There is a law of cause and effect;every karma has a consequence,whether you like it or not,whether you anticipate it or not.A good karma produces a good result;a bad one has to produce a bad result.Birth is the result of the karma done before death.If you are asked what happens to man after death,you can point to yourselves and declare,"This is what happens";we are born again. This is no religion of despair;it is a religion of hope,of assurance,of encouragement to lead an active,useful,beneficent life.

 One meaning of karma that is popularly accepted is that it is one's destiny,or fate,the inescapable "writing" on the brow,which has to work itself out.There is no escaping it.But people forget that it is not written by some other hand.It is all written by one's own hand,and the hand that wrote it can also wipe it off.

The status in the present life is decided on the basis of the activities in the previous lives.You are responsible for the nature of the certificate;if your conduct was good,you get a good certificate and a good job;if it was bad,you get a bad one and a poor job.It is you who write,you who wipe the writing on the head,or "destiny".

God is not involved in either rewards or punishments.He only reflects,resounds,and reacts! He is the Eternal Unaffected Witnes! You decide your own fate.God has no will or won't.He does not confer or withhold.He is the Eternal Witness.He is like the postman,who is unconcerned with the contents of the letters that he hands over to the addresses.A letter might communicate victory,another,defeat;you recieve what you have worked for.Do good and have good in return;be bad and accept the bad that comes back to you.That is the law,and there is really no help or hindrance.

To say that God is the prime cause of everything is true to a certain extent;but you are not thrust by Him into an iron cage of destiny from which there is no escape.He has endowed you with the faculty of reasoning(viveka) and detachment(vairagya) and with a sense of awe and wonder,and you have to use these for attining Him.

Baba says,a seed will not germinate when it is covered with too much earth.In the same context,the seeds of wrong behaviour will not germinate and grow into painful events in our life if the seeds are covered deep with loving service to those who are in need of sustenance,courage,love,and help.A lifetime of good deeds will cover a multitude of past sins.Constant work in loving service to others covers the seeds of past sinful and harmful actions,so they die away and do not grow into a new round of misery.

Baba says that loving service to those who are in need is the form of devotion most pleasing to the Divine.If ,in truth ,we love God,the He is directly before us as the inner reality of our fellow human beings.Loving service to those in distress is the excellent expression of devotion to God.