POSITIVE KARMIC DEPOSITS - WHAT AN INVESTMENT!

THE SPEAKING TREE, ToI, 26.04.2011

Whether anyone believes in it or not, the fact is that we all have an after life. Its scientific explanation is logical too. Just as matter cannot be created nor be destroyed but merely transformed into another form, just the same way, our body after our passing away from this life, is transformed into another form. It would be a misconception to believe that there is an end, a finality to our lives. It is not so. There is just transformation. It is proven in Buddhist tantric experiments that the natural elements of nature (earth, wind, fire, water, space) have the qualities of the mind and also support vital systems of our body functions. It is also proven with logic and proof that there is continuity of our mind from one birth to another. You may have heard of real-life instances where a child quite naturally yet vividly remembers the place of birth and some of the critical happenings of his/her past life. Therefore, there is direct linkage of the elements to our psycho-physical state. There is no doubt about this in minds of Buddhist practitioners.

So if we can conclude that there is afterlife, the natural question that arises is: What kind of births can we take?

Again according to Buddhist teachings there are six realms in which we can be re-born. Hell, Pretas (Hungry ghosts), Animals, Human, Asuras (Demi-gods) and god realms. It is not to say that there are different worlds that we are born in or anything like that. First the bad news. All these countless rebirths from beginningless time are the direct effect of our afflicted emotions. The reason for being born in these realms is driven by the resulting karmic accumulations. For eg: Being born in the hell realm is due to our afflicted emotions of hatred, being born as hungry ghosts is due to greed, envy/jealousy leads us to birth in the asura realm, pride into the god realm, confusion as animals and ignorance as humans beings. Even for those born in god realm, there is intense suffering as the good effect that has given them this birth will be worn out someday and they will have to be reborn in lower realms. This is because they are not in a position to accumulate anymore good karma nor clean their accumulated bad ones, being in a state of mental blankness. Now the good news. It is birth only in the human realm - with its freedoms and advantages of being born with intact sense faculties at a place where dharma teachings can be obtained (quite obsolete in this internet era!) and with the right intent and faith – that spiritual trajectory and therefore possibility of good re-birth is possible.

So what does this mean? It simply means that if we wish to be born in higher realm we can undertake practices in this human life to achieve the end we want. We can tweak the stacked up causes before us to our advantage to have the desired good effect. And these practices essentially lead us to doing good deeds of body, speech and mind, in the process accumulating deposits of good karma in our spiritual bank account.

It is a good thing to accumulate good karma by doing good deeds in a non-conceptualized manner i.e. without an ulterior motive of personal gain or gratification or to show-off. However, the true fruit of this merit is deposited into your account only after such deeds are dedicated to the wellness and Buddhahood of every sentient being. While it is good to increase the ‘bank balance’ in this way and add to the credit side, it is of significance to keep an eye on the debit side of the entries as well! These debits have been there over lifetimes and we may not even remember when and how we have accumulated them. Therefore, to undertake guided practices to negate our bad karma accumulations is critical too for a healthy balance sheet.

Finally, there has to be a constant vigil on debit and credit side, it needs to be a sustained practice all the time in this human life, if we desire to get good rebirth which clearly all of us want.

What better investment can we think of in this materially driven world than investing in the mother of all investments, where accomplishment and returns are guaranteed. The investment in good karmic deposits! The perfect solution to a peaceful, happy and terrific quality of life here and ahead!

Go ahead friends, choose your lives!