Friday, February 12, 2010

11. Unleashing the Secrets Behind Reincarnation and Salvation (Category:- Hinduism)

NOTE:- THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN YEARS BACK WITHIN THE LIMITS OF MY KNOWLEDGE OF THOSE DAYS. HENCE THIS ARTICLE HAS FEW ERRORS WHICH I HAVE NOT CORRECTED DUE TO LACK OF TIME NOWADAYS. READERS MAY KEEP THIS POINT IN MIND THAT SOME OF THE UNDERSTANDING GIVEN HERE MAY BE ERRONEOUS OR HALF-CORRECT POINTS. HENCE IGNORE SUCH POINTS. FOR INSTANCE, - I WROTE, "Moksham can be attained only in 2 places viz. Vaikuntha loka or kailasha Loka.", WHICH IS HALF-TRUTH BECAUSE MOKSHA ALSO HAS FLAVORS SUCH AS - JEEVANA-MUKTI (which si attained here and now in the same body), KRAMA-MUKTI (residing in satyaloka untill dissolution of universe), SAROOPYA ETC., MUKTIS (which are again similar to krama mukti in the sense that the jivas are believed to live in the abodes of Vishnu/Shiva in close proximity with their fav. god). WHILE READING, READERS ARE REQUESTED TO MAKE SUCH CORRECTIONS ON THEIR OWN AS APPROPRIATE. I HAVE NO PLANS TO EDIT/UPDATE THIS ARTICLE.

Here i want to post one dialogue between me and an Orkut friend of mine. In one post in a mythological community i posted the below text based on which he asked few questions. I tried to answer him with respect to Hindu scriptures.
It has been a common myth in almost all religions that attaining to Heaven is the prime objective of any human. But only Hinduism discusses something beyond the borders of Heavens!
Normally people would always have a notion that their aim is to stay in heaven forever and for that good deeds are the gateway. By the end of this article, you would come to know that one can never stay permanently in Swarga (heaven) and doing any kind of deeds (Karmas) would shackle you under bondage and wouldn't let you liberate.
Difference between ascending to Swargam and attaining Moksham:In the very beginning slokas of Bhagwad Gita, lord Sri Krishna tells to Arjuna the following verse.

"Hatova Prapsasi Swargam...Jitvava Bhoksasi Mahih"

Meaning:- If you die fighting in a battle, you would attain to Heaven, if you win the battle you can rule the earth kingdom.

So, going to heaven is the ultimate end point since Geeta says so, isn't it? No!
The beauty of Gita is, it begins with the above sloka and ends with a sloka which shows the ultimate place of permanent bliss for any soul. It says,

"Aham twa sarva papebhyo Moksha ishyami ma Shuchah"It says, i'll free you from all your sins and give you liberation (Moksha)

So, let's discuss what's the basic difference between Swargam and Moksham.

People who do good deeds they go to Heaven. Heavens are also of various types for various deeds. You may call them as various 'Departments' within the master heaven. e.g., people who get killed in war they are given a special place in "Veera Swargam" as per our Hindu mythology.
But Moksham is something called as "Janma raahitya" a state where the cycle of birth and death ceases. It's a state of union of soul with the supreme soul.

Swarga loga is not a place of attaining Moksham. Moksham can be attained only in 2 places viz. Vaikuntha loka or kailasha Loka.

Whosoever goes to Swargam on account of his good deeds; after the bank balance of his good deeds finishes, he shall have to come back to mrityu loka (earth) again in some form or other.

Based on my above post, my friend asked me the following questions for which i clarified his doubts. Let me narrate entire discussion which went in the form of question and answer.

Aren't Swargam(heaven) and Narakam(hell) what we experience on the earth rather than some separate world?

What good and bad we experience on earth are just the Side effects of our virtues and vices respectively.

As per our Hindu scriptures, we do have a separate Swarga and Naraka where actual rewards/punishments are given. It's a common misconception that all our sufferings and happiness are due to our bad/good deeds and that's it we have got the rewards or punishments on earth itself. But that's not true. Let me explain why.

If say, some good deed (say, Anna Danam) has a reward of Punya which equals to staying in bliss for 150 days in Swarga. If one has to experience that bliss on earth itself, then his life time would not suffice since 150 days of Swarga >= 150 years on earth (time difference).
Similarly for a bad deed say, "Para Stree Vancha" there is a punishment of suffering 150 days of Naraka yatana. Then also if one thinks of accepting those sufferings on earth itself his life would not accommodate that punishment area. And still something would spill out as bank balance (good/bad whatever).

So, on earth, all our moments of bliss and sufferings are mere side effects of our deeds. Actual calculations would happen 'above' and accordingly one would experience Swarga sukhas and Naraka yatanas (for this, the soul would enter a separate body Yatana Deha.)

There are things like Prarabdha Karmas, Poorva Janma Vasanas, Sanchita Papam/Punyam etc. They are also major factors to decide our fate, current life, and life after death. Also there are some NISHIDDHA KARMAS as advocated by Vedas/Upanishads.

The Nishiddha karma is the prohibited karma which includes homicide, promiscuity(sleeping with a para stree) etc. And as saints say, even Prayaschitta of these Nishiddha karmas are very difficult then one can imagine what is the punishment for them. We see lot many people being unfaithful to their wives and indulging in adultery. But still we see them living a happy life without getting punished here on earth.
So does that imply they are forgiven? No! They are happy because of their sanchita punyas but they would be dealt with after their souls depart.

So, conclusion is, of course it is correct that we experience good and bad in earth itself. But they are simply the side effects of our good and bad deeds. Actual movie always remains "yet to be released" till death.

Simply if i have to say its like:- You get appreciation mails from your boss in office (they are side effects) but only once in a year u get a HIKE in salary that depends upon your overall performance (this is like Swargam), and if u get an escalation mail it's like side effects but when you get a low rating in yearly appraisals (based on your yearly poor performance), that is like Naraka.

How to attain Moksham (Liberation) then?

One can attain Moksha (liberation) only when he detaches himself from the Karmas (Deeds) and Karma phalas (Results).
Till the time one has some karma phala, he/she can't attain moksha since karma phala won't go unrewarded (good/bad)!!

So, we should always try to think to attain Salvation (Moksha/Mukti). For that, all you need to do is whatever karmas you do, disassociate yourself from that karma, and sacrifice the karma phala and donate it to your favorite supreme lord.

Do a karma phala samarpana by chanting the below sloka (taken from Vishnu Sahasranama Stotra), a good one:-

Kaayena Vaacha Manasendrierva,
Budhyatma Naava Prakrute Swabhavaat,
Karomi Yadyad sakalam parasmai,
*parameter*yeti samarpayami..Om Tat Sat!


Note:- Replace the parameter between *,* with Narayana/Sadashiva/Eswara as per your own preference. So it should read like "Narayanayeti or Sadashivayeti/Eshwarayeti/Bhavaniyeti/mahalakshmiyeti/Lalitayeti" etc......

Give away all your karmas and karma phalas to God. It's not you who are doing them It's he who is driving and you are a Nimitta Matra (an object/puppet). So the fruits of those karmas are also NOT yours. So let's SACRIFICE the karmas and their fruits by offering them to the Lord himself/herself. And then once our karma phala becomes ZERO (no punya no papam) easily we can attain Moksha.
Well there are other shortcuts/easy ways to attain Moskha even though one is sinful/virtuous but i would like to de-scope them from this thread for now.

Where do we experience these karma phalas? On the earth or at a different world?We would experience side effects on earth (which would keep on preparing the stage for our new prarabdha karmas) and results in heaven/hell

These cycle of births and deaths, does it have any limit or will it continue till all the karmas are nullified? People say one has 7 births totally, is it true?

There are 84 crores of species. But that doesn't mean one has to take 84 crores of births in all those Yonis and then only liberation would occur. Nor is the case as it's questioned stating that there are only 7 births. One can get liberation in any birth by various means, viz. accidentally (e.g->by dying on Kaarteeka month's Monday,or ksheerabdi dwadasi day), Chanting Hari/Hara name while leaving his body (this is sure shot to give Moksha even if he is a Maha Paapi), self knowledge (Kundalini sadhana and realization after Sahasrara Chakra penetration), Nishkaama karma and karma phala samarpana (results in zero bank balance). So what i want to say is, one can attain liberation in one Janma itself or one can keep continuing in the vicious cycle even for crores of births

During shraadha we give pindam or the rites to three generations above us. People say that the reason for this is those before them are believed to be born again. But according to the aforementioned calculation, say if one has the karmas worth staying for 300-400 days stay in swarga or naraka, they wud not have been born (as those many days are equal to as many years on the earth). Is this correct?

Good question, the same question was asked by someone on phone in a programme called "DHARMA SANDEHALU" telecasted on Saptagiri channel(Telugu DD channel). There a saint from Sringeri came and explained it like this-->"Ancestors of our past 3 generations say, were eligible to stay in pitru lokas and enjoy for say 500 years, then it's most likely that atleast 3 generations are still in that loka only. Since our 1 year=1 day in pitruloka so we are offering daily meal to them. And it's not necessary that our child would be the same soul of those 3 generations since their stay period there still wouldn't get over and our life would get terminated due to time difference. So, in a long run in some 5,6,7 generation if at all god destines them to be born in the same dynasty, they'll take birth. Otherwise it's not necessary that people of one clan would again be born in the same. They may be born as even another animal in fact

The effect of sanchita karma is what we experience in this birth because of our deeds in the previous births and the effect of Prarabdha karma is which we'll experience in the next birth. So this states that we experience the fruit of all karmas in the earth rather than somewhere, which is contradicting your own points stated above. How would you resolve this contradiction?

Our yester-life's actions decide how we are born today. Our present actions would set stage for our future. But we experience all the side effects and won't get actual rewards/punishments here. I made a point about "vasanas" which i didn't elaborate there. That comes into picture here to explain the query clearly. Sometimes a mother says, "my child feels repulsive to garlic, he won't eat that". How did that detest come? Mother didn't teach him that. It was something on which he had won over his sense of taste in previous births. So now he is a conqueror. Someone singing or dancing or doing any art without much effort is because of the person's mastery over that art in the previous birth. But in another case, one may see a guy who would like company of girls even from childhood. How did that come? That's a vasana which he failed to conquer in his previous births and which has come to him in this life also. So, these Vasanas also determine one's life. Even if a person's virtues are rewarded fully in other lokas then also since he had some vasanas which he didn't conquer , he has to come back to earth. Similarly, with punishment in hell also doesn't make a person liberated. Till the time vasanas exist they would come back to life, and again they would do some karmas and hence the cycle would continue. That's why saints keep on stressing to acquire self knowledge. Self knowledge erases all vasanas. And then with karma phala tyaga one can become a big ZERO indeed. Subsequently resulting into oneness in the supreme

That was a good explanation about the vaasanas. I heard that Someone singing or dancing or doing any art without much effort is because of the person's mastery over that art in the previous birth. But how does this justify in this case, say someone is so good yet he is suffering, like he gets unusual diseases or gets paralysed etc. Do u have any explanations for this?

If i understood the query correctly, you asked why do people who are born talented like dancers etc. or people who are good at heart are still sometimes born poor or having diseases. right?

Answer is:- That's the 'Trial Period'!!
After giving Yatanas in hell, when god has to put him back on earth, would god like to give him a lavish life just because he has had his punishment? No. God would like to put him in trial again and this time learn good things and reach him properly as a Sampoorna Gyani. But as per some texts, everyone in embryo stage remembers his past and pleads to god saying he would not repeat the things done and would always be righteous. But as soon as he comes out of the womb, due to "Maya/Illusion" he forgets everything and again falls into the same pit. Only a person who has got sat-sangati (good companionship) would tend to incline towards god as well as Dharma and if he is lucky enough to get on to the right path (may be a good guru's guidance), he would set himself towards god's desired way and reach salvation.

Trials are synonymous to what i referred to as 'side effects'.

Does a person have only 7 births or he continues the cycle of births and deaths till he nullifies the effect of all his karmas? We say tat He (God) controls everything. So if we do err somewhere isn't it tat he wanted us to err? Are we responsible for our actions (good/bad) or is He responsible for them? If He is responsible for them, how can we say tat we have sinned or done a good deed? Or is it that the above theory is applicable for only those who surrender all their karmas to Him & not those who surrender the sins alone? Pls enlighten

This is a bit controversial question. There are 2 schools of thoughts which believe in the below two ways viz. from Advaita (Non dualism) perspective and from Dvaita (Dualism) perspective

Advaita way (Non-Dualism):-
"Om Eesana ssarva vidyanam Eswarah Sarva bhutanam..!!"

What is the difference between God and Us? The above sloka's 2nd part says, "Eshwara is himself present in every beings (be it micro organisms like algae or macro organisms like whale or dinosaur)"
We are that Shiva swaroopas only and nothing else. Jeeva is actually Shiva who has covered himself under the cloth of Maya and acts as an ignorant person. It's basically a divine sport. A leela of the supreme being. he himself transforms as humans/creatures, himself remains under illusion and himself finds out a way to get disillusioned and himself gets merged into himself and says he has given moksha to his jeeva form. It's all a single divine game and nothing else. People who awakens their kundalini and become enlightened they realize that they are none other than Siva, and there is nothing else present in this universe except Siva "Sarvam Sivamayam Jagat". He, the human gets to know that he has become the supreme brahman.

Now coming to your query:- There is a saying "Without Eshwara sankalpam even a grass blade can't move". It tells us that every act what we do is actually "persuaded" and also actually "done" by eswarah himself. We all are nimitta matra (just objects/puppets) in his divine sport. Yes neither our good deeds nor our bad deeds are actually ours. Similarly the corresponding rewards/punishments are also actually being experienced by the lord himself. Being under Maya we think we are pained with punishments and pleasured with rewards.

It's he who is "Karta, Karma and Kriya" also. We are just his projections/images. But in this case also if we get a little enlightenment, we should try to stay aloof from wrong things and should try to do good to the world and knowingly we should sacrifice all our karmas to the lord. Of course without eshwara anugraham no one can even get inclined to faith in divinity. So, here we should not make a mistake of doing bad deeds deliberately and saying eshwarah is doing that. No! Who are we? We are Eshwara under illusion. So can eshwara do any bad deed? No! So, we should try to avoid doing bad things even if we get provoked to do. Everyone should follow the way scriptures/dharma asks us to live. That way eshwaranugraham would be there and we'll get out of illusion and then we'll be equal to eshwara and will merge in our actual form itself. As i said, it's all his "divine sport" so. It's he who uplifts people and makes free from illusion and makes them attain salvation. And again it's he himself who remains in the everlasting birth-death cycles taking innumerous janmas and doing karmas. But people who are blessed with even an iota of faith in god, that faith is actually god's gift/desire and god wants us to realize our true self and come back to attain oneness into the actual form. So, we should utilize that chance and show interest in him with total surrender and Bhakti. Then Eshwara would make us disillusioned and would make us one with him.

In Ashta Vakra Geeta, sage Ashtavakra explains to Janaka that, "Whatever pain or pleasure we experience is not actually ours. We should remain as a witness/spectator of all such happenings"

Dwaita way (Dualism):-
God and we both are two different entities. Even gods are many (Shiva/Vishnu etc) who play different roles. We are the doers of virtues and vices and we are accordingly pleasured/punished. We need to overcome illusion and understand that we have to reach the supreme being and hence we need to sacrifice all our karmas and phalas to him and remain in zero state.
N.B:- When you said "He controls everything..." u are actually pointing at Advaita!!

Conclusion:- Advaita is an advanced conceptual ocean and only Gyanis can fully understand that. So, safest way is to keep Advaita in our viewpoint when we look at God, but think like Dwaita and keep a check on yourself and avoid doing bad deeds. Finally surrender yourself to God and give up all your karmas to him along with the Phalas/Results.

Krishna says, "Sarva Dharmani Parityajya..Mamekam Saranam Vraja..Aham Twa Sarva Papebhyo Moksha Ishyami Ma Shuchah"

2 comments:

  1. very nice information . Thanks for sharing it

    ReplyDelete
  2. Excellent information, Thanks a lot. I have been having these doubts for many days, I think I understood all that now. Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete