# Karma: The Law of Ethical Cause and Effect

Karma is a fundamental principle guiding the soul's journey, acting as the universal law of moral cause and effect. Each thought, action, and intention weaves the fabric of the soul's 'cocoon,' influencing its future conditions and paths for evolution. Positive karma, accrued through virtuous living, propels the soul towards higher states of harmony and spiritual enlightenment, echoing the importance of ethical conduct and mindfulness.

UPL takes the word and the teaching from the traditions of India. The Bhagavad Gita teaches action done because it is right, without clinging to what it will bring. Two other traditions add what karma alone does not say, how a wrong is mended: in Jewish teaching a wrong done to another person is put right by making it good and seeking their forgiveness, and in the Hawaiian practice of hoʻoponopono a family sets right what has gone wrong between its members.

Karma is never a verdict on a person who suffers. No one may read another's illness, poverty or grief as the wages of their past. Karma is a teaching for one's own conduct, and not a judgement on anyone else's.