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Re: prakR^iti and karma
Dhruba Chakravarti (dchakrav@netserv.unmc.edu) wrote:
: First, people are not born with any God-given svabhAva, inferior or
: superior. God said that He does not create karmafala. svabhAva is the
: result of what we choose to be, a culmination of choices and circustances
: around us.
Dear Friends:
As I read this post back, I found that the issue of the relationship of
svabhAva and birth remains not discussed. In the earlier post, I meant
bhAva for svabhAva. Henceforth, I will maintain the distinction.
Jiva cultivates the mind and the five senses in life (SBG 15.7),
and in death, takes away the essence of these (i.e., indriyArtha), like air
carries aroma (15.8). The Divine idea (svabhAva) is ever-present,
and does not die with the death of a person (SBG 8.20). It is upto us to
conform to svabhAva, by making choices. We could make daivI choices or
we could make Asuric choices, but both will be the reflection of how we
use the svabhAva. The use of our free will results in the manifestation
of svabhAva, shaping our personality or bhAva. Thus God says that among
his vibhutis, He is manifest as the cheating by the diplomat and the
honesty of the sattva-guNi (SBG 10.4-5,36).
SBG verses 8.5-6, describe another aspect of bhAva. The shaping of the bhAva
happens in mortal life. Thus, beyond the final moments of life, bhAva
becomes like a borken record, to be played and replayed in non-carnal
existence of the soul. It could make the departed soul enact the
unfulfilled indriyArtha over and over. God said therefore, one should
develop daivI-bhava, which would without doubt, enable a soul to recieve
God's idea or svabhAva in death (sa madbhAvaM yati nAstratya saMshayaH, SBG
8.5). Of course, that is not the only way to know God.
With best regards,
Dhruba.
