"But one of the principal mistakes so
many people make is that they only judge according to
gross matter, regarding themselves as the centre therein,
and taking into consideration one earth-life,
whereas in reality they already have several
earth-lives behind them. These, as well as the
intervening times in the Ethereal World, are equal to one
uniform existence, through which the threads are
tightly stretched without breaking, so that in the effects
of a particular earthly existence only a small part of
these threads therefore becomes visible.
"Hence it is a great mistake to believe
that at birth an absolutely new life begins, that a child
is thus 'innocent', and that all happenings can be
accounted for in only the short life on earth. If this
were true, then the existing justice would naturally
require the combined causes, effects and reactions to
occur during the span of one earth-life.
"Turn away from this error. You will then soon discover
in everything that happens the logic and justice which are
now so often missed!" ("IN THE LIGHT OF TRUTH: THE GRAIL
MESSAGE" by Abd-ru-shin,
chapter "Fate").
"...basic spiritual principle is the Law of Reciprocal
Action, which is described by various other expressions
such as: the Law of Sowing and Reaping, the Law of Karma;
the Law of Seed and Harvest; the Law of Cause and Effect;
and the Law of Retributive Justice. We know that if we sow
maize, we can only reap maize, and if we want to harvest
mango, we must sow mango. This Law ensures the maintenance
of order and perfect justice in Creation. Imagine what
confusion and bewilderment would result if we could not be
certain what the harvest would be whenever we planted any
seed; if at one time a planting of maize gave us rice, at
another time the same planting gave us mango, etc. Because
of this Law, we know what harvest to expect with each
planting, and what we must plant if we desire a particular
harvest. The Law coupled with the knowledge of
reincarnation holds the key to so many unsolved mysteries
of existence.
"It is important for us to note that this
Law is no respecter of religions. Indeed, this is true for
all the Laws of Creation, which express the Will of God.
If a Christian sows maize, he will reap maize; so also
will a Jew, a Moslem, a Buddhist, or a pagan. If a pagan
sows goodness, he is bound to reap goodness and vice
versa; so will a Bishop, a Hindu monk, or a Moslem Imam.
Indeed, the Creator in His perfect Justice cannot be
expected to discriminate on any basis in the operation of
His Laws. This fact should lead us to the realization that
religions can only help us to understand thoroughly the
Will of the Creator and to show us how to do this Will. We
would be wrong to imagine that membership of any religion,
movement, or sect would guarantee salvation. It must, of
course, be understood that 'sowing' is not limited to its
ordinary agricultural sense. We 'sow' through our
thoughts, our words, our volitions, as well as our
actions. This implies that we are all constantly sowing,
be it only in our thinking and in our general attitude to
life. If our thoughts are always good, we eventually reap
harvests of blessings; if they are evil, then we heap
evils on ourselves. As we shift gear between good and
evil, so do the eventual harvests change.
"We should note that one planted seed yields, at
harvest, many seeds. The harvest is of the same kind
(quality or species) as what was sown but its quantity is
much greater. Thus our actions, good or bad, return to us
as multiples. The increase is the result of another Law
--- the Law of Attraction of Similar Species or the Law of
Homogeneity... Especially important is the fact that the
period between sowing and reaping depends on what is sown.
Some grain crops are ready for harvest four months after
planting, whereas some tree crops do not yield any
harvests until after many years. Even for the same crop,
the period required for maturity may vary according to the
variety of the crop. For example, traditional varieties of
cowpeas (also called beans inn West Africa) mature in
about 100 days. Some varieties of the same crop bred at
the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
in Ibadan mature in only about 60 days after planting.
"Such differences in periods to maturity
also apply to the actions, thoughts, words, prayers, and
volitions of people. Thus, we can understand why a person
doing evil now, will reap the consequences only in the
future, near or distant. Similarly, the good fruits of the
good person, who may now be suffering, will surely come.
Furthermore, the good that may currently be falling on the
laps of a presumably bad person must be the good he did in
the past. And the bad experiences of the person who is
presently striving to do good are the consequences of some
wrong he/she did in the past, which are only now ready for
harvest. The perfect Justice of the Almighty does not
permit any arbitrariness. One reaps only what one has
personally sown, and nobody reaps what he or she has not
sown.
"There appears to be injustices in some
cases only because of our own ignorance. A key aspect of
this ignorance is our lack of the knowledge of, or
deliberate but unfortunate rejection of, reincarnation.
The truth is that some fruits we now reap, whether they
are good or bad, were planted in some distant past, in
previous earth-lives. On the other hand, some 'seeds' we
are now sowing may not be ready for harvest until a
distant future, in the Beyond or in another earth-life.
The Creator grants every human being the Free Will to
decide what he may or may not sow. But once one has done
the sowing, one is obliged irrevocably to 'eat the
harvest' at the appropriate time. It should be noted that
forgiveness is provided for within the framework of the
Laws of Creation. It is not arbitrary; however, we cannot
go into the quite lawful process here. It should be
remarked that God does not inflict suffering and tragedy
on people. People bring them about purely by themselves
through what they sow in thought, word, and deed; this is
precisely the same process by which they could ensure
abundance, happiness and bliss for themselves."
"Let us, right away, raise and answer a
question of great social importance that may well arise at
this point in the minds of well-meaning people: does it
follow from the above that we do not have to worry about
suffering people since they are themselves responsible for
their suffering? That is, may we maintain that they are
only reaping what they sowed in this earth-life or in an
earlier one and do not therefore deserve our help? The Law
of Sowing and Reaping should suggest the opposite to us.
The Law shows clearly the need to do good at all times;
for whatever good we do and to whomever we do it, be it an
evil or good person, we stand to reap the good fruits.
"In reality, any good we do, we do for
ourselves; since the fruits return to us as multiples of
the seeds we planted. Whenever we see somebody suffering,
we should consider ourselves as having an opportunity to
sow good seeds. We should not concern ourselves with the
cause of the person's suffering; we should not judge.
Moreover, we should know that, in the perfection of the
Laws of the Creator, if a sufferer does not deserve help,
nobody who is in a position to help will come into contact
with him or her." ("Spiritual Dimensions of Development"
by S.M. A.
Lawani)
