(Dr PVB subrahmanyam) As expressed earlier a different aspect is presented in this chapter. It’s an endeavor to make a platform which may enable the thought process to get an idea in this regard.

According to Bhagavata Mahapurna –

कर्मणा जायते जन्तुः कर्मणैव विलीयते।

सुखं दुःखं भयं क्षेमं कर्मणैवाभिपद्यते।।

अस्ति चेदीश्वरः कश्चित् फलरूप्यन्यकर्मणाम्।

कर्तारं भजते सोपि न ह्यकर्तुः प्रभुर्हि सः।।

भागवत महापुराण, स्क.10, अध्याय. 24, श्लो. 13-14

Karmana jayate jantuh

karmanaiva praleeyate.

Sukham duhkham bhayam kshemam

Karmanaivabhipadyate.

Asti ched eeswarah kaschid

Phalaroopyanyakarmanam

Kartaram bhajate sopi

Nahyakartuh prabhurhi sah.

Bhagavata mahapurana, cant.10, cha.24, Stan. 13-14

Creatures take birth from the deed. Creatures vanishe due to deed. Happiness, sorrow, fear, well being all is the outcome of deed only.

If there is the Lord he is in the form of result of the deed only. He blesses the person with deeds and he is not the lord of any other who do not perform the deeds.

The first stanza declares the cause of the birth and death. It also describes the causes of happiness etc. Though a different meaning of the stanza can be done, it cannot be a valid one. There is a small chance to utter that the BHAGAVATA clears the stand. It clearly states that everything is the outcome of one’s deeds. So it is inferred that deed in the same birth gives ultimate results and there is no chance of rebirth.

But it is not so. The starting of the stanza itself stresses the rebirth formula. Afterwards, each and every word has a link to the rebirth. For example, happiness is linked to the deed. A person with some life spent can think that the happiness he receives is the result of the deeds in the present birth. But a child who receives happiness and sorrow etc. cannot declare the same.

Still there is a chance to go contradictory to the above meaning. A child who receives the happiness is the result of the deed of his parents. But happiness as a property can be experienced by the individual only.  It is a matter to think that that particular individual, by his deed, is expected to receive the happiness due to another person. Whether the person is his father or care taker or whatever else he may be. That means the tool by which the child expected to receive the happiness is itself defined by his previous deed.

The second stanza clears the stand of the Lord. Lord or ISHWARA was clearly defined here. There is no lord outside or there is no form of Lord. Then who is the lord. Lord is the result of your deed. Lord blesses him only who deeds. This definition takes to the lessons of Lord himself.

Iswarah sarva bhootanam hriddesherjuna tishthati

ईश्वरः सर्वभूतानां हृद्देशेर्जुन तिष्ठति।

How deeds are controlled and take birth?

मन एव मनुष्यस्य पूर्वरूपाणि शंसति।

भागवत महापुराण, स्क.04, अध्या 29, श्लो 66

 Mana Eva manushyasya poorvaroopani shamshati

Bhagavata mahapurana, cant 04, chapter 29, stan.66

Simply to say the mind controls the deeds. Mind is the genesis of all deeds. Mind is the ruler of the body. Mind dictates the body to make a deed. That means mind is the storage of the deeds one perform at any stage, at any birth.

But clarity in this issue can come up with the following stanzas of Bhagavata Mahapurana.

येनैवारभते कर्म तेनैवात्र तत्पुमान्।

भुङ्क्ते ह्यव्यवधानेन लिङ्गेन मनसा स्वयम्।।

शयानमिममुत्सृज्य श्वसन्तं पुरुषो यथा।

कर्मात्मन्याहितं भुङ्क्ते तादृशेनेतरेण वा।।

ममैते मनसा यद्यदसावहमिति ब्रुवन्।

गृह्नीयात्तत्पुमान् राद्धं कर्म येन पुनर्भवः।।

यथानुमीयते चित्तमुभयैरिन्द्रियेहितैः।

एवं प्राग्देहजं कर्म लक्ष्यते चित्तवृत्तिभिः।।

नानुभूतं क्वचानेन देहेनादृष्टमश्रुतम्।

कदाचिदुपलभ्येत यद्रूपं यादृगात्मनि।।

These stanzas provide wonderful insight to the subject. The deeds of the past lives are reflected by the acts of the mind. Mind, known as chitta in vedic literature controls everything. It knows everything. It reminds everything. It dictates the living being what to do and what not to do. There is no significance of the personality. The mind holds everything.

For example –

जानामि धर्मं न च मे प्रवृत्तिः

जानाम्यधर्मं न च मे निवृत्तिः

केनापि देवेन हृदि स्थितेन

यथा नियुक्तोस्मि तथा करोमि।

These are the words uttered by the son of Dhritarastra. Duryoadhana is the elder brother of kurus and throws out the pandus from the kingdom. The story of Kurukshetra war is well known to all. The genesis of the war is the misdeed of Duryoadhana. But the words uttered by Duryoadhana have great significance. At least they provide an outlook in the present endeavor.

I know what is right and what is wrong (the DHARMA) but I fail to indulge in it. I have no tilt towards right and resistance towards wrong. I am forced by unknown lord who rests in my mind.

Here, these words of Duryoadhana clearly state that the posture or personality of a living being cannot control its deed. It is the all-rounder mind, which knows everything, encourages doing anything. It decides the right and wrong depending on the stored seeds of the deed. It has the complete details or the data of the past deeds.

Accepted by all

Mind plays the key role in anyone’s life. This fact is accepted by all. The same is the story of psychiatry where experts try to heal the patients by regression. They let the patient take a tour of past deeds and once the tour is over the patient realize what has happened with him and what is happing and what to happen. The undertone of the concept is already expressed in the verses of Mahabharata.

(Dr PVB subrahmanyam) Three stages of deed and its array formation gave birth to the theory or concept of rebirth. Rebirth is the consequence of fortune (prarabdha). Fortune is the result or ripening stage of seed of the deed. So acceptance of the deed forces the acceptance of rebirth. Unless and until a living or nonliving being takes rebirth it cannot go through or experience the consequences of its deeds. So rebirth is an integral part of deed and it cannot be thought separately.

Forms of rebirth

The form of rebirth is highly confusing though it is an interesting subject to discuss. The creatures on the earth including the human beings are stated to be eighty four lakh (8.4 million). All the forms of creatures are awaiting each and every body. That means each and every creature on the earth may take birth of any one or all of the forms of creature.

How it is possible?

Small explanations can brief the query. In our daily life we experience that millions of creatures lose their life within a span of a day. Many may last for days, some for couple of months and countable are in long lasting span of life. In this way the statement of getting all forms of life has some strength. Unless the rebirth concept is unproved, the theory of getting all or some of the forms of 8.4 million creatures cannot be denied or unaccepted.

One more interesting thing is there. Except human being no other creature gets it deed accumulated. That means no consequences of actions of all creatures excluding human being are stored. That means they get the reply of each deed on the spot.  Or it can be accepted that they go through the results of their previous deeds. This thought gives the conclusion that the birth of creatures and mini creatures except human being is just to pay off the previous deeds and at the end, once one pays of the misdeeds of the life he will get back the human life to try for a better position!

So any hypothesis, formulated to investigate the genesis requires to consider the zero point where the total number of creatures conclude and from where they start upraising. It implies that the end of the universe can be defined as nil property of universe and starting of the universe consist the frame where all the exhausted properties will have a chance to get the rebirth. It is called state of singularity in present day science (!)

Cycle of rebirth

Acceptance of deed’s full structure as stated above gives birth to the concept of rebirth. The word itself contains an array. Array rarely comes to an end. But, according to the Vedic literature, the beginning and end of this array have been clearly defined. But this definition becomes ultimate only if one accepts the deed and rebirth concept. So the point to think or investigate or verify is the nature of rebirth.

Rebirth can be accepted on the grounds of logic. But the present endeavor stresses to formulate a hypothesis to display it in modern style or scientific way.

What are the logics?

1. When we remember something positive (previously happened to us), we get a flash on our face. Those moments can give a smile on the face. This can happen in any stage, weather we are awake are in sleep. A person with some past life experience can go through such phenomenon.

But this happens in small children. A child with a past life of hardly two to three months also shows same activities. All of a sudden, while sleeping, he starts smiling and sometimes starts crying without any physical reason. That means he has some previous experiences which make him to do so. What may be the previous experience of a child with two to three months of age? What memories he can have?

2. What is the difference between a child born at a millionaire’s home and a child born at a beggar’s home? Why one received the advantage of silver spoon by birth and why the second one is deprived of food also by birth?

Logic can only work in such places. No scientific proofs can be submitted in this condition. Still, one cannot deny further research. Logic already proved on its base that the deeds of the both have forced them to take birth accordingly.

In similar way the case of differently abled children who are deprived of some organs by birth can focus the light on the deeds. There is no answer for the question why they were deprived? A married couple with a married life of 45 years with three to four tiers of the family raise question in the mind of a widow who lost his/her  life partner in the middle of the life, what is wrong with me? Why I was deprived?

3. Everyone on the earth is a unique entity. This is a natural statement everyone who fails to know the reason of deprivation says. The differences in each and every individual always raise the question of present life. Somewhere hard work fails and no work give results, somewhere eligible gets out of the contest and other one gets the opportunity. In all these conditions, the deprived try to blame others. They lose patience. They lose confidence. Some adopt wrong ways. Some become anti social elements etc. But it is also a natural answer that no one can remove the differences. No person. No government. No law. No movement. It has been proved in the long life span of human history. Then what causes all this mess? Who is responsible for this? What is the root cause of the difference? Can it be discussed? Can it be investigated? Can it be proved? Can it be thought of?

4. Human life is full of miracles. We say unexpected happenings as miracles. But why not miracles happen with each and every individual? The simple answer for these questions is previous deeds.

If one thinks in this way he will get some millions of such situations. A small visit to the hospital shakes a person’s thoughts. So ultimately everyone comes to the conclusion that the happenings have some link to their own deeds. But this conclusion is not a result of study. This conclusion is not a result of an investigation. It is not the outcome of any formula. Neither has it depended on the statistics.  Statistical data contains similar properties. In this matter no such classification can be made on the data collected.

Ultimately a study on the rebirth concept is only left in the frame of investigation. But it is unpredictable by nature.  No clue for the beginning and no clue of the end. In such a situation how it is possible to take it on. How the study can be formulated? How any hypothesis can take place?

Conclusion

Though everything seems out of range of study and investigation, the essence of available Vedic literature, lessons and concepts of Vedic literature undoubtedly has the potential to go through the subject. At the same time, the structure of modern science and the studies so far done by the western scientists add flavor to the possibilities of the study in this regard. So, a blend of east and west is the need of the hour and it is early to say that the hypothesis has been formulated.

(Dr PVB subrahmanyam)

Deed is the genesis of all living and non living beings. It makes things happen. People believe that its course of action is highly unpredictable. Not only its course of action, its nature and structure are also indefinable. Due to its nature it became pin point of all philosophies in the world

Vivekananda says “the essence of all beings is same”. In the similar way deed is the seed of everything. There is a proverb in Hindi जैसी करनी वैसी भरनी This proverb has the support of dozens of Sanskrit verses.

Sowed seed has multiple lives. That means it may give birth to any form of its nature. Let it be explained. A seed may lose its life in the soil. It may turn in to a plant and vanish. It may become a tree with a weak trunk. It may grow to an average size. It may become a giant tree and live long. It may become giant but fell prey to cyclone or any other disaster. This way an array of possibilities can be expected.

In the same way, when one sows the seed in the form of deed he may face the consequences in the future in any form. But the ultimate truth is that he has to face the consequence. Here, it is inferred that the form of consequence depends on the condition of the deed just similar to the different forms of the tree took birth on the conditions of the seed. That means, the conditions prevailing at the time of deed will decide the form of the consequence.

Generally deed is defined in three forms. One is accumulated, one is ripening and one is ongoing. These three may have subsections or varieties but the undertone meaning of all expressions is same.  The ongoing, with the passing of time, gets the form of accumulated and the accumulated gets the form of ripening when the time comes to deliver the consequences.  Ripening deed is also known as fortune in simple terms.

Accumulated

            Every deed produces consequences. Some actions have spontaneous results. For example A thrashes B and in reply B thrashes A. the second condition is B curses and leaves the place. In the first condition A faced the result. So deed does not produce any seed. But in the second condition A has not received the result of his deed. That means the deed is awaiting the reply. In this condition, at a later stage, A will get the result of it. That means the seed took birth and in a similar form it will reach the owner of the deed (karta). This is called accumulation. The awaiting consequence is stored in the account of A.

There is a small confusion. Sometimes people think that the reply may be in any form. But that not seems so. The result might be in accordance of the seed. A seed of mango cannot produce apple. Not getting a spontaneous reply is also has a reason. Let the condition explained. A thrashed B. it’s not a coincidence. It is predefined and A has experienced or went through the deed he might have done in the past. In the second condition B not replied immediately. That means the ripening time may take place in future.

This situation shows three forms of the deed. Thrashing B is present deed. Not replying the same gives birth to the seed. That means the seed is the accumulation of deed which ought to give its reply in future. In future when reply occurs then the deed is called fortune (prarabdha). These are the three forms of deed which create everything.

The most interested point in scientific world, which people like the most to investigate, is the genesis of the universe. Not only Science and Scientists , the philosophers all over the world, also get their birth in this interest only.

Investigations to know the cause of the creation gave birth to multiple sciences and thoughts. Though the human being is yet to know the reason behind the universe, he has already advanced in many directions. Still he has no clue of the universe. All the theories about it, uttered till date, are inferences only.

            Knowingly or unknowingly, everyone accept the deed as  one and only cause behind the universe . ??

Though the deed has been accepted as the genesis of all happenings it is not based on any confirmation, if looked in scientific way. Science requires proof. Proof depends on formulae with enough logic. Science cannot come to a conclusion in this matter without solving the genesis of the universe. It has a long way to go. As this discussion has no scientific value, till no such hypothesis has been formulated to investigate the matter.

            The base of Vedaic literature stands on this concept that the root cause of everything is the deed. This concept has been circulated to each and every corner of the Vedic civilization and consequently the traditions which are in existence in Bharat Varsha stand on the single reason. A keen observer can find it (the deed) as the essence or theme of the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

            This simple concept created two types of deed i.e., deed and misdeed. (आत्मनः प्रतिकूलानि परेषां न समाचरेत्) so the tradition accepts deeds and disowns misdeeds. The method which is used to differentiate the deed in to good deed and misdeed is called DHARMA.

            A deed with positive consequences is called good deed and vice versa. Positivity is also has a critical definition. The result of the deed may or may not be positive but at any cost it should not harm any one’s interest. If it has the least of harm in it then it cannot be considered as pure positive or good deed.

                        Positive consequences may comprise some negative accepts and while the good is accumulated as good and the minor parts with negative sense will be accumulated negatively. The owner requires going through both.

            Simple to say that every bit of positivity will accumulate positive deed and every bit of negativity accumulate negative deed. There is one more variety of deed in existence which is called neutral deed which will be explained at a later stage.

Conclusion

            Though the deed has been accepted the cause of everything since time immemorial, the acceptance does not include any scientific evidences or proofs or any statistical data. So it requires a formula to be investigated and proved. Once it has been proved so, it can change the nature of human life. But, if it has to change the human life, then the cause to happen so must be the accumulated deed of the human being. Amazing! But it’s the truth accepted and well broadcasted in the Vedic World.