working of the Law of Karma we recognize its pain not as an
injustice or punishment, but as the
beneficent operation of a Law which, although apparently working Evil,
has for its end and aim Ultimate Good.
Many object to the teachings of the
Law of Karma by saying that the experiences of each life, not being remembered,
must be useless and without value. This is a
very foolish position to take concerning the matter.
These experiences although not fully remembered,
are not lost to us at all-they are made a part of the
material of which our minds are composed. They
exist in the form of feelings, characteristics, inclinations, likes and
dislikes, affinities, attractions, repulsions, etc., etc., and are as much in
evidence as are the experiences of yesterday which are fresh in our memory.
Look back over your present life, and try to
remember the experiences of the past years. You will find that you remember
but few of the events of your life. The
pressing and constant experiences of
each of the days that you have lived have been, for the most part, forgotten. Though these experiences
may have seemed very vivid and real
to you when they occurred, still they
have faded into nothingness now, and
they are to all intents and purposes lost to you. But are they
lost ? Not at all. You are what you are
because of the results of these experiences. Your character has been moulded
and shaped, little by little, by
these apparently forgotten pains, pleasures, sorrows and happinesses. This trial strengthened you along
certain lines; that one changed your point of
view and made you see things with a broader sweep of vision. This grief caused you to feel the pain
of others; that disappointment
spurred you on to new endeavors. And
each and every one of them left a permanent
mark upon your personality-upon your character. All men are what they are by reason of what they
have lived through and out. And though these
happenings, scenes, circumstances, occurrences, experiences,
have faded from the memory, their effects are
indelibly imprinted upon the fabric of the character,
and the man of to-day is different from what he
would have been had the happening or experience not entered into his
life.
And this
same rule applies to the characteristics brought
over from past incarnations. You have not the
memory of the experiences, but you have the fruit in the shape of "characteristics," tastes, inclinations, etc. You have a tendency toward certain things, and a
distaste for others. Certain things attract, while others repel you. All of these things are the result of your experiences
in former incarnations. Your very taste and
inclination toward occult studies which has caused
you to read these lessons is your legacy from some former life in which some
one spoke a word or two to you regarding the subject,
and attracted your interest and desire. You learned some little about the
subject then-perhaps much-and developed a desire for more knowledge along these lines, which manifesting
in your present life has brought you in contact with further instruction. The
same inclination will lead to further advancement in
this life, and still greater opportunities in future
incarnations. Nearly every one who reads these lines
has felt that much of this occult instruction imparted
is but a "re-learning" of
something previously known, although many of the things taught have
never been heard before in this life. You pick up a
book and read something, and know at once
that it is so, because in some vague way you have a consciousness of
having studied and worked out the problem in some past period of your lives.
All this is the working of the Law of Karma, which caused you to attract that
for which you have an affinity, and which
also causes others to be attracted to you.
Many are the reunions of people who have been related to each other
in previous lives. The old loves, and old hates work out their Karmic results
in our lives. We are bound to those whom we have loved, and also to those whom
we may have injured. The story must be worked out to the end, although a
knowledge of the Law undoubtedly relieves one of many entangling attachments
and Karmic relationships, by pointing out
the nature of the relation, and enabling one to free himself mentally from the
bond, which process tends to
dissolve much of the Karmic entanglements.
Life is a great
school for the learning of lessons. It has many grades, many classes, many
scales of progress. And the lessons must be learned whether we will or no. If
we refuse or neglect to learn the lesson we are sent back to accomplish the
task, again and again, until the lesson is finally learned. Nothing once
learned is ever forgotten entirely. There is an indelible imprint of the lesson in our character, which manifests
as predisposionns tastes, inclinations, etc. All that goes to make up that
which we call "Character" is the workings of
the Law of Karma. There is no such thing as Chance. Nothing ever
"happens." All is regulated by the Law of Cause and Effect or Karma.
As a man sows so shall he reap, in a literal sense. You are what you are
to-day, by reason of what you were in your last life. And in your next life you
will be what you are making of yourself to-day. You are your own judge, and executioner-your own bestower of
rewards. But the Love of the Absolute is ever working to lead you upward to the
Light, and to open your soul to that knowledge that, in the words of the Yogis,
"burns up Karma," and enables you to throw off the burden of Cause
and Effect that you have been carrying around with you, and which has weighted
you down.
In the Fourteen Lessons we quoted from Mr. Berry Benson, a writer in
the Century Magazine for May, 1804.
The quotation fits so beautifully into this place, that we venture to
reproduce it here once more, with your permission. It reads as follows:
"A little boy went to school. He was very little. All that he knew he had
drawn in with his mother's milk. His
teacher (who was God) placed him in the lowest class, and gave him these
lessons to learn: Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt do no hurt to any living
thing. Thou shalt not steal. So the man did not kill; but he was cruel, and he
stole. At the end of the day (when his board
was gray-when the night was come) his teacher (who was God) said: Thou
hast learned not to kill, but the other
lessons thou hast not learned. Come back tomorrow.
"On the morrow
he came back a little boy. And his teacher
(who was God) put him in a class a little higher, and gave him these
lessons to learn: Thou shalt do no hurt to
any living thing. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not cheat. So the man
did no hurt to any living thing; but he stole and cheated. And at the end of
the day (when his beard was gray- when the
night was come) his teacher (who was God) said: Thou hast learned to be
merciful. Rut the other lessons thou
hast not learned. Come back tomorrow.
"Again,
on the morrow, he came back, a little boy. And his
teacher (who was God) put him in a class yet a little
higher, and gave him these lessons to learn: Thou shalt not steal. Thou
shalt not cheat. Thou shalt not covet. So the man did not steal; but he cheated and he coveted. And at the end of the day (when his beard was gray-when the night was come)
his teacher (who was God) said: Thou
hast learned not to steal. But the other lessons thou hast not learned.
Come back, my child, tomorrow.
"This
is what I have read in the faces of men and women,
in the book of the world, and in the scroll of the
heavens, which is writ with stars."
Under the operation of the Law of Karma every man is master of his own destiny-he rewards himself-he
punishes himself-he builds, tears down and develops
his character, always, however, under the brooding
influence of the Absolute which is Love Infinite
and which is constantly exerting the upward spiritual urge, which is
drawing the soul toward its ultimate haven of rest. Man
must, and does, work out his own salvation and destiny, but the upward urge is
always there-never tiring-never despairing -knowing always that Ultimate
Victory belongs to the soul.
Under
the Law of Karma every action, yea, every thought as well, has its
Karmic effect upon the future incarnations of the soul. And, not exactly in the
nature of punishment or rewards, in the general acceptation of the term, but
as the invariable operation of the Law of Cause and Effect. The thoughts of a
person are like seeds which seek to press forward into growth, bud, blossom and
fruit. Some spring into growth in this life, while others are carried over into
future lives. The actions of this life may represent only the partial growth
of the thought seed, and future lives may be
necessary for its full blossoming
and fruition. Of course, the individual who understands the Truth, and
who has mentally divorced himself from the
fruits of his actions-who has robbed material Desire of its vital force
by seeing it as it is, and not as a part of his Real Self-his seed-thoughts do
not spring into blossom and fruit in future lives, for he has killed their germ.
The Yogis express this thought by the illustration of the baked-seeds. They
show their pupils that while ordinary seeds sprout, blossom and bear fruit,
still if one bakes the seeds their vitality is gone, and while they may serve
the purposes of a nourishing meal still they can never cause sprout, blossom or
fruit. Then the pupil is instructed in the nature of Desire, and shown
how desires invariably spring into plant,
blossom and fruit, the life of the person being the soil in which they
flourish. But Desires understood, and set off from the Real Man, are akin to
baked-seeds-they have been subjected to the heat of spiritual wisdom and are
thus robbed of their vitality, and are unable to bear fruit. In this way the
understood and mastered Desire bears no Karmic fruit of future action.
The Yogis teach that there are two
great principles at work in the matter of Karmic Law affecting the conditions
of rebirth. The first principle is that whereby the prevailing desires,
aspirations, likes, and dislikes, loves and hates, attractions and repulsions,
etc., press the soul into conditions in which these characteristics may have a
favorable and congenial soil for development. The second principle is that
which may be spoken of as the urge of the unfolding Spirit, which is always
urging forward toward fuller expression, and the breaking down of confining
sheaths, and which thus exerts a pressure upon the soul awaiting reincarnation
which causes it to seek higher environments and conditions than its desires
and aspiration, as well as its general characteristics, would demand. These two
apparently conflicting (and yet actually harmonious)
principles acting and reacting upon each other, determine the conditions
of rebirth, and have a very material effect upon the Karmic Law. One's life is
largely a conflict between these two forces, the one tending to hold the soul
to the present conditions resulting from past lives, and
the other ever at work seeking to uplift and elevate it
to greater heights.
The desires and characteristics brought over from the
past lives, of course, seek fuller expression and manifestation upon the lines of the past lives. These tendencies simply wish to be let alone and to grow according to their own laws of development and manifestation.
But the unfolding Spirit, knowing that the soul's best interests are along the
lines of spiritual unfoldment and growth, brings a
steady pressure to bear, life after life, upon the soul, causing
it to gradually kill out the lower desires and
characteristics, and to develop qualities which tend
to lead it upward instead of allowing it to remain on its
present level, there to bring to blossom and fruit many
low thoughts and desires. Absolute Justice reigns
over the operations of the Law of Karma, but back of
that and superior even to its might is found the
Infinite Love of the Absolute which tends to Redeem the race. It is that love
that is back of all the upward tendencies of the soul, and which we all feel
within our inner selves in our best moments. The
light of the Spirit (Love) is ever there.
Our
relationship to others in past lives has its effect upon the working of
the Law of Karma. If in the past we have
formed attachments for other individuals,
either through love or hate; either by kindness or cruelty; these attachments
manifest in our present life, for
these persons are bound to us, and we to them, by the bonds of Karma, until the attachment is worn out. Such people will in the present life
have certain relationships to us, the object of which is the working out of the
problems in which we are mutually concerned,
the adjustment of relationship, the
"squaring up" of accounts, the development of both. We are apt
to be placed in a position to receive hurts
from those whom we have hurt in past lives,
and this not through the idea of revenge, but by the inexorable working out of
the Law of Compensation in Karmic adjustments. And when we are helped, comforted and receive favors from those
who we helped in past lives, it is
not merely a reward, but the operation of the same law of Justice. The person who hurts us in this way may have no desire to do
so, and may even be distressed
because he is used as an instrument
in this way, but the Karmic Law places him
in a position where he unwittingly and without desire acts so that you
receive pain through him. Have you not felt yourselves hurting another, although you had no desire and intention of so
doing, and, in fact, were sorely
distressed because you could not
prevent the pain? This is the operation of Karma. Have you not found yourself placed where you unexpectedly
were made the bestower of favors upon some almost unknown persons? This
is Karma. The Wheel turns slowly, but it
makes the complete circle. Karma is
the companion law to Metempsychosis-The
two are inextricably connected, and their operations are closely interwoven. Constant and unvarying in operation, Karma manifests upon
and in worlds,
planets, races, nations, families and persons. Everywhere
in space is the great law in operation in some form. The so-called
mechanical operations called Causation are
as much a phase of Karma as is the
highest phases manifest on the higher planes of life, far beyond our own. And through it all is ever the urge toward perfection-the upward movement of
all life. The Yogi teachings regard the Universe as a mighty whole, and the Law of Karma as the one
great law operating and manifesting through that whole.
How
different is the workings of this mighty Law from the
many ideas advanced by man to account for the
happenings of life. Mere Chance is no explanation. for the careful thinker
must inevitably come to the conclusion that in an
Universe governed by Law, there can be no room for Chance.
And to suppose that all rewards and punishments
are bestowed by a personal deity, in answer to
prayers, supplications, good behavior, offerings, etc.,
is to fall back into the childhood stage of the race thought. The Yogis teach
that the sorrow, suffering and affliction witnessed on all sides of us, as well
as the joy, happiness and blessings
also in evidence, are not caused by the will or whim of
some capricious diety to reward his friends and
punish his enemies-but by the working of an invariable
Law which metes out to each his measure of good and ill according to his Karmic
attachments and relationships.
Those who are suffering, and who
see no cause for their pain, are apt to
complain and rebel when they see others of no apparent merit enjoying the good
things of life which have been denied their apparently more worthy brethren.
The churches have no answer except "It is God's will," and that
"the Divine motive must not be
questioned." These answers seem like mockery, particularly when the
idea of Divine Justice is associated with the teaching. There is no other
answer compatible with Divine Justice other than
the Law of Karma, which makes each person responsible for his or her
happiness or misery. And there is nothing so stimulating to one as to know that
he has within himself the means to create
for himself newer and better conditions of life and environment. We are
what we are to-day by reason of what we were in our yesterdays. We will be in
our tomorrows that which we have started into operation to-day. As we sow in
this life, so shall we reap in the next- we are now reaping that which we have
sown in the past. St. Paul voiced a world truth when he said: "Brethren, be not deceived. God is not
mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap."
The teachers divide
the operation of Karma into three general classes, as follows: (I) The Karmic manifestations which are now
under way in our lives, producing results which are the effects of causes set into motion in our past lives. This is the most common form, and best known
phase of Karmic manifestation.
(2) The Karma which we are now acquiring and storing up by reason of our
actions, deeds, thoughts and mental and
spiritual relationships. This stored up Karma will spring into operation in future lives, when the body and environments appropriate for its
manifestation presents itself or is secured; or else when other Karma
tending to restrict its operations is removed.
But one docs not necessarily have to wait until a future life in order to set
into operation and manifestation the Karma of the present life. For
there come times in which there being no obstructing Karma brought over from a
past life, the present life Karma may begin to manifest.
(3) The Karma
brought over from past incarnations, which
is not able to manifest at the present time owing to the opposition
presented by other Karma of an opposite nature, serves to hold the first in
check. It is a well known physical law, which likewise manifests on the mental plane, that two opposing forces
result in neutralization, that Is, both of the forces are held in check. Of course, though, a more powerful
Karma may manage to operate, while a weaker is held in check by it.
Not only have
individuals their own Karma, but families, races, nations and worlds have their
collective Karma. In the cases of races, if the race Karma generated in
the past be favorable on the whole, the race flourishes and its influence
widens. If on the contrary its collective Karma be bad, the race gradually
disappears from the face of the earth, the souls constituting it separating
according to their Karmic
attractions, some going to this race and some to another. Nations are bound
by their Karma, as any student of history may perceive if he studies closely the tides of national progress or decline.
The Karma of a nation is made up of the collective Karma
of the individuals composing it, so far as their thoughts
and acts have to do with the national spirit and acts. Nations as nations
cease to exist, but the souls of the
individuals composing them still live on and make their influence felt in new races, scenes and environments.
The ancient Egyptians, Persians, Medes,
Chaldeans, Romans, Grecians and many other ancient races have disappeared, but their reincarnating souls are with
us to-day. The modern revival of Occultism
is caused by an influx of the souls of these old peoples pouring in on the Western worlds.
The following quotation from The Secret Doctrine, that
remarkable piece of occult literature, will be interesting at this
point:
"Nor
would the ways of Karma be inscrutable were men to
work in union and harmony instead of disunion and
strife. For our ignorance of those ways-which one
portion of mankind calls the ways of Providence, dark
and intricate, while another sees in them the action of blind fatalism, and a
third simple Chance with neither gods nor devils to
guide them-would surely disappear if we would but
attribute all these to their correct cause. With right knowledge, or at any
rate with a confident conviction that our neighbors will no more work harm to
us than we would think of
harming them, two-thirds of the world's evil would
vanish into thin air. Were no man to hurt his brother,
Karma-Nemesis would have neither cause to work for, nor weapons to act
through. . . . We cut these numerous
windings in our destinies daily with
our own hands, while we imagine that we are pursuing a track on the royal road of respectability and duty, and then complain of those ways being
so intricate and so dark. We stand
bewildered before the mystery of our
own making and the riddles of life that
we will not solve, and then accuse the great Sphinx of devouring us. But verily there is not an accident in our lives, not a misshapen day or a
misfortune, that could not be traced
back to our own doings in this or another life. . . . Knowledge of Karma
gives the conviction that if-
Virtue in distress and vice in
triumph
Makes atheists of
Mankind, it is only because that mankind
has ever shut its eyes to the great
truth that man is himself his own savior as his own destroyer; that he need not accuse heaven, and the gods, fates and providence, of the
apparent injustice that reigns in
the midst of humanity. But let him
rather remember that bit of Grecian wisdom which warns man to forbear accusing That
which 'Just though mysterious,
leads us on unerring Through ways
unmarked from guilt to punishment -which are now the ways and the high
road on which move onward the great European
nations. The Western Aryans have
every nation and tribe like their eastern brethren of the fifth race,
their Golden and their Iron ages, their
period of comparative irresponsibility, or the Satya age of purity,
while now several of them have reached their Iron Age, the Kali Yuga, an
age black with horrors. This state will last . . . until we begin acting from
within instead of ever following impulses from without. Until then the only palliative is union and harmony-a
Brotherhood in acta and altruism not simply in
name."
Edwin Arnold, in his wonderful poem,
"The Light of Asia," which tells the story of the Buddha, explains
the doctrine of Karma from the Buddhist standpoint. We feel that our students
should become acquainted with this view, so beautifully expressed, and so we
herewith quote the passages referred to:
Karma-all that total of a soul which is the things it did, the thoughts it
had, The 'self it wove with woof of viewless time crossed
on the warp invisible of acts.
What hath been bringeth what shall be,
and is, Worse-better-last for first and first for last;
The angels in the heavens of gladness reap
Fruits of a holy past.
The devils in the underworlds wear out
Deeds that were wicked in an age gone by.
Nothing endures: fair virtues waste with time,
Foul sins grow purged thereby.
Who toiled a slave may come anew a prince For gentle worthiness and
merit won;
Who ruled a king may wander earth in rags For things done and undone.
Before beginning, and
without an end, As space eternal and as
surety sure.
Is fixed a Power divine which moves to good, Only its laws endure.
It will not be contemned
of any one: Who thwarts it loses, and who
serves it gains;
The
hidden good it pays with peace and bliss, The hidden ill with pains.
It seeth everywhere and
marketh all: Do right-it recompenseth!
Do one wrong
The equal retribution must be
made, Though DHarma tarry long.
It knows not wrath nor
pardon; utter-true Its measures mete, its faultless balance weighs;
Times
are as naught, to-morrow it will judge, Or after many days.
By this the slayer's knife did stab
himself;
The unjust judge hath lost his own defender; The false tongue dooms its
lie; the creeping thief
And spoiler rob, to render.
Such
is the law which moves to righteousness, Which
none at last can turn aside or stay;
The heart of it is love, the
end of it Is peace and consummation
sweet. Obey !
The books say well, my
brothers! each man's life
The
outcome of his former living is; The
bygone wrongs bring forth sorrow and woes,
The bygone right breeds bliss.
That which ye sow ye
reap. See yonder fields I
The
sesamum was sesamum, the corn Was corn. The silence and the darkness knew;
So is a man's fate born.
He
cometh, reaper of the things he sowed, Sesamum, corn, so much cast in past
birth;
And so
much weed and poison-stuff, which mar Him and the aching earth.
"If he shall
labor rightly, rooting these.
And
planting wholesome seedlings where they grew, Fruitful
and fair and clean the ground shall be.
And rich the harvest due.
"If he who liveth, learning
whence woe springs,
Endureth
patiently, striving to pay His utmost debt for
ancient evils done
In love and truth alway;
If making none to lack,
he thoroughly purge The lie and lust of self forth from his blood;
Suffering
all meekly, rendering for offence Nothing but grace and good:
If he shall day by day
dwell merciful, Holy and just and kind and true; and rend
Desire
from where it clings with bleeding roots, Till love of life have end:
He-dying-leaveth as the
sum of him A life-count closed, whose ills are dead and quit,
Whose good is quick and
mighty, far and near, So that fruits follow it.
No need hath such to live as ye name life;
That which began in him when
he began Is finished: he hath wrought the purpose through
Of what did make him man.
Never shall yearnings
torture him, nor sins Stain him, nor ache of
earthly joys and woes
Invade his safe eternal peace;
nor deaths And lives recur. He goes
Unto Nirvana.
He is one with Life Yet lives
not. He is blest, ceasing to be.
Om,
mani paDme Om ! the dewdrop slips Into the shining sea!
This is the doctrine of the Karma. Learn!
Only when all the dross of sin
is quit, Only when life dies like a white flame spent.
Death dies along with it.
And so, friends, this is a brief account of the operations of the Law of
Karma. The subject is one of such wide
scope that the brief space at our disposal enables us to do little more than to call your attention to the existence of the Law, and some of its
general workings. We advise our students to acquaint themselves thoroughly with what has been written on
this subject by ourselves and others.
In our first scries of lessons-the "Fourteen
Lessons"-the chapter or lesson
on Spiritual Cause and Effect was devoted to the subject of Karma. We
advise our students to re-stady it. We also suggest that Mr. Sinnett's occult
story entitled "Karma" gives its readers an excellent idea of
the actual working of Karma in the everyday lives of people of our own times. We recommend the book to the
consideration of our students. It is published at a popular price, and is well worth the consideration of every one interested in this wonderful subject
of Reincarnation and Karma.
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