Animals and Karma: Center Your Life on Guru-Guided Bhakti

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Animals and Karma: Center Your Life on Guru-Guided Bhakti

 

Q & A with Swami B. V. Tripurari

 

"When your spiritual progress is complete, you will be liberated from

karma and the cycle of birth and death, and everyone who comes in

contact with you (even the cat) will be benefited through the grace of

Sri Krsna."

 

Q. It is difficult for me to understand how life forms lower than human

beings, such as plants, insects, and amphibians, could have souls.

Could you shed some light on this?

 

A. In Hinduism human life is differentiated from other species in that

it provides the opportunity to directly pursue God consciousness. God

consciousness is the goal of life, and human consciousness affords the

opportunity to realize this. This unique position of humanity, however,

evolves over lifetimes. Who is evolving? It is consciousness, or the

eternal soul. Hinduism equates consciousness with the spark of life

that animates matter and as that which has divine potential. Wherever

there is consciousness, there is life.

 

When consciousness identifies with matter through desire and subsequent

attachment, it forms an identity that is distinct from itself, a false

or material identity. Thus the many forms of life are all a product of

consciousness identifying through desire in one way or another with

matter. When an individual spark of consciousness evolves to human

life, it has reached the doorway to divine life. Thus in Hinduism all

sentient beings have the potential to realize God, while the most

suitable vehicle to do so from is the human form of life. Exactly where

one is situated on the ladder of life is determined by karmic rule.

 

Q. If the enjoyment and suffering of human beings is the result of

their karma, what determines the enjoyment and suffering of animals?

 

A. Embodied souls pass through many species of life, but only as human

beings do they accrue karma, as only in that condition is one's free

will fully manifest. With free will comes responsibility. Humans who

misuse their free will have to lose their free will, at least for a

time. Chapter sixteen of the Bhagavad-gita says that such human beings

will have to take birth in lower species of life. Thus some souls in

human dress later wear the dress of an animal and the degree of

suffering or enjoyment they have in animal life is directly related to

what they did in human life. Animals cannot create new karma because

they are completely controlled by their nature. Similar to criminals

being incarcerated by the state, souls wearing animal bodies serve out

their karmic sentences until they are again eligible for a human form

of life, where they will have another chance to act responsibly and

progress toward liberation.

 

Q. What would a human being have to do to be reincarnated as a

chimpanzee, as opposed to being reincarnated as a human or higher?

 

A. The general rule is that one's future birth is determined by desire.

In accordance with one's desires, material nature gives one the body

one deserves, a body that best facilitates the satisfaction of those

desires. For example, the body of a hog facilitates gluttony much more

than the human body does, and a chimpanzee in his or her natural

habitat has the capability to enjoy unrestricted sexual activity far

beyond that of a human being. Human life is best suited for spiritual

pursuit. Indeed, this is what sets it apart from other species. If in

human dress one does not care for this opportunity and simply pursues

that which another species are best suited for, material nature

provides one the facility-the appropriate body-to satisfy those

pursuits.

 

In regard to determining one's future destination, Bhagavad-gita says

that a predominance of tamas (ignorance/indolence) in one's psyche,

manifesting in human life as the proclivity for overindulgence in

sensual enjoyment, pushes one downward in the next life. A predominance

of rajas (concern for material improvement) keeps one perpetually in

the human condition, and the predominance of sattva (goodness/virtue)

propels one upward in the spiritual direction.

 

Q. What determines how an animal is reborn after it dies?

 

A. The entire life of an animal, including its next birth, is

determined by what that entity did in its previous human life. In human

life one can act such that one's karma involves taking a number of

births in lower species of life before returning to human life. As the

Gita says, mudha janmani janmani: a person may have to take birth after

birth in lower species of life if they spend their time in human life

foolishly.

 

Q. The other night we accidentally killed a cat with our car. What type

of karmic arrangement was this? Was it our bad karma that we should do

this to another living being or was it just the cat's time to change

bodies? Is there anything that we can do to avoid karmic reactions such

as this? Being practicing devotees, this concerns us.

 

A. It is nearly impossible to sort out the details of one's karmic

entanglement, as there are so many factors involved. However, the Padma

Purana discusses five stages of karmic reactions beginning with

unmanifest karma (aprarabdha), that which is not presently bearing

fruit, to manifesting karma (pararabda), that which is appearing in

one's life at present. The Padma Purana says that karmic reactions from

previous lives appear in one's present life first in the form of a

subtle psychological disposition (kuta) that bias one toward a

particular type of action. This is followed by the appearance of a

desire (bija) to act in particular way. When one acts on this desire,

one's karma is bearing fruit (phalonmukham) and is then fully manifest.

These actions in turn create further unmanifest karma and thus the

karmic cycle of action and reaction is perpetuated. The root of all of

these stages of karmic repercussion is ignorance (avidya). Bhakti has

the power to uproot one's ignorance and destroy all of these stages of

karmic reactions.

 

At the time of diksa, one becomes equipped to deal with these

reactions. Indeed, it is said that diksa itself destroys them inasmuch

as it involves the imparting of divya-jnana (divine knowledge) in the

form of the diksa mantra and its explanation. Diksa takes time to fully

manifest. It falls under the heading of sambandha-jnana, which for the

sadhaka involves acquiring an appropriate conceptual orientation to

life, one that fosters hearing and chanting about Bhagavan. One's

sambandha-jnana is complete and realized at the time one graduates from

sadhana bhakti and enters bhava-bhakti. At this time, in the devotional

stage of asakti, one no longer suffers from karmic reactions.

 

When Sri Krsna formally enters into our life through diksa, karma's

influence over us is altered and we become like a debtor who has

declared bankruptcy and has taken shelter of the court. While karma

still remains, as we act in devotional service under the guidance of

Sri Guru, we cease from implicating ourselves further in karma.

Moreover, our bhakti destroys our unmanifest karma, changes our

disposition, and eradicates our desire to act contrary to that which is

favorable to bhakti. Ultimately, Bhakti Devi destroys our prarabdha and

transforms our sadhaka deha (practitioner's body) into one that is

cid-ananda mayi, filled with Sri Krsna's svarupa-sakti. Thus the life

of a sadhaka is not a life under the rule of karma, nor is it one that

is entirely free from karma's influence, at least not until one's

sadhana is mature.

 

Naturally you feel some responsibility for your role in the death of

the cat. However, you should try to see this as an incident in which

your manifest karma coincided with the manifest karma of the cat. Your

will was not directly involved. Life is full of such incidents. Indeed,

even lighting a fire to cook causes death to some species. Even our

breathing kills. No material action is free from fault. However, this

does not mean that we should cease from acting. Sri Krsna in

Bhagavad-gita (18.56) encourages us thus: "Even though engaged in all

kinds of activities (karmani), the person who takes refuge in me

attains my eternal imperishable abode by my grace." Therefore, center

your life on guru-guided bhakti. When your spiritual progress is

complete, you will be liberated from karma and the cycle of birth and

death, and everyone who comes in contact with you (even the cat) will

be benefited through the grace of Sri Krsna.

 

Questions or comments may be submitted at the Q&A Forum:

http://www.swami.org/sanga/ or email sangaeditor (AT) swami (DOT) org.

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Friday, March, 17, 2006, Vol. VIII, No. 3

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