                             A Letter on KARMA
 (A companion piece in the edition of "Man Know Thyself" published by Dona
                                  Kelley)
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The Supreme Creator and the individual spirit in the creation are connected
together through the Sound Current. But Kal, also the creation of the
Supreme Being, separates the individual from the current by coming in
between as mind and forms. Hence, the individual feels disconnected, but
not so the Creator.

There are three minds, and corresponding to these three minds are three
kinds of forms. In Trikuti, the Nijman (innermost mind) or Brahm, and the
Universal Mind cover the spirit. The forms here are made up of very pure
Maya (mind); so much so, that a majority of the seekers have failed to see
here the spirit apart from the Maya or Mind, and therefore considered Brahm
as all pervading, etc. Lower down in Sahansdal Kanwal, the forms of Trikuti
get another covering of mind and formboth coarser than the above, the
Astral form here being governed by the Andi Man. In this zone, there are
the hells and heavens and numerous other Lokas (Regions). The tendencies of
the mind are directed inward and are elevating. This mind behaves like a
wise enemy (seeking to keep us here). Further down in Pind (region below
the eyes), the Astral form gets another covering of coarse material, with
which we are all familiar. The mind that governs this form is called the
Pindi Man (Pindi Mind). Its tendencies are outward and diffusive, and are
most difficult to control.

Now, a body actuated by mind and spirit cannot help performing Karma, and
the Karmic Law, "as you sow, so shall you also reap" continues to work, and
the account is complicated with time. The more one works, the more and
greater is the entanglement, like a bird struggling in the meshes of a net.
So cunningly has Kal arranged the snare of forms and minds that it is well
nigh impossible to escape from their working in these minds and bodies. No
matter how goodly and godly we be, it will not take us out from these
regions. Says Lord Krishma, "Good actions are as much binding as bad
actions; good actions may be likened to fetters of gold and bad actions to
those of iron, and both are equally sufficient to keep us tied."

The escape is through the Sound Current which is the substratum at the
bottom of these minds. Only when the attention catches and follows the
current does the mind become dormant and out of action. At all other times
when the attention is off the current, the mind gets the upper hand.
Through the long and indefinite time since the spirit separated from its
Ocean and associated itself with the minds and bodies, not only has the
upward passage been blocked, but the spirit has been so bewildered,
entangled, and enfeebled, that it has lost all memory of it home, and is
contented to live a miserable life in this wretched, material world.

Now, there are two ways of looking at this creationThe Creator's point of
view; or in other words, from the top, and from the bottom end. From the
top end, it seems that the Creator is all in all. He is the only doer and
the individual seems like a puppet tossed right and left by the wire
puller. There seems no free will in the individual and therefore no
responsibility on his head. It is His play. There is no why or wherefore.
All the Saints, when they look from the top, describe the creation as His
manifestation. They see Him working everywhere.

Now, looking at the thing from below, or the individual viewpoint, we come
across variety as opposed to oneness. Everybody appears working with a
will, and is influenced by and is influencing others with whom he comes in
contact. The individual is the doer, and is therefore responsible for his
actions and their consequences. All actions are recorded in his mind and
memory and cause likes and dislikes, which keep him pinned down to the
material, astral or mental spheres, according to his actions in an earlier
move in the cycle of transmigration. The individual in these regions cannot
help doing actions, and having done them, cannot escape their influence.
Individual is the doer and therefore bears the consequences of his actions.

As stated above, the observations differ on account of the difference in
the angle of vision. Both are right. The individual clothed in coarse
material form, sees only the external material forms. His sight does not go
deeper than that. If he were to rise up, the same individual from Sahansdal
Kanwal will see the mind actuating all forms. The form will be secondary
only; mind will be the mover in all. The same individual from Dashwan Dwar
will see the Spirit Current working everywhere and will see how the mind
gets power from the Spirit. From Sach Khand the whole creation looks like
bubbles forming and disappearing in a spiritual ocean.

An individual is endowed with intelligence and does every action knowingly,
it is therefore incumbent upon him to find a way to escape from this
entanglement. To raise his Spirit he must struggle against the mind, for he
lives by struggle. "Where there is a will, there is a way." He cannot say
that this is no part of his duty.

Now, the Karmas are divided into three groups. ( 1 ) Kryman or new actions;
(2) Pralabhad or Fate; and (3) Sinchit or reserve. We take the case of a
farmer. He prepares his land for seed. He has the option to sow whatever he
likes. Suppose he decides on wheat and sows it. The crop matures and he
gathers it. Some of it he keeps for his consumption during the coming year,
and the surplus he puts in store. For the next year he will have to live on
wheat, for he has nothing else by him.

If he now wants something else, say corn, he can sow that next season.
Suppose he now sows corn and gathers his crop at the end of the year. Like
his wheat crop, he keeps some for his consumption and keeps the surplus in
his store. Year after year he is living on the previous year's gathering
and increasing his reserve in store to be utilized in time of scarcity or
need.

You will see that he is living and hopes to live, on what he himself sows
and gathers. Similiarly, whatever we do in this life becomes fate for our
next life; and some of this is kept in reserve by Kal to be given to us if
by any chance (of course these chances are practically nil) we run short of
Karma. Without Karma, Kal cannot keep down a spirit in a body, and without
a body, no Karma can be performed.

It is open to Kal to add from reserve to Fate, or deduct from Fate for
reserve. Like the farmer who is preparing his land for the coming season,
and is living on the gatherings from the last season, with a confidence
based on his reserve, so we are doing our fate, in which we have no choice.
But we do have the choice to work anew as we please, for our future good.
And we have a surplus, which is our reserve from cast lives, of which we
have now no knowledge.

We are therefore at present doing a dual function. (a) In regard to fate,
we are helpless; but (b) in new actions we have a free hand to sow for the
future. To distinguish between these two types by intelligence alone is not
easy for the individual; but a rough rule may be laid down, namely, that
what comes in spite of our efforts, and spontaneously, is due to fate. But
those whose attention is concentrated, and who have access within, can read
their fate easily. It is an open book to them.

Now, in the physical body, actions are done from the heart center. As long
as the mind is centered here (in ordinary individuals, the heart is the
center of mind action), it will be influenced by mind actions. The
sensations of joy and sorrow will be felt as the body is worked from this
center.

When the mind has been elevated to the eye focus by concentration, or in
other words, when the mind has changed its seat or center from the heart to
the eyes; then the feeling used by outward influences, working on the
physical body, will be felt imperceptibly. Joys of the world will not
elevate and its sorrows will not depress him.

The fate actions are stored in the eight-petalled lotus, in Anda above the
eyes. Their influence is felt forcibly as long as that center has not been
crossed. When that center is crossed, and the Master's Astral Form is seen
(for that Form resides there ), the influence of the fate actions will be
perceived nominally. The mind has then become strong and it has the power
to bear joys or sorrows without effort.

But fate cannot be effaced or altered; it will have to be borne. An arrow
after leaving the bow, must find its mark. The reserve actions are stored
at the top of Trikuti, and only when a spirit has crossed the third mmd, or
Trikuti, is it said to be free from all Karma. Below this, the spirit
suffers from the effects of Karma.

All actions are performed with a motive and the motive is binding. It is
NOT EASY to conceive of an action which is performed without a motive. The
mind is consciously or sub-consciously active, and it is ridiculous to talk
of Karma without a counter-Karma. THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM COUNTER-KARMA. By
doing actions, however good, there is no escape. Charity, offerings or
pilgrimages must bring their reward, and the soul doing these things must
receive the reward in one incarnation or another.

THE ESCAPE FROM KARMA LIES IN THE PROTECTION AFFORDED BY THE SAINTS. They
are themselves Karmaless. Their actions are not binding on them, for their
spirits work from Daswan Dwar, a center above the three spheres of mind and
forms, as stated above. They show us the way out. They say, "Let new
actions be performed in the name of the Master, the individual working in
the capacity of an agent only." The new actions, DONE IN THIS SPIRIT, will
not be binding. The fate actions will have been undergone by the time the
life comes to an end; the reserve actions, Saints take partly upon
themselves, and are partly undergone by the devotees, as the Saints think
proper.

They put the individual in touch with the Sound Current, the substratum,
and as the spirit catches it and rises up, and throws off the influences of
mind and matter, it gets stronger and stronger. The more the individual
works on these lines, the easier the Path for him. If otherwise, the course
becomes lengthy, yet the Saints are pledged to see him through, after they
have initiated a soul.

The practice of Sound Current cuts the root of Karma. The Current acts like
a magnet on the spirit. It attracts the spirit to itself, and if the spirit
were not covered by the rust of mind and matter, it would go up like a sky
rocket. The bonds of attachments and impressions are removed by repetition.
The repetition of thoughts of the journey within replace our common daily
thought; and the mind instead of wandering outside, begins to take rest and
peace within; and when it comes in, the spirit comes in with it; and when
the spirit is in, the Current in its turn pulls it up, and when Trikuti has
been crossed (this will only be when all Karmic accounts are settled) the
soul never goes back into transmigration. It will go up to merge with its
Source.

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for an in-depth discussion of Karma see "The Wheel of Life"
