Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
24th September 2016
Cause and Effect
“Natural law”
Man is convinced that everything in life, including an action, has a cause and an effect. Physics too strengthens man’s conviction of cause and effect in action by the third natural law of motion, which states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
Karma is the spiritual equivalent of the third natural law of motion regarding action. Basically, karma implies that when we exhibit a positive or negative energy in thought, word or action, that positive or negative energy will come back to us. This is the basis of cause and effect in karma regarding action.
This indicates that the fundamental feature regarding action in both karma and physics is motion. Now motion is a fundamental feature in nature which makes motion a natural law.
Motion is a fundamental law in nature because every atom in nature is in motion. The important point to understand about motion is that the force or energy that causes motion has no cause.
Therefore, that which has no cause cannot possibly have an effect. Newton's laws of motion are three physical laws that, together, laid the foundation for classical mechanics. They describe the relationship between a body and the forces acting upon it and its motion in response to those forces.
However, neither the law of physics nor the law of karma explains the origin of the force or energy that acts upon the body. For example, the cause of energy or force that causes a gust of wind can never be determined. The motion of a gust of wind is there if it is meant to be there.
The cause of force or energy that causes a flower to blossom or a fruit to ripen can never be determined. The motion of a flower nevertheless blossoms if it is meant to and the motion of a fruit ripens if it is meant to ripen.
The cause of force or energy that causes a man to walk can never be determined. The motion in man makes man walk if he is meant to walk. Therefore, life is a force or energy whose cause can never be determined.
This implies that cause and effect cannot be separated from each other and an action cannot be separated from the next action. This signifies that life is a singular motion without action or karma. Man is in motion the way he is meant to be in motion and so will his word or his thought be in motion the way the motion is meant to be.
The enlightened have proclaimed that what is meant to happen only happens. This signifies that not only what happens is an illusion of motion, it is also a natural law and it happens spontaneously, uncontrollably and unpredictably. It further signifies that the motion that appears as cause and effect of an action is not only an illusion of motion but also a natural law.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2016
Editor’s Note:
The principle of cause and effect is compelling to the human mind and is itself the stimulus for investigative and research work carried out across the world. Those of us who have proved to be especially adept and successful in this are highly respected. The impact of this article, which arises from the deep understanding of enlightened beings, on those who study it carefully and on those engaged in applying the principle of cause and effect in their lives will be significant.
Julian Capper, U.K.
German Translator’s Note:
Ever since evolution has manifested science in the mind of man, the search for a complete explanation of the universe is blossoming. However, deep pondering reveals that a theory of everything is not possible. The theory of everything would have to include the cause of any cause. That is not possible because every cause, according to logic and reason, needs another cause and so ad infinitum. The last cause therefore is without a cause which makes the concept of cause and effect illusory and not real. What Dr. Shankar offers here, as the enlightened ever have, is a deep insight in the illusion of science, metaphysics and life itself.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany.