"My. that's some mighty strong wind out there"
If (according to Jainism) the wind has a soul, and the water has a soul, and the wind is blatantly upsetting the water; does the wind get bad karma? Ten people died today as a direct result of the wind. Does that mean that the soul of the wind will come back reincarnated as an even lesser single sense ajiva being?
As I had mentioned earlier, is it right that we should pay the penance of actions performed in our past lives through our current life? I can't tell if I had a past life, and if I did I can't remember it. Many may argue that they would not want to be punished for something they do not remember doing. Let's turn this around: if someone hurt me in my past life, and their soul was reborn as one of my friends (or for that sake, a stranger), I wouldn't want to see them hurt. I can't remember what they did. They can't remember what they did. They are of no threat to me now - why should they be punished?
I like the idea of reincarnation and karma to attain salvation - but sometimes bad things happen to you because of circumstance. If you walk around in rough neighbourhoods, you'll probably get mugged. If you smoke, you'll probably get cancer. If you steal, you'll get caught and adopt the title of 'girlfriend' for some burly (yet sensitive) in-mate. One may argue that it's karma that puts us in the compromised position in the first place. If this is the case, are we just part of the deterministic world-view of causality; embroiled in a neverending chain of events according to the laws of karma? Are we simply running through the pre-defined (brownian) motions?
At that point my thoughts were rudely interrupted by the call of work. For those who know me, I have a slight penchant to start ranting, and I promised myself I would say something interesting that did not involve religion (me! limit my religion rants! I got a bloomin' E for GCSE religion!?). Over the past weeks I've become very interested in a number of blogs - one of which is 'Enterprise Architecture: Thought Leadership'. The term thought leadership (always italics - it looks better that way!) has become an almost sacred scripture in my company (pardon the religious term, but one could say it's been canonified). The blogs author is James McGovern. He's a great author on enterprise architecture. Like a real author. Books and everthing! I came across this diagram on one of his posts - titled 'How to be an expert'
Having trouble? The number one route to becoming an expert in your field is to be passionate about it. Want more? Check out the home for creating passionate users: headrush.
Right - topical discussion? check. religion? check. work? check.
wonderful, this could be the most boring blog post ever created.
1 comment:
it's funny that you think this is one of your most boring posts, i found it really interesting.
i don't know much about jainism, but can appreciate that nature itself is very much alive. according to this book i just finished, unlike humans who are steered by greed, ambition and fear, nature is very much balanced and harmonic; the generosity of nature is beautiful; the way seasons change for example, simple things like the way spring gives way to summer. and look at the ecological system, it's all perfectly balanced (so the water doesn't mind...;)). on the contrary, we constantly strive for our own good, so we can make more money or get more recognition and praise to feed our egos. everyone is striving for the top and stepping over each other on the way; it's not harmonic, it's not balanced.
as for the karmic debt that we pay because of something we did in a past life, this makes perfect sense to me. I believe there's a finite number of souls; you are one immortal soul which makes the journey from body to body across ancient to modern times, from lifetime to lifetime; this means you are very much liable for your past lives as the actions carried out are essentially yours.
your questions are interesting and there's no definite right or wrong; personally I believe if i hurt you in this lifetime, i will be reincarnated in the next lifetime in a close group to yours, and will somehow have to pay of my karmic debt to you for what I, or me as the soul, did. i mean isn't that the whole point of being born in a chaotic world like this? for your soul to be in a physical state that is able to experience pain and learn from it, which will help them grow and become 'pure' by paying off the karmic debts, until they are finally debt-less and released from being re-born into misery and reach a place of eternal bliss. In theory it sounds simple, but humankind is guided by the 5 senses and the mind, which makes it a lot more difficult to learn in practice. we're all here for a reason, personally i feel my purpose in life is to give, to help, to care. to be patient and kind to those around me. and then give some more without expecting anything in return. not to become a director and dine at the fanciest places. for my physical state those things are great, but it won't fulfil the desires of the soul. saying that is great though, but as Babaji also says, we need to action this understanding to gain experience in order to really believe it. (it's funny i say all this, and just earlier today bought a fendi bag...)
bad things happen to you to bring your soul closer to salvation - whether it's to teach you something or pay off your karmic debt. if you walk around in rough neighbourhoods and get mugged, you're not necessarily there because of karma; a human characteristic brought you there, maybe it's your 'greed' of saving money on a cab, or a walk home after an intoxicating late night which may have blurred your judgement. if you smoke and get cancer, that's not result of karma, you've made a human decision to do something harmful and damage your body, that's the ignorance of the human mind.
ok before anyone start to think you know a mad person, i better stop. i'm finding it hard to explain something that makes perfect sense to me. But really, you should read that book i told you about - many lives, many masters - it's really changed my life. it's confirmed everything i've grown up to believe. all those teachings from my Guru and also Babaji. it's completely changed my outlook in life and shaped my life in several ways. i know what my purpose in life is, and with my faith i'm stronger than ever.
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