The Yogi Teachings relating to the Law of Karma do not teach us that Sin is an offense against the Power which brought us into being, so much as it is an offense against ourselves.  We cannot injure the Absolute, nor harm It in any way.  But we may harm each other, and in so doing harm ourselves.  The Yogis teach that Sin is largely a matter of ignorance and misunderstanding of our true nature, and that the lesson must be well learned until we are able to see the folly and error of our former course, and thus are able to remedy our past errors and to avoid their recurrence.  By Karma the effects arising from our sins cling to us, until we become sick and weary of them, and seek their cause in our hearts.  When we have discovered the evil cause of these effects, we learn to hate it and tear it from us as a foul thing, and are thence evermore relieved of it.

The Yogis view the sinning soul as the parent does the child who will persist in playing with forbidden things.  The parent cautions the child against playing with the stove, but still the child persists in its disobedience, and sooner or later receives a burn for its meddling.  The burn is not a punishment for the disobedience (although it may seem so to it) but comes in obedience to a natural law which is invariable.  To child finds out that stoves and burns are connected, and begins to see some sense and reason in the admonitions of the parent.  The love of the parent sought to save the child the pain of the burn, and yet the child-nature persisted in experimenting, and was taught the lesson.  But the lesson once thoroughly learned, it is not necessary to forbid the child the stove, for it has learned the danger for itself and thereafter avoids it.

And thus it is with the human soul passing on from one life to another.  It learns new lessons, gathers new experiences, and learns to recognize the pain that invariably comes from Wrong Action, and the Happiness that invariably comes from Right Action.  As it progresses it learns how hurtful certain courses of action are, and like the burnt child it avoids them thereafter.

If we will but stop to consider for a moment the relative degrees of temptation to us and to others, we may see the operations of past Karma in former lives.  Why is it that this thing is “no temptation” to you, while it is the greatest temptation to another.  Why is it that certain things do not seem to have any attraction for him, and yet they attract you so much that you have to use all of your will power to resist them?  It is because of the Karma in your past lives.  The things that do not now tempt you, have been outlived in some former life, and you have profited by your own experiences, or those of others, or else through some teaching given you by one who had been attracted to you by your unfolding consciousness of Truth.