There are four central principles for creation that if followed, a person may live in radiant joy and lasting happiness. 

We are all created and brought forth from the unthinking, but conscious portion of our sweet Creator’s spirit.  This Creator is Almighty and deep within our very souls, His laws are written with indelible ink.

You cannot oppose your Creator and be happy; your very spirit cries out against you in the unseen depths.  This is the source of our feelings of remorse, our pangs of guilt, and our sense of meaninglessness and purposelessness.

Agreeing with our Creator’s purpose, we find our entire soul coming into a united, similar purpose that is joyful, reverent, and holy.  His purpose is to make us powerful, like Him, but in the form of a demi-god.

This great power, which is clearly exhibited in the buddhisattva, cannot be ours until we are prepared to use it well, as a beneficial force, as Brahman Himself uses power.

As Jesus said, the meek shall inherit the earth; those who go the Creator’s Way and not their own ascend into their own true greatness and overwhelm the rest in the end.

The gurus, the sages and seers, rise up from among us and receive our support, for though our egos would never support them, our Atman teaches us to look up for our salvation to those who have gone before. 

This also applies to the external Lord, who is the Creator’s living embodiment and who brought all the main paths of religion to the world.

The proof of these principles lies in the personal experience of everyone who should happen to read them, for one could test their validity. 

A negative test would be similar to challenging gravity.  If you go to the tallest building and jump off, you can fight gravity all the way down but who loses in the end?

The truly great gurus and sages live these principles daily, thus acquiring good karma as well as peace and immense joy.  Those who violate them receive negative karma and internal suffering, sent by the Atman, to correctly align the soul in the direction of the Creator.

Reality in the end is subjective to your own perception.  It is your perception of the world that matters most in your life. 

Do not rely on the words of others, be they ever so wise.  Use your own power of discrimination and thought. 

This is what Brahman desires.  Then, like Him, you will be standing on your own two feet and thinking independently, instead of blindly following another, like so many tend to do.

As your soul grows and more chakras open, your perception of reality will change with a deeper understanding of these principles and who, at the very core of these principles, is Brahman Himself.

1. All souls were created to live in simultaneous harmony and happiness.

This first principle is the most important.  Following it, one easily obtains everything else.  Brahman’s idea in making worlds is that each should attain a state where no one obstructs the joy of another.

Brahman wants a vast universe, where all beings are happy; He wants a universe of unstinted and untainted joyousness.  

He could have made a world where everyone was inherently self-aware, knowing their divine source and thus living in radiant, abiding joy from the moment of our creation.

In fact, He did do this; in our core, in our self-aware Atman, this is our actual condition, right now!

However, if there were nothing else, there would be no project.  There would be no meaningful, important work in which creation could engage.  

Thus, He made the soul in such a way that the Atman can’t send self-aware consciousness down into the embodied state.  We must search for this consciousness within ourselves.

All of us are split into two beings, the selfish, separate ego, and the divine, blissful Self. Everything arises from the Atman, but what comes into the embodied state is ignorant of its source.

Living in the body, the soul makes the conclusion that it is a being who sees, hears, smells, touches, and tastes, and nothing else.  

It takes on a false identity based on sensory experience, which is rational from a worldly perspective.   This allows the soul to compete with others for survival in the world.

Evil arises when the soul makes the “rational” conclusion (from its limited, separatist perspective) that when others are harmed, its happiness must be made greater, in comparison, for there is no objective viewpoint yet available.

The soul then violates the first principle and will eventually suffer an amount equal to the suffering it has caused others. 

It is unable to make the connection at first but as the soul grows, it becomes more and more aware of karma and observes strict external ahimsa, non-harm of other living beings, either physically or emotionally.

It is then that the soul discovers that this is all that has ever been required.  Brahman does not require us to add to another’s happiness, for all living beings in the end are responsible for themselves alone.  He demands that we give others the freedom to pursue happiness.

When we learn this, when we, at last, begin to observe strict ahimsa in all our dealings with others, our consciousness ascends quickly into spiritual planes where it learns to reside and rest in joy.

We become venerable, understanding the plight of the world, and capable of helping the world, through our example in both actions and words. 

We find, at last, our divine work which is to help free others who suffer needless anguish and woe, because they are unaware of the unity of life proclaimed in this first principle.  Then, our eternal joy is made that much greater.

We do this great work not because it is our obligation, but because the joy of the world adds to our own.  The world is a Great Project, where all go from darkness to light, ignorance to knowledge, and sadness to bliss.

Ahimsa is the key to success in this project for bound souls, although the buddhisattvas follow even higher laws than this with their superintelligent divine wisdom, seeking the whole world’s spiritual freedom.

2. Matter was made to serve the soul, not to bring it lasting joy.

This principle stands against the core of ignorance.  Bound souls believe that the material world was meant to bring them joy.  

Free souls know, to the depths of their being, this is not true and that their only real joy comes from personal spiritual growth and fruitful interactions with other spiritual beings around them.

The ego sees nothing but the sense world and forces this sense world to be the source of its happiness, for it is unaware of any other possibility. 

The illumined perceive the sense world and the spiritual world that underlies it.

When they see another person, they do not think, “Here comes another body-that-perceives-the-external-world.”

They think, “Here comes another soul that has become embodied.  An inherently blissful, free being that is either lost to the sense world, forgetting its true nature, or awakened like me, knowing its true nature as eternal and spiritual.”

All the illumined persons’ senses are ecstatic and from each, they receive more bliss than a worldly person receives after an intense sexual experience, and this constantly.  

They witness the world in its proper place from an elevated perspective and with great joy, living in the body, but never thinking that the world can bring them happiness.

The buddhisattvas, too, who are the most advanced, enjoy the sense world as it was meant by Brahman to be enjoyed, for it is a place of great beauty and awesome wonder, and by nature, impermanent and temporal. 

They admit that all rely upon the external Creator to supply us with new worlds, and so they continue to worship the embodied Creator in His many manifestations.

3. Self-realization is the goal of spiritual evolution.

From this third principle emerge the higher ways that the buddhisattvas and illumined follow to deepen their spirituality.  It is not possible for a person who is not illumined to help another spiritually except through personal example.

For instance, if a person in the state of dhyana has a discussion with a person in the state of dharana, the person in dharana will benefit tremendously, but not from being persuaded of anything; the benefit comes by direct spiritual transmission.

All higher beings by their very stature help all lower beings with whom they come into contact, always, and in return feel themselves dragged down a little.  The third principle protects them and sees to it that their souls grow tremendously as well, from inside.

To benefit from this principle, one should always follow ahimsa.  If you do not seek to harm others, the harm they may engender upon you will cause your soul to expand at an awesome rate.  This is the law of the martyrs and prophets who have been persecuted in our dark past.

Those who perceive themselves as being illumined, but are yet in a state of dhyana, violate this principle by proclaiming themselves teachers before the time is right or before they have received the authority of the Self. 

They still go forward, but no one really benefits from their teachings as much as they think, and many become confused and misled.

Gandhi is an example of such a one, who did not make clear his human, limited capacity, hinting at times that he may be illumined.  Some there are who proclaim Gandhi the Avatar; so far have they been misled! 

Martin Luther King, Jr., however, observed this principle.  He never pretended to be something that he was not, so there is no confusion left in his wake.

The priests of all religions tend also to observe this principle, admitting themselves to be mere human interpreters of scripture. They play an important role, and go forward rapidly, for not all have time to study the scriptures.

After Self-realization, one becomes directly aware of the spiritual pyramid that exists on Earth.  One can easily recognize a worldly person and a spiritual person of great potential.  

One also becomes capable of utilizing divine intelligence to help those who are still bound to the world through spiritual avenues, with great power that is inherently effective.

People gather naturally and easily around the illumined person, for he or she extinguishes the anguish of the meaningless existence that they feel.  

Light is brought into their darkness that ignites a fire of spiritual effort in them, by which they can overcome any obstacle remaining in their path toward enlightenment.

This third principle defines the relationship between all living beings.  Animals are below man, and man is also subdivided into a continuum.  

In every situation, there is one higher, and one lower, for in no instance will two people be at exactly the same level of spiritual awareness.

The appropriate attitude to bear towards one greater is veneration; the appropriate attitude towards one who is less is compassion; the appropriate attitude towards one of approximately equal spiritual stature is respect.

An attitude of veneration, as towards the buddhisattva and illumined, opens our souls as much as possible to their healing and beneficent influence.  For this reason, they are known as the true “teachers” of mankind.

An attitude of compassion towards those who are obviously of less spiritual awareness than ourselves increases our virtue.  Parents practice this towards their children, for when young they need protection and nurturing.  

For parents who have given birth to a great sage, this compassion gives way to veneration when the time is right, and the child asserts its spirituality.

For the unillumined, it is difficult to tell who is greater and who is less, so the best attitude is respect for all, always consider yourself to be the lesser, though the real, overall situation may be otherwise.

Thus, the budding sage learns even from the ignorant, who may state truths deeper than their awareness properly allows them.  As Jesus said, sometimes the truth may be found in the mouths of babes.  As Blake said, “Listen to the fool’s rebuke: it is a kingly title!”

The third principle also defines the work to be done, for after attaining illumination, one helps in the Great Project, discerning truly those who are lesser and helping them to go forward.

Of such people, Jesus said the log in their eye has been removed, and they now see clearly to remove the speck in their neighbor’s eye.

The third principle is an expression of the direction of man’s spiritual growth.   Jesus told all to go upward, but He did not define what this would mean.

Brahman ordains that man must begin small and become large, begin ignorantly and attain knowledge, begin evil (confused), and become good (rational). 

After becoming illumined, one is His righteous son or daughter and oversees the path as an external helper.  This is Brahman’s way, and none may change this.

4. Karma is real; good is always returned for good, and evil for evil.

If you hinder others, you will be hindered in kind.  If you help them, you will be helped. 

This principle is upheld by the deepest Self in all, as well as by the Father.  Sin brings sorrow.  Goodness brings joy.  Karma is enforced externally, as well as internally.

The external agent is Brahman and sometimes in scripture, karma is said to be the “impersonal force.” 

Brahman is impersonal and unknowable and only reveals Himself to the Avatar.  Outside of the Atman, there is no direct communication.

He does move in the world through what the Christians teach as the “Holy Spirit.”  This is Brahman’s energy and not a separate individual. 

One cannot pray to the Holy Spirit but to the Father.  How else can we know Brahman, outside of His embodiment?  We look to the Avatar.  He has many names, and this is why japam, too, is so powerful.

If we have no loving response to the visible and the embodied form of God, how can we respond to that which is unseen and unknown?

In reference to karma, the Father will act with respect to choosing one’s birth circumstance.  It is the Father who places each soul in the womb.  We rely on Him utterly in this regard, and it is a fearful power indeed!

The selfish rich, who refuse to contribute to the poor, are continually placed in the wombs of poor parents.  The wealth which they foolishly regarded as their own, in utter disregard of Shakti’s second principle, is taken away from them.

They have much power in the world, but they forget that this power ends in death.  Brahman takes great delight in showing such people the best way for the rich (which is illustrated beautifully for us by Andrew Carnegie, who gave everything but $50,000 a year away to charity, and J. C. Penney, who started by giving away 10% of his income but ended by giving away almost 90% of it), by throwing them from rags to riches and then to rags again.

He does not take delight, however, when these people also violate the first principle by harming others.

In extreme cases, the Father throws these souls back into the animal realm to stew and fret for millions of years without a rational mind, without the ability to talk, and with a vague sense of lost glory that is a source of continuous anguish to them – the torments of hell.

For instance, a person who like Genghis Khan earns his wealth and renown through bloody conquest is certainly bound for hell, along with those who are unrepentant murderers, rapists, and other criminals.

Besides one’s birth circumstances, karma visits itself upon us daily through the offices of the divine Atman of all those around us.  

You see, although we are not aware of our Atman, our Atman is aware of and communicates with all the Atmans around us, which is the source of the scriptures’ ecstatic assertion that “the Self in one is the Self in all.”

The Atman is superintelligent.  It keeps track of everything that we have done, both good and bad.  

The Atman doesn’t reach us directly but through our conscience.  It does this with intelligence, sending good feelings when we are good, and bad feelings when we have been bad.  Thus, it guides us forward on the path.

Our sensitivity to the Atman’s internal actions is in direct proportion to our ascending spiritual awareness; the more we are like the Atman, the more in tune we are with God within, and the more godlike our behavior and thinking is. 

We begin to see the connection between our good and bad behaviors and our states of mind.

The Atman accentuates its power in cooperation with the Atmans around us. When an evil deed is committed, this fact is broadcast to all the Atmans in the vicinity, constantly.  

This is the way murderers and thieves are often caught, by detectives and police following the slimmest possible clues. Indeed, the Atman will often dim the vision of the perpetrator, forcing them to leave obvious clues behind!  

The Atman then afflicts them from within with feelings of torment, at the same time that society imprisons them from without and restricts their freedom in other ways, such as through ostracism and approbation.

The soul learns that evil has spiritual consequences, meaning that a person’s happiness is adversely affected, as Shakti’s first principle is enforced by karma.  

If one is not caught, this doesn’t mean they have eluded the Atman’s justice.  It lives in eternity, remembers, and operates over the time frame of infinite lives.

It can wait until another lifetime when circumstances are just right and the world seems to be going along perfectly, then cloud one’s judgment at some critical juncture.  Suddenly, he or she bumps into a person who is walking around in search of evil to do.

The Atman of this evil person will make a “match” with theirs and bring the two of them together where they will suffer the consequences of a former evil action, be it murder, robbery, or anything else.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to tell if an evil that has occurred is the result of bad karma or is just a test of the Self, a righteous learning experience that even the good pass through at times.

The Christian martyrs are the perfect example of this, who were very advanced spiritually yet suffered persecution and wrongful death, not due to past bad karma, but as a way of increasing their virtue by serving as a noble example to all of mankind.

For all those who suffer a martyr’s death, the Self strikes off three whole lives on the path to enlightenment, for it is able to impose a great purifying power during the period which leads up to execution by the persecutors.

If some evil event has occurred to you, the best attitude is not to assume that it was due to bad karma, but to assume the best of yourself and that the Self is arranging your life to achieve maximum self-purification.

You will know that this is likely to be true should you experience tremendous feelings of anguish, so severe that you feel the anguish, alone, may even cause your death. 

In this connection, I wish to make clear what occurs in the case of suicide.  It has been written that those who commit suicide will find themselves in exactly the same circumstances in their next life, for they are at a karmic nexus point.  

This is true, but there is one caveat: the person always makes the right choice the second time around.

The Self does not just help us go forward through evil consequences but also helps by arranging good events to encourage us.  You must understand that the Self is divine; it is profound.  It is not like your mother or father, arranging birthday parties and social events.

When it rewards you, it does so in a cagey, circumspect, and careful fashion so that a maximum benefit is achieved.  

For instance, you may be cast into poverty only to discover a network of influential and helpful friends who teach you, when they help you “get back on your feet,” the benefit of spiritual interaction as opposed to material conquest.

You may divorce someone who is cantankerous, vindictive, and spiteful, but you do so in a patient, kind fashion after making a real attempt to live peaceably.  

You will then find your “life partner,” the one perfectly suited to you and with whom you will spend many more lives, not just this one, in wedded harmony.

There is a certain degree of truth in the idea that there is “one just right” for you who is out there, for this was Brahman’s intent.  The loving relationship between a man and a woman is intended to last for many, many lives, not just one.

Two people grow together, spiritually, each complementing the other and both ascending in love and spiritual wisdom.  

I have known people like this; it is evident from watching their behavior and their kindness towards one another that they know each other from sharing many previous lives together.

The Father, and the Atman too, arrange events to make it possible for two such people to cross the barrier of death and discover love in one another’s eyes and arms over and over.  

The key to this love is utter faithfulness to a single person, for only by this can you ascend over the physical sensation of sex and discover the spirituality of your partner, which alone can bring you lasting interest and joy.

Another way that good karma may come to you is through finding spiritual companionship, up to and including finding the spiritual teacher, the buddhisattva, or enlightened guru, who is right for you.

Like is drawn to like; if you are spiritual, you will naturally find spiritual friends and avoid the worldly, whom you regard as crass and unsophisticated.

You will delight in hearing about God and His glories, and shrink from the worldly, who are only concerned with attaining wealth and fame.  

The Atman and the Father encourage this right attitude by arranging events so that you can find the companions you need to help you grow upwards at a maximum rate with those who are gentle, kind, considerate, and wise in their ways.

The truths outlined here can be summarized succinctly as: “All beings are essentially spiritual, created ‘in God’s image’ by Brahman to enjoy life in a shared environment.”  All are meant to enjoy life, which is Shakti’s first principle.

None will achieve lasting happiness from matter, Shakti’s second principle since our very essence is spiritual.

All are created “in God’s image,” that is to say, all are meant to attain enlightenment, Shakti’s third principle.

The Creator and the Atman work together with all due force to ensure that the “shared environment” of planet Earth is peaceful and prosperous, Shakti’s fourth principle.

They can be summarized by giving one supreme principle and that is love.  Love is the path for man, for the supermen and superwomen, the illumined, and the buddhisattvas.  Even the Avatar seeks to increase in pure, ceaseless devotional service to Brahman.

One who experiences even a taste of pure divine love easily achieves perfect ahimsa and full detachment from material pursuits.  Self-realization is accomplished while avoiding all negative karma. 

He or she will reap a harvest of tremendous positive karma from righteous actions that continue to flow into future births.

Love is the Way, and love is the goal.  Love and truth intertwine themselves so closely that it is almost impossible to see that truth is a little more fundamental. 

We must know that we are immortal, which is the central truth.  We must spend our eternal lives in joy and happiness, so love comes in the door as truth’s next-of-kin and closest ally.

He who finds love gets everything else besides.  This is the supreme principle for all time, and in all worlds.   Ramakrishna declared it, and so I declare it too.