Guest guest Posted February 26, 2009 Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 A few suggestions to the nice writeup: 2. "reincarnates is intricately linked to karma, another concept first introduced in the Upanishads."We find references to karma in Samhita, Brahmana as well as Aranyaka of the Veda. For instance the Jatavedasi Durga. 3. "a person finally realizes his or her own divine nature —ie, realizes that the true "self" is the immortal soul rather than the body or the ego—all desires for the pleasures of the world will vanish, since they will seem insipid compared to spiritual 'ananda'-sublimatio n. When all desire has vanished, the person will not be reborn anymore."Self is not soul. Soul in the sense of its usage, is the subtle body or sukshma sareera. There are three sheaths/bodies that self wears - the gross, subtle and the causal (karana sareera or maya or anandamaya Purusha). One should identify himself as different from each of these three, progressively, to realize the self/atma. 4. "The forms of reincarnated beings are not described."The forms taken by reincarnated beings are explained in Purana as well as Smritis (Dharma Sutras etc). The form one assumes depends on the accumulated karma. The life-form taken in the next life, can well be ascertained from the dharma-karma of the present life. 5. "Christians have the Bible. Do Hindus have a sacred book? "Hinduism is not religion of the book. Its deepest knowledge is to be found in the guru-sishya paramparas, that deal with various sources of knowledge - scriptural, experiential and teachings of knowledgeable men. However if one is to list out some of those texts, there are 32 vidyas, out of which 18 main texts are called Mahasthanas consisting of four Vedas, six Vedangas, four Upavedas and four Upangas (which also cover dharma sastras, Itihasa Puranas etc). Besides there are six Darsanas, and the ocean of Agamic literature. 7. " From one reincarnation to the next do you have a memory of your past lives?"One can. In most cases, it is not there - precisely because one has deha-atma buddhi. That is, he thinks he is what his gross being is - the physical body, senses and mind. Once he realizes his subtle being, he will gain the memory of past life. But the journey is still long, realizing the causal and then the absolute. 8. "What is Karma and does it affect reincarnation? "It is karma that causes reincarnation. The end of the cycle of reincarnation is the complete experience of the fruit of karma and not accumulating more. Basically each action, apart from its actual result, leaves an impression on the doer. This is called karma samskara. Such impressions accumulate and are carried forward with the subtle body's memory (citta). Through detachment from the result of an action, one can develop detached action, which does not result in accumulating karma samskara. There are various paths to salvation or ending the cycle of births and deaths. One of them is karma yoga, which advocates the understanding of cause-effect of action and developing the state where actions do not add to karma samskara anymore. This is also called karma mimamsa or purva mimamsa. 10. "Is reincarnation the reason that animals are sacred in India, like the cow?"Indirectly: Basically no being will keep assuming the same form in every life. Once an ant, it can be born as a man. Each animal will eventually take a human birth eventually. And whatever a human form has innately divine inside, which is to be realized, does not differ between man and animal. 12. "Are genders ever switched and why? "There is no gender to the self or causal being. One any being takes births in both genders in its long sequence of births. 13."Can you ever be the same thing twice? "The births are said to be in cycles - not a sequence. One keeps going from lower to higher and then to lower forms of life, till he breaks the cycle through wisdom/divine grace. So one can very much, and is in fact extremely likely to be the same thing not just twice but many times. 14. "Are there special ceremonies when a person dies that help them in their reincarnated life? Like the ancient Egyptians prepared the bodies for the afterlife. "The person who leaves a body to reincarnate, has left the body - so doing anything to the body is not going to bring any merit. The only ceremony done is immediately after death - the destruction of body so that the being does not crave with attachment for the body he had been living with. And subsequently, the being is treated to be a mane and then a god - assuming that he sheds his outer sheaths. He moves from the world of men to the world of departed, then to the world of gods, then to the world of eternal/absolute. And any ceremony would basically assume this sequence. To put it in the language of Hinduism, a person after leaving the world of mortals, will go to the world of Soma/Rudra/Moon. There his day is as long as a month for us (a fortnight of day and fortnight long night). During this period his mortal relatives offer him token food once a month, which will be equivalent to feeding him once every day of his. Then he moves to the world of Aditya/Sun. There his day is as long as an year for us (six months make a day and six months make a night). During this period, he will be fed by his mortal relatives once their year. Then he elevates in the hierarchy, to the world of Manu (whose day is as long as hundreds of thousands of human years) Brahma (whose day is as long as millions of human years) and so on. The whole thing does not revolve around the body anymore, once the body is destroyed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 27, 2009 Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 Dear Shankara ji, Thank You for the observations. I had started to write few of these points which you have exactly, wrote for some time, but left half way out of exhaustion. regards, Bhaskar. , ShankaraBharadwaj Khandavalli <shankarabharadwaj wrote: > > A few suggestions to the nice writeup: > > 2. > " reincarnates is intricately linked to karma, another concept first introduced in the Upanishads. " > > We find references to karma in Samhita, Brahmana as well as Aranyaka of the Veda. For instance the Jatavedasi Durga. > > 3. > > " a person finally realizes his or her own divine nature †" ie, realizes that the true " self " is the immortal soul rather than the body or the ego†" all desires for the pleasures of the > world will vanish, since they will seem insipid compared to spiritual > 'ananda'-sublimatio n. When all desire has vanished, the person will > not be reborn anymore. " > > Self is not soul. Soul in the sense of its usage, is the subtle body or sukshma sareera. There are three sheaths/bodies that self wears - the gross, subtle and the causal (karana sareera or maya or anandamaya Purusha). One should identify himself as different from each of these three, progressively, to realize the self/atma. > > 4. > " The forms of reincarnated beings are not described. " > > The forms taken by reincarnated beings are explained in Purana as well as Smritis (Dharma Sutras etc). The form one assumes depends on the accumulated karma. The life-form taken in the next life, can well be ascertained from the dharma-karma of the present life. > > 5. > " Christians have the Bible. Do Hindus have a sacred book? " > > Hinduism is not religion of the book. Its deepest knowledge is to be found in the guru-sishya paramparas, that deal with various sources of knowledge - scriptural, experiential and teachings of knowledgeable men. > > However if one is to list out some of those texts, there are 32 vidyas, out of which 18 main texts are called Mahasthanas consisting of four Vedas, six Vedangas, four Upavedas and four Upangas (which also cover dharma sastras, Itihasa Puranas etc). Besides there are six Darsanas, and the ocean of Agamic literature. > > 7. > " From one reincarnation to the next do you have a memory of your past lives? " > > One can. In most cases, it is not there - precisely because one has deha-atma buddhi. That is, he thinks he is what his gross being is - the physical body, senses and mind. Once he realizes his subtle being, he will gain the memory of past life. But the journey is still long, realizing the causal and then the absolute. > > 8. > " What is Karma and does it affect reincarnation? " > > It is karma that causes reincarnation. The end of the cycle of reincarnation is the complete experience of the fruit of karma and not accumulating more. Basically each action, apart from its actual result, leaves an impression on the doer. This is called karma samskara. Such impressions accumulate and are carried forward with the subtle body's memory (citta). Through detachment from the result of an action, one can develop detached action, which does not result in accumulating karma samskara. > > There are various paths to salvation or ending the cycle of births and deaths. One of them is karma yoga, which advocates the understanding of cause-effect of action and developing the state where actions do not add to karma samskara anymore. This is also called karma mimamsa or purva mimamsa. > > 10. > " Is reincarnation the reason that animals are sacred in India, like the cow? " > > Indirectly: Basically no being will keep assuming the same form in every life. Once an ant, it can be born as a man. Each animal will eventually take a human birth eventually. And whatever a human form has innately divine inside, which is to be realized, does not differ between man and animal. > > 12. > " Are genders ever switched and why? " > > There is no gender to the self or causal being. One any being takes births in both genders in its long sequence of births. > > 13. > " Can you ever be the same thing twice? " > > The births are said to be in cycles - not a sequence. One keeps going from lower to higher and then to lower forms of life, till he breaks the cycle through wisdom/divine grace. So one can very much, and is in fact extremely likely to be the same thing not just twice but many times. > > 14. > " Are there special ceremonies when a > person dies that help them in their reincarnated life? Like the ancient > Egyptians prepared the bodies for the afterlife. " > > The person who leaves a body to reincarnate, has left the body - so doing anything to the body is not going to bring any merit. The only ceremony done is immediately after death - the destruction of body so that the being does not crave with attachment for the body he had been living with. And subsequently, the being is treated to be a mane and then a god - assuming that he sheds his outer sheaths. He moves from the world of men to the world of departed, then to the world of gods, then to the world of eternal/absolute. And any ceremony would basically assume this sequence. > > To put it in the language of Hinduism, a person after leaving the world of mortals, will go to the world of Soma/Rudra/Moon. There his day is as long as a month for us (a fortnight of day and fortnight long night). During this period his mortal relatives offer him token food once a month, which will be equivalent to feeding him once every day of his. Then he moves to the world of Aditya/Sun. There his day is as long as an year for us (six months make a day and six months make a night). During this period, he will be fed by his mortal relatives once their year. Then he elevates in the hierarchy, to the world of Manu (whose day is as long as hundreds of thousands of human years) Brahma (whose day is as long as millions of human years) and so on. > > The whole thing does not revolve around the body anymore, once the body is destroyed. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.