From lecture 41, IMAGES: THE DAMAGE THEY DO:

QUESTION: Did I understand that right: Any event about which we really can’t do anything was caused by our images?

ANSWER: You understood correctly. Except when it is a question of the karma of a previous life. But the principle is exactly the same, inasmuch as you reap what you have sown. But you have sown it in a previous life and you reap it now. That may be the explanation of a one-time event that may not have anything to do with an image, in the exact sense. But, my friends, even in cases like that you will still find the root in your image. Because if a karma has not been paid off it must mean that the root is still within the self. If you had paid off the karma, you would not have the root anymore. You may find in yourself the same faults and trends that in a former life caused you to commit a graver action, one that you would not longer be capable of committing because of your development. Nevertheless, the same root must still be there, for otherwise you would not have that karma. You will be able to find it in the depth of your soul, and certainly enfolded in your image.

QUESTION: This means that karma and images make a vicious circle?

ANSWER: Of course. If you will reread the lecture I gave some time ago on birth, now that you have learned about the images you will understand how it works. You may remember that I explained that when the entity is prepared for life, certain problems are left closer to the surface in the fluidal body. And according to these problems, parents, country, and life-circumstances are chosen, so that you can become aware of the image and challenge it if you so choose. So, karma and images must work hand in hand.

If you have certain experiences in your childhood, it is because you have certain parents, and a certain environment. This was most suitable for you, according to your entire incarnation-history, so as to bring out your problems for the purpose of your development and purification. You cannot purify, you cannot eliminate a problem or a fault if you do not first become aware of it. To become aware of it, something unpleasant must happen, otherwise you would never pay any attention to your inner disharmonies. Karma, as you all know, is nothing else but cause and effect. The same law works also within one lifespan. If in this present life you find your images and wrong conclusions, you will understand, see and experience in your own person the truth of the law of cause and effect clearly demonstrated. Thus you will know how karma works. It is the same principle, only more extended in time, over a span of several incarnations.

From lecture 76, QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (Compiled from Private Sessions and Earlier Lectures):

QUESTION: What is the role of heredity as distinct from and in addition to the original spirituality and karma and the plan?

ANSWER: Heredity can only work in coordination with the plan, with karma, with the qualities of the spirit who is destined to be born with certain parents to find the conditions needed according to his or her qualities. It all works as one. For instance, a child apparently inherits certain qualities from the parents, let us say a talent. That spirit had that talent, and did not inherit it. But the spirit was sent to parents with the same talent because in all other respects circumstances fit perfectly, so that this spirit can best fulfill his or her life. The karma influences the plan and the plan determines the parents, the country and circumstances into which the spirit is born, and which qualities should come out, and which ones remain hidden for a future life. Some may be in accordance with the parents — then one speaks of inheritance — others may not. So heritage is not something that works arbitrarily. It is part of the whole scheme.

QUESTION: At our lecture on the Bhagavad Gita it was asked why certain spiritual geniuses, like Ramakrishna and others, were actually very sick physically.

ANSWER: In some cases the reason is — and I do not say this holds true for all — that a highly developed spirit who undertakes a mission on this earth voluntarily takes on such suffering so as to show humanity that suffering is not so terrible, that it can be gone through and can even enrich life, provided the right spiritual and psychological attitude is assumed. In other words, as explained to you before, great religious teachers took suffering upon themselves not because it was something they had to go through — this happens too, of course, and then this karma is used in combination with the task — but to prove and show the world to accept suffering and use it for purification, too. Many people are ready with the excuse that they cannot do the work of purification as long as they suffer, physically or otherwise. This always serves as a pretext. They claim that if they did not have this or that difficulty or pain, they would certainly do it, but this way they are not able to. Great religious teachers want to set an example. This is very important. If all spiritual leaders and teachers had a perfectly easy life, people would say, “This way it is easy. He has nothing to worry about. He is healthy, his daily bread is taken care of. He can devote his time and energy to such luxuries.” But a leader who sets the example of attaining his goal on the path of development while having his own difficulties brings a great deal more than the mere words of the teachings. Often this is the reason why such very great ones voluntarily choose a hardship, even though it is not in their karma anymore. It might also be that a karma is still to be paid off and these two tasks — the teaching and the paying off — are combined. We cannot generalize and it is not necessary to know what holds true in which case. It is sufficient to see that it is possible to suffer and to develop at the same time.

From lecture 10, MALE AND FEMALE INCARNATIONS: THEIR RHYTHMS AND CAUSES:

QUESTION: When one has sinned and sincerely repents in one’s heart and then tries to make restitution and better oneself, does one still have to accept the consequences?

ANSWER: No. When one truly repents and by this development overcomes the fault that caused the sin, the sin is extinguished. Every karma can be erased. And this is even more applicable to something you have caused in this life.

From lecture 111, SOUL-SUBSTANCE — COPING WITH DEMANDS:

QUESTION: Karma, then, is the memory of the soul from former unresolved problems?

ANSWER: I would not say memory. It is the result of all previous incarnations. Karma is the effect the soul has produced.

QUESTION: The sensitivity is carried along?

ANSWER: Of course. The sensitivity, the perception, and the ability to experience. All these faculties have a progression. One person’s sensitivity may be on the lowest note of the keyboard, another’s on the highest. The latter may exist in a healthy or unhealthy way. Karma, as you know, is the result of everything up to the present point.