“Karma & Reincarnation: Fact or Fiction?”

[Guest guest]

LSESU KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS SOCIETY

"After the Kurukshetra War, King Dhritarashtra asks Krishna why he was

born blind and why his hundred sons all got killed. Krishna replied

that fifty lifetimes ago he had been a hunter. He had shot an arrow in

a forest which hit a nest, killing 100 young birds."

SEMINAR #2 – "Karma & Reincarnation: Fact or Fiction?"

 

Speaker: H.G. Bhuta Bhavana dasa

 

1. Karma

 

Karma has become a mainstream term in modern society, so most people

have some idea of what it means. One common concept is the law of

action and reaction. There are some misguided assumptions of what

karma means. Glenn Hoddle, the England football coach, infamously made

some rather misguided and somewhat inaccurate statements about

disabled people supposedly suffering from sinful reactions from

previous lives. Later on in this summary sheet it will be explained

through the principles of karma how disability is not necessarily a

sinful reaction.

 

There is an example from Mahabharata which illustrates the law of

karma in action. After the Kurukshetra War, King Dhritarashtra asks

Krishna why he was born blind and why his hundred sons all got killed.

Krishna replied that fifty lifetimes ago he had been a hunter. He had

shot an arrow in a forest which hit a nest, killing 100 young birds.

The mother of the birds survived but was blinded by the arrow. In

other words, Dhritarashtra was suffering the reactions to that act in

the present lifetime. Krishna also explained that fifty lifetimes had

passed before Dhritarashtra had one hundred children. This shows how

the law of karma is supposed to be exact and accurate in it's delivery

of justice.

 

Karma is the subtle version of Isaac Newton's third law that for every

action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Whereas Newton's law

is limited to physical forces, the concept of karma extends to our

actions, thoughts and feelings. The best way to define karma is that

it is a causal relationship, a chain of connection, between our

physical or verbal activities and thoughts. The corresponding reaction

from the environment is described as our karma.

 

(i) The four stages of karma

 

         Mind:

 

               1. Bija (seed) - the subtle conception. When we

conceive of or think of an activity.

 

                     2. Kuta (bud) – the desire or will to perform the

activity. Our emotions energise the thought into a feeling or willing.

 

         Physical:

 

         ©  Phala (fruit)    when one actually engages in the activity.

 

            (d) Phalamukha (result) Includes both external (physical)

and internal (psychological) results.

 

      An example is when one thinks of attending LSE (seed), then he

develops the determination to attend (bud), then we actually apply for

studying there (fruit), and finally we receive the result of being

accepted as a student at LSE and attending lectures etc. One can stop

the physical stages from manifesting by not acting on the stages at

the mind platform, i.e. we would never have come to LSE if we had

never actually applied to the university.

 

Any activity which has a material motive thus can be considered to be

subject to the laws of karma. One result of good karma can be the

possession of opulence. For example, Prince Charles is born in the

royal family due to previous acts of piety in previous lives. Often,

activities can also be carried over from previous lives into the

present life e.g. the tendency for someone to perform charity may be

carried over from previous lives (samsara). Other examples of opulence

include intelligence, beauty, education and wealth.

 

The degree of opulence can also differ at different times in a

person's life. For example, Bill Gates had the good karma to become

wealthy, but this didn't manifest itself when he was a student,

because he was not rich at all. However, later on in his life, he

became one of the wealthiest men in the world, so much so that it has

been reported that he has enough money to wipe out third world debt!

 

>From the Vedic scripture, Shrimad-Bhagavatam, it is described by the

sage Parvata Muni that our full manifestation of good karma is

dependent on our endeavour. He used the analogy of a cow on a field of

grass who is tied by a five metre rope to a pole. The length of the

rope is indicative of the potential good karma we can experience in a

lifetime. If the cow does not stretch the rope at all, she will stay

near the pole, and thus not have much grass to eat. Similarly, if we

do not put in any endeavour, we will barely get much of the good karma

due to us. However, if the cow stretches the rope to it's limit, she

can enjoy much more grass to eat. Similarly, if we put in full

endeavour, we can experience the full limit of our good karma. Of

course different people have different potential of karma according to

deeds done in previous lives.

 

(ii)  Four classes of results obtainable from striving for success

 

            (a)  No karmic credit

 

               No matter how much endeavour put in, there simply isn't

possibility of achieving desired success due to lack of good karma

from previous lives.

 

            (b)  Karmic credit, but no effort

 

            The good karma for success is there, but there is

insufficient effort put in, so success not fully realised.

 

            © Karmic credit, plus effort

 

            Success is fully realised due to endeavour put in.

 

            (d) Fixed karma

 

            Even though no endeavour is put in, success is still

experienced due to fixed nature of previous good karma. For instance,

one's place of birth, parents, or where someone inherits millions from

his grandma who dies after winning the lottery. Gender is also fixed,

although modern medicine has put that into question! Someone may not

study at all at Oxford University and still obtain a degree e.g. Bill

Clinton obtained a honorary degree without studying there.

 

2. Reincarnation

 

A common thought that comes to mind when one thinks of reincarnation

is the idea of rebirth after death and the change of bodies. The

origin of the word reincarnation comes from the Greek process of

entering back into flesh or the body. According to the Vedic

understanding, this is not what reincarnation is necessarily about.

The Bhagavad-Gita explains that the soul is not the body. Two things

determine our karma:

 

         1. mentality

         2. activity

 

 

At the time of death (anta-kale), what we think of determines what

body our soul will transmigrate to in the next life. There are

8,400,000 species of life, of which 400,000 are human species. One can

reincarnate into any species, since every life form has a soul, since

all display the four characteristics of living entities:

 

         1. growth

         2. deterioration (e.g. old age)

         3. leaving behind by-products (e.g. reproduction)

         4. death

 

 

The ability to express consciousness is limited by one's body, for

example a tree has a lower level of expression of consciousness than

an animal. There are examples even within human society, for example,

when the body is paralysed, there is less ability for the human to

fully express his consciousness.

 

What determines what we think of at the time of death? The answer is

the our previous acts throughout our lifetime. For example, according

to Vedic understanding, if one engages too much in sex life, then

nature will provide one with the body in the next life that is most

suitable for practice of sex life. One may reincarnate as a pigeon,

since a pigeon's body enables one to engage in sex many times.

 

Our subtle body's programming is what determines our thoughts at the

time of death. The three factors are:

 

         1. mind

         2. intelligence (buddhi)

         3. false ego (ahankara)

 

 

Once again, the two factors of mentality (or meditation) and activity

determine our thoughts at the time of death. Even in everyday life,

the analogy of a car shows how reincarnation is quite fair. For

example, it is unsuitable to use a small, compact car like a

Lamborghini to transport furniture, because that car is more suitable

for looking good and racing. Hence, nature would impel us to get a

lorry, because it's suitable for moving heavy items. In the same way,

if we use a lorry to race, nature would impel us to give up the lorry

and buy a small, aerodynamic car like a Lamborghini – because the car

is more suitable for our intended purpose.

 

This begs the question of what the purpose of human life is. The

answer is given in the Vedic scripture, the Vedanta Sutra, that the

aim is brahma jijnasa or self-realisation. In other words, the human

form of life is given so that we may connect with God through service.

If we cultivate this purpose then we are at least guaranteed to again

receive a human form.

 

Now one can address whether there is any scientific evidence for

reincarnation. There is plenty of scientific evidence which at least

suggests that reincarnation is a reality. Dr Ian Stevenson has

undertaken many studies on past life experiences. His approach is

two-fold:

 

         1. Rejection of unreliable evidence

 

            There are many so-called memories of past lives described

via hypnotic regression, where the patient is told to relax his

physical and subtle body in order to access deep-rooted memories of

past lives. The problem with this approach is that many people have a

condition called false memory syndrome where they play out some

fantasy or ideal previous life as somebody famous. For instance, many

women who have been regressed have described themselves as Cleopatra!

Very rarely does one get normal lives of insignificant people being

described. Consequently, Dr. Stevenson rejected this source of evidence.

 

         2. Spontaneous memories described by children

 

            Many children have at a very young age given accurate

details of the name, lifestyle, circumstances of death and explicit

details of their family members from a previous life. In fact many of

these claims have been corroborated by those studying the cases. This

body of evidence is much harder to refute and cannot be rejected due

to the accuracy of the information, especially when forensic evidence

exists in some cases (see Terms of Service.