by reason of our having performed these good acts in previous lives. We
are our own judges and executioners. In our present lives we are
storing up good or bad Karma which will stick to us closely, and which
will demand expression and manifestation in lives to come. When we
fasten around ourselves the evil of bad Karma, we have taken to shelter
a monster which will gnaw into our very vitals until we shake him off
by developing opposite qualities. And when we draw to ourselves the
good Karma of Duty well performed, kindness well expressed, and Good
Deeds freely performed without hope of reward, then do we weave for
ourselves the beautiful garments which we are destined to wear upon the
occasion of our future lives.

The Yogi Teachings relating to the Law of Karma do not teach us that
Sin is an offense against the Power which brought us into being, so
much as it is an offense against ourselves. We cannot injure the
Absolute, nor harm It in any way. But we may harm each other, and in so
doing harm ourselves. The Yogis teach that Sin is largely a matter of
ignorance and misunderstanding of our true nature, and that the lesson
must be well learned until we are able to see the folly and error of
our former course, and thus are able to remedy our past errors and to
avoid their recurrence. By Karma the effects arising from our sins
cling to us, until we become sick and weary of them, and seek their
cause in our hearts. When we have discovered the evil cause of these
effects, we learn to hate it and tear it from us as a foul thing, and
are thence evermore relieved of it.

The Yogis view the sinning soul as the parent does the child who will
persist in playing with forbidden things. The parent cautions the child
against playing with the stove, but still the child persists in its
disobedience, and sooner or later receives a burn for its meddling. The
burn is not a _punishment_ for the disobedience (although it may seem
so to it) but comes in obedience to a natural law which is invariable.
To child finds out that stoves and burns are connected, and begins to
see some sense and reason in the admonitions of the parent. The love of
the parent sought to save the child the pain of the burn, and yet the
child-nature persisted in experimenting, and was taught the lesson. But
the lesson once thoroughly learned, it is not necessary to forbid the
child the stove, for it has learned the danger for itself and
thereafter avoids it.

And thu