KARMA
A Study in
Karma
by
Annie Besant
Published in
1917
Perfect Justice
From the
physical agony inflicted results physical agony endured, for karma is the restoration
of the equilibrium disturbed. Motive, in this region, does not mitigate, any
more than the pain of a burn is mitigated because the injury has
been
sustained in saving a child from the fire. Where a good motive existed, however
intellectually misdirected – as the saving of souls from the torture of hell,
in the case of the inquisitor, or the saving of bodies from the torture of
disease, in the case of the vivisector – it has its full result in the region
of the character.
Hence we may
find a person born deformed, with a gentle and
patient
character, showing that in a past life he strove to see the right and did the
wrong. The Angels of Judgment are utterly just, and the golden thread of
completely misdirected love may gleam beside the black thread woven by cruelty;
none the less will the black thread draw to the doer of cruelty a misshapen
body. On the other hand, where lust of power and indifference to the pain of
others have mingled their baleful influences with the infliction of cruelty, there
will be found also a mental and emotional twist; a historical case is that of
Marat, who, instead of expiating the cruelty of the past, intensified it by new
cruelty in the very life in which he was reaping the harvest of previous evil.
Hereditary and congenital diseases, again, are the reaction from past
misdeeds. The
drunkard of a previous life will be born into a family in which drunkenness has
left diseases of the nerves – epilepsy and the like.
The
profligate will be born into a family tainted with diseases which spring from
sexual vice. A "bad heredity" is the reaction from wrong activities
in the past.
Often the man
who is reaping these sad harvests shows in his moral nature that he has purged
himself from the evil, though the physical harvesting remains. A steadfast
patience, a sweet enduring content, tell that the evil lies behind, that
victory has been gained, though the wounds sustained in the conflict smart
and sting. So
may a soldier, sorely maimed in a fierce battle remain mutilated for the rest
of his physical life, and yet not regret with any keenness the anguish and the
loss which mark that he has gloriously discharged his duty to his Flag.
And these
warriors who have conquered in a greater battle need not lament too bitterly
over the weakness or deformity of a body which tells of a strife which is past,
but may wear patiently the badge of a struggle with an evil they have overcome,
knowing that in another life no scar of that struggle shall remain.
______________________
KARMA
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Preface
Theosophy and the Masters General Principles
The Earth Chain Body and Astral Body Kama – Desire
Manas Of Reincarnation Reincarnation Continued
Karma Kama Loka
Devachan
Cycles
Arguments Supporting Reincarnation
Differentiation Of Species Missing Links
Psychic Laws, Forces, and Phenomena
Psychic Phenomena and Spiritualism
Quick
Explanations with Links to More Detailed Info
What is Theosophy ? Theosophy Defined (More Detail)
Three Fundamental Propositions Key Concepts of Theosophy
Cosmogenesis
Anthropogenesis
Root Races
Karma
Ascended Masters After Death States Reincarnation
The Seven Principles of Man Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott William Quan Judge
The Start of the Theosophical Society
History of the Theosophical Society
Theosophical Society Presidents
History of the Theosophical Society in Wales
The Three Objectives of the Theosophical Society
Explanation of the Theosophical Society Emblem
Glossaries of Theosophical Terms
An Outstanding
Introduction to Theosophy
By a student of
Katherine Tingley
Elementary Theosophy Who is the Man? Body and Soul
Body, Soul and Spirit Reincarnation Karma
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