The Slip between the Cup and the Sip

Most of us, Hindus, believe in Karma theory. It is the way of life to accept things as they come. It is all karma and predestined. What one is today is because of his past life.

Under the Karma theory can we explain a child being born with a congenital disease? Is God the almighty punishing the child for the sins the child committed in his past life? Is he punishing the parents of the child for their sins of the past life? A small child puts her hand in the fire and bums her fingers. Why did not God prevent this? Why does fire burn the tender hand of the child? Why did God punish the child? If the sinners are his parents why ­does He punish the child? We cannot question this. Why saints like Ramakrishna Parama Hamsa or Ramana Maharshi attain Nirvana suffering from the most deadly disease like Cancer. Imagine the pain, agony and suffering they must have undergone.

Death is inevitable. Every one who is born is a mortal and is to die and come to earth again. The cycle continues. Till how long? Depenas on the Karma. Whose karma? The soul or the body’s? The soul is different from the body. The suffering is only for the body. Does this mean karma is performed by the body and not by the soul?

Westerners are also coming on line with the Hindu view of life, that there is something which survives death. What is it that is invisible which survives death?

Of the few books I could lay my hands on Life after Life or Life after Death etc. most of them talk of a feeling of passing through a tunnel with an unimaginable velocity and a cool blinding light at the end of the tunnel and a feeling of immeasurable peace and happiness and the presence of something like the divine, a light so intense yet giving a feeling of love and peace. Some of the researchers brush aside this tunnel theories saying that these are nothing but illusions created by the brain in the dying moments due to the lack of oxygen supplies to the brain during the last few seconds of life. Whatever be the cause of this experience one thing that was expressed by every one who has gone through this “Near Death Experience” is that they have no fear of death after experiencing the moment of the soul liberating from the body and passing through the tunnel and experiencing the light and vision of that divine something. Any way what is there to be afraid of? Every one dies and re-lives every day. Sleep after all, is a short death and death is a long sleep. Then why should one be afraid of death, which is inevitable? Not much information is available on NDE’s in India. But our Bhagavath Gita speaks volumes on this subject.

Accepting that death is inevitable the next worry is how it would be like on the other side of the world? In his book “Mahendra” Duncan Greenlees narrates what the soul of one Mahendra Ayyar told him translated by Mrs Souris (daughter of Chalam) into Telugu. It is a sort of a ‘what life is after death’.

Duncan Greenlees used to walk around the beaches of Bhimli and over a period of time-the soul of Mahendra Ayar started getting closer to him and started making him write what it wanted to say. He asks questions and the soul answers. Mahenrda tells him about the life on the other side of this life and talks of different layers of existence. Also he talks of the restrictions on his going beyond a particular limit. The soul talks of the souls from higher layers visiting the lower layers but not vice-versa. He also talks of some spirits from other world trying to contact human beings and trying to change their way of lives for betterment and in the process they elevate themselves to the higher layers. There are references to Reincarnation. At one stage the soul of the mother of Mahendra asks the soul of Mahendra, when it just arrives there, not to talk about re-incarnation as it may lead to re-birth which she does not like. She gives an indication that the talk of re-incarnation leads to re-birth on this earth. She also tells her son about the wonderful life over there and their unwillingness to be re-born on the earth.

The book may not answer all our questions of the unknown world to us but definitely throws our mind open on the subject of rebirth and the life on the other side of this materialistic world.

In the court of the Lord good and evil deeds are separate. If one does good deeds, one accumulates a lot of Punya. If one involves oneself in some evil deeds one earns Papa in the court of God. There is no adjustment of good against evil and the judgment is definitely not based on balance. Every human being is gifted with some qualities and intelligence and the physical body is based on his Karma. He has the absolute freedom to use them to the best of his abilities and skills. A person may be gifted with an intelligence quotient of say 140 and another with a low IQ. But the one with a lower intelligence may fare better in life and achievement. A man with high IQ may not be successful in life...we call him a perverted genius. Based on the theory of Karma why has God given him IQ but not success?

When some one achieves success he is immediately projected and catapulted into the skies. Imagine a successful man being interviewed on the TV. Normally the person being interviewed starts with all the difficulties he had to face and how he has set a goal for himself at his young age and that from the beginning he was sure he would achieve his goal lists out what he considers the most important aspects of success. Just to satisfy his conscience he may mention about his parents and a few friends who supported him. However the major chunk of the credit he takes for himself. There are also people who are honest to the core and accept the success with humility. There is nothing wrong in telling about the tough times one had to pass through. Unfortunately they ignore the basic fact that they would not have been able to achieve anything if God had not been on their side or that fate had been against them.

A person with a very high IQ may fail in life despite his best efforts and a person with low IQ may be successful. There are many who are mentally retarded. In such a case he is going to be a dud in his life and cannot achieve anything in life. It is pre-destined. That means it is not just the intelligence of the individual that is responsible for his success but that there is something in the individual, which takes him beyond the other individual. Explanations like Emotional IQ come into the picture.

When it comes to success why do most people not say that they must have done something good in the previous life to reach the heights and that is why they have risen in this life instead of attributing all the success to their efforts?

I can never forget a couple of incidents in my life where the individuals rose to the heights to challenge thy so called Karma. I had a classmate who had lost his right hand up to his collar bone. Within two months he learnt to write with his left hand, completed his B. Com, did his higher studies abroad and built up his family business beyond anyone’s comprehension. In another case a nephew of mine was paralysed in a freak accident. He was an engineering graduate preparing for his M. Tech entrance examinations when the accident took place. He struggled hard to learn computer basics. Learnt programming etc and now lying on his bed he is one of the editors of the largest circulated Telugu Computer Magazines. These are the real stories of the Karma theory. But they fought with their fate and could achieve something. May be God thought they deserve help and encouragement for their efforts. They are the unsung heroes in real life.

But could they have achieved that much without the blessing of the Almighty?

We Hindus believe that we are what we are in this life because of what we were in the past life. Still the success goes to “I” and failure goes to “fate!”

The self-proclaimed Godmen are no exception. We have the Babas, Fakirs and Gurus who claim miraculous powers with the emphatic “I”. “I can cure you all with my miracle powers and shower on you the so called sacred ash to cure you of all ills.”

I do not question that there could be a few who are genuine and who try to help you towards the light. There is no “I” in their lectures or discourses. Some may be doing some good social work without any publicity and some do it with all publicity and everything is widely publicized making the best use of the multi media.

Long ago there lived a saint in a forest. He had about a dozen pupils. One day he felt the time had come for him to train one of his disciples as his successor. He picked up the most brilliant of his disciples and sent him to the Himalayas to be trained by his Gurus to be worthy enough to head the small Ashram he would run after him. The disciple went and returned after some time enlightened and more modest. All his friends were happy at his return. After the exchange of the pleasantries each one of them started asking the learned man the same question “Will I go to heaven”? The answer was the same “No chance.” The guru could not keep himself aloof. He put the same question to the Sishya. “What about me?” “Doubtful” the reply came. The Guru said to him “Okay if I do not go to heaven it is alright, but what about you? Will you go to heaven?” Pat came the reply. “Nenu pothe povachu” (If that “I” in me goes then I may go to heaven). The other sishyas were angry with the enlightened Sishya. But the Guru understood what it meant. It is the “I” that is the slip between the cup and the sip.

I am just a normal human being and I do believe in God. I do believe I am rational in thinking. But I do have apprehensions about the man made miracles. I do believe in a Guru who could try to lead me to the light but he cannot guarantee me enlightenment, because it is not in his hands. I am a skeptic but not a doubting Thomas. What all I expressed are purely my genuine feelings and awe at the way the educated lose their rational and analytical way of thinking. Life goes on with many questions unanswered.

It is the weak-minded who go after the astrologers, palmists and god men some of whom are con men. Only a crack pot will wait for a jack pot! Even God rests in action.
-Editor.