Kapila
believed by the Hindus to be the god Vishnu, son of Brahman, in the fifth of his twenty-four incarnations. He wrote a series of philosophical propositions known as the Sutras, in which he states it is by philosophical study alone that one may attain union with the deity.
Kardec, Allen: The nom de guerre of Denizard Rivail, the French spiritualist whose doctrines were largely accepted on the Continent and especially in France. The chief tenet in spiritism was the doctrine of re-incarnation. Rivail, before his conversion to spiritualism, had occupied himself a great deal with animal magnetism. In 1856 he was introduced into a spiritualistic circle by Victorien Sardou. His Livre des Esprits and the works with which he followed it were based largely on communications received through mediums. They had a wide circulation, and the doctrines of spiritism became much more popular, in France at least, than those of the rival spiritualism, which did not include re-incarnation among its tenets. The names Allan and Kardec which M. Rivail assumed were names he had borne in two former incarnations, revealed to him by mediumistic communications. He was the editor of La Revue Spirite, and the founder and president of the Parisian Society for Spiritualistic Studies, at which M. Camille Flammarion, then nineteen years of age, made his first acquaintance with psychic science in 1861. Allan Kardec died in 1869, his doctrines having by that time become firmly established. In Britain, however, they made but little headway, his only disciple of note in this country being Miss Anna Blackwell. (See France and Spiritualism.) Karma is a doctrine common to Brahmanism, Buddhism and Theosophy though theosophists have not adopted it wholly as it is taught in the two religions mentioned. The word karma itself means "action," but it may be useful to remember that generally the doctrine teaches that everything done is done for eternity, that, in short, "thou shalt reap as thou didst sow." Action is not homogeneous but on the contrary, contains three elements, the thought which conceives it, the will which finds the means of accomplish- Keingala ment, and the union of thought and will which brings the action to pass. It is plain, therefore, that thought is very potent for good or evil, for as the thought is, so will the action be. The miser, thinking of avarice, is avaricious, the libertine, thinking of vice, is vicious, and on the contrary, those of virtuous thoughts show virtue in their actions. Arising naturally from such teaching is the attention devoted to thought-power. Taking the analogy of the physical body which may be developed by regimen and training, based on natural scientific laws, theosophists teach that character may, in exactly the same way, be scientifically built up. Physical weakness can be eradicated and an opposite state of affairs brought about by special exercise of the weak part, and by a similar method, weakness of character may be converted into strength Every vice is considered to evidence the lack of a corresponding virtue, avarice for instance showing the absence of generosity. Instead, however, of allowing matters to rest at this, under the plea-arising from ignorance that the man was naturally avaricious, theosophists, on the lines of scientific knowledge, teach that constant thought directed to generosity will in time change the man's nature in this respect. This result cannot, of course, be brought about in a day, and the length of time necessary depends on at least two factors, the strength of thought and the strength of the vice, for the latter may be the sum of the indulgence of many ages and hence correspondingly difficult to eradicate The doctrine of karma must, however, be considered not in its relation to one life only, but in the light of the theosophic teaching of re-incarnation (q.v.). Re-incarnation is carried on under the law of karma as well as of evolution. The new-born man bears within him the seeds of what he formerly was. His character is the same as it was. It is as he made it in past existences and accordingly as he made it, so does it continue unless he himself change it as he had the power to do. Each succeeding existence finds that character more definite in one direction or another and if it be evil, the effort to change it becomes increasingly difficult, indeed a complete change may not be possible until many existences of effort have passed. In such cases as these, the promptings of evil may be too strong to be resisted, yet the man who has an intelligent knowledge of the workings of Karma, though he must eventually yield, does so only after the most desperate struggle of which his nature is capable, and thus, instead of yielding weakly and increasing the power of the evil, he has helped to destroy its potency. Only in the most rare cases can he free himself with one effort. (See also Theosophy and Evolution.)