The Lord with Peter, James and John were in Jerusalem; it was the Sabbath day. And as they walked along the way they saw a man who could not see; he had been blind from birth. And Peter said, Lord, if disease and imperfections all are caused by sin, who was the sinner in this case? the parents or the man himself?
And Jesus said, Afflictions all are partial payments on a debt, or debts, that have been made. There is a law of recompense that never fails, and it is summarized in that true rule of life: Whatsoever man shall do to any other man some other man will do to him. In this we find the meaning of the Jewish law, expressed concisely in the words, Tooth for a tooth; life for a life. He who shall injure any one in thought, or word, or deed, is judged a debtor to the law, and some one else shall, likewise, injure him in thought, or word or deed. And he who sheds the blood of any man will come upon the time when his blood shall be shed by man.
Affliction is a prison cell in which a man must stay until he pays his debts unless a master sets him free that he may have a better chance to pay his debts. Affliction is a certain sign that one has debts to pay. Behold this man! Once in another life he was a cruel man, and in a cruel way destroyed the eyes of one, a fellow man. The parents of this man once turned their faces on a blind and helpless man, and drove him from their door. (Aquarian Gospel 138:1-13)
Afflictions all are partial payments on a debt, or debts, that have been made. Some troubles are full payment and some are partial. But when it is over, the karmic debt has been reduced. That is the important thing.
There is a law of recompense that never fails, and it is summarized in that true rule of life: Whatsoever man shall do to any other man some other man will do to him. Exactly what is done shall be done to us: the very same thing. If I steal, I will be stolen from; I will not just lose something of equal value to what I stole. Another human being will take it from me. This is very important. It is exact, like an echo: only what you say will come back to you, not something merely similar. Sometimes more than one karma will be be neutralized by a single thing that will reflect their general character. But, as I say, it is mostly an exact reaction.
And let us never forget that karma is not punishment or retribution but a simple reaction. Negative karma and positive karma are not bad and good, they are just of differing polarities, movements or mechanisms of cosmic energy. That is why karma is so inevitable. It is universal life force manifesting in our life sphere. God is not dispensing our karma, nor are there any mythical “Lords of Karma” like a court of judges administering “justice.” Karma is always just, because it is simple cosmic reaction, nothing more. We always want some god or angel or someone to be spanking us or coddling us. It is not so. True religion is intelligent, even intellectual. False religion is emotional and therefore egocentric. We want God to be smiling on us, but why would he bother? Do you and I get angry if an ant or a spider does something out in our backyard? Never. Why, then, would the infinite, all-powerful God? God being pleased and displeased is an outrageous myth. We must avoid putting human labels on divine action and divine labels on human action. Clear-sightedness is absolutely essential for living the holy life.
In this we find the meaning of the Jewish law, expressed concisely in the words, Tooth for a tooth; life for a life. He who shall injure any one in thought, or word, or deed, is judged a debtor to the law, and some one else shall, likewise, injure him in thought, or word or deed. And he who sheds the blood of any man will come upon the time when his blood shall be shed by man. Here we see that karma is precise. And that is because it is perfect like everything else God has projected for our evolution.
Affliction is a prison cell in which a man must stay until he pays his debts unless a master sets him free that he may have a better chance to pay his debts. Affliction is a certain sign that one has debts to pay. A master can alter or even wipe out our karma, but only for a higher purpose: to free us and make us able to either repay or expunge our karmic debts on our own. This is a step toward our becoming masters ourselves. As the last sentence says: difficulties and troubles are infallible signs of the presence of karma. Nothing arises in our life that does not have a cause, and that cause is almost always karma.
Behold this man! Once in another life he was a cruel man, and in a cruel way destroyed the eyes of one, a fellow man. The parents of this man once turned their faces on a blind and helpless man, and drove him from their door. Here we find out exactly why the man was born blind and why his parents had a blind child. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That is karma. I learned that principle in junior-high science class, but only the Bhagavad Gita made it known to me as a force in everyone’s life.
Then Peter asked, Do we pay off the debts of other men when by the Word we heal them, drive the unclean spirits out, or rescue them from any form of sore distress? And Jesus said, We cannot pay the debts of any man, but by the Word we may release a man from his afflictions and distress, and make him free, that he may pay the debts he owes, by giving up his life in willing sacrifice for men, or other living things. Behold, we may make free this man that he may better serve the race and pay his debts.
Then Jesus called the man and said, Would you be free? would you receive your sight? The man replied, All that I have would I most freely give if I could see. And Jesus took saliva and a bit of clay and made a salve, and put it on the blind man’s eyes. He spoke the Word and then he said, Go to Siloam and wash, and as you wash say, Jahhevahe. This do for seven times and you shall see. The man was led unto Siloam; he washed his eyes and spoke the word, and instantly his eyes were opened and he saw.
The people who had seen the man for many years sit by the way and beg, were much surprised to see him see. They said, Is not this man the Job that was born blind, who sat beside the way and begged? He heard them talk among themselves; he said, Yes I am he. The people asked, How were you healed? who opened up your eyes? He said, A man whom men call Jesus, made a salve of clay and put it on my eyes, and bade me say a word and wash in Siloam seven times; I did as he commanded me, and now I see. (Aquarian Gospel 138:14-27)
We cannot pay the debts of any man, but by the Word we may release a man from his afflictions and distress, and make him free, that he may pay the debts he owes, by giving up his life in willing sacrifice for men, or other living things. Occasionally I have heard people use the phrase “interfere with others’ karma.” Such a thing is impossible. You cannot interfere with karma because it is a law woven into the fabric of the universe. Here Jesus explains how karmic force may be worked with to ensure its positive results.
He spoke the Word and then he said, Go to Siloam and wash, and as you wash say, Jahhevahe. This do for seven times and you shall see. The man was led unto Siloam; he washed his eyes and spoke the word, and instantly his eyes were opened and he saw. I have found two websites that say the Omnific Word and Jahhevahe are the same. They are not; Jesus spoke the Word and then told the man to repeat Jahhevahe–the name of Jehovah. The Omnific Word is, as Levi Dowing indicated in Self-Culture, the holy monosyllable Om. Certainly the man’s healing was completed by his own calling on God, on Jehovah, but it was initiated by Jesus’ invocation of Om.
A certain scribe was passing, and he saw the man and heard him say that Jesus, by the Word, had opened up his eyes. He therefore took the man up to the synagogue, and told the story to the priests, who asked the man about the miracle. The man replied, I never saw the light until today, for I was blind from birth. This morning as I sat beside Siloam, a man I never knew put on my eyes a salve that people say he made of clay; he bade me say a word and bathe my eyes in water seven times; I did as he commanded and I saw.
A lawyer asked the man, Who was it opened up your eyes? The man replied, Some people say, His name is Jesus and that he came from Galilee; but others say, He is the son of God
A Pharisee came up and said, This is the Sabbath day; a man who does a work like this, regarding not the Sabbath day, is not from God.
Some of the priests were much amazed and said, A wicked man could never do a miracle like this; he must possess the power of God. And so they strove among themselves.
They asked the man, What do you think about this man from Galilee? He said, He is a prophet sent from God. (Aquarian Gospel 138:28-37)
A wicked man could never do a miracle like this; he must possess the power of God. The connection between righteousness or between spiritual wisdom and healing does not necessarily exist. There is a connection with spiritual healing that proceeds from the highest Source and is the direct and intended action of either great masters or God. Only a spiritual person can do spiritual healing. However, there are lesser, natural forms of healing that any person may do who either knows the ways or has enough personal bio-energy to infuse it into another person and stimulate the body to heal itself. Such a person may also be psychic and thought to possess divine inspiration, but it is fully natural, not supernatural.
For example, biomagnetic healing is purely natural and not in the least spiritual. Yet many people who possess such a power are believed by others to be gifted by God and therefore godly. My beloved friend, Ina Bryant, practiced biomagnetic healing and wrote a whole book on the subject. Many “spiritual healers” became very angry with her for revealing the actual nature of their healing abilities. Especially the fact that everybody has the ability to do it!
So we must be very slow to assume that a healer has a closer relationship with God than other, ordinary people. Healing can come from many sources and levels, some spiritual and some virtually material. Caution is always wise.
Now, many of the Jews did not believe the man was blind from birth; they said, There is no power to open up the eyes of one born blind. And then they brought the parents of the man before the Pharisees that they might testify. They said, This is our son who was born blind; we do not know how he received his sight; he is of age and he can tell; ask him. They were afraid to say what they believed, that Jesus is the Christ who came to manifest the power of God, lest they offend the priests and be cast from the synagogue. (Aquarian Gospel 138:38-41)
No manner of inquiry or testimonial will influence those who have made their minds up, especially if they are negative and spiteful bigots. These people’s attitude and behavior illustrate the detrimental effect of belonging to a small-minded and willfully limited group of any kind, especially a religious one. This we can say: when Jesus returns again as Son of David he will be denounced throughout the world as antiChrist by Christians!
Again the rulers said, This Jesus is a wicked man. The man who had been healed stood forth again and said, This Jesus may be sinner or be saint, I do not know; but this one thing I know; I once was blind, but now I see. And then the scribes and Pharisees reviled the man and said, You are a follower of this man from Galilee. We follow Moses, but this man, we know him not, and know not whence he is. The man replied, It is a marvel that you know not whence he is, and yet he opened up my eyes. You know that nothing but the power of God can do such things. God hears not sinners pray, and you must know that he is not a wicked man who can employ the power of God. The Pharisees replied, You wretch! you were begotten and were born in sin, and now you try to teach the law to us. And then they cast him from the synagogue. (Aquarian Gospel 138:42-48)
Business as usual.
Read the next section in the Aquarian Gospel for Yogis