THE LAW OF KARMA:
Karma is a Sanskrit word meaning "action", but is generally understood to mean the consequences of one's actions. The word "karma" is commonly used to indicate bad karma, and the word "merit" is often used to indicate good karma. The law of karma is best described as "cause and effect" because every action (or cause) has a corresponding consequence (or effect). If you plant good causes you will reap good effects, and if you plant bad causes you will reap bad effects.
In each incarnation we acquire some bad karma and some good karma. In each incarnation we suffer the consequences of some of our previous bad karma and reap the benefits of some of our previous good karma. During the early stages of our human evolution we all acquired large amounts of bad karma which must be gradually worked off. Because many people still have much more bad karma than good, seemingly favourable circumstances often have a sting in their tail.
This is evident from the tumultuous lives of some celebrities and the people whose lives have been ruined by winning the lottery. Think of your karma as being two bank accounts – one for good karma and one for bad karma. Good karma can either be "spent" on pleasurable life circumstances or it can be used to "pay off" some of our bad karma. Less-developed people nearly always choose the first option; whilst more-developed people usually choose the second. This explains some of the iniquities of life where honest and hardworking people live in poverty whilst selfish and corrupt people live a life of opulence.
When a less-developed person chooses to spend all their good karma in one go they will enjoy wealth, power or fame for few years or perhaps an entire lifetime, but once their good karma is used up they will be relegated to many lives of poverty and suffering. The real sting is that an undeveloped person usually generates more bad karma in a prosperous life than they do in a poverty-stricken life because the money, power or fame goes to their head and makes them more egotistical and unpleasant. According to some in the Christian Church, wealth and abundance are gifts from God – signs that he is pleased with us and has blessed us. This belief is completely wrong; God does not have favourites and our financial status is of no concern to him. Wealth is the result of good karma or merit; the result of "good investments" we made in previous lives. The Bible describes karma in Ezekiel 18:20: "The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them". Galatians 6:7 simply states: "People reap what they sow". And let's not forget the stories of Saint Peter standing at the pearly gates weighing our good deeds against our bad ones. Karma exists to protect us and to guide us back on track when we go astray. But karma is often slow to respond and, because of its intimate relationship with destiny, often waits until a future incarnation. The delayed effect of karma explains how non-smokers can end up getting lung cancer. They were probably smokers in a previous incarnation but their good karma or destiny in that incarnation prevented them from suffering the consequences at the time. We never know how long ago we acquired the karma that is manifesting in our lives today, and we never know how or when the karma we create today will manifest its consequences. This is because karma works behind the scenes – we only see the effects in the physical world and have no idea of the causes that are operating out of sight in the subtle worlds. Karma and destiny are woven into the very fabric of our lives to the extent that the average person barely notices their effects. Wilfully and knowingly transgressing the laws of life generates a lot more negative karma than unintentional or ignorant transgressions. The more developed we are the more responsibility we have, so the consequences of abusing the laws of life are more severe. Although bad karma usually results in suffering it is not a punishment for punishment's sake; nor is it divine retribution.
Karma is simply an opportunity to make good – it neither punishes nor rewards; it simply guides. The law of karma is not the cause of suffering; it is merely the agent. 99% of all human suffering originates from the simple fact that we cannot and do not want to control our subtle bodies. Karma is self-balancing divine justice; it is 100% fair and absolutely infallible. It doesn't matter if a criminal seems to "get away with it", because there is no getting away with it – karma will eventually catch up with him. If we are honest with ourselves, wanting justice is just a nice way of saying that we want revenge. If we suffer as a result of someone else's wrongdoing we want them to suffer in return. But we need to learn that vengeance is not the same as justice, and that an act of vengeance will result in bad karma for ourselves. Even holding onto vindictive thoughts, self pity or grief prolongs our own suffering and generates more bad karma. If something unpleasant happens to us we should realise that we caused it, not the person who was instrumental in manifesting it. This not to say that people who do bad things or cause accidents should not stand trial for their offences. The Lords of Karma always see to it that both people who are involved in an unfortunate incident have a related karmic debt to repay, although not necessarily to each other. As long as both parties reap the appropriate effects it matters not whether their original transgressions were against each other.
