You have evolved through many Rebirths.....to be what You are today

We all have had many rebirths in the past. This body of ours is only one of the bodies in which your soul lives now. It lived in many other bodies in the previous births of yours. A person eveolves into a great soul only in evolution of his soul & becomes a great soul after getting knowledge of the God. Below verse of Bhagwat Gita points to that.

"bahunam janmanam ante
jnanavan mam prapadyate
vasudevah sarvam iti
sa mahatma su-durlabhah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Seven verse 19)

"Sri Krishna said to Arjuna : After many births and deaths / after taking many rebirths, he who is actually in knowledge of God, surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and Lord of this universe. Such a great soul is very rare."

Now do you believe in rebirth? Do you believe in your previous lives? What you were in your past lives? How many births have you been through prior to this life? How one is reborn? How soul travels from one body to the other? If all such questions are of any interest to you then this article shall also be of some interest to you.

All the Hindu & Buddhist religion is replete with rebirth stories. As per the philosophy of both the religions, soul of an individual being travels at death from one body to the other. In the case of Lord Buddha, he was able to see all his previous births with vivid clarity. Many Yogis & persons advanced in meditation can also see all their previous lives vividly. So can you if you are also advanced in meditation. As per Lord Buddha an individual soul goes through innumerable births & you have been in different bodies in your past lives before you were born this time. As per him this continuum of births was so lengthy that it did not make sense to see exactly where the process began. In the case of Lord Buddha, he acquired two sorts of insights, the ability to recall with visual clarity his previous lives & the ability to do so in the case of others too. All the previous lives of Lord Buddha are recorded as "Jataka Stories".

As per Lord Buddha he was in his previous many births, not only in human bodies but also took birth as birds & animals. Hindu religion also talks about 8.4 Million different types of species in this universe & a soul goes from one type of body to the other as per the Karmic law.

Below are few verses of Bhagwat Gita which explain about the rebirth:

"dehino-asmin yatha dehe
kaumaram yauvnam jara
tatha dehantar-praptir-
adhiras tatra na muhyati" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 13)

"Sri Krishna said: Just as boyhood, youth & old age are attributed to the soul & the embodied soul continuously passes through these cycles, similarly the embodied soul passes into another body at death. The wise man does not get deluded & bewildered with such a change."

"vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya
navani grhnati naro ’parani
tatha sarirani vihaya jirnany
anyani samyati navani dehi" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 22)

"Sri Krishna said: As a human being puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones."

"jatasya hi dhruvo mrityur
dhruvam janma mrtasya cha
tasmad apariharye ’rthe
na tvam socitum arhasi" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 27)

"Sri Krishna said: One who has taken his birth is sure to die, and after death one is sure to take birth again. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament."

"sri-bhagavan uvacha
bahuni me vyatitani
janmani tava charjuna
tany aham veda sarvani
na tvam vettha parantapa" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Four verse 5)

"Sri Krishna said: Both you and I have passed through many, many births. I can remember all of them, but you cannot, O winner of the enemy!"

Sometimes it happens in our life that some unknown out of the crowd seems so known to you, though you have met that person for the first time. If we meet someone & form meaningful close relationship with that person, then the assumption is that we may have previously met & have associated with that person in previous births also. As a Karmic connection we meet that person again & maintain connections in this lifetime also. Same is the case with all the persons who are close to us in this life. It is not just like that we have suddenly become so close to those people. It is only that all these people were in our lives in our previous births also. We are together here because we had been together before in our previous lives.

In Hindu scriptures Karma is related to the origin of one's own body. Karmas of earlier birth become the basis of this birth & Karmas of this birth become the basis of your next birth & so on. At death, soul of a person takes the stock of all Karmas (having its reservoir in that person's mind) & Divinity or God as per the divine law takes a handful of those Karmas & a new body is made with the seeds of these Karmas. So if a person has done good Karmas he/she gets a good godly body in heavens & if he/she has done bad karmas in this life then that person's soul goes to lower wombs of birds & animals. So it is generally said that we should do good Karmas only.

Below are few verses of Bhagwat Gita which explain about how a soul travels from one body to the other & where it goes as per the Karmic law:

"sariram yad avapnoti
yac chapy utkramatishvarah
grhitvaitani samyati
vayur gandhan ivasayat" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Fifteen verse 8)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, As the wind carries away odours from their seat, even so the Jivatma (soul), the lord of the body, snatching these (the mind & the senses) from the body, which it casts off, migrates into the body, which it acquires.

"yada sattve pravrddhe tu
pralayam yati deha-bhrt
tadottama-vidam lokan
amalan pratipadyate" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Fourteen verse 14)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, When one dies in the mode of goodness, he attains to the pure higher planets of the great sages."

"rajasi pralayam gatva
karma-sangisu jayate
tatha pralinas tamasi
mudha-yonisu jayate" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Fourteen verse 15)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, When one dies in the mode of passion, he takes birth among those engaged in fruit producing activities (i.e. as a man or woman on earth); and when one dies in the mode of ignorance, he takes birth in the bird & animal kingdom."

As per the Hindu Philosophy, any "Karma" done by a person, remains with that person, unless he/she has enjoyed the consequential Fruit arisen out of doing that Karma. For a good act done by him, he shall bear good result & enjoy it. Similarly for a bad act done by him, he shall bear bad result & shall have to bear punishment for it. So, whatever, action/karma we perform with our body, mind or even speech, it should not do harm to others but should be of some use only to others. By doing good Karmas only we shall get good life in future births & shall finally meet the God.

Jai Shri Krishna

The Truth of Life & Death

On this earth daily thousands of new persons are born & daily thousands of people die of one reason or the other. This has been happening since creation of this earth. Life is not permanent on earth. One who is born on this earth dies after living for certain years. This cycle has been going on since ages. Bhagwat Gita also says the same thing:

"jatasya hi dhruvo mrityur
dhruvam janma mrtasya cha
tasmad apariharye ’rthe
na tvam socitum arhasi" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 27)

"Sri Krishna said: One who has taken his birth is sure to die, and after death one is sure to take birth again. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament."

This truth of life & death is essential & is a natural course of life. Below story also describes that truth:

"A rich man asked a Zen master to write something down that could encourage the prosperity of his family for years to come. It would be something that the family could cherish for generations. On a large piece of paper, the master wrote, "Father dies, son dies, grandson dies."

The rich man became angry when he saw the master's work. "I asked you to write something down that could bring happiness and prosperity to my family. Why do you give me something depressing like this?"

"If your son should die before you," the master answered, "this would bring unbearable grief to your family. If your grandson should die before your son, this also would bring great sorrow. If your family, generation after generation, disappears in the order I have described, it will be the natural course of life. This is true happiness and prosperity."

Jai Sri Krishna 

Attachment & Gautama Buddha

Nature of our mind is so that it gets attached to some object, place or person badly. In such a state our mind is swayed by the emotions than the intellect. We always think of that object, place or person & without it, our life seems impossible.

"Gautama Buddha" was born a Prince but he left his kingdom, family etc. in search of the truth. In the "Jataka Stories" there are many accounts of Gautama Buddha's previous lives in which he was born among humans, as well as, animals kingdom. Here below is a story from Jataka's in which Gautama Buddha teaches that too much attachment in life is not good.

"In olden times there was a Potter and he had a wife and family to support. In their nearby place, lay a great natural lake & next to that lake was a great river. When there were rains & there was much water, river and lake used to merge into one; but when the water was low, river and lake used to be apart. Water born fish and tortoises know by their own instinct, when in the year there shall be rain and when there shall be a drought. At one time, the fish and tortoises which lived in that lake knew that there would be a drought; and as at that time lake & river were one water, they swam out of the lake into the deep river. But there was one Tortoise that would not leave the lake & go into the deep river. He said, "As I was born in this lake, and because I have grown up here, and here is my parental home, so I cannot leave this lake. That Tortoise lived in that lake only"

Then the hot season came & all the water of the lake dried up. That Tortoise dug a hole in the lake and buried himself, just in the place where the Potter used to come to fetch the clay for making the clay pots. One day the Potter came to get some clay & he started digging the dry lake with a big spade. His spade cracked the tortoise' shell & turned him out on the ground as though he were a large piece of clay. In the pain & agony the Tortoise thought, "Here I am, dying, all because I was too fond of my home in the lake & never wanted to leave it!. As I was born in the lake & I lived here in the clay but now the same lake & clay are going to take my life. If I would have thought properly & have went with the other in the deep river, I would not have gone through this pain & agony."

So he went on and on, talking to the Potter, till he died. The Potter picked him up, and collecting all the villagers addressed them thus: "Look at this Tortoise. When the other fish and tortoises went into the great river, he was too fond of his parental home to go with them, and buried himself in the place where I get my clay. Then as I was digging for clay, I broke his shell with my big spade, and turned him out on the ground in the belief that he was a large lump of clay. Then the Tortoise called to his mind what he had done, lamented his fate and expired. So you see he came to his end because he was too fond of & deeply attached to his home. Take care not to be like this tortoise. Don't say to yourselves, 'I have money, home, I have a son, I have a daughter, I have numbers of men and maids for my service, I have precious gold'; do not cling to these things with craving and desire. Simply do not get attached to anything very much that you cannot leave it.

**** In the above story Potter was Gautama Buddha himself in his one of the previous births & the Tortoise was his disciple Ānanda in that birth."

Too much attachment to anything is also called Infatuation & it is the cause of most sorrows. Infatuation is something that we get attached to some object, place or person very badly. We are always thinking of that & without that thing, our life seems impossible. Due to such Infatuation our mind always wanders about that & forgets other important things in life.

We too find our self in such situations many times. Say you have very lovely children & you love them very much. You always think of them & little separation of them from you worries you a lot. But say one day your son gets admission to some foreign university & he has to leave you for quite many years. You find yourself so much attached to him that your mind gets troubled at just thinking that he shall go away to such a faraway land & you shall not be able to meet him. Similar thing happens when your daughter gets married. So in all such cases if your mind is attached to them greatly, great shall be the pain to the mind during separation from them.
Same applies to other material things like your home, car, money etc. So if your mind is attached to these things greatly, so great shall be the pain to your mind during its separation.

Bhagwat Gita also teaches us to live in this world like that without getting attached to anything or any being. Just like a drop of water on Lotus, where though it is there on it but it is not attached to it.

"brahmany adhaya karmani
sangam tyaktva karoti yah
lipyate na sa papena
padma-patram ivambhasa" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Five verse 10)

"Sri Krishna said: One who performs his duty without any Attachment, surrendering all the results unto the God, is unaffected by sinful action, as the Lotus leaf is untouched by water."

So we should not attach our mind greatly to any material thing, place or human being, as one day we shall have to leave these or these shall go away from us. On that day, if you have great attachment to these, you shall feel great pain, otherwise it shall be a normal life for you. So let us not allow our mind to be INFATUATED by any thing, which can lead us to sorrow.

Jai Sri Krishna

Natural Course Of Life

On this earth daily thousands of new persons are born & daily thousands of people die of one reason or the other. This has been happening since creation of this earth. Life is not permanent on earth. One who is born on this earth dies after living for certain years. This cycle has been going on since ages. Bhagwat Gita also says the same thing:

"jatasya hi dhruvo mrityur
dhruvam janma mrtasya cha
tasmad apariharye ’rthe
na tvam socitum arhasi" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 27)

"Sri Krishna said: One who has taken his birth is sure to die, and after death one is sure to take birth again. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament."

This truth of life & death is essential & is a natural course of life. Below story also describes that truth:

"A rich man asked a Zen master to write something down that could encourage the prosperity of his family for years to come. It would be something that the family could cherish for generations. On a large piece of paper, the master wrote, "Father dies, son dies, grandson dies."

The rich man became angry when he saw the master's work. "I asked you to write something down that could bring happiness and prosperity to my family. Why do you give me something depressing like this?"

"If your son should die before you," the master answered, "this would bring unbearable grief to your family. If your grandson should die before your son, this also would bring great sorrow. If your family, generation after generation, disappears in the order I have described, it will be the natural course of life. This is true happiness and prosperity."

Our Previous Births

Do you believe in rebirth? Do you believe in your previous lives? What you were in your past lives? How many births have you been through prior to this life? How one is reborn? How soul travels from one body to the other? If all such questions are of any interest to you then this article shall also be of some interest to you.

All the Hindu & Buddhist religion is replete with rebirth stories. As per the philosophy of both the religions, soul of an individual being travels at death from one body to the other. In the case of Lord Buddha, he was able to see all his previous births with vivid clarity. Many Yogis & persons advanced in meditation can also see all their previous lives vividly. So can you if you are also advanced in meditation. As per Lord Buddha an individual soul goes through innumerable births & you have been in different bodies in your past lives before you were born this time. As per him this continuum of births was so lengthy that it did not make sense to see exactly where the process began. In the case of Lord Buddha, he acquired two sorts of insights, the ability to recall with visual clarity his previous lives & the ability to do so in the case of others too. All the previous lives of Lord Buddha are recorded as "Jataka Stories".

Jataka Stories have been an integral part of Buddhist culture through the ages. ‘Jataka Stories’ are a collection of tales about Gautama Buddha’s previous births as a "Bodhisatva". Collections of Buddhist legends compiled at various dates in several countries; the oldest and most complete has 547 stories. So there are 547 recorded past lives stories of Lord Buddha. They were collected before AD 400. They give an account of previous incarnations of the Buddha. The various "Bodhisattva births" (earlier births of Lord Buddha) portrayed in the Jataka stories range from gods to fairies, to kings, Brahmins, merchants, craftsmen, potters, slaves and outcastes, to animals, birds, and fish. So as per Lord Buddha he was in his previous many births, not only in human bodies but also took birth as birds & animals. Hindu religion also talks about 8.4 Million different types of species in this universe & a soul goes from one type of body to the other as per the Karmic law.

Below are few verses of Bhagwat Gita which explain about the rebirth:

"dehino-asmin yatha dehe
kaumaram yauvnam jara
tatha dehantar-praptir-
adhiras tatra na muhyati" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 13)

"Sri Krishna said: Just as boyhood, youth & old age are attributed to the soul & the embodied soul continuously passes through these cycles, similarly the embodied soul passes into another body at death. The wise man does not get deluded & bewildered with such a change."

"vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya
navani grhnati naro ’parani
tatha sarirani vihaya jirnany
anyani samyati navani dehi" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 22)

"Sri Krishna said: As a human being puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones."

"jatasya hi dhruvo mrityur
dhruvam janma mrtasya cha
tasmad apariharye ’rthe
na tvam socitum arhasi" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 27)

"Sri Krishna said: One who has taken his birth is sure to die, and after death one is sure to take birth again. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament."

"sri-bhagavan uvacha
bahuni me vyatitani
janmani tava charjuna
tany aham veda sarvani
na tvam vettha parantapa" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Four verse 5)

"Sri Krishna said: Both you and I have passed through many, many births. I can remember all of them, but you cannot, O winner of the enemy!"

Sometimes it happens in our life that some unknown out of the crowd seems so known to you, though you have met that person for the first time. If we meet someone & form meaningful close relationship with that person, then the assumption is that we may have previously met & have associated with that person in previous births also. As a Karmic connection we meet that person again & maintain connections in this lifetime also. Same is the case with all the persons who are close to us in this life. It is not just like that we have suddenly become so close to those people. It is only that all these people were in our lives in our previous births also. We are together here because we had been together before in our previous lives.

In Hindu scriptures Karma is related to the origin of one's own body. Karmas of earlier birth become the basis of this birth & Karmas of this birth become the basis of your next birth & so on. At death, soul of a person takes the stock of all Karmas (having its reservoir in that person's mind) & Divinity or God as per the divine law takes a handful of those Karmas & a new body is made with the seeds of these Karmas. So if a person has done good Karmas he/she gets a good godly body in heavens & if he/she has done bad karmas in this life then that person's soul goes to lower wombs of birds & animals. So it is generally said that we should do good Karmas only.

Below are few verses of Bhagwat Gita which explain about how a soul travels from one body to the other & where it goes as per the Karmic law:

"sariram yad avapnoti
yac chapy utkramatishvarah
grhitvaitani samyati
vayur gandhan ivasayat" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Fifteen verse 8)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, As the wind carries away odours from their seat, even so the Jivatma (soul), the lord of the body, snatching these (the mind & the senses) from the body, which it casts off, migrates into the body, which it acquires.

"yada sattve pravrddhe tu
pralayam yati deha-bhrt
tadottama-vidam lokan
amalan pratipadyate" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Fourteen verse 14)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, When one dies in the mode of goodness, he attains to the pure higher planets of the great sages."

"rajasi pralayam gatva
karma-sangisu jayate
tatha pralinas tamasi
mudha-yonisu jayate" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Fourteen verse 15)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, When one dies in the mode of passion, he takes birth among those engaged in fruit producing activities (i.e. as a man or woman on earth); and when one dies in the mode of ignorance, he takes birth in the bird & animal kingdom."

As per the Hindu Philosophy, any "Karma" done by a person, remains with that person, unless he/she has enjoyed the consequential Fruit arisen out of doing that Karma. For a good act done by him, he shall bear good result & enjoy it. Similarly for a bad act done by him, he shall bear bad result & shall have to bear punishment for it. So ,whatever, action/karma we perform with our body, mind or even speech, it should not do harm to others but should be of some use only to others. By doing good Karmas only we shall get good life in future births & shall finally meet the God.

Read also...............Understanding "Karma" as per the Hindu Philosophy?

Read also...............Is there Life after death?

Desire

Desire: Simple meaning of desire is to crave for worldly pleasures of all kinds. But in philosophy, "Desire" has been identified as a philosophical problem since Antiquity. As per Plato, individual desires must be postponed in the name of the higher ideal.

As per the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (Buddhism), craving is said to be the cause of all suffering that one experiences in human existence. The extinction of this craving leads one to ultimate happiness, or Nirvana. Nirvana means "cessation", "extinction" of suffering. It is also known as "Awakening" or "Enlightenment". As per the teaching of Gautama Buddha, suffering is an inevitable part of life as we know it & the cause of this suffering is attachment to, or craving for worldly pleasures of all kinds. The suffering ends when the craving and desire ends, or one is freed from all desires.

In "Bhagwat Gita" Arjuna asks "Lord Krishna" a very pertinent question,“What makes a person do the wrong thing, even when he/she knows, it’s wrong and don’t want to do it?”

Lord Sri Krishna tells Arjuna that: It is Desire & Lust only which makes a person do the wrong thing, even when he/she knows, it’s wrong and don’t want to do it.

When we desire something then we are empowered by a powerful emotion to get it which clouds our reasoning. Our passionate desires clouds our mind and senses & it distorts our perception and reasoning. It is our relentless passionate desire to enjoy the material pleasures that it leads us to commit Sin. Desire covers our reasoning like smoke covers fire, or dust covers a mirror. Due to this blurred reasoning & our passionate hankering for desires, we do commit Sin in our life.

Below are verses of "Bhagwat Gita" in which "Arjuna" asks "Lord Krishna" about the same:

"arjuna uvacha
atha kena prayukto ’yam
papam charati purushah
anicchann api varsneya
balad iva niyojitah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 36)

"Arjuna said: O Sri Krishna, by what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?"

"sri-bhagavan uvacha
kama esa krodha esa
rajo-guna-samudbhavah
mahasano maha-papma
viddhy enam iha vairinam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 37)

"Sri Krishna said: It is desire & lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world."

"dhumenavriyate vahnir
yathadarso malena cha
yatholbenavrto garbhas
tatha tenedam avrtam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 38)

"Sri Krishna said: As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the embryo is covered by the womb, the living entity is similarly covered by different degrees of this lust."

"avrtam jnanam etena
jnanino nitya-vairina
kama-rupena kaunteya
duspurenanalena cha" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 39)

"Sri Krishna said: Thus the wise living entity’s pure consciousness becomes covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and which burns like fire."

"tasmat tvam indriyany adau
niyamya bharatarsabha
papmanam prajahi hy enam
jnana-vijnana-nasanam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 41)

"Sri Krishna said: Therefore, O Arjuna, in the very beginning curb this great symbol of sin (lust) by regulating the senses, and slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization."

"evam buddheh param buddhva
samstabhyatmanam atmana
jahi satrum maha-baho
kama-rupam durasadam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 43)

"Sri Krishna said: Thus knowing oneself to be transcendental to the material senses, mind and intelligence, O Arjuna, one should steady the mind by deliberate spiritual intelligence and thus—by spiritual strength—conquer the desires & lust which is the insatiable enemy."

From the above verses of "Bhagwat Gita" it is very clear that it is the individual's Desire, Lust & constant feeding of one's senses that a person commits sinful activities. Due to such constant craving for desires, one's intelligence gets covered with ignorance, just like a mirror is covered by the dust & one is not able to see the things in right perspective. So we should not constantly hanker to satisfy our desires, rather we should control these desires.