"Born Again"

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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:

 

 

 

Born Again!

 

 

 

Reincarnation or Rebirth is a cornerstone of our philosophy. It is

extremely significant, and enables us to explain the apparent arbitrariness of

life. A child is born to wealthy parents, never lacks for anything right from

the moment of birth, attends the best of schools, is given the most nutritious

food, and grows up into a strong, intelligent human being.

 

 

 

Side by side, we have the phenomenon of another child, born of parents for whom

each day represents a struggle to live, for whom even a square meal a day is a

luxury. This child can at best look at good food or playthings with longing but

can never hope to possess them.

 

 

 

This appears to be a patent injustice to the latter child. Why should it suffer

for no fault of its, while the first kid is born with the proverbial silver

spoon in its mouth? Is the Lord so whimsical that he bestows His favours on one

child while apparently turning a blind eye to the sufferings of the other? Or

does He too play favourites, showering some with the choicest of life's

blessings, while allowing some to wither away uncared for?

 

 

 

These and similar other questions are difficult to answer for people of other

faiths, who have to necessarily say that it is the wise God's will that this is

so. However, even the most pious would find it difficult to believe in a divine

wisdom that has apparently no rational basis, is patently arbitrary, and

dispenses reward and retribution without regard to reasonable criteria.

 

 

 

It is here that the Reincarnation theory comes to our rescue, by attributing

whatever one enjoys or suffers in this birth to the actions, good and bad, which

one has undertaken in one's previous births. By putting the responsibility for

our actions squarely on our own shoulders, this concept also absolves the Lord

of the stigma of arbitrariness in His dispensation. The Lord is but an Arbiter

("KarmAnurUpa phala prada:"), who ensures that we work off some of our burden of

Karma in every birth. In the process, He is perhaps kind enough to see that all

the bad deeds are not allotted to any particular janma, so that life doesn't

become one long saga of suffering.

 

 

 

When we talk of rebirth, we usually refer to being born again after one life

cycle: that is, we are born, grow up into adults, age into senior citizens and

then pass away one day, either suddenly or as a result of illness which is the

harbinger of the end. Some people have their lives cut short by accidents or

disease, which cause a premature demise.

 

 

 

We also talk of rebirth in another context, especially when one has been saved

from certain death. The passenger in the front seat of the vehicle, who escapes

miraculously while the driver is killed instantaneously in an accident,

 

 

 

the shipwrecked person who manages to stay alive, clutching on to bits of wood

and eating whatever he could lay his hand on and surviving till he is rescued,

 

 

 

the lone survivor in an air crash which takes a toll of several hundred human

lives

 

-it is common for all these survivors to exclaim," I have been given a fresh

lease of life". Though not literally, they consider themselves to have been born

again. And even to this day, when medical advance is at its pinnacle, delivery

or childbirth is considered to be a "Punarjanma" for some ladies, due to the

myriad potential complications. All this represents a concept of rebirth, which

does not entail leaving one's current mortal coils.

 

 

 

Azhwars talk of Rebirth in another sense. As long as we remain shackled by

desire, ignorance, anger, etc., we are as good as not having been born. For,

after all, we have been blessed with a human birth so that we may realise the

folly of our ways, resolve not to get caught in the vicious cycle of samsara

ever again and adopt a suitable strategy for liberating ourselves from this

eternal tedium of births and deaths. If we fail in this and continue merrily on

our errant ways, this human birth is indeed wasted on us, and we are as good as

not having been born at all.

 

 

 

"andru nAn pirandilEn" says Sri Tirumazhisai PirAn, reiterating that it is not a

birth at all, which doesn't make us think constantly of the Lord and His

splendour.

 

 

 

When we realise that we are the servants of Emperuman, that He is our Lord and

Master, that it is our past karma which precludes us from realising our own

selves and our relationship with the Supreme Being, that once we surrender

ourselves to Him, He washes off our sins as if cleaning up a dirtied diamond and

affords us eternal bliss in His constant company- when we realise all this, it

is then that we are "born" in the real sense of the term. For samsaris like us,

such realisation constitutes a Rebirth. We are "born again" as "SEshAs", whose

principal aim is to please the Lord through thought word and deed, all through

our lives here and thereafter in Paramapadam.

 

"andru nAn pirandilEn, pirandapin marandilEn" says the Azhwar. Once we are

blessed with such a rebirth, we are never able to forget the Lord or His

innumerable auspicious attributes. He is constantly in our thoughts and all our

actions are directed towards pleasing Him in all possible ways. When our conduct

is fashioned along these lines, we find ourselves unable to commit sin (for it

displeases the Lord), unable to get angry at fellow human beings, (who also

represent Bhagavat Svaroopam), unable to covet others' belongings (for

everything belongs to Him).

 

 

 

And how do we attain such a "Rebirth"?

 

It is the Acharya who, by bestowing on us true knowledge, makes us "Born Again"

Vaishnavas. Here, knowledge refers not to acquisition of degrees, diplomas and

certificates, which are not worth the paper they are written on, once we leave

this mundane morass. These are "SumayAna KalvigaL", which are but a burden.

That which liberates can only qualify for the epithet

 

" Knowledge"("sA vidyA yA vimuktayE"). And the Acharya, by blessing us with

such liberating knowledge, initiates us into a new life, where we start with a

beautifully clean slate and can draw the most beautiful pictures hitherto

unknown to ourselves.

 

Describing the matchless contribution of the Acharya in Sri NyAsa

Vimsati-"Janma Pradhvamsi janma prada". The birth our parents give us is capable

of leading us deeper and deeper into the quagmire of samsara. In striking

contrast, the VidyA janma, which the Acharya bestows on us, is so powerful that

it destroys all future births. It strikes our ignorance at the roots, ensuring

that it never raises its ugly head again.

 

Every eligible person is said to be reborn upon undergoing the samskAra of

Upanayanam, which makes him eligible to learn the Shruti. It is only by

performing rites such as Sandhyavandanam, Brahmayagyam, agnihOtram, oupAsanam,

Bhagavat ArAdhanam, etc., that one can call oneself a "Dwija" or the Reborn One.

However, even this rebirth pales into insignificance when compared to the one

afforded by the Acharya, since the latter effectively destroys the tree of

samsara and rescues us from the vicious cycle of births and deaths.

 

 

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana

Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:

 

Dasan, sadagopan.