Part of Section Eleven
in “The Key to
Theosophy”
Helena P.
Blavatsky
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An Editorial Note:
The following
fragment is transcribed
from pp. 201-203 of
“The Key to Theosophy”,
by H.P. Blavatsky,
Theosophy Co., Los Angeles.
A few lines before
its beginning, HPB writes:
“What we believe
in, is strict and impartial
justice. Our idea
of the unknown Universal
Deity, represented
by Karma, is that it is a
Power which cannot
fail, and can, therefore,
have neither wrath
nor mercy, only absolute
Equity, which
leaves every cause, great or small,
to work out its
inevitable effects.” (pp. 199-200)
(CCA)
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ENQUIRER. But what
is Karma?
THEOSOPHIST. As I have said, we consider it as the Ultimate
Law of the Universe, the source, origin and fount of all other laws which
exist throughout Nature. Karma is the unerring law which adjusts effect to
cause, on the physical, mental and spiritual planes of being. As no cause
remains without its due effect from greatest to least, from a cosmic
disturbance down to the movement of your hand, and as like produces like, Karma
is that unseen and unknown law which adjusts wisely, intelligently and
equitably each effect to its cause, tracing the latter back to its
producer. Though itself unknowable,
its action is perceivable.
ENQUIRER. Then it is the “Absolute”, the “Unknowable”
again, and is not of much value as an explanation of the problems of life?
THEOSOPHIST. On the contrary. For, though we do not
know what Karma is per se, and in its essence, we do know how it
works, and we can define and describe its mode of action with accuracy. We only
do not know its ultimate Cause, just as modern philosophy
universally admits that the ultimate Cause of anything is “unknowable”.
ENQUIRER. And what has Theosophy to say in regard to
the solution of the more practical needs of humanity? What is the explanation
which it offers in reference to the awful suffering and dire necessity prevalent
among the so-called “lower classes”.
THEOSOPHIST. To be pointed, according to our teaching
all these great social evils, the distinction of classes in Society, and of the
sexes in the affairs of life, the unequal distribution of capital and of labour
- all are due to what we tersely but truly denominate KARMA.
ENQUIRER. But, surely, all these evils which seem to
fall upon the masses somewhat indiscriminately are not actual merited and
INDIVIDUAL Karma?
THEOSOPHIST. No, they cannot be so strictly defined in
their effects as to show that each individual environment, and the particular
conditions of life in which each person finds himself, are nothing more than
the retributive Karma which the individual generated in a previous life. We
must not lose sight of the fact that every atom is subject to the general law
governing the whole body to which it belongs, and here we come upon the wider
track of the Karmic law. Do you not perceive that the aggregate of individual
Karma becomes that of the nation to which those individuals belong, and
further, that the sum total of National Karma is that of the World? The evils
that you speak of are not peculiar to the individual or even to the Nation,
they are more or less universal; and it is upon this broad line of Human
interdependence that the law of Karma finds its legitimate and equable issue.
ENQUIRER. Do I, then, understand that the law of Karma
is not necessarily an individual law?
THEOSOPHIST. That is just what I mean. It is
impossible that Karma could readjust the balance of power in the world’s life
and progress, unless it had a broad and general line of action. It is held as a
truth among Theosophists that the interdependence of Humanity is the cause of
what is called Distributive Karma, and it is this law which affords the
solution to the great question of collective suffering and its relief. It is an
occult law, moreover, that no man can rise superior to his individual failings,
without lifting, be it ever so little, the whole body of which he is an integral
part. In the same way, no one can sin, nor suffer the effects of sin, alone. In
reality, there is no such thing as “Separateness”; and the nearest approach to
that selfish state, which the laws of life permit, is in the intent or motive.
ENQUIRER. And are there no means by which the
distributive or national Karma might be concentered or collected, so to speak,
and brought to its natural and legitimate fulfilment without all this
protracted suffering?
THEOSOPHIST. As a general rule, and within certain
limits which define the age to which we belong, the law of Karma cannot be
hastened or retarded in its fulfilment. But of this I am certain, the point of
possibility in either of these directions has never yet been touched.
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In September 2016, after a careful analysis of the state of the
esoteric movement worldwide, a group of students decided to form the Independent Lodge of Theosophists,
whose priorities include the building of a better future in the different
dimensions of life.
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