The law of Karma is the counterpart of the law of cause and effect, which operates in the physical world. If there were no law of cause and effect in the physical world there would be chaos. In the same way, if there were no law of Karma in the world of values, there would be uncertainty in values, and people would not know whether they were to expect good or bad from their actions. In the physical world there is the law of conservation of energy, and in the world of values, there is the law that once Karma comes into existence, it persists until it bears its own fruit or is undone through counter-Karma.
The series of incarnations that the soul is impelled to take through Karmic determination has a tendency to become endless. Through innumerable lives the aspirant has come into contact with countless persons. He is entangled in a web of debts to pay and dues to recover, and according to the Karmic law he can neither avoid the debts nor the dues, since both are the outcome of desire. He keeps incarnating to pay off his debts and to recover his dues, but even when he means to clear up the account he is often unable to do so.
The carrying on of Karmic debts and dues would be endless were there no provision for release from them through the help of the Master, who can not only initiate the aspirant into the art of unbinding Karma, but can directly become instrumental in freeing him from his Karmic entanglements. The Master has attained unity with God, whose cosmic and universal life includes all persons, and he can in his representative capacity become for the sake of the aspirant the medium for clearing up the debts and dues he has incurred in his incarnations.
When the good Karma has secured for the aspirant the benefit of contacting a Master, he should surrender himself to the Master and serve him.
The Moving Finger Writes, Part 2, pp 57-58