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Karma

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This assurance that perfect Justice rules the world finds support from the increasing knowledge of the evolving Soul... we learn with ever-growing certainty... that the Good Law is working with undeviating accuracy. ~ Annie Besant
To go from mortal to Buddha, you have to put an end to karma, nurture your awareness, and accept what life brings. ~ Bodhidharma

Karma (/ˈkɑːrmə/; Sanskrit: कर्म) means action, work or deed; it also refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect). Good intent and good deeds contribute to good karma and happier rebirths, while bad intent and bad deeds contribute to bad karma and bad rebirths.

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Those who accept the truth of Reincarnation do not blame their parents for their poor talents, or for not possessing extraordinary powers, but they remain content with their own lot, knowing that they have made themselves as they are today by their own thoughts and deeds in their previous incarnations. ~ Swami Abhedananda
Under this view people are not punished "for" their sins, but "by" them — and "Sin" is seen to be merely a "mistake," not a crime. And Pain arises not as a punishment for something done wrongly, but as a warning ~ William Walker Atkinson
  • Whatever karma a soul has acquired through its own prior needs,
    it will obtain the good and bad results thereof.
    If one can obtain results from the deeds of others,
    then surely his own deeds would be meaningless.
    Except for karma earned for oneself by oneself,
    no one gives anything to anyone.
    Reflecting upon this fact, therefore,
    let every person unwaveringly,
    abandon the perverse notion that
    another being can provide him with anything at all.
  • This emphasis on reaping the fruits only of one's own karma was not restricted to the Jainas; both Hindus and Buddhist writers have produced doctrinal materials stressing the same point. Each of the latter traditions, however, developed practices in basic contradiction to such belief. In addition to shraddha (the ritual Hindu offerings by the son of deceased), we find among Hindus widespread adherence to the notion of divine intervention in ones fate, while Buddhists eventually came to propound such theories like boon-granting Bodhisattvas, transfer of merit and like. Only Jainas have been absolutely unwilling to allow such ideas to penetrate their community, despite the fact that there must have been tremendous amount of social pressure on them to do so
    • Acaraya Amitagati's saying summarized by Padmanabh S. Jaini, in "Collected Papers on Jaina Studies", p. 136
  • The path of virtue is not a singing of psalms, but labor and service. If Karma is violated, it will react against you. 232.
    • Agni Yoga, Leaves of Morya’s Garden I, (1924)
  • Karma will overtake one, but its quality may be altered by a voluntary sacrifice to unknown people. 21.
    • Agni Yoga, Leaves of Morya’s Garden II, (1925)
  • Can the roar of a tiger possibly be worse than treacherous thinking? Not only for its actions but also for its thinking does humanity accumulate a grave karma. Thought inflicts tortures on the spirit, for there is no difference between word and thought. A fool is he who will take this warning for a threat. There is no threat—We have only examples, and cares. Each one is free to jump into the abyss, but he must be forewarned... 190.
    • Agni Yoga, Leaves of Morya’s Garden II, (1925)
  • The law of karma and the law of dates are like the double-faced Janus—one gives birth to the other. Karma bears the fruit of actions and calls forth the date of manifestation. Take note that personal karma, group karma, and cosmic karma must be combined—then will the date be correct. Often the development of a personal karma draws after it the group karma. Some spirits are ruled entirely by karma, which means that the knowledge of the spirit is at a minimum and karma is the sole possibility of evolution. 258.
    • Agni Yoga, Leaves of Morya’s Garden II, (1925)
  • Every false accusation, suspicion, or statement immediately burdens the sender. It is foolish to hope that the consequences of a lie can be averted or hidden. Precisely these consequences root themselves, just as promises do, in a karma that must inevitably be outlived. 146.
    • Agni Yoga, Agni Yoga, (1929)
  • It is karma, the fatiguing after effect of previous incarnations, that can bring not very savory fellow-travelers to us. But when each encounter is over, there comes relief, as when property belonging to others has been returned. No less than half of all earthly encounters take place because of past incarnations...
    The broad influence of karma brings about many complicated levels and degrees of relationship. To resolve them, it is better to pay than to receive; for each payment terminates a debt from the past, whereas receiving binds one again. 238.
  • Karma is a most complex process. From the most casual, superficial action to the deepest level of motives, everything is varied in form and color. 417.
    • Agni Yoga, Agni Yoga, (1929)
  • In modern literature mention of the words incarnation and karma has become common. However, these truths have entered but little into human consciousness; otherwise it would have transformed the whole of life. 553.
    • Agni Yoga, Agni Yoga, (1929)
  • One of the most difficult requirements of the Teaching is learning to speak appropriately — to speak so as to properly direct the thinking of the listener, but without intruding upon his karma. To tell all is to enchain. But to awaken striving and indicate a direction is the true task of the Teaching. 642.
    • Agni Yoga, Agni Yoga, (1929)
  • There is an ancient proverb, “Karma is an executioner who guards his victim.” In other words, karma will not allow criminals to be destroyed and thus escape their punishment."
    Indeed, sometimes terrible and obvious evildoers continue to exist, although, humanly speaking, it would seem only just for them to have been destroyed. But is it possible to apply human measures where the Law of Absolute Justice operates? Sometimes the evildoers are punished by prolonged illness or, though in good physical health, become subject to the terrors of psychic unrest.
    One should not think that crime may be excused because of mental imbalance. We should search more deeply and look for causes rooted in the past. Such a study will clarify the concept of karma. The wise do not fear this law. Generally, humanity can be divided into two groups, those who fear the consequences of karma and those who accept them calmly. Avoid those who fear, for they almost certainly sense the approach of karmic retribution. They may not yet know anything about its effects, but in the depths of the Chalice the long-forgotten viper is rising to the surface.
    Mark well the way in which people differ according to their attitude toward the doctrine of reincarnation. Some are able to accept the full justice of this Law, but to others it seems monstrous. Perhaps those who are fearful have vague memories of their previous deeds, and have good reason for their present fears. Thus one can note the division of humanity. (378)
    • Agni Yoga, Supermundane I, (1938)
  • The Thinker taught His disciples not to fear the Law of Karma. He said, “The hunter enters the forest with much hope. How else can he set out? Without hope his hunt will not be successful.” (378)
  • "Karma" is a term in general use among the Hindus, and the Western believers in Reincarnation, the meaning of which is susceptible of various shades of definition and interpretation. It is most important to all students of the subject of Reincarnation, for it is the companion doctrine—the twin-truth—to the doctrine of Metempsychosis. Strictly speaking, "Karma" is the Law of Cause and Effect as applied to the life of the soul—the law whereby it reaps the results of its own sowing, or suffers the reaction from its own action. To the majority of Reincarnationists, however, it has a larger meaning, and is used in the sense of the Law of Justice, or the Law of Reward and Punishment, operating along the lines of personal experience, personal life, and personal character. p. 223
  • Many authorities hold that the original idea of Karma was that of a great natural law operating along exact lines, as do the laws of mathematics and chemistry, bringing forth the exact effect from every cause, and being, above all, questions of good or evil, reward or punishment, morality or immorality, etc., and acting as a great natural force above all such questions of human conduct. To those who still adhere to this conception, Karma is like the Law of Gravitation, which operates without regard to persons, morals or questions of good and evil, just as does any other great natural law. In this view the only "right" or "wrong" would be the effect of an action—that is, whether it was conducive to one's welfare and that of the race, or the reverse. In this view, if a child places its hand on a hot stove, the action is "wrong," because it brings pain and unhappiness, although the act is neither moral or immoral. And another action is "right" because it brings happiness, well-being and satisfaction, present and future, although the act was neither moral nor immoral. In this view there can be neither reward nor punishment, in the common acceptation of the term, although in another sense there is a reward for such "right" doing, and a punishment for such "wrong" doing, as the child with the burnt hand may testify to. p. 224
  • Another view of Karma held by some Western thinkers, who received it from the Greek mystics and occultists, who in turn are thought to have received it from ancient Egypt... hold that the Law of Karma has naught to do with Man's theories of ethics, or religious dogmas or creeds, but has as the basis of its operations only Universal and Cosmic Principles of Action, applicable to the atom as well as Man—to the beings above Man as well. And that these universal principles of action have to do with the evolution of all things in Nature, according to well established laws. And that the evolving soul is continually striving to find the path along the lines of evolution, being urged to by the unfolding spirit within it—and that that "path" is always along the lines of least spiritual friction, and therefore along the lines of the least ultimate spiritual pain. And that, accordingly, Spiritual Pain is an indication to the evolving thing that it is on the wrong path, and that it must find a better way... This teaching holds that all material things are a source of more or less pain to the growing and evolving soul... until it learns its lesson. Finally, perceiving the folly and worthlessness of materiality, it emerges from its cocoon and, spreading out its newly found wings, takes its flight for higher planes of action and being—and so on, and on, and on, forever. p. 247
  • Under this view people are not punished "for" their sins, but "by" them — and "Sin" is seen to be merely a "mistake," not a crime. And Pain arises not as a punishment for something done wrongly, but as a warning sign of "hands off"; and consequently pain is something by which we may mount to higher things—to Something Better—and not a punishment... refuses to use the terms "reward and punishment," or even to entertain those ideas, but instead sees in everything the working out of a great Cosmic Plan whereby everything rises from lower to higher, and still higher. p. 248
  • No system indeed by its own force can bring about the change that humanity really needs; for that can only come by its growth into the firmly realised possibilities of its own higher nature, and this growth depends on an inner and not an outer change. But outer changes may at least prepare favourable conditions for that more real amelioration,... or on the contrary they may lead to such conditions that the sword of Kalki can alone purify the earth from the burden of an obstinately Asuric humanity. The choice lies with the race itself; for as it sows, so shall it reap the fruit of its Karma.
    • Sri Aurobindo, 1920, quoted from Sri Aurobindo, ., Nahar, S., Aurobindo, ., & Institut de recherches évolutives (Paris). India's rebirth: A selection from Sri Aurobindo's writing, talks and speeches. Paris: Institut de Recherches Evolutives. 3rd Edition (2000). [1]

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Karma is therefore that which Man . . . has instituted, carried forward, endorsed, omitted to do, or has done right, through the ages until the present moment. ~ Alice Bailey
Karma ~ An immutable law... is the law of cause and effect. Each cause sets free a corresponding effect. This law works everywhere as the most sublime rule... Instinctively all men have the feeling that something good can bring good results only and again all the evil must end up with evil or, in the words of a proverb, “Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap”. Everybody is bound to know this law and to respect it. ~ Franz Bardon
Karma brings us ever back to rebirth, binds us to the wheel of births and deaths. Good Karma drags us back as relentlessly as bad, and the chain which is wrought out of our virtues holds as firmly and as closely as that forged from our vices. ~ Annie Besant
That we live in a realm of law, that we arc surrounded by laws that we cannot break, this is a truism. ~ Annie Besant
When one unacquainted with the noble doctrine looks around him, and observes the inequalities of birth and fortune, of intellect and capacities... the undeserved suffering, one's ears ringing and heart aching with the cries of pain around him -- that blessed knowledge of Karma alone prevents him from cursing life and men, as well as their supposed Creator. ~ H.P. Blavatsky
Samsara is the belief that we are stuck in a karmic wheel of suffering and, until we realize our full spiritual potential, we keep returning to learn and understand our ultimate being... It is your Karma that decides whether you evolve or devolve at your next birth... ~ Nicholas Eldridge
Only by spiritual practice can we break through our karma and the effects of the causes we have made. Only then can we escape from them. It matters not whether you have acquired any merit. ~ Master Ching Hai
What kind of life a person is reborn into depends on Karma. Karma refers to all the deeds, words, and thoughts of one’s life... Karma is the deciding factor in one's fate in his or her next life. ~ Walter Hazen
Karma is a beneficent law wholly merciful, relentlessly just, for true mercy is not favor but impartial justice... With reincarnation the doctrine of karma explains the misery and suffering of the world, and no room is left to accuse Nature of injustice. ~ William Quan Judge
If this law of Karma, "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," is inevitable...we do so, we shall never emerge from the magic circle of karma. Indeed, we must forgive our personal enemies, as who knows but that the blow one receives is a return blow, well-deserved under the law of Karma? By returning such a blow with another and with a feeling of revenge in our heart, we do not outlive this karma, but we continue and even intensify it... ~ Helena Roerich
Karma is often wrongly confused with the notion of a fixed destiny. It is more like an accumulation of tendencies that can lock us into particular behavior patterns, which themselves result in further accumulations of tendencies of a similar nature... But it is not necessary to be a prisoner of old karma. ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn
The soul is always found to be in bondage (with its Karma) since the beginningless time and hence continuously undergoes the cycle of birth and death in these four states of existence until it attains liberation. ~ Prof. Jitendra Dhoj Khand
They excel who control their senses through the mind, using them for selfless service... Act selflessly, without thought of personal profit. ~ Lord Krishna
Every selfless act, Arjuna, is born from Brahman, the eternal, infinite Godhead. Brahman is present in every act of service. All life turns on this law O Arjuna. Those who violate it, indulging the senses for their own pleasure and ignoring the needs of others, have wasted their life... Strive constantly to serve the welfare of the world; by devotion to selfless work one attains the supreme goal of life.. ~ Lord Krishna
Yes is the answer and you know that for sure … Millions of mind guerrillas
Putting their soul power to the karmic wheel. ~ John Lennon
The karma principle can be explained easily with the help of the lotus. The flower signifies human life as being governed by cause and effect. Every cause produces an imprint leading to an effect that can be experienced during the doer's lifetime or in his future life.... ~ V N Mittal, and TOI Crest
The law of Karma is a manifestation of God’s will. [He said] that prior to Self-realisation there is a personal God, Iswara, who controls each person’s destiny. It is Iswara who has ordained that everyone must suffer the consequences of his actions and it is Iswara who selects the sequences of activities that each person must undergo in each lifetime... The only way to become free of his authority is to transcend Karma completely by realising the Self. ~ Ramana Maharshi
Prarabdha Karma is of three categories, Ichha, Anichha and Parechha (personally desired, without desire and due to others' desire). For the one who has realised the Self, there is no Ichha-Prarabdha but the two others, Anichha and Parechha, remain. Whatever a Jnani (Self-realised) does is for others only. ~ Ramana Maharshi
The Upanishad says ’You are what you desire is. As is your desire so is your deed. As is your deed is so is your destiny.' Because of karma, one is reborn again and again until the effects of all accumulated karma are dissipated and one reaches ‘the other shore’ ~ Moksha
Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. St. Paul, Galatians VI
  • There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts.
    • Richard Bach, Illusions : The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (1977)
  • The Law of Karma is today a great and incontrovertible fact in the consciousness of humanity everywhere. They may not call it by that name, but they are well aware that in all today's events the nations are reaping what they sowed. This great law - at one time a theory - is now a proven fact, and a recognized factor in human thinking. The question "Why?", so frequently asked, brings in the factor of cause and effect with constant inevitability.
    • Alice Bailey in A Treatise on the Seven Rays: Volume 4: Esoteric Healing, p. 262, (1953)
  • Karma is therefore that which Man . . . has instituted, carried forward, endorsed, omitted to do, or has done right, through the ages until the present moment. Today, the harvest is ripe and mankind is reaping what it has sown, preparatory to a fresh ploughing in the springtime of the New Age, with a fresh sowing of the seed which will (let us pray and hope) produce a better harvest.
    • Alice Bailey in A Treatise on the Seven Rays: Volume 4: Esoteric Healing, p. 263, (1953)
  • Men interpret these dimly sensed laws in terms of finality, and from their little point of view. The idea of retribution runs through much of the teaching on karma, for instance, because men seek a plausible explanation of things as they appear to be, and are themselves fond of dealing out retribution. Yet there is far more general good karma than bad, little as you may think it when immersed in such a period as the present.
    • Alice Bailey in A Treatise on the Seven Rays: Volume 4: Esoteric Healing, p. 20/2, (1953)
  • Karma ~ An immutable law, which has its aspect just in the akasa principle, is the law of cause and effect. Each cause sets free a corresponding effect. This law works everywhere as the most sublime rule. Consequently every deed proceeds from a cause or is followed by any result. Therefore we should not only accept Karma as a rule for our good actions, as the oriental philosophy puts it, but its signification reaches farther and is a very deep one. Instinctively all men have the feeling that something good can bring good results only and again all the evil must end up with evil or, in the words of a proverb, “Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap”. Everybody is bound to know this law and to respect it. This law of cause and effect governs the elemental principles, too. I have no intention to enter into details of this law, which could be expressed in a few words, as they are quite clear so that every reasonable man will understand them. Subject to this law of cause and effect is also the law of evolution or development. Thus development is an aspect of the karma law.
  • Whose works are all free from the moulding of desire, whose actions are burned up by the fire of wisdom, he is called a Sage by the spiritually wise. Having abandoned all attachment to the fruit of action, always content, seeking refuge in none, although doing actions, he is not doing anything. Free from desire, his thoughts controlled by the SELF, having abandoned all attachment, performing action by the body alone, he doth not commit sin. Content with whatsoever he receiveth, free from the pairs of opposites, without envy, balanced in success and failure though he hath acted he is not bound; For with attachment dead, harmonious, his thoughts established in wisdom, his works, sacrifices, all his actions melt away.
  • The Invariability of Law. That we live in a realm of law, that we arc surrounded by laws that we cannot break, this is a truism. Yet when the fact is recognised in a real and vital way, and when it is seen to be a fact in the mental and moral world as much as in the physical, a certain sense of helplessness is apt to overpower us, as though we felt ourselves in the grip of some mighty Power, that, seizing us, whirls us away whither it will. The very reverse of this is in reality the case, for the mighty Power, when it is understood, will obediently carry us whither we will; all forces in Nature can be used in proportion as they are understood “Nature is conquered by obedience ” — and her resistless energies are at our bidding as soon as we, by knowledge, work with them and not against them. We can choose out of her boundless stores the forces that serve our purpose in momentum, in direction, and so on, and their very invariability becomes the guarantee of our success.
  • On the invariability of law depend the security of scientific experiment, and all power of planning a result and of predicting the future. On this the chemist rests, sure that Nature will ever respond in the same way, if he be precise in putting his questions. A variation in his results is taken by him as implying a change in his procedure, not a change in Nature. And so with all human action; the more it is based on knowledge, the more secure is it in its forecastings, for all “accident" is the result of ignorance, and is due to the working of laws whose presence was unknown or overlooked. In the mental and moral worlds, as much as in the physical, results can be foreseen, planned for, calculated on. Nature never betrays us; we are betrayed by our own blindness. p. 7
  • That law should be as invariable in the mental and moral worlds as in the physical is to be expected, since the universe is the emanation of the One, and what we call Law is but the expression of the Divine Nature. As there is one Lite emanating all, so there is one Law sustaining all ; the worlds rest on this rock of the Divine Nature as on a secure, immutable foundation. p.7
  • This assurance that perfect Justice rules the world finds support from the increasing knowledge of the evolving Soul; for as it advances and begins to see on higher planes and to transmit its knowledge to the waking consciousness, we learn with ever-growing certainty, and therefore with ever-increasing joy, that the Good Law is working with undeviating accuracy, that its Agents apply it everywhere with unerring insight, with unfailing strength, and that all is therefore very well with the world and with its struggling Souls. Through the darkness rings out the cry, all will be well from the watchmen Souls, who carry the lamp of Divine Wisdom through the murky ways of our human city. p. 50
  • The crowds of Souls drift onwards along the sluggish current of Time. As the earth rolls, it carries them with it ; as globe succeeds globe, they too pass on. But the Wisdom Religion is anew proclaimed to the world that all who choose may cease to drift, and may learn to outstrip the slow evolution of the worlds. p. 57
  • Karma brings us ever back to rebirth, binds us to the wheel of births and deaths. Good Karma drags us back as relentlessly as bad, and the chain which is wrought out of our virtues holds as firmly and as closely as that forged from our vices. p. 65
  • How then shall the weaving of the chain be put an end to, since man must think and feel as long as he lives, and thoughts and feelings are ever generating Karma? The answer to this is the great lesson of the Bhagavad Gita, the lesson taught to the warrior prince. Neither to hermit nor to student was that lesson given, but to the warrior striving for victory, the prince immersed in the duties of his state. p. 67
  • A man's birth in a particular nation is influenced by certain general principles of evolution as well as by his immediate characteristics... Within the limits of the sub-race, the individual characteristics of the man will draw him towards one nation or another, and we may notice dominant national characteristics re-emerging on the stage of history en bloc after the normal interval of fifteen hundred years; thus crowds of Romans reincarnate as Englishmen, the enterprising, colonizing, conquering, imperial instincts reappearing as national attributes... A man in whom such national characteristics were strongly marked, and whose time for rebirth had come, would be drafted into the English nation by his Karma and would then share the national destiny for good or for evil, so far as that destiny affected the fate of an individual... The family tie is naturally of a more personal character than is the national, and those who weave bonds of close affection in one life tend to be drawn together again as members of the same family. Sometimes... members of a family may be scattered and may not meet again until after several incarnations. p. 73
  • Such is an outline of the great Law of Karma and of its workings, by a knowledge of which a man may accelerate his evolution, by the utilization of which a man may free himself from bondage, and become, long ere his race has trodden its course, one of the Helpers and Saviours of the World. A deep and steady conviction of the truth of this Law gives to life an immovable serenity and a perfect fearlessness: nothing can touch us that we have not wrought, nothing can injure us that we have not merited. And as everything that we have sown must ripen into harvest in due season, and must be reaped, it is idle to lament over the reaping when it is painful; it may as well be done now as at any future time, since it cannot be evaded, and, once done, it cannot return to trouble us again. p. 77
  • The Gita uses the word ‘karma’ (action) in the sense of swadharma. We eat, drink, sleep; these are all actions. But these are not the actions that the Gita refers to when it talks of karma. Karma refers to the performance of swadharma. But in order to attain desirelessness through such karma, an important aid is necessary. One must overcome desire, attachment and anger. One cannot have desirelessness unless and until the mind has become pure and calm like the waters of the Ganga. The actions necessary for the purification of mind are called vikarma by the Gita. Karma, vikarma and akarma—these three terms are important... Karma means the outward actions done in the pursuit of swadharma. Vikarma means total involvement of the mind therein.
  • Karma is very much needed to enable us to understand the state of our minds. We can remove our defects only when we become aware of them. If we are not aware of them, all efforts for progress and growth will come to naught. It is while doing work that we become aware of our defects. Vikarma is then to be employed to get rid of those defects. With ceaseless application of vikarma inwardly, we will gradually come to know how to remain detached while performing swadharma, how to remain beyond desires and passions, anger, greed, temptations and delusions. When there is a constant endeavour to purify karma, pure karma will follow naturally and effortlessly.
  • It is the latter, the metaphysical personations of the “ deeds” of man, whether good or bad, which, after the death of his (physical) body, incarnate themselves, so to say, and form their many invisible but never-dying compounds into a new body, or rather into an ethereal being, the double of what man was morally. p. 287
  • Thus the disembodied Ego (Soul), through this sole undying desire in him, unconsciously furnishes the conditions of his successive self procreations in various forms, which depend on his mental state and Karma, the good or bad deeds of his preceding existence, commonly called merit and demerit. p. 320


  • Thus, like the revolutions of a wheel, there is a regular succession of death and birth, the moral cause of which is the cleaving to existing objects, while the instrumental cause is karma (the power which controls the universe, prompting it to activity), merit and demerit. p. 347
  • Both of the Mimansas, treating of the most abstruse questions, explain Karma as merit, or the efficacy of works; Isvara-Parasada, as grace; and Sradha, as faith. p. 591
  • The Lipika, from the word lipi, writing, means literally the Scribes. Mystically, these Divine Beings are connected with Karma, the Law of Retribution, for they are the Recorders, or Annalists, who impress on the (to us) invisible tablets of the Astral Light, "the great picture-gallery of eternity" — a faithful record of every act, and even thought, of man ; of all that was, is, or ever will be, in the phenomenal Universe. p. 130
  • When one unacquainted with the noble doctrine looks around him, and observes the inequalities of birth and fortune, of intellect and capacities; when one sees honour paid fools and profligates, on whom fortune has heaped her favours by mere privilege of birth, and their nearest neighbor, with all his intellect and noble virtues -- far more deserving in every way -- perishing of want and for lack of sympathy; when one sees all this and has to turn away, helpless to relieve the undeserved suffering, one's ears ringing and heart aching with the cries of pain around him -- that blessed knowledge of Karma alone prevents him from cursing life and men, as well as their supposed Creator.
  • We believe in an unerring law of Retribution, called Karma, which asserts itself in a natural concatenation of causes and their unavoidable results... We consider it (karma) as the Ultimate Law of the Universe, the source, origin and fount of all other laws which exist throughout Nature. Karma is the unerring law which adjusts effect to cause, on the physical, mental and spiritual planes of being.
  • Our philosophy has a doctrine of punishment as stern as that of the most rigid Calvinist, only far more philosophical and consistent with absolute justice. No deed, not even a sinful thought, will go unpunished; the latter more severely even than the former, as a thought is far more potential in creating evil results than even a deed.
  • Spiritual holy love is immortal, and Karma brings sooner or later all those who loved each other with such a spiritual affection to incarnate once more in the same family group.
  • Karma is... the fruit of the actions of the tree which is the objective personality visible to all, as much as the fruit of all the thoughts and even motives of the spiritual “I”; but Karma is also the tender mother, who heals the wounds inflicted by her during the preceding life, before she will begin to torture this Ego by inflicting upon him new ones.
  • When one unacquainted with the noble doctrine looks around him, and observes the inequalities of birth and fortune, of intellect and capacities; when one sees honour paid fools and profligates, on whom fortune has heaped her favours by mere privilege of birth, and their nearest neighbor, with all his intellect and noble virtues -- far more deserving in every way -- perishing of want and for lack of sympathy; when one sees all this and has to turn away, helpless to relieve the undeserved suffering, one's ears ringing and heart aching with the cries of pain around him -- that blessed knowledge of Karma alone prevents him from cursing life and men, as well as their supposed Creator.
  • Two things are impossible in this world of Maya: to enjoy more than Karma hath allotted; to die before one's hour hath struck.
    ... Without Karma, no fisherman could catch a fish; outside of Karma, no fish would die on dry land, or in boiling water.
    ... Man walks on, and Karma follows him along with his shadow. (February)
    ... Like as the night follows the day, so misfortune is the shadow of joy; Karma bestowing her lots with both hands. (May)
  • Karma (Sk.) Physically, action: metaphysically, the LAW OF RETRIBUTION, the Law of cause and effect or Ethical Causation. Nemesis, only in one sense, that of bad Karma. It is the eleventh Nidana in the concatenation of causes and effects in orthodox Buddhism; yet it is the power that controls all things, the resultant of moral action, the meta physical Samskâra, or the moral effect of an act committed for the attainment of something which gratifies a personal desire. There is the Karma of merit and the Karma of demerit. Karma neither punishes nor rewards, it is simply the one Universal LAW which guides unerringly, and, so to say, blindly, all other laws productive of certain effects along the grooves of their respective causations.
  • What kind of life a person is reborn into depends on Karma. Karma refers to all the deeds, words, and thoughts of one’s life. Buddhists believe karma is the deciding factor in one's fate in his or her next life.
We enjoy the fruits of our good actions and ...
suffer the consequences of bad actions in this life or future life.

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  • A man is born alone and dies alone; and he experiences the good and bad consequences of his karma alone; and he goes alone to hell or the Supreme abode.

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  • This is the Law of Karma—the Law of the Deed—the law of causality in the spiritual world; and it is the highest and most terrible law of all... Good Hindus do not kill insects if they can possibly avoid it; “even those whose aspirations to virtue are modest treat animals as humble brethren rather than as lower creatures over whom they have dominion by divine command.”
    • Will Durant, Our Oriental Heritage : India and Her Neighbors.

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  • In non-theistic traditions, such as Buddhism, everything is due to its own causes. Karma may come from this lifetime, but it may even come from previous lifetimes. From the Buddhist point of view, we must make forceful positive karma, which can be stronger than the previous negative karma. This can reduce or even eliminate the previous negative karma. So look forward. Lead some kind of new life, full of determination. Lead your life in an honest way, a truthful way. By truthful acts, by compassionate acts, increase positive karma.

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  • Only by spiritual practice can we break through our karma and the effects of the causes we have made. Only then can we escape from them. It matters not whether you have acquired any merit. Merit is merit. Karma is karma. Nonetheless, if one practices the Quan Yin Method, one can be liberated regardless of having any merit or not. It is so logical, so scientific.
  • The world is transitory. You will achieve stability only on the path of karma yoga. Only action can take a man to God and give him liberation. The law of karma is so deep that no words are great enough to describe it. The day karma stops on this earth will be the day of its dissolution (pralaya).
  • Karma Yoga is also beneficial for your health; you will sleep well and have a good appetite. A man with good appetite and sound sleep is always a healthy man and with good health he can achieve anything in life.
  • John phoned me up one morning in January and said, "I've written this tune and I'm going to record it tonight and have it pressed up and out tomorrow — that's the whole point: Instant Karma", you know." So I was in. I said, "OK, I'll see you in town." I was in town with Phil Spector and I said to Phil, "Why don't you come to the session?" There were just four people: John played piano, I played acoustic guitar, there was Klaus Voormann on bass, and Alan White on drums. We recorded the song and brought it out that week, mixed — instantly — by Phil Spector.
  • Karma has two unique attributes: first in quantity and quality it provides for like-for-like (i.e good for good, bad for bad, more for more, less for less), Second the fruits of one’s actions are non-transferable. We enjoy the fruits of our good actions and suffer the consequences of bad actions in this life or future life.
    • In Hinduism quoted in "Explore Hinduism", p. 77
  • Since the karmic time is cyclic, karma works through many lives. What we are suffering (or enjoying) now at least in part due to the consequences of what we have done in the past lives. The Upanishad says ’You are what you desire is. As is your desire so is your deed. As is your deed is so is your destiny.' Because of karma, one is reborn again and again until the effects of all accumulated karma are dissipated and one reaches ‘the other shore’ Moksha. When the physical body is annihilated by death, the Karmic seeds remain embedded in the subtle body and determine the course of future life.
    • In Hinduism quoted in "Explore Hinduism", pp.77-78
  • Hindus view the Law of Karma as a divine law, without which cosmic justice is neither achievable, nor imaginable.
    • In Hinduism quoted in "Explore Hinduism", p. 78-79
  • The Vedic seers discovered the Law of Karma over eight thousand years ago and immortalized in the Vedas.
    • In Hinduism quoted in "Explore Hinduism", p. 79
  • The past karma of an individual consists of two parts, prarabdha karma and sanchita karma. The prarabdha karma is the part of one’s past karma which is to bear fruit in the present life of the individual. The sanchita karma is the accumulated karma of the previous births, which is to bear fruits in the future. The karma, which is being done now will produce results in the future and is called the agami karma (other names are kriyamana karma and vartamana karma). In Hindu tradition these karmas are compared to an archer and a bow. The arrows that have been shot by the archer, which are already on their way to the target and the archer has no control over them are akin to prarabdha karma. The arrows he is about to shoot are akin to the agami karma and the arrows lying in his quiver are akin to the sanchit karma. This illustrates the Hindu view that one has no control over prarabdha karma, but full control over sanchit and agami karmas.
    • In Hinduism quoted in "Explore Hinduism", p. 74
  • You and I have been physically given two hands and two legs and half-decent brains. Some people have not been born like that for a reason. The karma is working from another lifetime.

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  • In Jainism, this term has two meanings. 1)Action or activity in the sense of karma-bhumi lands and karmans. 2) a type of extremely subtle matter (pudgala) that is attracted to the soul (jiva) by actions of body, speech and mind. It is bound with the soul whenever actions are motivated by passions (Kasayas).
  • Most Indian systems employ the term karma to designate certain traces (vasanas) or seeds (bija) left behind, as it were by one’s deeds. These residual factors will someday bear fruit in the sense of generating or conditioning experience; thus it is said : Every action must eventuate in an appropriate reward or retribution to the performer of that action. Jainas adhere to the general outlines of this view. But they stand alone in asserting unequivocally that karma is itself actual matter, rather than the sort of quasi-physical or psychological elements envisioned by other schools.
  • Karma is an unfamiliar word for Western ears. It is the name adopted by Theosophists of the nineteenth century for one of the most important of the laws of nature. Ceaseless in its operation, it bears alike upon planets, systems of planets, races, nations, families, and individuals. It is the twin doctrine to reincarnation. So inextricably interlaced are these two laws that it is almost impossible to properly consider one apart from the other. No spot or being in the universe is exempt from the operation of Karma, but all are under its sway, punished for error by it yet beneficently led on, through discipline, rest, and reward, to the distant heights of perfection. It is a law so comprehensive in its sweep, embracing at once our physical and our moral being, that it is only by paraphrase and copious explanation one can convey its meaning in English. For that reason the Sanskrit term Karma was adopted to designate it. Applied to man's moral life it is the law of ethical causation, justice, reward and punishment; the cause for birth and rebirth, yet equally the means for escape from incarnation. Viewed from another point it is merely effect flowing from cause, action and reaction, exact result for every thought and act. It is act and the result of act; for the word's literal meaning is action.
  • It is... the universal law of harmony which unerringly restores all disturbance to equilibrium. In this the theory conflicts with the ordinary conception about God, built up from the Jewish system, which assumes that the Almighty as a thinking entity, extraneous to the Cosmos, builds up, finds his construction inharmonious, out of proportion, errant, and disturbed, and then has to pull down, destroy, or punish that which he created. This has either caused thousands to live in fear of God, in compliance with his assumed commands, with the selfish object of obtaining reward and securing escape from his wrath, or has plunged them into darkness which comes from a denial of all spiritual life. But as there is plainly, indeed painfully, evident to every human being a constant destruction going on in and around us, a continual war not only among men but everywhere through the whole solar system, causing sorrow in all directions, reason requires a solution of the riddle. The poor, who see no refuge or hope, cry aloud to a God who makes no reply, and then envy springs up in them when they consider the comforts and opportunities of the rich... Turning to the teacher of religion, they meet the reply to their questioning of the justice which will permit such misery to those who did nothing requiring them to be born with no means, no opportunities for education, no capacity to overcome social, racial, or circumstantial obstacles, "It is the will of God."

K

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  • ... innumerable ages ago and now because of faults and sins in that lifetime I was being degraded to a more grievous domain of existence and my karma was to be born in America where nobody has any fun or believes in anything, especially freedom.
  • Brahman/Achheram word is the immutable self on which all that lives, moves and has its being rests. Self is the spirit in man and nature. Karma is the creative impulse out of which life’s forms issue. The whole cosmic evolution is called karma.
  • Karma means work/activity/deed. It refers thought, action, and devotion. It is believed that a s/he’s Karma accumulates past and present years, with wrong deeds increasing the negative side, and good deeds such as help, kindness, soberness, and ascentism, increasing the positive.
    • Prof. Jitendra Dhoj Khand, in "Supreme God: Body, Will, Wisdom, and Work", P.207
  • The soul continuously undergoes modifications as per the Karma/work it attracts and hence reincarnates in the [following] four states of existence: As a Demi God in Heaven, or as Tormented (tortured soul in hell, or as Human Beings on Continents, or as an Animal, or Plant or as a microorganism.
    • Prof. Jitendra Dhoj Khand, in "Supreme God: Body, Will, Wisdom, and Work", P.112
  • The soul is always found to be in bondage (with its Karma) since the beginingless time and hence continuously undergoes the cycle of birth and death in these four states of existence until it attains liberation.
    • Prof. Jitendra Dhoj Khand, in "Supreme God: Body, Will, Wisdom, and Work", p. 113
  • Urusvati grows indignant when she hears about war... and We are all saddened by the barbarism of humanity. The most negative manifestation of free will is seen in outbursts of war. People refuse to think about the terrible currents they evoke by mass murder and the consequences it will bring. The ancient Scriptures correctly warned that he who lives by the sword will perish by the sword.
    There is a difference between the karma of aggression and that of defense. It can be shown how aggressors suffer the most grievous consequences and how terrible their condition is in the Subtle World. People delude themselves by thinking that great conquerors do not reap bad karma during their earthly lives. But karma has its own timely approach, and does not show itself immediately. Life is continuous, and the wise ones understand their lives as a single necklace.
    Aggressors burden their karma not only by killing but also by polluting the atmosphere, which occurs during war. The poisoning of Earth and of the other spheres is long-lasting. 'You who intrude into the lands of your neighbors, has no one told you the consequences of your fratricide?'
    Our Abode has witnessed many wars, and We can testify how this evil is increasing in the most unexpected ways. People know that explosions can cause rain, but what about poison gas and its possible effects? How sad We are to see free will, which was bestowed as the Highest Gift, manifested in this horrible, uncontrolled way. 88.
  • On earth it is still the physiological and mental defects, the sins of the progenitors which are visited upon the issue: in that land of shadows, the new and yet unconscious Ego—foetus becomes the just victim of the transgressions of its old Self, whose karma—merit and demerit—will alone weave out its future destiny.
  • The present mankind is at its fourth round (mankind as a genus or a kind not a race nota bene) of the post-pralayan cycle of evolution; and as its various races, so the individual entities in them are unconsciously to themselves performing their local earthly seven-fold cycles—hence the vast difference in the degree of their intelligence, energy and so on. Now every individuality will be followed on the ascending arc by the law of retribution—Karma and Death accordingly. The perfect man or the entity which reached full perfection (each of his seven principles being matured), will not be re-born here.
  • Who goes to Deva Chan? The personal Ego of course, but beatified, purified, holy. Every Ego [soul] —the combination of the sixth and seventh principles—which, after the period of unconscious gestation is reborn into the Deva-Chan, is of necessity as innocent and pure as a new-born babe. The fact of his being reborn at all, shows the preponderance of good over evil in his old personality. And while the Karma (of evil) steps aside for the time being to follow him in his future earth-reincarnation, he brings along with him but the Karma of his good deeds, words, and thoughts into this Deva-Chan. Bad is a relative term for us... and the Law of Retribution is the only law that never errs. Hence all those who have not slipped down into the mire of unredeemable sin and bestiality—go to the Deva Chan. They will have to pay for their sins, voluntary and involuntary, later on. Meanwhile, they are rewarded; receive the effects of the causes produced by them. Of course it is a state, one, so to say, of intense selfishness, during which an Ego reaps the reward of his unselfishness on earth. He is completely engrossed in the bliss of all his personal earthly affections, preferences and thoughts, and gathers in the fruit of his meritorious actions. No pain, no grief nor even the shadow of a sorrow comes to darken the bright horizon of his unalloyed happiness: for, it is a state of perpetual "Maya."
  • Most emphatically the Deva-Chan is not solely the heritage of adepts, and most decidedly there is a heaven—if you must use this astro-geographical Christian term—for an immense number of those who have gone before." But " the life of earth can be watched by none of these, for reasons of the Law of Bliss plus Maya already given... For years, decades, centuries and milleniums, often times multiplied by something more. It all depends upon the duration of Karma. Fill with oil Den's little cup and a city Reservoir of water, and lighting both see which bums the longer, the Ego is the wick and Karma the oil: the difference in the quantity of the latter (in the cup and the reservoir) suggesting to you the great difference in the duration of various Karmas. Every effect must be proportionate to the cause. And, as man's terms of incarnate existence bear but a small proportion to his periods of inter-natal existence in the manvantaric cycle, so the good thoughts, words, and deeds of any one of these lives on a globe are causative of effects, the working out of which requires far more time than the evolution of the causes occupied.
  • At the beginning of time I declared two paths for the pure heart: jnana yoga, the contemplative path of spiritual wisdom, and karma yoga, the active path of selfless service. One who shirks action does not attain freedom; no one can gain perfection by abstaining from work. Indeed, there is no one who rests for even an instant; all creatures are driven to action by their own nature... Those who abstain from action while allowing the mind to dwell on sensual pleasure cannot be called sincere spiritual aspirants. But they excel who control their senses through the mind, using them for selfless service. Fulfill all your duties; action is better than inaction. Even to maintain your body, Arjuna, you are obliged to act. Selfish action imprisons the world. Act selflessly, without thought of personal profit.
  • At the beginning, mankind and the obligation of selfless service were created together. Through selfless service, you will always be fruitful and find the fulfillment of your desires: this is the promise of the Creator... Every selfless act, Arjuna, is born from Brahman, the eternal, infinite Godhead. Brahman is present in every act of service. All life turns on this law O Arjuna. Those who violate it, indulging the senses for their own pleasure and ignoring the needs of others, have wasted their life. But those who realize the Self are always satisfied. Having found the source of joy and fulfillment, they no longer seek happiness from the external world. They have nothing to gain or lose by any action; neither people nor things can affect their security. Strive constantly to serve the welfare of the world; by devotion to selfless work one attains the supreme goal of life.
  • That swarm of ants that I observed, each one following the one ahead, have every one been Indra in the world of the gods by virtue of their own past action. And now, by virtue of their deeds done in the past, they have gradually fallen to the state of ants.
    • Krsna, Indra and the Ants Indra and the Ants, Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Puranas, Pg. 321 by Cornelia Dimmitt
  • You must bear your karma cheerfully, whatever it may be, taking it as an honor that Suffering comes to you, because it shows that the Lords of Karma think you worth helping. However hard it is, be thankful that it is no worse.
  • You must give up all feeling of possession. Karma may take from yon the things which you like best — even the people whom you love most. Even then you must be cheerful — ready to part with anything and everything.
  • People try to excuse their brutality by saying that it is the custom; but a crime does not cease to be a crime because many commit it. Karma takes no account of custom; and the karma of cruelty is the most terrible of all. In India at least there can be no excuse for such customs, for the duty of harmlessness is well-known to all. The fate of the cruel must fall also upon all who go out intentionally to kill God's creatures, and call it "sport".
  • Just to save himself a few minutes' trouble, a man does not pay his workmen on the proper day, thinking nothing of the difficulties he brings upon them. So much suffering is caused just by carelessness — by forgetting to think how an action will affect others. But karma never forgets, and it takes no account of the fact that men forget.
This is a school in which no pupil ever fails; every one must go on to the end. He has no choice as to that; but the length of time which he will take in qualifying himself for the higher examinations is left entirely to his own discretion. ~ Charles Webster Leadbeater

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  • This is a school in which no pupil ever fails; every one must go on to the end. He has no choice as to that; but the length of time which he will take in qualifying himself for the higher examinations is left entirely to his own discretion. The wise pupil, seeing that school-life is not a thing in itself, but only a preparation... endeavours to comprehend as fully as possible the rules of his school, and shapes his life in accordance with them as closely as he can, so that no time may be lost in the learning of whatever lessons are necessary...
  • According to which the man who sends out a good thought or does a good action receives good in return, while the man who sends out an evil thought or does an evil action, receives evil in return with equal accuracy—once more, not in the least a reward or punishment administered by some external will, but simply as the definite and mechanical result of his own activity. The action of this law affords the explanation of a number of the problems of ordinary life. It accounts for the different destinies imposed upon people, and also for the differences in the people themselves. If one man is clever in a certain direction and another is stupid, it is because in a previous life the clever man has devoted much effort to practise in that particular direction, while the stupid man is trying it for the first time.
  • A man came to Him one day, as people in trouble were wont to do, and told him that he had great difficulty with his meditation, which he could scarcely succeed in doing at all. Then the Buddha told him that there was a very simple reason for it—that in a previous life he had foolishly been in the habit of annoying certain holy men and disturbing their meditations. Yet that man may have been more advanced... than some of his companions whose meditations were well done.
  • Certain broad facts are always put before men in some form or other. They are explained even to savage tribes by their medicine-men, and to the rest of mankind by various religious teachers and in all kinds of scriptures. It is very true that scriptures and religions differ, but the points in which they all agree have to be accepted by a man before he can understand life sufficiently to live happily. One of these facts is the eternal Law of Cause and Effect. If a man lives under the delusion that he can do anything that he likes, and that the effect of his actions will never recoil upon himself, he will most certainly find that some of these actions eventually involve him in unhappiness and suffering. If, again, he does not understand that the object of his life is progress, that God’s Will for him is that he shall grow to be something better and nobler than he is now, then also he will bring unhappiness and suffering upon himself, because he will be likely to live for the lower side of life only, and that lower side of life never finally satisfies the inner man.

  • Instant Karma's gonna get you
    Gonna knock you off your feet
    Better recognize your brothers
    Everyone you meet

    Why in the world are we here?
    Surely not to live in pain and fear
    Why on Earth are you there
    When you're everywhere
    Come and get your share

    Well, we all shine on
    Like the moon and the stars and the sun
    Yeah, we all shine on
    C'mon and on and on, on, on

  • It just came to me. Everybody was going on about karma, especially in the Sixties. But it occurred to me that karma is instant as well as it influences your past life or your future life. There really is a reaction to what you do now. That's what people ought to be concerned about. Also, I'm fascinated by commercials and promotion as an art form. I enjoy them. So the idea of instant karma was like the idea of instant coffee: presenting something in a new form. I just liked it.
    • John Lennon, on his song "Instant Karma!", prompted by conversations with Melinde Kendall, the wife of Yoko Ono's former husband Tony Cox, who had used the phrase "Instant Karma", as quoted in All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono (2000) by David Sheff

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  • Problems or successes, they all are the results of our own actions. Karma. The philosophy of action is that no one else is the giver of peace or happiness. One's own karma, one's own actions are responsible to come to bring either happiness or success or whatever... As you sow, so shall you reap. It's a very old proverb of mankind. As you sow, so shall you reap. Sometime you may have killed that man, and then sometime now he comes to kill you... What we have done, the result of that comes to us whenever it comes, either today, tomorrow, hundred years later, hundred lives later, whatever, whatever. And so, it's our own karma.
    That is why that philosophy in every religion: Killing is sin. Killing is sin in every religion. Whosoever sins, whoever is killed, it doesn't matter. It's a sin. And sin.. is a punishable offense. Because when you sin, when you've killed some man, what you are killing? You are killing the cosmic potential within the individual. Individual is cosmic. Individual potential of life is cosmic potential. Individual is divine deep inside. Transcendental experience awakens that divinity in man...When you kill a man like that you deprive him from getting to his human right.
  • The law of Karma is a manifestation of God’s will. [He said] that prior to Self-realisation there is a personal God, Iswara, who controls each person’s destiny. It is Iswara who has ordained that everyone must suffer the consequences of his actions and it is Iswara who selects the sequences of activities that each person must undergo in each lifetime. One cannot escape from Iswara’s jurisdiction while one still identifies with the activities of the body. The only way to become free of his authority is to transcend Karma completely by realising the Self.
  • If the agent, upon whom the Karma depends, namely the ego, which has come into existence between the body and the Self, merges in its source and loses its form, how can the Karma, which depends upon it, survive? When there is no ‘I’ there is no Karma.
  • A man might have performed many Karmas in his previous births. A few of these alone will be chosen for this birth and he will have to enjoy their fruits in this birth. It is something like a slide show where the projectionist picks a few slides to be exhibited at a performance; the remaining slides being reserved for another performance. All this Karma can be destroyed by acquiring knowledge of the Self. The different Karmas are the slides, Karmas being the result of past experiences, and the mind is the projector. The projector must be destroyed so that there will be no further reflection and no further births and no deaths.
  • Individuals have to suffer their Karmas but Iswara manages to make the best of their Karmas for his purpose. God manipulates the fruits of Karma but he does not add or take away from it. The subconscious of man is a warehouse of good and bad Karma. Iswara chooses from this warehouse what he sees will best suit the spiritual evolution at the time of each man, whether pleasant or painful. Thus there is nothing arbitrary.
  • ... Karta (God) means Iswara. He is the one who distributes the fruits of actions to each person according to his Karma. That means that he is the manifest Brahman. The real Brahman is unmanifest and without motion. It is only the manifest Brahman that is named as Iswara. He gives the fruit to each person according to his actions (Karma). That means that Iswara is only an agent and that he gives wages according to the labour done. That is all. Without this Sakti (power) of Iswara, this Karma would not take place. That is why Karma is said to be on its own, inert.
  • If one mistake is rectified there yet remains the whole Sanchita Karma from former births which is going to give you innumerable births. So that is not the procedure. The more you prune a plant, the more vigorously it grows. The more you rectify your Karma, the more it accumulates. Find the root of Karma and cut it off.
  • Until realisation there will be Karma, that is action and reaction. After realisation there will be no Karma and no world.
  • If you are not the body and do not have the idea ‘I am the doer’, the consequences of your good or bad actions will not affect you. Why do you say about the actions the body performs ‘I do this’ or ‘I did that’? As long as you identify yourself with the body like that you are affected by the consequences of the actions, that is to say, while you identify with the body you accumulate good and bad Karma.
  • ...some schools of philosophy say that there is no God other than Karma of the previous birth, that is Karma done in the present birth in accordance with the scriptures is known as Purushkara (human effort), that the previous and present Karmas meet for a head-on fight like rams and that the one that is weaker gets eliminated. That is why these people say that one should strengthen Purushkara. If you ask such people what the origin of Karma is, they say that such a question is not to be raised as it is like the eternal question, ‘Which is earlier, the seed or the tree?'
  • The essence of Karma is to know the truth of oneself by inquiring ‘Who am I, the doer, who begins to do Karmas?’ Unless the doer of Karmas, the ego, is annihilated through inquiry, the perfect peace of supreme bliss, which is the result of Karma Yoga, cannot be achieved.
  • Prarabdha Karma is of three categories, Ichha, Anichha and Parechha (personally desired, without desire and due to others' desire). For the one who has realised the Self, there is no Ichha-Prarabdha but the two others, Anichha and Parechha, remain. Whatever a Jnani (Self-realised) does is for others only. If there are things to be done by him for others, he does them but the results do not affect him. Whatever be the actions that such people do, there is no Punya and no Papa attached to them. But they do only what is proper according to the accepted standard of the world – nothing else.
  • Every act must have its consequences. If anything comes your way by reason of Prarabdha, you can’t help it. If you take what comes, without any special attachment, and without any desire for more of it or for a repetition of it, it will not harm you by leading to further births. On the other hand, if you enjoy it with great attachment and naturally desire for more of it, it is bound to lead to more and more births.
  • The karma principle can be explained easily with the help of the lotus. The flower signifies human life as being governed by cause and effect. Every cause produces an imprint leading to an effect that can be experienced during the doer's lifetime or in his future life....Any person who dedicates all his karma to the Supreme, and carries them out without clinging to the result, remains unblemished by karmas just as the lotus is untouched and undrenched by water.
A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ~Paul of Tarsus,

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  • A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

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Individual karma is always the basic one. And firstly, it is formed by the inclinations, thoughts and motives of man—actions are secondary factors. The Buddhists say, "Karma is thought." If it were otherwise, man could not rid himself of his karma. Verily, the individual karma, being fundamental and determinative, can influence the creation as well as the liquidation of all other types of karma. By injuring himself a person injures others. ~ Helena Roerich
Sikhism is a faith of hope and cheer. Though it affirms Karma, it recognises the possibility of the modification of one's Karma with the grace of the Guru or God. It does not lead to despair and defeatism. ~ Sikhism
  • If this law of Karma, "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," is inevitable and exact justice, it by no means follows that we ourselves, personally, should attempt to fulfil it in this way. If we do so, we shall never emerge from the magic circle of karma. Indeed, we must forgive our personal enemies, as who knows but that the blow one receives is a return blow, well-deserved under the law of Karma? By returning such a blow with another and with a feeling of revenge in our heart, we do not outlive this karma, but we continue and even intensify it in the worst way for ourselves. Moreover, by forgiving our enemies we decrease the amount of evil in space and become immune against many blows. Similarly, let us understand the words "Love thine enemies." However, with all this, we must resist evil, if we do not want to be entirely overwhelmed by it. (26 May 1934)
  • Sometimes one can demonstrate the most complex laws by means of the simplest apparatus. The law of Karma is complex, but take the Ruhmkorff coil or any other electric coil and you will get an evident image of karma. The current runs along the spiral uninterruptedly but the protective winding is subject to all outside reactions. In addition, each thread contacts the thread of the preceding round, carrying upon itself the consequences of the past. Thus, each hour changes one's karma, for each hour evokes the corresponding past. Thus, one may contact the entire line of past manifestations.
    But the same obvious example shows how the seed of the spirit is unharmed; and striving into the heights it sustains its shell without fearing the past. Verily, karma is threatening only to those who are plunged into inaction. But a striving thought is liberated from the burden of the past and, like a heavenly body, strives forward without retreading its path. Thus, even with a difficult karma, one may evince a useful liberation.
    • Helena Roerich, Letters of Helena Roerich Volume I: 1929-1935 (29 May 1931)
  • It is asked why We so often delay in destroying the enemies. There are many reasons. Let us name two: the first—karmic conditions...
    • Helena Roerich, Letters of Helena Roerich Volume I: 1929-1935 (3 June 1931)
  • Thus, let us struggle against every bit of dullness and ignorance, in ourselves and in our nearest co-workers, and let us not be depressed by the accidental newcomers. But, with a smile, let us write into our records one more page about ignorance and stagnation, which together are building the karma of a whole country.
    • Letters of Helena Roerich Volume I: 1929-1935 (21 August 1931) »
  • In each life a person can neutralize a certain part of his old karma, which reaches him in this incarnation, and certainly he then starts a new karma. But if his consciousness is broadened he can outlive more quickly the accumulated karma, and the new karma he then creates will be already of higher quality. Moreover, the old karma will not be as fearful because of the purified thinking; therefore the purified aura will react entirely differently on the return blows. And in this way man can emerge from the spellbound circle of karma. But this concerns only the earthly karma, which attracts him to Earth, for karma cannot be entirely eliminated so long as there is consciousness and thought. Karma which corresponds with the cosmic laws will infinitely improve its quality, entering new cycles and coming out of them, and so into Infinity.
    • Helena Roerich, Letters of Helena Roerich Volume I: 1929-1935 (5 May 1934)
  • Individual karma is always the basic one. And firstly, it is formed by the inclinations, thoughts and motives of man—actions are secondary factors. The Buddhists say, "Karma is thought." If it were otherwise, man could not rid himself of his karma. Verily, the individual karma, being fundamental and determinative, can influence the creation as well as the liquidation of all other types of karma. By injuring himself a person injures others. Everything is linked in the Cosmos; everything is intertwined, and nothing can be dismembered from all the rest of karma.
    • Helena Roerich, Letters of Helena Roerich Volume I: 1929-1935 (5 May 1934)
  • And now, what is the greatest sin of the church? The fact that during the centuries the church has inculcated into its adherents a sense of irresponsibility. From childhood people have been taught that a person can commit the worst crimes and yet (if he goes to confession and the priest grants forgiveness) be relieved of all burden. This process of shedding sins for a fee can go on and on, save that progressively perhaps the sinner is charged higher and higher fees. Why not sin, when forgiveness can be bought with coin?... Furthermore: And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, "Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (St. John 9:1-2.) Did not these questions of the disciples reveal that they knew of the law of Karma and that Christ also did not reject it?
    • Helena Roerich, Letters of Helena Roerich Volume I: 1929-1935 (September 1934)
  • If this law of Karma, "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," is inevitable and exact justice, it by no means follows that we ourselves, personally, should attempt to fulfil it in this way. If we do so, we shall never emerge from the magic circle of karma. Indeed, we must forgive our personal enemies, as who knows but that the blow one receives is a return blow, well-deserved under the law of Karma? By returning such a blow with another and with a feeling of revenge in our heart, we do not outlive this karma, but we continue and even intensify it in the worst way for ourselves. Moreover, by forgiving our enemies we decrease the amount of evil in space and become immune against many blows. Similarly, let us understand the words "Love thine enemies." However, with all this, we must resist evil, if we do not want to be entirely overwhelmed by it. (26 May 1934)
  • Depressed people are said to be deprived of their share. Ponder these words. Who has deprived them of their inherent share? First of all they deprived themselves of any possibilities. They began their own destruction long ago. Discontent, malice, irritation cut off the path to joy. Dark thoughts deprived them of the source of strength. Selfhood prevented the discernment of joy. Egoism whispered, Joy lies only in personal gain. Thus the most fruitful joy was hidden behind ugly piles of depression. Those blinded by depression are the most pitiful of bipeds.
  • Helena Roerich, Letters II, 7 May 1938 »

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  • Indeed in a certain sense two "I"s are identical namely when one disregards all special contents-their Karma. The goal of man is to preserve his karma and to develop it further when man dies his Karma lives and creates for itself another carrier.
  • Sikhism is a faith of hope and cheer. Though it affirms Karma, it recognises the possibility of the modification of one's Karma with the grace of the Guru or God. It does not lead to despair and defeatism.
  • Sikhs believe that human beings spend their time in a cycle of birth, life, and rebirth. They share this belief with followers of other Indian religious traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. The quality of each particular life depends on the law of Karma. Karma sets the quality of a life according to how well or badly a person behaved in their previous life. The only way out of this cycle, which all faiths regard as painful, is to achieve a total knowledge of and union with God.
  • If you oppress a man you will suffer oppression in this or another life and reap the fruit of the seed you have sown in this life. If you feed the poor, you will have plenty of food in this or another life. There is no power on this earth, which can stop the action from yielding their fruits. Such is the Law of Karma.
  • Prarabdha is that portion of the past karma which is responsible for the present body. That portion of the sanchita karma which influences human life in the present incarnation is called prarabdha. It is ripe for reaping. It cannot be avoided or changed. It is only exhausted by being experienced. You pay your past debts. Prarabdha karma is that which has begun and is actually bearing fruit. It is selected out of the mass of the sanchita karma.

T

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  • Taoism tries to dissuade people from killing with the notion of Karma. According to Taoism, if people are kind of everything, they will have good karma, and bad karma, if they are not.
  • The Masters are, in a sense, the Higher Self of humanity and watch over, protect, and guide its unfoldment. They cannot interfere with karmic law, but have the power, at crises, to hold back to some extent the action of accumulated karma that otherwise might destroy civilization or shatter the planet itself. But in the end every iota of karmic law must be fulfilled. Devastating epidemics, great wars, destruction of cities in past or present times with their toll of death, the sudden breaking up and submergence of continents, as in the case of Atlantis, are instances of karmic forces operating on a large scale, and where such forces could be held back no longer by the administrators of nature's laws, the Masters of Wisdom, lest a greater spiritual damage be done to the people of those cities, nations, or continents affected. Where spirituality and morality have departed beyond a certain measure, humanity can only be brought back to a recognition of its spiritual foundations by some great shock or series of shocks driving the personal consciousness inward to the eternal verities, to its inherent divinity, and so preventing a further descent into the lure and glitter of outer falsities and sense illusions.
    • The Temple of the People, Foreword to Teachings of the Temple (1925)
  • 'There's a huge difference between being arrested and being guilty … the law changes and I don't. How I stand vis-à-vis the law at any given moment depends on the law. The law can change from state to state, from nation to nation, from city to city. I guess I have to go by a higher law. How's that? Yeah, I consider myself a road man for the lords of karma.
The theory of Karma is that we suffer for our good or bad deeds, and the whole scope of philosophy is to approach the glory of man. All the Scriptures sing the glory of man, of the soul, and then, with the same breath, they preach this Karma. ~ Swami Vivekananda

V

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  • The Law of Karma is a constant reminder that it is never too late to mend. All we need to do is to reflect upon our own innate purity and divinity, and follow the laws of nature, of which the Law of Karma is the law of divine goodwill and justice.
  • The misery which is not yet come is to be avoided. Some Karma we have worked out already, some we are working out now in the present, and some is waiting to bear fruit in the future. That which we have worked out already is past and gone. That which we are experiencing now we will have to work out, and it is only that which is waiting to bear fruit in the future that we can conquer and control, so all our forces should be directed towards the control of that Karma which has not yet borne fruit. Chapter 2, Sutra 16.
  • The theory of Karma is that we suffer for our good or bad deeds, and the whole scope of philosophy is to approach the glory of man. All the Scriptures sing the glory of man, of the soul, and then, with the same breath, they preach this Karma. A good deed brings such a result, and a bad deed such a result, but, if the soul can be acted upon by a good or a bad deed it amounts to nothing. Bad deeds put a bart to the manifestation of our nature, of the Purusa (soul), and good deeds take the obstacles off, and its glory becomes manifest. But the Purusa itself is never changed. Whatever you do never destroys your own glory, your own nature, because the soul cannot be acted upon by anything, only a veil is spread before it, hiding its perfection. Chapter 4, Sutra 4.
  • Karma is of two kinds, soon to be fructified, and late to be fructified. By making Samyama on that, or by the signs called Aristha, portents, the Yogis know the exact time of separation from their bodies. When the Yogi makes a Samyama on his own Karma, upon those impressions in his mind which are now working, and those which are just waiting to work, he knows exactly by those that are waiting... when he will die, at what hour, even at what minute. Chapter 3, Sutra 23.

W

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  • For those who want to purify negative karma, they can turn the Prayer Wheel and recite these mantras – Mitrugpa, Kunrig, Namgyalma, the Lotus Pinnacle or Amogapasha (wish granting wheel mantra) and the Stainless Pinnacle mantra.
  • May anyone who hears, sees, touches, or talks about this [Prayer Wheel] be able to spread the practice of turning the Dharma wheel to numberless sentient beings, so that they will never be reborn in the three lower realms. May they be liberated from disease, spirit harms, negative karma, and obscurations, generate bodhichitta, and achieve enlightenment. May they then liberate numberless sentient beings.
  • There are many types of wheels – from the traditional ones turned by hand, to those turned by water or wind, even electric wheels are used. Another, though rare type of Tibetan Prayer Wheel is one that is turned by a candle. It is believed that the light emitted from the candle removes negative karmas from those who touch it.
  • As a nation, we have slithered like snakes across the floor to whatever hole where money lay, sacrificing the depths of our own humanity as we did so. And we are surprised now at the various crises among us? What should surprise us is that this didn't happen sooner. Just as the face of a fascistic president could have belonged to anyone, so the consequences of our spiritual malfeasance could have come in any form. Am I saying that America is reaping its karma? You bet I am, but that is never the end of the story. For just as the law of cause-and-effect is inviolable, so is God's mercy. When we come clean with the God of our own understanding—atoning, owning, admitting, all those words that ultimately mean the same thing—the darkest storm clouds are dissolved by light. But not immediately, and not until then. America is down on its knees this time. But that's not the bad news; it's the good news.
  • Karma [represents] intentional actions that affect one’s circumstances in this and future lives. The Buddha’s insistence that the effect depends on volition marks the Buddhist treatment of karma as different from the Hindu understanding of karma.
  • Buddhists believe that the rebirths that arise are a result of the karma we have. Karma is the idea that every action has a reaction. If people do good then good will follow. If people choose to do evil, then evil will follow or as you sow so will you reap. The results of the karma can be experienced in the present lifetime, even day by day.
  • In Buddhism, karma can go from one life time to another and therefore it is vital that people try to live the best life they can, as they will often have the bad karma of previous lifetimes to deal with. Karma will determine whether people reach enlightenment or have to live 1000 lifetimes of a lesser animal in order to get to the truth.
  • Karma just does not work for individuals but can also have an effect on the whole nation or the whole planet. Buddhists talk about collective karma, when the consequences of action taken by whole countries can often change things. For example, Buddhists would argue that the way rich nations treat the poor nations of the world may well affect the karma of a whole country or a group a such as the United Nations.
    • Cavan Wood, In "Buddhism", (2002) p. 17

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Isis Unveiled: A Master-Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology, H.P. Blavatsky, (1877)

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(Full text online, htm, + multiple formats)

  • It is the philosophy of Siddhartha-Buddha again that Pythagoras expounded, when asserting that the ego was eternal with God, and that the soul only passed through various stages to arrive at the divine excellence; meanwhile the thumos returned to the earth, and even the phren was eliminated. Thus the metempsychosis was only a succession of disciplines through refuge-heavens to work off the exterior mind, to rid the nous of the phren, or soul, the Buddhist... principle that lives from Karma and the Skandhas (groups). p. 287, Part II, Religion
  • It is the latter, the metaphysical personations of the “deeds” of man, whether good or bad, which, after the death of his (physical) body, incarnate themselves, so to say, and form their many invisible but never-dying compounds into a new body, or rather into an ethereal being, the double of what man was morally. p. 287, Part II, Religion
  • Thus the disembodied Ego (Soul), through this sole undying desire in him, unconsciously furnishes the conditions of his successive self procreations in various forms, which depend on his mental state and Karma, the good or bad deeds of his preceding existence, commonly called merit and demerit. p. 320, Part II, Religion
  • Thus, like the revolutions of a wheel, there is a regular succession of death and birth, the moral cause of which is the cleaving to existing objects, while the instrumental cause is karma (the power which controls the universe, prompting it to activity), merit and demerit. “It is, therefore, the great desire of all beings who would be released from the sorrows of successive births to seek the destruction of the moral cause, the cleaving to existing objects, or evil desire.” p. 346, Part II, Religion
  • Both of the Mimansas, treating of the most abstruse questions, explain Karma as merit, or the efficacy of works; Isvara-Parasada, as grace; and Sradha, as faith. p. 591, Part II, Religion

See also

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