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A Series of Lessons in Gnani Yoga880
there which we wish had never happened, and how we wish we could tear
them out of our consciousness. But we do not realize that from these same
bitter experiences came knowledge and wisdom that we would not part
with under any circumstances. And yet if we were to tear away from us the
cause of these benefits, we would tear away the benefits also, and would
find ourselves back just where we were before the experience happened to
us. What we would like to do is to hold on to the benefits that came from the
experience—-the knowledge and wisdom that were picked from the tree of
pain. But we cannot separate the effect from the cause in this way, and must
learn to look back upon these bitter experiences as the causes from which
our present knowledge, wisdom and attainment proceeded. Then may we
cease to hate these things, and to see that good may come from evil, under
the workings of the Law.
And when we are able to do this, we shall be able to regard the painful
experiences of our present day as the inevitable outcome of causes away
back in our past, but which will work surely toward increased knowledge,
wisdom and attainment, if we will but see the Good underlying the working
of the Law. When we fall in with the working of the Law of Karma we
recognize its pain not as an injustice or punishment, but as the beneficent
operation of a Law which, although apparently working Evil, has for its end
and aim Ultimate Good.
Many object to the teachings of the Law of Karma by saying that the
experiences of each life not being remembered, must be useless and without
value. This is a very foolish position to take concerning the matter. These
experiences although not fully remembered, are not lost to us at all—they
are made a part of the material of which our minds are composed. They
exist in the form of feelings, characteristics, inclinations, likes and dislikes,
affinities, attractions, repulsions, etc., etc., and are as much in evidence as are
the experiences of yesterday which are fresh in our memory. Look back over
your present life, and try to remember the experiences of the past years. You
will find that you remember but few of the events of your life. The pressing