6. The Circle of Life
Questions about the origin of the universe and its age have always fascinated human beings. While most people find it easier to accept the eternality of souls and also that of the Lord, the origins and age of the physical universe continue to confound mankind. Strong views have been expressed by camps belonging to either creation or evolution. Gita teaches us that life is actually a sequence of cycles within cycles forming a perfect tapestry. Aspects of science and theology co-exist and work with each other to reveal the secrets of ‘evolutionary creation’ where every aspect of evolution is planned, controlled, monitored and indeed executed by divine will and not a series of thoroughly improbable accidents. This chapter attempts to answer some questions on the Grand Cycle of universe and cycles within cycles.
6.1 The Grand Cycle
Q: What is the cycle of creation and destruction of the universe?
A: The individual souls and the Lord Almighty are eternal, have always existed and will always exist. The material world including the physical bodies adorned by the individual souls, objects appearing in nature (‘Mother Nature’) such as the five basic elements, the physical world, the planets, the stars etc are subject to the cycle of creation, existence and destruction. There is a specific periodicity for this grand cycle. Each cycle is termed ‘maha kalpa’ (which is about 311.04 trillion years). At the beginning of each such ‘maha kalpa’, the Lord creates the objects in the universe, gives physical bodies to the individual souls (except Lord’s consort, Lakshmi who like the Lord always has the transcendental body), gives rise to planets, stars, the 5 basic elements of nature etc. Note that space and time are eternal. The physical space that we observe (ether) arises out of the primordial space that is eternal. The involution (or destruction) of the universe occurs in the reverse order of events occurring during the creation process. During the existence of each ‘maha kalpa’, the individual souls undergo many births and deaths and adorn different physical bodies. At the end of each ‘maha kalpa’, those deserving souls eligible for salvation move to the final abode, and the rest will continue to be part of the next ‘kalpa’ and this cycle continues.
Q: What happens to those who fully intended to focus their minds away from material objects and towards God, but for various reasons did not succeed in one birth? Will they be reborn?
A: It is extremely difficult for one to completely move their minds away from material objects while participating in worldly activities and this seldom happens in a single birth. If one is sincere in intentions and has made honest attempts, he/she can expect to be reborn in much better circumstances with more opportunities to realize the Lord. For example, the next birth could be in a richer, nobler family where there may be more natural opportunities for higher learning and ability to help more people. Of course, the Lord Almighty provides more such opportunities in future births based on a person’s deeds in a particular birth, but it is up to the individual to make use of such opportunities.
Q: What causes some people to experience high degrees of success of failure in life while others who put is similar effort do not seem lucky? Is it due to the planetary positions during one’s birth and if so, can astrology help one achieve success and ward of failure?
A: Success or failure (happiness or sadness) that one experiences in life is purely a result of past actions, either in current birth or in previous lives. Planetary positions do not cause someone to prosper or despair. However, a trained, capable astrologer may be able to predict someone’s fate to some extent based on planetary positions. These planetary positions are like a clock which can estimate the time when someone experiences some events in life but they are not the cause of these events. For example, if someone gets hungry say at noon everyday and that person looking at a clock which shows the time as 11:45 AM can conclude that he will need to eat in 15 minutes. The clock did not cause the hunger. It merely indicated the time when someone naturally would feel hunger daily.
Q: If planetary positions are not the cause of someone’s events in life, why do astrologers prescribe one to perform rituals to please those planets to ward away the ill luck?
A: Planets and their positions govern the concept of time. A year made up of 365 days (366 in leap year) is based on the earth completing one revolution around the Sun. At a deeper level, relative positions of planets and stars have some predictive capabilities. Each of these planets is governed by a deity which itself is under the control of the supreme Lord. Performing rituals to appease these deities and more importantly the Lord residing in them is a way of atoning for sins committed and praying for forgiveness with an express commitment for not repeating past mistakes.
Q: Can all sins committed in past be washed off by performing rituals and prayers?
A: No. It depends on the type of sins committed. For some types of sins, one has to suffer consequences and no amount of rituals or prayers can help one avoid such consequences completely. Let’s illustrate this with an example. In general, one performs activities in one of three ways: mentally, verbally and physically. Suppose a person has abused another person either verbally or physically. In the latter case, even in this world one has to face the law and suffer consequences. Even if that person evades punishment in this world, it cannot be avoided in the God’s Kingdom. If the abuse is verbal, depending on the severity of the abuses one can seek relief from courts claiming defamation. In general, when someone commits a sin which results in some type of injury (mental or physical) to others, one has to face the consequences as the other party has already experienced injury. In some types of sins where no one else is hurt, it may be possible to resort to rituals such as charity, perform some service to society, and take solace in prayer etc, to lessen the punishment.
6.2 Cycles within the Cycle
Q: What is meant by the ‘cycle of life’?
A: For the world to function, it is important that the integral components of the ‘cycle of life’ work closely. The cycle is as follows – the primary source for sustenance of life forms is food, food becomes plentiful when there are adequate rains, rains fall in a timely manner when the Lord is satisfied with the offerings (positive acts) from people, and the human race thrives when there is adequate food.
Q: What happens to a soul when a person moves on?
A: A soul undergoes many births and deaths. Based on one’s deeds in a particular birth, the soul after death traverses to a temporary abode such as heaven or hell and in general will be reborn on the earth. The exceptions is for those souls who during many of the births have progressively realized the Lord, have rid themselves of all sins and ultimately reach the Lord’s abode (commonly known as Nirvaana or state of Bliss), never to return to earth.
Q: In what forms will humans be reborn? Will they continue to be born as humans?
A: A soul that has not yet achieved redemption will be reborn in some form determined by the Lord and the determination is based on deeds performed in a specific birth. Future birth need not always be in the form of a human being. It can take the shape of an animal also. Taking birth as a human is the ultimate reward as a human has fully developed sense organs, mind and intellect. He/she has the ability to discriminate between right and wrong and has the capability to help others. Animals do not have the same abilities to the same extent. Even among animals, there are varying traits and abilities. A dog for example has the sense of loyalty and is able to protect its owner in time of need. Cows and buffaloes etc are enormously helpful to society as their milk is a staple diet for humans. On the other hand, animals such as tigers and lions do not have such helpful instincts and hence are kept away in reservations. Human beings are endowed with the faculties and abilities to read, comprehend, think, remember, teach, communicate freely in society – in other words they have enough tools to make an honorable living and worship the Lord by serving those who are less fortunate.
Q: When in a physical form, a soul is able to have contact with the external world through the use of sense organs such as eyes, ears etc. What happens to these sense organs when a person dies? Does the soul have innate sense organs?
A: A living, breathing organism is able to interact with the external world with sensory organs as long as the Lord is resident in that being and powering the sense organs. Death occurs when the Lord leaves that physical body. At this stage, the Lord carries the souls to a different world along with sense organs intact in a miniature form. Just like gently blowing wind carries the fragrance of a flower, the Lord carries the sense organs of a being along with the soul. Just as when wind carries the fragrance of a flower, it does not carry all the fragrance and the flower retains much of it, bulk of the sense organs remains with the physical body and perish along with the physical body. The fact that the soul is equipped with sense organs allows the soul to experience pleasure and distress between births (in other words experience heaven and hell between births).
In addition to the external sense organs with which a person gains knowledge, there is an innate perceiver of knowledge which is part of every soul. This entity is called ‘Saakshi’ (or direct witness or imbiber of knowledge). There are two types of knowledge – external and internal. External knowledge is attained via the sense organs such as eyes, ears etc. External knowledge can sometimes be falsified (for example if there is an error in perception). Internal knowledge is always true and is never negated. Saakshi is the source of internal knowledge. Note that internal knowledge cannot be attributed to the mind, as when someone is in dreamless, deep sleep (when the mind is inactive); the person does remember the experience of sound, deep sleep after waking up. So, the perception of time and space during deep sleep must be attributed to Saakshi, which is the ultimate arbiter of truth as its knowledge is based on real experience and not gained from studies or from external sense organs. Even the mind is liable to errors and doubts, but Saakshi is free from such defects. Any extreme pleasure or pain experienced by a person will always be remembered throughout one’s life. This knowledge is memorized in Saakshi. The concept of innate knowledge associated with a soul can be illustrated with an example. When a cow gives birth to a calf, within no time is the calf able to draw milk from its mother without any training. Such natural abilities of a newly born organism can only be attributed to the concept of innate knowledge.
It is should also be noted that while the mind can sometimes have doubts about some events resulting in incomplete or improper knowledge, the knowledge gained by Saakshi is based on conviction and is not subject to any doubts.
Q: What are the states which living beings experience in their lives?
A: In general, on a daily basis, living beings are in one of three states: awake, dreaming and deep sleep. When awake, typically all sense organs and the mind are functioning. When one sleeps and is dreaming, the sense organs are shut off, but the mind is still active, hence one is able to experience dream and often recollect the dream later. When one is in deep sleep, even the mind is shut off and the living beings experience a very restful sleep and wake up feeling very fresh.
Q: What actually happens during deep sleep?
A: As indicated during the period of deep sleep, all external sense organs as well as the mind shuts off. During this period, living beings experience extreme relaxation and almost inexplicable joy. Normally one experiences joy in life by consuming worldly pleasures through the use of sense organs (such as eating tasty food etc). Most people will agree that the joy experienced after a restful, deep sleep is incomparable to any other worldly pleasure. During deep sleep, one is not aware of the surroundings, attachments etc, but one is fully aware of the self. It is said that the experience one feels during deep sleep is similar to what is experienced when one achieves eternal bliss. In that sense, deep sleep is like a preview provided by the Lord for everyone to sample the eternal bliss. The message is that one can experience bliss by ridding one of attachments.
Q: How can one ensure consistent periods of deep sleep?
A: It is a matter of common experience that very few people are able to enjoy long periods of consistent deep sleep. A troubled mind is normally a reason for interrupted sleep. Prayer before sleep and also focusing the mind exclusively on the Lord when one is attempting to sleep normally helps one experience deep sleep. The period just before sleeping is also an excellent time for one to reflect on how the day was spent and if one is indeed prepared to face the eventual death which is now a day closer than it was in the previous night.
6.3 Interpersonal Relationship
Q: We come across different types of people in our lives with whom we have different types of interaction. Not all of them are pleasant. How do we handle such interactions?
A: Effective people management is one of the most important characteristics of anyone who wants to succeed in life. The Gita tells us that these are broadly the various types of people that one deals with in one’s lives:
Acquaintances
Friends
Neutral Types
Indifferent Types
Antagonistic Types
Enemies
Acquaintances are those with whom one normally has pleasant interactions. Friends are those who are close to one’s heart and go out of their way to help one in need. Neutral types are those with whom one has business like relationships (for ex: daily interaction with a shop keeper). Interaction with those in the neutral group can be pleasant or unpleasant based on the outcome of the transaction and approach. Indifferent types are those whom one meets rarely and with whom one has neither positive nor negative interactions (for ex, a friend’s friend who one might meet very rarely). Antagonistic types are those with whom one generally has a frosty equation. Enemies are those who are determined to carry out acts to hurt someone mentally and/or physically.
The Gita teaches very useful lessons on how to interact with these different types of people. First and foremost, it is important to realize that people’s behavior is not a reflection of their innate nature, but is conditioned based on their prior deeds, and that conditioning is expressly attached to them by the Lord. By this account, when a friend helps us, in addition to thanking the friend we also need to thank the Lord for granting the friend a helpful nature. Similarly, when someone tries to harm us, we should pray to the Lord with a request to reduce his/her enmity and in parallel take defensive steps to avoid getting hurt. But by no account, should one contemplate hurting the enemy back, as that will lead to a downward spiral of hatred with destructive consequences. We have seen evidence of mutual enmity and attendant consequences among families, groups, societies and indeed nations. When one realizes that the root of the problem is not the innate nature of that person or entity, but a condition bestowed by the Lord, it makes sense to look towards the Lord for a solution. A realization that the Lord resident in all types of people is the same entity will help modulate our interaction with different people.
The scriptures prescribe four different ways that one should express one’s emotions when dealing with people: (a) Friendliness, (b) Compassion, (c) Happiness and (d) Indifference. One should treat all acquaintances, well wishers and friends with utmost friendliness. One should display compassion in dealing with anyone who is hurt, regardless of one’s personal equation with that person. One should rejoice at another’s legitimate success, again regardless of our personal equation with that person. Lastly, one should avoid unnecessary interaction with those who do not believe in the Lord and do not practice righteous living.
6.4 Takeaways
The universe is governed by a grand cycle which includes the stages of creation, sustenance and destruction of the universe which takes trillions of years. This cycle then repeats ad infinitum.
Within each grand cycle, the souls are granted physical bodies by the Lord to help them undertake the task of self realization. These souls transmigrate to different bodies and are reborn in different circumstances based on their performance in a specific birth
There is a cycle within each birth where the living beings are either awake, dreaming and in deep sleep, with each state having specific implications on the status of sense organs. The deep sleep which is a joyous state is like a preview of the state of bliss that a soul experience upon redemption.
Recognition of the fact that the Lord is resident in everyone and conditions people's behavior greatly helps resolve conflict among people, societies and nation.
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