Karma, by Dr. Paul Leon Masters

Audio version read by Rev. Steven Lane Taylor, B.Msc.

Karma has been linked in people’s minds to a common explanation for the good or the bad experienced in human life. The word karma itself simply means action. That action can be positive or negative. The acts of today create the fortune or misfortune of the future. The Bible’s words, “As you sow, so shall you reap,” could be the Biblical equivalent of karma.

It has been commonplace in society to say that if a person’s life is going well, it is because of good karma, and if their life is going badly, that person has bad karma. In understanding karma, you should be aware that you are the one who is in charge of creating either good or bad karma in your life. The exception to this is when you align yourself with God, in which case God will begin to remove or neutralize some of the bad karma you are carrying with you, as well as strengthen and/or give more power to the positive karma you have accumulated.

Karma can also be thought of as the law of cause and effect set into motion. The action you take on anything today will set into motion a series of events as a cause, which will bear good or bad tidings as the effect in the future.

The key is to get together with God in your own mind and consciousness to establish positive causes that will produce positive effects or good karma in your future life experience.

Karma is not limited to physical action. Karma may be the act of thought or an act of feeling. Christ once implied that a person does not have to perform a physical act, but the very thought of it is as good as having done the act. Thus, karma can often be created by thought and feeling actions, which, while not physical in and of themselves, can produce such psychic energy as to stimulate and produce physical effects. Never think that anyone can avoid the effects of their karma.

Sometimes in life, you may see a person who seems to be getting away with something. This was once pointed out to Christ, and he answered, “I say unto you that they already have their reward.” In other words, they have not escaped ill if they have been acting badly, for in the mind of God, they are already being placed in a position where at some time in the future, they will experience the consequences of their actions.

Often karma does not have to be experienced at some distant time in the future, but could even be on the same day. Most karma, for that matter, whether good or bad, is experienced in this present lifetime you are leading, rather than having you come back in another lifetime to experience either rewards or consequences.

Generally, the higher the soul, the more quickly the karmic effect is experienced, as higher souls have a greater inner sensitivity, which means they can register the effect of karmic action far more quickly than less evolved souls. Also, because there is more creative energy active in higher souls, the effect tends to be more quickly created and experienced.

The very best way to create good karma for yourself is to be as close to God as possible—to meditatively and prayerfully tune into God’s Presence. Tuning into God’s Presence causes you to experience the energies of higher consciousness within you that are part of the manifestation of God’s Goodness, Truth, and Rightness.

Having good karma diminishes the number of times you have to physically reincarnate. Eventually what is called the wheel of birth and rebirth is broken, where you have no physically binding karma to the physical plane that causes you to have to incarnate. Incarnation among karma-free souls is a matter of choice and is generally motivated by the desire to be of service to humanity.

It should be noted here that even if a soul is a higher soul and karma-free, the decision to incarnate—even by choice—could make them subject to karmic action once again. The most widely known case of this was Jesus’ incarnation by choice. Even though pure of karma, once he incarnated, as a result of this action, he had to endure the sufferings that he did. He freed himself of karma, when on the cross he said, “Forgive them Father; they know not what they do.”

As you conduct your daily activities, maintain an awareness of trying to think, feel, and act in a positive manner. Be aware that you are constantly creating the causes for good or bad karmic effects. Be aware that the good or bad karmic effects may be almost immediate, or may be years from now, or even in another lifetime. Remind yourself that what is going on within you, and what you are doing outwardly, are creating immediate or future karma. Whenever you feel tempted to do something wrong, call upon the Presence of God to strengthen you so that you will do what is right.

And remember, too, that a daily practice of meditation invokes the healing energies of God to neutralize, sublimate, and heal negative karmic energies within you, freeing you and your life from such karmic influence.

Dr. Paul Leon Masters

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