                                                          Justice and Grace
                           Kirpal Ashram, Calais, Vermont, October 12, 1963

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               There is a law of justice, and there is a law of grace--both
               of them: they are both laws. It is just like, when you light
               a candle, the light is above and the darkness below. If you
               have a bulb, then the light is below and the darkness above.
               So both are the laws working in the world.

               Sowing a seed - that's a point to be understood: when you
               sow a seed, it will bring forth similar seeds. There is
               action-reaction; then again a reaction; and the thing goes
               on like that. There's no end to it. After sowing the grain,
               a man cannot stop having the harvest--the fruit will come.
               So there are many actions. Actions are of one kind, but
               there are three aspects to them.

               There are certain actions which we are doing now,
               daily--fresh actions; fresh seeds are sown, you might say.
               Some have already been sown and are bearing fruit. Others
               have been sown, but are not yet bearing forth fruit. So
               there are three kinds of karmas or actions.

               Our present life depends on those reactions of the past
               karmas which are bearing fruit. They are called pralabdha
               karma. On that karma our length of life is based. According
               to that, some people get children, some die, some are ugly,
               some are old, some have a give-and-take. This is based on
               those karmas or seeds which have grown in the past and are
               now bearing forth fruit in action. This you cannot change.
               When a railroad line is laid down, the train will run over
               it.

               Before you lay down any railroad line, it is up to you to
               lay it down this way or that way. But once it is laid down,
               the train will have to run over it. So, as I told you, some
               karmas are bearing fruit; some we are doing fresh; and
               others have not yet borne any fruit--that will come up in
               due course.

               So we are independent within certain limits to do some
               actions, and we are also bound to some extent. Action,
               reaction, action, reaction goes on--there's no end to it.

               When a Master meets someone, he does not touch the present
               reactions which are coming up; for our life is based on
               that. He lets it alone, he lets it go on. But he does two
               things: For the future, he lays down a line of conduct,
               beyond which we should not transcend: don't think evil of
               anybody, even in mind, not to speak of in word or in deed.
               Be truthful, even in mind. Don't think up anything
               wrong--acting and posing, scheming, polishing, doing
               something underground and then aboveboard doing something
               else.

               And further: be chaste, even in mind, word and deed. And
               have love for all: because all men are alike; they have the
               same privileges that each one of us has. So love all,
               because God is in the hearts of all: whether they are rich
               or poor, whether they are learned or unlearned, they all
               have the same privileges from God that you have.

               Also, do not hate others--even in mind, word or deed. And
               further, when you are to love God and love all humanity,
               then you must give selfless service, not selfish service:
               for love knows service and sacrifice. Selfish service will
               again cause a reaction to come. If you serve selflessly, for
               the sake of God in others, then that won't bear forth fruit.

               As for the present actions which are having reactions, these
               are also softened down, or polished down, you might say, by
               the Master. How? By giving some Bread of Life to your soul,
               so that your soul becomes strong.

               Suppose a fight is going on: one man is very weak, and the
               others are strong. They come to blows and this and that
               thing. The one poor fellow who is very weak gets one blow
               and is stunned; he cries out, "I am killed!" And the others
               who are strong say, "We don't mind. We have had so many
               blows, but we don't care a fig for it." Why is this? Because
               they are strong.

               Reactions do come up, but for those who have strong souls,
               who have the Bread of Life, they lose their pinching effect.
               For the future, Master lays down a line of conduct. For the
               present which is bearing fruit, he gives food to the soul so
               that it will become strong and there will not be any
               pinching effect. And for those which are not yet bearing
               forth fruit, he gives the disciple a contact with God
               within. By coming in contact with God within--when his inner
               eye is opened--he sees that He is the doer of all; that we
               are mere puppets in His hands. He becomes a conscious
               co-worker of the Divine Plan. The result is that there is no
               I-hood left. And all those actions which were sown in the
               past, and are still awaiting fruit, are burned away. Who is
               there to bear their fruit?

               So this is the way in which you can escape from the
               reactions of the past. If you say, "Oh, I can do this and
               that"--with a little I-hood in it--so long as you are the
               doer, you have to bear the reactions of it. When no "doer"
               is left, then God is the doer. You are absolved.

               There is a story given in the Koran, the scripture of the
               Mohammedans. There was once a saint who from his very
               childhood had left the world to reside in a jungle like this
               (Kirpal Ashram). Here, fortunately, you find enough water,
               electricity and everything else; but there, there was
               nothing like that. For miles and miles around there was no
               water and nothing to eat.

               So he used to pray to God, and God made some arrangement to
               take care of him. One small spring sprouted forth, and from
               that, very sweet water was flowing; and he used to drink
               water from that.

               And they say there was one pomegranate tree, and each day
               one pomegranate was borne by the tree. He used to eat that
               pomegranate and drink that water and pass his days.

               It is said there that after long, long years--seventy or
               eighty years--he died. He was presented to the court of God.
               God looked at him: "All right, we forgive you as a matter of
               grace."'

               His eyes opened wide: "Well, all through life I've been
               killing myself doing this sort of penance and that sort of
               penance, and with all that, I'm now being forgiven as a
               matter of grace--as an act of grace only?" In his heart of
               hearts, he thought perhaps that a very great injustice was
               being done.

               God read his mind and said, "Well, would you like us to make
               an account of your own actions?"

               "Yes, You may, please." (At heart he wanted it.)

               "All right, look here. In that jungle there was no water for
               miles and miles altogether. One spring was created there,
               only for you--specially for you. And there was a pomegranate
               tree; each day it bore one big pomegranate: no tree can bear
               forth one fruit daily. So that is in compensation for all
               you've done. Now let us account for your other actions: you
               were walking along the way, and some insect died--trampled
               down under your feet. You must be trampled down as you
               trample down. Further, you did this, and that..."

               The saint thought that perhaps matters had gotten worse and
               said, "All right, please excuse me; forgive me, if You would
               like to."

               Masters come, not to break the law, but to fulfill the law
               as a matter of redemption by grace; not as action-reaction.
               Guru Nanak says, "With actions, you can have reactions. As
               you sow, so shall you reap. But redemptin cmes only by
               grace." All Masters say so.

               Of course, it does not mean we should be vicious. We should
               restrict ourselves according to the commandments the Masters
               have given us.

               Another thing you might want to know about it is: a father
               has a child who does not obey him. He commits some
               offense--something like that. What would the father do?
               Would he send him to the police? I don't think so. No father
               would permit his son to be sent to the police. He might slap
               him once or twice, but he wouldn't send him to the police.

               So, similarly, when you come to a Master--the God in
               him--you are all his children. He doesn't send you on the
               regular course, to bear the fruit of what you have sown.
               That's a concession. Otherwise, how long would you continue
               like that? First there's the seed, and then there's the
               tree; then there are many seeds and again a tree. Is the egg
               before the hen or the hen before the egg?--where's the end?
               So it's a matter of redemption by grace. It is something
               like that--so that you can understand it. Unless you become
               a conscious co-worker of the Divine Plan, there's no escape,
               no emancipation. "As you sow, so shall you reap": that goes
               on like that for aeons and aeons of time.

               QUESTION: Do we have to work it all off on this physical
               plane--all the karma that we have--like the "B-type" of
               karma that we are working off in this life? What about the
               things that we are doing now or have done in this
               lifetime--what if we're not all finished up by the time we
               die?

               THE MASTER: I think I have replied to you and you have not
               followed it. When you become a conscious co-worker of the
               Divine Plan, when you become selfless, who will bear
               whatever actions you have done? Furthermore, that is why all
               Masters say: "Be desireless." Master tries to wind up all
               your reactions of the past, just as I told you, by giving
               you strength--by giving the Bread of Life to your soul--so
               that the reactions which are coming up will not be pinching
               to you. But he doesn't touch them. Otherwise, as soon as a
               man was initiated, he would die. For that reason they are
               not touched. For the future, he lays down a line of conduct.
               For the past, if you become selfless--a conscious
               co-worker--then nothing will come up. Guru Nanak says, "O
               Master, what is the use of coming to your feet if, when
               coming here, we still have to bear the fruit of all the
               actions which we have done in the past?" He gives an
               example: "What is the use of going to the feet of a lion if
               still jackals come and howl at you?"

               So that is a great blessing. Now the question may arise:
               What is a Master? A Master is a man like you. Each one of us
               has the same privileges. The difference lies only in the
               fact that although God resides in every heart, in the heart
               of a Master He is now manifest.

               Master is a conscious co-worker; that is, He is doing it; it
               is not he who is speaking, but the God in him Who is
               speaking. He becomes a mouthpiece of God. We can also become
               the mouthpiece of God. Every Saint has his past, and every
               sinner a future.

               How has he become the mouthpiece of God? The man who has
               reached that stage can also give you the same thing. On the
               very first day, when he initiates you, he withdraws and
               drags your soul above body-consciousness and gives you a
               contact with the Light and Sound Principle of God. That is
               the way back to the ultimate, absolute God. When you become
               quite conscious of all that, you see that, "It is He that is
               doing it, not I." So when all reactions are finished, it is
               just like having a few grains of seeds, which have been
               roasted in the oven: even if you sow them, they won't bear
               forth fruit; they will not grow. It is something like that.

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