Theos-Talk Archives (December 1997 Message tt00072)

>From  :  Sophia TenBroeck
         Dec. 15 '97

Dear Freinds

There has been quite a bit of discussion on the subject of KARMA, and I
thought that the Aphorisms prepared by Wm. Q. Judge might be of help and
guide one in furthering our understanding.

             APHORISMS    ON    KARMA

                  by W. Q. Judge


     The following, among others not yet used, were given to me by
Teachers, among them being H. P. Blavatsky. Some were written, others
communicated in other ways. To me they were declared to be from
manuscripts not now accessible to the general public.
     Each one was submitted for my judgement and reason; and just as
they, aside from any authority, approved themselves to my reason after
serious consideration of them, so I hope they will gain the approval of
those my fellow workers to whom I now publish them.
                                                William Q. Judge

   1. There is no Karma unless there is a being to make it or feel its
effects.

   2. Karma is the adjustment of effects flowing from causes, during
which the being upon whom and through whom that adjustment is effected
experiences pain or pleasure.

   3. Karma is an undeviating and unerring tendency in the Universe to
restore equilibrium, and it operates incessantly.

   4. The apparent stoppage of this restoration to equilibrium is due to
the necessary adjustment of disturbance at some other spot, place, or
focus which is visible only to the Yogi, to the Sage, or the perfect
Seer: there is therefore no stoppage, but only a hiding from view.

   5. Karma operates on all things and beings from the minutest
conceivable atom up to Brahma.  Proceeding in the three worlds of men,
gods, and the elemental beings, no spot in the manifested universe is
exempt from its sway.

   6. Karma is not subject to time, and therefore he who knows what is
the ultimate division of time in this Universe knows Karma.

   7. For all other men Karma is in its essential nature unknown and
unknowable.

   8. But its action may be known by calculation from cause to effect;
and this calculation is possible because the effect is wrapped up in and
is not succedent to the cause.

   9. The Karma of this earth is the combination of the acts and
thoughts of all beings of every grade which were concerned in the
preceding Manvantara or evolutionary stream from which ours flows.

  10. And as those beings include Lords of Power and Holy Men, as well
as weak and wicked ones, the period of the earth's duration is greater
than that of any entity or race upon it.

  11. Because the Karma of this earth and its races began in a past too
far back for human minds to reach, an inquiry into its beginning is
useless and profitless.

  12. Karmic causes already set in motion must be allowed to sweep on
until exhausted, but this permits no man to refuse to help his fellows
and every sentient being.

  13. The effects may be counteracted or mitigated by the thoughts and
acts of oneself or of another, and then the resulting effects represent
the combination and interaction of the whole number of causes involved
in producing the effects.

  14. In the life of worlds, races, nations, and individuals, Karma
cannot act unless there is an appropriate instrument provided for its
action.

  15.And until such appropriate instrument is found, that Karma related
to it remains unexpended.

  16. While a man is experiencing Karma in the instrument provided, his
other unexpended Karma is not exhausted through other beings or means,
but is held reserved for future operation; and lapse of time during
which no operation of that Karma is felt causes no deterioration in its
force or change in its nature.

  17. The appropriateness of an instrument for the operation of Karma
consists in the exact connection and relation of the Karma with the
body, mind, intellectual and psychical nature acquired for use by the
Ego in any life.

  18. Every instrument used by any Ego in any life is appropriate to the
Karma operating through it.

  19. Changes may occur in the instrument during one life so as to make
it appropriate for a new class of Karma, and this may take place in two
ways: (a) through intensity of thought and the power of a vow, and (b)
through natural alterations due to complete exhaustion of old causes.

  20. As body and mind and soul have each a power of independent action,
any one of these may exhaust, independently of the others, some Karmic
causes more remote from or nearer to the time of their inception than
those operating through other channels.

  21. Karma is both merciful and just. Mercy and Justice are only
opposite poles of a single whole; and Mercy without Justice is not
possible in the operations of Karma. That which man calls Mercy and
Justice is defective, errant, and impure.

  22. Karma may be of three sorts: (a) presently operative in this life
through the appropriate instruments; (b) that which is being made or
stored up to be exhausted in the future; (c) Karma held over from past
life or lives and not operating yet because inhibited by
inappropriateness of the instrument in use by the Ego, or by the force
of Karma now operating.

  23. Three fields of operation are used in each being by Karma: (a) the
body and the circumstances; (b) the mind and intellect. (c) the psychic
and astral planes.

  24. Held-over Karma or present Karma may each, or both at once,
operate in all of the three fields of Karmic operation at once, or in
either of those fields a different class of Karma from that using the
others may operate at the same time.

  25. Birth into any sort of body and to obtain the fruits of any sort
of Karma is due to the preponderance of the line of Karmic tendency.

  26. The sway of Karmic tendency will influence the incarnation of an
Ego, or any family of Egos, for three lives at least, when measures of
repression, elimination, or counteraction are not adopted.

  27. Measures taken by an Ego to repress tendency, eliminate defects,
and to counteract by setting up different causes, will alter the sway of
Karmic tendency and shorten its influence in accordance with the
strength or weakness of the efforts expended in carrying out the
measures adopted.

  28. No man but a sage or true seer can judge another's Karma. Hence
while each receives his deserts, appearances may deceive, and birth into
poverty or heavy trial may not be punishment for bad Karma, for Egos
continually incarnate into poor surroundings where they experience
difficulties and trials which are for the discipline of the Ego and
result in strength, fortitude, and sympathy.

  29. Race-Karma influences each unit in the race through the law of
Distribution. National Karma operates on the members of the nation by
the same law more concentrated. Family Karma governs only with a nation
where families have been kept pure and distinct; for in any nation where
there is a mixture of family -- as obtains in each Kaliyuga period --
family Karma is in general distributed over a nation. But even at such
periods some families remain coherent for
long periods, and then the members feel the sway of family Karma. The
word 'family' may include several smaller families.

  30. Karma operates to produce cataclysms of nature by concatenation
through the mental and astral planes of being. A cataclysm may be traced
to an immediate physical cause such as internal fire and atmospheric
disturbance, but these have been brought on by the disturbance created
through the dynamic power of human thought.

  31. Egos who have no Karmic connection with a portion of the globe
where a cataclysm is coming on are kept without the latter's operation
in two ways: (a) by repulsion acting on their inner nature, and (b) by
being called and warned by those who watch the progress of the
world.

"The Path," March 1893 W. Q. Judge
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