________________
THE NATURE OF KARMA
I'urthermore, a perfect God must be presumed to be above longings of every kind, and cannot, therefore, be credited with the unholy desire of imposing fetters of pain and misery on his brethren.
Lastly, when we look into the nature of this extra-supreme deity of modern theology we only discover him to be a personification of karmio energy and power. It has been made clear in 'The Key of Knowledge' that the gods and goddesses of the several systems of theology which are flourishing in our midst today are only the personifications of certain mental abstractions and forces of a psychic type. It is this impersonation of karmic power, as the ruler of the world, which stands* in the way of progress by demoralizing the hearts of men with unholy superstition and awe of his supreme sway, irresistible might and vindictive unforgiving nature.
* If we do not deny the evidence of our senses, we should perceive that not only is there no necessity for the existence of a ruler of the universe, but that the supposition of such a being is also actually calculated to bring us into violent conflict with the dictates of reason and rationalism. The fact that that different substances perform different functions ought to open our eyes, and make us pause before making the sweeping assertion that nothing whatever in the world can ever take place without the order of its extrasupreme ruler. What about the free actions of men and other living beings, and the mechanical action of the substances of nature? In respect of the former, it would certain ly be unreasonable and sinful in a divine judge to reward or punish living beings when their actions only flow from him, and the latter, that is the mechanical action, speaks for itself, and in such a manner as leaves no doubt as to non-interference on the part of any super-human or divine agency with the functions of substances. If it be said that the living beings are left free to do what they like so that their punishment or reward is only merited by them, that robs the supposed ruler of the universe of nearly half the activity that is going on in the world; and in respect of the other half nature stubbornly contests his claim, and obviously on good grounds. This leaves, only the functions of a judge to be discharged by the deity on the Judgment Day. But in that case how explain the differences of status and degrees of development in the attributes of the soul now? The nature of all souls being the same, their differences cannot but be due to their own actions in the past. The position then stands thus : the Judgment Day is still far off, yet souls already experience the fruits of their actions! Evidently, then, someone' else is acting as a judge already. Thus, there is no need for the postulation of a divine ruler of the universe, and the mechanical action of the force of karma, which is now meting out rewards and punishments to all living beings, is the one and the only judge nature has appointed in this behalf.
F. 2
