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KARMIC JUSTICE

The Law of Compensation

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 KARMIC JUSTICE

The Law of Compensation

(All rights reserved by Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, San Jose, California)

Karma is an old mystical term In fact, etymologically it can be

traced back to the ancient Sanskrit language. The Sanskrit, in turn,
was a modification of the Aramean language, which spread eastward to
Indi during the height of the Assyrian empire by means of the Aramean
nomad traders and merchants about three thousand years ago. As a doc-
trine, Karma is based upon the principle of causality. That is, for
every cause there must foliow, as a consequence, an effect. This doc-
trine expounds that every act of man, mental or physical, brings an
eventual result, a compensation, which in its effect is related to the
value of its cause. Thus, if one sets in motion a series of acts
which are constructive, creative, and good in the ethical and moral
sense, eventually the results will redound to his benefit. Conversely
if man commits a crime against nature and the Cosmic, he must pay or
compensate for his improper conduct. The law of causality in science
and in mysticism permits of no deviation from the effects. The effect
of a cause, in other words^ cannot be escaped. It is inevitable.

Likewise, in the law of compensation, Karma eventually rectifies a

wrong by causing the wrongdoer to suffer accordingly or it rewards a
meritorious act with pleasure and happiness. Upon first consideration,
this would seem to many to be harsh judgment--an eye for an eye com­
pensation. It would seem to be a retaliation for misconduct that
denotes an attitude of vengeance. Divine justice exists in the fact
that the Cosmic decrees are immutable and applied equally' against all
individuals; that there are no considerations of man-made values, such
as affluence, political position and intellectual status, which miti­
gate the effects. It is the regularity of operation of Cosmic laws
that gives us hope, causes us to be able to look beyond ourselves for
impartial assistance--a power that we can invoke when we need it the
most, and on which we can depend, no matter how humble vie may be. If,
today, a Cosmic law might work one way for some, and tomorrow in a
different way for others, faith in the Cosmic would soon be destroyed
and humanity would be spiritually destitute.

The 1aw of compensation, or Karma, conflicts with the old theological

doctrines, many of which are still taught by some of the unprogressive
religious sects today. The narrowest of all religious conceptions
is that which conceives God as a Father, but as a Father with the same
errors of thinking, and oftentimes mis judgments, that a human father
has, and with the same arbitrary decisions, the same partiality. Such
a religious doctrine conceives God, the Divine Mind, as having not
only decreed the very acts of each individual--in other words, mapped
out in detail the events and course of his life--but further, that the
individual is being constantly' observed and scrvitinized, and for every
deviation from the will of God he incurs divine wrath and is according­
ly/ severely punished; likewise, that if he "believes on Him" man will
be relieved of the compensation for his wrongs.
KARMIC JUSTICE -C-
PAGE TWO

The old theological doctrine of atonement holds that man shall expiate
to his Divine Father for his sins. This expiation sometimes was inter­
preted as a mere promise not to commit the wrong again, a vocative
promise, as a prayer. It permitted the individual who had committed a
sin, and knew he had, to continue without any attempt at atonement un­
til he was about to suffer the consequences of his acts through Cosmic
law, then to appeal the effects of the law; in ether words, that he be
relieved from suffering or anguish such as he himself had caused
others.

Such a religious doctrine, and a man-conceived one, of course, had ob­

viously no true element of justice in it. Mystically, it was unsound
in many other aspects. It separated all natural laws or physical phe­
nomena, or what is generally considered nature, definitely from the
spiritual. There truly was no real unity to'the universe possible in
such a doctrine. God, in his form of theism, transcended the universe,
was far above it, in a sphere of His own, and yet could project Himself
into it at times to censure men or to direct them. Men could not hope
to know for themselves the spiritual laws and their effects. They
could but live according to religious doctrines and codes which mankind
proclaimed to be "the Word of God." If man blundered and made mistakes,
he could ask for forgiveness and possibly receive a manifestation of
God's compassion. He could never know in what manner he had done
wrong, or why what he did was wrong. These things were thought to be
out of man's domain.

It is like a father telling his small child he must not take another's
toys or he will be punished. The child fears the parental edict and
obeys. It is difficult to make him understand individual property
rights and the need for enforcement. When the child grows older and
reaches adolescence he knows why it is wrong; inherently he realizes it
is his duty for him to aid in enforcing that law. The old theological
doctrine we have been considering presumed that man always remained as
a small child and could never become individually conscious of the pur­
poses of these Cosmic laws. So man did not seek, if he was a follower
of such a doctrine, to dwell upon the nature of Cosmic principles.
Instead, he blundered through his earthly existence, hoping always
through an appeal to his Divine Father to avoid what he conceived would
be punishment for sins committed. When misfortune was visited upon him,
or great suffering or pain, he believed that his C-od had inflicted it
for some reason, and he could not altogether comprehend why God would
create such conuitions as great pain and torment in the universe. If
he had had an understanding of Cosmic principles he would knew, as do
those who are mystically inclined and who study mysticism, that God
had not inflicted these things upon him but that rather, because of
the violation of ordained laws, he had brought them upon himself.

When one stands in an open field and throws a stone over his head, and
never bothers to look upward to see what happens to it after that, and
it falls, striking him forcibly upon the head, injuring him, he cannot
attribute the consequent•pain to the intent of God to punish him for
some unknown reason. He, by throwing the stone into the air, has
produced a cause himself which will in turn have its effect according
 c
KARMIC justiciE PAGE THRE
V-E

t’o the natural law of gravity. He must be struck upon the head to
learn that gravity exists and what it will do if he does not use it
intelligently. Everyone need not be struck on the head and learn
through such a sad experience that gravity exists. We can learn
through the experiences of others. But if we wilfully disregardthe
lav/ and violate it, then pain and suffering must be had by us in pro­
portion to our conscious disrespect for the law. Thus, as is related
in our Rosicrucian monographs, "the theological sin against God finds
its equivalent in mysticism in the sinning against Karma. n

We can anticipate some of the questions that may be arising in the

minds of some of our Forum readers at this time. Perhaps you are ask-
ins: How can we know, ever hope to know, all of the Cosmic laws and
thus be certain that we do not violate them and bring upon ourselves a r.

Cosmic debt which sometime we must pay? We cannot ever know air i i n f
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:ne
Cosmic laws in advance. We must learn them through experience and we
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have centuries, most of us, to do this learning. This

Is does not mean
gnorance, and must-
that we are left entirely to our own resources, in igt
hope not to make serious mistakes for which we will continually have to
make amend c*# We have, if we may be permitted to coin a term, a
?!
spiritual barometer.
—
This spiritual barometer is conscienceCx • the
divine intelligence of the soul force residing within u s . We can
hardly ever commit a Karmic sin, violate a major Cosmic law, that will
bring upon us great afterpain and suffering, without being warned in
advance by the still small voice within. It may be that we will feel
tnat it is not just right, that v/e ought not proceed with what we are
doing, that it definitely is the wrong thing to do. Why it is wrong,
we may not be able to rationalize at the time. The human mind is many
times incapable of comprehending the divine purposes or the intent be­
hind Cosmic causes, but the warning signal of the Cosmic, the voice of
conscience, should suffice.

When we commit a Karmic sin, v/e may not expect the law of compensation
to be invoked at once. The lessen must be taught at a time that is
most propitious, when it will make the greatest impression upon us.
When we know v/e are doing wrong, when we deliberately defy the dictates
of conscience, we steel ourselves against any reparations that may
occur at the time, and a lesson of our wrongdoing would be less im-
pressive, A man who suspects that fire will burn him may by sheer
v/ill deaden his sensitivity to the pain to some extent when putting
his finger into the fire, and then quickly again pulling it out. When
he accidentally discovers it, the pain is more intense, and the lesson
is very emphatic and he no longer has any doubts as to fire burning.
It is, however, one of the principles of Karmic law that the more un­
conscious the sin, the less conscious we become of the compensation
and torment or suffering. It is a palmary law of Karma that innocence
of the Cosmic violation does not exevase us from our penalties, but it
does mitigate them. On the other hand, one who does not know ho is
violating Cosmic decrees only because he has obstinately refused to
give conscience a chance to guide him, will pay high in compensation
for his Karmic wrongs. His Karmic debt will be equally as great as
the one who knows what he is doing is malicious, and persists in doing
so.
 -C-
KARMIC JUSTICE PAGE POUR

This Karmic debt is not just retribution imposed upon us; it likewise
can be benevolent. If we think of Karmic law as a great scale, we may
better comprehend its working. For each act of ours; there is laid
upon one balance a weight which produces a like effect on the opposite
balance. Good deeds in Karma produce blessings; evil ones produce for
us subsequent misfortunes. In the Book of Life, for every debit entry
there is a credit. If there stand to our credit numerous violations
of Cosmic principles, come day and in some way we must pay. The deb­
its shall be so entered. Our compensation in elation and happiness,
or in suffering, may not come in this incarnation, perhaps in a life
or two lives hence. Time, it must be always realized, is a product of
nan's consciousness. It has no reality in the Cosmic realm. There
are many lives in which man is to receive his compensation, if not in
this one. One may see an individual going through life with flagrant
disregard for human and divine rights, and apparently without any ret­
ribution. Ue may, of course, not know what sufferings he experiences
personally, inwardly, which may not be observable. On the other hand,
in the Cosmic scheme of things, his just compensation may come even
five centuries hence. In each incarnation an individual carries over
his foibles or his assets of personality for elimination or further
development. Thus if we do not receive our award, or if we are not
obliged to pay our debt in this incarnation, we will in the next, or
the one after that.

This makes patent the fact that much of today's suffering can be eithei
an immediate Karma or that of another incarnation. We may often ex­
claim to others that we do not know why we are so unfortunate, and why
we must endure what we do. We may not be able to associate our'experi-
ences with some incident which we know to be a Cosmic violation, and
yet, we may to ourselves admit some trait in our character, some habit,
some series of acts which we have committed which, at the time, were
despicable and caused others suffering as great as we now endure.
These, we may suspect to ourselves, are a contributing factor to our
rma. If we realize that much, we are learning our lesson. If we de -
o
ire to correct our imperfections and actually do so, it will be amaz-
ing how soon our fortune changes. Perhaps we cannot recall any act in
our lifetime that has caused others the suffering we personally en­
counter. Nevertheless,'it is Karmic debt which we pay. We will, if we
are fair with ourselves, realize tendencies of our nature that are
dangerous and which may cause others the same suffering we now experi­
ence. These weaknesses are an inheritance from a past incarnation
which in remote time may have caused untold torment to others. The
fact that when we go through these earthly pains and periods of strife
we realize our faults is significant that there is a relationship be­
tween them. When we are stricken, it often causes us to become embit­
tered, to have a feeling of hatred of others, sometimes even of life.
But if, instead of setting ourselves against humanity we conscientious­
ly strive to better those faults of our characters and personalities,
as conscience points out, we will be agreeably surprised at the lessen­
ing of our difficulties and troubles.
* * * * *
 -C-
KARMIC JUSTICE PAGE FIVE

Briefly stated, the word "Karma" is an oriental and unfortunately

chosen and popularly adopted term for what is known as the "Law of Com­
pensation." This law represents that form of spiritual and worldly
action by which the thoughts and deeds of human beings are balanced.
This process of balancing may be likened to the familiar process of
nature whereby one reaps what one sows. The law has efficiently demon­
strated itself in the lives of millions of human beings and is a very
definite principle, made manifest by many experiences in the under­
standing of every sincere student of mysticism and metaphysics. It
shows that we can and do bring upon ourselves in the immediate or rnedi-
ate future the conditions and circumstances which constitute our lot in
*
Through cur observation of the working of the law, we are war-
1
IX ^ «
ranted in believing that it is an immutable law and that it will wo rk
in the distant hereafter as well as in the present cycle of time and
that we ecu and do create for ourselves in the future afterlife many of
the circumstances and conditions with which we will have to contend.
There is ample proof of the truth of the statement that everything that
occurs in life is due to some cause, and every cause has its definite
effect. In the spiritual and social world it has proved that we 'cannot
*** X

do a kindness or an injury to another human being, cr even to a dumb

animal, so-called, without some day in some way making adequate and
just compensation for our act, or receiving just and adequate recom­
pense for our act.

In carefully watching, studying, and analyzing events in the course of

our lives, many thousands of us have learned beyond any question of a
doubt that we can and do create for ourselves events and conditions in
the near or distant future, by the thoughts we hold, the thoughts we
express, the motives behind our acts, and the acts themselves. We have
learned also that there is no way of avoiding the Lav; of Karma or the
Law of Compensation except by making compensation and adjusting tne
balance of the scale either before the lav; forces us to do so, or when
the demand, of the lav; is upon us and we are within its grasp.

And we have learned that no unkindness and no kindness, no unjust or

just 10 or deed, or unmerciful or merciful act or plan that goes
..

into action, ever escapes the Karmic records or goes uncompensated,

unadjusted or unbalanced. It may take months or years before the in-
evitable res ults of our acts are brought home to our attention or com
pensation is made, but the law is as positive and sure in its working
as is the so -called law of the Modes and the Persians.

Man and his arbitrarily made laws for the civic conduct of citizens
and the social and ethical and moral conduct of peoples may attempt to
adjust and punish or compensate individuals for their acts, but such
punishment or compensation is never as just, never as merciful, never
as considerate, and never as sure and efficacious as is the inevitable
operation of the law cf Karma.

We have said that the lav; is immutable, unchangeable, By that we

mean to say it is a divine principle or divine lav; created by God, and
in no wise contrary to His divine principles of mercy, justice, for­
giveness and love.
KARMIC JUSTICE PAGE SIX

And the lav: of compensation or Karma is not a blind, cold, mechanical

thing that demands an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth as man
demands in his arbitrarily made law. Such a process is never wholly
just, is never merciful, and most of all is never constructive or
beneficial to the individual and to society, whereas the law of Karma
naturally and eternally seeks to be constructive and wholly beneficial
to the individual and to the society of individuals.

But for some strange reason- -probably due to the misrepresentation o ■n

f

the true law of Karma and to the lack of inte lligent understanding of
it-~many thousands of casual readers of mysti cal philosophy and many
early students of such philo sophies believe, along with somee of the
Theosophical leaders and the leaders of other so-called humanitarian
and mystical movements, that all suffering is Karmic. This belief i
undoubtedly based upon logic al fallacy often stated as % nAll misdeeds
lead to suff er nilO
cn $ therefore all suffering is due to misdeeds."

If the law of compensation is a just and merciful and constructive lav:,

as we must consider it to be if it is universally active, and there­
fore a universal law of divine origin, it must make compensation for
good deeds as well as demand adjustment for evil deeds. The fairness
and justice of the operation of the law in both ways appeals to our
good sense and at once brings out the absurdity of the idea that the
lav; of compensation is only a form of punishment for misdeeds.
4

1 have implied that the word "Karma" is an unfortunately chosen word

as a name or title for the "Law of Compensation*" To many students of
oriental philosophy and to many of the oriental minds the word "Karma"
implies only suffering, or the trials and tribulations of life. There­
fore, it is not a good term to describe the Law of Compensation. For
unless our good deeds were compensated and rewarded, if by nothing
mere than the personal pleasure and happiness we get out of doing good,
man would not bo tempted or inclined to live a noble life, to do good
unto others, and to contribute freely to the constructive, uplifting
progress of civilization. If man were only punished for the evil he
did, he would neither be deterred in his evil actions nor motivated and
inclined to do good in place of evil. Most of man's arbitrarily made
laws relating to our social, ethical, moral and civic conduct provide
forms of punishment for our evil acts, even to the demand of an eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But a review of the history of
civilization since its dawn up to the present moment proves very con­
vincingly that the threat or promise or provision of punishment for
evil acts has not lessened crime nor lessened the amount of evil done
by those who. arc inclined toward evil-doing.

If we were to take out of our scheme of things all of our natural de­
sires to reward good deeds and to give praise or compensation or ack­
nowledgment to the good that is done and to encourage those who try to
do good, wc would soon find more evil in the world than good, despite
any Cosmic or man-made law of punishment for the commission of evil.
The operation of the Law of Compensation alone would be sufficient
reason for the human individual to strive to do good, to be tempted to
 —C—
KARMIC JUSTICE PAGE SEVEN

do good rather than evil. Our good acts, our good thoughts, our good-
intents and good motives bring their rich reward inevitably and as
surely as our evil acts and motives and intents and purposes bring some
form of suffering, some form of chastisement, some form of denial or
adjustment. This impresses upon us the fact that wo cannot be unjust,
unfair, and unkind to man and Cod without having the lesson or prin­
ciple brought to our attention in that form or that degree or that
nature or that time, or under those conditions when the chastisement
or correction will be the most impressive ana the most constructive.

The idea, however, that all suffering, all illness, all pain, all sor­
row, all disappointment, and all so-called bad luck is a Karmic result
of some similar or dissimilar unkindness or evil act or intent on our
part, or that all blessings, all rewards from God or man, from the
Cosmic or from worldly society, or all joy or all happiness or all «<-*-
% I n ^ i f «. i M „ __ _

called good fortune is also the Karmic result of good deeds and kind
acts and constructive thoughts on our part, is an bsurdity.

There are many causes for some of our illnesses, some of our misfor­
tunes, some of our unhappiness, and some of our trials and tribulations
that have no relation to any evil or unfortunate or erroneous act or
thought, consciously or unconsciously performed or expressed by us,
either in this life or any previous life. While it is undoubtedly true
that our lot in life today is very greatly the result and the accumu­
lated effect of what we did and did not do in previous years or previ­
ous times, on the other hand, life is daily fraught ;vith unexpected,
unanticipated, and seemingly undeserved blessings, benedictions, rich
rewards and magnificent opportunities. And each day brings its inci­
dental trials and tribulations and various forms of sorrow and suffer­
ing, either in a minute or large degree, from no cause that is remotely
associated with yesterday, or yesteryear, or any preceding year of our
life, or any act or thought performed by us at any previous time.

The idea, for instance, that the three little girls Twho were brutally
and fiendishly murdered some few years ago in Southern California by a
madman and an individual of criminal instincts and passions 'were vic­
tims of a Karmic action and must have committed some acts or possibly
some act in their present lives or preceding lives which brought upon
them this unfortunate tragedy, is an unsound idea, and unsupported by
logical reasoning and by an analysis of all universal laws. In the
first place, if we are to believe that all the suffering, all the pain
and sorrow, and all the illness and misfortune which comes into our
lives is wholly and solely decreed by Cosmic Lav; operating as Karma,
then we would have to assume or believe that the individual who so
fiendishly and brutally mistreated these throe very young children and
then murdered them was acting as an instrument for the law of Karma and
was a channel through which that lav; operated. In other words, if we
assume that what occurred to these three children was Cosmically de­
creed through the Karmic lav;, then the man accused by the police, and
looked upon as a criminal, and classified as out of harmony with all
Cosmic and divine principles is, after all, an instrument of the Cos­
mic, a worker in God's vineyard, a channel through which one of the
 -C-
KARMIC JUSTICE PAGE EIGHT

divine laws operates, and therefore he should neither be punished by

man for what he did nor should he suffer at the hands of the law of
Karma for the crime he seems to have committed.

The lav; of Karma would not be just if it selected and caused a man to
commit a horrible crime against life and society and then punished
such man for fulfilling the mission that was decreed.

God and the Cosmic laws working in accordance with God's scheme of
things have the right, the privilege, and the prerogative of bestowing
upon man cei’tain blessings, benedictions and rewards, certain unex­
pected and unanticipated advantages or opportunities which will enable
him to continue his mission in life or to help others, or to carry out
a Cosmically inspired plan of human!tarianism, or to bring resulting
advantages to society generally ana add one more step to the progress
of civilization. These advantages, blessings, and benedictions may
come in this manner to Individuals who have not directly or indirectly
earned them or deserved them through any definite act or thought in
the past which could be logically interpreted as a direct cause of the
blessings and benedictions. There is some cause, of course, for the
results that have been made manifest, but that cause need not be whol­
ly or solely of a Karmic nature. What the individual does with these
blessings and advantages, these benedictions and these opportunities,
may be the cause of future Karmic action, but they are not always the
result of some Karmic action. The same is true of unfortunate things
That come into our lives.

Undoubtedly God often grants to us or visits upon us many blessings

and awards, many forms of trials and tribulations for the sake of
testing us or giving us an opportunity to test ourselves, or contri­
buting to the general scheme of things as a channel or an instrument.
Much good has come into the lives of many individuals through suffer­
ing, through trials and tribulations, and even through spells of ill­
ness without the action of the law ofKarma. We grow spiritually,
and in every element of character and make-up of personality, through
the things we experience, both good and evil, both happy ana unhappy.
To make all of the experiences of life a direct result of previous
acts would be to put the whole of life upon a purely mechanical basis,
and would leave no provision for the intervention of God or the spon­
taneous expression of God's rights or privileges. It would reduce the
universal scheme of things to an unintelligent system of action and
reaction, with no progressive outlook, no anticipatory consideration,
no evolutionary factor, and no divine element of mercy and love.

We should all do our utmost to correct the false impression that

exists in regard to the true nature of the law of Karma and the true
operation of the lav; of compensation.,

And in answer to the inevitable question that will be asked, "How can
one tell or determine whether a condition that has come upon an indi­
vidual, either good or bad, is a result of Karma or of direct divine
 -C-
KARMIC JUSTICE PAGE NINE

decree?" Let me add that the cause of any mysterious or unexplained

occurrence in our present lives is not so important as our realiza­
tion of the lesson to be learned from the occurrence. If we receive
at any time a rich reward or an incidental reward, a blessing or a.
benediction, an opportunity or an advantage, let us give thanks to
God and the Cosmic for it and realize that whatever may have been the
cause that brought it about, our obligation and our duty now is to
unselfishly, lovingly, and constructively use it* If illness or
sorrow, disappointment or disadvantage comes to us, instead of search­
ing into the remote past for a probable cause, we should strive to
learn the lesson that the situation may include, and do our utmost to
overcome and master the conditions and thereby strengthen our charac­
ter and add to our wisdom, and determine to so live our lives from day
to day that we shall not earn again a similar experience through any
possible Karmic action, and be prepared to meet such a contingency in
the future. In this wise we will be harmonizing with universal Cosmic
law in turning all of our experiences, good and bad, and all of our
situations, circumstances, and incidents of life, to good advantage
for the benefit of ourselves and the benefit of mankind generally.

o o o 0 o o o