[Advaita-l] Punarjanma!

[Raghav Kumar]

Sri harsha ji asked:

> The main point here is, do we need to worry about Purva Janma Samskaras,
> and
> use present life to eradicate and prepare for future Janma(s)( considering
> that Moksha not possible in present life itself). Or we just need to
> consider that we have one life and use it to reach god, in this case
> defeats
> the purpose of Janma-Karma Sambhanda. Please tell me which is a proper
> approach.
>
> The best way to prepare for future janmas and ensure we get a "good" birth
in future is to "consider that we have one life and use it to reach god" as
you put it. So there is no dilemma really speaking, in the form of
"Should I secure my future janma interests by eradicating pApa?"
or
"Should I just ignore what will happen to me in the next janma get busy with
trying to reach God?"

The description in gIta chapter 6 of the yoga-bhraShta is the best possible
deal we can get as far as the next janma is concened. There, Krishna
Bhagavan assures us that one who practises yoga (this includes jnana and
bhakti) never perishes. (his future janma interests are taken care of.)

You also wrote:

> Secodly, regarding Jnana and Karma Sambandha. These days some organization
> claim that Jnana alone is sufficient and some say Bhakti is enough, but
> less
> weight-age is given to Karma equation( like Sandya, Nitya Upasana krama,
> vrata etc).
>
> ISKCON says "Chant Hare Krishna and be happy", the Ramakrishna Mission
emphasises mantra-japaM of the Ramakrishna mantra as fundamental. The
followers of Sri Ramana Maharshi say enquire "Who am I?" as a direct path,
rather than getting lost in the jungle of the words of
shAshtra. shankara-maTha-s are emphasizing nitya-karma like sandhya,
gayatri, atma-vicara through shAstra vicAra. I am sure you can figure out
the answer yourself

It is noteworthy that ISKCON says that chanting the Hare Krishna mantra
gives one the preliminary purification to later get initiated in the Gayatri
mantra which is given at a later stage; even while they continue to
emphasize the mahA-mantra and the importance of emotion in relating to
Ishvara. There is no conflct with them in these aspects.

The Ramakrishna Mission too asks its members to do gayatri-japam and
shAstra-vicAra although the primary focus is on other ideas.

Sri Ramana Maharshi's words themselves have more than sufficient material in
them for contemplation which is similar to the lines of shAstra; for example
his praising the Ribhi gItA etc.

The basic premise of Vedanta is that it is possible to gain jnAnaM in this
very birth. Please note that the human mind and brain in each janma are
finite objects and so they can luckily harbor only a finite amount of
stupdidity, samskaras, wrong notions about Atman, God, Jagat etc. These
ideas may be deep-rooted and subtle but they are not impossible to eradicate
in the course of one janma. The other ideas and samskaras from other past
births are inactive and have no bearing on the present birth. Only a small
set of those sanchita-karmas has become active in this birth and we need
only to neutralize thier effect. It is not as if the entire burden of
infinite births is bearing down upon us in this particular janma.When we
talk of ideas like vAsana-kShaya (neutralization of past
vAsanAs/tendencies), it referes to only those small set of vAsanA-s which
have become active in this particular janma - the rest are inactive and do
not obstruct jnAna from arising.

Hari Om
Raghav