Karma the Mechanism

Author(s): Hermann Kuhn
Publisher: Crosswind Publishing Germany

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KARMA - THE MECHANISM
The Tattvarthasutra The Tattvarthasutra is about 1800 years old. Its title translates 'The Text Describing the Purpose of Reality'.
It was written in the second or third century AD by the Indian sage Umaswami, who condensed the vast contemporary knowledge of this path in this one work.
Yet the knowledge of the Tattvarthasutra is based on still older wisdom. It origins reach far beyond recorded history. There exists evidence of 24 enlightened teachers who taught identical knowledge at much earlier times. Corresponding artifacts have been found in the Indus Valley Culture, the oldest Asian civilization (approx. 3000 BC and before) and the records mentioned in other manuscripts reach even further back. The Tattvarthasutra is regarded as the main work on this path.
'Sutras' (short statements) and their interpretation through commentaries originated in times when paper and other means of material recording did not exist. Knowledge was learned by heart and handed down orally from generation to generation. Sutras therefore were kept as brief as possible. They were governed by precise rules which for example defined the weight of a word by its position alone. To keep knowledge pure, even the commentators followed exact rules. This method worked with such precision that highly complex information conceived thousands of years ago reached our present times with hardly any distortion.
To someone raised in a Western cultural environment, the transfer of knowledge by brief sutras may appear strange at first. Complex rules and formal style can easily block access to these works, - espe cially when translated in dry scholarly fashion that does not convey the inspiration and power of the original sutras. 1
1 Unfortunately most scholars who attempt an interpretation lack the
direct personal experience that is essential if one wants to bring the spirit of this ancient work to life. Familiarity with Sanskrit grammar alone just does not automatically produce understanding of the fasci