Everything is Karma!

By Burt Wilson

This is the first definitive book on Karma! It defines karma in all its aspects and then gives every-day examples of how Karma works in real-life situations. Open the free trial pages of this book and look at the table of contents! It shows how karma interacts with reincarnation and how karma actually works in our lives. More importantly, it demonstrates how it works—how both “good” and so called “bad” karma can affect one in this life and in future lives. From this beginning, different aspects of karma are laid out in a progressive manner which plainly shows how karma works in many areas of our daily life. Personal karma, family karma, work karma, marriage karma, it’s all there and more! It concludes with the purpose of karma, why we are subject to it and where knowledge of how it works will eventually take us. The real purpose of karma, as you will find out, is to bring us first into contact with the Spiritual Path and then work to our advantage in advancing us on that path. No other book goes this far. It’s a must-read for this lifetime.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Burt Wilson
• Release date: May 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9780967657585

Burt Wilson

Burt Wilson is a philosopher, political activist and jazz musician. he is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Philosophical Research Society (PRS) of Los Angeles founded by renowned philosopher Manly Palmer Hall. Wilson was a lecturer on esoteric subjects there. He is also associated with the Teaching of Agni Yoga, founded by Nicholas and Helena Roerich. For a complete background of Mr. Wilson, please visit his Wikipedia page at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Wilson

Book preview

Everything

Is

Karma!

By

Burt Wilson

© Copyright Burt Wilson 2014

Published by Paloria Press at Smashwords

ISBN: 978-0-9676575-8-5

All Rights Reserved: No Part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the copyright owner or his representatives. Permission to quote freely given. Contact publisher for details.

Dedicated to my beloved Guru, Friend and Teacher

Ralph Harris Houston

(1903-1976)

Acknowledgements

I must acknowledge the help my son Steve Wilson has given to me in going through and editing every page of this manuscript. His attention to detail and his dedication to the very purpose of this book is to be commended. He is extremely deserving of the highest compliment: that this work could not have been done without him.

Chapters and content

Introduction

What is Karma?

CH 1: The Nature of Karma

Karma as Universal Law—Understanding Karma—Karma, Reincarnation and Religion—The Power of Karma

CH 2: The Action of Karma

How Karma works—The inner workings of Karma—The Desire Factor in Karma

CH 3: The Disposition of Karma

Karma on the Physical Plane—Karma on the Mental Plane—Karma and Prayer—Karma and Fear—Karma and Healing—Karma and Suicide—Karma and inaction—Karma and Emotions—Karma, Destiny and Free Will—Karma, Free Will and the Church—Karma and False Teachings—Karma and Celebrities—The Karmic Safety Valve

CH 4: Applications of Karma

Where we work out our Karma—Breaking Loose from Emotional Karma—The Karmic Return Blow—The Karma of Doing Drugs—The Karma of Conventional Thinking—The Timing of Karma—The Karma of Abortion—The Karma of the Death Penalty—The Karma of Atheism—The Karma of War—The Great Karmic Lesson

CH 5: Karmic Relationships

Personal Karma—Family Karma—Marriage Karma—Group Karma—Spiritual Group Karma—Business Karma—National Karma—Planetary Karma

CH 6: Unusual Aspects of Karma

Abnormal Love—Twin Souls—Group Karma in Labor, Business and Politics—How to make a Karmically Correct Choice—Extricating Oneself from National Karma

CH 7: Determining Factors of Karma

Motive and Intensity—Ego and Selfishness—Altruism and Selflessness

CH 8: Karma and the Forgiveness of Sin

Forgiveness by the Church—Forgiveness of Oneself

CH 9: Karmic Acts to Avoid

The Act of Betrayal—The Act of Deceit—The Act of Revenge—An Act of Hatred—An Act of Dishonesty—The Act of Inaction—The Karma of Irritation

CH 10: Karmic Acts to Cultivate

A Sense of Ethics—A Sense of Duty—A Sense of Gratitude—A Sense of Tolerance—A Sense of Service—A Sense of Joy—A Sense of Compassion

CH 11: Tying up Loose Ends

Karma and Discrimination in Life—The Husk of Karma—Karmic Help or Interference?—Karma and the Concept of the Redeemer—Karma and other Religions—Karma, Belief and Faith—Karma and Animals

CH 12: Karma and our Purpose in Life

Karma and the Spiritual Path—Discovering the Light

Introduction

What is Karma?

"Karma is the universal law of cause and effect.

Since there can be no cause without an effect and

no effect without a cause, everything is Karma!"

--Guru Ralph Harris Houston

Karma is the Universal Law by which all life in the cosmos is governed. Although the word has now entered common usage, hardly anyone outside of students of esoteric wisdom had any knowledge of it until the mid-1960’s when The Beatles began popularizing the doctrines of Eastern religions due to their involvement with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi of India. Given The Beatles’ immense popularity, the concept of karma began to catch on quickly with young people and the word’s usage subsequently grew so fast and became so wide-spread that today most people are at least aware of karma and, by association, reincarnation. Both these concepts have even become figures of pop culture speech, used as a sign of cool, spiritual intellectualism in the movies, or made fun of in TV commercials and comedy clubs.

While the word karma has become mainstream, people have precious little real knowledge of the diverse ramifications contained in this universal principle. We hear people comment that What goes around, comes around or, well, that’s your karma when something bad happens, but beyond a surface knowledge of the concept, they have no idea how or why karma is lurking behind most everything that happens to us. Thus, although karma has a leading role in the game of life, few understand how to play it.

Karma is so simple in concept—every action, good or bad, creates a like re-action—that the complexity of its execution invariably goes unnoticed. It’s like driving a car with an automatic transmission. We take it for granted that the gears will shift, changing the speed of the car so it gets us to our destination, but we have no idea of the workings of the complex machinery inside the transmission which gets us there. Neither do we want to know!

When it comes to karma, we all have some foggy idea of what it’s about, but we have no idea of the intangible machinery that makes it work. Neither do we want to know! We fare much better psychologically when we are able to think of a terrible obstacle or a personal setback as an unfortunate circumstance brought on by the coincidences of life rather than something brought on by our own actions in this life or a previous life.

The fundamental aspect of karma lies in our taking responsibility for our actions and understanding that most of the bad things that happen to us in life are an effect of an earlier cause of ours—in a past life or this present life. This is logical enough, but for many the idea of past lives is generally difficult to deal with. Even though there are very clear references to the Laws of Karma and Reincarnation in the Bible, it’s usually the past-life thing that hangs people up and keeps them from exploring karma any further.

Conversely, people who are already aware of and have an expanded knowledge of the concept of karma know that it is not just about retribution for our past negative actions, but understood and used rightly, it constitutes the vehicle of our ascension on the Spiritual Path, that mysterious road that, if we choose to take it, leads to our future enlightenment. Hindus, for example, believe that karma is the vehicle of reaching Brahman—or God. Well, the same thing applies to the rest of the world outside of Hinduism, but how many are even aware that there actually is a Spiritual Path? How many are aware that all of us are destined to travel this path sooner or later in this life or the next? How many are aware that this is precisely why the Law of Karma exists?

Many people dismiss the Law of Karma by claiming they are unaware of it, but that is precisely why Gautama Buddha said, The only sin is ignorance. His pronouncement was his recognition that, even in his time, people were unaware of the Law of Karma for one reason or another and suffered because of it. He was also declaring that unawareness of the law was no excuse. Neither is it today. If an officer gives you a ticket for parking in an illegal space you might respond with, But I didn’t know it was illegal. But the officer quickly replies, Sorry, but ignorance of the law is no excuse. It’s the same with karma. Karma exists whether you believe in it or not and you are subject to it whether you know about it or not.

For the person who has discovered that there is a Spiritual Path, an understanding of karma is the most necessary guide. Just as a mountain climber needs handholds to grasp along his path up the mountaintop, so does any person on the Spiritual Path need to know the Law of Karma to help aid his spiritual ascent. A full knowledge of karma teaches us to be very careful about how we think and act—how we play the game of life—because the Law of Karma will determine whether our actions will sooner or later, in this life or the next, be the cause of our spiritual advancement or leave us somewhere in limbo on the same old path, still trying to figure out how life works.

Finally, the Law of Karma is the only doctrine which can explain with integrity why bad things happen to good people. Volumes of religious books have been written trying to explain away this seeming contradiction in life, but only the Law of Karma brings a clear understanding of how this paradox works. Thus, a thorough knowledge of how karma operates will take your life out of the realm of the spiritually abstract and actually show you how your thoughts and actions affect your own life as well as the lives of others. As a bonus, you’ll learn how to immediately change your life for the better.

Burt Wilson

Sacramento, CA

CH 1: The Nature of Karma

Karma as Universal Law

"You cannot lift a finger, give birth to a single idea

Or utter a sound without disturbing the equilibrium

Of a world—and to some extent a Universe; and the

Crest of the thus-awakened wave will as surely bring

Back to you the reward of punishment for the act."

The Master Hilarion

Teachings of the Temple

Few people know how life really works and especially why we get hit from time to time with unexpected setbacks. Neither do the churches, temples or mosques know. The only training we get growing up is to hear our friends say, God’s gonna get you for this, if we intentionally do something we know is wrong. Thus, thanks to religion, we very early come under the spell of the fear of God. This fear is a product of medieval times that still persists today because it works so well in keeping people under the control of the church hierarchies. We are taught by the priests and rabbis how God punishes us when we do wrong, but no minister or priest or rabbi is able to tell us how that works! Thus we find that these sub-conscious medieval images of retribution have condemned us to a life of servility to antiquated thought-patterns from the Dark Ages that nobody really understands.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Today, science has learned that something so beautiful and majestic as the world we live in is not left to chance. As Einstein noted, God does not play dice with the Universe. He might as well have said, Karma does not play dice with the Universe because everything in the universe operates according to law—a precise, beneficent Universal Law which carries out a precise, beneficent Universal Plan. The whole purpose of this Universal Law, and the plan it serves, is not necessarily to lead one to wealth and riches, but to lead a person to the Kingdom of (or Union with) God—not the semi-anthropomorphically humanized Super-Being God of the Dark Ages—which still exists and perplexes people!—but the original definition of God of the Ancient pre-Christian Wisdom—an Infinite, Transcendental Divine Principle!

The thing is: if we are ever to seek an understanding of what constitutes this Divine Principle, we cannot do it with our every-day earthly consciousness. We need to raise our own personal consciousness incrementally to higher and higher levels. This ascension process is called the Spiritual Path and it is karma that teaches us to live our life in a manner that will raise our consciousness steadily upwards so we may advance on this path. We don’t have to have a genius IQ or a college degree. All we need is a compassionate heart and a burning desire to begin the trip. Make no mistake; it is not easy. But all hardships fall by the wayside as karma steadily brings us along this path to enlightenment.

As the great thinker Plato wrote: If there exists a good and wise God, then there also exists a progress for mankind toward perfection. Here is real profound philosophical thought. This progress Plato is talking about is actually the Spiritual Path and Perfection is another metaphor for God. Since life is a series of choices, we ascend in consciousness along the Spiritual Path when, guided by an understanding of karma, we make the right kinds of choices in life. We are even allowed many lives to get the art of living down pat.

Since the Law of Karma works regardless of our knowledge of it, understanding how it operates gives us a big boost along the path. More importantly, such knowledge will also provide us with a sense of real meaning and goal-fitness to everything we do in life. This alone is worth the effort of study, because increasing one’s knowledge of the Law of Karma is like eating comfort food: we know it’s going to make us feel good.

Since karma is a Sanskrit word meaning action and the result, or effect, of action, i.e., reaction, it means that all of the principle manifestations that occur in our daily life and in the world around us are actually the result of karmic choices we and others have made in past lives and in the lives we are now living. Thus as we individually and collectively live, plan and act, our choices create causes and karma adjusts and distributes the effects. Since all life is constantly in motion, the Law of Karma lies at the very core of all existence. This is what the Christian mystic Thomas à Kempis meant when he wrote in his book, The Imitation of Christ, Man proposes, but God disposes.

Sir Isaac Newton’s fundamental law that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction is universally accepted by science and is a perfect example of Karmic Law. Fire a rifle and the same force which sends the bullet speeding ahead also kicks the rifle butt back into your shoulder. When air is allowed to escape from an inflated balloon it will whoosh out in one direction (action) while causing the balloon to move in the opposite direction (reaction). Thus, just as in the physical sciences, cause and effect are inescapable. Apply this principle to all life (and why not!) and you have the Universal Law of Karma.

A simple explanation of the Law of Karma is that everything we do—good or bad—comes back to us in like measure. That’s why we speak of good karma and bad karma. Once we initiate a cause, good or bad, we have initiated an action and we will sooner or later bring back to us the effect, good or bad. This is logically sound and makes perfect sense—except to people who mistakenly believe that if no one sees or knows of their actions, they can get away with doing something bad. Karma is our assurance that no evil deed goes unpunished.

The Law of Karma states, first of all, that we alone are responsible for our own actions and the consequences of those actions. Karma is also retribution in the fullest sense of the word.