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.

Now, all life is brought forth on the surface of this earth by the falling of rain, and so we may say, in one way (and rightly), that it is rain that causes all life. Now it also happens that when rain, the universal common factor as it were, falls and sets life into growth, the life that springs forth is not all of the same kind. Wheat sprouts up as wheat, corn sprouts up as corn, and grass sprouts up as grass—the rain did not have anything to do with it. Within each seed there is an inherent nature which sets a different pattern in growth, though the rain is common and impartial over the whole of the earth. In the same way, it is the seed within one’s own nature, implicit in the thoughts that one thinks and the actions that one engages in, which determines the experiences one will have. According to the mind is the nature of the person determined at birth and, according to this nature are the fresh impressions of life to be received.

The second question I would like to answer is: “In the operation of the Law, is there justice?” Even though it seems that a doer of good deeds is not reaping happiness and that an evil-doer is very well off, one must know that there is not necessarily any causal connection between the type of life one leads and the type of experiences one undergoes. Effects are not immediately produced from causes; and the activity in which man is presently engaged may be considered as the fresh seeds he is sowing, whereas the experiences he is undergoing may be considered as the harvest of a previous sowing. There seems to be a contradiction, but actually there is no contradiction. A compassionate and holy person may give succour and refuge to a fleeing criminal and because he gave shelter to the fugitive, may himself be arrested and sentenced, notwithstanding all his protestations of innocence. People will inevitably jump to the conclusion that this man who acted like a true Christian, giving refuge to a fellow human being in distress out of compassion and charity, was yet made to suffer for his charity. It looks as though his sentence were the direct outcome of his sheltering the criminal. In fact, the police will tell you, the judiciary will tell you, and even death will tell you that because this man harboured a criminal he was condemned, but if we look below the surface, we will find that the juxtaposition of action and experience is only apparent and not real. The kind and compassionate action will be rewarded with blessedness in the future, and the sentence will serve as the reaction from some Karma brought forward from the past. The Law is very mysterious and we cannot immediately understand all its operations. Its simplest statement is: “As you sow, so shall you reap”. Every cause has an effect; every action has a reaction which is of a like nature. This law is universal. This law operates in all human experiences. Therefore, live wisely in the alert awareness of this law and walk along the path of righteousness, the path of goodness. Lead an ideal life and reap a future of peace and bliss.