Does past life exist?
Do you think past life exists? -My mom asked me this. I had no clue but then I could recount a few stories from our epics and religious texts. Some examples I could think of were Bali-Jara, Jay/Vijay-Kumbakarna/Ravana-Shishupal/Dantavakra and Amba-Shikhandi.
The first is a Treta yuga story. Lord Rama had killed his friend Sugriv’s brother Bali because of his bad deeds. So Bali’s wife had cursed him that just the way he killed Bali in this life, in his next life Bali will kill him. In Lord Ram’s next life he was Lord Krishna and Bali was a hunter named Jara who killed Krishna while he was sleeping.
The next tale of Amba-Shikhandi is from the Dwapar yuga. In the early years, there were three sisters named Amba, Ambika and Ambalika-daughters of King Kashya of Kashi. On the other side, in Hastinapur, Shantanu’s wife Satyavati had ordered her stepson, Pitamah Bhishma to find a wife for his step-brother Vichitravirya. Unaware that Amba was in love with another man, Salva, Bhishma took the three princesses of Kashi to marry his brother. When Amba went back to Salva, he didn’t accept her as his wife. Deeply hurt, Amba went to Bhishma and asked him to marry her. Because of the oath, Bhishma had taken, he couldn’t marry anyone, so he said no to Amba. Amba got angry and went to Bhishma’s Guru Parshuram. Parshuram understood it and called Bhishma and told him to marry her. However, Bhishma explained his oath and told his guru that he couldn’t marry her. Amba was furious and wanted to kill Bhishma. Suddenly Lord Shiva appeared and told Amba that she will get a chance to kill Bhishma in her next life. In her next life, she was born as Shikandi and killed Bhishma in the Mahabharata war. Shikandi could kill Bhishma because he wouldn’t lift a weapon in front of a woman, Shikandi was half woman and half man but still when Bhishma didn’t lift his weapon Shikandi killed him.
One more story was about Jay and Vijay. Jay and Vijay were Lord Vishnu’s dwarpals (doorkeepers). One day, the four sons of Lord Brahma, came to meet Lord Vishnu but were stopped by Jay and Vijay. They lied to the sons that Lord Vishnu didn’t want to meet them and didn’t allow them to go in. The sons got angry and cursed them to be separated from Lord Vishnu for many years. Jay and Vijay were so sad on hearing this. Lord Vishnu appeared and asked the sons if there was a cure for this. The sons told Lord Vishnu that they had 2 options if they wanted to become Lord Vishnu’s enemy for 3 lives or become Lord Vishnu’s devotee for 6 lives. They chose to be Vishnu’s enemy for 3 lives because they couldn’t stay without Lord Vishnu for 6 lives. In their first life, they were Hiranyaksh and Hiranyakashyapu in Satya yuga who were killed by Lord Vishnu’s Varaha and Narsingh avatar. In their second avatar, they were born as Ravan and Kumbakaran in Treta yuga who were killed by Lord Vishnu’s Ram avatar. In their third life, they were born as Dantavakra and Shishupal in Dwapar yuga who were killed by Lord Vishnu’s Krishna avatar. After these three lives, they reunited with Lord Vishnu in Vaikunth.
I recounted these stories while the question my mom asked me still lingered on my mind. Then I felt why some people are poor and some are unfortunate to be blind, deaf or handicapped. Had they done anything wrong in their past life? It could also be that they are poor because their ancestors were poor and they didn’t get a chance to get educated and come out of their poverty. But then why were their ancestors also poor? Is it like a random set of events or is it that they might have done something wrong in their past life. I still don’t know the answer.
Congrats Sanaa!.I really loved your blogspot write-up.I was amazed to see your interest in mythology at this age and wish you all the best!
ReplyDeleteWell thought and well written, Sanaa! I especially liked your critical thinking and the way you have expressed it in the last paragraph. Keep up the good work! :)
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