Laws Inherent in Nature

“There is an inherent tendency in Nature to restore balance and harmony wherever these have been disturbed.

If the branch of a tree is bent out of position it reacts with an equal and opposite force which will return the branch to its original position when released. If a stone is thrown up into the air it returns to earth with a velocity equal to that with which it was thrown. If a weight is suspended by a rope it produces a tension in the rope equal to the weight, but pulling in the opposite direction.

These are examples on the material plane of an automatic tendency in Nature, which in Mechanics is expressed by the formula: "to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." We see other examples of a tendency in Nature to restore balance in such common phenomena as water resuming its level after it has been disturbed; the air of the atmosphere moving from high pressure areas to those of a lower pressure or a swinging pendulum returning eventually to its position of rest.

The ancient teachings tell us that the same tendency operates throughout the Universe on all its planes, unseen as well as seen. We human beings are also governed by the same law, since we too are parts of Nature. In our innermost essence we are one with the Universal Life. Through this inner source we are united with one another as are the leaves of one tree or the cells and organs of the human body.

The natural relationship between human beings is therefore one of harmony and cooperation for the common good. If this harmonious relationship is broken, Nature responds by setting up reactions of a similar kind. Thus if our motives, feelings, thoughts and actions are of a detrimental nature the same will return to us, and if they are of a beneficent nature the reaction will be beneficial. Thus life gives us back what we put into it.

The tendency in Nature to respond to external impulses by producing equivalent reactions is described by phrases such as "The Law of Cause and Effect," "The Law of Consequences," etc. In Hindu philosophy it is referred to by the Sanskrit term "Karma." Since there is no adequate term in Occidental languages to convey this idea, and in order to avoid cumbersome expressions, the Sanskrit term has been adopted in Theosophical literature for this purpose.

Literally translated Karma means "action," but to the Hindu this word has a more comprehensive meaning than it does to an Occidental. To the Hindu the effect is inherent in the cause. He considers that an initial act is only one half of an operation that is not complete until the reaction has taken place. The term Karma therefore includes both the cause and the effect. It is sometimes referred to as a "law," but this should not be understood in its judicial sense as an edict pronounced by some outside authority, but in the scientific sense as a quality inherent in Nature.

Karma is the fundamental law that governs all actions. It is the preserver of equilibrium, the restorer of disturbed balance. It does not punish or reward, it merely adjusts.

In The Secret Doctrine, Vol. I, pp. 643-4, H. P. Blavatsky writes:

[T]he only decree of Karma -- an eternal and immutable decree is absolute Harmony in the world of matter as it is in the world of Spirit. It is not, therefore, Karma that rewards or punishes, but it is we, who reward or punish ourselves according to whether we work with, through and along with nature, abiding by the laws on which that Harmony depends, or -- break them.

[V]erily there is not an accident in our lives, not a misshapen day, or a misfortune, that could not be traced back to our own doings in this or in another life. If one breaks the laws of Harmony, . . . one must be prepared to fall into the chaos one has oneself produced.

Karma-Nemesis is no more than the (spiritual) dynamical effect of causes produced and forces awakened into activity by our own actions.

The Book of the Golden Precepts* says of Karma:

Learn that no efforts, not the smallest -- whether in right or wrong direction -- can vanish from the world of causes. Thou canst create this "day" [this life] thy chances for thy "morrow" [future lives]. In the "Great Journey" [cycle of existences] causes sown each hour bear each its harvest of effects, for rigid Justice rules the World. With mighty sweep of never-erring action, it brings to mortals lives of weal or woe, the karmic progeny of all our former thoughts and deeds.

* See The Voice of the Silence by H. P. Blavatsky which is a translation of some of these precepts.”

-“Life’s Riddle” by Nils A. Amneus, Ch. 8 ‘Karma’