SECTION XVII. KARMA.The Universe is one whole manifestation of Cause and Effect. All Nature is manifested and materialized forces of Action and Reaction. The Doctrine of Karma is based upon the natural law by which action produces reaction, the law of cause and effect. It holds that every action is the cause of every reaction as well as the effect of the action which is its producing cause. The doctrine of Reincarnation specifies the different physical forms in which groups of accumulated causes of reaction manifest themselves in Nature. The laws of Karma are the regulated blendings of the subtle forces of the finer principles of Nature which, operating from within, shape these outer physical forms.Karma begins with the creation of the Universe, and Creation begins with the loss of equilibrium of the three Cardinal Attributes while dwelling in a quiescent state in Absolute Love—Krishna. This inequilibrium develops the germ of the Past Universe, which the Attributes hold within them, and manifests itself as a New Universe—a new Creation. The word Karma is derived from the Sanscrit root Kri, to act. Karma means action. Action means the motion of the operating forces of Nature. The Karma of the past Creations, stored up as ideation within the even forces of the Attributes, works itself out in the form and phases of a new Creation. Every succeeding Creation therefore is the reactive result of all previous creations. This reaction of the accumulated action-potencies of the past creations produces the uniform dimensions and the principal features of the cycles, so that the history of every cycle, from the smallest to the largest, repeats itself in its chief points in naturally regulated succession.As in the great universe, so in its epitome, man. The microcosm is ruled by the same laws as the macrocosm, the laws of cause and effect, of action and reaction. Man is the conscious embodiment of the blended forces of his past actions, actions of previous conscious embodiments born of the forces of still more previous embodiments.Action proceeds from thought. Thought is the source and spring of action. No action is possible without its producing cause, thought, which is a phase of the mind's volition. All our thoughts are impressed on the mind, the moment they form themselves, in condensed pictures. The more powerful a thought, the deeper the impression on the mind. Weak, undeveloped thoughts make superficial impressions and are liable to wear off. The impression of a powerful thought is likewise rubbed off by the force of a strong counter-thought. An angry thought, for instance, prompts us to do a bad action, but before it is reduced to action, our reason sometimes intervenes, argues against it, convinces us of its error which induces repentance. The stronger the counter-thought of repentance, the more quickly and effectively it rubs off the impression. But if the thought is reduced to action, its impression is deep and enduring, and requires the aid of absolutely sincere, burning repentance to destroy that impression.These thought-impressions on the mind are called seeds of Karma. They are exactly like seeds of trees in their potencies and operations. As a seed of a tree, when planted in the soil, germinates, grows, flowers and bears fruit, so does a Karma-impression germinate, grow, flower and bear fruit. As the germ of a seed, in process of development, produces the events called sprouting, putting forth leaves and branches, flowering and fruiting, lo, a man's mental thought-impressions of previous lives, in almost the self-same way, sprout, put forth leaves and branches, flower and fruit in the shape of events, inside and outside of him. The thought-impressions are reflected upon the aura. "Aurā" is a Sanscrit word, its transliterated form being "Arā," from "Ar" which means the spoke of a wheel. "Arā" means full of spoke-like shoots of radiance from any centre. This centre of our aura is our mind. Aura, therefore, is the radiance of, the mind which permeates and envelopes our body in an oval shape and generally extends one cubit outside of our body. The aura and reflections of these thought-impressions on the aura are visible only to the spiritual and psychical sight. The illuminated saints and yogis who have developed this sight, not only see this aura, but also the reflections of the thought-impressions which they can read and interpret as we read and interpret words. These reflections are called the characters of the mind—the Hidden Pictures (Chitra-Gupta) of Human Conduct—which reveal the past, present and future history of a human soul to those who can decipher them.From the aura these characters are reflected again upon the Ether which receives the impression and keeps the record of each external and internal event in Nature. The Ether is the storehouse of the records of all human and natural happenings and vibrations. And it is from this storehouse of all mental records that true clairvoyance draws its inspired messages and revelations, A fully developed Yogi can learn the details of an event which occurred ten thousand years ago or of any time, and can tell of any present or future occurrence in any part of the world by concentrating upon the Ether, the all-knowing Ether.Thus the records of the causes of human actions are kept in triplicate, so that there is no escape from the potencies of their merits and demerits, unless the main records (those on the mind) are melted away by the fire of absolute, all-absorbing spiritual consciousness.Actions (Karma) are of two kinds, white and black. White Karma springs from the Sāttwic state of mind, and Black Karma from its Tāmasic state. The color of Sattwa (Illumination) is white, the color of Tama (Darkness) is black, hence Karma is white or black. Rāja is the attribute of Activity, the working principle, the motive power of action. Without the aid of Rāja no action is possible. When Rāja works with dominant Sattwa the result is white Karma, when it works with dominant Tama, the result is black Karma. The white and black actions are commonly called good and bad. What is a good action? It is an action whose ultimate reaction produces harmony and happiness and illumines the mind. What is a bad action? It is an action which, however enjoyable or otherwise while it lasts, produces a reaction of inharmony, pain and misery, causing darkness of the mind.In respect to the law according to which they come to be worked out in their turn, the Karma-seeds, white and black, are of three classes—Sanchit, Prārabdha and Kriyamān or Agāmi. Sanchit means stored-up. Prārabdha means Karma the reaction of which has begun or that which is working now. Kriyaman means Karma-seeds originating out of the Prārabdha Karma now being worked out, but which will form the seeds of future (Agami) actions. Sanchit Karma includes the seeds of all the actions of past existences stored up as impressions on the mind. Out of this storehouse of Karma-seeds that, white or black, which is the most powerful asserts itself to be worked out first, drawing to itself, by the law of affinity. Karma-seeds of minor power, but of a nature similar to its own. This most powerful Karma-seed, lumped up with small Karma-seeds of similar character, forms the Prārabdha Karma, Karma which is in the process of being worked out. And in its process of working the fresh thought-impressions which the mind is registering are called Kriyamān (Karma being born), also called Agāmi (future) Karma, Karma seeds which, after being deposited in the storehouse, will come to be worked out in their turn in future, either as main or minor Prārabdha, according to their potency.This is the law of working of human Karma, the inexorable law which shapes our life and destiny, which fills existence with joy or sorrow. Karma is unending unless we learn the mysterious law which works it and grasp the still more mysterious Law behind that Karmic law and by its practice destroy its roots and prevent its present and future actions within us. I will speak of this Law and of its ways of practice later on.We often see a man, who has lived a good, pure and harmonious life, suddenly, through circumstances or bad associations, changed into a bad man. He becomes worse in habits and conduct and dies in that degraded mental state. Similarly we find some one very bad up to a certain period of life; he suddenly turns good and, before death, develops into an angelic character. This law of Karma is behind this change of character. Good Prārabdha influences one into good life and actions while it is working. But if some black Karma-seed is the most powerful of all Karma-seeds in the mind's storehouse, after the good Prārabdha has been worked out, it asserts itself to be worked out next and, lumped up with the minor seeds, forms his Prārabdha which changes the whole complexion of his character and conduct. The case of a bad man becoming good is subject to the same law; a white Prārabdha, owing to its predominant power, succeeds a bad one. The liability of alternate succession of bad and good Karma producing the actions of human beings is expressed in the metaphoric saying that the action of Karma in man is like a revolving wheel.As a seed of a tree takes time to bear fruit, grow old and die, so a Karma-seed takes time to develop and die. As the periodical putting forth of leaves, flowers and fruits are the events in the life of a tree, so the experiences of a man's life represent the development of his Prārabdha Karma-seed. The time a Karma-seed takes to work itself out is measured by the duration of the sustaining power of its potentialities. One Prārabdha Karma may embrace two or three or more births if it is very powerful, or may end in the middle of one birth, if it be not so powerful. An extraordinarily powerful Karma may extend for a long, long time, covering many, many births, suicide for instance. The thought which leads to suicide makes the deepest impression on the mind, far deeper, in fact, than even the thought which commits murder. Why? Because we love our own life more than anybody else's or than anything else on earth. It, therefore, requires an extraordinarily powerful thought to overpower that innate, intense love of our life and incite us to destroy it. The thought back of this self-murder, therefore, makes the deepest impression on, our mind and thus becomes the most powerful Karma-seed of all Karma-seeds. This being so, it asserts itself to form the Prārabdha, every time it is worked out, to the exclusion of all other Karma-seeds, for a long series of births, in every one of which that soul commits suicide, sometimes, as it is often found, without any apparent reason. It is divine mercy alone that saves a suicide from committing suicide in every birth ever afterwards. Hence suicide is the greatest sin, greater than even murder.To the average Western mind this Karma philosophy strikes as intolerably pessimistic on account of the inexorableness of its laws. There is, however, no help for it. These laws rule us all whether we believe in it or not. They are no man-created laws, they are laws which operate throughout Nature, as much within a white man as within a brown, yellow or black man, of all stations of life, of all grades of consciousness. Yet it need not strike anybody, who has found the easy and rosy path out of the woods of Karma, as pessimistic at all. But he or she must ever keep to that path and never stray out of it from sheer wilfulness, or else there certainly is no escape out of the labyrinth of Karma.
SECTION XVII. KARMA.The Universe is one whole manifestation of Cause and Effect. All Nature is manifested and materialized forces of Action and Reaction. The Doctrine of Karma is based upon the natural law by which action produces reaction, the law of cause and effect. It holds that every action is the cause of every reaction as well as the effect of the action which is its producing cause. The doctrine of Reincarnation specifies the different physical forms in which groups of accumulated causes of reaction manifest themselves in Nature. The laws of Karma are the regulated blendings of the subtle forces of the finer principles of Nature which, operating from within, shape these outer physical forms.Karma begins with the creation of the Universe, and Creation begins with the loss of equilibrium of the three Cardinal Attributes while dwelling in a quiescent state in Absolute Love—Krishna. This inequilibrium develops the germ of the Past Universe, which the Attributes hold within them, and manifests itself as a New Universe—a new Creation. The word Karma is derived from the Sanscrit root Kri, to act. Karma means action. Action means the motion of the operating forces of Nature. The Karma of the past Creations, stored up as ideation within the even forces of the Attributes, works itself out in the form and phases of a new Creation. Every succeeding Creation therefore is the reactive result of all previous creations. This reaction of the accumulated action-potencies of the past creations produces the uniform dimensions and the principal features of the cycles, so that the history of every cycle, from the smallest to the largest, repeats itself in its chief points in naturally regulated succession.As in the great universe, so in its epitome, man. The microcosm is ruled by the same laws as the macrocosm, the laws of cause and effect, of action and reaction. Man is the conscious embodiment of the blended forces of his past actions, actions of previous conscious embodiments born of the forces of still more previous embodiments.Action proceeds from thought. Thought is the source and spring of action. No action is possible without its producing cause, thought, which is a phase of the mind's volition. All our thoughts are impressed on the mind, the moment they form themselves, in condensed pictures. The more powerful a thought, the deeper the impression on the mind. Weak, undeveloped thoughts make superficial impressions and are liable to wear off. The impression of a powerful thought is likewise rubbed off by the force of a strong counter-thought. An angry thought, for instance, prompts us to do a bad action, but before it is reduced to action, our reason sometimes intervenes, argues against it, convinces us of its error which induces repentance. The stronger the counter-thought of repentance, the more quickly and effectively it rubs off the impression. But if the thought is reduced to action, its impression is deep and enduring, and requires the aid of absolutely sincere, burning repentance to destroy that impression.These thought-impressions on the mind are called seeds of Karma. They are exactly like seeds of trees in their potencies and operations. As a seed of a tree, when planted in the soil, germinates, grows, flowers and bears fruit, so does a Karma-impression germinate, grow, flower and bear fruit. As the germ of a seed, in process of development, produces the events called sprouting, putting forth leaves and branches, flowering and fruiting, lo, a man's mental thought-impressions of previous lives, in almost the self-same way, sprout, put forth leaves and branches, flower and fruit in the shape of events, inside and outside of him. The thought-impressions are reflected upon the aura. "Aurā" is a Sanscrit word, its transliterated form being "Arā," from "Ar" which means the spoke of a wheel. "Arā" means full of spoke-like shoots of radiance from any centre. This centre of our aura is our mind. Aura, therefore, is the radiance of, the mind which permeates and envelopes our body in an oval shape and generally extends one cubit outside of our body. The aura and reflections of these thought-impressions on the aura are visible only to the spiritual and psychical sight. The illuminated saints and yogis who have developed this sight, not only see this aura, but also the reflections of the thought-impressions which they can read and interpret as we read and interpret words. These reflections are called the characters of the mind—the Hidden Pictures (Chitra-Gupta) of Human Conduct—which reveal the past, present and future history of a human soul to those who can decipher them.From the aura these characters are reflected again upon the Ether which receives the impression and keeps the record of each external and internal event in Nature. The Ether is the storehouse of the records of all human and natural happenings and vibrations. And it is from this storehouse of all mental records that true clairvoyance draws its inspired messages and revelations, A fully developed Yogi can learn the details of an event which occurred ten thousand years ago or of any time, and can tell of any present or future occurrence in any part of the world by concentrating upon the Ether, the all-knowing Ether.Thus the records of the causes of human actions are kept in triplicate, so that there is no escape from the potencies of their merits and demerits, unless the main records (those on the mind) are melted away by the fire of absolute, all-absorbing spiritual consciousness.Actions (Karma) are of two kinds, white and black. White Karma springs from the Sāttwic state of mind, and Black Karma from its Tāmasic state. The color of Sattwa (Illumination) is white, the color of Tama (Darkness) is black, hence Karma is white or black. Rāja is the attribute of Activity, the working principle, the motive power of action. Without the aid of Rāja no action is possible. When Rāja works with dominant Sattwa the result is white Karma, when it works with dominant Tama, the result is black Karma. The white and black actions are commonly called good and bad. What is a good action? It is an action whose ultimate reaction produces harmony and happiness and illumines the mind. What is a bad action? It is an action which, however enjoyable or otherwise while it lasts, produces a reaction of inharmony, pain and misery, causing darkness of the mind.In respect to the law according to which they come to be worked out in their turn, the Karma-seeds, white and black, are of three classes—Sanchit, Prārabdha and Kriyamān or Agāmi. Sanchit means stored-up. Prārabdha means Karma the reaction of which has begun or that which is working now. Kriyaman means Karma-seeds originating out of the Prārabdha Karma now being worked out, but which will form the seeds of future (Agami) actions. Sanchit Karma includes the seeds of all the actions of past existences stored up as impressions on the mind. Out of this storehouse of Karma-seeds that, white or black, which is the most powerful asserts itself to be worked out first, drawing to itself, by the law of affinity. Karma-seeds of minor power, but of a nature similar to its own. This most powerful Karma-seed, lumped up with small Karma-seeds of similar character, forms the Prārabdha Karma, Karma which is in the process of being worked out. And in its process of working the fresh thought-impressions which the mind is registering are called Kriyamān (Karma being born), also called Agāmi (future) Karma, Karma seeds which, after being deposited in the storehouse, will come to be worked out in their turn in future, either as main or minor Prārabdha, according to their potency.This is the law of working of human Karma, the inexorable law which shapes our life and destiny, which fills existence with joy or sorrow. Karma is unending unless we learn the mysterious law which works it and grasp the still more mysterious Law behind that Karmic law and by its practice destroy its roots and prevent its present and future actions within us. I will speak of this Law and of its ways of practice later on.We often see a man, who has lived a good, pure and harmonious life, suddenly, through circumstances or bad associations, changed into a bad man. He becomes worse in habits and conduct and dies in that degraded mental state. Similarly we find some one very bad up to a certain period of life; he suddenly turns good and, before death, develops into an angelic character. This law of Karma is behind this change of character. Good Prārabdha influences one into good life and actions while it is working. But if some black Karma-seed is the most powerful of all Karma-seeds in the mind's storehouse, after the good Prārabdha has been worked out, it asserts itself to be worked out next and, lumped up with the minor seeds, forms his Prārabdha which changes the whole complexion of his character and conduct. The case of a bad man becoming good is subject to the same law; a white Prārabdha, owing to its predominant power, succeeds a bad one. The liability of alternate succession of bad and good Karma producing the actions of human beings is expressed in the metaphoric saying that the action of Karma in man is like a revolving wheel.As a seed of a tree takes time to bear fruit, grow old and die, so a Karma-seed takes time to develop and die. As the periodical putting forth of leaves, flowers and fruits are the events in the life of a tree, so the experiences of a man's life represent the development of his Prārabdha Karma-seed. The time a Karma-seed takes to work itself out is measured by the duration of the sustaining power of its potentialities. One Prārabdha Karma may embrace two or three or more births if it is very powerful, or may end in the middle of one birth, if it be not so powerful. An extraordinarily powerful Karma may extend for a long, long time, covering many, many births, suicide for instance. The thought which leads to suicide makes the deepest impression on the mind, far deeper, in fact, than even the thought which commits murder. Why? Because we love our own life more than anybody else's or than anything else on earth. It, therefore, requires an extraordinarily powerful thought to overpower that innate, intense love of our life and incite us to destroy it. The thought back of this self-murder, therefore, makes the deepest impression on, our mind and thus becomes the most powerful Karma-seed of all Karma-seeds. This being so, it asserts itself to form the Prārabdha, every time it is worked out, to the exclusion of all other Karma-seeds, for a long series of births, in every one of which that soul commits suicide, sometimes, as it is often found, without any apparent reason. It is divine mercy alone that saves a suicide from committing suicide in every birth ever afterwards. Hence suicide is the greatest sin, greater than even murder.To the average Western mind this Karma philosophy strikes as intolerably pessimistic on account of the inexorableness of its laws. There is, however, no help for it. These laws rule us all whether we believe in it or not. They are no man-created laws, they are laws which operate throughout Nature, as much within a white man as within a brown, yellow or black man, of all stations of life, of all grades of consciousness. Yet it need not strike anybody, who has found the easy and rosy path out of the woods of Karma, as pessimistic at all. But he or she must ever keep to that path and never stray out of it from sheer wilfulness, or else there certainly is no escape out of the labyrinth of Karma.
SECTION XVII. KARMA.The Universe is one whole manifestation of Cause and Effect. All Nature is manifested and materialized forces of Action and Reaction. The Doctrine of Karma is based upon the natural law by which action produces reaction, the law of cause and effect. It holds that every action is the cause of every reaction as well as the effect of the action which is its producing cause. The doctrine of Reincarnation specifies the different physical forms in which groups of accumulated causes of reaction manifest themselves in Nature. The laws of Karma are the regulated blendings of the subtle forces of the finer principles of Nature which, operating from within, shape these outer physical forms.Karma begins with the creation of the Universe, and Creation begins with the loss of equilibrium of the three Cardinal Attributes while dwelling in a quiescent state in Absolute Love—Krishna. This inequilibrium develops the germ of the Past Universe, which the Attributes hold within them, and manifests itself as a New Universe—a new Creation. The word Karma is derived from the Sanscrit root Kri, to act. Karma means action. Action means the motion of the operating forces of Nature. The Karma of the past Creations, stored up as ideation within the even forces of the Attributes, works itself out in the form and phases of a new Creation. Every succeeding Creation therefore is the reactive result of all previous creations. This reaction of the accumulated action-potencies of the past creations produces the uniform dimensions and the principal features of the cycles, so that the history of every cycle, from the smallest to the largest, repeats itself in its chief points in naturally regulated succession.As in the great universe, so in its epitome, man. The microcosm is ruled by the same laws as the macrocosm, the laws of cause and effect, of action and reaction. Man is the conscious embodiment of the blended forces of his past actions, actions of previous conscious embodiments born of the forces of still more previous embodiments.Action proceeds from thought. Thought is the source and spring of action. No action is possible without its producing cause, thought, which is a phase of the mind's volition. All our thoughts are impressed on the mind, the moment they form themselves, in condensed pictures. The more powerful a thought, the deeper the impression on the mind. Weak, undeveloped thoughts make superficial impressions and are liable to wear off. The impression of a powerful thought is likewise rubbed off by the force of a strong counter-thought. An angry thought, for instance, prompts us to do a bad action, but before it is reduced to action, our reason sometimes intervenes, argues against it, convinces us of its error which induces repentance. The stronger the counter-thought of repentance, the more quickly and effectively it rubs off the impression. But if the thought is reduced to action, its impression is deep and enduring, and requires the aid of absolutely sincere, burning repentance to destroy that impression.These thought-impressions on the mind are called seeds of Karma. They are exactly like seeds of trees in their potencies and operations. As a seed of a tree, when planted in the soil, germinates, grows, flowers and bears fruit, so does a Karma-impression germinate, grow, flower and bear fruit. As the germ of a seed, in process of development, produces the events called sprouting, putting forth leaves and branches, flowering and fruiting, lo, a man's mental thought-impressions of previous lives, in almost the self-same way, sprout, put forth leaves and branches, flower and fruit in the shape of events, inside and outside of him. The thought-impressions are reflected upon the aura. "Aurā" is a Sanscrit word, its transliterated form being "Arā," from "Ar" which means the spoke of a wheel. "Arā" means full of spoke-like shoots of radiance from any centre. This centre of our aura is our mind. Aura, therefore, is the radiance of, the mind which permeates and envelopes our body in an oval shape and generally extends one cubit outside of our body. The aura and reflections of these thought-impressions on the aura are visible only to the spiritual and psychical sight. The illuminated saints and yogis who have developed this sight, not only see this aura, but also the reflections of the thought-impressions which they can read and interpret as we read and interpret words. These reflections are called the characters of the mind—the Hidden Pictures (Chitra-Gupta) of Human Conduct—which reveal the past, present and future history of a human soul to those who can decipher them.From the aura these characters are reflected again upon the Ether which receives the impression and keeps the record of each external and internal event in Nature. The Ether is the storehouse of the records of all human and natural happenings and vibrations. And it is from this storehouse of all mental records that true clairvoyance draws its inspired messages and revelations, A fully developed Yogi can learn the details of an event which occurred ten thousand years ago or of any time, and can tell of any present or future occurrence in any part of the world by concentrating upon the Ether, the all-knowing Ether.Thus the records of the causes of human actions are kept in triplicate, so that there is no escape from the potencies of their merits and demerits, unless the main records (those on the mind) are melted away by the fire of absolute, all-absorbing spiritual consciousness.Actions (Karma) are of two kinds, white and black. White Karma springs from the Sāttwic state of mind, and Black Karma from its Tāmasic state. The color of Sattwa (Illumination) is white, the color of Tama (Darkness) is black, hence Karma is white or black. Rāja is the attribute of Activity, the working principle, the motive power of action. Without the aid of Rāja no action is possible. When Rāja works with dominant Sattwa the result is white Karma, when it works with dominant Tama, the result is black Karma. The white and black actions are commonly called good and bad. What is a good action? It is an action whose ultimate reaction produces harmony and happiness and illumines the mind. What is a bad action? It is an action which, however enjoyable or otherwise while it lasts, produces a reaction of inharmony, pain and misery, causing darkness of the mind.In respect to the law according to which they come to be worked out in their turn, the Karma-seeds, white and black, are of three classes—Sanchit, Prārabdha and Kriyamān or Agāmi. Sanchit means stored-up. Prārabdha means Karma the reaction of which has begun or that which is working now. Kriyaman means Karma-seeds originating out of the Prārabdha Karma now being worked out, but which will form the seeds of future (Agami) actions. Sanchit Karma includes the seeds of all the actions of past existences stored up as impressions on the mind. Out of this storehouse of Karma-seeds that, white or black, which is the most powerful asserts itself to be worked out first, drawing to itself, by the law of affinity. Karma-seeds of minor power, but of a nature similar to its own. This most powerful Karma-seed, lumped up with small Karma-seeds of similar character, forms the Prārabdha Karma, Karma which is in the process of being worked out. And in its process of working the fresh thought-impressions which the mind is registering are called Kriyamān (Karma being born), also called Agāmi (future) Karma, Karma seeds which, after being deposited in the storehouse, will come to be worked out in their turn in future, either as main or minor Prārabdha, according to their potency.This is the law of working of human Karma, the inexorable law which shapes our life and destiny, which fills existence with joy or sorrow. Karma is unending unless we learn the mysterious law which works it and grasp the still more mysterious Law behind that Karmic law and by its practice destroy its roots and prevent its present and future actions within us. I will speak of this Law and of its ways of practice later on.We often see a man, who has lived a good, pure and harmonious life, suddenly, through circumstances or bad associations, changed into a bad man. He becomes worse in habits and conduct and dies in that degraded mental state. Similarly we find some one very bad up to a certain period of life; he suddenly turns good and, before death, develops into an angelic character. This law of Karma is behind this change of character. Good Prārabdha influences one into good life and actions while it is working. But if some black Karma-seed is the most powerful of all Karma-seeds in the mind's storehouse, after the good Prārabdha has been worked out, it asserts itself to be worked out next and, lumped up with the minor seeds, forms his Prārabdha which changes the whole complexion of his character and conduct. The case of a bad man becoming good is subject to the same law; a white Prārabdha, owing to its predominant power, succeeds a bad one. The liability of alternate succession of bad and good Karma producing the actions of human beings is expressed in the metaphoric saying that the action of Karma in man is like a revolving wheel.As a seed of a tree takes time to bear fruit, grow old and die, so a Karma-seed takes time to develop and die. As the periodical putting forth of leaves, flowers and fruits are the events in the life of a tree, so the experiences of a man's life represent the development of his Prārabdha Karma-seed. The time a Karma-seed takes to work itself out is measured by the duration of the sustaining power of its potentialities. One Prārabdha Karma may embrace two or three or more births if it is very powerful, or may end in the middle of one birth, if it be not so powerful. An extraordinarily powerful Karma may extend for a long, long time, covering many, many births, suicide for instance. The thought which leads to suicide makes the deepest impression on the mind, far deeper, in fact, than even the thought which commits murder. Why? Because we love our own life more than anybody else's or than anything else on earth. It, therefore, requires an extraordinarily powerful thought to overpower that innate, intense love of our life and incite us to destroy it. The thought back of this self-murder, therefore, makes the deepest impression on, our mind and thus becomes the most powerful Karma-seed of all Karma-seeds. This being so, it asserts itself to form the Prārabdha, every time it is worked out, to the exclusion of all other Karma-seeds, for a long series of births, in every one of which that soul commits suicide, sometimes, as it is often found, without any apparent reason. It is divine mercy alone that saves a suicide from committing suicide in every birth ever afterwards. Hence suicide is the greatest sin, greater than even murder.To the average Western mind this Karma philosophy strikes as intolerably pessimistic on account of the inexorableness of its laws. There is, however, no help for it. These laws rule us all whether we believe in it or not. They are no man-created laws, they are laws which operate throughout Nature, as much within a white man as within a brown, yellow or black man, of all stations of life, of all grades of consciousness. Yet it need not strike anybody, who has found the easy and rosy path out of the woods of Karma, as pessimistic at all. But he or she must ever keep to that path and never stray out of it from sheer wilfulness, or else there certainly is no escape out of the labyrinth of Karma.
The Universe is one whole manifestation of Cause and Effect. All Nature is manifested and materialized forces of Action and Reaction. The Doctrine of Karma is based upon the natural law by which action produces reaction, the law of cause and effect. It holds that every action is the cause of every reaction as well as the effect of the action which is its producing cause. The doctrine of Reincarnation specifies the different physical forms in which groups of accumulated causes of reaction manifest themselves in Nature. The laws of Karma are the regulated blendings of the subtle forces of the finer principles of Nature which, operating from within, shape these outer physical forms.
Karma begins with the creation of the Universe, and Creation begins with the loss of equilibrium of the three Cardinal Attributes while dwelling in a quiescent state in Absolute Love—Krishna. This inequilibrium develops the germ of the Past Universe, which the Attributes hold within them, and manifests itself as a New Universe—a new Creation. The word Karma is derived from the Sanscrit root Kri, to act. Karma means action. Action means the motion of the operating forces of Nature. The Karma of the past Creations, stored up as ideation within the even forces of the Attributes, works itself out in the form and phases of a new Creation. Every succeeding Creation therefore is the reactive result of all previous creations. This reaction of the accumulated action-potencies of the past creations produces the uniform dimensions and the principal features of the cycles, so that the history of every cycle, from the smallest to the largest, repeats itself in its chief points in naturally regulated succession.
As in the great universe, so in its epitome, man. The microcosm is ruled by the same laws as the macrocosm, the laws of cause and effect, of action and reaction. Man is the conscious embodiment of the blended forces of his past actions, actions of previous conscious embodiments born of the forces of still more previous embodiments.
Action proceeds from thought. Thought is the source and spring of action. No action is possible without its producing cause, thought, which is a phase of the mind's volition. All our thoughts are impressed on the mind, the moment they form themselves, in condensed pictures. The more powerful a thought, the deeper the impression on the mind. Weak, undeveloped thoughts make superficial impressions and are liable to wear off. The impression of a powerful thought is likewise rubbed off by the force of a strong counter-thought. An angry thought, for instance, prompts us to do a bad action, but before it is reduced to action, our reason sometimes intervenes, argues against it, convinces us of its error which induces repentance. The stronger the counter-thought of repentance, the more quickly and effectively it rubs off the impression. But if the thought is reduced to action, its impression is deep and enduring, and requires the aid of absolutely sincere, burning repentance to destroy that impression.
These thought-impressions on the mind are called seeds of Karma. They are exactly like seeds of trees in their potencies and operations. As a seed of a tree, when planted in the soil, germinates, grows, flowers and bears fruit, so does a Karma-impression germinate, grow, flower and bear fruit. As the germ of a seed, in process of development, produces the events called sprouting, putting forth leaves and branches, flowering and fruiting, lo, a man's mental thought-impressions of previous lives, in almost the self-same way, sprout, put forth leaves and branches, flower and fruit in the shape of events, inside and outside of him. The thought-impressions are reflected upon the aura. "Aurā" is a Sanscrit word, its transliterated form being "Arā," from "Ar" which means the spoke of a wheel. "Arā" means full of spoke-like shoots of radiance from any centre. This centre of our aura is our mind. Aura, therefore, is the radiance of, the mind which permeates and envelopes our body in an oval shape and generally extends one cubit outside of our body. The aura and reflections of these thought-impressions on the aura are visible only to the spiritual and psychical sight. The illuminated saints and yogis who have developed this sight, not only see this aura, but also the reflections of the thought-impressions which they can read and interpret as we read and interpret words. These reflections are called the characters of the mind—the Hidden Pictures (Chitra-Gupta) of Human Conduct—which reveal the past, present and future history of a human soul to those who can decipher them.
From the aura these characters are reflected again upon the Ether which receives the impression and keeps the record of each external and internal event in Nature. The Ether is the storehouse of the records of all human and natural happenings and vibrations. And it is from this storehouse of all mental records that true clairvoyance draws its inspired messages and revelations, A fully developed Yogi can learn the details of an event which occurred ten thousand years ago or of any time, and can tell of any present or future occurrence in any part of the world by concentrating upon the Ether, the all-knowing Ether.
Thus the records of the causes of human actions are kept in triplicate, so that there is no escape from the potencies of their merits and demerits, unless the main records (those on the mind) are melted away by the fire of absolute, all-absorbing spiritual consciousness.
Actions (Karma) are of two kinds, white and black. White Karma springs from the Sāttwic state of mind, and Black Karma from its Tāmasic state. The color of Sattwa (Illumination) is white, the color of Tama (Darkness) is black, hence Karma is white or black. Rāja is the attribute of Activity, the working principle, the motive power of action. Without the aid of Rāja no action is possible. When Rāja works with dominant Sattwa the result is white Karma, when it works with dominant Tama, the result is black Karma. The white and black actions are commonly called good and bad. What is a good action? It is an action whose ultimate reaction produces harmony and happiness and illumines the mind. What is a bad action? It is an action which, however enjoyable or otherwise while it lasts, produces a reaction of inharmony, pain and misery, causing darkness of the mind.
In respect to the law according to which they come to be worked out in their turn, the Karma-seeds, white and black, are of three classes—Sanchit, Prārabdha and Kriyamān or Agāmi. Sanchit means stored-up. Prārabdha means Karma the reaction of which has begun or that which is working now. Kriyaman means Karma-seeds originating out of the Prārabdha Karma now being worked out, but which will form the seeds of future (Agami) actions. Sanchit Karma includes the seeds of all the actions of past existences stored up as impressions on the mind. Out of this storehouse of Karma-seeds that, white or black, which is the most powerful asserts itself to be worked out first, drawing to itself, by the law of affinity. Karma-seeds of minor power, but of a nature similar to its own. This most powerful Karma-seed, lumped up with small Karma-seeds of similar character, forms the Prārabdha Karma, Karma which is in the process of being worked out. And in its process of working the fresh thought-impressions which the mind is registering are called Kriyamān (Karma being born), also called Agāmi (future) Karma, Karma seeds which, after being deposited in the storehouse, will come to be worked out in their turn in future, either as main or minor Prārabdha, according to their potency.
This is the law of working of human Karma, the inexorable law which shapes our life and destiny, which fills existence with joy or sorrow. Karma is unending unless we learn the mysterious law which works it and grasp the still more mysterious Law behind that Karmic law and by its practice destroy its roots and prevent its present and future actions within us. I will speak of this Law and of its ways of practice later on.
We often see a man, who has lived a good, pure and harmonious life, suddenly, through circumstances or bad associations, changed into a bad man. He becomes worse in habits and conduct and dies in that degraded mental state. Similarly we find some one very bad up to a certain period of life; he suddenly turns good and, before death, develops into an angelic character. This law of Karma is behind this change of character. Good Prārabdha influences one into good life and actions while it is working. But if some black Karma-seed is the most powerful of all Karma-seeds in the mind's storehouse, after the good Prārabdha has been worked out, it asserts itself to be worked out next and, lumped up with the minor seeds, forms his Prārabdha which changes the whole complexion of his character and conduct. The case of a bad man becoming good is subject to the same law; a white Prārabdha, owing to its predominant power, succeeds a bad one. The liability of alternate succession of bad and good Karma producing the actions of human beings is expressed in the metaphoric saying that the action of Karma in man is like a revolving wheel.
As a seed of a tree takes time to bear fruit, grow old and die, so a Karma-seed takes time to develop and die. As the periodical putting forth of leaves, flowers and fruits are the events in the life of a tree, so the experiences of a man's life represent the development of his Prārabdha Karma-seed. The time a Karma-seed takes to work itself out is measured by the duration of the sustaining power of its potentialities. One Prārabdha Karma may embrace two or three or more births if it is very powerful, or may end in the middle of one birth, if it be not so powerful. An extraordinarily powerful Karma may extend for a long, long time, covering many, many births, suicide for instance. The thought which leads to suicide makes the deepest impression on the mind, far deeper, in fact, than even the thought which commits murder. Why? Because we love our own life more than anybody else's or than anything else on earth. It, therefore, requires an extraordinarily powerful thought to overpower that innate, intense love of our life and incite us to destroy it. The thought back of this self-murder, therefore, makes the deepest impression on, our mind and thus becomes the most powerful Karma-seed of all Karma-seeds. This being so, it asserts itself to form the Prārabdha, every time it is worked out, to the exclusion of all other Karma-seeds, for a long series of births, in every one of which that soul commits suicide, sometimes, as it is often found, without any apparent reason. It is divine mercy alone that saves a suicide from committing suicide in every birth ever afterwards. Hence suicide is the greatest sin, greater than even murder.
To the average Western mind this Karma philosophy strikes as intolerably pessimistic on account of the inexorableness of its laws. There is, however, no help for it. These laws rule us all whether we believe in it or not. They are no man-created laws, they are laws which operate throughout Nature, as much within a white man as within a brown, yellow or black man, of all stations of life, of all grades of consciousness. Yet it need not strike anybody, who has found the easy and rosy path out of the woods of Karma, as pessimistic at all. But he or she must ever keep to that path and never stray out of it from sheer wilfulness, or else there certainly is no escape out of the labyrinth of Karma.