In Hindu theology the doctrine of Karma is much more emphasized than in the religions of Beni Israel. By Hindu theology, I do not mean only the Vedantic or Brahmanic, but also the Buddhistic. By the religion of Beni Israel, I do not mean only the Jewish religion, but also the Christian and Muslim. The whole theory of Hindu philosophy is based upon the doctrine of Karma; the morality of Beni Israel is also based upon Karma. The only difference is that on one side morality is based on Karma, on the other side philosophy is based on Karma.
What is the meaning of the word “Karma”? The meaning of the word “Karma” is action. It is quite evident that what a person sows, a person reaps; the present is the echo of the past, the future is the reflection of the present. Therefore, it is logical that the past makes the present and the present makes the future. Nevertheless, in the Sufi school, there is little spoken on this subject. Often people interested in the doctrine of Karma wonder, “Why does Sufism not speak on the subject? Is it opposed to it?” Sufism is not at all opposed to it, but there is no one way a Sufi looks at it, so we cannot help but close our lips. First, Sufis believe that what a person calls right or wrong is according to their own knowledge. A person calls something right that they know as right, that they have learned to call right; just as a person calls something wrong that they know as wrong, that they have learned to call wrong. In this way, there may be various nations, communities, or races, all differing in their conception of right and wrong.
A person accuses another of wrongdoing only on the grounds that they know it as wrong. How does a person know something to be wrong? By learning it, reading it in a book, or being told so by another. People have looked with horror, with hatred, with prejudice at the doings of one another—individuals, communities, nations and races. Yet there is no label, there is no stamp, there is no seal upon actions that confirm their being right or wrong. This is one way of understanding Karma.
There is another way of understanding Karma: at every step of evolution a person’s conception of good and bad, of right and wrong, changes. You might ask me, “How does it change? Does a person see more wrong or do they see less wrong as they evolve?” You might naturally think that by virtue of a person’s evolution they might see more wrongs. But that is not the case; the more a person evolves the less wrong they see. It becomes clearer that a person’s sense of right or wrong is not always determined by the action; it depends on the motive behind it. Sometimes an action, apparently right, may be made wrong by the motive behind it. Sometimes an action, apparently wrong, may be made right by the motive behind it. Therefore, the ignorant person is ready to form an opinion of another’s action, but for the wise person it is most difficult to form an opinion of another’s action.
Now we come to the religious idea. If a person evolves spiritually, they see less and less wrong at every stage of their evolution. How can God be counting the little faults of human beings who know so little about life? We read in the Bible, “God is love.” What does love mean? Love means forgiveness, love does not mean judgement. When people make of God a cruel judge sitting in the seat of judgement, getting hold of every person and asking them about their faults, judging them for their actions, sentencing them and casting them away from the Heavens, then where is the God of Love?
Leaving the religious idea aside and coming to philosophy, we have another question. Is a person a machine or is a person an engineer? If a person is a machine, then they must go on for years and years and years experiencing the consequences of their mechanically driven evil actions. If a person is a machine, then they are not responsible for their actions. If, on the other hand, a person is an engineer, then they are responsible for their actions. But if a person is responsible for their actions, then they are also the master of their actions. If a person is an engineer, they are the master of their destiny. A person’s wishes make their destiny.
Taking this philosophical point of view, the Sufi says, “It is true that if things are wrong with me, it is the effect of my actions. But that does not mean that I should submit to it, that I should be resigned to it because it is from my past actions. Instead, I must make my destiny, because I am the engineer.” That is the difference. I have myself heard a person say, “I have been ill for so many years, but I have resigned myself to it. I accept it easily because it is my Karma, now I am paying back.” By that a person may prolong the paying for their whole life when perhaps the debt was for only ten years. The Sufi, in this case, acts, at the same time, as a patient and a doctor to themself. A Sufi says, “Is my condition bad? Is it the effect of the past? I am going to cure it. The past has brought the present, but this, my present, I will make the future.” This means that a Sufi does not allow past influences to overpower their life, but rather produces just now the influence to make their life better in the future.
There is still a more essential subject attached to being an engineer of our life. Before a person takes upon themself the responsibility of paying back the past, do they ask themself, “What was I in the past?” If a person does not know of it, why must they hold themself responsible for it? You can be only responsible for something that your conscience knows. That in itself is quite a sufficient load to carry in life. Why add to it a load of the unknown past? But besides, when you look at yourself philosophically, what do you find? The keener your sight becomes, the less fragments you can find of yourself. The more conscious of reality you become, the less conscious you are of your small self. All this burden of past actions is assumed by a person without their being invited to take it up. A person could just as well have ignored it. Taking responsibility for unknown wrongdoing gives a person no real benefit. It only gives them a moment’s satisfaction to think, “It is just, so now I am in this trouble.” And then their idea of karmic justice strengthens their trouble. The pain that could have been finished continues on because they have fortified the pain.
The main object of the Sufi’s esoteric work is to put away these thoughts of self: What I was, what I am, and what I shall be. A Sufi can then be fully occupied with thinking of life as a whole: What it must have been, what it is, and what it will be. It is this idea of life that produces a kind of synthetic point of view and unites instead of disperses. It is constructive, and the secret of spiritual liberation is to be found in this idea.
The Brahmins, the Vedantists, and the Buddhists, who hold the idea of Karma as the foremost doctrine, rise above the idea of Karma as soon as they touch the spiritual goal they respectively call Mukti or Nirvana. For unless a person has risen above the idea of Karma, one does not touch Nirvana. The verbal meaning of Nirvana (Vana meaning color, Nir meaning no) is no label, no color, no division. It is seeing and realizing the whole life as one. This realization is the secret of Nirvana.
May 16, 1924
CW 1924, Vol. I, pp. 227-230.
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