A HANDBOOK OF HINDU RELIGION-3

 CHAPTER III-JIVA

The study of the Jiva. or the Atman holds a central place in Hinduism. Hinduism insists on the sacredness of life and the solidarity of all Jlvas. The atman is to be reflected on and realised before God or Paramatman is reflected on and realised. The atman is different from the body made of prakrti and its 23 elements. It isdifferent from the gross body consisting of the five elements, namely, earth, water, fire, air and ether, known as the pancabhutas. It is not the five pranas and is more than life. It is not the five sense organs, namely the eye, the ear, the nose,the tongue and the organ of touch. The atman is to be distinguished from the subtle body or suksmasarira, consisting of manas, buddhi, citta and ahankara or the mind, reason and egoity.Hinduism regards the mind and reason as part of the body and the atman as different from the suksmasarira and the stlmlasarira or mind-body.The bodies come and go but the atman never changes and it is eternal or nitaa. It is beyond birth and death and beyond ail mental changes,like the waking state, dream and deep sleep. It is a changeless entity by itself.

The Jiva is thus different from its quality of jnana or consciousness. The jnana or quality undergoes changes and not the substance or atman. In the jagrat or waking state, the Jiva is conscious of the external world, and its five sense organs are active. It sees things with the eyes, hears sounds with the ears, has the sensations of smell, taste and touch through the nose,the tongue and the skin. Therefore sensations are in the Jiva and the objects which cause them are in the external world. In the dream state or svapna, the Jlva does not perceive things but is only mentally active and enjoys pleasure and pain.

In deep sleep or subtle, the Jiva is at perfect rest and its consciousness does not work. Though it is not active, it is not' non-existent; it is in a latent state.The atman is by nature self-effulgent, active,joyful and eternal. It is a mode or amsa of God and though it exists as an eternal entity, it is not separate from Him. It is not born and it does not die. It is beyond the past, the present and the future and is thus beyond time and it is beyond space. The atman is essentially self conscious and it has the quality of jnana by which it thinks, feels and wills. It is' a knowing subject and is not jada or inert. It has moral

freedom and it is not passive. It is joyful and is not miserable or sick-minded. In this way it abides in its own spiritual nature and is different from prakrti and God. Atman has its own dignity, intrinsic worth and autonomy. It is not a thing or physical substance like a stone or piece of wood which is acit or jada. It is not subject to prakrti and its gunas and is free from the instincts, like lust, anger, hatred, jealousy and it has self-mastery. Thus it is a spiritual personality which is free and eternal. It is a knower, a free

agent and is joyful. The atman that subjects itself to the evils of samsra or the bondage of karma is called baddha-jiva. It somehow, owing to avidya or ancient ignorance which cannot be explained, mistakes itself for the body made of prakrti and suffers from the series of births and deaths. It is like the prince who exiles himself from his father’s throne and joins the wild hunters in the forest, marries a hunter girl, begets children by her and thus gets immersed in savage life. The atman somehow deserts its divine home, enters into the body made of acit, wallows in sense life and is caught up in the wheel of

births and deaths. Why or how it lapses from the divine heritage and suffers from avidya, kama and karm,a, is a mystery. But the jiva alone is responsible for the evils and ills of worldliness and not any outside agency. Avidya makes it JIVA identify itself with prakrti jts gunas; Kama' makes it seek the pleasures ,the senses and suffer from the pains of animal life and karma subjects it to the endless series of births and deaths. But the Jiva does not suffer from original sin or unmerited suffering. Though the

origin of avidga, or samsara cannot be understood, it can be destroyed by jnavia, and the atman can go back to God and return no mere to samsara. But as long as its true nature is concealed by avidya, it is bound by karma and is subject to the rounds of births and deaths.

Karma

The law of karma occupies an important place in Hindu Ethics, and it alone solves the problem of the inequalities of life and unmerited suffering. Why does the wicked man prosper in life and the good man suffer from all kinds of misery, physical, mental and social? and why does the new-born child suffer for the sins of its parents and from untold evils and why should there be evil and misery at all if there is a good God? These problems are as old as humanity itself. But of all the solutions offered, the theory of karma is the least objectionable. Evil and suffering no doubt exist hut each man is responsible for the ills of life he undergoes and not God or the Devil. The theory of karma is the law of causation applied to moral life and each man reaps what he sows. The effect of karma or action done by thought, word and deed (or matins,vak and kaija) is never lost; it is conserved in the mind-body or sarira. The present karma is the effect of the past, and is the cause of the future.In this way all karmas are connected as cause and effect and they form a series without any beginning. The law of causation operates uniformly

without any exception and it is the moral law of retribution. I: a man does good deeds or punyakanna he is rewarded and he enjoys the effect of his deeds, like health, longevity of life, prosperity,power and glory; but if he does bad deeds he is punished and he suffers for his bad acts and they lead to disease, poverty and misery. Good and evil thus lead to pleasure and pain and there is a mathematical ratio between virtue and pleasure and vice and suffering. In this way every man is accountable for his good and bad deeds.

Transmigration

The laws of rebirth and transmigration of Jivas follow as the consequence of karma. No child is born out of nothing; it is not born with an empty mind. It does not evolve from the parents and follow the laws of heredity. Every child is born with certain predispositions or vasanas, which are retained in the subtle body, as the effect, no deed is lost. When a person dies, the gross body alone is dissolved but the subtle body of the Jiva remains, retaining- all the effects of its karma. The Jiva then enters into a new

body suited to its past karma and is born again ,Thus every birth is the result of past karma and is the cause of a new body and birth. Just as a man throws away worn out garments and puts on new garments, the Jiva throws away worn out bodies and puts on new bodies. Just as there is continuity in a man's life from infancy to old age and personal identity, so there is continuity of the same Jiva in the series of births and rebirths and personal identity. There is identity in spite of numerous births and this is due to the eternity of the Jiva.

The adventures of the Jiva in the world of samsara are not confined to this earth alone. It migrates from body to body according to its karma in the cosmic spheres known as the three lokas ranging from Brahmaloka or Satyaloka  above to the Patalaloka below. In the celestial worlds above, starting with Svarga, the quality of sattva is dominant and the Jiva enjoys pleasure. In the nether regions, starting with Atala, the quality of tamas is dominant and Patala is the lowest region of darkness and' the Jiva suffers from pain. But the middle region called Karma Bhumi is influenced by rajas. It is the moral

world of man and it is here that he does good deeds and bad deeds and their effect is reaped in the worlds above and below. There are other Brahmandas(universes) like this and they are countless like

the stars and they are ruled by Isvara according to the karma of the Jivas. The worlds have no spatial meaning but they have hierarchical moral values. Good men ascend to higher regions according to their karma and enjoy celestial pleasures and when the effect is exhausted, they come down again and are born in different bodies, sub-human and human. Likewise wicked Jivas suffer from pain and when it is exhausted, they have a new chance and are born again in this moral world.

Freedom

The scientific view of karma in terms of cause and effect is open to the objection that it leads to fatalism and pessimism and that it does not provide any hope of bettering the future. Since every man reaps what he sows, he has to submit meekly to what happens without any moral freedom. He has to endure what cannot be cured and is a slave of circumstances. But the scientific view is only one aspect of karma as the more important side is the assertion of the moral freedom or freedom of the will. It says that every man can control his inclinations like anger,fear, lust, hatred and jealousy and that he can

control his future. The scientific theory applies only to prarabdha-karma and not to sancita karma. The former refers to the karma that has already happened, like the birth of a person and which cannot be changed. But the latter refers to the future which is in our hands. Every man is the master or architect of his destiny and not even a God can alter it. If a man has a conflict of desires, like the choice of a career, he has the moral freedom to decide for himself which career he can choose. He can control his passions, like anger or hatred and attain moral victory. But if he chooses tbe way of the animal,then he once again is chained to the wheel of samsara. But he too will one day begin to realise the futility and pain of choosing the animal way of life and turn towards the higher path of freedom through self-control. In either case freedom is inherent in every soul to choose the higher or the lower. A soul has freedom to

choose but not the power to get the results of what it chooses as it likes. The results depend on

the laws of the worlds and causation (karma).

Time cycle

Does time repeat itself?And what's the role of Karma?

Vedas says that Time keep repeating itself, Yuga after Yuga, Kalp after Kalp, Manvantara after Manavantara.There are many proofs of these can be found in Hindu Scriptures.

Let us look at two beautiful stories from the scriptures-

 when Rama Ji fulfilled all his worldly duties (the purpose of his life) and the time came for him to leave this material body and returned to his abode. Yamaraja                                                                                                tried much time but was not able

to reach Ram Ji and take away his life because Hanuman Ji guarded Ram’s life.To allow Yama’s entry, it was necessary to distract Hanuman. So Ram Ji dropped his ring into a crack in the Palace floor and ask Hanuman to fetch it. Hanuman reduced himself to the size of a bee and enter the crack. He followed the crack until he reached Naglok. Hanuman meets Vasuki the king of Serpent there and informs about his purpose.

Vasuki took Hanuman to a place where stood a mountain of rings. Vasuki said here you will surely find Rama’s ring. Hanuman wondered how he would do that. It was like finding a needle during a haystack. But to his delight, the first ring he picked it up was Ram’s ring. To his surprise, even the second ring and consecutive ring he picked up was Rama ring. All the rings that made up the mountain of rings where of Ram’s. Hanuman was surprised and asked him how can there be numerous rings?

Vasuki smiled and said, “As many ring’s, so many Rama’s”. Life is a cycle, it's an infinite circle. What has happened in the past will again happen in future. That is why the word “Kal” is used for Past, Present & Future. We as a Jivatma (soul) get trapped in this Maya and keep taking rebirth again & again. Once the one attained Moksha, he will not take birth again on this dimension.This world we live in goes through the cycle of life and death. Each life cycle of the world is called Kalachakra and Mahayuga composed of four yugas. In Treta yuga, Ram takes birth and so Hanuman. He replied each ring represent one Kalachakra.( The mountain keep growing as more ring falls). Every time Ram will drop his ring and Hanuman will come here for searching his ring. By the time Hanuman Returns to earth Rama is gone. There was enough space for the ring of the future’s Rama also...

Hanuman then understood the intention of Rama, why he was sent here. Rama wants Hanuman to know that he could not stop death from coming. Ram would die to be reborn each time the world is reborn. So it would be forever.

Late us take a look of another story of” Kagbhusandi”-

image from google

 Kak means crow and Bhushundi is his name. It is associated with his name because the sage in his final in incarnation( birth ) was transformed into a crow by sage Lomas and finally he decided to spend his life in the form of a crow. He has been gifted with the living of thousands life and the ability to choose the physical form as per wish. He was also blessed with eternal life and limitless vision.
As per the scriptures, one of the important quality of kagbhusandi is that he can stand outside of time, means as to where nature’s cycle just repeats itself, so he was able to see Ramayana played out 11 times and Mahabharat 16 times with different result, but after seeing the Daksha Yagya twice he did not  care to see it again as it ended the same way each time. It is said that every time the lord takes the form of Rama, Bhushundi as a crow visit him and enjoy being a spectator to Ram’s childhood.

He clears the confusion of Garuda regarding Rama being God. He attained vast knowledge because he had undergone many thousand of births but always remembered whatever he learnt in his previous birth.

The Bhagwat Gita (2.12) says:
"Never was there a time once I didn't exist, nor you, nor these kings of men. Never will there be a time hereafter when any of us shall cease to be."

The Bhagwat Gita (9.7) says:
"At the top of a cycle all beings, O son of Kunti, enter into My Prakriti, and at the start of a cycle I generate them again."

The Brahma Sutra (1.3.29) says:
"And due to the sameness of names and forms (in every fresh cycle), there's no contradiction (to the eternity of those Vedic words) even within the revolving of world cycles, as is seen from the Sruti and therefore the Smriti."

The Vishnu Purana (I. v. 65.) says:
"As within the rotation of the seasons, the same signs of the various season are see repeated, so also at the start of a cycle the varied things are created as in the previous cycle."

Rig Veda  says:
"The Lord creates during this cycle the sun and therefore the moon as they existed within the previous cycle."

photo from Ajit Vadakayil posts.

In one of the Puranas, in his Boar incarnation, Vishnu turns around and says to the Goddess Earth "Every time I carry you this way..." referring to the fact that He has done the same in prior cycles".

Therefore it is evident from the above two stories that Kala (time) repeat itself but the person and activities in the yugas are different but God’s incarnation is fixed, they came as per yugas.

What is the role of Karma?
 If God’s incarnations are fixed, and everything repeats itself in the same order again and again. But here a question arises that, where is the role of Karma (free will) if we are merely playing the character set by God. If this is the case, then for God we are no more than a movie that he keeps on playing again and again for his entertainment. And here all life loses its meaning in the very first place.
Time will repeat but they will or will not be same every time. So incidents like Ramayana and Mahabharata will happen again in its respective yugas but they will be completely or slightly different according to the situation of the Kal ( time). The main plot like Sita-Ram marriage and Ram vs Ravan war remains the same. But other intermediates event(Leela) changes. Here God’s character is fixed but other characters are played by different souls, they are given the character according to their karmas. So the character’s name will be the same but played by different soul’s.

 In our day to day life also we see the same movie or serials or read stories with a different version. In every version, the main plot remains the same, but other incidents with slight modification or more modification. Every time the person playing the character changes, dialogue changes but the main story or moral remains the same. We also came to know that Brahma, Indra and other deities (demigods) are merely posts and the person fulfilling the post has an individual name. The sole or beings get the post or role according to their karma’s. Only highly elevated souls get these important post and characters. Same can be said that every time Mahabharata repeats a different soul plays the role of Vedavyas, who writes Mahabharata. Character is the same but played by a different sole.

 It is believed that Hanuman will become Next Brahma. We came to know that Brahma, Indra, etc. , they all are Devatas they're Not god and every one These Devatas are “Post” But Vishnu and Lakshmi aren't a Post. except for Vishnu and Lakshmi, everyone is Post. Hanuman is an incarnation of Vayu (air). Vayu is Big devotee of Lord Vishnu. When Lord Vishnu incarnated as Rama, Vayu incarnated as Hanuman and became The servant (bhakta) and devote of Rama. When Lord Vishnu incarnated as Krishna, Vayu incarnated as Bheema Sena and killed all The Powerful demons like Duryodhana, Jarasanda, Dushasana etc. When lord Vishnu Took avatar as Veda Vyasa, Vayu incarnated as ‘Madhvacharya” and established Dvaita Philosophy. 
There are 100 Ruju devatas (Demi-gods) who are waiting in line to Occupy The seat of Lord Brahma. Read Vamana Purana, 100 Ruju devatas Names are Mentioned. According To Vamana Purana, only Vayu Can Occupy The Brahma’s Post. If Vayu Occupies Brahma’s Post Then where Brahma will Go? Brahma will Attain Moksha (dissolve in the Supreme soul) and Vayu will attain The post of Lord Brahma. 
Only in human life, Karma has a role to play. His Karma decides his next destination and salvation.He gets different destination (higher or lower lokas) and forms (Animal, Human, Demi-god, Demons, plants etc.) according to his Karma.No other Yoni, Jeeva can get salvation only in Purush (Human) yoni, Jeeva can get salvation (though it is difficult but not impossible). So if any higher being wanted salvation than also he has to take birth in Manushya yoni. 
There are Three Types of Groups- Devatas, Human beings and demons.Human beings (normal) and demons aren't eligible for such Post. Only devatas,highly elevated souls , Can Get such Highest Post. Hanuman Ji is a Devata and Vishnu devote, So He is destined to be the next of next Brahma. 
So it is strongly believed that Hanuman will be next Brahma as someone has to fill in Brahma's shoes and continue with the life cycle of creation.
 The name of the first Brahma –         Virinchi.
 The name of the second Brahma –   Padmabhu.
 The name of the third Brahma –       Swayambhu.
 The name of the fourth Brahma –     Parmeshthi.
 The name of the fifth Brahma –        Surajyeshtha
 The name of the sixth Brahma –       Hemagarbha.
 The name of the seventh Brahma – Shatanand (Present Brahma).
 Next (eighth) Brahma will be named as Chaturmukha.
 Ninth Brahma will be Hanuman.

Same can be said about us -The normal beings or souls. Yes, cycles of time or Kala repeat themselves. But there is one change. The 'Jiva' (soul) that is inhabiting your body in this life is not the same Jiva from your life in the previous cycle nor will it be the same Jiva in the next cycle. So although your body will repeat its actions, the jiva experiencing 'your life' within the next cycle is going to be a replacement Jiva whose karma is then fitted to birth in your body. Your Jiva will have already accumulated new karma and brought birth during another higher/lower body (or your jiva could also be in heaven or better yet attained Liberation).

People in each cycle would be required to be taught about Dharma and Satya. They must be shown the right way and evil should be destroyed. This is the reason why Ramayana and Mahabharata happened. It was God’s wish and God to Avatar in respective yugas to eliminate evil and preserve Dharma.