Moksha and Reincarnation

Questions are in Blue , Answers by Shri Kesava Rao Tadipatri.

1) The argument is, since we have no recollection of past lives what is the need for Moksha?

What has recollection to do with mokSha? In fact, it is a blessing not to have the recollection. Imagine the fate of a person, who was donkey in prior birth and remembers it all? What is worse is imagine the fate of one spouse being a horse and the other a worm and they remember that all and happen to talk about that? As it is, we have enough problems and hardly do the endeavor to make any significant progress. Added to that, we have this load also, we will be doomed.

The worst that can happen is a person who has material troubles would say, "uh-huh...one of my past lives should have strived for and obtained Moksha so I would not have been born now!!!"

Has the person made a choice to have the troubles? Has he made a choice to get the human body? Has he made a choice to have certain beings as parents? That being the case, how can he make a decision as to when to have mokSha? If wishes were to become horses, the beggars would ride.

2) Does the Jiva that has attained Moksha have any recollection of its various lives on planet earth?

The shAstra says that he may remember the charama deha (or final body). That is the greatest life, he had. Why worry about the rest? One who goes to mokSha will be "AptakAma". He gets what he wishes for (For ex, if he wishes to see his parents from last janma, who may have given up their bodies, he can.). Because of the AptkAmatva, he may be able to recollect more. But, one who has reached that stage knows what is best for him.

If yes, who does it identify with as each of them was a completely separate individual?

If you are talking about the bodies, he will not identify with any of those. If you are talking about the soul, it is the same soul. Where is the question of "completely separate soul"?

If not, then there is no link at all between the person who strived for Moksha and the actual Jiva that is in Vaikunta, which again raises the wisdom of the exercise.

The jIva that strived is same as the one that is in VaikuNTha. It is not that when the jIva goes to mokSha, it becomes a different jIva.

A truly wise jIva will not bother about the mortal coil. The body is formed out of panchbhUtas and joins back into the same panchabhUtas.

The detachment from the body does not mean "ignoring the body". The high devotion for God acknowledges the fact that the body is given as a prasada (grace) of God and must be utilized for the service of the Lord, to the best of one's yogyata.

Or is it the case that somehow the quest for and the destination of Moksha is predestined for a soul, which would dismiss both the above questions?

It is predestined from God's point of view. If He is all-knowing, He must also know what the fate of the soul is. Right? However, from the point of view of ordinary jIva, it is not. So, it will act as per its svabhAva and God will lead in the appropriate path.

If it is an aparokSha jnAni, he knows his destination, and by virtue of his being so, submits to the Lord's will, gladly.

The above questions are dismissed on their own as well. What has recollection to do with mokSha? In fact, it is a blessing not to have the recollection...

Recollection has everything to do with it! If I am striving for something today, it is with the intention of reaping the result at a future point of time. Without recollection of my goal and efforts, that is not achieved.

Suppose you are a chemist and doing an experiment. It will yield some results. Will the results depend on what you mix and how you do or will it depend on whether the person remembers what for he started or not? As you sow, so you reap. That will not depend on whether you remember or not.

For example, Dawood Ibrahim, regardless of several crimes, has not been apprehended and is apparently doing just fine. The Karma logic says, he will be punished in a different life. But in a different life he has no recollection of his crimes and will have no idea why he is being subject to suffering.

Suppose he gets his head knocked against something accidentally and forgets all the past. Would you like to let him go scot-free?

The real impact of the punishment would be now, in this life.

In one janma a person accumulates enough pApa and puNya that can go for many janmas.

There are two possibilities:

1. If a person does not remember, do not punish him - so just let him go scot-free. So, his own inability to remember beyond one janma lets him escape. So, the additional draw-back should be a blessing for him?

2. Since, he can remember only that janma, give him phala in that janma itself. So, his life-span become 10 times. Now in each of these 10 sections, he performs enough karma that lasts 10 times and so his life-span will have to become hundred times and so on. Thus, God has to make every being live eternally with one body itself and there can not be any liberation.

कर्मणा बाध्यते जन्तुः

So what is the solution? If one acquires enough knowledge, to perform the actions with bhagavadarpaNabuddhi, they become nivR^ittakarma and so not binding. That is why, jAna is stressed so much.

"नान्यः पंथा अयनाय विद्यते"

If the liberated Jiva has no recollection of me (Shiv), then that is really someone/something else, or more to the point - it is not me as I know myself. Why would I bother to strive for its liberation?

Are you (Shiv) your body or something else? If you think it is your body, do you remember that in your prior janma also you had the same body and the same name? If you don't then, why do you identify yourself with your body. When you say 'my chair', 'my car', 'my house', even though you sit' on it' or 'in it' or 'stay in it', you are able to realize that you are not those things. Then when you say "my body", why do you identify with your body. Then you may raise the objection "well if you are not your body, why do you have so much attachment?". Same way as for your chair, your car and your house. The degree of attachment keeps varying. When the soul leaves the body, they burn the body. Will the soul be crying over that burnt body? Will the people keep the dead bodies forever, thinking that they are not really bodies, but John or Jacob or whatever?