The atonement of karma may occur in various forms:
1. The well-known quotation from the Old Testament: "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" explains that man will experience the same actions of his past mistakes. A murderer will be murdered in his next life, a thief will be robbed, a rake will fall ill.
The bereaved of a victim of violence or a wrong shall not endeavour to look for the revenge because they will get burdened by a similar karma. The laws will carry out this in right time and right way. Nothing will be left hidden or unpunished. The late redemption is completely multiplied. Therefore, it is delayed sometimes.
2. The symbolic redemption. When man becomes better sooner than one is hit by reactions of karma these will only manifest themselves symbolically or moderately.
A man ate and drunk too much through his previous life and he also smoked much. It is exaggerated but let's takes this as an example. By wrong diet and negative tendencies he consciously kept on impairing his health which stood his excesses without harm. As a consequence of these mistakes he should have become ill in this life fatally. If he realises his bad tendencies during the illness and starts to search for the way to recovery seriously he may recover of the fatal illness by this effort and renunciation.
3. By Pure and deep love to a person, even though not returned, by which man is raised and improved in such a way that he stops being selfish and becomes a better human he gets rid of many guilts caused by egoism and indifference in the past. However, if he thinks only of his love and is indifferent to problems and pain of other people he does not experience true love but increased egoism.
4. The effort for the good. If one subordinates everything in his actions to pure intentions, according to the Eternal Laws, the threads of negative karma become weak and a new, pure karma arises.
If man bears bad karma with antipathy and lack of understanding and he does not become better he does not get rid of karma but is still being "punished" so as to change himself. The reciprocal action does not always mean the atonement of karma.