THEOSOPHY. The Law of Karma. ^An Instrument to be Intelligently Used. by mary f. lang.

. The mind of man is the cause, both of his bondage and his liberation. Its attachment to objects of sense is the reason of his bondage, and its separation from objects of sense is the means of his freedom. Vishnu Purana. Fate is unpenetrated causes. Emerson, It is sometimes argued that it is an injustice that we must endure the results of actions committed in former and forgotten lives ^that we must reap effects, when we have no recollection of having sown causes. This objection, so stated, is the result of a misapprehension of the real action of Karmic law. We do not at any time or in any case suffer from wrong actions, but from the weakness of character which makes wrong actions possible. Our acts are the results of mental and moral condition. They are the index of our weakness or our strength, as the case may be. That a boy steals the knife of his playmate is not necessarily an irreparable injury. That he has the weakness of character which allows him to steal is the vital point. If he has come into present life with an innate tendency to steal, andMs thus led into shame and sorrow, all this is, strictly speaking, the outgrowth of weakness not overcome in the past. "Karma," says Patanjali, a very ancient theosophist "exists only in the form of mental deposits." That is, if a man commits a wrong he does it because of moral weakness, and by doing so he morally weakens himself still further. The real wrong is done himself rather than any other. We are punished by our sins not

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248 THEOSOPHY. for them. When the truth of this is realized, ptmishment of criminals will be educational. Viewed in the light of Karmic law, we learn to accept all experience as opportunity for growth. From this point of view, we become impersonal, and, happily, lose what Whitman calls our "mortal adhesions." In the last analysis, we must regard all experience as the operation of the law of cause and effect. Hence we may suffer from disease, the germs of which were contracted under conditions of which we are entirely ignorant. A child may touch a heavily charged electric wire, and be fatally injured, but there would be no element of injustice in the relation between the cause and the consequence, for the beneficence of the law inheres in its inflexibility. We are asked : Does not belief in Karma lessen the importance of heredity? To a great extent, ^yes. And in turn, we ask : Are not men of science themselves growing more skeptical of the infallibility of heredity ? Theosophy admits physical heredity alone. The parents are the progenitors of the physical body only. "That which is bom of the flesh is flesh; and that which is bom of the spirit is spirit." But, it is asked, what of plainly inherited tendencies to the liquor habit and other kindred vices? The reincarnating Ego is Karmically drawn to the environment best adapted to express its character. A man during lifetime frequents the society he finds congenial. If he prefers the companionship of drunkards and the environment of saloons, he seeks it. When the time for reincamation arrives, the Ego is irresistibly drawn by the law of Karma to the parents who can fumish the physical body best fitted to express the tendencies of character he has already formed. The family into which he is reborn, may be one with whom he has been connected before. If Karmic force previously generated has not been fully satisfied, he must reincamate with them again.

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THEOSOPHY. 349 This certainty is one of the safeguards of Karma. We do not know how nor why we were bom into this life exactly as we have been, except that it is through the action of Karmic law. But the potency of the tie that unites us to certain other persons is proof of its preexistence, and whatever Karmic relations are not exhausted in one incarnation must be resumed in another. Why should we be brought together in this life, where the only certain accompaniment of love is grief, if it is to be for one short life only? In consideration of the boundless scope of Karma and reincarnation, that which we have been apt to call injustice and inequality in life is eliminated. Perhaps the most fertile source of bitterness and skepticism has been the apparent inequality in the widely varying conditions of mankind. We see one child bom in the slums, of depraved parents, and with no possible outgrowth but vice and degradation. Another is bora in luxury, surrounded by love, every want supplied, and with every opportunity for education and culture. If each incarnated soul is a special divine creation, each equally pure at birth, then injustice is indeed the law I The recognition of the tmth of unity, and of evolution by means of reincamation and Karma, involves the recognition of the additional truth that each of us is exactly where he belongs. Excepting the unavoidable results of more or less of "that intellectual blindness which men call sin," there are no inequalities, for the law is impartial. Our habits, instincts, tendencies, are our Karmic accumulations, our fund of character. Our surroundings are of our own making. But wherein does this doctrine diflfer from that of fate? It differs in that we can control it, take advantage of it, use it, as we would avail ourselves of any force or any law upon the physical plane. The fierce ocean wind, instead of being^ an obstacle to trade, is utilized and made an instmment where-

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250 THEOSOPHY. by commerce is augmented. Electricity, if persistently generated (as we persistently generate Karmic effects) and then allowed to play upon whatever came in its way, would execute nothing but destruction; but when properly directed, worked with, instead of against, becomes our most powerful ally and obedient servant. In like manner, Karma must be used. We must work along the lines that Karma has marked out, or we have simply to learn the whole lesson over again. Every circumstance or incident of life, however apparently trivial, reveals, in our use of it, either strength or weakness. If weakness, then there is need of repair, and we have that in our own hands. "Qioose the better rather than the dearer," says the "Katha Upanishad." What is that but to convert the dearer into the better? Happiness, in its highest aspect, means harmony. The attainments of happiness, then, must depend upon the development of harmony within, or, perhaps one might say, the harmonizing of the outer life with the inner. Now, Karma becomes painful in exact proportion to interior discord, and as soon as we acquire an appreciation of this, the responsibility is consciously ours, whether Karma is a tool or a hindrance. If we could learn to ask ourselves, in each trying circumstance in life: "What is there in this for me?" and could learn to regard each circumstance as a test, and to make our use of it an affirmation of the Divine Self within, we should not only grow, but be better able to help others, which is, after all, our only object in desiring growth. There are two aspects to man's nature. We often hear them spoken of as the higher and lower, but the words are a trifle misleading. It is true, however, that there are two tendencies in each of us ^the one to ease and pleasure and inertia, and the other to struggle and consequent growth, and so to happiness. As long as we each present these two phases, so long will disharmony prevail, and we will incite the action of Karmic Law. This

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THEOSOPHY. 351 does not involve a deliberate eflfort to "kill out" what is called the lower self. It is rather the conversion of the lower into the higher by the constant direction of thought to higher levels, the lower thus evolving into the higher. It is a process of fusion by means of the fire of aspiration. In the constant eflfort toward a union with the Spiritual Self hides the secret of happiness ^the secret of harmony ^the secret of the utilizing the law of Karma. When we can thus habitually choose the better rather than the dearer, we shall act in harmony with Karma; and when there is no longer Karmic friction there can no longer be suflFering. The value of Karma as a doctrine depends upon its practical use in the aflFairs of every day. We may say first, in considering this, that it is a stimulus to right and unselfish action. Believing in Karma we can no longer depend upon any one but ourselves for "redemption," upon any chance or mercy, contingent upon our own change of opinion at the last minute. We must rather acknowledge that it is innate character which counts, that spiritual evolution is what we must all ultimately attain, and can hasten if we will, and that every act of our lives must be either a step forward or a step back. And as it is through the mind that the spiritual man must gain individuality at this stage of evolution, it follows that we must first of all, purify the mind. It is the character of our thought that determines our next incarnation, for thought takes form before deed. Hence, it is more important than all else that we learn to think right. Believing in Karma, if one is conscious of possessing traits and characteristics that are small and mean and weak, he knows they must be overcome, or else be brought back into another life, to renew the same old struggle that is so wearisome, and has already been the cause of so much sorrow. But he knows, also, that if the fight is made now, and the weakness outgrown.

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a5 THBOSOPHY. that conflict is ended for eternity that warfare will never be reopened. Believing in Karma, we know that each fellow creature, be he strong or weak, is in that respect a Karmic expression. If he shows some apparently overwhelminig infirmity, Karma bids one remember that possibly that is the greatest fault he has to conquer, and when that is accomplished, his ascent may be much more rapid than one's own. So Karma teaches charity, patience and compassion. "Such is the law which moves to righteousness, Which ncMie at last can turn aside or stay; The heart of it is love, the end of it Is Peace and consummation sweet. Obey."