"LAW OF KARMA"

 Zélia de Toledo Piza

"To every action there corresponds a reaction equal and opposite."

This law of Newton that establishes the continuing relationship between the phenomenon and its cause perfectly explains the Law of Karma: "To every act, thought or word there confronts a opposite reaction of equal potential." It is also called the Law of Cause and Effect because it's that moment that regulates the effect after to be released the cause. This moment is the law. This law operates not only in the physical world, but also in the world of thought and emotions.

It means that everything in the universe is the effect of a previous cause, and for this to occur in an organized manner, it is governed, in all its details, by laws that Theosophy called Karma. We can say that Karma is a synonym of Law. It is through the performance of this Universal Law that the Universe presents the most perfect harmony and balance. The force which holds all the solar system, the galaxies, the constellations, this force is Karma.

To the Theosophist, the sum of all the Universal Laws constitutes in the principle which led to the chain of phenomena that resulted in this fascinating universe; principle which we designate by the word God.

The laws that scientists are finding by the methods of analysis, synthesis, experimentation, trying to clarify how it processes the apparent phenomena, physical, that can be detected by the senses or scientific instruments, are Laws of the Universe is already in its most objective and, in the theosophical concept, they constitute in the Karma; when the scientific researcher enters a field more subjective and more complex, as in the case of the soul or as in the creation of the universe, the investigation becomes more difficult. Unable to submit to trial certain facts, either of the human metabolism, or the cosmic structure, the philosophy appeals to mental speculations or there forms the concepts and he enters in the grounds of hypothesis. That is why science is the same everywhere in the world, but not the philosophy. It is for this reason that the various philosophies clash between themselves, they argue, because they are points of view.

In popular conception, Karma brings a sense of doom, but in fact, Karma is the purest expression of JUSTICE. Karma is negative when the man infringes any Universal Law, and is positive when we stand related to it. It depends on the choices individuals make, in the use of their free will.

It happens that in the evolutionary stage where the man is, he tends to violate the laws and therefore gets negative karma. We have examples in the mass of the humanity. When a scientist discovers any scientific novelty soon, someone devises a plan to use it for destruction. Nobel discovered the dynamite and we know what happened. Santos Dumont was able to fly in heavier than the air and soon they have employed the aircraft in the war. Physicists have discovered nuclear fission and they have already built the bombs.

While the man is immersed within this great imbalance that we are witnessing today, he will be struggling in pain and suffering. Suffering is the great tool that the law makes use to push the man to find the right balance. Trying to come out of the inner state of ill at ease the man is, unconsciously, discovering the laws that govern the life and starts walking through their evolution.

To understand the Law of Karma, we must admit the existence of an eternal record, true, of every act, thought or emotion of each one of us, of all that was, is or will be in the phenomenal Universe. The universe is an immense and precise computer.

If everything in the universe is the effect of a previous cause, we as human beings, enjoying the exercise of the free will, we are today, the result of causes we ourselves generated previously and at this very moment of our existence, through thoughts, words and deeds, we are launching causes that will reverberate in this life or next life.

Reincarnation is another Universal Law and will be treated in the next article.