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Karma-Its Operation and an Appraisal
Then I can by the will, the Energy of the Idea in me, develop the form of what I am and arrive at the harmony of some greater idea than is expressed in my present mould and balance.' I can aspire to a nobler expansion, Still the idea is a thing in itself without any base but its own spontaneous power.
(3) But I am soul developing and persisting in the Paths of Universal Energy and that in myself is the seed of all creation. What I have become I have made myself by sou's past idea and action, its inner and outer Karma; what I will be, I can make myself by the present and future idea of action,'
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(4) Finally there is this supreme liberating step that both Idea and its Karma may have their origin in the free spirit and by arriving at myself by experience and self finding, I can exalt my state beyond all bondage of Karma to spiritual freedom. These are the four pillars of the complete theory of Karma.54
Therefore, the Karma theory is an explanation of the moral justice in the Universe. It is the conception of an all-controlling law of natural retribution which links together the successive earth lives of each individual soul. It 'satisfied my sense of justice and threw light on the problem of unme. rited suffering.'55 For the modern European, Karma theory is not the mechanical idea of an identical soul substance passing from body to body, but the mystical idea of suffering with and for others', and that forms the real attraction of the doctrine. And perhaps that may be the true explanation of its ascendancy in the East as well.56
Judged by the historic standards, the Karma theory did much to raise man's status and to wean him from coaxing gods through sacrifice and prayer. It insisted on individual expiation, and emphasised the moral continuity of life here and hereafter.
Karma is in fact a striking answer to the 'fathomless injustice to the nature of things' and it appeals 'to the overpowering sense of the necessity of justice. The conception of an all controlling 'law of natural retribution which links together the successive earth lives of each individual soul, both satisfied my sense of justice and threw light on the problem of seemingly unmerited suffering."
54. Sri Aurobindo : The Problem of Rebirth. (Pondicherry, 1952), p. 115.
55. Pringle-Pattison (A Seth): The Idea of Immortality. p. 122.
56. Paul (C. S.): The Suffering God (1929): p. 67.
57. Holmes (Edmond): The Quest of an Ideal, p. 98, as quoted in the Idea of Immortality by Pringle Pattison, p. 120.
58. Warren (H. C.) Buddhism in Translations (1922) p. 48.
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