There
Is Nothing Above
the
One Law in the Universe
Carlos Cardoso
Aveline
The false idea that
the law of Karma can be transcended or avoided by wise men got somehow
infiltrated in the theosophical movement.
The actual relation between wise men and the eternal
law can be correctly understood by examining some fundamental principles stated
in the classical teachings of theosophy.
A Master of the Wisdom clearly stated that true Adepts
are but servants of the Law:
“…Law is LAW with us, and no power can make us abate
one jot or tittle of our duty.” [1]
However, low level sorcerers - sometimes disguised as angels of light or pseudo-esoteric
leaders - try to put themselves above or outside the dynamics of harvesting
what one sows.
Universal law is boundless in its reign, as the
Teachers say:
“There is but one general law of life, but innumerable
laws qualify and determine the myriads of forms perceived and of sounds heard.”
[2]
True, the Masters of the Wisdom transcend the lower aspects of Karma. Immortal Sages
obey the Law and cooperate with it in such a close way that Death no longer
exists for them. As they work for mankind, the Mahatmas modestly help Nature
and serve the Law of Karma which eternally operates on all levels of being and consciousness.
One should consider a practical example. In the 1880s,
when an attempt was made to establish in India a theosophical newspaper which
would be called “Phoenix”, a Raja Yogi wrote:
“While the greatest good ought to result from the
successful establishment of such a journal, the strict law of justice forbids
us to do aught to lessen in the slightest degree the merit to which he who shall make the dream a reality
will be entitled.” [3]
The idea is both popular and baseless that there is
anything above the law in the universe - for instance, a monotheistic god. The
opening lines of letter ten, in “The Mahatma Letters”, say:
“Neither our philosophy nor ourselves believe in a
God, least of all in one whose pronoun necessitates a capital H. Our philosophy
falls under the definition of Hobbes. It is pre-eminently the science of
effects by their causes and of causes by their effects, and since it is also
the science of things deduced from first principle, as Bacon defines it, before
we admit any such principle we must know it, and have no right to admit even
its possibility.” [4]
The attempt to place some sort of deity above the law is
a cause of unnecessary delusion. The letter ten says:
“Parabrahm is not a God, but absolute immutable law,
and Ishwar is the effect of Avidya and Maya, ignorance based upon the great
delusion. The word ‘God’ was invented to designate the unknown cause of those
effects which man has either admired or dreaded without understanding them, and
since we claim and that we are able to prove what we claim - i.e. the knowledge of that cause and
causes we are in a position to maintain there is no God or Gods behind them.” [5]
In the second paragraph of Letter 83 one sees how
obedient to law is a Master of the Wisdom as he relates to every being, including
his lay disciples:
“You have ill comprehended the Law of Karma (…) if you
could have imagined that I would dare to provoke its awful retaliations by
forcing you or anyone to take up a line of action (…).” [6]
The Masters serve the Law and do not pretend to
challenge it. Spoiled children, on the other hand, often think they can be
smarter than their own parents and thus try to deceive them.
Following the example of poorly educated children, dishonest
politicians try to deceive their “parents”, the Mother Nation and Father
State (State Law). Misinformed
esoterists pretend to be so smart than
they can “transcend” Karma and try to make others believe that only ignorant
people are subject to the Law of Justice.
The result is disaster.
Being a just Parent, the living process of Karma has
no personal preferences regarding its children. All are equal before the Law. An Eastern Sage gave theosophists a remarkable
lesson in Politics and Sociology, as he wrote:
“…In our sight an honest boot-black [is] as good as an honest king, and an immoral sweeper far higher and more
excusable than an immoral Emperor.” [7]
Therefore a master teaches humanity to understand the
moral Law of Nature, the law of Karma, which unfailingly guides all beings of
the universe.
One of the Masters taught:
“The cycles must run their rounds. Periods of mental
and moral light and darkness succeed each other, as day does night. The major
and minor yugas must be accomplished according to the established order of
things. And we, borne along on the mighty tide, can only modify and direct some
of its minor effects. If we had the
powers of the imaginary Personal God, and the universal and immutable laws were
but toys to play with, then indeed might we have created conditions that would
have turned this earth into an Arcadia for lofty souls. But having to deal with
an immutable Law, being ourselves its creatures, we have had to do what we
could and rest thankful.” [8]
One must have a realistic attitude in philosophy, and
we can read in the Mahatma Letters:
“Nature is destitute of goodness or malice; she
follows only immutable laws when she either gives life and joy, or sends
suffering [and] death, and destroys what she has created. Nature has an
antidote for every poison and her laws a reward for every suffering. The
butterfly devoured by a bird becomes that bird, and the little bird killed by
an animal goes into a higher form. It is the blind law of necessity and the eternal
fitness of things, and hence cannot be called Evil in Nature. The real evil
proceeds from human intelligence and its origin rests entirely with reasoning
man who dissociates himself from Nature. Humanity then alone is the true source
of evil. Evil is the exaggeration of good, the progeny of human selfishness and
greediness. Think profoundly and you will find that save death - which is no
evil but a necessary law, and accidents which will always find their reward in
a future life - the origin of every evil
whether small or great is in human action, in man whose intelligence makes him
the one free agent in Nature. It is not nature that creates diseases, but man.
The latter’s mission and destiny in the economy of nature is to die his natural
death brought by old age; save accident, neither a savage nor a wild (free)
animal die of disease. Food, sexual relations, drink, are all natural
necessities of life; yet excess in them brings on disease, misery, suffering,
mental and physical, and the latter are transmitted as the greatest evils to
future generations, the progeny of the culprits. Ambition, the desire of
securing happiness and comfort for those we love, by obtaining honours and
riches, are praiseworthy natural feelings but when they transform man into an
ambitious cruel tyrant, a miser, a selfish egotist they bring untold misery on
those around him; on nations as well as on individuals.”[9]
Students of theosophy ought to make sure they learn
from true teachers.
Mahatmas and Initiates teach a simple life. They are
thoroughly ethical. They humbly follow the boundless Law of constant Equilibrium
and living Justice.
NOTES:
[1] “The Mahatma Letters”, Letter XXIX, 1926 edition, p.
226. The book is available in our websites: click here to see it.
[2] “The Mahatma Letters”, 1926 edition, Letter XL, p.
255. See the book here.
[3] Letter LXXIX, p. 382, both TUP edition and 1926
edition of “The Mahatma Letters”.
[4] Letter X, p. 52, both TUP edition and 1926 edition of
“The Mahatma Letters”. This
letter is published as an independent article: “Masters Teach That There is No God”.
[5] The same p. 52, Letter X, 1926 edition of “The Mahatma Letters”.
[6] Letter LXXXIII, p. 394, 1926 edition of “The Mahatma Letters”.
[7] Letter XXIX, p. 223 (upper
half), 1926 edition of “The Mahatma Letters” (same page
in the TUP edition).
[8] “First Letter of K. H. to
Hume”, in “Combined Chronology, for
use with ‘The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett’ & ‘The Letters of H. P.
Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett’ ”, by Margaret Conger, published by Theosophical
University Press, Pasadena, California, 1973, 47 pp., see p. 35.
[9] From the Letter X in “The
Mahatma Letters”. See the text, published as an independent article: “Masters Teach That There is No God”.
000
The above article
was published in the associated websites on 23 September 2019. An initial version of it was included with no
indication as to the name of the author in the July 2018 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”, pp. 3-5. Original
title: “Real Teachers Humbly Obey the Law”.
000
