Although luck is a random force within all our lives, it is apparently the only quality of life possessed of such arbitrariness. All around us we can see that the world functions according to reasons, meanings and systems. Even our own functioning is defined by these qualities. Is it not strange, therefore, that a force as influential and potentially devastating as luck should appear to be without such qualities? Why should luck be the only random force in the otherwise intelligently designed, elaborately constructed and highly organized Cosmic fabric?

But maybe luck isn’t quite as we see it. We all know about karma and we all understand what it is and how it works. More or less. Isn’t karma that thing that both goes around and comes around? And, sure, that is certainly karma but it is rather a diminution of such a swath-cutting force of nature, doncha think? Maybe there is more to karma that we can actually easily understand. Maybe it does have a reason. Maybe it does have a function. Maybe it does have a source; it must, after all, come from somewhere. Or, maybe, karma is one of the fundamental Laws of Nature that we simply cannot fathom.

As is so often the case in our explorations of higher consciousness, it is to India and the ancient culture of the Vedas that we must turn to understand the nature, functions, purpose and processes of this immutable force.

In the Karma Papers we look at karma in all its aspects. We will be explaining how and why it is that some are born in the lap of luxury while others rarely rise above the gutter. We will describe the source of karma and where it is written. We will tell you why it is there and what its function is. We will tell you how it is acquired and how it is expelled. And we will explain its processes and mechanisms.

Before looking in detail at karma, however, we will spend a little time looking at its often disregarded and little known big brother, dharma. Although it is karma with which we interact on a daily basis, dharma creates the foundation on which that karma operates and influences the essential nature of lifelong karma. A much neglected but powerfully influential aspect of karma, it is dharma that decides the circumstances of our place in the world. It is dharma that pins us to a time and a place. It is dharma that creates the canvas upon which we paint our lives. It is dharma that plays the tune to which day-to-day karma dances.

If that sounds enlightening, please be warned. The overwhelming quality possessed by karma is its enigma. Although we will penetrate the mystery of the karmic process and tell you as much as we know about what it is and how it works, we will never dispel that inherent ineffability or enigma. There are reasons why it is not possible to penetrate the depths and details of karma. It is a force of Natural Law that is woven into the very fabric of life and it is supposed to be lived. Trying to change or modify it, looking too closely at it, trying to penetrate its genesis, trying to understand its content and particularly trying see what it holds for the future, even thinking about it too much, all these things are if not forbidden, certainly not encouraged. Karma is of our own making and is there to be lived and there is not much more for us to do but grin and bear it.

Having said that, please do not forsake all hope for there are subtle ways to influence karma and even transmute it. All will be revealed. Read on.