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A slayer of an embryo is like the slayer of a priest.
Krishna Yajur Veda 6.5.10

Monday
LESSON 225
Conception And Birth
I am often asked, "What is the point at which a soul
enters into a new incarnation?" Many advanced souls choose their
parents long before conception, electing to live in their homes,
especially if the parents worship. Especially if they were relatives in
a past life, they want to be born back into those families to work out
their karmas. Therefore, a soul may become connected with his
mother-to-be long before conception. An unreligious couple that does
not seek the inner forces at the moment of conception or slightly
before, depending on wherever they are -- in a hospital or hotel -- may
attract and draw into the process of incarnation anybody who is
magnetized to them. I call this "potluck off the astral plane," even
the lower astral. Someone could die in a hospital and, in a motel three
blocks down the street, be immediately conceived. If the husband and
wife had been fighting and arguing, this could magnetize a child that
would not help the family, but instead would disrupt the household. The
difference between the two situations is that one family is thinking of
the Divine at the time of conception and the other is living an
ordinary life with no contact with the inner, spiritual forces.
In
either case, when the fetus starts to move in the womb, the soul
simultaneously enters and occupies physical life, fully incarnates, or
enters flesh. That's when the soul is totally "hooked in," around three
or four months. It's there before, hovering near the mother, but not
fully connected. The 2,200-year-old Tirumantiram of Rishi
Tirumular tells us in verses 453-455 that from the moment of conception
a soul is associated with the growing physical form of the infant. He
says that at the instant of conception, as vital fluids are released
and flow from both parents, the embryo is formed; the twenty-five tattvas rush in and lie concealed within its third eye, ajna chakra.
At this point, life begins. For nine months, the embryo, then fetus,
develops physically, and the soul that will inhabit the physical form
gradually awakens to First-World embodied consciousness, becoming more
or less fully conscious of its new physical form at birth.
It
is good to understand that the soul exists in the macrocosm within the
microcosm. It has no need of traveling to or from; it is where its
awareness is. Outward forms, even physical bodies, do not depend on the
soul's awareness being present constantly, just as you are not dead
when you are asleep. As you might say, "I was not in my body," after
you find yourself day dreaming, in the same sense, the soul is not
constantly in the infant body while it is growing in the womb.
The
life of the body is odic, and it runs on by itself. The spiritual
energies and presence of the soul dominating the physical, emotional
and mental elements is what makes us human. As Rishi Tirumular says,
the moment life departs the body, the cherished friend becomes merely a
bad smell. The soul's association with the body -- the "nine-holed bag
of skin" -- is life. It begins at conception and continues until the
moment of death. In summary, the soul is psychically connected and
increasingly aware of its physical body in the womb throughout the
pregnancy, just as the soul is connected with the physical body outside
the womb until the moment of death.
At the time of birth, the
previous astral body is still there. The new astral body grows within
the child, and the old astral body is eventually sloughed off. It's not
immediate. Like moving into a new house, it takes time to get settled.
A newborn baby sometimes looks like an old person right from the
beginning. This is because it has an old astral body. As the child
gains its new identity, a new astral body is formed from the ida of the mother and the pingala of the father, and that development is enhanced by harmony between the parents. It is a slow transition.
Just
as the former physical body finally disintegrates, its old astral body
does also. It takes time for these things to happen. For older souls it
takes a shorter time. Still, it's a gradual transition. As one astral
body develops, the other goes. Once in Virginia City I inwardly saw a
young girl running around dressed in the old Western style clothing as
an adult, and I knew that this was her old astral body. A child may be
able to remember who he was in his last life until the old astral body
dissipates.
Tuesday
LESSON 226
When Does Life Begin?
The question of when human life begins is often
asked with the modern-day controversy over abortion in mind. In
speaking of this delicate subject with my devotees, I have explained
that conceiving a child is like planting a seed in the ground. Although
you may not see anything for a while, there are life forces building
which will one day appear before your physical eyes, emerging out of
the microcosm into the macrocosm, or First World. If you interrupt or
cut off that process, for whatever reason, the consequences fall to
you, according to the law of karma propounded by our Saiva faith.
Abortion
is definitely a concern, not only to wives and daughters but to
husbands as well. The aborted child, if allowed to live, may have
become the husband's heir, a preeminent member of society, and tenderly
cared for him and his wife in their elder years. But they will never
know and will always wonder, wonder.
Abortion is a concern all
over India, where it is legal. Doctors there and elsewhere have
developed an inexpensive version of the French "abortion pill." Many
see this as a blessing for India's population problem and a safer
alternative to the thousands of surgical abortions performed each
month, from which many women die or suffer infections. It is perhaps a
good time to reflect on another side of this issue, on the karma and on dharma.
Wives
often please their husbands by aborting an unwanted girl -- which she
is blamed for, when, in fact, it is the male sperm that determines the
child's gender -- but secretly wonder, "Who is she? Who was she in her
past life? Will she find another womb to incarnate through? Would she
perhaps have become a Florence Nightingale, Madame Curie or Anandamayi
Ma, a saint like Auvaiyar or Mirabai?" The subliminal subjective
sadness that abortion brings, with all the "maybes" that lie
unanswered, in itself is a sign from the soul that abortion is wrong; a
new bad karma, a kukarmaphala, has been created. It did
not have to be, but it was. After all, the still, small voice of the
soul sometimes speaks loudly when a wrong is committed, and doesn't
stop talking until a counterbalancing punya, merit, is achieved and solace sought for.
Wednesday
LESSON 227
Atonement For Abortion
Built within the great Hindu religion is the process of atonement. What is the prayashchitta,
the penance, to be done to atone for abortion? One that works very well
in this modern age is to adopt a child, raise it with tender loving
care, believing this soul is akin to the aborted soul who sought to
take refuge within one's family. This, then, atones. Mahatma Gandhi
utilized this principle when one day he counseled a Hindu man who said
he had slain a Muslim in revenge for his son's killing at the Muslim's
hands. He was deeply troubled about his crime. Gandhi advised him to
adopt and raise a Muslim boy as penance for the deed.
One
becomes his own psychiatrist by utilizing the psychology that when
something has gone wrong, it has to be fixed. Why would it have to be
resolved? Because the persons involved don't feel good about the
action, or karma. Resolution is not only mending and healing,
it is eradicating the memory of the event -- not actually a total
forgetfulness, but the emotions that come up with the memory are
eradicated. This can be done in various ways. Write to the person who
was aborted and burn the letter in a fire. Explain how sorry you are,
how miserable you are feeling, and attest that you will never do it
again. This is a great way to unload a subconscious mind that is filled
with guilt.
Accepting reincarnation, punarjanma, we
acknowledge souls existing in subtle form in astral bodies waiting to
incarnate through a womb. When that womb is disturbed, this is recorded
as a sense of eviction for the conscious fetus; and it has similar
empty effects on the potential mother's life and all those connected to
her in the family. It is a kukarma that affects all, is felt by all and must be paid for by all.
So,
we can see the consequences. This does not mean that anyone is cursed
or that there is any "mortal sin" involved. Hinduism is a free-flowing
religion. It threatens no everlasting it preaches no mortal sin, as a
transgression that, if unexpiated in this one and only life, would
deprive the soul from closeness to God for eternity. Hinduism accepts
life the way it is, even its flaws and frailties. It teaches us the
right path but knows we may not always follow that path and thus gives
the remedies to correct whatever bothers us at every stage of the great
journey to moksha, liberation from rebirth.
Abortion brings with it a karmic
force of destruction that will come back on the mother and father who
set it in motion. They may be denied a dwelling. They may be denied a
noble child. They may beget a child who will persecute them all the
days of their life. The parents, the abortionist and the nurses will
suffer difficulties in attaining another birth, perhaps by experiencing
as many abortions as they participated in while on Earth. The price is
high for abortion, much higher and more costly than giving birth,
raising and educating the child and establishing him or her in life.
Life
must go on. It is said that children often bring great fortune to their
parents. They pay their own way. Nevertheless, abortions do happen,
have happened and will happen in the future. Men and women who have
participated, and their doctors and nurses, are involved in the deep kukarmic consequences. The action's reaction, which is karma, must
be resolved in some way for a peace of mind, a quiescent state, to
persist. The Hindu religion forbids abortion because of the laws of
personal dharma, social dharma and ahimsa -- noninjury to any living creature, physically, mentally or emotionally.
Thursday
LESSON 228
Difficult Issues
The Sanatana Dharma states that abortion is
sanctioned only if the life of the mother would be lost by the birth of
the child. Hindu scripture speaks strongly against the deliberate
attempt to kill a embryo/fetus, telling us life starts at conception,
when the astral body of the newborn child-to-be in the Antarloka is
hovering over the bodies of the mother and father. The Kaushitaki Upanishad (3.1) counts abortion among such heinous sins as killing one's parents. The Atharva Veda (6.113.2) lists the fetus slayer, brunaghni, among the greatest of sinners.
Our research among scholars and swamis
tells us there is nothing within Hinduism that opposes contraceptives
or birth-control methods. However, if conception occurs, the man and
woman have already taken on the karmic responsibility. It is dharma's
path to then open the doors of their hearts to receive the incarnating
soul. A miscarriage is something different -- an unintentional action
of nature, shall we say. Try again and the same soul may come through.
What
about rape, incest, adultery or premarital pregnancies? Mothers are the
life-givers of the planet. Even in these most terrible conditions,
scripture gives no permission to injure, and certainly not to kill.
However, it would be a sin upon the child to be born and kill his
mother in the process. This is why abortion to save the life of the
mother is the one and only exception which tradition allows. Yet, even
that exception must not be resorted to lightly by some clever doctor or
a husband falsely saying, "She might die," or "My wife's life is in
peril," or by a devious wife herself claiming, "I am going to die if I
don't abort this child." It must be an honest and competent diagnosis,
not for the sake of money, not for the sake of saving face in the
community, not for the sake of repudiating an infant girl. It must be
an honest diagnosis made by compassionate, dharmic doctors.
The central principles at work here are ahimsa, noninjury; the energy of God everywhere; the action of the law of karma; the strict rules of dharma
defined in our holy scriptures; and the belief in reincarnation. These
five make a Hindu a Hindu and make not committing abortion an obvious
decision.
Friday
LESSON 229
Questions On Suicide
Another very serious issue faced today in every
society is suicide. The percentages are too high to ignore the problem
that exists in far too many Hindu communities. Well, we can advise, as
many elders do: "Don't kill yourself." After all, they became elders by
avoiding such extreme solutions. But do those who are all wrought up
with emotion and confusion listen to such advice? No. Many die
needlessly at their own hand. How selfish. How sad. But it is happening
every day. Suicide does not solve problems. It only magnifies future
problems in the Antarloka -- the subtle, nonphysical astral world we
live in before we incarnate -- and in the next life. Suicide only
accelerates the intensity of karma, bringing a series of
immediate lesser births and requiring several lives for the soul to
return to the evolutionary point that existed at the moment of suicide,
at which time the still existing karmic entanglement that brought on the death must again be faced and resolved. Thus turns the slow wheel of samsara. To gain a fine birth, one must live according to the natural laws of dharma and live out the karma in this life positively and fully.
Suicide is termed pranatyaga in Sanskrit, "abandoning
life force." It is intentionally ending one's own life through
poisoning, drowning, burning, stabbing, jumping, shooting, etc. Suicide
has traditionally been prohibited in Hindu scripture because, being an
abrupt escape from life, it creates unseemly karma to be faced in the future.
However, in cases of terminal disease or great disability, religious self-willed death through fasting, prayopavesha,
is sometimes permitted. Hinduism is not absolutely black and white in
this matter. Rather, it takes into account the broader picture. How
will this affect the soul? How will it affect humanity? How will it
affect one's future incarnations? All that must be taken into account
if a wise and compassionate, right decision is to be made on so serious
a matter.
There are very few extraordinary situations in which
self-willed death is permitted. It is not enough that we are unhappy,
disappointed, going through a temporary anguish, such as loss of loved
ones, a physical injury, a financial loss or the failure to pass an
exam and the fear of an angry thrashing from parents when they find
out. That is called life. It is not enough that we are filled with
sorrow. None of these reasons is enough to justify suicide, and thus it
is in such cases an ignoble act. It is not necessarily even enough that
we are suffering a serious, terminal illness, one of the thousands that
beset human beings on this planet.
Saturday
LESSON 230
Expiring By Fasting
In their love, their wisdom of the meaning and purpose of life, the rishis, the
divine lawmakers, provided an alternative for extraordinary human
suffering. They knew that excruciating suffering with no possible end
in view is not conducive to spiritual progress and that it is best to
have a fully conscious death in a joyous, religious mood, meditating or
listening to scripture and sacred songs to the Gods. So, the Vedic rishis
gave, in rare circumstances, the anguished embodied soul a way to
systematically, nobly and acceptably, even to loved ones, release
itself from embodiment through fasting. They knew, too, that life is
more than a body, that the soul is immortal, that a proper exit can, in
fact, be elevating. Death for Hindus is a most exalted human
experience, a grand and important departure, mahaprasthana.
The
person making such a decision declares it publicly, which allows for
community regulation and distinguishes the act from suicide committed
privately in traumatic emotional states of anguish and despair. Ancient
lawgivers cited various stipulations: inability to perform normal
bodily purification; death appears imminent or the condition is so bad
that life's pleasures are nil; and such extraordinary action must be
done under community regulation.
The gradual nature of prayopavesha is a key factor distinguishing it from sudden suicide, svadehaghata, for
it allows time for the individual to settle all differences with
others, to ponder life and draw close to God, even to change his mind
and resume eating, as well as for loved ones to oversee his gradual
exit from the physical world. One begins this highly ritualized
practice by obtaining forgiveness and giving forgiveness. Next a formal
vow, mahavrata marana, "great vow of death," is taken before one's guru, following a full discussion of all karmas of this life, especially confessing one's wrongdoings fully and openly. Thereafter, attention is focused on scripture and the guru's noble
teachings. Meditation on the innermost, immortal Self becomes the full
focus as one gradually abstains from food. At the very end, as the soul
releases itself from the body, the sacred mantra is repeated as instructed by the preceptor.
To leave the body in the right frame of mind, in the right consciousness, through the highest possible chakra, is
a key to spiritual progress. The seers did not want unrelenting pain
and hopelessness to be the only possibilities facing a soul whose body
was failing, whose only experience was pain without reprieve. So they
prescribed a kindly way, a reasonable way, especially for the
pain-riddled, disabled elderly and the terminally diseased, to choose a
righteous release. What wonderful wisdom. No killer drugs. No violence.
No involvement of another human being, with all the karmic entanglements
that inevitably produces. No life-support systems. No loss of the
family wealth for prolonged health care or into the hands of
unscrupulous doctors. No lapsing into unconscious coma. No loss of
dignity. No unbearable anguish. And no sudden or impulsive decision --
instead, a quiet, slow, natural exit from the body, coupled with
spiritual practices, with mantras and tantras, with
scriptural readings, deep meditation, reflection and listening to
favorite religious songs, with joyous release, with all affairs
settled, with full self-awareness and with recognition and support from
friends and relations. But don't try it unless you meet up to the
qualifications and, above all, have community support.
Sunday
LESSON 231
Thirty-One-Day Retreats
From our cyberspace congregation through the
Internet came a question about the thirty-one-day period of seclusion
that a family observes following a death or a birth in the family. The
traditional practice is to not go to the temple, to not visit swamis and gurus,
and to put white cloth over the Deities in the shrine room. An
understanding of the esoterics behind traditions is very important in
order to fulfill them. When someone is born or dies, a door, to either
the higher or lower inner worlds, is opened for all who share a psychic
bond, depending on where the soul has come from or has gone. For
thirty-one days a psychic passageway of vulnerability persists, which
is particularly magnetic in instances of death. "Still," the devotee
asked, "isn't a birth especially a happy, sacred event? If so, why
can't we go into the shrine room? Why can't we go into the temple?"
Yes,
birth is a very sacred and happy event for the entire family and should
be regarded as such. However, it is also a very inner time for the
family. Inner worship, meditation, singing songs, doing japa
are totally acceptable. A primary reason behind this tradition is to
protect the health and well-being of the newborn. Secondly, it is
observed so that the baby can become adjusted to the big experience of
birth, which is a tremendous experience for the soul, to come into a
physical body. During this first month, the astral body of the child is
getting accustomed to its tiny new physical body and is experiencing
leaving that body and reentering that body. This is an important time
of astral, physical adjustment for the newly born. Often when a baby is
crying uncontrollably, we can assume that the astral body is out of the
physical body, trying to reenter. Also, to bring a newborn child during
his first month to a temple would be unwise, as everyone would crowd
around, relatives and strangers and friends, breathing into his face,
and the baby could contract a disease. Thirty-one days is given to keep
the child protected from disease and allow him or her full entrance
into the physical body.
The observance of the thirty-one day
period immediately after a death in the family is the same traditional
practice: closing up the shrine room, putting white cloth over all the
Deity pictures and refraining from visiting temples, and from
approaching swamis or other holy persons. Cases of a birth and
a death are mystically very similar, in that the door of the inner
world is open. We want to help that door close, not keep it open by
worshiping in the shrine or going to the temple. Spiritual practice is
curtailed to avoid the pitfalls that could result in inadvertently
drawing forth the energies of beings of the lower worlds rather than
the higher.
Visiting the shrine room at this time would also
open the door for uncontrollable crying by members of the family.
Crying upsets the astral body of the departed one, because he or she is
still connected to the loved ones, and yet is having happy experiences.
So, during this particular time of thirty-one days after a birth or
death, slowly the inner doors of the higher world as well as the lower
worlds are allowed to close.
This does not restrict relatives
and friends from bringing food to the family, which is very helpful,
because the natural routine of the home has been disrupted. Especially
in the event of the death of a dear family member, there are many, many
things to do -- funeral arrangements, disposing of clothing and
belongings, attending to wills -- so it helps if the family is free
from its usual chores and religious duties. After the period of
retreat, which does not exclude, of course, personal meditation and japa, worshiping within, normalcy may recommence.
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