Esoteric V10: July 1896 - Iapsop.com

1896.] WHAT IS KARMA? 247
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~mid "The pl"iJl~ ~nrely as there
lnrks one remaining desire which i>~ not merged in the Uni·
ver~al Cun~eion~ness, so surely will it a~ain Reek an eat·th life
antl cmulitions by which it may reap the cnnseqnences of that
de11li a· e. ·,
On the contrary, modern Hindn philosophy in the Occident
and in the Ot·ient is now teaching .that, because a tendenc~y
which i~ bringing mi~ry upon the individual i~ the resnlt of
evil done in a former life, he must inevitably go on doing and
snlfering the same thing until there iR no more desire. left in
him for it ( m· powet· tu do it?). The gross error of such
teaching forgeR chains which bitul its adherents so that it ia impo:~sihle
fut• them to ad vance tlu-ough the evolutionary proces~
ses by which they find them>~elves sm·ronnded. By an inver:~iun
uf the tt·nth the itulividnal i,; taught. that, inRtead of
overcnuiing. he 11111>1t h~ overcome by the evil he meetR within
himself. ·It i11 in the cnil>~nf this lying llet•pP.nt that China and
India have, through the age11, been draggetl down to their present
· t•ontlition>~ .
• ~nd this doctrine, so dire in it.'l conseltnenceR, and lying, 8.11
it doeR, at the very foundation of all right Kction and. right
thought, haR he~n lu·onght to America atul to En rope: and the
organized bo,Jy lllulet· the high:>~'JIIntling name of "Theosophy,"
has accepted it as the chief e01·ne•· stone of its belief, and is
prnRelytmg the wol'ld to thi>~ rninnn11 theory: and the world is
re1•ei viug it with lmul applan'!e, becanRe it is in pet·fect bar.
mony with its sP.n~nal desires, appetite~, and momentar.v pleasm·e~.
Again, it is snch an e;t~y. cornfnrtahle belief: one does
nnt have to strnggle against evil appetites, desires, ancl pas­
MiunR: one neafl only read antl study ano, as they say, "think
t•ight," until, as one of theit· leaders has 11aid, "the 110111 be.
comes !IO hlat~kened and chat·red, that, by the very fnry of its
passion, light leap~ fot·th.'' Can one imagine a more degrad-
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