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Vol. XXVI, 2003
THE KARMA DOCTRINE....
51
To most men death is like a plunge into total darkness. They have no idea where they are going or what is to happen to them. But, when death overtakes them, they simply transferred or transported to another field of action along with their astral bodies (linga-śarīra); their accounts go with them. None can leave his record behind nor can he conceal it. Like the dog's tail, his records go with him whenever he goes. If they are not settled before death, they must simply return to this world for the settlement. The seeds of all their karma is stored up in their respective causal bodies (kārana-sarīra), as infallible record, in which the recorder never makes a mistake. Like the revolutions of the sun, moon and the stars this is a fixed law, irrespective of whether one may or may not believe.
The ancient seers have generally recognized three kinds of karma: viz., (1) the 'Fate', also called the prārabdha-karma, that one may have earned in one or more previous lives, and on which this present life is based; (2) the ‘Reserve', also called the sañcita-karma, like money deposited in a bank; and (3) the 'Daily', also called the kriyamana-karma, i. e., the actions that we perform from day to day.
When a Sadguru takes over anyone as his disciple, that fact materially alters the disciple's karmic status, with his whole destiny undergoing a complete change, though he does not interfere with the prārabdha karma of anyone, since it is considered fixed and final, and must be endured or gathered as what one has sown. With all the rest, the Sadguru may do as he likes according to whatever he thinks best for the disciple..
When the life of the disciple ends, his record will be clean, and he will be free forever. The Sadguru will never allow the disciple's karmic burden to become too heavy. Often he even bears a portion of them himself, out of great love and sympathy.
Transmigration is a part of the teaching of all great Sadgurus, and cannot be left out to please anyone. The Creator has not left out of his scheme. It is like death itself. Degeneration is as much a law of nature as is growth and evolution. They are both nature's processes. They are not within our control, but by obeying the laws of nature we can avoid descending to any lower status. But no man can violate nature's laws and escape her punishment.
If we admit the ascent of living forms, we are obliged to admit the descent of forms, even if we think of the forms of the species themselves, their mere physical forms. They are subject to the same general laws of improvement and degeneration. Just think of the eight million and four hundred thousand living species, untold billions of individuals, in each of whom is a spark of the divine
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