Vedanta - Life, and More Lives
CHITRANJAN SAWANT
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Long ago in the Kashmir Valley, the purohit of the Arya Samaj was blessed with a daughter. When she was 4, she told her parents that she belonged to a village and was the daughter of a senior officer in the Jammu and Kashmir government. She insisted on being taken to the village of her previous birth.Her parents obliged. On reaching the village, she identified her `old' friends, relatives as well as property . However, these `friends' and `relatives' and her parents chose to discourage her from visiting these old sites. Over time, memories of her previous life were obliterated.
Lord Krishna, while boost ing Arjuna's morale just before the war at Kurukshetra, told the warrior-prince that this was neither his first life nor his last one. It is only the body that perishes and not the soul. Sooner or later, the soul finds another body .
Krishna said he remembered his previous lives but a man in this mundane world does not.Otherwise, utter confusion would follow.
The immortality of the soul as well as its transmigration are underlined in all world religions. There is an equal emphasis on the present life as on the life beyond death. When a soul enters a body , it is called birth. When the same soul departs from the body , it is called death. This process goes on and on. The cycle of birth and death, or the transmigration of soul, comes to an end only when the soul attains moksha, or liberation from this cycle.This is salvation.
Lord Krishna, while boost ing Arjuna's morale just before the war at Kurukshetra, told the warrior-prince that this was neither his first life nor his last one. It is only the body that perishes and not the soul. Sooner or later, the soul finds another body .
Krishna said he remembered his previous lives but a man in this mundane world does not.Otherwise, utter confusion would follow.
The immortality of the soul as well as its transmigration are underlined in all world religions. There is an equal emphasis on the present life as on the life beyond death. When a soul enters a body , it is called birth. When the same soul departs from the body , it is called death. This process goes on and on. The cycle of birth and death, or the transmigration of soul, comes to an end only when the soul attains moksha, or liberation from this cycle.This is salvation.
