On Reincarnation and Karma
Benjie, a professor of Asian History in the same university I teach in, invited me to talk about two of the central beliefs of Hinduism and Buddhism – reincarnation and karma.
My lecture, among other things, stressed that our life and all that exists in this world are gifts from Someone Above who loves us so much. This Someone made us very special. He gave us a part of His own Self. Like a very good father, He wants us to further develop our potentials. He also wants us to grow in wisdom, with courage to do what is right and with unselfish love for others. So, He sends some of us to this world to learn these important things. Life, in this world then is like one big school. We are here to learn lessons from life.
Some lessons have to do with knowing what it means to be a good father or mother, to be a good husband or wife, to be a good friend, to be a responsible member of society. One general lesson then is knowing what it means to love and respect people, to have a reverence for life.
We should also look into our strengths and weaknesses. We should study our weaknesses and overcome them. We should evaluate our mistakes and find out where we did wrong and why. We should derive lessons from these mistakes and use these lessons to guide us as we continuously walk on the road of life. When we have learned a few important lessons, we move on to the next level. Some lessons are easy to learn; some are not easy to learn. Some people ven refuse to learn. They just enjoy life.
Then we “die”. This is the “vacation from school”. After which we “enroll again”. This is the logic, the rationale behind reincarnation. We start where we left off.
Karma is the law of causes and effects which no one escapes. It is one of the general rules of the “
As you accumulate bad karma, you will have more and more troubles and imbalances. Those who seriously harm others physically and/or mentally, get what they deserve. Those with good karma, consequently, move on to the next level. Those with bad karma consequently repeat the same level or even go down a few levels lower.
The Father loves us so much He gave us free will. We have a choice to either study hard, learn the lessons thereby grow in wisdom, with courage to do what is right and with unselfish love for others; or not to study at all and simply “enjoy” ourselves. While there are certain circumstances we have little control of, in the final analysis, we make our own lives.
At the end of my talk, I told the students, “I assume that most of you here are good students of this university. A good student takes down notes on the lectures of his teachers. It is said that experience is the best teacher of life. It is one part of the truth. The other part of the truth lies in being able to correctly evaluate our experiences from where we draw the correct conclusions. From the correct conclusions we get the right lessons to be learned. To truly benefit from your experiences and the experiences of others, take down notes, study them, and learn the lessons that must be learned. Yes, take down notes on life.”
During the open forum, a student asked me, “Sir, if reincarnation is true as you say it is, why can we not remember our past lives?”
After thanking her for a very good question, I replied, “I think you are around 18 years old. Tell me, at age 18, how many unforgettable and sad experiences have you undergone?”
“Around three,” she replied.
“And you are only 18! If you have already lived 50 times, you would have around 150 unforgettable and sad experiences. If you knew them all now, do you think you can handle them and not feel depressed or discouraged? The same is true with your good experiences and achievements. If you remember your 150 achievements in the 50 lives you have lives, you will probably think so highly of yourself and become self-centered and conceited.”
Another student quickly remarked, “So, what do you have to know to acquire the ability to know your past lives?”
“When you have learned most of the lessons you have to learn in the ‘School of Life’, when you have reached a certain level of wisdom, of courage and of unselfish regard for others, when you have matured emotionally, mentally, and morally such that you can properly handle the knowledge of the 150 bad and god experiences in some 50 lives, then these things will be revealed to you,” I replied.
A student curiously asked me, “Someone told us that you can do some extraordinary things. Can you show us, or better yet, teach us, a few of these things?”
“If I teach a small child how to light a match, he/she might burn things accidentally. Therefore, I have to wait until the child grows up. I have to wait for the time when he/she can handle the lighting of matches without harming himself/herself and others. You must attain a certain level of maturity, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, before I teach you some extraordinary things. To mature means you have to learn more lessons from life. If you honestly believe that you have reached a certain high level of maturity in viewing life and handling its problems, please see me. I would be very happy to share with you all that I know.”
The last question was very apt, “Sir, where do you get your knowledge? What are your sources?”
It was a simple question. I thought she was just asking for a bibliography, the footnotes, so to speak, of a research paper. But the truth is, there are other unwritten sources. I thought for a while and then said, “Many wise men in the past, spiritual sages both from the East and the West, spoke of these things. I have added nothing new. Perhaps, I have only said these truths in a different way. Their sources are the same as mine.”
That was a memorable session for me. It was December of 1994. I am a history teacher by profession and not a “spiritual guru”. For the first time I formally talked on matters not directly concerned to my profession. Honestly, I felt a bit tense. Later, I realized that such lecture was part of my “mission,” that is part of “what I have to do.”
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