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study paper 4
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Introductory Study Paper 4; UNIVERSAL LAW |
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The concept of LAW is central to the understanding of the theosophical system. The whole universe, in all its parts and in all its aspects and activities, proceeds according to law. In simple terms, this law may be explained as: the way things are, the way things behave, the way things happen, the way things become. It is the law of KARMA. KARMA, from a Sanskrit root kri (to do, to make, action, deed, work) is recognized as the law of Causation, Balance, Compensation and Retribution. It is the law by which every action carries within itself an equivalent reaction or consequence. The comprehensive nature of karmic law is summed up in The Key to Theosophy:
In the physical world, law can be observed in the formation of crystals and in chemical reactions in the mineral kingdom, in the growth of plants and their adaptation to particular environments, in the instincts and patterned behaviour of insects, birds and animals, and in man in his development and the emergence of his personal characteristics and faculties. All modern science and technology, in every department of human activity - agriculture, medicine, navigation, space-travel and the manufacture of weapons of war - everything is based on the discovery of Nature's laws and the application of the knowledge thus obtained, in the certainty that, given the same conditions, Nature will always give the same results. This same uniformity and reliability prevail in the moral order. Just
as physical acts produce physical results, so also thoughts and desires,
acting in a different plane, produce results in that plane. "Be not deceived", writes St. Paul. "God is not mocked,
for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Gal. vi.
7)
Today the word karma has passed into our language. However, it is popularly understood to mean the connection between a person's present character and circumstances and his conduct and experiences in a previous incarnation. It is indeed all this, but it is also very much more, for it is in truth the modus operandi of the universe itself. The LAW is ONE, but it shows itself under many aspects. If we speak of
laws, and for convenience consider each aspect separately, we must not
lose from view the ONE LAW in which all aspects inhere. For example:
How different are the laws of Nature from human laws! The laws current
in human societies are imposed from without; they are arbitrary , variable,
and may be evaded: not so the laws of Nature, for they are inherent in
the cosmos, inseparable from it; they are universal, unerring and inescapable.
Karma, or Law, is indeed the nature of Nature. What wetness is to water, so is law to the very being of the universe.
It operates uniformly throughout the kingdoms of Nature, in atom and organism,
in the invisible and subjective spheres of being as in the visible and
objective.
It may seem that the law of karma implies an imprisoning fatalism from
which there is no escape, but it is not so. Among the various terms that
describe it, we must include one more: Karma is the Law of Creative Opportunity.
It is recognized in the occult maxim: Nature is conquered by obedience.
Our freedom lies in the very law which only our own ignorance sees as
restrictive. We reap what we sow, but we may choose the seed: then Nature
will unerringly give us the harvest of our own choosing. Says The Voice of the Silence: "Thou canst create this day
thy chances for thy morrow." Was this not the lesson learned by old
Scrooge when he was shown the terrible future that awaited him? But the things he saw were possibilities only - things that might be,
not things that must be. In his perception of this truth we have a remarkable
enunciation of karma as the liberating power in human life:
In this selection or verses from the Light of Asia, Sir Edwin
Arnold presents us with some facets of the Law of Karma:
Aspects of Divine Law - Geoffrey A. Farthing Online The Key to Theosophy - H. P. Blavatsky
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Before
beginning and without an end,