Mohini Chatterji on Karma – Sowing and Reaping 1

From May to September 1886, an intriguing short story by Mohini Chatterji ran in the Theosophist, entitled Sowing and Reaping. It is a fascinating story about karma and reincarnation in the east and the west, and contains certain recondite passages involving the teachings of a spiritual guide to a student, sometimes of an esoteric nature, some extracts which will be featured in a short series of posts.

The teaching is hard to understand, Master,” I said to my venerated Brahmin preceptor. " If desire for an object forges a fresh link in the chain of material bondage in which the soul is held, it is obvious that, as no action can take place otherwise than in consequence of desire of some sort—some want demanding fulfillment the student of the Spiritual Science would have to become a St. Simon Stylites.[1] Where, then, is there room for the performance of duty?” 

“It is true, my son,” replied the Master, “there is a cessation of action for the liberated soul, whether embodied or disembodied, but forcible repression of activity is not the rest of the beatified soul. Truth cannot be obtained by pretence. It does not avail to shut your eyes and say you are liberated if you are really not so. Constant repetition of the name of medicine does not cure disease, says Sankara.[2] It is not for you to say “ I shall be inactive,” but when your soul awakes there will be no action for you. That rest which is emancipation is as independent of your will as is the sensation of heat when fire is near. You can approach the fire or go away from it according to choice, but you cannot help being affected by the heat when you are near its source. If you are hot you are not cooled by merely saying that you are cool. Again, a determination to be inactive, on the face of it shows that the unity of being, the Supreme Spirit, has not been realized. There is no determination necessary to bring into existence that which already exists.”

“But, master, deign to explain how Buddha worked on for forty years after his liberation.” 

"Ah my son, it is a great mystery which you will not comprehend. I believe you are now satisfied that the root of false faith and doubt is not intellectual but moral deficiency. So long as there is the slightest trace of personal desire in you the Law of Karma will govern your evolution, you will enjoy the fruit of the good that you do, and suffer for your evil acts. When spiritual knowledge extinguishes all personal desire and removes the individual from the operation of Karma, then only can the purified soul comprehend the nature of those who are liberated while in the flesh. Those who have attained this condition of freedom from Karma are alone entitled to admission into our Brotherhood.” "

“But how does one get beyond Karma ?”

“As I have said, by a natural elimination of all personal desire.” 

“Then, on the instant I renounce my personality, renounce all self-seated, desire, Master, then bid me follow you to the home of rest and leave this world of passion behind.” 

“ Ah, my son,” said the Brahman ascetic smiling, “ you can no more renounce your personality in that way than you can renounce the colour of your skin. Cessation of karma comes only from the excess of good karma. Remember what is said in the Bhagavad Gita :—It is better to perish in the performance of one’s own duty; the performance of another’s duty is attended with danger.[3] Seek not to leave the life that is yours till it drops from you of itself. The vow that you were taking has really to be taken in silence by your soul when it is temporarily freed from your body. Practice the seven virtues, rectitude, gentleness, modesty, devotion to truth, patience, sympathy and right knowledge, and if your soul attain s the required purity, you will find me ready to receive you this day twelvemonth. But it is right that you should not be kept in ignorance’ of what ensues when the mysterious vow is taken. You will cease to acquire new karma, but the old karma will have to exhaust itself. The wheel will continue to move even after the potter’s hand has ceased to turn it. The causes, previously generated by you, which in the ordinary course of nature would take a number of incarnations to work themselves off, will be crowded into a very short space of time, and your whole being will suffer a convulsion from which nothing will save you but unselfishness and determination of will. Think of this and beware while there yet is time. But if this day twelve-month finds you as resolute as you are now, you shall have permission to try your footsteps on the path that leads to the higher life. But I give you the warning, the path is rugged and steep. I have no right to interfere with the birth right liberties of a human being; you can but obey your karma, the behests of your soul in other incarnations, the ancestors of the present. Now, farewell. Remember this day twelve-month.”

The Theosophist, May, 1886. v. 7, no. 80, pp. 517-18

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[1] Simeon Stylites or Symeon the Stylite (c. 390? – 459) was a Syriac ascetic saint who achieved notability for living 37 years on a small platform on top of a pillar near Aleppo (in modern Syria).

[2] Adi Shankaracharya (733–746 CE) was an Indian philosopher and theologian who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta. He is credited with unifying and establishing the main currents of thought in Hinduism. See Vivekachudaman, verse 62.

[3] Bhagavad Gita, 18, 47

Part 2