The Complete Works of Yogy Ramacharaka. William Walker Atkinson
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things, and have done them so far as we were able, and the inevitable results came in their train. We put our fingers into the fire and we are now nursing the burn—that’s all. These things that we did in the past were not necessarily bad things. We merely may have become unduly attached to certain things, and our attachment and d have brought upon us certain effects which effects. while perhaps more or less unpleasant and painful are good because they teach us that we do not want the thing we had sought, and we will not make the same mistake again. Moreover, once we have had our eyes opened so that we understand the nature of our trouble, the smart of the. burns decreases and the hurt fades away.
This spiritual law of cause and effect is known in the East as “Karma.” When the Eastern students speak of one's “Karma,’ they mean that which has come to the person in pursuance of that law, or that which is attached to him by its operations. Everyone has generated Karma, the effects of which are manifesting constantly. There is no reason why we should feel frightened or disturbed at this knowledge. A realization of the truth enables us to live out our Karma with the minimum degree of pain and trouble, and also prevents us from acquiring new undesirable Karma. Our karma may be pleasant, or unpleasant. according to the causes we have set into operation, or they may he made pleasant or unpleasant by our mental attitude toward them. The philosopher may transmute "bad" Karma into “good” by refusing to see the “bad” in it, and the ignorant person may find fault with the best of Karma.
Many students of the Easter philosophies seem to regard this law of Spiritual Cause and Effect—Karma—as a system of punishment decreed, regulated and administered by the spiritual powers that be. This is erroneous. While Karma often does act as a punishment—that is, as an equalizing and deterring factor—yet there is no element of revenge in it—no plan of Divine “getting even.” Jt is simply cause and effect.
It is difficult to explain just what we mean, without giving specific examples, which plan is almost impossible in a work of this kind. We may say, however, that one who is possessed with a desire for power, which desire he constantly nourishes and feeds with selfish thoughts, is sure to become involved in a sequence of causes and effects which may cause him KARMA the greatest pain and suffering, physical or mental. He may attain his desire, sooner or later, if his desire be sufficiently strong and persistent, but he is very apt to suer from unsatisfied longings which have been smothered out by the over-ruling passion. He may gain his prize at the cost of all else dear to him. Dr, his desire not being so strong as a like desire in some other minds, he may not attain his goal, but will be ground to pieces in the great mental or psychic machinery which he has helped to set into motion, and into which he is irresistibly drawn. 'When a man has a keen desire for the fruit of some action, he is very 1ikeIy to start into motion (in connection with others) certain psychic machinery, which either may work to his advantage, or else may grind him to pieces according to the circumstances of the case, his strength of purpose or his mental powers. Men are often blown up by their own bombs, or consumed in fires of their own starting. They get "mixed into things” and often suffer from that course.
Even those who attain that for which they have been seeking (either in this life or in some future one) may be greatly disappointed and may find life a curse. The autocratic ruler may suffer untold mental agonies, and the multi-millionaire may be mare unhappy than the beggar at his gates. But, not only is this so, but those who have entered the race, and have not been able to keep up with the winners, are tossed about, pushed, thrown down and trampled upon, and otherwise hurt, because they have entered the race. They not only suffer from disappointment, but are hurt besides. We recall a man who started to hate certain persons—hated them bitterly—tried to injure hem in every possible way. The result was that he entangled himself in the psychic machinery of hate which is in full operation in the world, and before long brought upon himself the hatred and enmity of hundreds of other persons, and was hurt in mind and purse, and suffered great agony and mental torture. Of those whom he had started to hate, he succeeded in hurting only one person, and that person was a man also living on the “hate plane" of thought, who naturally attracted to himself thoughts and actions of like nature. But the lesson was a valuable one to the first mentioned man, for his eyes were opened to the folly and consequences of hate, and thereafter he refined to allow himself to become entangled in its net. Those who play the game of hate must not complain if they are hurt. Those who are entangled in the machinery of greed must not complain if they suffer from some shrewder person on the same plane. Those who pin their lives upon some material object must not wonder if they suffer pain through the person or thing to whom they attach themselves so closely.
“But,” one may say, “how am I to escape these mings if I am in the active world at all? How may I escape the effect of actions?" The Yogi Philosophy answers: “By taking part in the great game of life—by going through its motions—by doing the best thing possible for you—but all the time remembering that you do not allow yourself to become attached to the fruits of the work. Work for work’s sake—do your part in the world gladly, cheerfully, willingly and heartily, but realize that the fruits are as naught in the end, and laugh at the thought that these relative things have an,” real value to you.” To a consideration of this answer, we will devote the remainder of this lesson. We trust that we shall be able show you that this advice, as unpractiable and difficult as it may seem at first sight, is not only practicable to the most strenuous business worker of the lot but is the only true plan of life. This old Eastern wisdom seems to be particularly adapted to the requirements of the busy Western world at this time, although, on the surface, it may seem to fly in the face of modern progress.
But, at this place, wee must remind the student that these teachings will be accepted by only a few of the race. The great majority of people are too much infatuated with the present condition of things—the pulling down, and climbing over the dead bodies of their brothers—the cannibalism and savagery of modern industrial and commercial life—to follow any other course. This being so, they will continue to eat and be eaten—kill and be killed—crush dnwn crushed down—hate and be hated. And those who deal out these things to others—and who take a delight in them—bring themselves under the operation of the law of cause and effect to such an extent that they become enmeshed in the machinery, and often get ground up while expecting to aid in the tearing apart of others.
The few who are ready for the teachings, will understand what we mean and will be able to stand aside and see themselves fight and struggle in the rush, while their sou! stands apart from the fray. They will live the same life and do the same things as their undeveloped brothers—that is, apparently—but they will know the truth and keep themselves free from being drawn into the machinery, or entangled in the nets.
We are asked frequently, "What would become of things if every one were to follow your teachings?” We might answer that the whole structure of modern life would fall to pieces, to be succeeded by something infinitely better. But there is no need for this answer, because there is no likelihood of the majority of the race accepting these teachings in the near future. A greater number are accepting them every day, but at the best, those who accept and live them will be but a handful in the crowd of those who live and act. Many years of struggle, and trial—endeavor and experiment—must come before the race, as a whole, is ready to take even the first step toward improvement. We say this not in sadness, but philosophically, knowing that all the struggle and pain is a necessary part of the evolution of the race. (When we speak of “these teachings” we do not refer to the particular presentation of the truth given through us., but to the various forms of these teachings which are being given through hundreds of teachers of the various schools at this time.)
One of the first things to be learned by the Karma Yogi is that he is a unit in the whole machinery or plan of life. He has his place and must take his part in the work. But, no matter how important his position—or how responsible a place he is called upon to fill—he is but a unit in the plan, and must be willing to be used in accordance with that plan, And however lowly or unimportant he may seem to be, he is still a unit having a purpose and work. Nothing is unimportant, and the most important is still subject to the law underlying the plan. We must all play our parts—play them well—not only because we are working out our own development and evolution, but also because we are being used by the Divine Mind as a pawn, or higher piece, in the great game of life. Not that we are mere automatons—far from that—but