Karma
Also Causation, Cause and Effect, Consequences, Divine Justice, Readjustment, Retribution …
ALICE A. BAILEY: Cosmic Fire, page
282: “By a close scrutiny of chart V, it will be apparent wherein lies the problem of the Logos, and wherein lies the accuracy of the correspondence between Him and His reflection Man. …
Both come under the laws governing forms and hence both are controlled in time and space by KARMA, which is the Law of forms.”
395: “… when the inner workings of the Law of Cause and Effect (the law whereby the Lipika Lords govern all Their action) is better comprehended, then – and then only – will the sons of men be able to study with profit the place of manas in the evolutionary scheme. At the present time it is not possible to do more than point out the direction of the path which must be trodden …”
562: “The Factor of Karma. Every thought-form comes under the law of Karma through the effect it produces. At this stage in the history of the system – that vast transitional stage between dense physical life and existence in the logoic etheric body – it is not easy for us to differentiate between those thought forms which are effects and those which are causes. It should be remembered here that only cosmic and solar lords formulate thoughts. The lunar Lords and all lesser intelligences do not do so. Therefore, the two above mentioned groups come under karmic law. They only are self-conscious, and therefore responsible. Where self-consciousness is not, there is no responsibility.”
569 – 570: “The Intermediate Law of Karma.—There is also an intermediate law, which is the synthetic law of the system of Sirius. This law is called by the generic term, the Law of Karma, and really predicates the effect the Sirian system has on our solar system. Each of the two systems, as regards its internal economy, is independent in time and space, or (in other words), in manifestation. We have practically no effect on our parent system, the reflex action is so slight as to be negligible, but very definite effects are felt in our system through causes arising in Sirius. These causes, when experienced as effects, are called by us the Law of Karma, and at the beginning they started systemic Karma which, once in effect, constitutes that which is called Karma in our occult and oriental literature.”
791 – 807: This is a whole paragraph under the headline Incarnation and Karma.
797: “As we are well aware, the law of karma is the most stupendous law of the system and one which it is impossible for the average man in any way to comprehend, for, if traced back along its central root and its many ramifications, one eventually reaches the position where causes antedating the solar system have to be dealt with, and this point of view can only be usefully grasped by a high initiate.
This great law really concerns, or is based on causes which are inherent in the constitution of matter itself and on the interaction between atomic units whether we use this expression in connection with an atom of substance, a human being, a planetary atom or a solar atom.”
1105: “It should be borne in mind by students that all egoic groups come under the Law of Karma, but only as it affects the Heavenly Man, and not the law as it demonstrates in the three worlds. This karmic law, which is the governing impulse of His centres, will show itself in peculiar ways, and as the human monads compose those centres, each group will have its own “activity” problems …”
ALICE A. BAILEY: Rays and The Initiations, page
607: “It is the Principle of Conflict, latent in every atom of substance, which produces, first of all, conflict, then renunciation, and finally emancipation; which produces war in some form or another, then rejection, and finally liberation. This principle is, as you can well see, closely linked to the law of Karma; it is to this principle that Mrs. Besant refers when she speaks in one of her books of the fact that the substance whereof all forms are made is already – from the very dawn of the creative process – tinged with karma.”
724: “Initiation has been defined as “a progressive sequence of directed energy impacts.” These impacts are characterised by points of tension, and these lead inevitably to points of crisis; the whole process is governed by the Law of Cause and Effect. It is this latter point which I seek now to emphasise, because it has a definite and mysterious relation to this sixth initiation. …”
728: “The future, for the average person and for the average disciple, is contained within his past and is implemented in his present. This is not so with the initiate of the sixth initiation. He is entirely liberated from his past; the Law of Karma no longer has any hold over Him.”
ALICE A. BAILEY: Discipleship in the New Age I, page
74: “The Law of Cause and Effect cannot be offset. In those cases where it has been offset, it has required the intervention of Forces, greater than those available at this time upon our planet. These greater Forces can intervene if the world aspirants and disciples make their voices adequately penetrating …”
ALICE A. BAILEY: The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, page
109: “These four stages of the Law of Cause and Effect (as it affects humanity at this time) might be called:
- The perfectingof form expression – Law of Evolution
- The precipitationof karma – Law of Cause and Effect
- The achievement of personality – Law of Polar Opposites (The Dweller on the Threshold)
- The attainment of planetaryinitiation – Law of Initiation”
117: “It is not my intention to explain or elaborate the subject of Karma. This occult yet fundamentally exoteric theme, the Law of Cause and Effect, evokes a general recognition when called by this name. When called the Law of Karma, it is immediately regarded as mysterious, Oriental and new. Called (as it sometimes is) the Law of Retribution, an entirely erroneous connotation has become attached to it. Today, the karma of humanity is descending upon it. I would remind you, however, that the continuous emphasis laid upon the malevolent aspects of karma conveys a wrong impression and negates the full grasp of the truth. There is as much good karma as there is bad; even in the present world situation, the good karma emanating from the soul of humanity balances the evil which comes from the material aspect and is continuously over-emphasised.”
695 – 696: “The searchlight of the Hierarchy is sweeping the planet at this time singling out men and women, here and there, from the mass of men. They indicate esoteric possibility, and in their lives love of humanity and love of the Christ is a basic and fundamental factor. …
When these men and women are found, the work of the discovering initiate is to see to it that information comes to the aspirant in some form or another anent the hierarchical Plan, concerning the reappearance of the Christ (under some name familiar to the aspirant’s religious background), and about the fundamental and needed occult truths – with particular emphasis upon the Law of Cause and Effect, and secondarily upon the Law of Rebirth. The Law of Cause and Effect is of far greater importance than the Law of Rebirth, because it necessitates action upon the part of the aspirant, and that action inevitably conditions the future. There is nothing he can do about the Law of Rebirth but submit to it and be grateful that opportunity continues to present itself.”
ALICE A. BAILEY: The Reappearance of the Christ, page
145 – 47: “… The spirit in man is undying; it forever endures, progressing from point to point and stage to stage upon the Path of Evolution, unfolding steadily and sequentially the divine attributes and aspects. This truth involves necessarily the recognition of two great natural laws; the Law of Rebirth and the Law of Cause and Effect. The churches in the West have refused officially to recognise the Law of Rebirth and have thereby wandered into a theological impasse and into a cul-de-sac from which there is no possible exit. The churches in the East have over-emphasised these laws so that a negative, acquiescent attitude to life and its processes, based on continuously renewed opportunity, controls the people.”
ALICE A. BAILEY: The Light of the Soul, page
197: “… This literally involves a study of the law of cause and effect, or karma, the object of the karmic law being to bring the opposite pole of Spirit, matter, into strict conformity with the requirements of spirit so that matter and form can perfectly express the nature of spirit.”
ALICE A. BAILEY: Esoteric Healing, page
21: “The Law of Karma is not the Law of Retribution, as one would surmise as one reads the current books upon the subject; that is but one aspect of the working of the Law of Karma. The Law of Cause and Effect is not to be understood as we now interpret it. …
The Law of Consequences is not the inevitable and set affair which modern thought surmises, but is related to the Laws of Thought far more closely than has been believed; …
I have referred to this misunderstanding of the Law of Karma as I am anxious to have you set out on this study of the Laws of Healing with a free and open mind as far as may be …”
114: “The Law of Cause and Effect, or of Karma, governs all disease. This embraces individual, group, national and total human karma.”
259 – 271: Chapter III, Our Karmic Liabilities, Introductory Remarks.
My comment: This Chapter is about four great symbolic happenings in the history of the past two thousand years, which relate to the working out of Karma in personal, national and international lives. These happenings are:
“1. The life of Christ Himself …
2. The signing of the Magna Charta …
3. The Emancipation of the Slaves …
4. The Liberation of Humanity by the United Nations …”
349: “I have already suggested to you that the entire question of karma is as yet imperfectly comprehended. A great Law of Cause and Effect exists, but one particular aspect of it has never been emphasised, and the knowledge of humanity on the subject of karma is very elementary. Karma has always been interpreted in terms of disaster, and consequences that are painful, of error, of penalty, and of evil happenings, both for the individual and for the group. Yet, such is the beauty of human nature, and much that is done is of such a fine quality and so selfless and so happily oriented, that the evil is frequently offset by the good. There is everywhere, little as it may be realised, an abundance of good karma of a potency (under the same Law) equal to that which is regarded as bad.”
405: “You have, therefore, three aspects of the Law of Karma, as it affects the principle of rebirth:
- The Law of Karmic Liability, governing life in the three worlds of human evolution, and which is ended altogether at the fourth initiation.
- The Law of Karmic Necessity. This governs the life of the advanced disciple and the initiate from the time of the second initiation until a certain initiation higher than the fourth; these initiations enable him to pass on to the Way of the Higher Evolution.
- The Law of Karmic Transformation, a mysterious phrase governing the processes undergone upon the Higher Way. These fit the initiate to pass off the cosmic physical plane altogether, and to function upon the cosmic mental plane. …”
ALICE A. BAILEY: Discipleship in the New Age II, page
209: “3. Shamballa, with its life and intention focussed in the Council Chamber of the great Lord, Sanat Kumara. Here is known and embodied the Purpose of the planetary Logos under the meditative impression of the group which knows His will and which wields the Law of Synthesis. In the hands of this august Council, the Law of Karma finds adequate planetary guidance; this does not refer to the law as it affects the individual human being because of such individuals the Council Members have no knowledge, for the reason that They think and meditate only in terms of the Whole; but They know the nature of planetary karma and of its delayed or rapid application, according to transient planetary indications. The great Wheel of Life, with its passing manifestations and its recurring civilisations, is directed by Them; the manifesting kingdoms in nature, great cyclic expressions of life, are controlled by Them, and all this is produced through the potency of Their creative meditation which impresses the needed inspiration (another phrase for the breath of life itself) upon the Nirmanakayas and through Them upon the spiritual Hierarchy.”
339: “The great Law of Karma has received little attention from the standpoint of time; yet it is that which determines the sequence of evolution, of evolutionary progress, the period of karmic recognitions, and the conclusion of a karmic cycle.”
340: “Manifestation and the Law of Cause and Effect are related; where manifestation exists, there this great Law – governing substance and innate in matter – must control and must condition form. The Master, however, stands free, endowed with the Christ-consciousness. He then wields this Law, but is not wielded by it.”
538: “There comes ever in the life of a disciple and in the soul’s experience some one particular life wherein the Law of Cause and Effect assumes importance in the consciousness. From that life and that moment, the disciple begins to deal with karma, consciously and definitely. He learns to recognise it when events and happenings come which require understanding and which evoke questioning; he begins to study the quality of his radiation as a karmic agent, and therefore he becomes the maker and constructor, in a new and important sense, of his own destiny and future.”
ALICE A. BAILEY: Telepathy, page
168: “Little has as yet been given out anent the relation of the four physical ethers and the four cosmic ethers; there is nevertheless a direct relation between them, and this the initiatory process reveals. This also brings about significant changes in the vehicles of humanity. There is also a direct relation between the four aspects of karma (the Law of Cause and Effect) and the four physical ethers, as well as the four cosmic ethers; this relationship will later constitute the basis of a new occult science.”
LUCILLE CEDERCRANS: Applied Wisdom,
Introduction, side 8: “The Law of Karma or Retribution. This Law is the determining factor for the subject matter of any one grade. It is that which attracts to a man all that which is his own. If at one time he steals, at another time he will be stolen from, until he learns that it is not good for him to steal. If at one time he gives, at another time he will receive, so that he will learn that it is good for him to give. Later, much later, he will learn the why of these things; in the beginning he learns only in terms of good and bad.”
Divine Love, page 253: “Throughout the ages man has glimpsed a small portion of God’s Plan and by his very limitations thought each portion was the whole. That part which you have grasped and held, as it flowed from God on its involutionary Path to you is kept from moving forward on its evolutionary way back to the whole. For man is not content to live by God’s Laws and let Divine Love flow through all, back to its Source. He puts into manifestation that which he has learned and sets up man‑made laws for those who follow him to live by, thus setting into motion another Divine Principle ‑ the Law of Cause and Effect.”
Intutition, side 549: “What are you doing exactly when you invoke the manifestation of the Divine Plan for humanity (and remember you are a part of the focused group of humanity) in Divine Law and Order? You are invoking into operation within your own life and affairs and those with whom you are closely associated – Divine Law and Order. The first law to come into operation is the Law of karma. For it is only through the precipitation of karmic necessity, the resolution of that karma, that the disciple not only achieves his spiritual growth and development, but learns to deal with the opposition.”
554: “You do not rise above the Law of Karma. This concept is based on wishful thinking and fear. You utilize the Law of Karma. The time will come when you have reached a certain initiation where you wield karma with no consequences. This comes with Mastery. The Master has not risen above the Law of Karma. The Lords of Karma dictate yet at that level, the opportunities that the Master faces. Grace is but one part of the Law of Karma.”
LUCILLE CEDERCRANS: Healing, page
9 and 10: “We come now to the Law of Karma, which is one of the basic laws governing evolution, and therefore an understanding of it is vitally important to all aspirants and disciples. It is impossible in the short space we have to communicate all of the information necessary for such an understanding. However, I can give you some very basic teaching anent this subject, which will provide you with enough knowledge to co‑operate with the Law. At a later date when there are more conscious disciples in the world and the work has progressed sufficiently, you will be provided with the necessary text books to cover the subject.
The Law of Karma, which is peculiarly related to the Cosmic Law of Economy, is as I stated in the last lesson, the Law of Action and Re‑action. Every act must produce its re‑action; thus we have evolution of consciousness through experience in form. …
Without this governing Law of Karma, our manifested Universe would fall apart, for there would be no balance.”
10: “He told man that if he “looketh upon a woman to lust after her, he hath already committed adultery with her in his heart” and in this he gave to the world the Law of Cause and Effect, (Karma) for he knew that “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
LUCILLE CEDERCRANS: Nature of the Soul, Lesson 4, page
58: “There is another factor to be considered here, and that is the law of cause and effect. Cause originates in the inner world of thought, and effect is the manifestation of that thought in form. We find that every situation is an effect of a state of consciousness, and that to successfully change the situation, we must work with the consciousness aspect which is its cause. Therefore, the disciple works from above, downward. He extends his awareness into the world of mind, and of the emotions, as well as the world of form.”
ANNIE BESANT: An Epitome of Theosophy:
“The Law of Action and Reaction. This is universal and exists in the world of emotion, thought and spirit as much as in the physical world. Hence a man can build his character as scientifically as he can build up his body, and disregard of the mental and moral laws is as destructive of mental and moral health as disregard of physical laws is destructive of physical health. The study and utilizing of the laws, summed up as karma, forms an important part of Theosophical work.”
ANNIE BESANT: Ancient Wisdom, page
242: “Having traced the evolution of the soul by the way of reincarnation, we are now in a position to study the great law of causation under which rebirths are carried on, the law which is named Karma. Karma is a Sanskrit word, literally meaning “action”; as all actions are effects flowing from preceding causes, and as each effect becomes a cause of future effects, this idea of cause and effect is an essential part of the idea of action, and the word action, or karma, is therefore used for causation, or for the unbroken linked series of causes and effects that make up all human activity.
ANNIE BESANT: Communication between Different Worlds
“The question will naturally be asked: Why should so impressive and satisfactory a means of communication [the materialization of one of the Masters] be dangerous? Because of the universality of the well-known law that “action and re-action are equal and opposite!” Whenever the forces of the higher planes are caused to affect the lower directly, there is a re-action equal to the action caused, and the direct action down here of a Brother of the White Lodge is followed by a similar direct action here of a Brother of the Dark Lodge.”
GEOFFREY HODSON: Human Happiness
“Theosophy, however, makes a very important further statement: that we can pass from the grip of the law of cause and effect by learning to work with it. And this is part of the secret of happiness, as I said at the beginning. There is a process of spiritual alchemy by which adversity, resulting from actions motivated by selfishness and cruelty can be diminished, or even dispersed, by the deliberate exertion of opposite energies and by the enactment of deeds motivated by love. Love is the true philosopher’s stone, and service is the alchemical process by which the baser human qualities and the pains of adversity may be transmuted into the fine gold of spiritual power. If you know this and if you learn to live according to this law you have found the secret of happiness.”