Spirituality, Karma, and the Law of Attraction

1
Spirituality, Karma, and the Law of Attraction

• Dennis Blejer
• School of Practical Philosophy and Meditation,
  Boston
• Theosophical Society in Boston
• 15 May 2009

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Introduction

• The Law of Attraction has been presented in
  recent years via The Secret, and by Jack
  Canfield, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, and
  others (although much older sources exist all the
  way back to the Veda)
• The essential message is that you can get what
  you want from life (abundance, success, etc) and
  how to do it

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The Law of Attraction (Wikipedia)

• Know what you want. (Socrates, gold)
• Ask the universe for it.
• Feel, behave, and know as if the object of your
  desire is on its way.
• Be open to receive it and let go of (the
  attachment) to the outcome.

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 Jesus

• Ask, and it shall be given you seek, and
  ye shall find knock, and it shall be opened unto
  you.  For every one that asketh receiveth and he
  that seeketh, findeth and to him that knocketh,
  it shall be opened.
• Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask
  bread, will he give him a stone?  Or if he ask a
  fish, will he give him a serpent?  If ye then,
  being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
  children, how much more shall your Father which
  is in heaven give good things to them that ask
  him?
•   Therefore all things whatsoever ye would
  that men should do to you, do ye even so to them
  for this is the law and the prophets.

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Veda

• Things are achieved by
• Austerity (sacrifice) and meditation
  (concentration)
• Buddhi (reason) and dharma (duty and
  righteousness)
• Fate (destiny) and effort

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Objective

• Is the LOA the whole story?
• To present the Law of Attraction in light of the
  greater Law of Karma and in the context of
  Spirituality
• The Law of Karma contains the Law of Attraction
• What do spiritual teachings say about the Law of
  Attraction?

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Dhammapada

• We are what we think.
• All that we are arises with our thoughts.
• With our thoughts we make the world.
• Speak or act with an impure mind and trouble
  will follow you as the wheel follows the ox that
  draws the cart.
• We are what we think.
• All that we are arises with our thoughts.
• With our thoughts we make the world.
• Speak or act with a pure mind and happiness will
  follow you as your shadow, unshakable.

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Proverbs

• 23.1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler,
  consider diligently what is before thee
• 23.2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a
  man given to appetite.
• 23.3 Be not desirous of his dainties for they
  are deceitful meat.
• 23.4 Labour not to be rich cease from thine own
  wisdom.
• 23.5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is
  not? for riches certainly make themselves wings
  they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
• 23.6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an
  evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats
• 23.7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he
  Eat and drink, saith he to thee but his heart is
  not with thee.
• 23.8 The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou
  vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
• 23.9 Speak not in the ears of a fool for he
  will despise the wisdom of thy words.
• 23.10  Remove not the old landmark and enter not
  into the fields of the fatherless
• 23.11  For their redeemer is mighty he shall
  plead their cause with thee.
• 23.12  Apply thine heart unto instruction, and
  thine ears to the words of knowledge.(The
  Ancient Wisdom or the Perennial Philosophy)

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As a Man Thinketh by James Allen (1864-1912)

• Mind is the master-power that moulds and makes,
  and man is mind, and evermore he takes the tool
  of thought, and shaping what he wills, brings
  forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills He
  thinks in secret, and it comes to pass
  environment is but his looking-glass.

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As a Man Thinketh (cont.) by James Allen
(1864-1912)

• Read pages 11 middle of 14
• Read pages mid. 23- mid. 24
• Read pages 31 - 33
• Read pages mid 45 mid 46

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Thought Power Its Control and Culture Annie
Besant (published in 1903)

• The difficulties with mind
• Read page mid. 26

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Karma The Law of Action

• Karma simply means action.
• Good action
• Evil action
• Right action
• Good and evil actions are motivated by the desire
  for a result and produce kriyamana karma future
  actions
• Right action is action that is performed in
  response to a need and does not produce any
  future action it is selfless action that is not
  motivated by desire
• That which is most beloved of the agent is his
  karma
• That which is held in the heart

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Karma

• Praarabdha karma According to Sri Swami
  Sivananda
• That portion of the sanchita karma which
  influences human life in the present incarnation
  is called praarabdha. It is ripe for reaping. It
  cannot be avoided or changed. It is only
  exhausted by being experienced. You pay your past
  debts. Praarabdha karma is that which has begun
  and is actually bearing fruit. It is selected out
  of the mass of the sanchita karma." - "All About
  Hinduism" by Sri Swami Sivananda
• Kriyamana karma is created in the present and the
  consequences will be experienced in the future.
• The Law of Attraction deals with kriyamana karma
  not praarabda karma

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Karma

• Sanchit is that which is basically at the
  foundation the praarabdhah is that which is
  presently available to the person as the effect
  of the sanchit. In this way sanchit is the total
  balance and praarabdhah is the cash in hand. The
  kriyamaanah is that which one will get in the
  future by his activities in the
  present.(Shantaananda Saraswati)

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Karma

• The effect of the praarabdhah presents itself as
  favorable or unfavorable situations for mans
  development and if one chooses to handle them
  consciously then he not only steps forward but
  changes bad influences into good.
• The kriyamaanah is that which one would collect
  in due course according to the type of activities
  which he will perform. If there is something
  basically wrong in the sanchit then even when
  presented with a good opportunity for
  development, the person will not avail himself of
  it and will let it go. If otherwise, then he
  will make the best use of the opportunities
  presented to him by coming into the realm of
  conscious activities.(Sri Shantaananda
  Saraswati)

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Karma and Reincarnation

• Sometimes it is seen that people do all sorts of
  bad deeds and yet enjoy a happy and comfortable
  life and also that some people engage themselves
  in good deeds and suffer a lot. The explanation
  is that what they are availing is the praarabdah
  and what they are doing is motivated by sanchit
  and is forming a part of kriyamaanah to give them
  better or worse result later on. (Shantaananda
  Saraswati)

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Reincarnation

• Read from Reincarnation by Emmet Fox, pages mid
  9 - top of 10

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Karma BlavatskyKey to Theosophy

• But if you ask me to define its effects (karma)
  and tell you what these are in our belief, I may
  say that the experience of thousands of ages has
  shown us that they are absolute and unerring
  equity, wisdom, and intelligence. For Karma in
  its effects is an unfailing redresser of human
  injustice, and of all the failures of nature a
  stern adjuster of wrongs a retributive law which
  rewards and punishes with equal impartiality. It
  is in the strictest sense, no respecter of
  persons, though, on the other hand, it can
  neither be propitiated, nor turned aside by
  prayer.
• We consider it as the Ultimate Law, the source,
  origin and fount of all other laws which exist
  throughout Nature. Karma is the unerring law
  which adjusts effect to cause, on the physical,
  mental, and spiritual planes of being.

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Karma Blavatsky, cont.

• As no cause remains without its due effect from
  the greatest to least, from a cosmic disturbance
  down to the movement of your hand, and as like
  produces like, Karma is that unseen and unknown
  law which adjusts wisely, intelligently and
  equitably each effect to its cause, tracing the
  latter back to its producer. Though itself
  unknowable, its action is perceivable.
• since he receives his due for all, it is
  obvious that he will be made to atone for all
  sufferings which he has caused, just as he will
  reap in joy and gladness the fruits of all the
  happiness and harmony he had helped to produce.

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Points about Karma

• Everyone is subject to his/her praarabda karma
  and must face it head on no getting around it
• Practicing the principles of the Law of
  Attraction for selfish reasons creates
  kriyamaanah karma and is not the path of
  liberation and enlightenment
• Be careful what you wish for

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Spirituality

• The path of Self-realization follows the
  Perennial Philosophy, also known as the Ancient
  Wisdom or the Holy Tradition
• What is realized is the Law of One, that there is
  only one Self or Being
• I am the Truth, the Life, and the Way (Jesus)
• I am that I am (Old Testament)
• That Thou Art (Upanishad)
• The Universal Self is real,the world is an
  illusion,the individual self and the Universal
  Self are not different (Shankara)

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Spirituality (Jiivanmuktiviveka)

• He, who is awake in sleep, who has no waking,
  whose understanding is devoid of desires, is
  called jiivanmukta
• He, the man of vast intelligence, who does away
  with all desires from the mind and remains devoid
  of agitation, is liberated, and he is the supreme
  lord
• The scriptures have been studied in detail, and
  for long the views and conclusions were exchanged
  mutually, and the conclusion is that there is no
  better state than the state of a sage brought
  about by renunciation of desires

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Jesus

• Seek yee to enter the kingdom of heaven and all
  else shall be given unto thee
• Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see
  God

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Gita

• Chapter 2, verse 54 on