GOOD AND EVIL are relative, and are intensified or lessened according to the conditions by which man is surrounded. One who belongs to that which we call the “useless portion of mankind,” that is to say, the lay majority, is in many cases irresponsible. Crimes committed in ignorance involve physical but not moral responsibilities of Karma. Take, for example, the case of idiots, children, savages, and people who know no better.

But the case of each who has pledged to the Higher Self is quite another matter. You cannot invoke this Divine Witness with impunity, and once you have put yourself under Its tutelage, you have asked the Radiant Light to shine and search through all the dark corners of your being; consciously you have invoked the Divine Justice of Karma to take note of your motive, to scrutinize your actions, and to enter up all in your account.

The step is as irrevocable as that of the infant taking birth. Never again can you force yourselves back into the matrix of ignorance and irresponsibility. Though you flee to the uttermost parts of the earth, and hide yourselves from the sight of men, or seek oblivion in the tumult of the social whirl, that Light will find you out and lighten your every thought, word and deed.—The Secret Doctrine.