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And we are traveling toward that Centre I" 2S2 GNANI YOGA And again from the same source : "But beyond your plane, and beyond mine, are plane after plane, connected with our earth, the splendors of which man cannot conceive. And there are likewise many planes around the other planets of our chain — and there are millions of other worlds — and there are chains of universes just as there are chains of planets — and then greater groups of these chains — and so on greater and grander beyond the power of man to imagine — on and on and on and on — higher and higher — to inconceivable heights. An infinity of infinities of worlds are before us. Our world and our planetary system and our system of suns, and our system of solar systems, are but as grains of sand on the beach of the mighty ocean. But then you cry, 'But what am I — poor mortal thing — lost among all this inconceiv- able greatness?' The answer comes that You are that most precious thing — a living soul. And if you were destroyed the whole system of universes would crum- ble, for you are as necessary as the greatest part of it — it cannot do without you — you cannot be lost or de- stroyed — you are a part of it all, and are eternal. 'But,' you ask, 'beyond all of this of which you have told me, what is there — what is the Centre of it All?' Your Teacher's face takes on a rapt expression — a light not of earth beams forth from his countenance. 'THE ABSOLUTE!' he replies. THE ELEVENTH LESSON. The Law of Karma. "Karma" is a Sanscrit term for that great Law known to Western thinkers as Spiritual Cause and Ef- fect, or Causation. It relates to the complicated affini- ties for either good or evil that have been acquired by the soul throughout its many incarnations. These af- finities manifest as characteristics enduring from one incarnation to another, being added to here, softened or altered there, but always pressing forward for ex- pression and manifestation. And, so, it follows that what each one of us is in this life depends upon is what we have been and how we have acted in our past lives. Throughout the operations of the Law of Karma the manifestation of Perfect Justice is apparent. We are not punished for our sins, as the current beliefs have it, but instead we are punished by our sins. We are not rewarded for our good acts, but we received our reward through and by characteristics, qualities, affinities, etc., acquired by reason of our having per- formed these good acts in previous lives. We are our own judges and executioners. In our present lives we are storing up good or bad Karma which will stick to us closely, and which will demand expression and manifestation in lives to come. When we fasten around ourselves the evil of bad Karma, we have taken to shelter a monster which will gnaw into our very vitals until we shake him off by developing oppo- site qualities. And when we draw to ourselves the 253 254 GNANI YOGA good Karma of Duty well performed, kindness well expressed, and Good Deeds freely performed without hope of reward, then do we weave for ourselves the beautiful garments which we are destined to wear upon the occasion of our future lives. The Yogi Teachings relating to the Law of Karma do not teach us that Sin is an offense against the Power which brought us into being, so much as it is an offense against ourselves. We cannot injure the Absolute, nor harm It in any way. But we may harm each other, and in so doing harm ourselves. The Yogis teach that Sin is largely a matter of ignorance and misunderstanding of our true nature, and that the lesson must be well learned until we are able to see the folly and error of our former course, and thus are able to remedy our past errors and to avoid their recurrence. By Karma the effects arising from our sins cling to us, until we become sick and weary of them, and seek their cause in our hearts. When we have dis- covered the evil cause of these effects, we learn to hate it and tear it from us as a foul thing, and are thence evermore relieved of it. The Yogis view the sinning soul as the parent does the child who will persist in playing with forbidden things. The parent cautions the child against playing with the stove, but still the child persists in its dis- obedience, and sooner or later receives a burn for its meddling. The burn is not a punishment for the dis- obedience (although it may seem so to it) but comes in obedience to a natural law which is invariable. TLH THE LAW OF KARMA 255 child finds out that stoves and burns are connected, and begins to see some sense and reason in the ad- monitions of the parent. The love of the parent sought to save the child the pain of the burn, and yet the child-nature persisted in experimenting, and was taught the lesson. But the lesson once thoroughly learned, it is not necessary to forbid the child the stove, for it has learned the danger for itself and thereafter avoids it. And thus it is with the human soul passing on from one life to another. It learns new lessons, gathers new experiences, and learns to recognize the pain that invariably comes from Wrong Action, and the Happi- ness that invariably comes from Right Action. As it progresses it learns how hurtful certain courses of action are, and like the burnt child it avoids them thereafter. If we will but stop to consider for a moment the relative degrees of temptation to us and to others, we may see the operations of past Karma in former lives. Why is it that this thing is "no temptation" to you, while it is the greatest temptation to another. Why is it that certain things do not seem to have any at- traction for him, and yet they attract you so much that you have to use all of your will power to resist them ? It is because of the Karma in your past lives. The things that do not now tempt you, have been out- lived in some former life, and you have profited by your own experiences, or those of others, or else through some teaching given you by one who had 256 GNANI YOGA been attracted to you by your unfolding consciousness of Truth. We are profiting to-day by the lessons of our past lives. If we have learned them well we are receiving the benefit, while if we have turned our backs on the words of wisdom offered us, or have refused to learn the lesson perfectly, we are compelled to sit on the same old school-benches and hear the same old lesson repeated until it is fairly driven into our conscious- ness. We wonder why it is that other persons can perform certain evil acts that seem so repulsive to us, and are apt to pride ourselves upon our superior vir- tue. But those who know, realize that their unfor- tunate brethren have not paid sufficient attention to the lesson of the past, and are having it repeated to them in a more drastic form this time. They know that the virtuous ones are simply reaping the benefit of their own application in the past, but that their lesson is not over, and that unless they advance and hold fast to that which they have attained, as well, they will be outstripped by many of those whose failure they are now viewing with wonder and scorn. It is hard for us to fully realize that we are what we are because of our past experiences. It is difficult for us to value the experiences that we are now going through, because we do not fully appreciate the value of bitter experiences once lived out and outlived. Let us look back over the experiences of this present life, for instance. How many bitter episodes are there which we wish had never happened, and how we wish THE LAW OF KARMA 257 we could tear them out of our consciousness. But we do not realize that from these same bitter experiences came knowledge and wisdom that we would not part with under any circumstances. And yet if we were to tear away from us the cause of these benefits, we would tear away the benefits also, and would find our- selves back just where we were before the experience happened to us. What we would like to do is to hold on to the benefits that came from the experience — the knowledge and wisdom that were picked from the tree of pain. But we cannot separate the effect from the cause in this way, and must learn to look back upon these bitter experiences as the causes from which our present knowledge, wisdom and attainment proceeded. Then may we cease to hate these things, and to see that good may come from evil, under the workings of the Law. And when we are able to do this, we shall be able to regard the painful experiences of our present day as the inevitable outcome of causes away back in our past, but which will work surely toward increased knowledge, wisdom and attainment, if we will but see the Good underlying the working of the Law. When we fall in with the working of the Law of Karma we recognize its pain not as an injustice or punishment, but as the beneficent operation of a Law which, although apparently working Evil, has for its end and aim Ultimate Good. Many object to the teachings of the Law of Karma by saying that the experiences of each life, not being 2S GNANI YOGA remembered, must be useless and without value. This is a very foolish position to take concerning the mat- ter. These experiences although not fully remem- bered, are not lost to us at all — they are made a part of the material of which our minds are composed. They exist in the form of feelings, characteristics, in- clinations, likes and dislikes, affinities, attractions, re- pulsions, etc., etc., and are as much in evidence as are the experiences of yesterday which are fresh in our memory. Look back over your present life, and try to remember the experiences of the past years. You will find that you remember but few of the events of your life.