Theos-Talk Archives (April 2005 Message tt00452)

April 11 2005

Dear Reed:

Re:	Blavatsky Net Newsletter April 1, 2005

May I offer this ?


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HOW KARMA WORKS ?


To me. 

What you say brings in these points of Theosophical doctrine:


1	Immortality of each and every one of the MONADS.  

2	Duality of Manas [Buddhi-Manas and Kama-Manas] when the "human"
stage is reached in the individual evolution of every Monad.

3 Sacrifice of Higher Self (ATMA-BUDDHI) for the sake of the Monads
(S D I 207-208 -- "GREAT SACRIFICE" as an example of this)

4	Personal Karma is only incurred by the embodied Mind -- Lower Manas
-- it is due to tamasic inertia, isolation and selfishness. It rejects the
brotherhood of all other immortal monads.

5	Karmic reactions (effects and present circumstances) are expressed
in terms of emotion and the psychic nature as educational and corrective of
that principle. This is because the fault and misapprehension occurs solely
in the area of the kamic and psychic nature of an evolving individual.

6	They (such reactions from Nature) stimulate Lower Mans to view them
impersonally (unselfishly) and then devise self-discipline to avoid
repeating errors.  

7	This encourages a thorough study of Laws of the Universe in all
departments. This, when successful, becomes our own personal WISDOM and adds
to the power of Buddhi-Manas as a universal principle in Nature.

8	It always encourages impersonality, universality and brotherhood as
the only basis for harmonizing our choices - and further, it emphasizes our
expecting no "personal return" for wise, just, and "honest" acts, thoughts
and feelings. 

In every religion we find an equivalent to "Look inward, thou art Christ,"
or whomever is offered as a "saviour" so-called, within our ability to
express this concept of a Great and Perfect Being. 

Also in "Voice": "Look inward, thou art Buddha."  

And we find in the BHAGAVAD GITA Krishna says: "I am the Ego seated in the
hearts of all beings." 

As I understand it, the Buddha or Christ within each of us is the HIGHER
SELF or Atma-Buddhi -- a "ray" or "spark" of the UNIVERSAL ONE SPIRIT.

BUDDHI, technically is the totally pure counterpart [IN Matter] of SPIRIT
(see GITA NOTES, Pp. 132-3). It is within each of us. Our selfish
personality
obscures and hides it. Our selfish inclinations give us trouble. Why ?


KARMA, as a generally used word, is "Action -- and a balanced
re-action." It is universal and impersonal. It our Universe it works
through the monads that fill the whole of SPACE. [ S D I 289 middle of
page ]

When a human, using his free-mind to formulate a motive and make a choice,
and further, does this in isolation for his own limited and selfish benefit,
(this is in the nature of a vicious motive, however slight) one opens the
door to "bad Karma." Only impersonal and wholly just and harmonious acts
(without expecting any personal benefit), emotions and thoughts (this is the
deliberate practice of virtue and is done in full control of the
inclinations of the lower-Mind or Kama-Manas) attract no adverse Karma.

Our past Karma embodied in the skandhas (monads we distorted in the
past by evil actions) returns to us under Law. It is an INCLINATION and not
a "compelling or overwhelming FORCE." It (the inclination) urges us to
continue to be selfish or to do evil to another.

It cannot compel us to do anything unless we fall under its influence again,
and repeat the errors of the past. If we do that, we reinforce the
tendency.

Even then, at the moment of choice, the Voice of Conscience (Buddhi) warns
before we adopt any course of evil action.

As I see it, there are two points of view here

1	the personal -- to whom the situation and the choice are VERY REAL,
(not Mayavic at all) - it is for the present life's personal benefit, and, 

2	the IDEAL -- i.e., the spiritual -- to whom, because of its
remoteness from any evil limitations, KNOWS it is (regardless of how long it
takes to resolve the problem) only a temporary life-time, and hence applies
the word / idea MAYA and MAYAVIC to it. 

We are aware of these two view-points because our mind sees them both.  

The lower mind tries to beguile us into thinking we can do evil and escape
its
consequences. Religious systems are built of such concepts, untruths and
misapprehensions. A "God" that can be unjust to the victims of evil is the
ticket. And priests of all religions choose to perpetuate this evil
concept. They make a livelihood off it: they practice and teach: Keep the
people ignorant, fearful and dependent! 

As I see it, those who have adopted the Buddhistic metaphysical doctrine of
MAYA (which spiritually is quite true) have not thought it through from
both these view points. Had they done so, the question of repetitive EVIL
acts would have been settled dong ago. I believe that we are situated here
so as to learn how to deal with such a duality and paradoxical situation.
Otherwise, in the economy of Nature, we would not be faced with it. 

Simply put : it is utter foolishness to do any evil thing if we are
inevitably going to suffer from it under KARMA. But Kama as a principle
cannot think an has no ability of framing a potential fore-view of its
future. Hence, in its attempt to survive, it is continually trying to patch
up errors and provide defenses to support and prolong its continued
existence 

Contrary-wise, doing "good" is encouraged, and superior to that acting from
the basis of SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE covers everything. The Lower Self has to
study and learn this and then practise it. 

At some point, in the sensitive consciousness of the Lower Self (Kama-Manas)
the "blinders" go on. And the lower self (as Kama "runs away" with Lower
Manas) thinks it can get away with some dastardly deed -- (vice arises).

Bluntly, the doctrine of the universal presence of the monads (ATMA-BUDDHI)
restores sanity. It does this because of the innate spirituality of all
beings. And those who are influenced to be vicious cannot escape this basic
fact. Spirit and Matter are inextricably mixed down to the least or the
greatest of areas, and for all time.

No individual or personal thought, feeling or act escapes the power of 
imprinting every MONAD that our motive affects. Then, every such Monad
telegraphs the fact to every other -- and the whole of Nature becomes a
witness, and the specialized principle of the Akasa is forever imprinted
with the record.

The Monads, in the area of our imprinting action, become tortured and
distorted if our motive was evil, and the reverse, if it was good. As their
nature is such that they seek for growth in intelligence and justice under
the universal Light of Truth and Spirit, they automatically all work
together to try and readjust the perpetrator of their torture. Thus we find
our lives full of circumstances that are opportunities to learn, change and
improve.

So, if we, as independent "thinking Monads" turn against them, they fasten
even more securely to us until we release them by changing our own character
(Lower Manas) back to the spiritual way of honorable and impartial living,
thinking and behaviour. Of course the Lower Self (Lower Manas) does not
"like" this. But at this point, ought we to give any weight to its "likes?"


To be a Buddha, to me, is to strain every moment to keep the great
"wheel" of life in the Universe turning true and according to plan -- and
to give every Monad a chance to acquire it mental independence and the power
to act as an intelligent cooperator with the Universe and our world and each
other.  

That is BROTHERHOOD. 

--------------------------------------------

Best wishes,

Dallas
 
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-----Original Message-----
From: Reed 
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 9:47 AM
To: dalval14@earthlink.net
Subject: Blavatsky Net Newsletter April 1, 2005



Dear Member of Blavatsky Net,

Two months ago this newsletter opened a discussion of reincarnation.
The twin doctrine to reincarnation is the doctrine of karma.

Reincarnation provides the venue for working out the law of karma.
Without reincarnation, karma does not have the room to operate.

Conversely, karma provides a necessary ingredient to make this a
sensible universe. It changes reincarnation from a doctrine proposing
only a mere repetition of lives to a doctrine that offers the
structure for progress, meaning and significance for our lives.

Working together, the doctrines of reincarnation and karma provide
the basis for a vista of spiritual evolution that offers endless 
progress and ever increasing perfection. These doctrines also
offer us a way to understand the events of our daily lives from a
much larger perspective.

It was the efforts of the Theosophical movement in the late 19th century
that brought this doctrine of Karma to the attention of the West. So
this month's newsletter brings out some of the quotes on Karma in
Theosophy that gave the momentum to this idea that we now so much 
take for granted in the "new age".

___________

We believe in an unerring law of Retribution, called KARMA, which asserts
itself in a natural concatenation of causes and their unavoidable results.
(Key To Theosophy p. 140)

For the only decree of Karma - an eternal and immutable decree - is
absolute Harmony in the world of matter as it is in the world of Spirit.
It is not, therefore, Karma that rewards or punishes, but it is we, who
reward or punish ourselves according to whether we work with, through
and along with nature, abiding by the laws on which that Harmony depends,
or - break them. (Secret Doctrine, Vol I, p.643)

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 in another life. If one breaks the laws of Harmony, or, as a
theosophical writer expresses it, "the laws of life," one must be
prepared to fall into the chaos one has oneself produced. (Secret
Doctrine, Vol I, p. 643-44)

Our idea of the unknown Universal Deity, represented by Karma, is that it
is a Power which cannot fail, and can, therefore, have neither wrath nor
mercy, only absolute Equity, which leaves every cause, great or small, to
work out its inevitable effects. The saying of Jesus: "With what measure
you mete it shall be measured to you again" (Matth. vii., 2), neither
by expression nor implication points to any hope of future mercy or
salvation by proxy. (Key To Theosophy pp. 199-200)

This Law -- whether Conscious or Unconscious -- predestines nothing and
no one. It exists from and in Eternity, truly, for it is ETERNITY itself;
and as such, since no act can be co-equal with eternity, it cannot be said
to act, for it is ACTION itself ... Karma creates nothing, nor does it
design. It is man who plans and creates causes, and Karmic law adjusts 
the effects; which adjustment is not an act, but universal harmony,
tending ever to resume its original position... (Secret Doctrine,
Vol II, p. 304-05)

KARMA is an Absolute and Eternal law in the World of manifestation; and
as there can only be one Absolute, as One eternal ever present Cause,
believers in Karma cannot be regarded as Atheists or materialists-still
less as fatalists. (The Secret Doctrine, Vol II, p. 305)

Those who believe in Karma have to believe in destiny, which, from birth
to death, every man is weaving thread by thread around himself, as a
spider does his cobweb; and this destiny is guided either by the heavenly
voice of the invisible prototype outside of us, or by our more intimate
astral, or inner man, who is but too often the evil genius of the embodied
entity called man.... When the last strand is woven, and man is seemingly
enwrapped in the net-work of his own doing, then he finds himself
completely under the empire of this self-made destiny. It then either
fixes him like the inert shell against the immovable rock, or carries
him away like a feather in a whirlwind raised by his own actions, and
this is - KARMA. (Secret Doctrine, vol 1, p. 639)




(From Key to Theosophy by Blavatsky):

WHAT IS KARMA? 

ENQUIRER. But what is Karma?

THEOSOPHIST. As I have said, we consider it as the Ultimate Law of the
Universe, the source, origin and fount of all other laws which exist
throughout Nature. Karma is the unerring law which adjusts effect to cause,
on the physical, mental and spiritual planes of being. As no cause remains
without its due effect from greatest to least, from a cosmic disturbance
down to the movement of your hand, and as like produces like, Karma is
that unseen and unknown law which adjusts wisely, intelligently and
equitably each effect to its cause, tracing the latter back to its
producer. Though itself unknowable, its action is perceivable. (Key To
Theosophy, p. 201)

ENQUIRER. Well, then, tell me generally how you describe this law of
Karma?

THEOSOPHIST. We describe Karma as that Law of re-adjustment which ever
tends to restore disturbed equilibrium in the physical, and broken
harmony in the moral world. We say that Karma does not act in this or
that particular way always; but that it always does act so as to restore
Harmony and preserve the balance of equilibrium, in virtue of which the
Universe exists. (Key To Theosophy p. 205-06)

THEOSOPHIST. Karma, the universal law of retributive justice. 

ENQUIRER. Is it an intelligent law?

THEOSOPHIST. For the Materialist, who calls the law of periodicity which
regulates the marshalling of the several bodies, and all the other laws
in nature, blind forces and mechanical laws, no doubt Karma would be a 
law of chance and no more. For us, no adjective or qualification could
describe that which is impersonal and no entity, but a universal operative
law. If you question me about the causative intelligence in it, I must
answer you I do not know. But if you ask me to define its effects and tell
you what these are in our belief, I may say that the experience of
thousands of ages has shown us that they are absolute and unerring equity,
wisdom, and intelligence. For Karma in its effects is an unfailing
redresser of human injustice, and of all the failures of nature; a stern
adjuster of wrongs; a retributive law which rewards and punishes with
equal impartiality. It is, in the strictest sense, "no respecter
of persons," though, on the other hand, it can neither be propitiated,
nor turned aside by prayer. (Key To Theosophy p. 198)

_______________



Quotes by William Q. Judge
>From the Ocean Of Theosophy:

Karma...one of the most important of the laws of nature. Ceaseless in its
operation, it bears alike upon planets, systems of planets, races, nations,
families, and individuals. It is the twin doctrine to reincarnation. So
inextricably interlaced are these two laws that it is almost impossible
to properly consider one apart from the other. No spot or being in the
universe is exempt from the operation of Karma, but all are under its
sway, punished for error by it yet beneficently led on, through discipline,
rest, and reward, to the distant heights of perfection. It is a law so
comprehensive in its sweep, embracing at once our physical and our moral
being.(Ocean p. 89)

Applied to man's moral life it is the law of ethical causation, justice,
reward and punishment; the cause for birth and rebirth, yet equally the
means for escape from incarnation. Viewed from another point it is merely
effect flowing from cause, action and reaction, exact result for every
thought and act. It is act and the result of act; for the word's literal
meaning is action. (Ocean p.89)

It is not a being but a law, the universal law of harmony which unerringly
restores all disturbance to equilibrium. (Ocean p. 89-90)

__________


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