Theos-Talk Archives (June 2003 Message tt00113)

Monday, June 16, 2003

Part II Re: KARMA Answers OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY
Chapter. XI


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CHAPTER XI OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY Answers to Questions by Robert
Crosbie



Part II Karma Answers by Robert Crosbie

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Q. What really is the cause of Karma?

A. Karma is first, last and all the time, action; and we cannot
understand Karma until we grasp the idea that the whole of the
universe is intelligence, expressing itself in myriads of forms
and in many ways. It is the action of intelligence that produces
all the effects perceived on this plane of existence.


Q. How does that statement apply to the individual?

A. Individually each one is Karma, for he is both the actor and
the one who receives the results that proceed from his action.
Karma is never an outside force, nor any being nor beings; it is
the collective actions of beings with which we have placed
ourselves in some relation, but that relation is wholly
individual on our part. We set certain causes in motion and are
bound to experience the results that flow from those causes, for
every motion in the universe affects other beings in every
direction, and there is always the reaction upon the point of
disturbance. We must of necessity be the adjuster.


Q. Then Karma is the force that moves the individual's action?

A. We make a mistake in thinking that "forces" do anything of
themselves. Forces are operative all the time; but no number of
forces will set us right when we are acting wrongly.
Intelligence, moved in proper or improper directions, is the real
actor, and we ourselves are that intelligence. If our
intelligence is not operated rightly, then no other intelligence
can help us. If there are beneficent and powerful forces, the
only way we can work with them and benefit from them is by
raising ourselves up to their plane of operation. So with
malignant and destructive forces: the only way we can get into
the line of their power is by ourselves being malignant and
destructive.


Q. The Lipika are mentioned in the Secret Doc trine as Lords of
Karma, as recorders of Karma. It would seem as if they were
outside beings.

A. No, the Lipika are not personal beings, al though that idea
has been given currency by many "theosophical" students who have
entirely misapprehended the statements in the Secret Doctrine.
That such beings practically "manipulate" Karma is foreign to the
whole teaching. There are as component parts of every human
being, principles, which are drawn from the seven great
hierarchies of being. Action, whenever taken, is taken with,
through, and felt by one or the other or all of these principles,
and there is registration of the general and individual effect
produced-all that is good and all that is bad-among those
hierarchies to which the principles belong. The action finds its
own place and focus of reaction. Each hierarchy has its own
individuality as a mass; individuality is not characteristic of
the units. Hence, the Lipika may be regarded as the re cording
points of the general and individual effects of Karma; though
this statement requires as a mode of explanation, geometry, which
is an expression in form of the reaction of all the forces in
nature.


Q. How, then, can we become Karma-less?

A. We can never become Karma-less, in the sense of being free
from Karma, for Karma operates on every being from the smallest
atom to the highest being in the universe. But when we cease
acting in any way for personal benefit, when the cause is always
universal in its action, then the effects are commensurate with
the law. We are Karma-less because we are not dispensing the law;
we are only agents of it and focuses of it.


Q. Could an individual eliminate himself from the national Karma
of a selfish nation?

A. A nation is made selfish by the individuals in it, and
selfishness will make war between individuals, classes of men, or
masses of men since war begins within the man, not outside of
him. But if an individual does not assent to the selfish ideas
that rule his nation nor to the methods pursued in accordance
with them, and if he protests against them wherever he can, then
he is not connected with them. He is amongst it all under Karma,
and whatever Karma is due him from his connection in the first
place he will receive, but he has cut the connection with the
national idea so far as any future Karma is concerned.


Q. Are not all the workers in socialism, in labor unions and in
similar lines helping to mitigate the national Karma?

A. Doubtless they are all sincere in their devotion and
self-sacrificing for it, but what permanent betterment can come
if they are working for wrong things in a wrong way? Their motive
is wholly concerned with physical existence, prosperity, ease,
comfort. No attempt along those lines can ever bring any lasting
benefit, as witness various so-called reforms that have come and
gone-reformers with them. Where are their sacrifices? We all
proceed from the same Source and are all traveling toward the
same goal; but we shall not get right methods and right relations
until we understand our own natures, and act in accordance with
them. That is the only way we can mitigate either national or
individual Karma.


Q. But if every one had an education he might be able to
understand these things?

A. One's education makes no essential difference. Any man can
understand justice. He can understand that merit is the only
thing that can bring merit, and he can understand enough to do
his duty to his family and to all others. Generally speaking, men
think the world owes them a living, opportunity, education. All
that we need to consider is that we owe the world our service.
The situation of every man depends on what his nature actually
is. If a man is good and just and noble in his mind, he doesn't
require better conditions to bring it out. The mere living under
educational advantages does not mean knowledge, or under standing
of the causes of oppression. Moreover, no person, with the
disposition to learn will fail to find a way to learn, regardless
of conditions.


Q. What, then, prevents men from understanding right and wrong,
and this justice we call Karma!

A. They take the position of irresponsibility, by resentment at
supposed injustice; they expect to reap where they did not sow;
they are looking for some thing for themselves. So they are ready
to listen to any or all of the various panaceas offered, and go
after whatever promises something for nothing. They do not look
within; they are not humble; they do not ask what is the purpose
of the Inner Man; how is it they are as they are, and not in some
other place under other conditions.


Q. Do you feel that the understanding of these ideas of Karma and
Reincarnation alone can save the nation from internal troubles?

A. It is the only way out. Until men understand that they are
here not for once, that whatever they receive they have merited,
we shall have just as much and worse trouble than that we have
already had, for the longer it goes on the more intense will be
the reactions. But, perhaps men will listen to these obvious
self-evident truths only when there has been such an absolute
subversion and destruction that they have to stop and think.

How the Masters would if They could, save humanity! They have
done all they can. The Message is here, and it is our only hope.
Jesus said, "0, Jerusalem, how I would have gathered thee under
my wing as a hen doth her chickens, but ye would not." And
Jerusalem was destroyed. We need not think there is not the same
danger for us. There is nothing in our civilization that is
enduring--of railroads, books, buildings-not a single relic would
be left after a hundred years. So if there are those who have
eyes to see, who have ears to hear and who can understand, let
them work in sea son and out of season to put these ideas before
their fellow-men, that the ideas may spread and make others
think.


Q. Then the understanding of a comparatively few individuals
would make for right conditions?

A. Let them try it out. Right conditions can only come where
individuals will "follow the Path." Who, then, is going to do it?
There is no one holding any one back from exhibiting a true
Theosophic life. But what is first needed is the understanding of
the Theosophic life. It can be lived anywhere, alone or in
crowds, for it is a life of right ideas. The only way to better
conditions is through better ideas. Bettering conditions without
bettering ideas merely puts men in a place more favorable for
acting on wrong ideas and gives them opportunity for exploiting
their selfishness.


Q. Would not the mere desire to aid suffering humanity finally
open a door for action?

A. If we really desire to help humanity and forget our selves,
working for others with no thought of success or failure or
reward, the doors will open to us as soon as we are ready. That
is Law.


Q. If one desires benefit for the whole, he him self benefits by
that desire?

A. We should remember that a desire is not a condition. A mere
desire does not go very far unless we establish the conditions
that cause the desire to be potent or active. If we desire to
benefit humanity, the question is, What are we doing to produce
that benefit? What we have to do is to stop thinking about
ourselves, stop figuring for ourselves, stop thinking how we are
going to come out. For this "we" is personality, which is always
changing, from year to year, month to month, from day to day.


Q. When our Karma does not permit us to take any active part in
ameliorating the stress of world conditions, what should be our
attitude of mind toward them.

A. It is to maintain a cheerful, calm, confident attitude,
realizing that the mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind
exceedingly small; that Karma is causing adjustments to come
about which must bring a realization, in some degree at least, of
universal brotherhood, not possible under any other conditions.
But if we sit despondent and say there is nothing to do and no
use in doing anything, because people are selfish and never will
see, nothing can be done. We must always be confident in the
greatest determination to hold the right attitude on the basis of
thought which Theosophy presents, working always for right, for
principle, for freedom of Soul.


Q. Yet working on that basis does not bring good Karma, as judged
by the Karma of Jesus on the cross.

A. The question is not whether we are working for good Karma or
bad Karma, but are we trying to do the right thing. In the case
of a Being like Jesus, it is necessary at times to take a body of
the race, that He may communicate with the people, teach them and
help them as only can be done through a body similar to their
own. He takes the body of a family, necessarily, and fulfils his
Karma as a member of that family, physically considered. He
mitigates the family or the race Karma, merely by experiencing
their bodily Karma, and in correcting family defects lifts so
much the higher that family Karma.


Q. He ended that Karma. then and there?

A. So far as that body was concerned. But even the highest Being
who enters into a physical body to deliver a message, by His very
attitude and by His very action, and by the Message He is to
bring, finds Himself at variance with the established order of
things, and reaps insult, slander, vilification, and mal
treatment from all those who oppose Him. Does He earn this? No;
it is not His Karma, but the Karma of those who persecute,
slander and maltreat Him.


Q. Would a Theosophist fear to do evil on account of the bad
Karma coming to himself.

A. He would fear to do evil, not because of the bad Karma that
would come to him, but because he knows better than to do evil.
He knows only to do good, and if he does evil he must necessarily
fear, for the consequences are sure, and the fact is before him
that the evil is not only at his own expense, personally
considered, but must reproduce itself upon other un suspecting
persons who are inclined that way. Was it not Jesus who said, "As
ye mete unto others, so shall it be meted unto you, so measured
unto you again, heaped up, pressed down and running over?" If we
are Theosophists, then we know how to count the cost, and we are
able to figure up beforehand the compound interest that goes with
evil actions. Nor, on the other hand, should we be looking for
protection for our selves against evil doing, but so think and
act that no protection is needed; nothing but right can touch us
if we think right, act right, and feel right. Wrong comes to us
in no other way than by our thinking evilly and selfishly.


Q. The spiritual nature of man is never affected by Karma.

A. No; the Unchanging Spirit in man is not affected in its
nature, or changed by anything it may experience, but it has its
increase of power and knowledge through various phases of
evolution and advancement. Let us not make the mistake of looking
for any finality but rather from the point of view of continuous
progression. A state of perfection as a finality would be
stagnation. In an infinite universe there are infinite
opportunities, and whatever heights of knowledge or power may be
attained, there must always be further fields beyond.


Q. Is it the tendency of Karma to always restore equilibrium, so
that at the end of a Mahamanvantara the whole of the Karma
between beings would be adjusted, or equilibrium absolutely
restored?

A. There is not so much a complete readjustment, in the sense
that all beings are individually readjusted, as there is a
stoppage of interaction of the whole mass. Just so, when our
physical action ceases by reason of the death of the body, Karma
is not yet readjusted, but awaits our return into a body again
where we may go on with it. There must always be for any
evolution effects not yet adjusted. The rate of progress of any
being is in accordance with the progress of the whole mass during
the manvantara; so his progress is shared or controlled by the
universal Karma of which he is a Part. At the end of a
manvantara, then, there may be said to be a period of
assimilation, rather than one of entire adjustment, which,
however, enables an other basis to be taken by the whore mass of
beings involved.


Q. Then Karma is just suspended for the time?

A. Yes; for time is not a factor in the adjustment of Karma. It
is a question of conditions.


Q. But is it not possible to find the time of reaction from a
cause previously set up?

A. Purely physical reactions can, of course, be so checked up,
but when we come to mental reactions, the time involved is
affected by the conditions in which we put ourselves or find
ourselves. We make the favorable condition for reaction. Karma
may be existent, in the sense that the causation has gone forth
and the effect felt by others, but we may not yet be in that
condition where we can make the adjustment, because other Karma
is operating so strongly as to hold this particular reaction
back. It is said that he who understands Karma under stands the
limits of time, and he who understands the limits of time
understands Karma, but that under standing will not be ours until
we understand the Operation of causes, nor is it necessary. If we
could now know exactly when the rebound of an action would come,
we should probably spend all our time figuring just what we could
do to dodge it, to improve it, or to arrange just the right
condition in which to receive it. The thing to do is to meet
anything and everything exactly as it comes. We should not take
the position of providing money for a rainy day, which is just a
fig- tiring for ourselves. Sufficient unto the day is the evil
thereof. Take care of today. Never mind the next hour. Take care
of this one. Take care of every moment, every hour, as it comes
along, fearing nothing, doubting nothing, in f till confidence,
relying on the Law of our own natures. If we feel our
responsibility and ac quit ourselves as best we can for the good
of all with out taking any thought as to what the effect will be
to ourselves, then we shall be adjusting and working out Karma in
the best possible way.


Q. Can not very good Karma quickly overcome the effects of evil?

A. No, it cannot ; the effects of each must run their course,
although two classes of Karma, equally strong, if of opposite
nature, would neutralize for the time being and permit the
operation of a weaker class of Karma. But if we are talking of
the effects felt through a body, we may know that they are only a
small portion of Karma. No matter what the Karma, however bad or
detrimental, however good, if the attitude of the one going
through it is right, it comes as an opportunity. The only way we
can lessen the effects of bad Karma is to take the right attitude
toward it. When good times come, we can sow good causes; when bad
times come, we still can try to sow good causes, using the
opportunity to gain strength, courage, and under standing of
life. We seem to be always trying to avoid evil Karma, and get
good Karma for ourselves, where as what we should do is to make
use of everything as it comes. In this way, we pay our debts to a
debtor we cannot avoid-ourselves. We don't put effort into trying
to avoid anything, but go right to work on what is before us.
Then the soul begins to act, the will begins to act, and the
power of the will is increased. There is no will operating with a
shifting, veering personality, afraid of this, and of that,
fearful that it won't be able to stand this or that. Only the
feeling of responsibility will lift us out of those personal
considerations.


Q. The very best Karma would be working off bad Karma, then ?

A. Well, let us say nothing is good and nothing is had, but all
is opportunity,-the very best opportunity, because the soul knows
what it needs for increasing its powers and keeping its energy.
We sometimes do not recognize our opportunities, for they are
occurring every moment of the time. Every single event is an
opportunity-even the passing of people on the street and the
thoughts and feelings they stir up in us; what ever we feel
toward others, our relations with them, our touch with them, our
family relations, our social, our business, and our national
relations,-all these are opportunities to be taken advantage of
in every way; every one of them constitutes Karma. Our touch with
Theosophy is a Karmic opportunity.


Q. It seems to be possible to distribute Karma over a long period
of time?

A. Again, that is dependent upon the attitude we hold. We may
distribute Karma over a long period of time, or we may hurry it,
because we are self-conscious beings, and that fact always means
we have the power of choice. Our very different attitude to wards
life because of our study of Theosophy has the tendency to hasten
Karma; or we may say, as we hasten, we meet Karma.


Q. Can Karma be precipitated too heavily?

A. No one of us, perhaps, would have either the disposition or
the courage to push so far ahead that we should be unable to bear
the burden of Karma. We shall never have a burden we can not
carry, al though it may seem too heavy. We must clear up that in
us which is not righteous, which is not just, and which does not
permit us to act as we ought to act. The faster we do that, the
better, but we hasten only just as much as we can take care of.
We hasten beneficial as well as bad Karma, of course, but the man
who won't trust his past Karma for either good or evil can not
make very fast progress.

Q. Does unexpended Karma remain inherent in the being in the form
of mental deposits?

A. It is impressed or burned into his own imperishable nature.
That is why we say a man brings his own conditions with him,
whatever they may be. How could he come forth from his rest in
Devachan, or after a manvantara, and go on with evolution again,
if there was nothing to go forth with? Karma, it must be
remembered, is cause, as well as effect.

Q. When returning to earth-life, does the ego thoroughly
understand the justice of reincarnation and undertake the task
willingly?
A. Certainly. After leaving Devachan, and before rebirth, the
ego has an opportunity by his own nature to perceive exactly what
the results of the coming birth must of necessity be. Then he
plunges in to work it out through the conditions in which Karma
has placed him; he can not work it out from the egoic condition.
It is bad Karma to be thrown into the care of people whose ideas
are absolutely erroneous, but if our intent has been to do the
right thing, and we hold to that course, then always something
within us will prevent our receiving anything as truth which is
not self-evident.

Q. Is not, then, fate closely connected with Karma?
A. It depends on how you look at it; that is, if you put your
finger in the fire, the "fate" is to have a burn. The time to
have decided the fate was before you put your finger in the fire.
The only "fate" is that which comes from our own decisions.

Q. Does not all Karma start on the mental plane, no matter where
the effects are felt ?
A. Karma begins and is felt on the Manasic plane, as is easily
seen by considering that no matter what happens to one,
physically or in any other way, unless he thinks about it, it
makes no difference to him by way of happiness or unhappiness. If
felt at all, then, Karma starts and ends on the Manasic plane,
and therein lies the reason for maintaining the right attitude;
for seeing that Karma brings us what we need to remedy defects in
our nature and strengthen our efforts. And it is the efforts that
count. Success or failure is of no consequence, hut the effort
stays with us, a part of ourselves; the energy put into the
effort never leaves us.

Q. Do we not shift the Karma from lower to higher planes?
A. We do not shift Karma, but we shift our personal thought;
that is, we get Karma in the place where we stand. It Cannot hit
us in the place where we are not. We ourselves are the variants,
not the things that occur.

Q. Is it not a man's duty to comply with the laws of his country,
whether he approves them or not? Is not that duty Karma?
A. Born under those laws and compelled by them, since they are
made according to the ideas of our fellow-men, we should have
nothing to worry about but doing our duty to our fellow-men. Why
should we claim a superiority over our fellow-men which we have
not, since we are dependent upon them for our very existence?
Even though they have determined to move in a certain direction
not in accord with our thinking, and we cannot come out of the
crowd, yet all the time each one can be the spiritual being. A
soldier may do whatever his superiors tell him to do, but that
cannot prevent his thought, will, and feeling from working in the
right direction, and so he has his opportunity-a greater one,
perhaps, in war then he would have had in peace, because of the
very difficulties presented him to conquer. It matters not
whether we work in war or in peace, for all things, if we look at
them aright, work for good and for righteousness to those who
fulfill the law.
The present war [1914-18] has thrown us out of the hard ruts of
thinking. If by the destruction of millions of men, other
millions are brought to think as they never thought before, if
they are made to sacrifice, to see the use and benefit of
sacrifice, then much will be gained for the world. If, too, a new
basis is established, then those who have died as a vicarious
atonement for us will come again at a time infinitely more
favorable than it has ever been before for mankind. There is
nothing lost; no labor is in vain.

Q. What is the significance of the "Guardian Wall" spoken of in
the 'Voice of Silence"?

A. The Masters are the great Guardian Wall. While those great
Beings have no control over the choice of human beings, They have
control over the minor beings and the minor forces of nature, and
can hold back catastrophes which would crush us, coming on us
unchecked from the kingdoms below us, visible and invisible,
where in our ignorance we have aroused many inimical forces.
While the Masters as a matter of reason and fact take no active
part in the war now going on, in so far as They can control
climatic conditions and other material interferences, which might
affect badly the right side, that They do.

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KARMA the KEYNOTE

Karma is the key-note to all conditions, for it governs the
smallest atom as well as the highest spiritual being; it governs
men, animals, worlds, and periods of evolution, in their
individual actions and in their collective interactions. In its
broadest sense, Karma is action; every effect flows from some
action, from some cause precedent, and the reaction is but the
continuance of that action. Karma is the basis of evolution; the
ocean of life separating into its constituent drops, after
pralaya, is action, in continuance of past actions which entered
into that assimilative period, and go forth from it as a cause.
Karma is the means by which evolution proceeds. The benefit of
understanding Karma, however, is not to be experienced so much
from following the world, race, or national Karma, as in the
study of our own personal lines and lives, and the application
and relation to them of universal laws. We are Karma; we
represent Karma; as we think, we are the creators of Karma. There
is no Karma unless there is a being to make it or feel its
effects, and as each being in its degree has the power to act, to
perceive and receive the effects of action, it must be realized
that Karma is not a law imposed on man by gods, devils, men or
beings of any kind, but is inherent in all beings; hence, it is
the law of absolute justice, and each man is responsible for his
own external affairs, conditions ,and circumstances, for his
character, qualities and tendencies, for his mental, moral,
psychic and spiritual nature, upon every plane of consciousness.
He is likewise responsible for the effects of his thought and
action on his fellow-men, and on the kingdoms below man; he
cannot save himself at the expense of any other being, nor can he
have true happiness so long as any of his fellow-men suffer. As
he is a self-conscious being with the power of acquiring
qualities, and of manipulating the lower natures, it devolves
upon him to understand the nature of all things that he may use
them beneficently. Only when the feeling of responsibility which
is the beginning of selflessness moves men to clarification of
their minds, and to conformity of feeling, thought, and act with
the true rationale of life, can this understanding be had.
The laws and principles of existence-the true rationale of
life-are presented by Theosophy; hence, each man's contact with
it is alike an opportunity and a responsibility, to which he has
been brought under Karma. He can make the most of it, or he may
neglect it so as to fail to obtain or extend benefit. His refusal
to take advantage of it now will make him less determined in some
other life to carry out the purpose of his nature, which is
defeated presently if he neglects, under any circumstances or
pressure, that which he sees to be leading him in the right
direction. But always there are those who will test Theosophy out
in their own lives, and learn what it is, and will carry on the
work to the last end. They in their good time must come to be the
leaders and pioneers of humanity, which must learn, even though
the learning takes centuries of suffering. If the light of pure
Theosophy is kept burning clear, it will be the saving light of
the whole world. That must he. But the question is, who will be
the light-bearers?


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[extracted from ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS AT AN INFORMAL "OCEAN OF
THEOSOPHY" CLASS by Mr. Robert Crosbie]

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