Srila Siddhaswarupananda Q&A

[Gauracandra]

This is last week’s Srila Siddhaswarupananda television program. I took the notes, but was too busy to type up a summary until now. Its basically a Q&A session on a lecture.

 

Audience member: There is a very nice quote in one of your books that says “Can anyone deny that the soul of the caterpillar transmigrates into the body of the butterfly?” Are you saying that the caterpillar has a soul?

 

Srila Siddhaswarupananda: There are certain symptoms of a life particle. Has anyone here taken biology? When life is in matter it has metabolism, reproduction, complex chemistry. You will find this in a caterpillar, you will find this in a dog, in plants. However, this microphone will not grow. It has no response. It doesn’t reproduce unfortunately.

 

Every spirit soul is a child of God. In the Bible there is a statement that the Supreme Father has taken care of all the birds. Has given clothes to the lily in the field. So don’t worry about what you will eat or wear. God is the cause of all causes. When we say the living being is transmigrating from one body to the next, we are saying the same self that was in the caterpillar is now in the butterfly. You were once in a baby body. That has been left behind long ago.

 

There is another way to understand the soul and that is in the ability to know God. The distinguishing characteristic that separates man from animal is this ability to inquire into the nature of the self. Animals eat, sleep, mate and defend. But as humans we have a fifth characteristic to enquire. Some will say that we have souls but that animals don’t have a soul. Every animal will take on the form of a human being. I have a greater facility as a human and so I must not waste this precious form of life. If externally you look human, but you only engage in the activities of animals (not inquiring into the nature of the self) then you are essentially an animal, and will take such a form in your next life.

 

The human form of life is so precious because we can use it to know God. Augustine says that there is a dog soul, a cat soul, but that they are eternally dog and cat souls. We say this is unfair for God to have children that can never know Him. Those who deny transmigration are saying that God is unfair.

 

Audience member: What is the law of cause and effect? Is it related to karma?

 

Srila Siddhaswarupananda: Karma means that for every action there will be a reaction. Everything one does will come back. “As you sow, so shall you reap.” Karma means action. The reason one must reincarnate is because of good and bad karma. One person is born beautiful and rich. Another is born poor and ugly. If you believe in God then it would appear He is unfair. People who deny reincarnation don’t have an answer as to why we are born into different situations.

 

Every individual is reaping the fruits he has previously planted. Even before he is conceived the activities prior to conception has determined the nature of his future. You are responsible. I am responsible. Its not God’s fault. So many people have become atheist because they don’t understand this. Our activities now will determine our future. Destiny is in our own hands. I can do now what I want – good or bad. However, even good karma isn’t good for the transcendentalist. Because then you must take birth again to reap the benefits of one’s good works. Even in material heavenly planets, like Hawaii is a sort of heavenly planet, but still there is birth, disease, old age, and finally death.

 

So how do I live without acting? The answer is in the Sri Isopanishad. The first mantra reads: “Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.” Everything belongs to God. If you act on this fact, then mantra 2 says: “One may aspire to live for hundreds of years if he continuously goes on working in that way, for that sort of work will not bind him to the law of karma. There is no alternative to this way for man.”

 

Work in devotional service, actions done in the service of God, are neither good nor bad. There is no reaction. The person is working for God’s will. Engaging one’s life activities does not create good or bad karma. Chanting God’s names, reading scripture. These are neither good nor bad. They are devotional activities. If a person’s whole life is dedicated to God, then everything he does is centered on God. Then there is no more karmic reaction.