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Karma-Its Operation and an Appraisal
the individual being which has some real freedom of will, some power of choice.
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"The world of matter seems to know nothing about freedom; everything there appears as if written in syllabic laws on tablets of stone. We can think of no presence of soul in natural things." But matter is not all. On the plane of mind there appears consciousness of possibilities and of choice. And from this arises the idea of a free and infinite Will, a Will of illimitable potentialities. Therefore absolute freedom of a Spirit and Power is not determined by Karma, but it determines Karma. On this basis we may understand the relation between Karma and freedom. The soul of man is the power of the self-existence which manifests the universe and it is not the creature and slave of mechanical Nature. Mind, life and body and its functions are subject to the action of Karma. Man in himself, the real man is free; rather Karma is his instrument. He is using it always from life to life for the shaping of a limited individual, which may be one day a divine and cosmic personality. There is the individual power of the spirit and we have only to see why here I am at all under the dominion of Karma. I appear to be bound by the law of an outward and imposed energy only because there is a separation between my outward nature and my inmost spiritual self, and I do not live in that outwardness with my whole being, but with a shape turn and mental formation of myself which I call my ego. There is still the feeling of relative freedom, and this freedom and power are influences from the soul,
"But the real freedom comes from the personality to the person. The first stage of this is passive liberty, liberty of assent, but the assent is to the will of the Spirit. There is the higher state of consciousness in the supramental range. In that stage, the soul is one with the Supreme in its essence of consciousness and expressive act. There "Karma itself becomes rhythm of freedom and birth a strain of immortality."43
4. It has been objected that the Karma theory connects actions and its consequences in a rather mechanical way. In its mechanical aspect, it mistakes the means for the end. In this, it is presumed that repentence is the end and paying the due penalty is only a means. It is said that Karma theory over-emphasises the retributive aspect of punishment.
But, here again, we find a confusion between ends and means, Repentence has its place in life, but it is not the end to be achieved. Repentence does purify the mind and has the effect of a catharsis. This would be a means for the future development of an individual. Even as a means it is
43. Sri Aurobindo : The Problem of Rebirth (Pondicharry, 1952). Ch. IX Karma and Freedom.
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