Miscellaneous - Religion   

Eternal existence

CHENNAI: Human beings can be grouped into different categories from the spiritual perspective to assess what their status will be after this birth. This knowledge is crucial for a spiritual seeker to know his level of evolution so that he can make appropriate efforts to realise the objective of liberation from bondage in this birth itself. The first type follows the Vedic injunctions faithfully. Such a person by virtue of the merit (Punya) he earns will reach the world of the Devas (celestials) and enjoy its pleasures, and will eventually be born again in this world when his Punya is exhausted.

The second kind is he who besides discharging the duties prescribed by the Vedas, also contemplates on the Pranava, Om. There is no return to this world of bondage for him as after this life he reaches the world of the creator, Brahma (Brahmaloka), and is finally liberated by divine grace when that abode also undergoes dissolution at the time of Mahapralaya.

The third is the man of wisdom (Jnani), who is Self-realised, and hence there is no more sorrow for him here in this world or after. There is a fourth category of people, who even though blessed with human birth, which is intended for realising the goal of liberation, waste this rare opportunity without doing anything to better their lot.

In his discourse, Sri N.Veezhinathan said the Bhagavad Gita stated that all the worlds from that of Brahma downwards underwent creation and dissolution, thereby underscoring that they were conditioned by time—hence transitory. Krishna told Arjuna, “This multitude of beings, being born again and again, is dissolved under compulsion of its nature at the coming of the cosmic night, and rises again at the commencement of the cosmic day.”

The Gita says that far beyond the cosmos is another existence, the unmanifest, which is eternal (Brahman). The Absolute Self, Brahman, alone is eternal and hence only realisation of the Self will liberate a person from transmigration because only the lifespan varies in the different worlds. The objective must be then to attain that “state from which there is no return” to this world, which is transitory and full of sorrow.

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