Karma, Rebirth & Moksha/Nirvana - Understanding the Philosophy

Karma 
actually pronounced as "Kar-Ma" (in Sanskrit) instead of "Kaar-Maa", is a more widespread belief, in most societies, than Rebirth or Moksha. Its because it is seen in our day to day lives.

When we do something, we pay for it in similar terms. Our stories, our movies and our tales and superhero comics are mostly based on these lines. When we do good, eventually we will recieve good and vice versa. Our advice to others, our solving of other's problems, and our kindness in general or lending a helping hand, is based on the same motive. We do it sub consciously all the time and thus its easy to see examples from everyday life. 

For example : If a customer has a bad experience at a shop and is angry, but the shopkeeper smiles and takes care of his customer's requirements, 99% of the time, the customer will be happy & impressed, and will keep coming back in-spite of the initial bad experience. Good emotions and care shown by the shopkeeper, gets him loyal customers. Karma at work.

Vedic scriptures establishes it as the only rule by which the cosmos works :

ACTION - REACTION - ACTION - REACTION - ACTION - REACTION - and so on...

We should not think of ourselves as separate from this universe, we are actively a part of it right now. Infact if we did not have this consciousness, we would not even think of ourselves as separate from the rest of existence. Truth is, that we are the universe itself, and all separations within this universe is deeply connected. We are ONE. A change in one part of the universe, will definitely lead to a change in the other part. That's how Karma works.



Another example : 
Imagine that we buy tomatoes from a grocer, the grocer earns from the sale, the truckers who delivered the tomatoes earn, the farmer, the stockist, the packing guys, fertilizer makers and all the employees who work in these various ancilliary companies earn from it. Our one action has affected so many people in tiny bits and pieces.  
Now see the reverse reaction to our action : These companies pay heavy taxes(which are levied because they earned from people like us when we bought the tomatoes) and society uses those taxes to build the roads and generate electricity, which are benefits for us. 

Existence itself, means to give and take continuously, to be bound by Karma, and thus no one escapes from it, not the humans, not the animals, not the plants, not even the Gods. 
One should understand, that they cannot escape Karma at all. If I think that - Let me cheat this once, and no one will notice because nobody's around; I would be terribly wrong. Why ?

I'm noticing myself. Who Am I ? I'm the soul connected to this universe thinking that I'm separate and smart enough to cheat. The universe, how complex it is, how it works, we would never understand, but we should definitely know, that if we try to cheat, for example, steal from the grocer mentioned above, the electricity and roads will never get made. 

When we believe in the philosophy, we see it unfold in our lives. This gives us the strength to understand that when we go through a bad patch in our lives, or just have a rough day, it is our Karma that is balancing. We might have, stolen a buck / kicked a dog / coveted / been disrespectful / driven rashly / or some or the other way we must have been a pain / trouble for other humans, animals or nature, even if we didn't realize it then. We surely must be paying for it. Thinking this way, our life will become much more stress free and devoid of complaints.

Some powerful / rich people who do all the bad things, but still get away, also pay for it; if not now, then in their next lives.

The Issue of Rebirth
Some believe that we are here as a result of organic mutation and there is no such thing as our purpose in life; we just are. We live then we die. Some believe that we go to heaven or hell for eternity, according to our deeds we ought to do according to some texts.

Vedic/ Hindu teachings guide that if we weren't here for a purpose why would we even strive to understand what our purpose is? 

We could just be like insects who work all day, not knowing that one day they'll die. They just live, and then they die. But we humans prepare for middle age & old age, we prepare for building a career, we also created a measurement & calculation of time so that we can plan things accordingly, because we know that one day we would die. Why would we do that? 

People want to become scientists, aspire to become lawyers, train hard to become teachers, experience struggle to become good businessmen, etc., but fail to explain; What is the need to struggle to achieve and prove this or that ? One day we will anyways die, so why not just be? 

It doesn't make a difference in the natural world, what we become, but still we struggle.
It seems like we're constantly searching for something that will end our search, fill us with satisfaction to the brim, but maybe we're looking at all the wrong places.

We are most definitely conscious beings and since we have the ability to be aware of ourselves and also feel the pain and happiness of others within ourselves, we can say that we're born to understand the reasons for our existence. Till we understand that, we keep on searching for the next best thing. How many people have you seen who are content and blissful with the current state of affairs in their lives. Actually when someone is, we usually term that person as lazy and one who's lacking ambition.

Since our birth, we try searching for meaning in family, friends, in jobs, in relationships, in situations, in dream houses, in amazing cars, in wealth and property. But if we get old doing so and are still not able to find satisfaction, get rid of worrying and attachments, still wishing and regretting, then our consciousness has to continue after leaving this unstable state of affairs(our body) and thus starts forming a new body in a new womb. Remember, that we are all one and connected, so the part of the consciousness that was bound within us, our mind and body, builds a new one to continue the search for meaning. 

But unfortunately, in this process a lot of information is lost. Children still remember past experiences till a few years after birth but as soon as the ego of identity develops (at the age 4-5), we forget all that and become a part of our new reality. Ever wondered why new born babies smile in their sleep, and dream so rapidly, when they haven't even experienced the world? Ever noticed how our body resembles that of our parents but our characteristics and souls are independent of their ways of thinking. We are usually not in tune with our parents, we feel like a separate soul, even when our body, height, features and complexion or race matches.

Rebirth has been proven several times but here are a few examples :

Psychiatrist Ian Stevenson, from the University of Virginia School of Medicine, investigated many reports of young children who claimed to remember a past life. He conducted more than 2,500 case studies over a period of 40 years and published twelve books, including "Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation" and "Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect".

Stevenson retired in 2002, and psychiatrist Jim B. Tucker took over his work and wrote "Life Before Life". Other people who have undertaken research on reincarnation include Satwant Pasricha, Godwin Samararatne, Antonia Mills, and Erlendur Haraldsson. Research methods have involved analysis of childhood memories, corresponding birthmarks, and psychological/cultural characteristics. Skeptics and the scientific community in general consider reincarnation research to be pseudoscientific. Some parapsychologists advocate developing protocols to guide, sort, compare, and evaluate cases studies. But then everyone has their methods and beliefs.

There is a portion of Islam that believes in reincarnation too. The idea of reincarnation is accepted by a few Muslim sects, particularly of the Ghulat, and by other sects in the Muslim world such as Druzes. Historically, South Asian Isma'ilis performed chantas yearly, one of which is for sins committed in past lives. (Aga Khan IV) Sinan ibn Salman ibn Muhammad, also known as Rashid al-Din Sinan, (r. 1162-92) subscribed to the transmigration of souls as a tenet of the Alawi, who are thought to have been influenced by Isma'ilism. Modern Sufis who embrace the idea of reincarnation include Bawa Muhaiyadeen.

Why can't we go to heaven or hell for eternity?

The answer is very simple and logical. If suppose, we do a bad job on earth for 60 years and then die, we should pay for it in hell for 60 years and be relieved from it. 

In some faiths, the punishment for stealing to fill an empty stomach and that for murdering someone for greed is the same; ie. burning in hell for eternity.
If so... then how is God just?

Hindu scriptures indicate that only Supreme consciousness is beyond time / eternal and other than it, nothing is constant, no beings and no worlds(heaven / hell). God is basically the state of everything (including us 7 nature) and every consciousness in unison, without the feeling of separateness. That is why only God in that form (ie. collective Us / souls) is eternal. None of its forms (individual separate identities) are eternal - whether its Shri Krishna, Christ or any of us humans searching for answers.

Hinduism / Vedic Culture indicates that God is the law of Karma itself. You pay only for what you've done and then you get another chance. So heaven and hell (these are planets in different realms) aren't permanent but only are there to balance our Karma if we cannot do the same in our lifetime, and once our Karma is almost balanced out, we transcend again into a womb with a little backlog of our deeds. This backlog defines our birth situations, families, abilities, etc. 

We go to heaven and hell to clear our Karmic baggage only because we cannot manifest into a pure baby (animal or human) if we already have a lot of karmic backlog, because then our whole lives will be shaped up and would not seem justified.

For example : Suppose I do a lot of good work inspite of being really poor in this life, and immediately after death I take birth in a rich family to enjoy that life as a result of my good Karma. But suppose I turn out to be a young brat in the new rich family, but because my good deeds in previous life, I have so much positive Karmic baggage, that I won't fall into trouble inspite of the brat I've become. This certainly would not be fair to other lifeforms. So, instead of taking birth again, I shall enjoy in heaven and when my Karma gets balanced, I shall be given another chance in this world. 

BUT another chance at what ? Well another chance at achieving enlightenment, knowing my true nature and trying to realize the truth that other than the One Consciousness in its blissfull state, there is nothing else, and we are also it, lost in illusion that God and Us are separate. 
If we achieve this enlightenment, we could achieve Moksha. 

What is Moksha ?
Moksha is the state of bliss in which pure consciousness stays. 

Our bodies are made up of so many tiny organisms. There are so many organisms in our bloodstream, in our intestines, in our stomach, lungs etc. These are living organisms which constantly take birth and keep dying. Our body as we know it is changing every moment. Old cells fall, new cells form. In a year, about 98% of our body gets regenerated. Our bodies are not things but are processes. 

But we are not called processes but are called beings, because we "BE" in a particular space and time, but our body changes constantly. In every different space and time, our bodies have changed as explained above, but do we feel the change in ourselves - Our Beings. 

It feels the same way when I was 12, when I was 20, 40 or 80. The being / " Me " knew that my body has changed, my mind has changed, but the feeling " Me ", has that changed. Me - the observer - has the observer changed ever ? If not, then why would death stop it?

The mind is also just a reflection of learnings, a database of images and videos, and soundfiles and experience of touch. But the " Me ", or the soul is the experiencer which uses the brain and its database to make decisions and to exercise choice.

What does "Me" experience ? The other, always the other.

I experience through my senses - the music, the food, the beauty, the softness, the fragrances. To an organic machinery (our bodies and minds) it would be just sound waves, fuel, rays of colored light, texture, particles hanging in air, respectively. 

Our soul derives the meanings, which is why it changes over time. I used to like rock music when I was young, but now, its too harsh for me, but my friends still find it cool. Our bodies and minds would react in a set pattern, but it is our will / choice /soul that experiences emotions; and it does through the other.

When a soul through observation in meditation learns that the reason why my soul feels connected to anything else and experiences bliss or hate, is because it is the same soul everywhere, that is trapped in an illusion of a separate body and mind, it achieves Moksha. It doesn't need to form another body (take rebirth) because now it has found what it was looking for- the meaning of existence. It has found itself finally so it is emotion free and is in a blissful state. It merges into the unending consciousness and does not get formed into a definite body again, yet remaining conscious forever. This is the way of enlightenment and meditation.

In Hindu scriptures it is mentioned that Moksha can also be achieved through selfless love and devotion, and few other practices as well, also depending on our Karmic baggage.

Aim of every soul is to attain Moksha, and every soul reaches there some way or the other.
So lets clean up our Karma, and pray that we become enlightened in our next birth and achieve Moksha. 

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Who are Om and the Trinity (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva) ? - Hinduism / Vedic God’s Hierarchy

Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva / Mahesh. Who are they? What are they? What do they signify? There is certainly a hierarchy in the Hindu pantheon which is quite interesting. But more interesting is the process of understanding Supreme God, and who the Trinity are.

Here’s the Hierarchy (the ones who are Supreme and their forms)

1. Om / Param Brahm (Supreme One – without a second)

Param Brahm is also acknowledged as Om(Frequency of Creation) & Brahmaand(Universe / Entire Creation)

Its Attributes : No forms, no patterns, it is pure consciousness. It curves into itself to create all matter and energy. It is like waves of consciousness (cannot be imagined, can only be realized). Modern science is saying that every atom and every photon of light is basically created out of a conscious wave of nothingness / infinite possibilities) and they call this probably the primary source of everything. Imagining something like "infinite possibilities" is so weird; isn’t it?

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Okay let’s try to understand it this way. Consciousness runs through everything (all matter and all energies). It is not bound by time or space. Time and space are contained within it. It consciously changes its own frequencies(curves into itself) to form opposites in creation(light and dark, up and down, forward and backward, happening and not happening, ). Without these opposites, creation of any kind isn’t possible. We, in our daily lives, use these opposites every second and nano-second to make conscious and sub conscious decisions – lungs breathe in and out, cells create and die, heart pumps and pulls, to be active or inactive, to do or not do something, to say yes or no, to see or not see, to open or close, to attract or distract. This in physics is referred to as the theory that every action has and equal and opposite reaction, and without it no happening is possible. That is why Param Brahm / Om is also Karma(action – reaction theory)itself. Thus what is created will also destroy - Universe created will destroy, life will face death, you do good to others, others will do good to you. Every action will most definitely have an equal and opposite reaction. that is why nothing is constant in our lives.

To be able to realize God in this form is impossible for us guys. Those who do, achieve Moksha (salvation / freedom from being enveloped in form and energy as humans or other species)

Idol worship or rituals, etc of Param Brahm cannot be done, because it cannot be imagined in the first place. You can only close your eyes and pray. It has no specific gender, no specific form, not any specific energy(its not like light, heat, etc because energy has a flow and pattern). At the same time, because of such a nature, it can also be all of them (it is every gender, every form and every type of energy). It can form infinite forms and creatures. It is totally creative. Apart from that, it is the conscious force within every living being that takes decisions and thinks.
It is the force that goes against the brain fed rules, and reaches out to help, love and revolt.

2. The Trinity (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva)

Om/Supreme consciousness curves into itself to make finite possibilities out of infinite possibilities (as indicated earlier). For that to happen, any possibility, needs to have three attributes in time and space:  Start, Middle and End – also called creation, sustaining period and destruction.
The Trinity represents these three aspects of the spirit.

Without destruction, creation will have no meaning, creation will be ever growing (like cancer cells). Without a period of sustenance (i.e. if immediately after creation comes full destruction), there would be constant creation and constant destruction, nothing will sustain. There will be no concept of time / lifespan / period. There will be no concept of 'past-present-future', which in turn means that there will be no concept of life(as life is the amount of time anything sustains). Sustenance is necessary to make lifespan/timeline/life of anything possible (lifespan of the universe, planets, stars, life of animals, plants, life of bacteria, cells, atoms, life of humans, etc.). Time = Life.

 “Brahma - the creator”(not to be mistaken for Param Brahm or Brahmaand) is basically the creative phenomenon /force, "Shiva / Mahesh - the destroyer" is the destructive phenomenon /force. "Vishnu - the preserver", as a phenomenon, comes in the middle of Brahma and Shiva to sustain this creation. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are all phenomenon of the same consciousness in order to make lifespan / life possible in time and space. Every spec of matter and every photon of light gets created, sustains, then it destroys/transforms. It is the basis of anything and everything.

Note: When we say our bodies destroy, what really happens is, that it transforms/breaks down into other elements and then are used to form / create something else. Degradation / death is basically one form transforming to another. That is why Shiva – the destroyer is also seen as The Transformer.

Unlike Om / Supreme consciousness, these three can be imagined and can be realized in and around us, as the process of creation, sustenance, and destruction / transformation unfolds in the universe. All of these forces are conscious like Om and thus to be able to communicate to them through a medium, they have been given forms(the formless have been given forms)

Brahma’s four heads represent the four Vedas (the four categories of knowledge). It does not literally mean that actually the phenomenon called Brahma has four heads. But since human knowledge is contained in the brain, is communicated through the mouth, the head is a sign of knowledge. All these images have been codified in illustration, so that children and others could be explained the presence and attributes of divinity. This way they can understand the basic virtues and philosophical science behind the secrets of life. So Brahma has four heads(not in reality) to explain the scripted and identified knowledge of life given by the Creator.


Vishnu is shown as the preserver dreaming in half sleep mode. His dreaming is the representation of the idea that this Supreme Consciousness is curving into itself delaying its own destruction (and thus creating time and lifespan). I don't think there is a better way to represent that other than Vishnu in a state of dreaming(which is neither activity/creation, nor inactivity/death) in half -sleep. Vishnu holds many items, and since they cannot fit in 2 human like hands, he has been given two more. These items are symbolic of intangible things like virtue, Dharma(righteousness),  ability to destroy and protect. If you want to know what each of these signify, you should research more.

Shiva is shown as the meditating ascetic. Why? Because he keeps reminding that in the end, everything destroys and becomes pure consciousness again, nothing is constant, so keep your mind away from materialism. He is also called Bholenath(the innocent lord), because inspite of being so powerful, he does not engage to plan or shape events like Vishnu(who plans and shapes events so that they can continue to happen, which makes our universe sustain).

Half Vishnu - Half Shiva, showing equal importance and harmony.

Why Vishnu = Shiva ?
Without sustenance, destruction has no meaning (as there would be no fear of destruction) and similarly without destruction, sustenance would be boring and without a purpose. That is why Shiva and Vishnu are bound together, in a particular form representation. They have total love, total understanding and total devoution for each other. This is very evident in many Avataars and many mythological stories(Ram & Hanuman, Shiva & Parashuram, etc).

Why isn't Brahma worshiped ?

Brahma, the creative force on the other hand isn't worshipped. Now why would the creator not be worshipped? The philosophy goes something like this. Brahma is surely respected as "Param Pitah"(First father), and is also invoked in rituals and chants, but is not utterly loved and not worshiped from heart. There are stories/mythology behind this, but the main philosophy as I have understood from these stories is like this :

Brahma is the creator of this illusion that we call as the universe. Before that all creation was Om(only consciousness). The stories say that, it is because of Brahma’s inquisitive nature, that he created the various life forms, in delusion. Brahma was the first delusion to separate from the collective consciousness, and started finding his purpose of being(the same way we do). He got egoistic that he is the first one to be and would create everything for the first time, until he was made to realize by Om that the place he was appearing / being is the cosmos(Om) which is timeless. This crashed his ego.
This phenomenon of Brahma, exists in all of us. The life forms that Brahma created, were pure consciousness before, in a state of bliss. Brahma necessitated them to take forms and created this illusion of being in a physical body. All these forms(plants, animals, insects, humans) fell into the competitive spirit(food, hunting, survival) and humans especially in the search for answers, finding God, finding peace, finding purpose of life, fighting over petty issues, etc. It created ego and self righteous pride. It took away the innocent, blissful state and gave birth to competition, suffering and fear, physical and emotional pain. The good thing that we were given is a chance to arise above this competitive spirit, and listen to our souls. That is why we can go against the call of the brain(survival spirit) and donate, sacrifice, share and feel joy in the joy of others. Only humans have the capability to realize that how they are connected to Om.
And so Brahma (inspite of being a necessary phenomenon in creation) is not worshiped.

Vishnu and Shiva, on the other hand, explain the state of grace, peace and tranquility, because they know the truth and need not create in order to search themselves. Brahma created the Vedas in form of explanations - do’s and don’ts, in phrases and explanations, in rituals and methods, but it is Vishnu and Shiva who transform into that very enlightening force and enter into our lives and steadily enlighten our souls. Thus it is said that, even if one has not read the Vedas(created by Brahma), true loving devotion in Vishnu(or any of his forms) or Shiva(or any of his forms) can provide equal or more bliss.

3. Below them fall the Avataars of the Trinity (manifestations at different periods in time to save and guide people) like Ram, Krishna, Hanuman, etc.
4. Below them are the Dev(Male angels) and Devis(Female Angels) also known as Demi Gods (they control various natural phenomenon like rain, sun, planets, wind, etc), the Rishis(seers and sages) and  Prajapatis(Great kings who gave shape to organised society).
5. Below them are other regular humans, animals and plants

IMPORTANT NOTE :  This hierarchy is in terms of enlightenment and knowledge. It does not give the right to disrespect or be cruel as nobody escapes the law Karma(in Om), not even the Avataars of Vishnu or Shiva.

Thank You
Saurabh Dey