The book is presented as divided
into four parts. Part 1: India as the birthplace of the karmic concept. Part 2: A brief Introduction to Practical Regression Therapy. Part 3: Karmic causes of Symptoms as bought to light by Regression Therapy and Part 4: The concept of Karma in a Modern Light.
In the first and introductory part of the book the author does a fairly good survey of the literature and the views of living exponents of the Hindu view of the concept of Karma. His summarizations of the Buddhist and Jain Philosophical view of Karma are true to the original viewpoints held by these two religions of India. Karma plays an important role in these two religions as Buddhism is silent on the existence of God and the Jains deny God as the arbitrator of Karma. When summarizing the Hindu view however the author has placed the discussion on Sanchita (accumulated and not-yet-neutralized), Prarabdha (begun for working out in the present incarnation) and Kriyaman(the karma resulting out of actions in the present) under Saint Kabir giving an impression that Saint Kabir was somehow an important exponent of Karma. Karma was first dealt with by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita, purported to be the first reconciliation of the various schools of philosophy extant at the time. Krishna had also outlined a way out of the cycle of birth and death, thus in effect neutralizing the effects of Karma. It is here that we find the birth of the idea of nishkama-karma, the desire-less action whereas the author ascribes the idea to Sri Satya Sai Baba, as if he had introduced the idea for the first time (p31 ibid). Strictly speaking within Hinduism the concept of Karma simply looms largely in the background, referred to only when inexplicable, logic defying happenings have to be explained away without casting aspersions on the benevolence or the infinite mercy of the Lord. Greater emphasis has been placed by Hindu seers on circumnavigating Karma and its effects by resorting to one of the Paths laid out in the Bhagavad-Gita, and as detailed by the Acharyas (Realized Masters) through their expositions on the Brahma Sutras and the philosophy that emerges from the Upanishads.
The Part 2 and 3 together detail the author’s crystal clear expression on Karma and its manifestations by way of explicating the Practical Regression Therapy with 31 well documented cases of solving psycho-somatic disorders, by taking recourse to RT. In this the author has distinguished himself by his choice of cases to present in such a manner that a discerning student of karma can certainly benefit, by gaining a sound empirical basis for judging how to organize his/her own life by a study of these cases which are organized in the order of anatomical manifestation- from head to foot. Prior to this book, books from the Edgar Cayce foundation have been best guide on this subject. While Edgar Cayce books from the foundation do have DIY instruction type of work, the seminal work on Edgar Cayce in Many Mansions by Gina Cerminara gives too complicated a view of Karma for even attempting something like karma management, but the present book is a great advancement in that direction. Further, the author’s touring the world extensively, conducting practical courses in RT and inducing this experimental learning to multitudes goes a long way in making a spiritual way of life a meaningful alternative to a relentless and ruthless pursuit of materialism. In the Indian context, the Masters having denied a redeemer God, have made either a near-impractical ahimsa (non-violence) and the practice of self-denying austerities as the rock bed of getting out of the cycle of transmigration of the soul, as in Jainism or even denied the soul as an cognate-entity and transmigrating at the same time accepting Karma as an ethical necessity, as in Buddhism, or thoroughly relegating Karma to the background by focusing either on attaining supreme knowledge for redeeming oneself from the clutches of karma, or by total self-surrender to a super-ordinate personal God who would in His infinite mercy redeem the soul caught in the karmic cycle. Thus depending on the master karma receives a treatment anywhere from being the central concept to something that is referred with lesser reverence than the main object of the philosophy as in Advaita Vedanta .
The capital contribution of the book that can very well be a reference for a person wanting to use the Theory of Karma as a life-defining philosophy comes from Part 4 wherein the author painstakingly brings of 23 forms of Karma and closes with a plea for making unconditional love and universal forgiveness as the means of breaking the cycle of Karma. The non-insistence on having a personal deity or a guru which the author does not denigrate makes love a corner stone of New Age spirituality that does not take recourse to study of canonical texts of any religion, or the following of any particular school of philosophical thought frees the mind of the lay irreligious reader a path to redemption. Kudos are due, to Trutz Hardo for presenting a religion-free view of redemption.
The collection of pithy quotes together extensive bibliographies are suitable for meditation and study respectively for the academically oriented or for those who love to dig deeper. This is a book that needs to be read and reread again.