Karma and Reincarnation by Torkom Saraydarian (1999)

“Sometimes karma works in the following way. Suppose you went close to a porcupine and he projected ten needles into your body. Karma is like taking them out of your body, one by one, and releasing you from the pain that afflicts you.”

“Karma is the Law of Cause and Effect. There is no effect without a cause; there is no child without a parent. Whatever you sow, you reap. This applies not only to that which we see around us, but it also applies to our emotions, thoughts, actions, and words. Whatever cause we create, we will receive effects. If there is an effect, there must be a cause; if there is a cause, there will be an effect.”

“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction in the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual realms. How conscious are we going to be? What actions are we going to release and what reactions can we expect in return?”

Torkom Saraydarian was an extraordinary human being. He was known worldwide as a renowned scholar of comparative religions. He was a great teacher, writer, lecturer, and composer of sacred music.

His works represent a synthesis of the best and most beautiful in the sacred culture of the world by creating a truly universal approach to spirituality. These works enrich the foundational thinking on which we can construct our future of true global living.

The remarkable achievement in his writings was to synthesize and make comprehensible the huge body of knowledge known as the Ageless Wisdom.

At the age of nine, Torkom began to receive education in the Ageless Wisdom under the guidance of his father. At that time, people did not discuss these things in the open, but would disappear to attend meetings – in caves, under the stars – where they would hold ceremonies and dramatizations to reveal the mysteries of the subtle worlds.

This early training kindled Torkom’s inner questioning and yearning for truth. He entered a monastery at the age of eighteen.

In 1959 he left Jordan to come to the U.S.A. with his family. He saw people in danger of losing themselves; in need of direction, of guidance. In response to this need, he began inviting them into his home in Van Nuys, California to study and to learn how to lead themselves into more productive, healthy, right living via the principles of the Ageless Wisdom. This was the inception of The Aquarian Educational Group.

For the first ten years, he taught classes and lectured in a one-room garage – to “hippies,” doctors, lawyers, philosophers – without a salary except for the small donations left by students. He took in strangers who came to him in crises and helped them to gain real independence. He asked for nothing in return.

Despite his total dedication, compassion, and sacrificial nature, he was not “soft” with people. His “straight words” and honesty, grounded in clear observation, were given freely.

Torkom Saraydarian’s books are grounded in the seven principles of right living: Beauty, Goodness, Righteousness, Joy, Freedom, Striving, and Sacrificial Service.

These seven principles are richly colored threads woven throughout all of his works, and they are the vehicle through which one’s inner divinity can bloom.

“We are an international group in which everyone can take part because it is the principles that give life – not religions.”

“We didn’t build a religion. We didn’t build hatred betw