A MIGHTY JOKE TO ME

 
You, as gross body, are born again and again till you realize your Real Self. You, as mind, are born only once and die only once; in this sense you do not re-incarnate. The gross body keeps changing, but mind (mental body) remains the same throughout. All impressions (sanskaras) are stored in the mind. The impressions are either to be spent or counteracted through fresh karma in successive incarnations. Buddha's wheel denotes the cycle of births and deaths. The wheel goes on in its ceaseless round. It lifts you to the heights; it brings you down to the depths.

To show you how karma persists as a connecting link and a life-determining factor of future lives I give you an example. There is a king who has vast possessions. But he is a worthless king. He spends all his energy and money in selfish pursuits and luxuries and has no care for his subjects. In his next birth he is born blind and becomes a beggar and thus compensates for his wrong doings.

Now this king has a servant who is honest and faithful and hard-working. In his next birth because of his merits he is born into a cultured and well-to-do family. One day, when he is going along the street he hears a pitiable cry from the pavement. It is from the blind beggar who was the king in his previous life crying aloud with outstretched hands, Have pity. Give me a penny in the name of the Lord. And because all actions however trivial, are inwardly determined by the Sanskaric ties, creating claims and counter-claims, the rich man is unconsciously drawn towards the beggar and gives him a few copper coins.

A king crying out for alms and a servant taking pity on him — what a comedy, what an irony of fate! This is the working of the law of karma, the expression of justice in the world of values. The law of karma is impartial and inexorable. It knows no concessions, gives no preferences, makes no exceptions. It dispenses justice.

By the divine law you are shielded from remembrance of past lives, for it would not help you in living your present life but would make it infinitely more complicated and confusing.

For me "past" does not exist. I live in the Eternal Present. I clearly see your former lives, with all your intimate and intricate relationships with so many individuals. Your various reactions to others seen in the context of your mutual connections in previous lives serves as a mighty joke to me and helps to ease my burden of suffering.

Now, I give you another example. It is not an uncommon happening. A Moslem after death is buried in a graveyard. After a few incarnations he is born again a Moslem family in the same town. It is customary among Moslems to offer prayers for the dead when they visit graves, to pray to God Almighty to save the departed ones. And so it happens that this person stands before his own grave and solemnly prays, "May God save his soul!" What an absurdity! How pathetic!