Thus the law ultimately implies that man can free himself from this wheel of birth and death by consciously avoiding all that brings him back into incarnation and by filling his life with ideal activities to refine his nature more highly, until ultimately a lofty stage is reached where the over-all goodness in his life bestows upon him the knowledge of his real Self; and once he attains to this knowledge, the Law of Karma comes to a halt. Bondage is broken. Why? Through their deep insight into the workings of the Law, the Hindus discovered that is was inoperative in the realm of the Soul. It is only in the realm of the mind and the body that this law operates.
Man lies within the jurisdiction of this law and remains bound to the wheel as long as he identifies himself with the mind and the body. The moment he breaks this attachment and detaches himself from this false identity, then he destroys this ignorance utterly and realizes his transcendence, his oneness with the pure spiritual Consciousness. The law cannot any longer touch that soul whose life has become illumined with the essential knowledge that he is neither body nor mind, but pure Consciousness. That is the way of stopping the Wheel of Karma.
One thing more I would like to tell you. This law is concerned not only with outward activity, but even with mental activity, for it is thought which is at the root of every action. Thus, every deliberate thought, of whatever kind, is actually included in man’s Karma, no matter whether it is given any outward physical expression or not. This has to be understood. In the Gita we are given a very clear statement of the Law when we hear that as long as man continues acting as an egoistic individual, so long will he, casting aside one body, take up another body. It is like regular progression. We therefore say that it is like going to a school in which we progress from grade to grade until the learning process is complete and we graduate from that school. Ultimately, man must attain perfection and then only will he obtain freedom from this law and be liberated. Until that stage is reached, until he learns how to base his actions upon the Absolute and to adopt the pure ideal, he will have to take embodiment again and again.
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Next: Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, 5.The Law of Karma and God’s Justice
Energy Enhancement Enlightened Texts Sri Swami Sivananda The Path Beyond Sorrow
Chapter 10
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, Glorious Immortal Atman! The subject of Karma and Reincarnation is one that merits the careful consideration and the intelligent perusal of everyone, for herein lies an exposition of a law which governs our existence in this universe. People are often apt to make loose reference to this subject as the Indian theory of Karma or the Hindu theory of reincarnation. This is a misnomer. It is not the evolution of a theory with which we are concerned, but the revelation of a law. It is interesting to note that this law is not the especial possession of the people of the East, but is at the very origin of all religions, and is commonly held by practically every religion of the world. Therefore, it is not a Hindu law in the same way that the law of gravity is not Newtons law at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation , 1.The Law and Its Implications
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation , 1.The Law and Its Implications, The statement of this Law of Karma and Reincarnation is not a startling one, either. It does not require any special effort to be understood or accepted. Even now, this law is being recognized and accepted in deep conviction by great scientists and has been defined in terms which have been made familiar to everyone. According to their interpretation of the law, restricted to the plane of physical matter, every action has a corresponding reaction and every cause has an inevitable effect. Every chemist, every physicist, believes that this law operates in the external universe governing physical matter at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, 2.The Threefold Karma
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, 2.The Threefold Karma, The actions that operate in the life of every individual according to this law have been divided into three categories. By applying the scientific law of cause and effect to the first category, it is seen that in a persons life-time some activities have effect immediately, some have effect after a few years, but some perhaps have no effect at all in this life-time. What happens to an action whose effect has not been worked out in this life? The potencies of such actionsthe potencies of reactivity, as it were, of unresolved causesgo on accumulating in each individuals storehouse of Karma. That is one category of seeds of Karma at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, 3.ManThe Builder of His Destiny
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, 3.ManThe Builder of His Destiny, Is this great law a curse or a blessing? It is mixed. Ultimately, it is a great blessedness. People have a tendency to look at it from only one particular angle, and that angle is, that as long as a human being is bound to the wheel of this law, there is no happiness for him and he is miserable and he weeps. In this view, Karma will always plague man and the Law of Karma, like the hammer of God, will descend upon his head and inflict perennial suffering upon him. But, is it not clear that this Law of Karma is not actually just a law of retribution or punishment? There is another view, a glorious view, to be taken of it. Just as man cannot escape the results of his activity which are bad (for this, he has to reap tears and suffering), in the same way, he cannot escape his reward. The whole world cannot rob him of his deserved reward. The good actions of a person will follow him anywhere and will overcome for him the greatest difficulty and the greatest sorrow and give him the harvest of joy at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, 4.Breaking the Bondage of Karma
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, 4.Breaking the Bondage of Karma, Thus the law ultimately implies that man can free himself from this wheel of birth and death by consciously avoiding all that brings him back into incarnation and by filling his life with ideal activities to refine his nature more highly, until ultimately a lofty stage is reached where the over-all goodness in his life bestows upon him the knowledge of his real Self; and once he attains to this knowledge, the Law of Karma comes to a halt. Bondage is broken. Why? Through their deep insight into the workings of the Law, the Hindus discovered that is was inoperative in the realm of the Soul. It is only in the realm of the mind and the body that this law operates at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, 5.The Law of Karma and Gods Justice
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 10: The Law Of Karma And Reincarnation, 5.The Law of Karma and Gods Justice, There are two or three questions about the cosmic form of this law and about the individual operation of it which I will answer now. One is: What is the relation between God and the experiences and actions of individuals upon this earth? We have said that God does not create the experiences of the individual, but that his experiences are determined by the particular nature that he has acquired at energyenhancement.org
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