Reincarnation

Reincarnation

I suppose in the world, today, there are really three approaches to the idea of

reincarnation. A two-fold one in the West, where the idea itself is almost

non-existent, either a belief in the transmigration of souls - that you could be a

human being in one life and an animal in the next, and therefore that there is

great danger in swiping flies and treading on ants because it could be your

grandmother -- or simply an interest in past lives. That is almost the sole interest

in the concept of rebirth in the West.

In the East, broadly speaking, people do believe in reincarnation and, correctly,

in relation to the Law of Karma. Unfortunately, even in the East, the Law of

Karma is seen from an erroneous point of view. Of course, here and there, both

in East and West, there is a correct interpretation and approach to the idea of

rebirth, and its close connection with the Law of Action and Reaction, Cause and

Effect.

In the Orient, most people believing in the Law of Karma accept that they are

who and where they are because of their actions in a previous life, which is true;

but, unfortunately, they think they can do nothing about changing their particular

situation, which is not true. In the West, we tend to think that we are totally in

control of our destiny, which we are to some extent, but that there is no greater

law governing our destiny, which is not true.

The Westerner tends to reject the idea of a future life. It is an idea which is

only just beginning to engage people's minds. If he thinks about it at all, he really

thinks about it in terms of: If I have a future life, I must have had a past life; and if

I had a past life it is interesting to know w...

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...ally artificial and man-made. The poverty, the

squalor, the degradation and the misery of people in the Third World is not

necessary, it is not a result of karma, but of our greed. And we have the major

responsibility to help them change these conditions and enter true living.

People think of karma as always from the past life, but what about yesterday's

karma, or the day before, last week's, last month's karma? It is this succession of

moments of action and reaction which today we are coping with, which tomorrow

and in our next life we will cope with. Until we come into right relationship with

each other and with the whole of which we are a part, we will go on making bad

karma. It is more important, more useful, to realize the benefit of right

relationship, thus handling the Laws of Karma and Rebirth correctly, than to know

our past lives.