Decrypting Vedic Symbolism

Secret Knowledge: Traditional Levels of Vedic Interpretation

How do we approach cryptic mantras from ancient cultures, which are said to require special initiations in order to understand them? Can we assume that their evident meaning according to our present mindset of several thousand years later should be accurate? So far, that has been the case with most who have tried to interpret the Vedas. Yet if we look at the Vedas with a greater poetic and yogic insight, cosmic dimensions emerge in almost every verse of this great compilation of seer wisdom.

One of the most common statements in later Vedic texts extending to the Upanishads is “Parokṣa priya hi devāḥ pratyakṣa dviṣah,” which means “The Gods are fond of indirect statements and dislike the evident.” The Vedic language is a paroksha language, referring to one of implied meanings that dislikes evident statements. This statement in itself should be enough for us to look at the Vedas with a deeper vision.

Good poetry is based upon presenting word and image plays that hold several different levels of meaning, weaving together nature, human experience, and yet deeper connections. A degree of subtlety and multiplicity of indications is the basis of good poetry in the first place. The great scriptures of the world, which reflect a deep poetic vision, similarly claim several levels of meaning – including meanings that are hidden or esoteric, or very different than their literal import. The Vedas as mantric poetry should be looked at in the same way, containing secret implications, in which ordinary objects can take on cosmic connections. The Rigveda itself mentions four levels of speech, three of which are hidden in secrecy.
 Four are the levels of speech that are measured, these the wise sages know. Three hidden in secrecy, they cannot manipulate, only with the fourth level of speech do humans talk.[i]
           
                          Dirghatamas Auchatya, Rigveda I.164.45

Agni as the Vedic sacred fire is commonly identified with the power of speech. He is said to be the child of seven voices or seven forms of speech, which suggests a system of seven levels of interpretation for the Vedic mantras.

 Eternal here the youthful sisters with a common origin, the seven voices conceive a single child.[ii]

            Gathina Vishvamitra, Rigveda III.1.6

The Main Traditional Levels of Vedic Interpretation

As part of such secret meanings, the Vedas have several well-defined traditional levels of interpretation that we find mentioned in later Vedic texts. These reflect such multiple types of meaning that exist simultaneously. Each Vedic deity has different roles and functions according to the level of approached involved. The three most important are:

Adhyatmic – Relating to the Self or the individual being, the psychological level
Adhidaivic – Relating to the Gods, deities or cosmic powers
Adhibhutic – Relating to the Elements of nature

 We can find these three mentioned in many traditional texts of Vedic interpretation from the Brahmanas and Upanishads to the Bhagavad Gita.[iii]

Let us take Agni, which is generally identified with the natural phenomenon of fire to the modern mind. At the Adhyatmic or individual level, Agni is identified primarily with speech  (vak), our main form of expression. At the Adhidaivic or cosmic level, Agni is primarily the Sun, the light of heaven, not merely as a material force but as the Divine light. On the Adhibhutic level, Agni is fire as an element, and the fire we use in our daily lives.

Adhyatmic – Psychological

The Adhyatmic level begins with a recognition of three primary aspects of our individual nature as speech (vak), prana, and mind (manas). In addition to these can be added a fourth level as the Jivatman or embodied soul, and a fifth as Paramatman or the Supreme Self.
The Adhyatmic approach takes us back from our individual powers of speech, breath, and mind to the higher Self that is their true reality: the speech of speech, the mind of mind, the prana of prana as the Upanishads say.[iv] The Adhyatmic level does not reflect just our ordinary faculties. It recognizes the reality of the Divine word, Divine life, and Divine mind and strives to connect us with these.
When Agni is invoked in the Vedas, it is as the Divine speech within us that calls the Gods or cosmic powers. When Indra is invoked, it is as the Divine immortal prana, not our mere creaturely breath. When the Sun is invoked, it is as the illuminating power of Divine consciousness, not simply the outer mind. These inner faculties come into function only when our outer faculties are brought into a silent state, the stillness of Yoga practice.

Adhidaivic – Theological/ Ontological

The Adhidaivic level recognizes three powers of light at the three levels of the cosmos as Agni (fire – earth), Vayu (lightning/air – atmosphere), and Surya (sun – heaven). These are the three forms of Ishvara (the cosmic Lord) who is the fourth factor, with Brahman or Paramatman, the Absolute, as the fifth.

The Adhidaivic approach is concerned with worship of God (Ishvara) to lead us to Brahman. It recognizes the reality of the Divine fire, Divine spirit (wind), and Divine light (Sun). The Adhidaivic approach can be called Adhibrahman as its goal is Brahman or the Absolute. It is a theological approach in which we honor the Divine ruling powers of the universe, which are the forces of Being, Consciousness, and Bliss.
These two levels, Adhyatmic and Adhidaivic, are the most important. Their conjoined purpose is to link the individual Self or Atman (Adhyatmic Satya or individual truth) and the Supreme Being or Brahman (Adhidaivic Satya or cosmic truth).

Adhibhutic – Elemental

The elemental recognizes the five elements as the main factors behind our outer world experience. Earth, Water, and Fire are part of the earth realm ruled by fire or Agni. Air is of the atmosphere belonging to air of Vayu. Ether is heaven ruled by the Sun or Surya. The fourth beyond these three is the higher space of the soul, and the fifth is Brahman or Atman, the Absolute as the supreme space beyond. Atma-Bhuta (Self-nature) or Brahma-Bhuta (Absolute Nature) refer to this highest state of the elements.
The elemental approach means to merge the elements by stages from earth to ether into Brahman, reflecting the chakra system of Tantric Yoga that leads us from the root chakra and Earth element to the crown chakra or thousand petal lotus and the Supreme Self. This elemental approach has spiritual implications and is not merely a recognition of the outer forces of nature in a materialistic sense.

We can equate these three levels with the three worlds. The Adhibhutic or elemental level is that of the earth (nature), the Adhyatmic or individual level that of the atmosphere (the human being), and the Adhidaivic or cosmic level that of heaven (God). There is much crossover between their energies and influences.

The Yajna as the Fourth Level

Adhiyajna – the Ritual Order

A fourth level is often added to this primary three, which is Adhiyajna or relative to the Vedic sacrifice. The Vedic Yajna or way of worship is twofold as outer (bahir yajna) and inner (antar yajna).
The outer sacrifice offers certain items, like wood, cow dung or ghee, into the sacred fire along with devotional worship of Ishvara. It can be performed as a type of Bhakti and Karma Yoga. Each Vedic deity relates to a power or priest in the inner and outer sacrifice that constitutes both the cosmic and psychological order.
The inner sacrifice is a yogic practice in which we offer speech, breath, and mind through mantra yoga, Prana Yoga and meditation, into the Divine presence and supreme Self that is the ultimate goal. The Bhagavad Gita outlines such Yoga practices as pranayama, pratyahara, and meditation as Yajnas.[v]
There is a tendency among scholars to regard only the Adhyatmic level as a spiritual interpretation and the others as having only outer meanings. This does not look deeply into all the implications involved. All these methods of interpreting the Vedas can be spiritual or yogic in nature and indicate different approaches to Atman or Brahman. Adhidaivic brings in theology, a recognition of a single cosmic light or reality, which as a power of consciousness is the cosmic Lord. Adhibhutic brings in the Self as the subtlest of all the elements (Sarvabhuta-antaratman). Adhiyajna brings in Yoga as the inner sacrifice, in which we offer speech, prana, and mind into the Divine presence within.

Different Levels Relative to Agni
To understand how these different levels work, let us examine how Agni is portrayed according to them. In the individual, Agni is mainly speech, but not simply the vocal organ, all powers of speech and articulation. At the cosmic level Agni is the Sun or the supreme light. In the material world, Agni is the element of fire. In the Vedic sacrifice Agni is the priest of the invocation or Hota, who calls the Gods. In the inner sacrifice, Agni is the soul that brings the Divine into us.

Adhyatmic   Adhidaivic Adhibhutic         Adhiyajna
Speech                 Sun     Fire as an element     Hota-Invoker, the soul or Jiva

Yet these multiple correlations are only the beginning of a broad range of associations extending to the entire universe. They have additional ramifications and cannot be reduced to a few mechanical constructs. They reflect languages and paths to the spiritual reality. Their application can constitute different forms of Atma-Vichara (Self-inquiry) and Brahma-vichara (Inquiry into God or the Absolute). They use the various factors of our life experience to arrive at the higher truth. There are additional approaches that we find in Vedic texts, but are not as specifically defined:

Adhiloka – relating to the worlds, generally reflecting the Adhidaivic level of the deity that rules a particular world, like earth and Fire, but correlating outer worlds with inner worlds like earth and the body, atmosphere and the prana, and heaven and the mind.

Adhijyotisha – Relating to light. Much like Adhidaivic as Vedic deities are primarily light forms. Tracing the forms of light to pure consciousness.

Adhikala – Relating to time. Reaching the eternal through the movement through time, with the day symbolizing the physical, the month indicating the astral, and the year indicating the causal realm.

Adhiganita – Relating to numbers. Reaching either the One or the infinite through an examination of sacred numbers. Often the numbers the Vedic meters are used in this way or the numbers of Vedic deities, like the 33 prime Devas.

Adhimantra – Using mantra as a way of understanding Self and universe, returning everything to the Divine word Oṁ.

Adhichhandas – Using the meters as a way of understanding Self and universe, with each meter signifying a certain deity or Loka.

Taking a subtler vision, one can go deeper into any of these areas. For example, at the level of Adhyatmic or the inner Self, Agni has many forms, not just Vak or speech. There is also the digestive fire, the pranic fire, the eye, the fire of intelligence or buddhi, the fire of consciousness, and the fire of being itself (Brahmagni). Relative to the worlds, Agni is not only fire and the Sun, but also lightning, the Moon, and the stars – whatever reflects light and heat, extending to the cosmic light of consciousness.
Our modern mind is usually content to find one level of meaning in ancient texts and stop there. To understand the Vedas, we must universalize the Vedic principles to link all levels of our experience together in the unity of consciousness.

The Vedas and Theological Views of Monotheism and Polytheism

The Vedic view is of a multi-leveled universe with a parallel development inner and outer, higher and lower, individual and cosmic. Such a view cannot be reduced to a simple theology of God as being One or Many, as monotheism, pantheism or polytheism as exclusive views.
The Vedas honor the Divine as One (Not One God), recognizing a common Self and being in all beings. Yet the Vedas also honor the Divine as many, seeing the many as different forms and functions of the One. The Vedas honor the Divine as both pervading all nature (pantheism) and as transcending all manifestation in time and space (as the Absolute). The Vedic view has a place for monism (unity of all), monotheism (oneness of the creator), polytheism, pantheism, and other approaches to truth. Yet it cannot be defined according to any one of these alone.

Modern scholars generally regard the Vedas as a type of polytheism with hints of the monism of the Upanishads and Vedanta, which they see only in a few late Vedic hymns like the Purusha Sukta. This apparent Vedic polytheism, we should remember, is not different from the apparent polytheism of the later Hindu Puranas, with their trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, and their many Gods and Goddesses, which can individually or collectively be equated with the Supreme Divine or Brahman, and reflect Vedantic philosophies of Self-realization and God-realization.

The Hindu view is similar to the theology of ancient Egypt, where a recognition of the unity of the Divine light existed behind an apparent diversity of deities. The term “henotheism” was invented by modern scholarship to explain this view where a single deity can be lauded as the supreme, which they saw as a confusion of multiplicity and unity, not their integration. The term only shows our modern inability to see unity behind multiplicity.

Vedic polytheism would be better called “Vedic pluralism,” an approach to the One Divine that accepts many different angles and perspectives. Vedic deities are described as our friends, with whom we have a relationship of kinship, equality and unity. All the deities are to be honored, none is to be denigrated in the name of only one as supreme.

None of you are small, Devas, none of you are childish, all of you are great.[vi]

                        Manu Vivasvan, Rigveda VIII.30.1
Yet each deity is part of the same One Reality. Each deity represents an important and integral aspect of the cosmic truth and reality. That vast truth, Ritam Brihat, is more than any single deity and constitutes the essence of all both individually and collectively.

That which is the One Being, the seers describe in various ways.[vii]

                        Dirghatamas Auchatya, Rigveda I.164.46

The Vedas approach unity through a comprehensive vision of the sacred presence pervading all of life. The Vedas emphasize wholeness and completeness, not singularity and exclusion. Their supreme deity is not a one God opposed to other Gods, but a unity of truth that encompasses all Divine powers and principles – and is both behind all names and forms and beyond all names and forms. These Vedic deities can be equated with one another, but have specific roles as well. They represent a difference of function, not one of reality.

The Vedic Godheads represent an interdependent reality, where all is One and One is All as various manifestations of the same light and consciousness. The formed world is a symbolic or visionary manifestation of the formless world. That is why the main Vedic deities are powers of light and only vaguely anthropomorphic in their attributes. The human side of their imagery is outweighed by their other natural correspondences. They are universal forces, not simply a projection of the human psyche onto the realm of nature.

[i] Rigveda I.164.45. catvāri vāk parimitā padāni tāni vidur brāhmaṇā ye manīṣiṇaḥ, guhā trīṇi neṅgayanti turīyam vāco manuṣyā vadanti.[ii] Rigveda III.1.6. sanā atra yuvatayaḥ sayonīr ekam garbham dadhire sapta vāṇīḥ.[iii] Bhagavad Gita VIII.1-4[iv] Kena Upanishad I.2[v] Bhagavad Gita, Chapter IV.25-29[vi] Rigveda VIII.29.1. nahi vo astyarbhako devāso na kumārakaḥ viśve satomahānta it.[vii] Rigveda I.164.46. ekam sad viprā bahudhā vadanti.

We are constantly Changing Bodies

Reincarnation

We are not these material bodies, we are the spiritual force, the spiritual spark, the soul within. These bodies are simply an outward dress only. As I change my clothes yet still remain the same person so I also change my bodies but I am still the same person.

I am not an Australian, an Indian, a man, a woman, a human being or an animal, I am eternally a part and parcel of the Supreme Person, Krishna, so I have the same qualities as Him, although He has the qualities in fullness whereas I have the qualities in minute quantity. These original pure spiritual qualities are now covered because I have accepted this material body and I am falsely identifying with it.

There is a spiritual evolution of consciousness. We get a particular type of body out of the 8,400,000 different species of life according to our karma. Every living entity is a spirit soul and that spirit soul takes shelter within a material body in this world according to its karma. The living entity who has taken shelter in the dog’s body is no different to the living entity in the human body. Only the consciousness is different. Each type of body is provided according to superior arrangement to allow a living entity to suffer or enjoy in a particular way according to what he deserves and desires.

This material world has been created by Krishna to allow us to fulfil our desires to enjoy separately from Him and to simultaneously frustrate us so ultimately we come again to our original pure consciousness of serving Krishna in the spiritual world. But while we have material desires to fulfil we have to remain within the material world and take birth again, and again, and again… This cycle of birth and death has been going on since time immoral and it is very difficult to trace out the beginning of our material life.

We are more or less stuck here perpetually, sometimes with a human body, sometimes with a dogs body, sometimes with a trees body and so on according to our karma. Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is Krishna Himself in the mood of a devotee, while instructing His principal disciple, Rupa Gosvami, said:

brahmanda brahmite kona bhagyavan jivaguru-krsna-krpaya paya bhakti-lata-bija

“According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Krishna. By the mercy of both Krishna and the spiritual master, one such person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya-lila 19.151)

This is a scientific process, we are travelling from one body to another, not only on this planet but on innumerable others as well. This earth planet is situated in the middle of the universe and above this planet there are seven levels of heavenly planets each progressively better than the previous one, similarly, below this planet there are seven levels of hellish planets and we, the spirit souls, are travelling throughout all these planets. Bhagavad-gita states(14.18):

urdhvam gacchanti sattva-sthamadhye tisthanti rajasahjaghanya-guna-vrtti-sthaadho gacchanti tamasah

“Those situated in the mode of goodness gradually go upward to the higher planets; those in the mode of passion live on the earthly planets; and those in the mode of ignorance go down to the hellish worlds.”

So according to our actions in this life our next body is determined. We have some control over our future. If we act sinfully we will be degraded in the next life to animal bodies or to the hellish planets to suffer, if we act in the mode of goodness we will be elevated with a birth in a wealthy family or a pious family or we may be transferred to the heavenly planets for a higher standard of life there.

We are responsible for our actions in the human form of life, this is the difference between a human being and an animal. The animals are simply eating, sleeping, mating and defending. These are the basic animal instincts. The human body, however, provides us with developed consciousness and a degree of independence. The tiger in the jungle has no choice as to his eatables, by his bodily constitution he has to eat flesh, he is forced to do so by nature. Therefore for the tiger or any other animal there is no question of sin because the animals don’t have any choice, they are simply working according to their nature to fulfil their base desires. But human life is different. We have a certain amount of freedom to chose our activities and we have developed consciousness to ponder on the more subtle questions which should interest any sane person. Questions like: Who am I? Why am I suffering? What is the purpose of life?

It is the primary purpose of human life to find the answers to these questions, the animal demands of eating, sleeping, mating and defending have to be met also, of course, but these demands are secondary. The real purpose of human life is to make a solution to the problem of repeated birth and death in the 8,400,000 species of life and to become liberated and enter into the spiritual world to re-establish our original lost relationship with Krishna.

If, in the human form, we concentrate only on the animal needs of eating, sleeping, mating and defending then we are no better than the animals, we are two-legged animals, and our next birth will be within the animal kingdom. If we fall again into the animal species of life it is the greatest loss. This human life is a great opportunity to make an end to the cycle of birth and death and it is a very rare opportunity. If you look at the total number of living entities on this planet compared to the number of human beings you will see that human life is very rare. If we loose the human form who knows how many thousands or millions of births we may have to suffer before again getting the chance of human life.

There are four primary causes of suffering in material life: birth, old age, disease and death. These sufferings are inevitable for all of us. We don’t like to be sick, we don’t want to get old, and we certainly don’t want to die. These suffering conditions are unnatural to us because the nature of the soul is to be sat-cit-ananda, to be eternally youthful, to be full of knowledge, and to experience full pleasure. This is our natural position, but here, in the material world, we are forced to identify with a body which is mortal, full of ignorance and full of suffering. We can never actually be happy if we identify with the body, if we think, “I am an Australian man, I am a women, etc.” So human life is meant for eradicating this bodily concept and coming to the point of understanding that “I am an eternal servant of Krishna and my business is to serve Krishna.” This is the perfect conclusion and if one is convinced of this and acts as a servant of Krishna, this will be the last body he has to take in the material world. At the end of this body he will be transferred to the spiritual world never to return to this miserable place of suffering.

na tad bhasayate suryona sasanko na pavakahyad gatva na nivartantetad dhama paramam mama

“That abode of Mine is not illuminated by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world.” (Bhagavad-gita 15.6)

(An article by Madhudvisa dasa)

Plain Living and High Thinking

Plain Living and High Thinking in Hindu Culture

It is my ambition that all devotees may remain self independent by producing vegetables, grains, milk, fruits, flowers, and by weaving their own cloth in handlooms. This simple life is very nice. Simple village life saves time for other engagements like chanting the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra

Hyderabad 23 August, 1976

Auckland, New Zealand

My Dear Tusta Krsna Maharaja,

Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter of 10 August 1976 and have noted the contents. Your idea and completion of the kirtana hall etc. is very nice. You can visit our farm projects at New Vrndavana and the New York Farm in Port Royal, Pennsylvania. They do everything very nicely and you can develop your farm on their model. That you are growing all your own grains is very good. It is my ambition that all devotees may remain self independent by producing vegetables, grains, milk, fruits, flowers, and by weaving their own cloth in handlooms. This simple life is very nice. Simple village life saves time for other engagements like chanting the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra.

Generally people are spoiling their lives for decorating the dead body and giving no attention at all to the spirit soul within. Our business is just the opposite, to give more time to the spiritual life and accept material necessities only as required. This makes life perfect. This is the Vedic way of life. We do not reject or accept anything until it is seen in the light of our Krsna Consciousness Movement. Anything favorable for Krsna consciousness we accept and anything unfavorable we reject, anukulasya sankalpah pratikulyam-vivarjanam.

Giving classes and holding feasts is our preaching. We should hold sankirtana as much as possible and distribute prasadam. Gradually when their heart is softened, then we will talk of philosophy, not in the beginning.

I have read your telegram of Vyasa Puja offering and I thank you very much for your nice feelings. I hope this meets you in good health.

Your ever well-wisher,

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

ACBS.hs

I am not this Body - Easy to say…

I am not this Body

The body is a machine, like a motor car is a machine. I am within this body as the driver is within the motor car.

Now the motor car has many needs. It needs gas, it needs oil, it needs to have it’s tires pumped up and so on. But if one forgets the driver in the car and simply concentrates on the machine and the needs of the machine the driver will not be satisfied.

He will be sitting in the car starving. Because the food of the driver is different from the food of the car. You can not feed the driver gas. His food is different.

So we are the driver of this body. This body has so many needs, but these bodily needs are different from our needs, we are the driver of the body, the soul within the body, “the ghost in the machine…”

So our idea is to satisfy the bodily needs only as much as necessary to maintain the body in a healthy condition and spend the rest of our time and energy in spiritual activities which help us to reawaken our original spiritual consciousness, these are our real needs, the needs of the soul.

It is not that we do not eat, or sleep, or have sex or defend, but these things are done in a regulated way to maintain the body in a healthy condition. But as the motor car is simply a vehicle which is meant to transport the driver to his destination, we see this material body as a vehicle which can be used to transport the driver–the soul–to his ultimate destination: back home, back to Godhead.

If we spend all our time trying to satisfy the senses of our body we will waste all our time and energy in this way and become completely distracted from the real purpose of life which is to get out of this material world and get back home to the spiritual world where we will get an eternally youthful spiritual body full of knowledge and full of pleasure… Then we will really be happy…

Please let me know what you think.

Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

Reincarnation - FAQ

Reincarnation

Answers to common questions people have about reincarnation.

Common questions people have with the concept of reincarnation

1. How many people believe in reincarnation?
Statistics world-wide are difficult to obtain, but in the US the Gallup Organization made a survey in October 2001 of Americans’ belief in psychic and paranormal phenomena. For this survey, they asked adults 18 and over amongst other things if they believed in “Reincarnation, that is, the rebirth of the soul in a new body after death”. In the results, 25% said they did believe in reincarnation, 20% didn’t know, 54% didn’t believe in it and 1% had no opinion. Belief was only slightly higher among males than females, while it varied significantly between age groups: belief amongst 28-29 year-olds was at 25%, 30-49 year-olds were at 22%, while people 50 and over were at 28%

2. Is there any evidence at all suggesting life after death?
Scientists investigating ‘near-death’ experiences say they have found evidence to suggest that consciousness can continue to exist after the brain has ceased to function.
More details: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/986177.stm

3. Is there a scientific basis for reincarnation?
Any biologist can tell that our body’s cells are constantly dying and being replaced by new ones and every seven years we change the complete set of cells that means we change our body every seven years but this change is so gradual that it’s imperceptible. So, each of us has a number of “different” bodies in this very life. The body of an adult is completely different from the body the same person had as an infant. Yet despite bodily changes, the person within remains the same. In other words, we reincarnate even in the course of one lifetime. Something similar happens at the time of death, when this body cannot be worked any more, the self undergoes a final change of body.
Therefore Krsna says:

“As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth, and then to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death” (Bhagavad-gita 2.13)

He further says:

“As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones” (< ahref=http://www.asitis.com/2/22.html>Bhagavad-gita 2.22)

Forensic Evidence of Reincarnation: Indian forensic scientist Vikram Raj Singh Chauhan is trying to prove reincarnation is real. He has presented his findings at the National Conference of Forensic Scientists in India. More details: http://science.krishna.org/Articles/2002/10/025.html

4. So why can’t everyone believe in reincarnation?
Lord Krsna explicitly says- “Some look at the soul as amazing, some describe him as amazing, and some hear of him as amazing, while others, even after hearing about him, cannot understand him at all. The foolish cannot understand how a living entity can quit his body, nor can they understand what sort of body he enjoys under the spell of the modes of nature. But one whose eyes are trained in knowledge can see all this. The endeavoring transcendentalists, can see all this clearly. But those whose minds are not developed cannot see what is taking place, though they may try to” (Bhagavad-gita 2.29, 15.8-10)

5. If people remember a past life as a foreigner, why can’t they remember their past life language?
A Russian woman who claims to be able to speak 120 languages says many of them are from her previous lives.Linguists claim to have identified that she speaks 16th century English,Chinese, Persian, Egyptian, Mongolian, Vietnamese, Korean and Swahili, reports Komsomol’skaya Pravda.

6. If there’s only a fixed number of souls, how has the world population increased?
This is often heard from people who don’t believe in reincarnation. why such people really expect that there is a limit to life in the universe. It is interesting to note that as man’s population has increased, the animal kingdom has gradually been decimated – and that is where some mystics say human souls gradually evolve upwards from. Also of note, highly advanced Yogis state that life exists on many other places in the unlimited expanse of the universe, in which case the planet Earth would be only one of many places for souls to inhabit. In the Vedic literature, our universe with innumerable planets throughout the galaxies is comparable to a grain of mustard seed in a bag full of mustard seeds.

7. Do people reincarnate as animals and vice-versa?

An popular reincarnation myth posits that the soul, once attaining a human form, always comes back in a human body in the next life and never reincarnates in a lower species. We may reincarnate as humans, but we could come back as dogs, cats, hogs, or lower species. There is no scientific or scriptural evidence anywhere for this fanciful “once a human, always a human” notion, which runs contrary to the true principles of reincarnation, principles that have been understood and followed by millions of people since time immemorial.
So Lord Krsna says:

“When one dies in the mode of goodness, he attains to the pure higher planets. When one dies in the mode of passion, he takes birth among those engaged in fruitive activities; and when he dies in the mode of ignorance, he takes birth in the animal kingdom”(Bhagavad-gita 14.14-15)

8. What factors decide the type of body in the next incarnation?
The type of body one gets in his next life will be determined by the type of consciousness he develops in this life and by the immutable law of karma. Krsna Says –
“Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail”(Bhagavad-gita 8.6)

9. So do people undergo sex changes in next birth?
Sex Change Without Surgery: As already explained, a person gets his next life’s birth according to what he thinks of at the time of death. If someone is too attached to his wife, naturally he thinks of his wife at the time of death, and in his next life he takes the body of a woman. Similarly, if a woman thinks of her husband at the time of death, naturally she gets the body of a man in her next life. –Srimad Bhagavatam (3.31.41)

10. Does everyone just keep reincarnating forever?
The sages of ancient India tell us that the goal of human life is to escape from the endless cycle of reincarnation. Don’t come back, they warn. One can break the cycle of rebirth by breaking free of the bonds of karma. Karma is what entangles us and continues the soul’s revolving in the cycle of repeated birth and death. Piety and its rewards are bound to make us inadvertently commit some act of impiety, because that is the nature of this material world which is full of inebrieties. Only pure spiritual activity frees us from the cycle of repeated birth and death. In bhagavad gita (14.20), Lord Krsna tells that one has to transcend even the mode of goodness to become free from birth and death” . He tells us how to transcend the modes of matarial nature– Those engaged in full devotional service, at once transcends the modes of material nature. Thus being engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, who has fixed his mind upon Me, for him I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death, but those who are not faithful on the path of devotional service cannot attain Me, but return to birth and death in this material world (bhagavad gita 14.26,9.3,12.6-7).

11. But what is the problem if one keeps reincarnating forever?
The real goal of understanding reincarnation is to become free from the painful cycle of birth and death. This is not a very good business–to die and take birth again.
The great sage Kapila Muni informs his mother about the true nature of the death experience: “In that diseased condition, one’s eyes bulge due to the pressure of air from within, and his glands become congested with mucus. He has difficulty breathing, and there is a rattling sound within the throat. He dies most pathetically, in great pain and without consciousness.” (Srimad Bhagavatam 3.30.16–18)

But taking birth in the material world is no picnic either. For months the human fetus lies cramped within the darkness of the womb, suffering severely, scorched by the mother’s gastric fire, continually jolted by sudden movements, and feeling constant pressure from being contained in the small amnion, or sack, which surrounds the body in the womb. This tight, constricting pocket forces the child’s back to arch constantly like a bow. Further, the unborn child is tormented by hunger and thirst and is bitten again and again all over the body by hungry worms in the abdominal cavity, and what makes the situation even worse, when mother kills the children within the womb, which is not uncommon nowadays. Birth is so excruciating, the Vedic literatures say, that the process eradicates any past-life memories one may have retained.

12. So after we die, there’s no eternal heaven?
There is certainly a eternal spiritual sky. This information is there in Bhagavad Gita. Krsna says:
Yet there is another nature, which is eternal and when all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is, and that is the supreme destination (Bhagavad-gita 8.20)

But to reach that place, requires certain qualification — Just like we require the same qualification as prime minister to enter PMO, so we need godly qualities to enter the kingdom of God. We can acquire such godly qualities by living in association of saintly persons, discussing about God and chanting His holy name, the way iron rod acquire all the qualities of fire when placed in fire. This is the secret. Therefore Krsna says:

He, who practice to remember Me, undeviated from the path, and at the time of death, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. After attaining Me, the great souls never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries- wherein repeated birth and death take place, because they have attained the highest perfection — (Bhagavad-gita 8.5,7,15)

13. How do I know that someone, after death, has reincarnated or gone to spiritual world?
There are two ways of passing from this world–one in the light and one in darkness. When one passes in light, he does not come back; but when one passes in darkness, he returns. Those who pass away from the world during the influence of the fiery god, in the light, at an auspicious moment, during the fortnight of the moon and the six months when the sun travels in the north, don’t come back, but who passes away from this world during the smoke, the night, the moonless fortnight, or in the six months when the sun passes to the south, again comes back — (Bhagavad gita 8.24-26)

What is Re-Incarnation ?

Re-Incarnation

HINDUISM: THE PROBLEM OF SUFFERING:
Swami Adiswarananda, Ramakrishna-VivekanandaCenter, New York

Why is a soul born on earth, and why does it suffer? What happens to it after death, and what is its destiny? Why are there inequalities between one person and another? According to Hinduism, the idea of complete annihilation of the soul after death is inconsistent with the concept of a moral order in the universe. If everything ends with death, then there is no meaning to life. Nor is the view that the soul is created at birth and then becomes eternal at death reasonable, for anything that has a beginning will also have an end. Further, this view does not explain the obvious inequalities among people.

Re-Incarnation

Clearly, all are not born equal. Some are born with good tendencies, some with bad; some strong, and some weak; some fortunate, and some unfortunate. Moreover, all too often the virtuous suffer and the vicious prosper. One cannot attribute these injustices to the will of God or to some inscrutable providence, because such a concept belies any belief in God’s love for His beings. These glaring differences cannot be considered the mere results of chance happening; for if such were the case, there would be no incentive for moral or material improvement.

Then, heredity and environment, although they explain the physical and mental characteristics of an individual partially, do not explain inequalities satisfactorily. Nor does the doctrine of eternal happiness in heaven, or eternal suffering in hell, answer this question. Everlasting life in terms of time is self-contradictory. The dwellers in heaven, endowed with subtle or spiritual bodies, are still subject to embodiment and therefore cannot be immortal. The idea of eternal damnation for the mistakes of man’s brief earthly career contradicts justice and reason. The inequalities and sufferings of life cannot be set right by readjustments after death, because what happens after death cannot be verified. The conditions on the two sides of the grave are different, and the dead never come back to testify to their afterlife conditions.

        HINDUISM: REBIRTH AND THE LAW OF KARMA 

Hinduism contends that the cause of suffering and inequalities must be sought not in what happens after death, but in the conditions before birth, and puts forward the doctrine of rebirth. Rebirth is the necessary corollary to the idea of the soul’s immortality. Death is a break in the series of continuing events known as life. Through death the individual soul changes its body: “Even as the embodied Self passes, in this body, through the stages of childhood, youth, and old age, so does It pass into another body.” A knower of the Self can witness the passing of a soul from one body to another at the time of death: “The deluded do not perceive him when he departs from the body or dwells in it, when he experiences objects or is united with the gunas; but they who have the eye of wisdom perceive him.”

Rebirth, Hinduism maintains, is governed by the law of karma. According to this law, man is the architect of his own fate and maker of his own destiny. Karma signifies the way of life, that is, what we think, say, and do and it brings conditioning of the mind, the root cause of embodiment. It is the mind that produces bodies, gross or subtle. Remaining identified with the body-mind complex, the soul, though ever-free, follows its destiny and, as it were, experiences all pairs of opposites, such as birth and death, good and evil, pain and pleasure. Patanjali (the teacher of the Yoga system), in one of his aphorisms, describes the causes of suffering as five: ignorance, ego-sense, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life. Reality is neither good nor evil. There is nothing in the universe which is absolutely good or absolutely evil, that is to say, good or evil for all time. Good and evil are value judgments made by the individual mind in keeping with its inner disposition caused by past karma. If one asks, why does God permit evil, then the question will come, why does God permit good? According to the Hindu view, good is that which takes us near to our real Self, and evil is that which creates a distance between us and our real Self. The law of karma is the law of automatic justice. It tells us that no action goes without producing its result. The circumstances of our present life, our pains and pleasures, are all the results of our past actions in this existence and in countless previous existences. As one sows, so shall one reap. This is the inexorable law of karma. Karma produces three kinds of results: (a) results of past actions which have produced the present, body, mind, and circumstances; (b) results which have accumulated but are yet to fructify; and (c) results that are being accumulated now. Over the first category of results no one has any control; these are to be overcome by patiently bearing with them. The second and third kinds, which are still in the stage of thoughts and tendencies, can be countered by education and self-control. Essentially, the law of karma says that while our will is free, we are conditioned to act in certain set ways. We suffer or enjoy because of this conditioning of our mind. And conditioning of mind, accumulated through self-indulgence, cannot be overcome vicariously.

A Hindu is called upon to act in the living present, to change his fate by changing his way of life, his thoughts and his actions. Our past determines our present, and our present will determine our future. He is taught that no change will ever be effected by brooding over past mistakes or failures or by cursing others and blaming the world or by hoping for the future. To the contention that the law of karma does not leave any scope for the operation of divine grace, Hinduism’s answer is that the grace of God is ever flowing equally toward all. It is not felt until one feels the need for it. The joys and suffering of a human individual are of his own making. Good and evil are mind-made and not God-created. The law of karma exhorts a Hindu to right actions, giving him the assurance that, just as a saint had a past so also a sinner has a future. Through the doctrine of rebirth and the law of karma, Hinduism seeks an ethical interpretation of life. The theory of the evolution of species describes the process of how life evolves. But the purpose of this evolution can be explained only by the doctrine of rebirth and the law of karma. The destiny of the soul is immortality through Self-realization. Existence-knowledge bliss-absolute being its real nature, nothing limited can give it abiding satisfaction. Through its repeated births and deaths it is seeking that supreme fulfillment of life.



[Copyright Swami Adiswarananda]