Reincarnation and Karma

ERE we are born we collect all the materials that disintegrated at the death of our last incarnation. Thus man attracts his old body and its atomic structures, and inherits his previous diseases and character, besides the physical conditions of his ancestors.

Often through misadventure the Innermost is unable to attract all those elements necessary to complete its physical body, and this produces malformation and pains in the bones that cannot be traced. Sometimes a skeleton has had certain substances poured over it that bind the atomic energy within it, producing after rebirth an atomic deficiency.

We are told that the greatest atomic force known to the occultist, and which scientists will some day unlock, can only be imprisoned in pumice.

By karma we mean the law of cause and effect. If we injure others we must pay the penalty in this life or in another. In Theosophic literature we read about physical, mental, and spiritual karma. But in our secondary system we begin to analyse and find that things are different from that which we have been led to believe, and are astonished to learn that we have often borne in past lives burdens far in excess of our creation of evil. We then are told by an Instructor atom to observe the following life. We do so and discover that we were singularly free from anxiety and pain; for the evils of our youth had been previously balanced. The cause of our anxiety and pain is our karma that hangs over us; but this sense of freedom again returns to us when we take up our Yoga practice, for we determine to be as free as possible from evil in order to attain to our Innermost.

We reserve a karmic reservoir as we would a supply of energy. We should always remember that we ourselves choose and analyse the body into which we are to incarnate. We search for bodies that we think wilt give us that environment and experience we most need.

Often in our zeal to return quickly to our Innermost, we will plunge deeply into the densities of matter in order to gain a greater round of experience in one life.

The greater the soul, the more deeply does he plunge; and though he may suffer exceedingly and all light will seem to have left him, he attains a nearness to his Innermost that few who incarnate into the laps of luxury and indolence gain, for they receive but little of that greater experience of the world that would help them in their growth.

We often meet men seemingly free in everything they do: free to travel, free from worry and affliction, free to associate with those whom they choose. These people accumulate a great experience that deals with hidden things not known to the usual mind and have stored up this reservoir of good karma for this life.

There are also people who do not incarnate for a long period, and store up a great amount of energy; adding to and storing up a great reservoir of power that they will draw upon when incarnating. This is a determinative energy: Napoleon is an example of such a type.

As the student slowly works into his higher schools he will meet and be taught by Elder atoms, and he will frequently ask for a certain type of instruction. But if he has not reached their canons of perfection this will not be revealed.

We do not realise that we are all fugitives from Justice, and that we must shoulder the burdens that we have caused others to bear before we are permitted to gain such knowledge. These Elder atoms impress upon us that we must pass justice upon ourselves for any past wrong doing and administrate our own laws. Though our Advocate pleads that we should be forgiven we find we must repay certain karmic debts before we are allowed to travel farther into our own universe.

Afterwards we realise that our Innermost was just, and we manfully attempt to remedy the distress we have caused others in this and in previous lives. Debts to one’s fellows will always find one out, and as we re-experience our past we soon learn what our past debts to humanity are and humanity’s just debts to us. When these are balanced we are grateful to our Innermost; for at last we know where we stand.

Justice is the aim of all creatures, and when we receive justice we seek to awaken this sense in others.

A child’s environment is often inflicted by the thought-atmosphere of its parents who, overshadowed by their conscience, unknowingly place such atoms within the child’s atmosphere.

The student often prays for forgiveness and wonders why he did certain things. When he enters his secondary system and reviews his past he is sometimes surprised at what happens. He sees people who have physically and mentally tortured him in other lives, and the people he has not treated justly in this life, and for which he suffers acutely. He then discovers that those people who had once tormented him are those whom he now repays. The moment he realises this his remorse vanishes and he discovers later that the reason for this is that his debt has been repaid either way. He also understands the principle that as we judge so shall we be judged. This is why the Elder atoms constantly impress him to be careful in his speech.

Students should remember that they have often been illumined in past lives by their Yoga practice and are credited with their past endeavour.