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A Study in Karma - Annie Besant
A Study in Karma - Annie Besant
AiS
IN
KARMA
Nl BiiisANT
It
fuSuc Jjymaru
Gift of
Joseph
PI.
Giesen, MD
--04363
A STUDY
IN
KARMA
A STUDY
IN
KARMA
BY
ANNIE BESANT
//
Wheaton,
Illinois
Copyright Registered
All Rights
Reserved
First Edition
Secofid
,.
1912
1917
1946
Third
Fourth
..
,.
1952
CONI
VI
; ! ;
KARMA
(From The Light of Asia by SiR Edwin Arnold)
It
utter true
measures mete, its faultless balance weighs % Times are as nought, to-morrow it will judge.
Or
after
many
days.
By
The
The
own
defender
false tongue
dooms
its lie
And
Such
is
the
to righteousness,
Which none
The heart
Is
of
it
Obey
A STUDY IN
Among
the
KARMA
many
world, conveyed to
karma
of
comes
perhaps
It
next
in
importance
to
that
reincarnation.
removes
human
thought and
the
amount
a
of
karma,
is
"
As
man
easy to grasp.
far-reaching conse-
these
The
is
become
more bewildering
increases.
principles on
science
intelligible to
people of
fair intelligence
education
to
practice,
from outline to
details,
he would
A STUDY IN
KARMA
become a
So
is it
specialist,
and
to devote long
karma
in all the
it
circum-
far
He must
of nature,
and learn
and
Fundamental Principles
In order to understand karma, the student must
begin with a clear view of certain fundamental
principles,
of
constantly
asking
questions
begin
many
of
my
readers will be
ments
of others
and myself.
conception, on which
rests, is that it is
;
The fundamental
right thinking
all later
on karma
law
law,
law which
"Nature
is
conquered by obedience."
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
makes the uninformed Theosophist say You must not interfere with his karma." But whenever a natural law is working, you may interfere with it just so far as you can. You do not hear a person say solemnly " You must not interfere with the law of gravitation.'*
It
is
**
:
It is
is
tions with
any inconvenience
it,
may
by
would
fall
to the
tation, or in
When
we
and no one
not " inter-
we must
dislike.
We
we we have knowneutralize,
ledge, for
we cannot
it
nor prevent
from acting.
its
But we can
if
we can
another
turn aside,
sufficient
action
we have
at
command
never
force,
and while
it
will
its activity, it
can be held
knowledge
at
of its nature
our
disposal.
all
A STUDY IN
KARMA
we
live
and move
;
they but they are not mandatory which set up conditions amid which we are forces live, and which work in us as well as outside of
within them
;
we understand them, and as our intelligence unfolds we become more and more their masters, until the man
us
;
as
Laws
Much
in
the
as
apart
much
and
part of natural
of electricity,
all
many
into
human
law,
and the
imported
affecting
this
arbitrariness of
human
the
Laws
physical
by science, but the mental and moral worlds are still in the chaos of lawlessness. Not
arbitrariness
a divine
command, but
the
immanence
of the divine
have
laid
down moral
to
the prophet,
unknown
to
his
ignorant
commands
of
mere statements of fact concerning the succession of moral phenomena in a region as orderly as the
physical.
Law,
in
is
an enact-
ment
mate.
act
of
laid
It
assembly
in
Among
the Hindus
we
man-made and
;
natural law.
The
King
in
autocrat,
is
is an and the subject must obey but above the a Law to which he in his turn must be
obedient, a
Law which
acts automatically
and
is
bound by the supreme Law, which will if he disregards it. Weakness oppressed is said to be the most fatal enemy of kings the tears of the weak sap the foundation of thrones,
he
crush him
;
and the
suffering of the
The
worlds inter-
in the other.
t)
A STUDY IN
but these were
KARMA
not natural laws
;;
State,
artificial,
by
penalties,
but
It
such laws
differ
wholly from
natural
law.
by
their characteristics.
Artificial
those
who make
them can
but
lie
alter
them or
;
repeal them.
Natural laws
are unchanging
in
laws are
in
local,
The law
;
any
may be
enforced by any
sometimes the
hand
is
cut
off, is
sometimes the
thief is sent to
gaoU
sometimes he
the penalty
crime.
is
penalty which
variable
and
artificial,
punishes.
on another
if
man
steals,
his nature
becomes
is
more
thievish,
in-
creased,
and the
this
becomes
greater
consequence works
countries,
as to the theft
makes no
quence.
penalty which
local,
variable
and
is artificial,
and not
such a
natural law
is
a sequence of conditions
want
you must
find or
make
condition No.
will follow as
an
invari-
consequence.
left
These sequences
but
if
never
vary
is
when
to themselves,
a new
condition
you pour
down
the
the
obstacle
it,
balances
active
and
is
found
in
The
first
condition
is
same
;
effect,
provided no other
is
cause
is
introduced
in
is is
full
sense of the
it
Law
of
Cause
S
and
laws,
its
A STUDY IN KARMA
Effect.
all
It
may
all
be said to underlie
It is natural
all
special
all
causes and
effects.
its
law in
it is
aspects and in
subdivisions
not a
whereon
all
other laws
depend, of which
all
other
The Bhagavad Glta who are embodied can escape it Shining Ones, human beings, animals, vegetables,
all
minerals, are
even the
Logos
comes within a larger sweep of this law of all manifestation. So long as any one is related to matter, embodied in matter, so long is he within karmic
law.
being
its
may
other of
Law
is
universal inter-relation.
that exists
tween
all
that
is
karma.
therefore
coexistent,
istence of
is
Therefore karma
The
inter-relation
;
of everything
never begins
;
it
never
ceases to be.
The
the real
Nothing
is
the inter-relation of
it
becomes
that has
In
been,
the All
all
everything
IS
always;
all
all
that
now
is
manifest,
all possibilities
as well as
That which
is
is
out-
is
the
manifested
universe.
That
which
is
as
really,
the unmanifested
is
as
The
inter-
relation
is
between beings,
in or out of manifestation,
karma never
that which
fested
is
When
part of
as
the
is
eternal
inter-relation
linked to
everything
is
related to everything
and
in
verse,
drawn out
in in
into
successive happenings,
connected
i.e,,
the
appearance.
Some
such as
10
within which
centre
A STUDY IN
all
KARMA
is
grasped, the
cannot be reached.
every
So long as we think
is
always a question
beginnings
endless
and
endings with a
If
"Why?"
let
the student would escape this, he must patiently the concept of the All sink
the circumference become intelligible, and the universal inter-relation between all things, seen
has been
said
that
the
Eternal*
is
up universes as waves.
The ocean symbolizes being without form, ever the same. The wave, by virtue of being a part, has form and attributes. The waves rise and fall
they break into a foam, and the spray of the waves
is
as worlds in a universe.
Or we may think
gara,
of a
huge waterfall,
is
like
Nia-
of its torrent
one ere
it falls,
and then
which
make
is
the
many-
coloured
life.
is
* The Hindu name is Brahman, or more Brahman, the Brahman without attributes.
Nirguna
SUCCESSION
are many, and,
life is
11
God
manifest or unmanifest
different,
though
mani;
festation,
and
attributeless in u^manifestation
the
He is He is
of
the
the
Out
mani-
festation
karma
is
latent,
for
the
beings of the
;
in
are agreed.
The
versal,
The
in-
its
universality,
and a breach
versal chaos.
Succession
We
cause and
cause and
But each
becomes
in turn
12
relation.
A STUDY IN
KARMA
which
exist
in
The
inter-relations
the
between phenomena
the
portion
of
in the
manifested universe
verse.
Before
manifestation
of
any special
its
the
universe
which
is
to
be,
and
inter-
relations.
That which
exists
simultaneously out
and space, in the Eternal Now, gradually appears in time and space as successive phenoof time
mena.
conceive a universe as
made up of phenomena, you are obliged to think of these phenomena successively, one after another;
but in the thought of the Eternal they always are,
and
the
limitation
of
succession
has there no
existence.
Even
in
we
catch a
Mozart
tells
us of a state of unconsciousness
in
Or
again,
we may
look at
SUCCESSION
13
of
By
the
simile,
difference
universe as
it
appears to the
a single
Logos and
impression,
as
appears to us.
To Him,
us an
is
perfect
whole
to
to
immense
to
sequence,
slowly
unfolding.
So what
Him
we
inter-relation
becomes
us
succession.
Instead
of seeing childhood,
see them successively, day by day, year by year. That which is simultaneous and universal becomes successive and particular to our small minds, crawl-
Go up
down on
a town, and
to each
you can see how the houses are related You other in blocks, streets, and so on.
realize
them as a whole. But when you go down into the town you must pass from street to street, seeing each separately, successively. So in karma, we see the relations only one by one, and one after another,
not even realizing the successive relations, so limited
is
our view.
Such
visible
similes
things,
may
ing imagination.
And
out of
all
this
we
is
lay our
Karma
quence
of
is
seen in
Law
of Causation, in conse-
phenomena
coming
14
a study in karma
Causation
The
modern
idea
of
causation
times,
Huxley
for
he said that
if
was
hit
was followed by the movement. This extreme scepticism came out strongly in some of the
that
it
great
men
from
the
is
Middle Ages.
but
now
gradually
ever do.
The idea of causation arises naturally in the human mind, though unprovable by the senses when a phenomenon has been invariably followed
by another phenomenon for long periods of time, the two become linked together in our minds, and
when one
expects
the
second
to-morrow
alone,
;
on
countless
yesterdays.
Succession
we
CAUSATION
ach
other.
15
To
assert
causation
;
we need more
that the reason
we need
relation
when
the
first
The
is
not
caused by either
that relation
is
a true cause,
will be its
them which
by the other
is
;
sufficient
one
and then only, can we rightly The links between phenomena assert causation. that are never broken, and that are recognized
then,
second
phenomenon
when-
ever
the
first
manifested,
we
call
causation.
They
are the
shadows
of
of inter-relations existing in
over the
tions
life
universe,
exist
for
their
manifestation.
an
is
expression
of
the
nature of the
;
Logos,
an
wherever there
in
the
succession for
causation.
16
a study in
karma
a consideration of
Laws
Nature
".
The whole
universe
is in-
when we come to what we call the laws of nature, we are unable to say over what area they
but
extend.
Scientists
find
themselves compelled to
beyond the
effects
Causes and
of our
observation
ings
may
which are here observed as invariable may be interrupted by the irruption of some cause outside
the
"
known
the
"
of
our time,
outside
there
knowable.
conservation
matter.
It
was
said
there
existed
in
the
universe
a certain
amount
;
of energy, incapable of
all
diminution or of increase
of that to another
that
form
force,
that the
amount
of
any given
of
of
amount As 20 may be made up of 20 units, or energy. 10 twos, or of 5 fours, or of 12+8, and so on,
as heat, might vary, but not the total
total
17
;
was indestructible, and hence remained ever the same in amount some, like Ludwig Buchner, declared that
it
;
made
"an
and
atom
so on.
of carbon
of carbon,'*
On
is
was
built
up, and
it
But now
that chemical
itself
may
in the ether,
not.
in,
There
others
?
may
through which
pours out
whence whither
?
May
itself
May
its
new
matter
All is doubtful
Within
we speak with
?
certainty of a
law of nature
".
What
the
article
is
a law of nature
Mr.
for
J.
N. Fprquhar, in
1910, in an Hindus want to carry out reforms, they must abandon the idea of
July,
Contemporary Ueview
if
As well might he say that if a man wants must abandon the idea of an atmosphere. To understand the law of karma is not to renounce
karma.
to fly he
activity,
but to
is
know
activity
2
Mr. Farquhar,
who has
18
A STUDY IN
KARMA
and
in
modern
is
science.
A
ment
law of nature
of conditions.
not a
command, but a
state-
on too strongly.
;
she says
exist,
Here are
is
where these
law of nature
like
an
invariable
sequence.
If
you do not
the
result,
Ignorant,
you are
forces
;
at the
mercy
of nature's hurtling
wise,
you obediently.
Every law
of nature
is
an enabling,
is
necessary
Water
This
is
boils at
the condition.
;
pressure diminishes
at 95 ^
will not
Now
water
make good
forbid
Not
the
at all
necessary
lost
you
have
pressure
imprison
water at
100.
of
hydrogen
and
A LESSON OF THE
temperature,
spark.
If
LAW
from the
19
electric
it
you
zero, or in
you are
it,
free
to
have
without
it
if
you want
Without
water.
these,
no water.
free
Free as to making
result,
this,
when once
sit
the scientific
man, face
helplessly
down
the
how
to
make
present generation.
for ages,
Science
and
that only as
compel.
The
;
scientific
man
all
observes sequences
his
is
again
he
performs
that
testing
experiments
he
eliminates
20 and slowly,
invariable
facts,
A STUDY IN KARMA
surely, discovers
what constitutes an
causative
sequence.
Once
sure of
his
without
shadow
of turning,
Out
ence
of this assurance of
grows
the
investigator ".
Luther Burbank,
a few
;
California,
will
sow
some
thousands
patiently
of
lies
of
plants,
hundreds, and
nature,
march to his end he can trust the laws and if he fails he knows that the error
a law of nature that masses'of matter tend
the earth.
Shall
I
I
There
to
move towards
then say
fly
" I
cannot
I pit
in
the
against the
me on
stored
iu
my
it.
muscles, and
means
fever
of
A
I
my body
may have
but
to
stay
on
the
ground-floor,
I
helpless;
break
no law when
put forth
The
It
effort.
inviolability of
Law
it
frees.
makes Science
possible,
and
rationalizes
human
futile,
We
in
should be savages,
trembling
terrible.
Imagine a chemist
a laboratory where.
KARMA DOES NOT CRUSH
nitrogen
21
was
now
inert,
now
stifled
explosive,
where
!
oxygen
vivified to-day
and
to-morrow
In a
lawless universe
we should
We
move
of
safely,
surely,
Law.
Now Karma
that that
is
implies.
As we are able
to
move
its
in
the
laws, so
may we move
in
The
in
the position of a
man
and
who should
say
it
**
:
law of gravitation.
They
nature.
sit I
down
helplessly,
it."
That
is
is
my
cannot help
True,
is
made
it
in
the past,
and
".
But by a knowledge of
it
karma he can change his nature, making morrow than it is to-day. He is not
outside
;
other to-
in the grip
in
a world of law,
full
of natural
forces which
Knowledge and
realize that
will
that
is
what he needs.
He must
karma
22
is
STUDY IN KARMA
So long
way, so long
he be
like
man
floating
on a
in
misfortune, unhappiness.
The law
He
nature
which
is
the
inevitable
outcome
;
of
his
that future
nature
" Habit
is
now
deliberately
makes.
Where
there
is
Law, no
is
achievement
is
impossible,
and
karma
the
We
human
has
to
apply
loss
principle
to
practice.
It
been
the
of
the
intelligible
relations
modern
religion
will
so
inoperative in
common
disease
;
A man
when he understands
yards
uncleansed,
because
he sees
no
relation-
MAN
between
he
his
IN
23
threatened by religions.
Hence he
either
disbelieves
way,
or
artificial
authorities.
In either
case,
When
he
realizes that
and
the
moral worlds as
in
may
well be
in
hoped that he
will
become as reasonable
is
former as he already
in the latter.
Man
in
Man, as we know,
living normally in
three
is
put
body formed
of its type
and acts
in
body.
He
all
these
come within
During
creating
**
the
all-embracing
karma.
is
waking consciousness he
karma,"
i.e.,
While his physical body is asleep, he is creating karma in two worlds the emotional and the mental the amount of karma then created by him depending on the stage
by action, desire and thought.
he has reached
in evolution.
24
A STUDY IN
KARMA
We
may
but
we
remember
that
we
which
working.
Laws work
within their
own
own department,
of
working
further-reaching
so
must
man, while working in the three departments, physical, emotional and mental, remember the sweep of
law which includes them
activity.
all
within
its
area of
In
all
own
full
although the
when
all
balancing
is
made.
All that
true
But by
away
or adding
causes,
events
must be
modified.
A
is
" My karma person gets drunk ; may he say to get drunk " ? He gets drunk because of certain
:
MAN
IN
25
is
him
into drunkenness.
He may my own
is
say
"
am
not
tendencies in the
of loose-livers.
I
company
to
will
asso-
ciate
with
drink.'*
He
and
is
third,
new
**
result
is
He
interfering
is
relying on
it
it
nor
is
a friend
**
he per-
There
is
no karmic
command
to a
man
to get drunk,
in
the
will get
drunk
there
true,
another
way
of
this also
introduces a
result
new
by addition instead
as
man can
" interfere"
is
perfectly at liberty to
do
it
so,
much
He
can inhibit
effort.
In this sense, he
may
interfere with
karma
it
26
A STUDY IN
KARMA
is
not
it is
liable to
be misunderstood.
The law
is
The law
is
is
unchangeable,
ever-changing.
is
The
and
is,
cause of
all
causes
this
is
human
will
human
for
reason,
and yet
part,
the
most
karma.
will,
We
we
one with
God
in
hampered by ignorance and working through gross matter, which impedes us until we conquer by spiritualizing it. The changelessness of karma is not the changelessness of effects but of law, and it
is
which makes us free. Truly slaves should we be in a world in which everything went by
this
chance.
But according
to our
in
a world of law.
own
serious
The
result
it
of
an experiment might be a
useful product, or
experimenter
into
fragments.
Roger
Bacon
set
and occasionally stretched him senseless on the floor of his cell outside our knowledge we are in peril,^
;
MAN
IN
27
us, for
going
may wreck
we
are mostly Roger Bacons in the mental and moral worlds inside our knowledge we may move with
;
freedom and
safety,
as
the
well-trained
chemist
moves to-day. It is true in all the three worlds in which we live that the more we know, the more can we foresee and control. Because law is inviolable and changeless, therefore knowledge is the condition of freedom. Let us then study karma, and apply our knowledge to the guidance of our lives. So
many
people say
'*
:
Oh
how
wish
were good,"
which
goodness
I
Oh
how
wish
Again,
along
ber
its
we must remember that each force works own particular line, and that when a numimpinge on a particular point, the
is
of
forces
resultant force
in
the outcome of
all of
them.
As
a
we
learned
how
to construct
position
to
yield
single
resultant.
We
hear
people asking
while a
why a good man fails in business bad man succeeds. But there is no causal
between
goodness and moneygetting.
:
connection
We
"
am
a very good
man
28
A STUDY IN KARMA
I fly
why cannot
in
the air
it
" Goodness
is
not a
bring in money.
in
Tennyson
his
poem on
were
of virtue
not " dust," nor rest, nor pleasure, but the glory of an
Virtue is its own reward," in the fullest sense of the words. If we are truthful,
active immortality.
our reward
ful,
is that our nature becomes more truthand so sequentially with every virtue. Karmic
results
human
rewards.
is
that,
if
man
The
error
is
A man
He
sees
those
who
ahead of him
if
is
29^
even, perchance, imitates them. If he is strong, he " I will work in harmony with the divine law, says :
nevertheless, in
may
fall
to him, for
what he
money he
man who
again,
society,
once betrays
will
may
at
and none
lack
of
trust him.
success,
whereas
wages
to workers forced
to
by competition to accept
rivals, and the man who gives a decent wage may find himself outpaced in the race
;
for wealth
better
work done
and
reap
must decide on our course and accept its results, not looking for money as payment for goodness, nor
seeing
injustice
We
when
it
if
unscrupulous
aimed.
shrewdness
reaches that at
which
An
is
instructive,
told of a
injured
man
When
30
his foe
;
A STUDY IN
asked
for the
KARMA
would give him greater opportunities for wrongwould thus entail on him bitter suffering
the
life
is
after death.
virtue
in
easy
material
and
these,
Many who do
fairly well
become
in-
how
the organism
on
its
environment.
surroundings
in
Man
affects his
all
innumerable ways,
which may
Self-expression: he affects
by Action.
is
draw
his energies
This concentration
Will
is
it is
mode
of the triple
objects
energies,
its
and we
call these
31
Only
when
these are
drawn
in,
This Will
;
is
Self-
is
the Self
its
deter-
subhuman
results
karma, giving
rise to
is
most mixed
in the higher
human Will
cause,
The mode
aware
Self-expression called
Thought be-
Thought.
This,
it is
an important factor
in
karma, since
creative and, as
we know,
builds character.
The mode
Self,
Self.
is
of Self-expression
which directly
affects
The power
is
one
Will
external world
Cognition
is
Activity.
This action
is
inevi-
karma.
The
is
Will
32
A STUDY IN KARMA
is
due to Cognition
reaction
is
the
immediate
provoker
of
the
Activity*
of the
karmic rope.
God
created
man
in
Hebrew
human. The First Logos of the Theosophist, the Mahadeva of the Hindu, the Father of the Christian, has Will as predominant, and shows forth the
power
is
of sovereignty, the
Law by which
built.
Wisdom, that all-sustaining and all-pervading power by which the universe is preserved. The Third Logos, Brahma, the Holy Spirit, is the Agent, the creative power by which the universe is brought
There is nothing in divine or human consciousness which does not find itself within one or other of these modes of Selfinto manifestation.
expression.
it
without
its
33
the
the
stability
necessary to existence,
to
quality
(rajas),
which answers
the capacity to
It
Will.
It
has mobility
be moved, answering to
Activity.
movement
Yoga
*'
(without
which
system,
considering
all
stand-
point of consciousness,
cognizability,"
names
which
this
rhythmic quality
that
that
makes
matter
should be
known by
is
Spirit.
All that
in
vironment, and
consciousness,
relation
make
up our world.
The
inter-
ment
is
By
these
three
modes
of
consciousness
universal
we
spin
inter-relation betN^een
and Not-Self
being
specialized by
relation.
As we rise above separateness, the individual again becomes the universal inter-relation,
this
but
universal
inter-relation
cannot be trans-
This special-
and the
later universalizing
the special
make up
ways "
the
Path
home
this
is
the
relentless
3
when
34
SO beauteous
*'
A STUDY IN KARMA
Life
is
three factors
in
spirit
for
the
we must study these in order to make our Karma that which we would have it be. We may study them in any order, but for many
matter, and
reasons
first,
it
is
because in that
of choice.
;
and
We
use of thought
though
the
we may
analysis
them, by desire
set in
so
in
final
motion
by
thought.
In
the earliest
newly born
infant,
action
is
caused by attractions
and repulsions. But almost immediately memory comes in, the memory of an attraction with the
wish to re-experience
sure
it
;
the
memory
of a repulsion
it.
it
is
remembered,
i.e.,
it
thought about
it is
follows.
is
The
three can-
no action which
performed.
35
and
to a fresh
circle,
The
three form a
perpetually retraced.
Now
every change in
consciousness is answered by a vibration in matter, and a similar change, however often repeated, brings
a similar vibration.
This vibration
body.
is
strongest in
your
own mental
If
you repeat a
;
and,
vibrated in a particular
it
way
same way again than to vibrate in a new way, the more often you repeat a thought the more ready the vibrationary
once
is
easier for
to vibrate in that
response.
Presently,
will
after
much
repetition,
tendency
body,
own account
in
when
it
does this
separably linked
the
thought appears
mind
a thing
an emotion, a wish
and
have deliberately
36
A STUDY IN
to the conclusion that
KARMA
it is
come
feel that
emotion, to be
to
moved
set
work
to create a
You
think deliberately of
it
arises spon-
mind (by the aforesaid automatic matter). You persist in your thoughtyou have formed a strong habit of
creation
until
Even agamst
recurs
to
the
thought
the
mind
as
many have
in
found
when they
If
are
unable to sleep
conse-
habit,
;
say, of honesty,
and
some strong gust of desire sweeps you dishonesty on some occasion, the honest habit
if
into
will
torment you as
thief.
it
You have
the habit
the
thief
hence you
suffer
mentally
when
at
all.
habit until
is
makes the
steal
;
reliable
man
he
literally
cannot
lie,
cannot
he has built
37
build.
There
is
The
forces of nature
to use
work with you, for you understand how and they become your servants.
If
them,
child,
you
in those
who
feel
it.
If
to others,
an increase of happiness
for
You,
all,
the happiness of
circle,
until
the love-attitude
all
is
your
normal
have
attitude
towards
you
meet.
You
is
created
the
love-habit,
and
have
only
manent.'
Everything
is
mental
ability
or moral
virtue
and
doing nothing.
persevering thought.
moral
nature
;
You can obtain both by strenuous and You can build your mental and by thinking, for " man is created
what he thinks upon, that he becomes therefore think" on that which you aspire to be, and inevitably it shall be yours. Thus shall you
by thought
become
^
mental
and moral
;
athlete,
and your
in the past
you made
38
A STUDY IN KARMA
;
you are
and
making now the character with which you will die, will return. This is karma. Every one is bornis
portant part of karma. The Mussalman says that " a man is born with his destiny tied round his
neck
".
chiefly
on his
character.
strong
most
unfavourable circumstances,
and overclimb
character
before
is
A weak
and
fails
by
circumstances,
the
most
trivial obstacles.
Practical Meditation
The whole
theory of meditation
;
is
built
upon
and hence
is
By
result.
brave
if
yourself honest
if
Have confidence
is
in
There
another point
we
must not
forget.
in
its naturaf^-
realization
action,
and
if
39
must
character
you were born, while it is a fact which must profoundly influence your present destiny, marking out your line of activity in this life, yet you can, by thought and by action
with
which
based thereon, change your inborn character, eliminate its weaknesses, eradicate its faults, strengthen
its
good
qualities,
enlarge
its
capacities.
You
are
it.
Knowledge
is
offered
to
it is
we
call it
is
the
a man, confronted by
it
without thought,
he
is
moved by
**
:
desire
if
saying
a
now, because
Will.
have
duty to perform," he
moved by
When
is
40
right reason,
bridled,
A STUDY IN
it
KARMA
it
is
Will
when
drawn
it is
hither
and
thither
by attractive
objects,
Desire.
;
we
and
like
one
we
dislike another,
and our
likes
dislikes
We
may make up
reasons
to justify
None
may
and changed
brine,
is
though not
an
olive,
is
preserved in
and
generally rejected
with disgust.
olives,
But
like
it
is
them,
determined to
fond of them.
into liking.
How
the
about
By
the
mind.
We
The
desire-
we
are born
its
is
good, bad, or
in early child-
and
it
follows
own way
it,
hood.
Presently
we examine
THE MASTERY OF DESIRE
"We then form
a mental
41
which would be useful and noble, and we deliberately set to work to create it by thought-power. There
are
some physical
if
desires
which we see
:
will bring
about disease
left
uncontrolled
eating too
;
much
;
drinking
vivify
and
yielding
to
the
pleasures
of
sex.
We
see in the
premature exhaustion.
We
determine not
to yield to
them
in,
we
hold them
if
they are
very refractory
the
we
call
up the image
of the glutton,
they are.
And
out
so with
all
and encourage those which lead to refining and elevating pleasures, and reject those
choose
which There
desire
result
in
coarseness
of
of
mind.
will be failures in
in spite
of failures, persevere.
At
first
late
that
you had
will arise
resolved to abstain
persevere.
of the
good resolution
be a period of struggle
will
and you
;
sometimes succeed
successes will
and sometimes
fail
persevere.
Then
42
multiply,
desire
A STUDY IN and
failures
KARMA
;
be few
persevere.
Theii
and you watch beside its tomb, lest it should only be entranced, and revive. Finally you
dies,
You
Two Other
1.
Points
their
to a vice
feel
which
astral
Knowledge
will
In a dream, a
man
is
in his
astral
if
matter
let
soon will
and the desire remember that Further, will cease. there will be left for some time in the astral body effete matter, which was formerly used when the desire arose, but which is now, from disuse, in
he determines to do
he
should
process of disintegration.
vivified
to vibrate artificially.
man
when he
artificial
it
:
is
It is
but the
"
movement of a corpse. Let him repudiate Thou art not from me. Get thee gone."
And
45
must
The
let
waiTior
who
is
not
his
desire.
Again, thought
desire,
awaken
the
vigorous activity.
Of
abstained from action but enjoyed in thought, Shri Krishna sternly said " That deluded
:
man who
is
man
called a hypocrite."
Nourished by thought,
will but
They
become stronger
is
by physical repression when fed by thought. It better not to fight desire, but rather to evade it.
it arises,
If
turn the
to
mind
to
something
is
else, to
a book,
a game,
attractive.
anything which
at
By
fighting
the
is
likely to arise,
thing to
So
shall
it
be
Never
because
let
us forget
the
that
objects
are
desirable
is
" There
exist bereft
of Me."
tion
to
them makes
for
progress.
Only
later
on
are
it
they superseded.
;
The
is well it draws out the germinal mother-love. But a grown woman playing with a doll would be pitiable. Objects of desire draw out emotions whicb They aid in development and stimulate exertion.
44
cease
to
A STUDY IN
be useful
in
KARMA
them, and
mischievous.
The
bearing of
this
on karma
is
self-evident.
Since by desire
we
create opportunities
and
attract
now map
hereafter.
By
and wishing
service,
for
we ensure
opportunities for
We
relation
the
third
in
Our
activities
the
ways
which we
karma, and
portant.
in
many
respects this
desires, so
soon as
us,
or
by
thought-forms and
desire-forms,
become
of
life
activities, are
and form,
they
of consciousness
and bodies.
The
moment
45-
as the case
the environment.
ourselves, as
we have
;
the gaining of opportunities and objects and of the reaction of our activities on ourselves
is
power
The
past activities,
for us
is
this
is
shaped
for
the
task
nature's
answer
to
such part of
the
in
sum of our past activities as can be expressed a single material form, and " nature " is here the
of
Judgment,
Two
parts of
karma we
desire-
bring with us
nature, the
germinal tendencies
created in
are
The
third part of
karma we
born
into, that
;
which
and
constrains us
reacts
our
knowledge
we do
not possess.
We read
on
subject,
46
STUDY
IN
KARMA
we modern
students
Extreme cruelty inflicted on the helpless on heretics, on children, on animals reacts on inquisitors, on brutal parents and teachers, on vivisectors, as physical deformity,
can only affirm a few broad
facts.
more or less revolting and extreme, according nature and extent of the cruelty.
to the
Perfect Justice
From
the physical agony inflicted results physical
for
agony endured,
karma
is
equilibrium disturbed.
fire.
Where
a good motive
however
intellectually
misdirected as the
it
has
Hence
life
we may
strove to
a past
he
The
may gleam
;
woven by
cruelty
none the
PERFECT JUSTICE
a misshapen body.
of
47
On
power and
emotional twist
a historical case
that of Marat,
who, instead
intensified
it
of
by new cruelty
which
Hered-
The drunkard
of a previous
has
like.
left
epilepsy
and the
The
tainted with diseases which spring from sexual vice. " bad heredity " is the reaction from wrong acti-
vities in
the past.
Often the
man who
is
reaping
evil,
harvesting
remains.
steadfast
tell
wounds So may
remain
maimed
in a fierce battle,
life,
and yet
And
these warriors
who have
conquered
in a greater battle
4.8
A STUDY IN KARMA
the weakness or deformity of a body a strife which
is
bitterly over
which
tells
of
past, but
may wear
no scar
in
another
life
Our Environment
The
nation and the family into which a
field suitable for
man
is
the development
and time.
Sometimes a
strenuous
life
which has stimulated latent powers and quickened the growth of germinal faculties, is followed by one
of ease
reality of
Sometimes, when
an ego has definitely gained certain mental faculties and has secured them as part of his mental equip-
ment by
sufficient
practice,
by tasks of a most uncongenial nature. A man ignorant of karma will fret and fume, will perform
grudgingly
regretfully
his
distasteful
duties,
and
will
think
Jones
is
in
a place which he
is
not
fit
to
fill
"
;
he
OUR KITH AND KIN
49
would not be evolving further by repeating over again that which he has already done. In a similar situation, the knower of karma will quietly study his
surroundings, will realize that he would gain nothing by doing that which
to do
i,e,,
it
would be easy
for
him
in
that
the past
and
to learn the
new
lesson.
who
when he
call
spring forward
If
to
answer a
for
ignorant of karma, he
The knower
from
karma
own
discharge them
paid,
free,
and that meanwhile they have some lessons to it is incumbent upon him to learn
4
so
sure
A STUDY IN
KARMA
make him
answer
thrilling in
a more
helper
his
when he
is
free to
is
to the call to
which
whole nature
response.
and
which
will
He
its its
will
see to
it
scrupulous cleanliness,
hygienic conditions,
harmony, good
its
feeling,
purity of
relationship
with
it
egos of a high
if
level,
whether
in bodies,
they
be seeking embodiment
of the
parents are
members
household
young or be already
and wives, friends, or dependants. So far as his power extends, he will help in forming similar
conditions in his town, his province, his country.
He knows
that egos
suitable for
good surroundings he
type.
Our Nation
With
of
karma must
OUR NATION
into
51
which he
is
is
born,
in
he
which he is deficient, or chiefly to help his nation by qualities well developed in himself. In times of
transition
many
egos
may be born
is
into a nation,
new
condi-
passing.
Thus, in
Commonwealth
which co-operation
shall
number
will-power,
and
of
with
consummate
ability,
economical advantages of
tion, ing,
of controlling production
and supply,
of meet-
but
They have
and
the
way
to co-operative production
for
and prepared
happier future.
will
Soon
will
who
see in
securing
head
will
the
forces
individualism
the
other
set
good.
Thus
is
may be
52
created.
it
A STUDY IN
If it grips
KARMA
called into being,
us
when once
is
none the
in
less
shall be.
is
now
Here
its
creator
is
the activities
of the present.
is
Good Man
by unhappy condi-
He
his
has
made
his character,
made
of
circumstances.
desires have
made him what he is the misdirection them has created the environment through whichsuffers.
he
Let
on
around him is beneficial. Then shall it react on him as good environment. For instance a mother is very unselfish, and she spoils her son by yielding^ at her own cost, to all his whims, aiding him not at
:
all
to
overcome
his
own
whims and
desires.
He
brings
upon
her.
KNOWLEDGE OF LAW A
selfish
55
man may, on
of gaining
it
title,
fully
many
many sick unto death have their last moments soothed, many children are lovingly nursed back into health. The
therein find
reaction from
all this will
;
physical
But
his
selfishness
will
sow according
to its kind,
and
Knowledge of Law
The knowledge of karma will man to build, as he wills, his own
also
will
enable
him
to
help them.
where law
is
In the physical
is
universally admitted,
'
disregards
natural law
fool.
'
is re-
Equal
is
of disregarding
54
A STUDY IN
KARMA
and
of
world
are lawless
and
disorderly.
is
In those worlds, as in
inviolable
true
Though the
ing small
mills of
God
Though with
grinds
patience
He
He all.
have seen that our present
is
We
ter,
the outcome of
we have
of satisfying them,
how
of
our past,
we can modify in the present these how far we are compelled, how
we
are free.
and
his
much opposing opinion. Robert Owen school regarded man as the creation of cirof
karma
if
ing
the environment
effectively
man
child
could be changed,
most
had
evil
formed
bad
habits
taken
out
of
55
The
failure
of
Robert Owen's
not
force
**
contain
of
the
truth.
Others,
realizing
the
heredity,
almost
Nature," said
Ludwig Buchner,
truth.
Inasmuch
built
as
in
his past,
new
his
mentality and a
self-created
new emotional
and
which
faculties
may
lack
nourishment,
and
this
is
wrought by the
ill.
More-
new
physical
body,
with
its
own
physical
heredity,
These
facts
of
Robert
Owen's
theory,
of evil
criminal,
and beings
life,
that
ilk,
a single
and
56
Equally true
that inborn
A STUDY IN
is it,
KARMA
character
educationalist
ties
evil
must reckon
;
throw
some
nourishment reaches them from the thought-atmosphere around, from the evil desire-forms which arise
from
the
evil
in
others,
in
desires
which
float
and
react
upon each
other,
new
which
is
true in each of
it
from
life
it,
ever-grow-
ing, ever-evolving,
and with
its
future destiny.
;
Thus we reach
we
we have brought
with
SELF-EXAMINATION
US,
57
nor can
we
we
but
we can modify
effectively
can we modify,
Self-Examination
The first step is deliberately may call our stock in trade "
**
to
examine what we
and
qualities,
environment.
Our
character
is
that which
is
most
work,
to
we should
it
set to
the
qualities
which
take
is
desirable
pressing dangers.
We
them one by
one,
and
way
before described,
corresponding power.
We
we
desire to be,
and gradually,
we become it. The law cannot fail we have only to work with it in order to succeed. The desire-nature is similarly modified by thought, and we create the thought-forms of the opportunities we need alert to see and to grasp a suitable opportu;
nity,
our
will
also
fixes
itself
on
58
A STUDY IN
Hardest
of
all
KARMA
is
to
change
here
that
we
least
potent.
we
are at
at its strongest.
Yet are
we
or
by
yielding,
we can conquer
effort,
in the end.
Such
change by strenuous
to
change
that
accept,
teach.
and
whatever
lesson,
it
it
has to
When we
have learnt
its
will
drop
away from us
like
an outworn garment.
;
We
fulfil
have
an undesirable family
well,
we
we
every
and
on
patiently,
honourably
we
annoyances they
their
inflict
fortitude
through
daily
irritations,
forgiveness
through their
wrongs.
to
We
off
chip
smooth and
their useful-
polish
When
And
who
ness to us
parts
of
distressful
to a
like
a skilful sailor,
to
carry
him on
his
59
in
such
Thus are we partly compelled and partly free. must work amid and with the conditions which we have created, but we are free within them to
We
We
but
we can
only
work
created
in
and
these
we have
we can have
none other
till
we make
these anew.
the
;
karma
of
the
past
is
of
very
mixed
character
we have
running
but a stream
currents
various
;
directions,
made up of some
force
the effective
left
we have
which
to
it
to face,
the resultant
overcome.
face with
piece of
evil
karma from the past, we should ever grapple with striving to overcome it, remembering that it it,
embodies only a part
parts of that past are
of
with
strengthening and
60
A STUDY IN
KARMA
The
past,
present effort,
may
be, often
just
enough
to
and we
fearing
that our
the respon-
brings
but
it
let
us seize
it
we
shall
find
has
awakened
powers slumbering within us, unknown to us and needing a stimulus from outside to arouse them
latent
into activity.
effort in
So many
by
We
think
little
more than we
we can do
out of reach.
strengthen us.
thing
As we work
all
the
in the past
comes
to our aid to
nearly do a
in the past,
is
more
and even
if
we
fail,
forces,
and the
failure of to-day
of to-morrow.
61
When
more
holds good
effort
counsel
eifort
under
phrase
conditions,
is
and
utter the
encouraging
destiny."
" Exertion
of
greater
than
is
The
in
result
many
past
exertions
embodied
added
to
of the
karma
effort
of
so strong that
to
no
effort of
the present
can
suffice
overbear
it.
Yet should
be
is
at
the
worst,
the
effort
made
A
him
is
which he
is
aiming.
He
defeated.
;
He
elements
combination
there
lies
gator".
But
the
enables him ta
Precisely the
same
;
62
A STUDY IN
KARMA
may be
is
his
mean
Old Friendships
Another fact of the greatest importance
are brought by
is
that
we
karma into touch with people whom known in the past, to some of whom we we have owe debts, some of whom owe debts to us. No man
treads his long pilgrimage alone, and the egos to
whom
him
tion
in
he
is
linked
all
by many
ties
in
common
the present.
We
have
known someone
service,
in the past
;
who
perchance
we then
did
him some
and a karmic tie was formed. In the that tie draws us within the orbit of his
present,
activity,
and we receive from outside us a new impulse of force, a power, not our own, impelling us to listen
and
to obey.
of such helpful
Many
He who is now the Master K. H. was taken prisoner in a battle with an Egyptian army, and was generously befriended and sheltered by an Egyptian of
WE GROW
high rank.
for
BY GIVING
63
needed
Thousands
the
nascent
Theosophical
Society,
and the
and
the
other
lives,
now Mr.
A.
P. Sinnett,
editing
leading
Anglo-Indian
newspaper,
;
The
Pioneex.
Mme.
;
Blavat-
Mr. Sinnett
drawn within the immediate influence of the Master, receives instruction from Him, and becomes the author of The Occult World and of Esoteric
Buddhism, carrying
to thousands the
message
of Theosophy.
in
Such
rights
we win by
while
help given
with further-reaching
also helped
we
ourselves are
friendship
won by
recompensed by
and
We Grow
reaction are equal,
all
by Giving
bounds
selfish
That
give
is
well
to
and
to
64
abundantly.
*'
A STUDY IN
KARMA
To
after
many
days."
it
give,
even
from a
selfish motive, is
good, for
leads to an inter-
feelings,
by which both
calculation
" He
be a matter of
that
hath
:
pity
look,
and
what he layeth
shall
make
and
unselfish,
human
grow out
return^
and
in
each
life
we
lie in front.
Thus do we
blood, and
up a true
family, outside
Collective Karma
Before completing this imperfect study
consider what
is
we must
collec-
thoughts,
desires
and
activities
of
groups,
The
principles at
work are
FAMILY KARMA
65
and
this
multiplicity
diffi-
The
vidual
idea
is
of considering a
indi-
karma along
are
all
lines similar
to those
family, a
nation,
viduals,
its
sub-race, a
race,
the creator of
it,
present, each
now
in
course of creation.
individual
special
An ego coming
must share in its general karma his own karma has brought him into it and must be
it,
the larger
karma
often offering
Family Karma
Let
us consider the collective karma of a family.
The
family has a
thought-atmosphere of
its
own,
into the
member
and
shaping,
desires
the
thoughts,
and
activities of
66
into
it.
A STUDY IN KARMA
Tendencies
'*
in
him that
unconsciously to
him
for
the things
him
no
attraction
he
will
be
lifted
above
various temptations,
of evil
in
which
will
him
The
collective
karma
of the
of usefulness, bring
life,
him
his
and ensure
tie
How
?
has
favourable
It
may
and he
which
of
results
usefulness of
some
its
an inheritance of social
Where
born into
is
suffers, as in
and the
instance
collective
it
karma
In both
built
up
in
demand
tie,
for
environment provided by
or
the
family.
NATIONAL KARMA
unusual service, might, without
into a family wherein
this,
67
was
his
beneficiary,
give
generally, he
this
not
but
had won by
of his past.
National Karma
Let us think on the collective karma of a nation.
Face
tively
to
face with
for
this,
the individual
is
compara-
helpless,
this,
from
as best
he may.
Even
and
The
rise
fall
by
collective
karma.
of national
criminality, led
up
to
by noble or base,
ideals, bring
by national
national
about
national
ascent
or
descent.
The
the
Jews
and
of
atrocious cruelties
which
position
dragged
of
Spain
down
from
it
its
splendid
to
comparative
powerlessness.
Seismic changes
or
earthquakes,
volcanoes, floods
68
all
A STUDY IN
are cases
KARMA
by
to a
much
by
the
nation's
past
and
national
traditions,
on the minds
of all
who
Few
it
from a stand-
own
people.
Hence
of
quarrels
and suspicions,
the
mistaken
views,
and
distorted
opinions
Many
the
atmospheres
batants,
surrounding
prospective
are multiplied
com-
and these
difficulties
when
as,
All the
is
knower
of
karma can do
that
these cases
and views are largety the product of the larger individuality of his nation and to check
his opinions
this
bias as
much
the
views
obtained
antagonistic nation.
When
national
man
finds
himself
in
the
grip
of
resist
say that he
INDIA'S
is
KARMA
69
member
study
of
a conquered nation
be
should
calmly
national
the
remedy
opinion
causes.
them,
along
endeavouring
lines
to
will
influence eradicate
public
which
these
India's
Karma
East and West
There was an
article published in
Mr.
not
Malabari's
paper
some
said
it
national
karma
of
India,
in
It
was
the national
karma
have
accept
of
should be conquered
^
taken
its
place
and
that
it
should
try to
therefore
lot
of service,
and not
change any
wrong.
they
the
existing
of
conditions
as
:
obviously
The knower
its
during thousands of
they con-
karma.
They trod down the conquered tribes, and made them slaves, oppressing them and taking advantage of them. The bad karma thus made
70
A STUDY IN
KARMA
in
turn
many
invaders.
they
all
possessed.
Still
Now
of their
own
lifting
them social freedom and them in the social scale. A national effort must remove this national evil, and do away with a conthese untouchables by giving
tinuing
India must
redeem the wrong she has done, and cleanse her hands from oppression so shall she change her
;
Karma will work for freedom and not when the karma generated by oppression into the karma made by uplifting and
against
is
it,
changed
respecting.
man who
is
helping
all
into the
National karma
may
NATIONAL DISASTERS
effects,
71
and the new causes introduced can only slowly modify the results outgrowing from the past.
National Disasters
The karma which
brings about seismic catastroits
whose
special
sweep karma
notice the
way
in
karmic
liabilities
are called
away from
number
the scene of
it
when an earthquake
will
slays a
of people there
be cases of
'*
one called
and
away by
If
ment
at
the
a beam
to-
keeping
When
a natural catastrophe
impending, people
and
fire at
San Fran-
cisco.
back
in
hot haste
to
Others
left
the
72
place
A STUDY IN
the night before
local
KARMA
be saved from death.
off particular
to
The
is
catastrophe
is
used to work
karmas.
Or
a carriage taking a
man
to the station
stopped
in
is
street
block,
train.
He
is
angry,
It
wrecked
and he
there in
saved.
At Messina some
who were
life
to maintain
In shipwrecks, again,
will depend on individual karma. Sometimes an ego has a debt of sudden death to
it
pay, but
his
The ego
the
karma,
and
body
is
struck
away with
the rest.
Selects
developed in one
life
life
may
Thus
into a nation
exercise.
which
their
a strong concrete
ENGLAND'S KARMA
73
mind, apt for commerce, say, in the vaishya (merchant) caste in India,
may
be thrown
down
into the
United
States
of
Rockefeller.
In his
is
new
will
vast wealth
only tolerable
when used
for national
purposes, and
he
the
man who
zation,
and
spread abroad
through another
people.
England's Karma
guilty
much
cruelty
in
the seizing
of lands
Thousands perish prematurely during the conquest and subsequent settlement. These have a karmic claim against England collectively,
drive out.
as well as the debts due from the actual assailants.
They
are
drawn
to
birth in her
closing
their
previous
should
be
paid by
74
A STUDY IN KARMA
and
lifting
them out
and indifference
of the
down
in
themselves
social
troubles,
labour unrest,
to
threatening
combinations.
Carried
of Louis
excess
XIV and
Louis
XV,
direct
this
same
selfishness
causes of
destruction of
Taught by Theosophy
karmic law
in
see
the workings of
that of individuals,
national welfare
mic cause
true
for
is
as
nations as
individuals.
To
hold up
to set
many
are ever
influx.
flowing,
and
it
75
is
influences,
admiration.
The thoughtand
it
becomes
irresistible,
The knowers
consciously,
deliberately
and
be-
sure
their
ground,
sure
of
their
Thus they
come conscious
which works
co-operators
in evolution,
and are
with a deep
The Theosophical
Society,
Adyar, Madras.
.,^.933
X>P^'-^