Theos-Talk Archives (December 1999 Message tl00137)

	I think that there is a basic assumption that a lot of people make
about karma which the Theosophical writings belie: that there is some
connection between karma and morality, that when we receive karma, it is
because we "deserve" it in a moral sense. Just because we cause
something to happen doesn't mean we deserve it to happen. Here's a case
in point: A person is walking through the woods alone. He trips, falls
in a ditch, and breaks his leg. He slowly dies of thirst. Did he cause
his death? Certainly. Did he deserve to die? Certainly not.

	The major reason why karma is mentioned in the Theosophical writings is
that it teaches right and wrong in a much broader sense. When one acts
in a selfish manner, one creates karma. One has no control over how it
comes back, and nobody can guess what form it will take (for example,
they cannot say, "That man is a slave, so it is his karma to be a
slave"; after all, his karma could very well be that he will be freed
from slavery). That makes it damned difficult to detect, and why it
takes so many lifetimes to learn, and even then a little prodding here
and there is required (possibly the major purpose of the Theosophical
Society is to provide that prodding).

	Bart Lidofsky

Hazarapet@aol.com wrote:
> > [Chuck on karma:]
> >  >>It's a fraud that was created by the Brahmanical caste to keep the
> Warrior
> >  caste from using the Brahmans for archery practice.  It has no more truth
> to
> >  it than the xtian hell and serves strictly as a club to beat people over
> the
> >  head with.>>
xxx
> >  I view "its your karma" as equivalent to a good Xtian's "its god's will"
> >  which is no answer at all. On the other hand, Chuck, some people probably
> >  need a club over their head...
> >
xxx
> It boils down to whether there is a moral equivalent of what goes around
> comes
> around or in other words whether a core law of the cosmos involves some form
> of moral feedback.  That is core belief behind belief in reincarnation and is
> core belief
> for all ancient traditions.  It is essence of what is called "classical
> natural law theory."