Theos-Talk Archives (August 2005 Message tt00008)

Aug 2 2005

RE: Karma

AS I understand it, Karma is universal.  

These aphorisms explain the Theosophical teachings thereon. There is nothing
that escapes the purview of continual Karmic adjustment. Further, there are
other planes than merely the physical which are involved in Karma: the
emotional, psychic, mental and discriminative/wise. Every atom or cell in
the Universe is an independent/dependent Unit, and Karma links it to all the
rest and to each of us.

In this case it may be good to ask (speculate on) what is the motive of each
of the parties involved. 

I don't think apologies or partial explanations and theories open any
"escape hatches" for responsibility. It is the INTUITIVE SELF inside of
each of us that senses responsibility, and the cooperative interactive unity
of all. 

THEOSOPHY covers far more than the mere physical, and the moral philosophy
of the present is not attuned to th practical concept of immortal Beings
(Monads) undergoing self-imposed, self-improvement course over millions of
years -- necessitating reincarnation. In our current life we are apparently
walled around by the concepts of materialism, and it is difficult to allow
our minds to transcend these using a logic that deems them to be most basic
to the totality of life.

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

(1) There is no Karma unless there is a being to make it or feel its
effects.

(2) Karma is the adjustment of effects flowing from causes, during which the
being upon whom and through whom that adjustment is effected experiences
pain or pleasure.

(3) Karma is an undeviating and unerring tendency in the Universe to restore
equilibrium, and it operates incessantly.

(4) The apparent stoppage of this restoration to equilibrium is due to the
necessary adjustment of disturbance at some other spot, place, or focus
which is visible only to the Yogi, to the Sage, or the perfect Seer: there
is therefore no stoppage, but only a hiding from view.

(5) Karma operates on all things and beings from the minutest conceivable
atom to Brahma. Proceeding in the three worlds men, gods, and the elemental
beings, no spot in the manifested universe is exempt from its sway.

(6) Karma is not subject to time, and therefore he who knows what is the
ultimate division of time in this Universe knows Karma.

(7) For all other men Karma is in its essential nature unknown and
unknowable.

(8) But its action may be known by calculation from cause to effect; and
this calculation is possible because the effect is wrapped up in and is not
succedent to the cause.

(9) The Karma of this earth is the combination of the acts and thoughts of
all beings of every grade which were concerned in the preceding Manvantara
or evolutionary stream from which ours flows.

(10) And as those beings include Lords of Power and Holy Men, as well as
weak and wicked ones, the period of the earth's duration is greater than
that of any entity or race upon it.

(11) Because the Karma of this earth and its races began in a past too far
back for human minds to reach, an inquiry into its beginning is useless and
profitless.

(12) Karmic causes already set in motion must be allowed to sweep on until
exhausted, but this permits no man to refuse to help his fellows and every
sentient being.

(13) The effects may be counteracted or mitigated by the thoughts and acts
of oneself or of another, and then the resulting effects represent the
combination and interaction of the whole number of causes involved in
producing the effects.

(14) In the life of worlds, races, nations, and individuals, Karma cannot
act unless there is an appropriate instrument provided for its action.

(15) And until such appropriate instrument is found, that Karma related to
it remains unexpended.

(16) While a man is experiencing Karma in the instrument provided, his other
unexpended Karma is not exhausted through other beings or means, but is held
reserved for future operation; and lapse of time during which no operation
of that Karma is felt causes no deterioration in its force or change in its
nature.

(17) The appropriateness of an instrument for the operation of Karma
consists in the exact connection and relation of the Karma with the body,
mind, intellectual and psychical nature acquired for use by the Ego in any
life.

(18) Every instrument used by any Ego in any life is appropriate to the
Karma operating through it.

(19) Changes may occur in the instrument during one life so as to make it
appropriate for a new class of Karma, and this may take place in two ways:
(a) through intensity of thought and the power of a vow, and (b) through
natural alterations due to complete exhaustion of old causes.

(20) As body and mind and soul have each a power of independent action, any
one of these may exhaust, independently of the others, some Karmic causes
more remote from or nearer to the time of their inception than those
operating through other channels.

(21) Karma is both merciful and just. Mercy and Justice are only opposite
poles of a single whole; and Mercy without Justice is not possible in the
operations of Karma. That which man calls Mercy and Justice is defective,
errant, and impure.

(22) Karma may be of three sorts: (a) presently operative in this life
through the appropriate instruments; (b) that which is being made or stored
up to be exhausted in the future; Karma held over from past life or lives
and not operating yet because inhibited by inappropriateness of the
instrument in use by the Ego, or by the force of Karma now operating.

(23) Three fields of operation are used in each being by Karma: (a) the body
and the circumstances; (b) the mind and intellect; the psychic and astral
planes.

(24) Held-over Karma or present Karma may each, or both at once, operate in
all of the three fields of Karmic operation at once, or in either of those
fields a different class of Karma from that using the others may operate at
the same time.

(25) Birth into any sort of body and to obtain the fruits of any sort of
Karma is due to the preponderance of the line of Karmic tendency.

(26) The sway of Karmic tendency will influence the incarnation of an Ego,
or any family of Egos, for three lives at least, when measures of
repression, elimination, or counteraction are not adopted.

(27) Measures taken by an Ego to repress tendency, eliminate defects, and to
counteract by setting up different causes, will alter the sway of Karmic
tendency and shorten its influence in accordance with the strength or
weakness of the efforts expended in carrying out the measures adopted.

(28) No man but a sage or true seer can judge another's Karma. Hence while
each receives his deserts, appearances may deceive, and birth into Poverty
or heavy trial may not be punishment for bad Karma, for Egos continually
incarnate into poor surroundings where they experience difficulties and
trials which are for the discipline of the Ego and result in strength,
fortitude, and sympathy. .....

(Path, March, 1893
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Best wishes, 

Dallas

==================================
 
-----Original Message-----
From: david-blankenship
Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2005 7:38 AM
To: 
Subject: About The Use Of Stem Cells / Reincarnation / Ethics

It is difficult to see where karma would apply. The bill in the House
and Senate concerns non-viable eggs that would be destroyed anyway. There
is a concern that fertility clinics would make extra eggs for the harvesting
of stems cells, but that objection could be addressed in the bill. Some
people have an objection to any use of these cells, but it is difficult to
see since the law allows the use of organ donations of brain dead people and
same reasoning would seem to apply. Perhaps some one could explain it to
the group.

David B.

-------------- Original message -------------- 

Aug 1 2005 
 
Dear Jerry: 
 
As far as common sense says it is reasonable to use without taking undue 
advantage of that which current technology provides. And of course Karma is

attached to that decision. 
 
The real question is: Why do we stay alive? What are we contributing 
positively to the world and the rest of humanity? I agree with the saying 
attributed to Jesus. 
 
If we live only for ourselves, or out of fear of death and the "great 
unknown," then the resulting Karma is different. 
 
I cannot find for myself and ability to think, any good reason to deny the 
continuity of the Monad (myself and others). 
 
As to the view that reality is the very narrow transaction of an evanescent

and fleeting present I cannot see that it is entirely logical. 
 
I find HPB saying in TRANSACTIONS OF THE BLAVATSKY LODGE , p. 30 f the U 
L T Edn.: " Maya is the perceptive faculty of every Ego which considers 
itself a Unit separate from, and independent of the ONE infinite and
eternal 
SAT, or "be-ness." 
 
What then is the Ego ? 
 
Again H P B writes: ISIS UNVEILED AND THE VISHISTADVAITA --HPB Articles 
III, p. 265: 
 
"whether it be orthodox Adwaita or not, I maintain as an occultist, on the 
authority of the Secret Doctrine, that though merged entirely into 
Parabrahm, man's spirit while not individual per se, yet preserves its 
distinct individuality in Paranirvana, owing to the accumulation in it of 
the aggregates, or skandhas that have survived after each death, from the 
highest faculties of the Manas. 
 
The most spiritual--i.e., the highest and divinest aspirations of every 
personality follow Buddhi and the Seventh Principle into Devachan (Swarga) 
after the death of each personality along the line of rebirths, and become 
part and parcel of the Monad. The personality fades out, disappearing
before 
the occurrence of the evolution of the new personality (rebirth) out of 
Devachan: but the individuality of the spirit-soul [dear, dear, what can be

made out of this English!] is preserved to the end of the great cycle 
(Maha-Manwantara) when each Ego enters Paranirvana, or is merged in 
Parabrahm. 
 
To our talpatic, or mole-like, comprehension the human spirit is then lost 
in the One Spirit, as the drop of water thrown into the sea can no longer
be 
traced out and recovered. But de facto it is not so in the world of 
immaterial thought. 

This latter stands in relation to the human dynamic thought, as, say, the 
visual power through the strongest conceivable microscope would to the
sight 
of a half-blind man: and yet even this is a most insufficient simile--the 
difference is "inexpressible in terms of foot-pounds." 
 
That such Parabrahmic and Paranirvanic "spirits," or units, have and must 
preserve their divine (not human) individualities, is shown in the fact 
that, however long the "night of Brahma" or even the Universal Pralaya (not

the local Pralaya affecting some one group of worlds) yet, when it ends,
the 
same individual Divine Monad resumes its majestic path of evolution, though

on a higher, hundredfold perfected and more pure chain of earths than 
before, and brings with it all the essence of compound spiritualities from 
its previous countless rebirths. 
 
Spiral evolution, it must be remembered, is dual, and the path of 
spirituality turns, corkscrew-like, within and around physical, 
semi-physical, and supra-physical evolution. But I am being tempted into 
details which had best be left for the full consideration which their 
importance merits to my forthcoming work, the Secret Doctrine. " 
 
H. P. BLAVATSKY 
Theosophist, January, 1886- 
-------------------------------------------------------- 
 
I recognize I am quoting doctrine, and the doctrine you have adopted (from 
one of the Buddhistic Schools) uses other terms and concepts of expressing 
them. But to me, while maya describes the eternal shifting of FORMS 
(composed of Monads of lesser experience) under the laws of Karma, this
does 
not dispel or obviate the ETERNAL MONAD that is my egoic base (nor that of 
any other ※Eternal Pilgrim.§ ) 
 
HPB continues on p. 30 of TRANSACTIONS: 
 
"Maya, illusion or ignorance ＃awakens Nidanas; and the cause or causes 
having been produced, the effects follow according to Karmic law. Having 
then produced this cause, the whole discord of life follows immediately as 
an effect; in reality it is the endeavour of nature to restore harmony and 
maintain equilibrium."

As to "replaceable parts: I would say that in view of ever acting maya and 
due to the eternal exchange of atoms and molecules, such "parts" are son 
altered into compatible bases for sustaining cooperative life in our gross 
physical bodies. 
 
You speak of fear. True, the personality that has not reconciled the 
eternal puzzle of its existence and relation with the Higher Self and the 
Ego in man, has not logically provided itself with a reasonable basis for 
understanding its continuity -- and it does have a continuity -- call it a 
memory if you will, but he "good" that a man does ever remains as evidence 
that he lived then!, and lives now. 
 
In The KEY TO THEOSOPHY, HPB writes: 
 
"...memory is one thing and mind or thought is another; one is a recording 
machine, a register which very easily gets out of order; the other 
(thoughts) are eternal and imperishable. Would you refuse to believe in the

existence of certain things or men only because your physical eyes have not

seen them? Would not the collective testimony of past generations who have 
seen him be a sufficient guarantee that Julius Caesar once lived? Why
should 
not the same testimony of the psychic senses of the masses be taken into 
consideration? 
 
ENQUIRER. But don't you think that these are too fine distinctions to be 
accepted by the majority of mortals? 
 
THEOSOPHIST. Say rather by the majority of materialists. And to them we
say, 
behold: even in the short span of ordinary existence, memory is too weak to

register all the events of a lifetime. How frequently do even most
important 
events lie dormant in our memory until awakened by some association of 
ideas, or aroused to function and activity by some other link. This is 
especially the case with people of advanced age, who are always found 
suffering from feebleness of recollection. When, therefore, we remember
that 
which we know about the physical and the spiritual principles in man, it is 
not the fact that our memory has failed to record our precedent life and 
lives that ought to surprise us, but the contrary, were it to happen. 
 
 
WHY DO WE NOT REMEMBER OUR PAST LIVES? 
 
ENQUIRER. You have given me a bird's eye view of the seven principles; now 
how do they account for our complete loss of any recollection of having 
lived before? 
 
THEOSOPHIST. Very easily. Since those "principles" which we call physical, 
and none of which is denied by science, though it calls them by other
names, 
are disintegrated after death with their constituent elements, memory 
along with its brain, this vanished memory of a vanished personality, can 
neither remember nor record anything in the subsequent reincarnation of the

EGO. 
 
Reincarnation means that this Ego will be furnished with a new body, a new 
brain, and a new memory. Therefore it would be as absurd to expect this 
memory to remember that which it has never recorded as it would be idle to 
examine under a microscope a shirt never worn by a murderer, and seek on it

for the stains of blood which are to be found only on the clothes he wore. 
It is not the clean shirt that we have to question, but the clothes worn 
during the perpetration of the crime; and if these are burnt and destroyed,

how can you get at them? 
 
ENQUIRER. Aye! how can you get at the certainty that the crime was ever 
committed at all, or that the "man in the clean shirt" ever lived before? 
 
THEOSOPHIST. Not by physical processes, most assuredly; nor by relying on 
the testimony of that which exists no longer. But there is such a thing as 
circumstantial evidence, since our wise laws accept it, more, perhaps, even

than they should. To get convinced of the fact of re-incarnation and past 
lives, one must put oneself in rapport with one's real permanent Ego, not 
one's evanescent memory. ... 
 
ENQUIRER. But how can people believe in that which they do not know, nor 
have ever seen, far less put themselves in rapport with it? 
 
THEOSOPHIST. If people, and the most learned, will believe in the Gravity, 
Ether, Force, and what not of Science, abstractions "and working
hypotheses, 
" which they have neither seen, touched, smelt, heard, nor tasted求 why 
should not other people believe, on the same principle, in one's permanent 
Ego, a far more logical and important "working hypothesis" than any other? 
 
ENQUIRER. What is, finally, this mysterious eternal principle? Can you 
explain its nature so as to make it comprehensible to all? 
 
THEOSOPHIST. The EGO which re-incarnates, the individual and immortal not 
Personal 求 "I"; the vehicle, in short, of the Atma-Buddhic MONAD, that
which 
is rewarded in Devachan and punished on earth, and that, finally, to which 
the reflection only of the Skandhas, or attributes, of every incarnation 
attaches itself. [There are five Skandhas or attributes in the Buddhist 
teachings: "Rupa (form or body), material qualities; Vedana, sensation; 
Sanna, abstract ideas; Samkhara, tendencies of mind; Vinnana, mental
powers. 
Of these we are formed; by them we are conscious of existence; and through 
them communicate with the world about us."] 
 
ENQUIRER. What do you mean by Skandhas? 
 
THEOSOPHIST. Just what I said: "attributes," among which is memory, all of 
which perish like a flower, leaving behind them only a feeble perfume. Here

is another paragraph from H. S. Olcott's "Buddhist Catechism"矣 which bears

directly upon the subject. It deals with the question as follows:求 
 
"The aged man remembers the incidents of his youth, despite his being 
physically and mentally changed. Why, then, is not the recollection of past

lives brought over by us from our last birth into the present birth?
Because 
memory is included within the Skandhas, and the Skandhas having changed
with the new existence, a memory, the record of that particular existence,
develops. Yet the record or reflection of all the past lives must survive, 
for when Prince Siddhartha became Buddha, the full sequence of His previous

births were seen by Him. . . . and any one who attains to the state of
Jhana 
can thus retrospectively trace the line of his lives." 
 
This proves to you that while the undying qualities of the personality求 
such as love, goodness, charity, etc.求 attach themselves to the immortal 
Ego, photographing on it, so to speak, a permanent image of the divine 
aspect of the man who was, his material Skandhas (those which generate the 
most marked Karmic effects) are as evanescent as a flash of lightning, and 
cannot impress the new brain of the new personality; yet their failing to
do 
so impairs in no way the identity of the re-incarnating Ego. 
 
ENQUIRER. Do you mean to infer that that which survives is only the 
Soul-memory, as you call it, that Soul or Ego being one and the same, while

nothing of the personality remains? 
 
THEOSOPHIST. Not quite; something of each personality, unless the latter
was 
an absolute materialist with not even a chink in his nature for a spiritual

ray to pass through, must survive, as it leaves its eternal impress on the 
incarnating permanent Self or Spiritual Ego. [ Or the Spiritual, in 
contradistinction to the personal Self. The student must not confuse this 
Spiritual Ego with the "HIGHER SELF" which is Atma, the God within us, and 
inseparable from the Universal Spirit.] ... 
 
CUT