As mentioned earlier, after death of the physical body, the astral and causal bodies reside in a plane of the astral realm commensurate with one’s karmas. Those who have been really evil on earth get to reside in the very low realms where their experience is horrible and they are aware of the reason why they are there. If they do not realize or become aware of their mistakes or sins committed they continue to suffer in that realm for ages or centuries. Some of these souls, however, may have a desire to improve. If the desire to improve spiritually is genuine they may get a chance of another birth on earth but they will be born as animals, like beasts of burden with their memories of the lower realm intact ( it is believed)to enable them to bear the hardships of the rebirth. It is also believed that spiritual evolution is much faster when born on earth. This cycle may go on.
It is very unlikely that anyone from a very low astral realm will be born as a human since one has to be in a certain realm (something like a middle level or higher one) to get a chance of being reborn as human.
Those in the middle or higher realms, who genuinely want to evolve spiritually, based on their free will and karmas, wish to take a rebirth as a human being, need to first choose their mother. It is said that at the time of the union of the sperm and ovum, a flash of light appears which attracts a soul based on karmic characteristics of the parents. If the karmas of the soul trying to incarnate and the parents is harmonious, the soul takes birth as the baby of the parents so selected. The soul chooses the parents based on the type of experience it wishes to have and needs to evolve spiritually. This, therefore, means that we actually choose our time and place of birth. It is important to remember that the bottom line is spiritual progression in every birth. One wonders, then, why is it that a baby is born with certain birth defects and dies soon after birth. It is believed that the baby does so for certain reasons.It often does so to instill a sense of love, affection, and compassion in the parents. One has seen so very often that often when this happens the parents, having become so attached to the baby who has left them, start helping other children, open organizations for them, donate for orphanages etc. This way the little child has helped in the spiritual progress of the parents!
It is believed that small children upto the age of two to three years remember their previous births. It is also said that while in the mother’s womb, the soul can still decide whether to carry on with its birth or not (their subconscious mind is quite active). If for some reason, the soul in the womb decides that perhaps the mother is not quite right, it may decide to go back to the astral world, and the baby may then be still born!
Sometimes, the soul purposely decides to be born to a mother who is not a good person or of loose character, but still decides to be born to her, the reason is that the soul wants to bring about an improvement in the mother, to take her up spiritually.
It is, therefore, quite clear that one is not born randomly but there is always a specific purpose for one being born in a particular family. Most of the time, the reborn progresses spiritually, gaining from parents and other souls being born at the same time around( I had earlier mentioned that very often people are born in clusters, ie those one has known in earlier births are born again around the same time and come in contact, without one’s knowledge). All this is based on karmas of the concerned souls.
I would also like to point out that sometimes, the reborn, does not actually follow the chosen path, due to bad company, negative influences and negative people who somehow manage to get the worst out of them. This happens when they allow themselves to be ruled by their conscious minds and do not follow the guidance of their subconscious minds.(The subconscious is both a guard as well as a guide to us) When they die, they go back to much lower realms this time and their possibility of being reborn as humans becomes remote!
At this point I need to digress a little. All of us have chakras or energy centres in our heads and spines, which are actually energy transformers. They are acted upon by the electromagnetic energy of the various stars, and based on our karmic characteristics, our life unfolds. This means that it is not the stars which decide how our lives are going to be but actually our karmas. The stars alone do not have the power to do anything! Our karmas, therefore, decide everything.
Births can be compared to a step ladder of progress, the human birth is the topmost step, the next step can take us towards divine union. This will, however, happen only if we have evolved spiritually to a level which merits this union. Human birth, is, therefore essential for this to happen. All other births cannot take us to ‘Yoga” or union. Those who get repeated chances of being born as humans are being given multiple opportunities by God Almighty to go back to their Creator by the proper methods of spiritual progress based on the teachings of their God Realized Guru!
Showing posts with label Karmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Karmas. Show all posts
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Rebirth Revisited
This is a response to Mr Anirudh Kumar Rastogi's comment which is sincerely appreciated. It is interesting to note that it is the gravitational force which leads to rebirth(Mr Rastogi). We are all aware of the three forces, namely, electromagnetic force, nuclear force, weak and strong and the gravitational which are present all over and responsible for everything that happens in this Universe, including the human body. It is believed that the electromagnetic force is the strongest. It is true that our body also comprises of energy since matter and energy are both interchangeable and interconvertible based on Einstein’s famous equation.
Yogis have always known that the human body consists of three parts, a Sthula Sharir, comprising of the physical body made of matter , a Sukshma Sharir, also known as the Astral Body, comprising of Energy or Pranshakti as well as the mind or manas. The third part is the Karan Sharir, also called the Ideational or Causal body which consists of the Intelligence or Buddhi and the Soul or spirit.The Individual Superconsciousness is the same as the human soul or spirit and is the gateway to the Universal Superconsciousness or God. The soul represents the Divine in us since we have been created in the image of God. Our entire body, therefore, comprises of energy.
We have all come into this world for three reasons. One is to evolve spiritually, secondly to serve others selflessly and thirdly, which, I think is the most important, to use our innate talent or ability for the good of others. Each of us is actually unique and have a trait or a gift which has been called an ‘archtype”by Carl Jung. This could be the ability to heal, (doctor, nurse), a unique talent of writing, singing, making people happy etc. Since all of us have been bestowed with this gift, we need to rediscover it. Once we do that, we should use it for the good of mankind, whereby, we wash off our karmas and improve spiritually.
At the time of physical death, the physical body comprising of matter gets destroyed and becomes part of the elements. The two other parts ie the astral (sukshma sharir) and karan sharir comprising of the soul(spirit), intelligence and pranashakti remain and go the Astral realm.This realm has many levels. One goes to the lower or higher realm depending on one’s karmas on earth.(We understand that karma is the law of cause and effect).The lower realms are inhabited by those who have done a lot of evil on earth. Here the soul sleeps for most of the time and will be born again. Those who have been good on earth in their physical bodies go to higher realms which are very beautiful. Both kinds of souls remain here till their earthly desires remain. They take rebirth in order to fulfill those desires and at the same time to gain experience and to further evolve spiritually. They choose the time, place, and family of their birth depending on where the soul feels it can evolve and gain experience.
Those souls who reside in the lower realms may also get a chance to take rebirth in order to evolve spiritually and to improve themselves. It is believed that spiritual evolution is fastest in the human form and slow but steady in the astral realms. If the soul, therefore, wishes to evolve faster it will need to take another human birth.
Those highly evolved souls who reside in the higher astral realms stay there for a long time till all their earthly karmas as well as karmas of the astral realms, which are enjoyments based on vibration, have been fulfilled. Once that happens they go higher to the causal realms. They stay there till all their causal desires are fulfilled, which are based on perception. Once this has happened the soul merges with the Creator….the drop becomes the ocean.(Kindly refer to the book “Autobiography of a Yogi” beautifully written by Sri Yoganand Paramhans for a detailed description)
So, to cut a long story short, a soul reincarnates, ie a soul takes a body form, complete with all the experiences gained by the senses and intelligence earlier. Therefore, the subconscious mind is completely aware of all the past births, and the experiences gained. This memory, however, is inaccessible to most people since there is a barrier between all the levels of our minds(the conscious, subconscious, individual superconscious and universal superconscious minds)but can be accessed either by meditation or by Hypnotic Regression, whereby past lives can actually be seen or experienced.
I feel it is God’s gift to us that He has made us forget about our past lives. I think, till such time one is spiritually mature, memories can be a cause of tremendous stress and everyone may not be able to handle it. When one progresses spiritually, one gradually develops enough wisdom to understand all these things and not get affected by them. I also feel very strongly that if one is on the spiritual path(which Deepak Chopra calls the “pathless path)one realizes that knowing and discussing about one’s own previous births becomes superfluous, since it is part and parcel of one’s spiritual evolution and ceases to have any meaning as one’s spiritual aim is to reach Him. One also realizes that in any case death is “just a beginning” and one will meet all near and dear ones on shedding the physical body on reaching the higher astral realms.
Yogis have always known that the human body consists of three parts, a Sthula Sharir, comprising of the physical body made of matter , a Sukshma Sharir, also known as the Astral Body, comprising of Energy or Pranshakti as well as the mind or manas. The third part is the Karan Sharir, also called the Ideational or Causal body which consists of the Intelligence or Buddhi and the Soul or spirit.The Individual Superconsciousness is the same as the human soul or spirit and is the gateway to the Universal Superconsciousness or God. The soul represents the Divine in us since we have been created in the image of God. Our entire body, therefore, comprises of energy.
We have all come into this world for three reasons. One is to evolve spiritually, secondly to serve others selflessly and thirdly, which, I think is the most important, to use our innate talent or ability for the good of others. Each of us is actually unique and have a trait or a gift which has been called an ‘archtype”by Carl Jung. This could be the ability to heal, (doctor, nurse), a unique talent of writing, singing, making people happy etc. Since all of us have been bestowed with this gift, we need to rediscover it. Once we do that, we should use it for the good of mankind, whereby, we wash off our karmas and improve spiritually.
At the time of physical death, the physical body comprising of matter gets destroyed and becomes part of the elements. The two other parts ie the astral (sukshma sharir) and karan sharir comprising of the soul(spirit), intelligence and pranashakti remain and go the Astral realm.This realm has many levels. One goes to the lower or higher realm depending on one’s karmas on earth.(We understand that karma is the law of cause and effect).The lower realms are inhabited by those who have done a lot of evil on earth. Here the soul sleeps for most of the time and will be born again. Those who have been good on earth in their physical bodies go to higher realms which are very beautiful. Both kinds of souls remain here till their earthly desires remain. They take rebirth in order to fulfill those desires and at the same time to gain experience and to further evolve spiritually. They choose the time, place, and family of their birth depending on where the soul feels it can evolve and gain experience.
Those souls who reside in the lower realms may also get a chance to take rebirth in order to evolve spiritually and to improve themselves. It is believed that spiritual evolution is fastest in the human form and slow but steady in the astral realms. If the soul, therefore, wishes to evolve faster it will need to take another human birth.
Those highly evolved souls who reside in the higher astral realms stay there for a long time till all their earthly karmas as well as karmas of the astral realms, which are enjoyments based on vibration, have been fulfilled. Once that happens they go higher to the causal realms. They stay there till all their causal desires are fulfilled, which are based on perception. Once this has happened the soul merges with the Creator….the drop becomes the ocean.(Kindly refer to the book “Autobiography of a Yogi” beautifully written by Sri Yoganand Paramhans for a detailed description)
So, to cut a long story short, a soul reincarnates, ie a soul takes a body form, complete with all the experiences gained by the senses and intelligence earlier. Therefore, the subconscious mind is completely aware of all the past births, and the experiences gained. This memory, however, is inaccessible to most people since there is a barrier between all the levels of our minds(the conscious, subconscious, individual superconscious and universal superconscious minds)but can be accessed either by meditation or by Hypnotic Regression, whereby past lives can actually be seen or experienced.
I feel it is God’s gift to us that He has made us forget about our past lives. I think, till such time one is spiritually mature, memories can be a cause of tremendous stress and everyone may not be able to handle it. When one progresses spiritually, one gradually develops enough wisdom to understand all these things and not get affected by them. I also feel very strongly that if one is on the spiritual path(which Deepak Chopra calls the “pathless path)one realizes that knowing and discussing about one’s own previous births becomes superfluous, since it is part and parcel of one’s spiritual evolution and ceases to have any meaning as one’s spiritual aim is to reach Him. One also realizes that in any case death is “just a beginning” and one will meet all near and dear ones on shedding the physical body on reaching the higher astral realms.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
"Who am I"
This is a question,which,I suppose keeps plaguing those who seek answers to so many questions,those who are curious about life,destiny,religion,spirituality.One wonders about the difference between existing(as so many of us are doing) and "living" a fruitful life.
I now realize that life is a constant battle,(brought out so beautifully by Swami Yoganand Paramhans)right from the time I came into my mother’s womb.Before coming into that protective environment,I had to fight with other yet- to- be- born beings, based on their and my past karmas and desires.Once inside,it was again a battle for survival in that dark,closed atmosphere,where,of course,I was looked after by my mother as she took care of me by literally sharing her blood with me…..and that took care of all my body functions.I kept tossing and turning inside as past memories kept troubling me(and her as well since my movements caused pain to her too).Just before being born,I again had to survive the shock of this new environment and if I had not cried,I probably would never have seen the light of day!
The battle continued all along,through my early childhood to my adolescence,then to adult hood followed by middle age and now my late fifties.As an infant I was born very pure,knowing nothing about malice,jealousy,hatred,anger,stress,wickedness,worry and my predominant emotion was only love as I was born in the ‘image of God”.The warmth of my mother’s lap was all there was to it.Slowly but surely,this world attempted to teach me lots of “new” things,and I started developing new emotions of fear,jealousy ,anger,cunning,discontent,ego,insecurity etc,which probably had been lying dormant inside me(as my bad “samskars”from my previous births),along with so many other negative emotions which this world helped surface.I gradually started becoming”smart”in the eyes of this world,which wanted me to learn to cheat,hurt my fellow beings and to cause pain to others.I was told to care only about myself since another human being was just a competitor or someone who should be used to my advantage.I was encouraged to develop feelings of like, dislike,hatred etc.,to seek pleasure in gossip and by making fun of others,to accumulate money by fair or foul means since(I was told)having more money and material objects ensured happiness and success!
I now realize that the real “me’is calm and unruffled like a placid sea since a material gain or loss is viewed as an up or down of life which is part and parcel of the duality of the world we live in.I came into this world with nothing material and will leave with nothing in hand except myself.
Since I was born “in the image of God’,I now know that everyone who comes here has the same image,then where is the difference between me and other fellow beings?The real “me” does not belong to any religion,caste or creed but only to Him as I have Him inside me. If God allowed me to go back in time and to “see”our previous incarnations(as many of us do) I would see that at different times in different lives I may have been born in different faiths. I am a simple little being,wanting to be as humble as possible as I now know that I am not the doer but just an instrument in His divine scheme of things,here to carry out His bidding with kindness,compassion,love and affection with no expectations. Ego is the barrier between the little me and Him.
“I”am a source of radiant energy,full of love for my fellow beings,I desire nothing but love for all.My thoughts make up the Universe as I understand that “thought is matter”.The real”me”cannot hurt another being as it sees Him in every being.It communicates and transmits to other”beings”through intuition where language is not a barrier.”I”am a “spiritual”being who has incarnated in this world to have a “physical”experience and am evolving,meeting more and more evolved ‘spiritual”beings who act as catalysts and help in my progress towards my ultimate goal…..that of going back to Him again,ever spotless,ever pure! I crave and seek that divine union.
I now realize that life is a constant battle,(brought out so beautifully by Swami Yoganand Paramhans)right from the time I came into my mother’s womb.Before coming into that protective environment,I had to fight with other yet- to- be- born beings, based on their and my past karmas and desires.Once inside,it was again a battle for survival in that dark,closed atmosphere,where,of course,I was looked after by my mother as she took care of me by literally sharing her blood with me…..and that took care of all my body functions.I kept tossing and turning inside as past memories kept troubling me(and her as well since my movements caused pain to her too).Just before being born,I again had to survive the shock of this new environment and if I had not cried,I probably would never have seen the light of day!
The battle continued all along,through my early childhood to my adolescence,then to adult hood followed by middle age and now my late fifties.As an infant I was born very pure,knowing nothing about malice,jealousy,hatred,anger,stress,wickedness,worry and my predominant emotion was only love as I was born in the ‘image of God”.The warmth of my mother’s lap was all there was to it.Slowly but surely,this world attempted to teach me lots of “new” things,and I started developing new emotions of fear,jealousy ,anger,cunning,discontent,ego,insecurity etc,which probably had been lying dormant inside me(as my bad “samskars”from my previous births),along with so many other negative emotions which this world helped surface.I gradually started becoming”smart”in the eyes of this world,which wanted me to learn to cheat,hurt my fellow beings and to cause pain to others.I was told to care only about myself since another human being was just a competitor or someone who should be used to my advantage.I was encouraged to develop feelings of like, dislike,hatred etc.,to seek pleasure in gossip and by making fun of others,to accumulate money by fair or foul means since(I was told)having more money and material objects ensured happiness and success!
I now realize that the real “me’is calm and unruffled like a placid sea since a material gain or loss is viewed as an up or down of life which is part and parcel of the duality of the world we live in.I came into this world with nothing material and will leave with nothing in hand except myself.
Since I was born “in the image of God’,I now know that everyone who comes here has the same image,then where is the difference between me and other fellow beings?The real “me” does not belong to any religion,caste or creed but only to Him as I have Him inside me. If God allowed me to go back in time and to “see”our previous incarnations(as many of us do) I would see that at different times in different lives I may have been born in different faiths. I am a simple little being,wanting to be as humble as possible as I now know that I am not the doer but just an instrument in His divine scheme of things,here to carry out His bidding with kindness,compassion,love and affection with no expectations. Ego is the barrier between the little me and Him.
“I”am a source of radiant energy,full of love for my fellow beings,I desire nothing but love for all.My thoughts make up the Universe as I understand that “thought is matter”.The real”me”cannot hurt another being as it sees Him in every being.It communicates and transmits to other”beings”through intuition where language is not a barrier.”I”am a “spiritual”being who has incarnated in this world to have a “physical”experience and am evolving,meeting more and more evolved ‘spiritual”beings who act as catalysts and help in my progress towards my ultimate goal…..that of going back to Him again,ever spotless,ever pure! I crave and seek that divine union.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
The Politics Of Religion
The Politics of Religion:
It is of utmost importance to understand that only after God created this entire universe that man could “create”religion and started worshipping Him in different forms .God created man in His mirror image while man,due to his ignorance and ego developed so many faiths and religions.How and why has this come about?
Many of us understand that we are “spiritual beings having a physical experience”on earth,meaning thereby that the essence of our being is the “spirit”or soul which resides in all of us and is in reality a part of God with whom it has to ultimately unite..no matter how long and how many births or incarnations it may take.We continue to repeatedly come back on this Earth based on our karmas and our desires,every time being given a chance to attain Him and evolving further in the process.Unfortunately we have forgotten our connection with Him.Many prophets,saints,gurus have incarnated on this earth to remind us of this truth but most of us do not heed their teachings since what they teach us is at variance to the popular beliefs and teachings in our temples,mosques,churches etc. while some of our so called religious teachers instill in us to differentiate between all other religions,telling us that God belongs to us.They teach us rituals,making us believe that by doing such and such a thing/worshipping in a particular manner/ fasting /wearing a particular type of dress/giving sacrifices/bathing in holi waters etc we are going to achieve God.If this alone were true they should be the first to become God Realized! If by bathing in holi waters alone one gets connected to God,fish and other inhabitants of that water would be the first to realise Him!Sant Kabir pointed this out long time back but when are we going to understand this?
Not only Kabir but ,Jesus Christ/Prophet Mohammed/Guru Nank/Gautam Buddha and so many of the present day saints who have realized God in His entirety have been trying to teach us that that there is only one God who does not belong to any particular religion but to all of us.All of them have come with the same message,that God is within us and that we should realize His presence within us.Since time immemorial they have tried to explain to us the method of uniting with Him.Some of their disciples imbibed the method in its true form and were blessed with becoming One with him while so many others either misconstrued it or twisted or moulded it according to their convenience. Those who believed in Christ called themselves Christians,while believers in Allah came to be known as Muslims,so also Jews,Hindus,Jains,Budhists….so on and so forth and the net result is in front of us……only rituals in the place of religion or people of one faith or religion fighting with those of other faiths or religions. The cause of most of the unrest and wars at the present time(even in the past have been because of this,the crusades being one example and the present ongoing massacres in various parts of the world by misguided and brainwashed terrorists being another).
All God Realized saints tell us that we all come from the same source/Supreme being which obviously means that we are all connected in one way or the other and since He resides inside all of us,we must treat all of His creations as one. Many of us who have an inkling of our previous births may have realized that we were often of a different religion than our present one,meaning that the soul does not differentiate between faiths.Does this not prove that God treats all of us the same way and to Him it does not matter in what form we worship Him?
It can be safely concluded that terrorists do not have any religion since God is all-loving,compassionate and does not expect us to harm or kill innocent beings.
It is of utmost importance to understand that only after God created this entire universe that man could “create”religion and started worshipping Him in different forms .God created man in His mirror image while man,due to his ignorance and ego developed so many faiths and religions.How and why has this come about?
Many of us understand that we are “spiritual beings having a physical experience”on earth,meaning thereby that the essence of our being is the “spirit”or soul which resides in all of us and is in reality a part of God with whom it has to ultimately unite..no matter how long and how many births or incarnations it may take.We continue to repeatedly come back on this Earth based on our karmas and our desires,every time being given a chance to attain Him and evolving further in the process.Unfortunately we have forgotten our connection with Him.Many prophets,saints,gurus have incarnated on this earth to remind us of this truth but most of us do not heed their teachings since what they teach us is at variance to the popular beliefs and teachings in our temples,mosques,churches etc. while some of our so called religious teachers instill in us to differentiate between all other religions,telling us that God belongs to us.They teach us rituals,making us believe that by doing such and such a thing/worshipping in a particular manner/ fasting /wearing a particular type of dress/giving sacrifices/bathing in holi waters etc we are going to achieve God.If this alone were true they should be the first to become God Realized! If by bathing in holi waters alone one gets connected to God,fish and other inhabitants of that water would be the first to realise Him!Sant Kabir pointed this out long time back but when are we going to understand this?
Not only Kabir but ,Jesus Christ/Prophet Mohammed/Guru Nank/Gautam Buddha and so many of the present day saints who have realized God in His entirety have been trying to teach us that that there is only one God who does not belong to any particular religion but to all of us.All of them have come with the same message,that God is within us and that we should realize His presence within us.Since time immemorial they have tried to explain to us the method of uniting with Him.Some of their disciples imbibed the method in its true form and were blessed with becoming One with him while so many others either misconstrued it or twisted or moulded it according to their convenience. Those who believed in Christ called themselves Christians,while believers in Allah came to be known as Muslims,so also Jews,Hindus,Jains,Budhists….so on and so forth and the net result is in front of us……only rituals in the place of religion or people of one faith or religion fighting with those of other faiths or religions. The cause of most of the unrest and wars at the present time(even in the past have been because of this,the crusades being one example and the present ongoing massacres in various parts of the world by misguided and brainwashed terrorists being another).
All God Realized saints tell us that we all come from the same source/Supreme being which obviously means that we are all connected in one way or the other and since He resides inside all of us,we must treat all of His creations as one. Many of us who have an inkling of our previous births may have realized that we were often of a different religion than our present one,meaning that the soul does not differentiate between faiths.Does this not prove that God treats all of us the same way and to Him it does not matter in what form we worship Him?
It can be safely concluded that terrorists do not have any religion since God is all-loving,compassionate and does not expect us to harm or kill innocent beings.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Rebirth
One has always wondered whether rebirth does actually take place.To me it is a reality,though many doubt that it does,specially in the West.There have been many anecdotal evidences to prove it and lots of books have also been written on this subject.As far as I am concerned I know it to be true from personal experience.
Why does it occur?According to our mythology,when the human soul is about to leave the human body at the time of death,whatever form it wishes to take,it comes back again in that form.The human birth is supposed to be the highest form of creation in which God has bestowed upon us “free will”whereby we have choices to experience virtually whatever we wish to. Therefore the soul,in order to experience a particular type of life,reincarnates in that particular body to experience what it wishes to and evolves further(we are always evolving).This is of course,based on one’s karmas.
By the time one gets a physical birth,one has forgotten that one is a part and parcel of the Almighty,to which one should strive to return.If the soul wishes to experience God it gets born in situations or circumstances where it comes in contact with people who sort of act as “catalysts” to help it evolve further towards God.It is quite likely that at this juncture it meets a Being who teaches and shows the soul the path to God.This Being could well be a Guru/Prophet/Master,whatever one wishes to address him by(like Gautam Budha/Guru Nanak/Sant Kabir/Jesus Christ/Prophet Mohammed or a modern day guru who has actually traversed the path to Self Realisation).If,however,the soul has wished to experience something else,it takes the form of a of a human being with different charectaristics or traits and experiences something entirely different,but always keeps evolving.Sooner or later,(though it may take many births),it will heed the message being constantly communicated to it through intuition/instinct/sixth sense etc to follow the path of Truth,which the soul ultimately starts to seek.
The reality is that many of us are aware of our earlier births and perhaps feel excited about it and start seeing or meeting many of our friends/relatives/well wishers/enemies of an earlier birth and try to reestablish the same connection but one should remember that now the same person who may have been a brother/sister/friend or whatever had that specific role to play as THAT person in THAT particular birth but in the present incarnation the role may not be the same as before!Therefore one should not get too excited about it.The reality possibly is that this is just to pay back our karmic debt to each other and we assume different forms to do so.To give you an example.You find that your boss is overbearing and singles you out for “special” treatment.Perhaps you may not even be aware that this is happening to you only to balance out the way you treated him in an earlier birth, where perhaps you were bossing over him!Similarly,you suddenly find that you are stranded somewhere in dire need of help with no one in sight and you think you are” finished” but miraculously someone appears from nowhere and bails you out.Again a karmic debt is being paid.
The fact that most of the time we do not remember anything about our previous births is actually a blessing.You can imagine what would happen if you started recognizing all your earlier relatives/friends/enemies/well wishers/associates/bosses/subordinates etc and tried to maintain contact with all of them.You could have all types of feelings….. of love/hate/stress/fear with which it would be impossible to cope.In addition present relationships could also get affected.
Learning or knowing about your past life/lives can very well be a part and parcel of your spiritual growth and is often a by product of progress on your path to God Realisation,but here also,Gurus try to dissuade you from trying to unravel earlier mysteries for the simple reason that solving them or remembering your past serves no useful purpose at all as each birth and each relationship has a different purpose than the earlier one and could very well complicate your present life.
Often,some Psychiatrists can get a patient to remember his/her past life but here the purpose is often therapeutic as very often past mishaps could be causes of fear/phobias and a trained psychiatrist could help the patient get over the phobia by making him/her aware of the reason for it.
It is very common for reincarnation to take place in “clusters”,which means that many people you may have known in an earlier birth,may be born again around the time you are and may actually be ‘around you “!There is so much truth in the saying that “The world is a stage”!It actually is as we are all playing our role life after life,in one birth one could be a father, while in the next one might be born as the son to the person one fathered earlier!
If one were to realize this one would take a lot of things in one’s stride.This is one of the reasons why God Realised souls discourage you from saying bad or foul things about anyone(of course,the main reason is that since our Atma is actually a part of the Parmatma,when one says something bad about anyone, one is actually maligning God).
Very often one wonders why one takes a strong liking to someone one meets for the first time and gets a feeling that one has met that person before!But despite one’s best attempts neither can figure out when and where.It is quite likely that one has met someone one knew earlier in a past life.For no apparent rhyme or reason this relationship grows.Again,one must remember that though there is so much of familiarity the purpose of the present meeting may be entirely different from the one in the previous birth.
By the same token,one may come across some one to whom one takes an instant dislike even though one has never met that person before.This again might be a case where paths may have been crossed earlier in an earlier birth.As so often happens,such a person one seems to keep meeting over and over again,one may get irritated,angry or upset but this might just be a situation where both are actually meeting to balance things out.As you progress on the true path you realise that the purpose of such meetings is to reach a state of the highest good for both the concerned parties and you understand that your duty is to even things out,therefore,act in a manner whereby confrontation is avoided and an action done whereby reconciliation can take place and if posible real forgiveness and love.One,however,may fail once,twice or many times(meaning thereby that one has not acted in the manner commensurate with the highest good of both) but such events will continue to take place till the issue is resolved for the good of both(by such repeated events,one is being given a chance to correct oneself)!
Sooner or later one evolves to a stage when one starts “seeking the truth” and with the help of a God Realised soul starts traversing the path towards God and becomes One with Him.Once that happens this cycle of birth and death is broken and one does not come back again as one becomes a part of Him.It does,however,happen that a few chosen few(like Budha/Guru Nanak/Jesus Christ/Kabir/Prophet Mohammed) take birth to guide people and help them towards the path to God.
Why does it occur?According to our mythology,when the human soul is about to leave the human body at the time of death,whatever form it wishes to take,it comes back again in that form.The human birth is supposed to be the highest form of creation in which God has bestowed upon us “free will”whereby we have choices to experience virtually whatever we wish to. Therefore the soul,in order to experience a particular type of life,reincarnates in that particular body to experience what it wishes to and evolves further(we are always evolving).This is of course,based on one’s karmas.
By the time one gets a physical birth,one has forgotten that one is a part and parcel of the Almighty,to which one should strive to return.If the soul wishes to experience God it gets born in situations or circumstances where it comes in contact with people who sort of act as “catalysts” to help it evolve further towards God.It is quite likely that at this juncture it meets a Being who teaches and shows the soul the path to God.This Being could well be a Guru/Prophet/Master,whatever one wishes to address him by(like Gautam Budha/Guru Nanak/Sant Kabir/Jesus Christ/Prophet Mohammed or a modern day guru who has actually traversed the path to Self Realisation).If,however,the soul has wished to experience something else,it takes the form of a of a human being with different charectaristics or traits and experiences something entirely different,but always keeps evolving.Sooner or later,(though it may take many births),it will heed the message being constantly communicated to it through intuition/instinct/sixth sense etc to follow the path of Truth,which the soul ultimately starts to seek.
The reality is that many of us are aware of our earlier births and perhaps feel excited about it and start seeing or meeting many of our friends/relatives/well wishers/enemies of an earlier birth and try to reestablish the same connection but one should remember that now the same person who may have been a brother/sister/friend or whatever had that specific role to play as THAT person in THAT particular birth but in the present incarnation the role may not be the same as before!Therefore one should not get too excited about it.The reality possibly is that this is just to pay back our karmic debt to each other and we assume different forms to do so.To give you an example.You find that your boss is overbearing and singles you out for “special” treatment.Perhaps you may not even be aware that this is happening to you only to balance out the way you treated him in an earlier birth, where perhaps you were bossing over him!Similarly,you suddenly find that you are stranded somewhere in dire need of help with no one in sight and you think you are” finished” but miraculously someone appears from nowhere and bails you out.Again a karmic debt is being paid.
The fact that most of the time we do not remember anything about our previous births is actually a blessing.You can imagine what would happen if you started recognizing all your earlier relatives/friends/enemies/well wishers/associates/bosses/subordinates etc and tried to maintain contact with all of them.You could have all types of feelings….. of love/hate/stress/fear with which it would be impossible to cope.In addition present relationships could also get affected.
Learning or knowing about your past life/lives can very well be a part and parcel of your spiritual growth and is often a by product of progress on your path to God Realisation,but here also,Gurus try to dissuade you from trying to unravel earlier mysteries for the simple reason that solving them or remembering your past serves no useful purpose at all as each birth and each relationship has a different purpose than the earlier one and could very well complicate your present life.
Often,some Psychiatrists can get a patient to remember his/her past life but here the purpose is often therapeutic as very often past mishaps could be causes of fear/phobias and a trained psychiatrist could help the patient get over the phobia by making him/her aware of the reason for it.
It is very common for reincarnation to take place in “clusters”,which means that many people you may have known in an earlier birth,may be born again around the time you are and may actually be ‘around you “!There is so much truth in the saying that “The world is a stage”!It actually is as we are all playing our role life after life,in one birth one could be a father, while in the next one might be born as the son to the person one fathered earlier!
If one were to realize this one would take a lot of things in one’s stride.This is one of the reasons why God Realised souls discourage you from saying bad or foul things about anyone(of course,the main reason is that since our Atma is actually a part of the Parmatma,when one says something bad about anyone, one is actually maligning God).
Very often one wonders why one takes a strong liking to someone one meets for the first time and gets a feeling that one has met that person before!But despite one’s best attempts neither can figure out when and where.It is quite likely that one has met someone one knew earlier in a past life.For no apparent rhyme or reason this relationship grows.Again,one must remember that though there is so much of familiarity the purpose of the present meeting may be entirely different from the one in the previous birth.
By the same token,one may come across some one to whom one takes an instant dislike even though one has never met that person before.This again might be a case where paths may have been crossed earlier in an earlier birth.As so often happens,such a person one seems to keep meeting over and over again,one may get irritated,angry or upset but this might just be a situation where both are actually meeting to balance things out.As you progress on the true path you realise that the purpose of such meetings is to reach a state of the highest good for both the concerned parties and you understand that your duty is to even things out,therefore,act in a manner whereby confrontation is avoided and an action done whereby reconciliation can take place and if posible real forgiveness and love.One,however,may fail once,twice or many times(meaning thereby that one has not acted in the manner commensurate with the highest good of both) but such events will continue to take place till the issue is resolved for the good of both(by such repeated events,one is being given a chance to correct oneself)!
Sooner or later one evolves to a stage when one starts “seeking the truth” and with the help of a God Realised soul starts traversing the path towards God and becomes One with Him.Once that happens this cycle of birth and death is broken and one does not come back again as one becomes a part of Him.It does,however,happen that a few chosen few(like Budha/Guru Nanak/Jesus Christ/Kabir/Prophet Mohammed) take birth to guide people and help them towards the path to God.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
The Guru
The Guru is the one who guides us along the path which connects us to the Divine,a path we all seem to have forgotten.He makes us realise that God lies within and and helps us to to realise Him.He is the one who brings about the union of the Atma with the Paratma.The Atma is the spirit,essentially a part of the Supreme Being.The Guru incarnates just to help those who are "ready'to journey on this path and it is only those who are 'ready" are fortunate enough to come in contact with him for his blessings,based on their Karmas.
The journey is simply beautiful and breathtaking and makes one realise the difference between "happiness" and "bliss".Happiness is a result of fulfillment of material desires while bliss is due to one's close proximity with Him.All this happens when the Guru "iniates'us by bestowing on us "Naam Daan",and teaching us to connect with Him by the Anhad Shabd(similar to The Word mentioned in the Bible,as this is supposed to be the origin of the world).This has been practised by Muslim sufis as well.
The journey is simply beautiful and breathtaking and makes one realise the difference between "happiness" and "bliss".Happiness is a result of fulfillment of material desires while bliss is due to one's close proximity with Him.All this happens when the Guru "iniates'us by bestowing on us "Naam Daan",and teaching us to connect with Him by the Anhad Shabd(similar to The Word mentioned in the Bible,as this is supposed to be the origin of the world).This has been practised by Muslim sufis as well.
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