A Series of Lessons in Gnani Yoga: The Yoga of WisdomAtkinson, William Walker
Religion
A Series of Lessons in Gnani Yoga: The Yoga of Wisdom
Atkinson, William Walker
Yoga, Jñana
How different is the workings of this mighty Law from the many ideas
advanced by man to account for the happenings of life. Mere Chance is
no explanation, for the careful thinker must inevitably come to the
conclusion that in an Universe governed by law, there can be no room
for Chance. And to suppose that all rewards and punishments are
bestowed by a personal deity, in answer to prayers, supplications, good
behavior, offerings, etc., is to fall back into the childhood stage of
the race thought. The Yogis teach that the sorrow, suffering and
affliction witnessed on all sides of us, as well as the joy, happiness
and blessings also in evidence, are not caused by the will or whim of
some capricious deity to reward his friends and punish his enemies--but
by the working of an invariable Law which metes out to each his measure
of good and ill according to his Karmic attachments and relationships.
Those who are suffering, and who see no cause for their pain, are apt
to complain and rebel when they see others of no apparent merit
enjoying the good things of life which have been denied their
apparently more worthy brethren. The churches have no answer except "It
is God's will," and that "the Divine motive must not be questioned."
These answers seem like mockery, particularly when the idea of Divine
Justice is associated with the teaching. There is no other answer
compatible with Divine Justice other than the Law of Karma, which makes
each person responsible for his or her happiness or misery. And there
is nothing so stimulating to one as to know that he has within himself
the means to create for himself newer and better conditions of life and
environment. We are what we are to-day by reason of what we were in our
yesterdays. We will be in our tomorrows that which we have started into
operation to-day. As we sow in this life, so shall we reap in the
next--we are now reaping that which we have sown in the past. St. Paul
voiced a world truth when he said: "Brethren, be not deceived. God is
not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap."
The teachers divide the operation of Karma into three general classes,
as follows:
(1) The Karmic manifestations which are now under way in our lives,
producing results which are the effects of causes set into motion in
our past lives. This is the most common form, and best known phase of
Karmic manifestation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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