The Universal Laws of Karma

Our deeds still travel with us from afar,
And what we have been makes us what we are.

George Elliot

There are many universal laws, which are above the laws of any country. To quote a few, there are laws of gravity, electricity, interstellar planetary forces, weather, and the earth revolving on its own axis. There are also laws of ęlike begets likeł and ę as above so belowł There are innumerable more laws, which act upon and control the entire universe and us. These are the laws that no country or international laws or dictator can annul or eradicate. The laws that concern us most here are Karma and Reincarnation. For every universal law there is a reason for it. For instance, the law of gravity is there to prevent us from falling off the earth.

Definition of Karma

What is Karma? Karma is the Sanskrit word for action. It is equivalent to Newtonłs law of ęevery action must have a reactionł. When we think, speak or act we initiate a force that will react accordingly. This returning force maybe modified, changed or suspended, but most people will not be able eradicate it. This law of cause and effect is not punishment, but is wholly for the sake of education or learning. A person may not escape the consequences of his actions, but he will suffer only if he himself has made the conditions ripe for his suffering. If he were to continue acting in such a way that the retribution cannot come about, because the conditions are not appropriate, then he may postpone the fruition of his karma. If he can suspend it until he is in the spirit world, then he may work at this particular karma in this intermission between death and next life. Or he may wait until another life in which he is more developed so that he can gleaned the educational value of this retribution. Conversely, his life could be so derelict that the blessings due to him cannot fructify until a later date or a subsequent life. All these fall into the category of suspension of karma to a more propitious period or life.

Why are we born at all?

In this section we will discuss the purpose of karma and why it is loaded with moral content. We have to start from the very beginning. After being through stages of mineral, vegetable, animal and birds we have been resting in the comfortable lap of the Source (Godhead or Absolute) for aeons. Then we decided to re-circulate as the last sentient beings, namely humans on planet earth. So in the Big Bang many of us would be released from the source at the same time. Innumerable showers of souls have taken place since the first arrival of man on earth. All souls in each dispersal would become soul mates. We have free will from the very first incarnation, and consequently we earned karma. The accumulation of good and bad karma dictates that we have to face them in each life, and resolve them as best we can. Our main aim is to learn through experience to become better souls. It is through the process of purification until we become perfect. In this way we may finally return to the Source or Absolute so that God (which is all-inclusive) may be a better one. It is so obvious that this cannot be done in one incarnation, because the karma accumulated is far too much. As we carry on in ignorance we tend to deem ourselves as separate individuals, and thus, we begin our journey of delusion. Thence onwards, we not only need more than one incarnation, but hundreds or thousands of them to clear the backlog. In order to reach the goal of being solely filled with love and compassion, we require a moral and guiding Law of Karma. So that at the end of our journeys our purity would be regained. With free will, we begin to make mistakes in our very first incarnation, thus incurring karma. Beneficial karma is also earned if we do things for the benefit of others. In other words a bank account of good and bad karma, (positive and negative balance) is opened in our very first incarnation. From here onwards, we will die and reborn many times with our soul mates and others. Every incarnation is endowed with forgetfulness of past events; otherwise it is impossible to go forward in our journeys. Without this total amnesia, we cannot perform with the knowledge that our dear ones were our past enemies. It is only in the intermissions between death and life that we realise that we have reared a family of enemies, who turned out to be very good and loving in this last incarnation. It is in the spirit world that we are able to practice forgiveness to our family members in retrospect. So even our adversaries can promote our spiritual progress.

This classroom of planet earth is a very varied one. We have to learn all manners of occupations, professions and vocations to experience greed, anger, selfishness and pride. After acquiring these selfish traits in the separate self we then have to relinquish them to return back to interconnectedness. That means we have to be not only in all trades, but all nationalities, all sexes (including homosexual) and all grades of criminals as well as all classes of saintliness. With hundreds or thousands of incarnations for us to act out all these categories, we start to let go and transform ourselves to better souls.

Does Karma preclude chance?

Some authors think that there is no place for chance in the Law of Karma. They think that chance cannot play any part in the unfolding of Karma. What about incidents and happenings that are non-karmic in origin? Do they occur? Edgar Cayce certainly believed they do. Many a case was brought to him, and he deemed them to be not karmic in origin. Some of these are due the fact that an individual wanted to learn a lesson, say on starvation. He subsequently asked for a life where he starved to death. As we are learning and living with other people, the unfolding of their karma could accidentally involve us in a passive way. However, the purists would say that even here there is some linkage to the distant past. What about national karma, which implicates us, even though we have not erred? The rationale here is that we are members of a group, soul mates, and therefore ęwe live together and err together.ł The soul mates that stayed together and perpetrated certain negative activities together would finally find themselves born in the same nation. There may not be a 100% commitment in all these citizens, but with their silence they tacitly gave consent. Notwithstanding the occasional accident due to associations of soul mates, all in all karma certainly plays a predominant role in the major events of our lives. If accidents form the major part of the causes of events, then karma cannot function as a law. So the purists have a point here. True happenstance makes a mockery of the law of karma.

How is Karma caused?

Of all the sentient beings we humans are the only ones that possess self-consciousness. That means we begin to ask questions: Who am I? Why am I here? Where do I go from here? Then we begin to realise right from wrong because of the establishment of the self and selfishness. We can only become selfish because we have free will. If everything were fated, then we would have been robots without responsibility. This is the rub. With karma as the guiding law, we must be totally responsible for our actions. That means we have to suffer the consequences of our thoughts, speech and actions, whether they are wholesome or unwholesome. Self-conscious humans are now able to have concepts with which we can plan our future on the material side of things. Planning means intention. And it is intention that counts for most in karma production. If onełs intention were salutary then the karma produced would be good even though the result is negative. If the intention were evil or selfish, then the karma produced would be bad even if the result is beneficial.

The next point to consider is that not every action is karma productive. For instance, one knows that the glass contains poison, and if one believes that onełs luck is so good that the poison would not effect one, then one drinks the poison. The result is fatal. This is not karma; it is stupidity. Similarly, thinking that onełs fate is so fine and powerful, he jumps from the 3rd floor of the building thinking that nothing will touch him. This again is due to stupidity and gravity kills him. These chemical reactions (poison) and gravity, which give immediate results, are not karmic in nature. Karma usually takes place for no apparent reason, for the cause might have originated from previous lives. We cannot remember the connection. Of course in this fast moving world, karma is coming back to us very quickly. For instance, a young man who, started to accumulate his millions through wheeling and dealing with unsavoury methods, became a multimillionaire by the time he reached fifty years old. But the present currency turmoil taking place in his region devastated him completely in six months. This is his karma returning like a boomerang. He ends up a bankrupt and may even go to jail for his illegal pursuits. Of course, if his karma is carried over to the next life, he will deem it as bad luck during that life because he cannot see the connection.

Now summarising, we have free will, we have intention and we must be responsible for our thoughts, speech and actions. The fundamental and basic principle is simple--- whatever we do to benefit ourselves and to hurt others produces bad karma. Whatever we do to benefit others will generate good karma. Therefore any thought that is inimical to others should be avoided. Any speech that is detrimental to others should not be uttered. Any action that will benefit the self and hurt others should never be contemplated let alone be enacted.

The above are general principles with regards to actions (thoughts and speech are taken as action here). The next thing to consider is desire and attachment. Ill will, selfishness and pride are also karma productive. Buddha said that craving is the cause of suffering. He elaborated that craving leads to desire, clinging and attachment. All these karma-productive traits not only end up in suffering but to rebirth, which is much worse. When we merely enjoy one of the sensual objects, and there is no attachment involved, karma is not produced. However, after enjoying the object, an attachment or clinging ensues this is fraught with karma. That means we can enjoy but not yearn for it afterwards. Yearning, clinging and attachments are all seeds of karma-production. One can desire or crave for physical things as well as mental-emotional objects. Concepts are equally dangerous.

Desire and craving for sensual objects: Out of the 6 sense objects, sex is the most alluring. Being the force behind the reproductive system, it must be made strong and powerful for the humans to perpetuate the human race. If there is no pleasure in sex, the human race will die out in no time. The next object is food and wine. These cravings are accepted by our social customs, and therefore if anyone were to indulge in either, it is quite in order. However, together with drugs and cigarette, these are consumed to addictive proportions. These objects per se do not produce karma. One may become obese, alcoholic, or a drug addict, but on its own it does not produce karma. It is the craving and the attachment that is karma-productive.
Emotional reaction and thoughts: the emotional reactions to the 6 sense objects as above at the first contact are: pleasure, displeasure or neutral. With pleasure, clinging and attachment will arise as emotional memories. These in turn will lead to constant yearning and longing, and these would lead to karma production. Similarly with displeasure, the aversion and resentment will also be karma productive. In other words, these emotional reactions would consolidate as emotional memories. When the latter are fixated as negative and positive thoughts with emotional desire and aversion they would generate karma even though nothing is done about it. Similarly, with only thoughts and concepts, these will also produce karma when these intentions are prelude to speech or action. So thoughts, speech and action will generate negative karma if the intention is to consolidate the self. Conversely, it will generate good karma, if thoughts, speech and action are for the sake of others. If these ęactionsł are merely passing phases, then hardly any karma will be produced. However, if these ęactionsł are fixated and the attachments are strong, then karma will surely ensue.

Not all ęactionsł will produce karma. Millions of things that you think, say or act are neutral. These are daily chores like eating onełs meals, opening bowels and having a bath. Watching T.V., reading and exercising etc are karma neutral. All these activities are not to aggrandise oneself or to hurt others. They are just done to keep one alive.

Varieties of Karma

Under this heading, we can consider karmic ties with our stars, planet earth, our country, locality, race, religion, nuclear and outer families, distant relatives, friends, work mates and underlings. The universe is about 6 billion years old, and planet earth is about 5 billion years old. From mineral through vegetable and animals the predecessor of man arrived on earth about more than three million years ago. The first "human" was Homo Habilis who lived in Africa about 2.5 million years ago. Then 1.5 million years ago man started to walk upright and he was called Homo Erectus. After more than a million years of evolution, modern man, Homo Sapiens, came into being about 200,000 years ago. The Neanderthal, who is the first Homo Sapiens, also existed roughly 200,000 years ago. Suddenly they became extinct 35,000 years ago. Therefore, most of us should have souls of at least 2 million years old. This would have ensured us of several hundreds or thousands of incarnations. Just imagine how much karma each of us has accumulated! Therefore at birth, the underlying karmic forces are exerting such an influence, that nobody is born equal.

Firstly, we are born under a set of stars and our astrological horoscopes should be the blueprints for our G-plan (life plan). This renders the birthday and time most important for that individual, even though it is a Caesarean birth. However, each of us would have made plans in the astral world before coming down---our G-plan. Our group souls must have come down to earth time and again together. Very rarely an old soul might choose another planet. As humans we mostly choose the familiar, and like begets like. In discussing racial karma, the Jews, Germans and the Japanese mostly choose to come back as Jews, Germans and Japanese. The other races tend to mix up more. Looking at the heterogeneity of the populations of U.S.A. and parts of Asia these souls may choose to go anywhere, although the majority will return to their old familiar countries. At the moment of birth, armed with our G-plan, the stars aligned themselves for the life we are about to go through. The G-plan was entirely worked out on the basis of our karmic balances while we are in the spirit world. The soul mates that came down together had common karma to work through (group karma). The country that we were born in was also part of our karmic heritage. So the stars, earth, country, nationality and soul mates are all interconnected through the karmic cords that hold us all together. Then as we come closer to nuclear and immediate and distant families and friends, the karmic pot thickens.

The planet earth is also called Gaia, named after a Greek Goddess. Gaia has its own spirit and karma. The way we are plundering and abusing Gaia it is no wonder that the boomerang effect of karma caused by humans is beginning to resound itself. Few examples of these are: deforestation by fires, underground nuclear explosions, the building of hydro-electric dams and planting with explosions of land mines, to name a few. This global karma is just beginning to make itself felt. The recent spate of earthquakes, volcanic explosions, hurricanes and tornadoes is just the tip of an iceberg. More and worse is yet to come. On the other hand, it is not going to be the end of the world, for wayward humans still require Gaia to practice on.

In a mix population, there may be one nation, but there are many races. So in a mix population, if one becomes good friends or enemies with the other races this signify that onełs karmic net is truly wide. Therefore, racial karma in this instance is not identical with national karma. The United States, Singapore and Malaysia are in the same position. In the case of the Jews, they may not have a country to call their own for thousands of years, yet they remain a cohesive race spread all over the world. It is only in recent years that the State of Israel is born, and now the Jews can state that they are one race, one nation. National karma always supersedes racial and individual karma. Take for instance the present financial turmoil that is pervading the South East Asian countries. It has taken its toll on all and sundry, whether rich or poor, seemingly good or bad and whichever race. Most are affected, but a few have been left unscathed. These very few must have earned enough beneficial karma to protect them from this onslaught. These people are mostly unattached and non-materialistic. In fact these Asian countries have been working towards this turmoil for the last 20 years! There has been a persistent pursuit of wealth and materialism in these countries to a feverish pitch. There is no soul and no spirituality. Love, compassion and service have all gone to the wind. The spiritual individuals can see it coming a mile away, but not the economists.

The geography or locality of a place also posses karma from the history and the spirit of the area. The bad overtones produced by the underlying spirits of deceased people as well as the earth and vegetation of the place very often affect adversely the people moving there to stay. The geographical karma is much more powerful than the individual karma. A former graveyard is a very good case in point.

Family Karma

The strongest karmic ties are seen in the nuclear family. The two greatest threads are (1) between husband and wife and (2) parent and child. We all chose to come down in these respective relationships. For many lives we come down in different permutations and combinations. If a very good friendship is established in one life, one of them may decide to be born as a son or a daughter to the other in the next life. (My son was a friend of mine in the last life). Husband and wife relationships in the past may not always be happy ones. In fact, quite often it is the opposite. Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama found that it is not unusual for one spouse to be the murderer of the other. In most cases, there is karma to resolve between husband and wife. Very few couples marry because of previous harmony or due to elevated spiritual growth. They do occur, but they are very few in numbers. The couples that marry because of sexual passion very often end up in divorce, because there is no karmic force to keep the marriage going. In the case of the couples that marry due to karmic ties, there is a motivation to continue with the marriage, because of the necessity to resolve the karma between the spouses. Whatever it is, both should ensure that there is no residual animosity between them when they leave this world. Longevity of a marriage is a good sign. And quite often, when one spouse dies, the other follows suit within two years, if one is dependent on the other. This happens in spite of the fact that there are numerous quarrels between them during marriage. That means both have resolved their karma to a greater or smaller extent. This general theme applies to homosexual couples as well. In a heterosexual marriage, the husband who is suffering from pathological jealousy (a well known psychological condition) could very well be a very promiscuous man in his last life. Now in this life, he is suffering from this disease in which he continuously suspects his wife, who was his spouse the last time, of infidelity. The marriage becomes a very difficult one and it requires a Herculean endeavour to sustain the marriage. The ironic part of this inherited disease is that the man with the disease is quite often unfaithful himself! Most of these marriages end in up divorce, because the husband suspects every man that turns up, sometimes ending in a situation in which the poor wife is locked up whenever the husband leaves the house. In the olden days, a chastity belt was used. It is essentially a male disease.

Twin souls: Do twin souls marry? Of course they do but very seldom. The reason is this. Twin souls are the last two souls in the same pod to separate and individualise. They were in a sublime state when they left each other to experience and learn from their repeated incarnations. When they are together there is only bliss and harmony. There is no acrimony. And when they do get married, it is truly blissful. There is no dissension, no quarrels or heated discussions. That means they do not learn. Some twin souls, after realising this, they divorce! However, when they are in the last or penultimate incarnation then they will come together for the journey back to the spirit world never to return to earth again. That means it must be their last or second last life on this earth before they get married.

Parent and child: This relationship is always very strong. Mostly it is of love and attachment. The doting mother on the son or the adoring father and daughter are classic examples. They both chose to come down in this relationship after experiencing many previous relationships. These include cases of adoptions. There is no difference between an adopted child and a biological one. The sacrifice of a parent is sometimes so stupendous that one can only call it madness. It is beyond reason. It can only be compared to that of a religious bigot. So now we can envisage the tremendous karmic bonding that brings this relationship down to earth. Of course the reverse may take place. The parent or the son could just merely exploit the other until the other meets with disaster, and there are no qualms about it. Therefore, one should always look back to their previous lives to get some sort of an answer to what is going on. The doting mother and son could have been lovers in the previous life, during which she could not do enough for her lover. A father could be the previous husband of his daughter. With a strong sexual appetite he commits incest on his daughter. This is a reason why there are so many cases of incest between father and daughter. Please remember that one can always divorce the spouse but not the offspring, and that is why the karmic bond of an offspring is so much stronger than that of a marriage.

Siblings and close relatives

Two siblings can be very close. When one sees this proximity it is so obvious that there is a strong karmic bond between them. There could also be a very intense and animated rivalry, which can be deemed as karmic in origin. In twins, the closeness manifested gives one no doubt about their past relationship. Except for some unusual cases, sibling rivalry does not go beyond adulthood. Most of the siblings use the parents as stepping stones for venturing out into their own G-plan. In this instance, a good friend is even closer than a sibling is. From here onwards we move away to cousins and in-laws etc, widening the circle to include more and more distant relatives. The principles enumerated above all apply as well, except that generally the karmic ties are less and less intense as one move towards the periphery.

Underlings: workers, servants and maids

There are usually some karmic ties between the boss and the employees, especially with the long serving ones. A servant maid would look after the home as if it was her own. She would treat the children better than the mother. There are cases where when the servant dies; she bequeathed her property and other asset to her employers. I used to run a laboratory for 17 years. There were 35 employees in the firm. Thirty-two of them resigned within one year after I sold the laboratory. This signifies to me that they were there just to serve me and not the new owners. Your maids could have been your employers in the last life. They are now experiencing the treatment that was dished out by them in the past. So be careful: do not ill-treat your maids! Some of your employees were your friends in the past. They would like to return the kindness you have shown to them. When the debt is paid, they leave.

Classification of Karma

Edgar Cayce classified physical karma into three varieties: (1) Boomerang (2) Organismic (3) Symbolic.

Boomerang Karma: This type of karma is the exact translation of Jesus Christłs teaching, "whatsoever man soweth, that he shall also reap". The principle here is that whatever a man does to someone in one past life, he will suffer almost an identical incapacity in the present life. One of the examples is that of a blind Professor who asked for a reading from Edgar Cayce. The professor was told that in Persia in about 1000 BC he was a member of barbaric tribe, who used to blind its captured enemies with red-hot irons. The second case is about a girl who suffered an attack of polio at the age of one. She was crippled with the disease and both feet were stunted. At a Cayce reading, she was told that in an Atlantean incarnation she made people "weak in the limb and unable to do other than follow."

Organismic Karma: In this type of karma the individual abused his body and organs in the past life. This resulted into a malady concerning the same organ in the succeeding life. An example given was a man who was a glutton in the court of Louis XIII. Then in one of the following life, he suffered from an intense illness of indigestion that it required several hours to digest a meal.

Symbolic Karma: A young man suffered anaemia since childhood. A Cayce reading revealed that five life times back this individual ruthlessly seized control of Peru and became its ruler. "Much blood was shed, hence anaemia in the present incarnation" says the reading. Therefore, shedding of blood 5 life times ago has now caused him to have blood deficiency. In a severe case of asthma, the patient was told: "You cannot press the life out of others without seeming at times to have it pressed out of oneself."

In another case of symbolic karma, is about a boy who began bed-wetting as a child. Notwithstanding all the specialists that he went to he continued to bed-wet until he was 11 years old. In a Cayce reading then, he was told that as a minister of the gospel in early Puritan days in Salem he used to duck ęwitchesł into a pond. A cure was suggested: The mother should suggest to the boy when is about to fall asleep that ęhe is good and kind and he is going to make many people happył. This recitation went on for 10-20 minutes after he has gone to sleep. This cured him immediately on the first night. The condition never returned. Now at 16 years of age, he is very tolerant of others, and always gives excuses to justify othersł misdemeanour. Note that the cure did not refer to his past life activity.

All the above incidents are physical results of retribution of a psychological realm. The retribution is never exact or literal. Karma is a psychological law, and the physical manifestation of the retribution is merely a means to adjust a psychological wrong. Therefore it cannot be exact, but an approximation. However, the ramifications of the three different types of karma as classified above are both interesting and telling. The people, the social and environmental circumstances are all different in the present life of retribution as compared to the lives of causation. The people that suffered in the past are not the same people who are delivering the punishment. Also the environment and social circumstances differ considerably in the two lives. In the Symbolic cases, one needs to be a sleuth like Edgar Cayce to work out the symbolic linkage of the action and reaction. The Edgar Cayce cases are indeed most illustrative.

One can also see that the emotional and mental manifestations of past causes can be very varied and complicating. Under these circumstances, there is never a direct one to one relationship. Therefore the vagaries of karmic manifestation is never straightforward. That means in order to work out the neuroses and mental diseases, as effects in this life from causes in the past are almost impossible.


Can Karma be suspended, modified or eliminated?

Karma does not come about as regularly as the night that follows the day. It can be suspended for the following reasons:

There must be a time and place to repay our debt. In modern society, when we borrow a large sum of money to buy a house, we usually ask for a period of time before we can completely pay the entire dept. We have a choice here as to the length of time we need to pay off the debt. As humans we have freedom of choice. Normally, in a housing loan we can pay back by instalments. In karma, although we may do the same, we prefer to gather strength in the intervening centuries and perhaps clear some of them in the spirit world. However, the major portion of the karma has to be paid back finally in one life. In the intervening period, we would have developed spiritually, and consequently we are able to face our karma with greater wisdom and strength. In addition, we would also like to choose the time for its appearance because the conditions are more appropriate.

Can karma be modified or changed? The answer is a definite "Yes". Firstly, we must recognise that we have injured the other person. Then we ask for forgiveness from that person. At the same time we must also forgive ourselves and the person in order to lay the pathway for the karma to be modified. Paripassu we ourselves must U-turn or grow spiritually. How do we do that? We must purify ourselves of our foibles. Then we must now extend service to others to such an extent that it becomes our goal in life. Lastly, we should either pray or meditate to increase our vibrations. With all these practices we are able to postpone the retribution from appearing now to a more propitious time. In the same token, we should be able to modify our karma to a much more palatable form. In the Buddhist sense, we make sure that the conditions are not ripe for the present and hopefully after many decades or centuries of development we will be stronger to face the karma when it does appear.

Can karma be eliminated? Again the answer is "yes" but it is almost an impossibility for most of us. One has to realise the Self or the soul first. That means we have to reach a spiritual height of Christ Consciousness. Christ Consciousness is not the exclusive property of the followers of Jesus Christ. It is the same as Bodhicitta in the Buddhist parlance. It is Self-Realisation or Moksha of the Hindhus. This is the stage when our consciousness has reached the ultimate state, which is beyond the Causal Realm, a divine state. In this state we have transcended all states of consciousness below and we are in the same plane as the Absolute in Cosmic Consciousness. In this plane, all karma is annulled without exception. How many of us can be enlightened in this life? The paucity of these enlightened saints in one generation makes this method of elimination of karma like an impossible dream.

Where is Karma stored?

Every individual has at least 7 major chakras and 7 auric bodies. In the Buddhist teachings, the storing of karma is dependent on whether the action is intentional or unintentional. If it is intentional, then repercussions accruing from these actions will arise depending on the conditions ensuing. The repercussions may be physical, emotional, mental or spiritual. The recipient will then suffer or enjoy the result accordingly. However, if it is unintentional, the recipient may not suffer or enjoy the consequences. For instance, a wound inflicted by someone else in the previous life will only reappear as a birthmark in the present life without any physical handicap. Generally speaking, actions whereby there is attachment to the results will be stored in the astral body. In actions where there is no attachment to the results karma is stored in the causal body. The causal body is never shed no matter how developed we are, and it follows us life after life. It is in this body that the Akashic records are kept. This is the body that stores our past karma and our samskaras. Our G-plan (life plan) is also seen here. All these can be detected around our head and shoulders. When one has developed to the ultimate consciousness (enlightened) one would be residing in a realm beyond the causal realm, and all karma is then annulled.

If one is still struggling physically to survive with attachment, then the 1st chakra is involved in the karmic manifestation. If one has great sexual desires the chakra involved is the 2nd. Strong emotions like anger, hatred, jealousy, joy and depression are stored in the 3rd chakra. With love and compassion the 4th chakra is the centre involved. The 5th chakra deals with attachment to purification, teaching and singing. The 6th chakra is involved with attachment to knowledge and wisdom. All these karma are stored in the respective chakras of the astral body (4th auric body). Whereas, the results of actions without attachment will be stored in the causal body, whether they are intentional or unintentional. This is because the perpetrator of the action is not acting for self but for others. So all altruistic acts and services without attachment fall into this category. When karma is stored in the astral and causal bodies, the karma that has priority to manifest is the one with the most energy in it i.e. there is strong attachment in the desire. And normally this pertains to those in the astral body. Seeing those in the causal body are without attachment, they remain in the background until there is enough energy accrued for them to manifest. Therefore the survival tendencies, the sexual urges and the emotional volatility all tend to manifest in the current incarnation. Also a dominant karma will suppress the manifestation of subsidiary or weaker karma. The individual has to develop through many incarnations to come to a level where he can transcend all these tendencies, desires and attachments, that means he must progress in his spiritual growth.

The Eradication of Karma

This has been lightly touched upon earlier. We will now enumerate the steps we can take to achieve this. It will have to take many lifetimes, but the fact that we realise that we have to walk this path is itself very salutary. The disciplines involved are (1) Purification. (2) Service (3) Meditation or prayer.

Purification: In this category, we basically have to work hard at letting go of (a) craving, desire and attachment. (b) Ill will, which includes anger, hatred, jealousy, envy and other negative emotions. (c) Pride (d) Selfishness.

Service: In this category, we have to service the mineral, vegetable, animal kingdoms and humans. In humans, we have to help our immediate families, distant relatives and friends and fellow colleagues and underlings,

Meditation or prayer: In this category, it is better to meditate. In meditation we expedite the process of letting go. The main goal of meditation is to empty onełs mind, and it is during these periods of emptiness that we can reach the causal realm temporarily only to come to earth again when we stop meditating.
Summarising, one does not need to resolve every karma earned. In order to eradicate all our karma, we merely have to be enlightened!