Expect nothing, live frugally on surprise.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Life After Death PART XII(Hindu to Heaven)


Reincarnation is the rebirth in new bodies or forms of life after death... a belief that the souls of the dead successively return to earth in new bodies or forms... it is called "sansara", the transmigration of souls... as many as 3000 some claim, 3000 lives!.
There is an increasing interest in this topic today, sustained especially by books and magazines, TV broadcasts, movies and conferences. Most of them are related to the world of esoterical wisdom and occult phenomena.
Most Oriental religions accept reincarnation guided by their Holy Scriptures, like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism...
On the other hand, reincarnation is a way of rejecting the Christian teaching of the soul’s final judgment by a holy God, with the possible result of being condemned to suffer in eternal hell,, as accepted by some gnostics, atheists and materialists...

Reincarnation is not a thrill for a Hindu, nor even a good happening to expect, it is the worse imaginable "curse"!... the greatest fear for a Hindu is not to die, but to reincarnate... all the ascetic sacrifices, all the hard yoga and puja practices, is to avoid reincarnation... to live nude or without food of a Jainist is to avoid the next reincarnation... the great sacrifices of a Buddhist in a monastery for life, is to obtain enlightenment, thus avoiding reincarnation...
The present life for a Hindu is a horror, it is the wheel of existence that rolls relentlessly on, in indefinite reincarnations, and with each turning of the wheel you become more deeply involved in this senseless merry-go-around from which there is no escape; even "suicide" is not a solution, because now you will reincarnate as a dog or or an insect, or even a rock... and the only thing left for the devote Hindu is to become a "yogi", to die to all your desires while you are alive, in the hope that you will not be reincarnated...
And the final aim of life, the ultimate dream of a Hindu, is "moska", the final union of his soul with Brahman, with no more reincarnations, the liberation of the curse of reincarnation....and that is the only hope of a Hindu... "without self"... the total non-existence as a person... because there is no Heaven for a Hindu, just the final hope of "nihilation"... like a drop of water in the ocean.
Fundamental to Hinduism, to all branches and sects, is that all creatures go through a cycle of rebirth or reincarnations, which can only be broken by spiritual self-realization, the enlightenment, after which liberation, or moksha, is attained.
This enlightenment can be achieved by the hard and long exercises of Yoga, to stop going through cycles of birth, life and death. One's progress towards enlightenment is measured by his karma. This is the accumulation of all one's good and bad deeds and this determines the person's next reincarnation. Selfless acts and thoughts as well as devotion to God help one to be reborn at a higher level. Bad acts and thoughts will cause one to be born at a lower level, as a person or even an animal or a rock.
And the main problem of Hinduism, what makes me cry, is that after so many sacrifices and yoga, this final union with Brahman is like a drop of water falling into the ocean, there is no more identity of any individual, there is no more "person", it is the nihilism, to become nothingness, unrecognizable by anybody, not even by himself, because there is no more "self", no more consciousness of being... not heaven, not paradise... "nothingness", "to disappear as a person", like a speck in the universe...
What a surprise if, after death, there is eternal heaven or eternal hell.
On top of it, Reincarnation is one of the main reasons for the infamous "caste system" in India.

0 comments:

  © Free Blogger Templates Blogger Theme by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP