Andrew Rooke – Australia
Profoundly studying the scores of Life's symphony
We are players in a vast symphony of Life. From sub-atomic particles to star systems, Nature gives evidence of a magnificent balance and harmony like a great orchestra blending countless keynotes into “the Music of the Spheres”. If we can listen to this music even for a moment, we realize that disharmonies will eventually blend with the greater harmony as a natural progression in the survival and development of the Whole. In the process of overcoming disharmony, individual players will learn something from their errors and grow to understand a little more of the greater scheme of the Melody. The ancient wise men of the East call this essentially compassionate process of learning “Karma”, the law of action and reaction, the reaping of what we sow in and our thoughts and actions as we learn the lessons each life has to teach.
So, if we are players in the Symphony of Life, then where is the Conductor? The Ancient Wisdom teaches that we are composite beings, literally a vortex of forces and energies composed of the greater sea of life in which we are immersed. The enduring part of us, often referred to as the ‘Higher Self’, animates the lower material forms and energies with which we are more familiar and sends us forth periodically on a voyage of understanding which is each lifetime.
As we experience life’s challenges, the Ancient Wisdom teaches that the Higher Self never provides a greater load of karmic lessons in one life than we have the strength to bear. The joys and hardships each one of us encounters in our own way, are exactly balanced by the “conductor” so we will appreciate a little more of the greater harmony after each life.
Herein lies the principle that Life is our teacher, that everyday experience provides the opportunity that we each individually require for growth and understanding – that life is an unravelling day by day of a “Karmic Script”, if we have the eyes to see it.
By intelligently and attentively attending to the lessons that Life is trying to teach us, we grow in our ability to express the balance within ourselves and in Nature generally and therefore in our capabilities to help others and bear a greater understanding of Life’s mysteries.
Therefore, it is logical to try and develop the ability to read the karmic script of our lives. This ability will enable us to appreciate a little more of the higher purpose that our Higher Self is trying to communicate each second as it urges our tardy footsteps along the path to greater understanding to the Oneness of Being. There is a simple practice we can follow to help strengthen positive attitudes towards life. In the early morning and on retiring at night, empty ourselves of all selfish and irritable thoughts, hurt feelings, and the jangle and pressure of our modern lives; then, in the privacy of our deepest being, revivify the vow taken lifetimes ago; to resolve one day, however long and difficult the passage, to become a Bodhisattva and live and work for the liberation and enlightenment of all living beings. This is our talisman, our inspiration, and our guide.
Let’s look at some common questions about Karma:
What Exactly is Karma?
Karma also known as Karman, but not ‘Kama’ which means Desire. The origin of the word is a Sanskrit term which means ‘to do’ or ‘to make’. For example, if we throw a stone into the ocean, the ripples will fan out infinitely and eventually will be transformed into new forms of energy. Similarly, any thought or act has its effect on the environment for good or ill and fans out to affect others over a long period of time.
Therefore, you cannot separate your actions from the rest of the Universe and hope that you are immune from the results of your actions, thoughts, etc… This is the real basis for all the laws of ethics that society and the church imposes on us.
There is personal karma, family karma, national karma, and even global karma. It is not so much a system of punishment and reward, such as you would expect from human ‘law’, rather more it is an impersonal response of Nature trying to find a balance with the results created by us and balanced by us in the final analysis. A bit more like a natural ‘law’ of physics or medicine where the whole tries to recover its balance or health if disturbed or diseased.
Karma has been taught throughout the ages by all the great religions. All cultures have a reward and punishment system of various forms – from the burning Hell of fundamentalist Christianity, to the more enlightened and non-judgemental idea of personal responsibility of Buddhis, Hinduism and Theosophy. Not only is there no separateness in the universe but, in fact, no part of reality is immune from the influences around it. Reality is interblended on all levels.
As Zen Buddhist, Professor Suzuki puts it: “…Not only are we so wrapped up in our Karma, but we know the fact that we are so wrapped up…this very fact of our being aware of the karma bondage is the spiritual privilege of Humanity. From this privilege, implying freedom, means our ability to transcend Karma…We must make full use of it, and accepting the Karma-bondage as far as it extends, resolutely face all forms of suffering and thereby qualify ourselves for transcending them.” [quoted from The Essence of Buddhism]
If Karma is true, then why do good people suffer?
Picture a good person in their late adulthood stricken down with diseases caused by the dissolute lifestyle of their youth. Equally, we may be paying the price for the ‘sins’ incurred many lifetimes ago. The balancing karma appearing much later when we have learned in the meantime to be a better person. Karma has to find the right combination of environment and people to be able to balance disharmonies, and this may not occur for many lifetimes after an ‘evil’ deed. What about children suffering and dying in wars and natural disasters – were they all evil in the past? It may be that they have chosen to work out difficult karma in one short life with others of similar karmic background. Equally, they may well be very advanced souls who sacrifice themselves to elicit compassion in others. Outwardly difficult circumstances may be impulsed by the Higher Self to bring about an ‘initiation’ of individuals or groups into the finer qualities of human nature that we might normally take many lifetimes to achieve. As a disabled friend expressed this idea beautifully: “Karma – the word should be explained as meaning ‘circumstances currently the soul chose as the best opportunity for the soul’s growth and for teaching others.’” – Viola Henne.
What good is suffering if we don’t remember what we did in previous lives?
If we suffer now, we feel it would be a lot fairer if we knew why we were suffering so we could make the necessary changes in our lives. However, according to Theosophy we are our own karma, ie our past actions have determined who we are and our situation of today. The physical brain is newly formed in each life, and therefore cannot remember all details of previous lifetimes.
However, there is an aspect of ourselves that endures from one life to another – our Higher Self – which does remember, and which directs the circumstances for soul learning and setting the balance aright.
According to Theosophy, there will come a day in the future when we have developed spiritually enough to withstand the shock of remembering the details of all our former lives. Until then, in quiet moments we can intuit some of the major lessons we have come into incarnation to learn.
Does Karma mean that everything has already been decided?
People often ask does karma mean that everything in our lives is predetermined? Don’t we have some measure at least of free will to direct our lives?
Theosophy teaches that we retain the power of free will at all times as this is a necessary precondition for spiritual growth and for us to grow to join the spiritually self-ware forces that administer nature’s operations. However, we exist as part of the whole of the Universe, and we are subject to the results of actions we have done in the past which must eventually be balanced.
Just as a single cell is subject to the general health of the body, we are part of larger communities we determine our lives to a greater or lesser degree. Similarly, most people are weighted down with the heavy karma of past lives when they lived unaware of the real action of the law of karma in their lives. Once such awareness is attained, it can make a big difference to how we choose to live our lives from thereon.
Do the Gods step in to save us from our Karma?
Just as we are more progressed in self-consciousness than the animals, there are beings, call them Angels, Devas, ‘Gods’ or whatever, who are more advanced than us humans on the ladder of spiritual evolution.
People pray to their vision of them all the time, but it is said in Theosophy that they never interfere with our Karma, though they may ‘dam’ it back to stop it overwhelming the human race. Humans, as learning beings, must be free to work out our own destiny, which means that our mistakes will eventually recoil upon ourselves, for it is thus that we learn and may one day grow in self-consciousness to join ‘the Gods’.
Men themselves decide their fate by their choice of the various alternatives life presents. The ‘Gods’ however, do guide, protect, and help forward the evolution of their ‘younger brothers’ wherever they can without interfering with our right to learn and grow through our own choices.
What about the fact that all of us are subjected to the will of our families, nations and the global environment. How does individual karma fit with such group karma?
There are many aspects of karma, such as world, national, and racial karma, family as well as individual karma. In every avenue of experience, from the individual to the international, we are thinking and acting and hence setting certain causes in motion which are bound to have their effects.
According to Theosophy, we are all part of a single, living, universe and hence connected in a web-work of life over vast periods of time. We have developed strong karmic relationships at family, national, and global levels during this long process of learning, and so we are bound to have to work out our group, as well as our individual karma.
The current crisis of global warming could be said to be an ultimate example of group karma for the whole human race.
How do you reconcile Heredity with Karma?
The law of Karma will attract us into the family, culture and nation where we can best fulfil our individual needs for soul learning. This may be into either outwardly comfortable, or difficult circumstances, so that we individually have the opportunity to develop patience, tolerance, and other human qualities.
The power of both love and hate can bind us into a particular group of people for as long as is needed to work out our Karma together, and then go our separate ways. According to Theosophy it is we who determine heredity by our behaviour in each life impressing our ‘life atoms’ with individual patterns of attributes. We merely pick up these bundles of attributes or ‘skandhas’ as they are called in Sanskrit, at each rebirth, and go on from where we left off last life.
Is life fair?
Most people think that it is ‘bad karma’ when we undergo life’s trials such as illness, loss, handicap, and grief. But surely it is a common experience that such events give us the opportunity to learn soul lessons of patience, tolerance, and spiritual understanding in the most meaningful and enduring way – ‘blessings in disguise’ we often call such experiences.
‘Bad Karma’ may actually be ‘Good Karma’ from the viewpoint of soul learning. Theosophy teaches that ‘we are our own karma’ – meaning everything that comes to us is an out flowing of ourselves – our past. Perhaps our souls rejoice at such opportunities to reconcile past imbalances, learn valued lessons, nurture compassion, and possibly be of help to those around us a result of what we’ve learned in the ‘school of hard-knocks’.
All of this sounds good, but how do I know that any of it is true?
We can observe the cycle of ebb and flow, action and reaction everywhere in nature. If you toss a stone into a pool, it causes ripples in the water; and these ripples spread and finally impact on the banks.
Modern science tells us that we live in a universe of waves and vibrations extending infinitely outwards into the universe impacting and reacting with atomic particles everywhere. Do you think human beings are any exception?
Much of theosophical teaching is based on the learning of the Masters of Wisdom who have ventured self-consciously into the invisible realms which support the physical. Such Masters during their initiatory journeys, see the universe ‘as it is in itself’. They have returned from their initiations to teach us ordinary people what they have observed to be true there, and confirmed by comparison with the experiences of other Initiates.
QUOTE HPB
The chief point is to uproot that most fertile source of all crime and immorality - the belief that it is possible for men/women to escape the consequences of their own actions. Once teach them the greatest of all laws, Karma and Reincarnation, and besides feeling in themselves the true dignity of human nature, they will turn from evil and eschew [i.e. run from] it as they would a physical danger." - HP Blavatsky,
The Key to Theosophy, pp.243-44
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About the author
Andrew from Melbourne Australia, somewhere in England
Andrew Rooke is the former National Secretary of the Theosophical Society (Pasadena), Australasian Section. Andrew is the author/editor of magazine articles, especially in the international magazine of the TS (Pasadena), Sunrise: Theosophical Perspectives, available free of charge, CLICK HERE, and of books on spiritual subjects including: Laws of Life (2004) and Creator and Creators (2018) both these books co-authored/edited with Roza and Margarita Riaikkenen. He is the founding editor of the online magazines, Theosophy Downunder (2019-2025); and currently, The Ancient Wisdom Downunder (2025 onwards), which is available free of charge four times per year by contacting Andrew at:
