Karma carries over lifetimes as it belongs to the Soul, not its vehicle of manifestation
Karma is the name we give to Cause and Effect.
The Soul is the Causality, the Personality is the Effect.
The consequences of the actions of the Personality, rest fully at the feet of the Soul – the agency that Caused the Personality to come into being.
The Soul wears the Personality, just as a Person wears a Frock.
Therefore the Soul is responsible for the behaviours of its Personality, just as a Person is responsible for the behaviour of the Frock they wear.
Hence – All Karma belongs to the Soul, not the Personality.
Let’s unpack this…
There are two levels of Karma, as far as Humans are concerned.
The first being the simple cause and effect, of actions and inactions horizontally, within the substrates the Personality exits within. The second being the Effects Caused by Soul choices which ripple down vertically, from the Wearer of the Personality.
Just as the wearer of the frock is responsible if their frock gets caught by the wind and whips someone else in the face; or a parent is responsible for the behaviour of their child in a store – so the responsibility and consequences of the Personality fall upon the Soul – and are carried within it.
This is why the Karma carries over lifetimes of bodies, because it belongs not to the body.
Karma and Free Will
One must have true Free Will in order to be a Master of Karma!
Just as the wind can blow a frock this way and that; the changing conditions around a person cause them to move or react this way or that. But in neither case is this movement truly Free Will.
Like the water currents flow and move the tendrils of a sea anemone, this movement is not the product of free agency, but just the nature of the substrate the anemone exists within.
The vast majority of the actions of a Personality are just reactions to environing conditions – and are not the manifestation of conscious Free Will.
One needs to be consciously choosing, with complete awareness of All consequences, at All levels of being, for the choice to be one of actual Free Will. The Unawakened Personality does not have this agency, only the Soul has this level of perception… therefore it is only the wearer of the body that has Free Will – until the Personality Self is disciplined and awakened to the Soul. Hence all Karma belongs to the Soul, and not the Personality!
Only as the Personality becomes Soul Fused does it inherit the full agency of the Soul, and therefore the agency of fully conscious choice, that which we call True Free Will. This happens in moments here and there, the more and more evolved a Personality becomes; as it nears the vibratory level of the Soul.
Yes Human Personalities have a semblance of Free Will, but until full conscious awareness is present, until the Personality is fully surrendered to the Soul, it is essentially like the movements of the sea anemone; simply semi-conscious reactions to the environment it lives in – the substrate of the 3 lower Planes of Perception.
The consequences of elementary action and reaction are factored in, and are more like “the cost of doing business” for the Soul. It knows it will have a relative Karmic Debt at the end of each incarnate lifetime – proportionate to the level of its own evolution – until the latter stages of its growth, and it is able to create a Personality that is built almost entirely of Devas of the same order as it is comprised. Then It is able to drive its vehicle of manifestation – a Personality that is near completely Soul Fused.
The topics of Evolution, Initiation and Awakening are far too vast for this short Gem. For more on these subjects, see my Article: On Love, Emotions and Initiation