by Jayaram V

For a non-believer this is but one life, but for a believer of Hinduism, this is one of the many. This may be the final one for a self-realized yogi, or the seed for another for those in whom desires are not yet cremated in the fire of renunciation.

This discussion is not about what you want to achieve in this life. It is what you want to do in your next life, or how you want to shape it. If you believe in rebirth, planning for your next life is as important as planning for your current one. Since your current life becomes the seed for your next life, your planning for your current life must be done in the context of your next life only, and you must pay particular attention to the problem of karma and how you want to resolve it. Even if you do not plan for it in detail, you must have some concern about your rebirth and how you may want to spend your future life. At least, you should be able to visualize, either as an aspiration or as a desire, what type of life you want to lead in your next birth. If you do not believe in rebirth, this discussion is not for you and you can conveniently skip this section.

Two possibilities

According to Hinduism two possibilities exist for each being at the end of this life, liberation or rebirth. The advantage with liberation is that it will end rebirth and free you forever from mortal existence. You will not be reborn even when the world ends and a new time cycle begins. However, liberation is difficult. Even if you strive hard and advance well on the spiritual path of renunciation, self-purification, and detachment, there is no guarantee that you will achieve liberation. Therefore, if you are pursuing liberation as your main goal, you must not lose sight of the possibility of rebirth and you must still prepare for it. There is a third possibility, that of falling into darker hells, which is the destined fate of the most sinful, haters of God. We are not discussing it here because if you are reading this article it means that you have past action merits, and you do not fall into the category.

What happens when you achieve liberation? According to the Upanishads, when you achieve liberation, you will travel by the sunlit path or the path of light to the immortal world of Brahman. The journey said to take almost a year in earth’s time as it happens in several phases over 12 months. You will be able to enter the world of Brahman only if you are completely free from all impurities. If you are unable to resolve all your karmas but perform good actions and lead a righteous and dutiful life, you will go to the world of ancestors by the gray path or the path of smoke, and return after exhausting your karmas. Your current life, thus becomes important both from the perspective of your afterlife and your next life.

What part in you goes to the next world? According to the Vedas, your soul goes to the next world. At the time of death it leaves the body from the heart region in your body through an aperture in the top of your head for the mid-region (space), accompanied by the breath, and sense organs which are considered the aspects of heavenly deities. From the mid-region they return to their respective spheres, while the soul moves on along the path of either the immortals or the ancestors, according to its destiny as determined by its past actions. The soul remains immutable and pure even when it exists in the body. It is the impurities that accompany the soul in the form of past life impressions and the strength of the astral body that is built in the ancestral world by the sacrifices and the offerings made by the descendants upon earth which determine the time and nature of its rebirth.

Things to remember

When you think of your next life, certain principles and certain aspects of your life and behavior become important. For example, you should not become too attached to your current identities, priorities, preferences, and preoccupation, and you must perform your actions with a spirit of surrender and sacrifice. Hinduism puts a lot of emphasis upon detachment and renunciation. The following illustrate why they are important in the context of your rebirth or afterlife.

1. There is no guarantee that you will be born in the same family and in the same country. Therefore, becoming too attached to your current family identity or national identity, or living too selfishly for your sake or your family sake only are detrimental to you, to your next life, and to your future wellbeing.

2. You cannot be sure which religion you may practice in your next life or which language you may speak. You should therefore show tolerance and compassion towards all communities and people of all religions.

3. Your future life largely depends upon how you would perform your obligatory duties, and deal with people, relationships, gods, ancestors, animals, and other beings. You must not only act responsibly towards them but also ensure that your current actions do not cause them pain and suffering.

4. By practicing certain meditative techniques and strengthening certain memories of your current life, you can improve your chances of recollecting your current life in your next one. Remembering your past lives can have certain advantages such as resolving problems whose causes cannot be easily determined.

5. Our scriptures suggest that whatever you think of at the last moment, or at the time of your departure, will have a strong influence upon the course of your next life. By training your mind in the contemplation of God or certain sacred thoughts, you can either completely avoid the possibility of rebirth, or earn a right to enter the higher worlds.

6. If you have committed any cardinal sins in the past, atone for them sincerely, and seek the help of God through prayers or the guidance of a spiritual master to neutralize them.

7. Excessive desires and passions, anger and hatred, pride, envy, and deceit are some of the worst destroyers of happiness and the chances of a good rebirth. Avoid them by cultivating virtues such as love, compassion, honesty, contentment, devotion, detachment, and nonviolence.

8. Know that suffering is a teacher, and learning from it is the key to progress and improvement. If you learn your lessons from your current suffering, failures, and setbacks, you can avoid their repetition in future.

9. For a believer in rebirth, death is just a phase in the existence of a bound soul. Therefore, if you believe in rebirth, you should not be afraid to face death, but consider it an opportunity to make a new beginning and correct your past mistakes. Truly speaking we are born everyday, and everyday we have opportunities to be different and better.

How to prepare for your next life

Your next life is a sum of what have done in your past lives and your current life. Karma is a continuous and never ending process. As you keep exhausting your past karmas, you keep on incurring new karma as you perform actions. As the Bhagavadgita says, it is impossible not to perform actions and avoid karma. You cannot resolve the problem of karma by action or inaction. Even if you do not engage in physical actions, your mind and body keep functioning which may result in positive or negative karma. The problem of karma is resolved only when you achieve liberation. Since liberation may not always be possible, or guaranteed, it is better to remain prepared for the possibility of your rebirth, and focus upon the following.

1. Your thoughts and actions: Karma arises mainly from desire-ridden actions. Intentions are therefore important. Understand the motivation behind your actions. Whether it is earning wealth or helping others, know why you want to do it. Karma arises from your thoughts, words, and deeds. You should therefore focus upon all the three, and learn to practice restraint.

2. Your desires: Your predominant desires form the seed for your next life. They create strong impressions in your consciousness and leave the residue in the form of causative consciousness (karanachitta). You cannot get rid of it easily without practicing detachment and renunciation. As the Upanishads declare, desire for the fruit of your actions is even more binding. Therefore, you have to see with which attitude you perform your actions and what you want to achieve out of them.

3. Your attachments: The bonds you form with the things of this world are difficult to overcome. If you do not overcome them, they will force you return to the same places and situations and deal with them. Attachments are also responsible for many undesirable traits and negative consequences which result in the continuation of suffering from birth to birth.

4. Your relationships: They are the most obvious form of your attachments. Your relationships with others, and material things in your life produce various types of positive and negative karmas. When you deal with people, it is difficult not to incur karma since your actions and their actions will result in positive and negative consequences for you as well as for them. Therefore, you have to examine your relationships, and release them from all obligations and past hurt.

5. Your character: The Bhagavadgita enumerates certain qualities that are considered divine and certain qualities that are considered demonic. They arise from the predominance of the gunas, namely sattva, rajas and tamas. Examine which quality is predominant in you and try to cultivate sattva through your thoughts and actions. As the scripture declares predominance of sattva ensures either a good rebirth or even liberation. It is also important that you lead a pious and virtuous life, without succumbing to evil temptations, selfishness, cruelty, or immorality. It is better to act according to your best discernment.

6. Your obligatory duties: Karma yoga means performing your expected duties sincerely without expectations, with a sense of responsibility, sacrifice and surrender. Your duties arise from God and they are meant to ensure the order and regularity of this world and the welfare of all those upon whom you depend for your own welfare and wellbeing. According to our scriptures, obligatory duties produce good karma. Hence, you must focus upon living responsibly and dutifully, without expectations, and do your part in the world of God.

7. Your knowledge and awareness: Cultivating the right knowledge is important to overcome the delusion and discern the truth about your own existence and the existence of this world. When you have right discernment, you know that you are neither your mind nor body but the eternal soul. You become aware that you are but an instrument of God meant to perform his duties upon earth. You also come to the realization that you cannot take credit for your actions or achievements or claim ownership of your wealth. Right knowledge comes from the practice of yoga, self-purification, and study of the scriptures. You can also learn from the wisdom of enlightened masters.

8. Your mind: It is very difficult to train your mind and regulate its movements. As stated before, having control over your mind is important because our scriptures suggest that whatever thoughts that predominate your mind and prevail in your awareness at the time of your death determine your next life or liberation. You can gain control over your mind only by restraining your thoughts and senses and by practicing meditation and concentration.

9. Atonement: The best way to neutralize your negative karma is by atoning for it and resolving not to repeat the actions that produced it. In some religions you have to go to a third person and seek his intervention for your atonement. In Hinduism you can do it by yourself by praying to God or your personal deity. You can also perform certain rituals with the help of trained priests to cleanse your sins, but it is not always necessary. Make it a habit to atone for your sins every day before you go to bed. Let your prayers be prayers for the atonement of your sins. You can also atone for your past sins by performing good deeds, such as giving charity, helping the poor and needy, contributing to social or religious causes and so on.

Extend your vision

Unfortunately, even though many people believe in the possibility of rebirth and reincarnation, most of them do not show much concern about it or feel responsible for it. They become so absorbed and involved with their current lives that their thoughts do not go beyond this life or this planet. The attractions of life are such that many are naturally drawn to them, and become involved with them. In the process, they become attached to their current identities, families, nationalities, communities, religious identities, relationships, possessions, achievements, and professions and regularly engage themselves in actions to fulfill their current desires and resolve their current problems. Ironically, nowadays Hindus are excessively becoming attached to their faith and religious identity, although the scriptures suggest that their current existence is but a phase in the journey of their souls and they must transcend their identities to stabilize their minds in their eternal Self. It is time we extend our vision and look beyond this life or view it in the context of soul’s eternal existence.

Sanatana Dharma teaches you that when you plan for your current life, you must also plan for the next. You must either seek liberation or plan for a better life. Human life is precious and a great opportunity to improve the quality of your existence or return to your source. Therefore, you have to think beyond your current life and relationships, and live more responsibly and virtuously, knowing how your thoughts and actions may create your future life. Since as a believer in karma you are aware of the consequences of sinful actions, you should not live selfishly or pursue evil desires. To free your mind from past life impressions, you should transcend your attachments and concerns for your identity, nationality, religion, relationships, achievements, political beliefs and ideologies, possession, status, etc., and as you understand the importance of virtue, you have to show compassion and consideration for others, act charitably, and conduct yourself humanely or righteously. In short, let this life be a part of your journey into eternity and infinity.

by Jayaram V

Notes: I have translated the Bhagavadgita twice. The first one was a loose translation. The second one was a word to word translation with a detailed commentary. The commentary is however different from what you will find here. In this section I will share with you my thoughts about the knowledge, philosophy and wisdom of the Bhagavadgita as I understand it from my perspective. Jayaram V

The Bhagavadgita has 18 chapters. Of them some are considered more important than others. One chapter that is not read or studied by many is the 10th chapter on the manifestations of God. People presume that God is all pervading. He exists in all. Therefore, there is nothing new about what you read in the chapter. What they miss in the process is an important lesson to learn and practice.

While we do acknowledge that God exists in all, we do not actually live and act that way. We choose what we like and discard what we dislike. We respect some and disrespect some. Life also teaches us not to trust everyone. Thus the idea that God is all pervading remains on paper and in theory and rarely becomes the driving force of our perceptions, behavior, attitude and relationships.

You might have also noticed that your knowledge is greatly limited by your attitude and perspective. If your perspective is limited, your knowledge remains limited. Your knowledge is also conditioned and shaped by your desires and interests. For example, nowadays many people do not read religious books or scriptures because they are disinterested. Thereby their faith remains weak, and their knowledge limited. The same holds true with regard to the knowledge of God or the knowledge of Self. If you want to know them, you must be interested in them, and you must look for them, search for them and learn about them.

Then there are natural limitations to your knowing, which neither interest nor desire can resolve. For example, there is no way you can see God or your own Self with your naked eyes. Therefore, it is practically impossible for anyone to feel the presence of God in everything they perceive. Our scriptures say that when direct experience is not possible to ascertain truths, one should rely upon either inference (anumana) or scriptural testimony (sabda). For common people, these two are like two eyes to discern transcendental truths.

Inference is indirect evidence. For example, if you see smoke coming out of a distant forest, you can presume that there may be fire from which it is rising. You might not see the fire but you can guess using logic and commonsense. Similarly we can infer the presence of evil in a person if you see in him or his conduct traces of wickedness, cruelty, or sinful behavior. We can use the same logic to infer the presence of Brahman in the objects of the world by the presence or absence of certain qualities, states and conditions.

Most religious scriptures are authored either by God himself or by prominent spiritual masters or messengers who were able to establish a psychic connection with transcendental knowledge. They are therefore considered reliable to ascertain truths. The Bhagavadgita is considered a reliable source of divine knowledge. Hence, we can use it to expand our spiritual knowledge or learn truths about God.

It is in this context, the 10th chapter becomes relevant and immensely useful to discern the presence of God in the world around you and develop God-centric awareness. From the list of manifestations described by Krishna, we realize that God is present in all things that are bright and beautiful. You can be certain that although God is hidden in all, in some he becomes more prominent and visible, which then become worthy or worship and admiration. For example, you can be certain of the presence of God wherever you find uplifting, inspiring, elevating and enlightening qualities such as light or effulgence, purity, beauty, knowledge, divinity, leadership, wisdom, intelligence, excellence, melody, harmony, strength, character, honesty, friendship, selflessness, power, patience, fortitude, fame, skill, devotion, perfection, royalty, charity, time, speech, reasoning, sacred sounds and chants, spirituality, saintliness, victory, shrewdness, power to punish, seeds of all things, support, prosperity, energy and so on.

What should you do when you find these qualities in others or in the things you perceive? If you happen to see them in others, you should feel neither resentful nor envious, but acknowledge the deity who is hidden in them. If you find them in yourself, you should not feel pride, vanity or arrogance, but acknowledge that their source is the Self in you and you have them because of its presence. Thus whatever good you see in you or in others, you should attribute it to your divine nature and feel grateful, and whatever qualities you may not have you should cultivate them. This is the advantage of studying scriptures like the Bhagavadgita and paying attention to the truths they contain. They help you cultivate not only better awareness, knowledge and wisdom, but also discernment whereby truths become self-evident.

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by Jayaram V

So long as there is a limitation, deficiency or imperfection, that far one should serve the teacher. Kaivalya Upanishad, From the Selected Upanishads by Jayaram V

When the self-restrained ascetic attains the state of mental inertia then only he reaches that highest state. Wherever the mind of the self-restrained ascetic rests that alone is the highest state. Kaivalya Upanishad, From the Selected Upanishads by Jayaram V

For a spiritual person who knows the nature of pure Self, knowledge is an impediment. It prevents you from having balance and stability in your inner being. As Aurobindo stated, up to some stage in your spiritual life, knowledge is a facilitator. Then it becomes a stumbling block since you cannot get rid of it easily and achieve the deeper silence which is essential for your self-realization.

The same is true with many aspects of your life, including your body, mind, possessions, occupation, relationships, interests, goals, scriptures, your spiritual guru, and even your notions of God and religion. At some stage, you have to leave them all behind and become lonely in thought and deed to reach the highest stage of aloneness or liberation. That state of liberation is also called Kaivalyam because it is without and beyond any duality.

Our scriptures ask spiritual aspirants to live in seclusion and shun worldliness because unless an aspirant learns to lives with himself and becomes comfortable with himself, he cannot realize his true self. Aloneness (kaivalya) also means not having any associations or attachments and being free from social influences and conditioning. If you respond to events either by impulse or by habit or desire, it means you are not yet ready to be alone.

This is an important test. If you cannot live without the world, if you depend upon it for your peace, success, happiness, or achievement, you are not ready for the journey. In this regard, mental isolation is more important than physical. Your life begins with many relationships, dependencies, and attachments. Until you are free from them, the world will hold you back and influence your life and actions.

It is for the same reason that pursuing knowledge under a spiritual master is prescribed for worldly students who want to take up householder’s duties, and self-study (svadhyaya) for the spiritual aspirants who want to achieve liberation. In svadhyaya you have no guru other than yourself. God or Self (Isvara) becomes your guru, and faith becomes your support and shelter. You have to study the scriptures by yourself and acquire the knowledge by yourself.

Svadhyaya gives you an opportunity to study in silence and without distractions. With these two you not only acquire knowledge but also achieve peace and stability. You will not struggle to know or make sense of the scriptures. With an attitude of renunciation, you accept whatever knowledge that comes to you. You will also not study with any particular aim to excel in anything. You study to help your mind focus upon pleasant and liberating thoughts and engage your mind in the higher planes of knowledge and wisdom.

Spiritual people go to gurus. Then what happens? They become more involved with the world of their gurus. The join their Ashrams and live there forever. As they form a mental or spiritual bond with their gurus, they become their trusted followers, guards, and even part of their armies to defend them against external attacks. They become conditioned by their knowledge and teachings, and in the process either become mental slaves or lose their personal freedom.

It is a delusion to become attached to your spiritual master because at the level of the Self, you cannot have any relationship with anything or anyone. You cannot have that duality of preferring anything else or having anything else other than yourself. You have to be secure and contended in the confines of your own consciousness. It is the true state of freedom. If you do not prepare for it or if you are not ready for it, how can you achieve the ultimate liberation? It is like leaving a prison with cuffs on your hands or a chain to your leg.

Your infatuation with your guru may temporarily give you a relief from daily worries and help you experience temporary peace. It is but escapism, a kind of illusion that gives you the comfortable feeling that you are a spiritual person and you have a special relationship with your spiritual master. But is it different from other relationships you develop in your life that add more chains to your bondage? Does it help you achieve liberation when you are still bound to those chains?

Over dependence upon gurus or their knowledge can become a big stumbling block in the progress of their followers. If you develop a deep attachment with or dependence upon your guru, know that you have moved back in your spiritual journey rather than made progress. You have added one more layer of attachments and desires to your Self. You have become another child with a new parent, a parent of your idealism, and put another prism of delusion upon your mind and aspiration.

At some stage you have to leave your guru behind and journey alone, having collected whatever gems of wisdom he or she has gifted to you, with a feeling of gratitude. The guru takes you up to the base of mountains. From there on you have to reach the summit by yourself. You cannot go to the world of Brahman carrying your guru on your shoulders or a backpack of your karma and attachments. You have to burn it at the foot of the mount Kailas.

To go further or climb higher, you have to stop looking back, and renounce everything, your home, life, preferences, relationships, knowledge, religion, guru, path, and even God. Only then you become qualified to reach the summit and enter the doors of liberation. Aloneness does not mean you have to stop interacting with the world. It means you have to stop relating to it and remain alone even in a crowd. Hence, we have so much emphasis upon renunciation and detachment.

by Jayaram V

The evolution of life in Hinduism through the transformative and diversification process of Prakriti is not only about the evolution of the physical body, but also the evolution of the mind, ego, and intelligence in which desire and dynamism are the first manifestations, bondage and delusion, the intermediary, and liberation, the final. Jayaram V

Hinduism believes in the concept of evolution of life on earth. Although it is not the same as the one known to modern science, in many ways and in a very fundamental sense, it is not much different from the latter but wider in scope. The Hindu theory of evolution speaks about the evolution of not only physical life but also consciousness and intelligence

Modern science speaks of physical evolution and the evolution of nervous system, starting with simple life forms and proceeding to more organized and complex beings with well developed and self-regulating biological and mental mechanisms. Man is so far the known and the ultimate product of this very complex and continuous process.

Hinduism, on the other hand, presents a broad spectrum of the physical, mental and spiritual evolution of life on earth. Evolution in Hinduism is an integral and natural aspect of creation, which starts not with the emergence of life forms, but with the formation of matter itself as a movement of Nature under the will of God. It does not happen just on earth but universally from the highest to the lowest planes of existence. Creation, preservation, concealment, expression, and destruction are its fundamental driving and supporting mechanisms in which different realities (tattva) appear and disappear to create the illusion of duality, separation, impermanence, and diversity. On earth it is controlled and regulated not only by life but also by Death itself, which is also known as Time (kala).  It speaks of the evolution of the beings from a state of ignorance to a state of illumination through progressive and successive intermediate states of partial ignorance and partial illumination. It alludes to a process that proceeds through several primary and secondary stages. For brevity and convenience, we have grouped them into seven stages (please refer to the illustration above). However, there can be more stages and more detailed processes which the scope of this essay does not allow us to discuss.

The seven stages of evolution

The first stage  in the evolution of forms consists of the activation of Primordial Nature (mula Prakriti) and separation of the five base elements (mahabhutas), namely earth, fire, water, air, and space, and the activation of the three dormant modes (gunas) of dynamism, namely, sattva (the positive forward force), rajas (the balancing will force), and tamas (the negative, regressive or obstructive force). The admixture of these results in the emergence of inert and inanimate world. This is the first stage. In this phase tamas is predominant in the manifested objects.

The second stage consists of the emergence of life in the form of small organisms guided by the Rajasic force of desire for self-preservation and the tamasic force of instinct and impulse. It is followed by the emergence of body parts (karmendriyas) and one or more senses (jnanendriyas). The organisms at this stage possess one or more senses and limited perception. This is the third stage of the evolution (parinamam) of Prakriti.

In the fourth stage the organisms develop the lower or the primitive mind (manas) whereby they possess some awareness and limited ability to store memories, think, and act, which lead to the formation, development and strengthening of individual centers of consciousness in physical bodies that are mostly and vastly very inert and unconscious and driven by the force of blind instinct and natural impulse. The 2,3, and 4 are the stages in which rajas begins to predominate over tamas.

In the next two stages, organisms develop limited intelligence (buddhi) in varying degrees which results in the consolidation and concretization of individual consciousness into individual egos with the ability to act under their own individual and independent wills powered by the energy of desires, and the instinct of survival. This is the stage in which human beings emerge with varying degrees of knowledge and intelligence. It is also the stage where the beings possess well developed gross and subtle bodies, and sattva begins to gain ascendance over rajas and tamas.

The seventh phase consists of the development of discriminating awareness (parisilanatmaka buddhi) among human beings as they perceive the world around and learn through enquiry and exploration to discriminate truth from falsehood, and understand the causes of their suffering and their resolution. Some renounce the world and practice austerities, which leads to the gradual surrender and ultimate dissolution of their egos into Truth, Consciousness and Bliss. Beings in the liberated state possess soul consciousness or pure intelligence. They overcome the duality, including the duality of life and death, and cause and effect. It means they step into the shoes of the Creator and develop immense powers to create as well as destroy worlds and realities by mere thoughts. They will have resplendent ethereal bodies filled with pure light (suddha sattva).

The scientific model of evolution vs. Hinduism model

Thus, as we can see, the evolutionary process which we find in Hinduism is a transformative process of Nature from the primordial and unmanifested state (asambhutam) into a full blown and diversified manifested state (sambhutam). It is not only a physical process involving the evolution and emergence of the body and its parts, but also a subtle process involving the evolution and emergence of consciousness, individuality, intelligence and discriminating awareness. The process encompasses the evolution of the gross body as well as the subtle bodies. While science heavily rests upon the evolution of the physical being, Hinduism goes a step further to explain a more comprehensive and holistic vision of the evolution of the mental, intelligent, and spiritual being.

Science is yet to come to terms with the theory that man can consciously and willingly direct his evolution through the exercise of his will, intelligence and choice, whereas in Hinduism there is no such self-limiting belief. Science is yet to acknowledge that all creations of humans, including the intelligence they create through the so called “artificial” means, is part of Nature and an expression of Nature, and Nature works through humans and other beings as much as it works on its own to fulfill its designs and further the process of evolution. However according to the tenets of Hinduism, evolution is very much a product of individual effort that can be consciously willed and controlled under the guidance of an enlightened and discerning wisdom.

According to science, evolution is a process directed by Nature for its own inexplicable ends. It tries to maintain balance in the physical world and evolves forms that are progressively competent and mutually self-destructive. The evolving beings are at the best experimental models in its gigantic laboratory. Here each individual being has little freedom to determine its own evolutionary course or that of its species, and it has to participate passively in the drama authored and directed by Nature. Science cannot even definitively confirm whether Nature is an intelligent and self-guiding system or an accidental association of random processes.

In contrast, Hinduism explains the process of evolution from a wider perspective. It views the whole subject on a universal scale, going beyond the visible and the manifest forms of life to explain the mechanism that is responsible for the creation of not just the earth or its beings, but the entire universe in which exist different planes of reality and consciousness.

The vision that we come across in the scriptures is much wider and comprehensive. In them Nature is a powerful agent, an eternal indestructible but mutable entity that plays a very dominant role so long as an individual being is willing to remain under its control. When wisdom and insight prevail, the beings realize their folly and try to escape from its field of influence to return to their true essence, which is pure intelligence.

In the mortal world, only humans have such an ability and direct opportunity. Through their will and sincere efforts, they can succeed in overcoming their limitations that are imposed upon them by Nature and achieve liberation from its overwhelming and deluding dominance.

Evolution and involution

Thus, Hinduism interprets the process of evolution both from within and without, both as a mechanism of Nature and a product of self-effort, with a hidden purpose, which is the ultimate liberation of the soul. The objective is accomplished through the withdrawal of the senses and purification of the mind and the body. The transformation begins with a new awareness of the Self  and the responsibility to detach the Self from external confusion, commotion, and surface reality. It leads to the gradual withdrawal of the being from the external world and a journey into itself and its core beingness. The next step involves elimination of all forms of desires, egoistic effort and impure thoughts, preferably under the guidance of an advanced being who has purified and upgraded his consciousness and awareness through self-effort and inner evolution. In the third stage one has to make desireless effort through detachment, devotion and self-surrender to realize the Highest Truth.

From unreality towards reality, from darkness towards light and from death to deathlessness: these are the chief aims of the terrestrial evolution of life in this world. Its primary objective is liberation, not control and domination, and immortality, not survival. It is a movement away from primeval Nature, and towards light and boundlessness. Its aim is not to render the being into a fit instrument under the control of Nature, or into a better player in the game of survival, but to establish the divinity in the being through the purification of intelligence so that it can transcend Nature, both within and without and attain immortality by returning to its pure and original intelligence.

Evolution is the expression of each individual being seeking to escape from the cycle of births and deaths and regain its lost glory. The process is neither instantaneous nor uniform, neither uniformly progressive nor easily predictable. There is no one particular way. There is no particular result. The paths are many and so also the methods as well as the outcomes.

There are no definitive standards here, except those that are sanctioned by the laws of creation. Intuitive awareness may help us to predict the possibilities and explore the opportunities. But the limitations are always there. The difficulties on the path are innumerable. Only an enlightened soul-intelligence can guide us safely across the mirage of life. So long as the being (jiva) is in love with its own chains and its distracting dreams, desires and faulty actions, the embodied soul has no escape and no hope from his own illusions.

The laws of evolution are applicable to all beings both in the mortal worlds and  in the worlds of devas and the demons, for they too are a part of the creative and evolutionary process. The plants, animals, and the worlds of mere forms too evolve in their own limited ways towards light and delight.

The advantages of human life

In this play of God, humans have certain rare advantages. In the chain of evolution, they stand at an important threshold. Rare and precious indeed is the mortal life, which is attained after innumerable births and deaths, and which sometimes even gods envy for the opportunities it offers to humans not only to surpass themselves but also the gods and celestial beings to reach world of Brahman. While those worlds are fixed until the end of creation, the mortal world is impermanent and changeable. Hence, the opportunity to achieve liberation is inherent and integrated in its very design.

However, Nature does not let the humans achieve liberation without struggling and undergoing fundamental transformation in their core consciousness, knowledge and awareness. The pitfalls on the way are also many. By their wrong actions beings may falter and fall temporarily on the path and descend into the lower worlds, taking birth as animals, birds, insects, trees or plants. In extreme cases, they may also degenerate into demons and evil spirits. However, it is not the end.  The beings who descend into hells and lower life forms can ascend again into higher life forms through good actions or with the help of the compassion and forgiveness of spiritual people.

The key to liberation is the right exercise of buddhi or discerning wisdom. When intelligence becomes sharp, the mind becomes stable, as people make right choices and follow righteous paths. It is by knowing the reality from unreality, truth from falsehood, right action from wrong action, right knowledge from wrong knowledge, one can ensure progress towards the state of supreme intelligence or the all knowing awareness. None can help him in this process except himself and his wisdom. In this great effort, the Self is one’s own friend as well as one’s own enemy. Those who fail to discriminate truth from falsehood have to relearn the same lessons until they become adepts in their knowledge of discrimination. They must have balance in their minds and bodies, without ignoring or giving up their worldly duties and responsibilities. Humans must participate in God’s creation as his active agents to manifest his intent and will and uphold the order and regularity of the world. Those who fail to do so have to live with the consequences (karma). The Isa Upanishad (I.1.3) clearly warns those who want to shun the world and ignore their obligatory duties. “Demonic worlds enveloped in blinding darkness they enter after death those who are the slayer of the self.” So does Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita, (Chapter 9, 14 and 16).

Evolution from here on, the vision of modern seers

According to Hinduism evolution happens both in the macrocosm and the microcosm, without any correlation between the two. Thus beings can quickly evolve even in a primitive world through self-effort and intelligent actions, while the world itself may have to wait for Time to reveal the will of God and push further the wheels of progress.

Shri Aurobindo was one of the contemporary seers of modern Hinduism who saw the vision of supermen evolving out of the present race of humans and establishing the foundation for a new world of super humans to emerge. With the awareness of an awakened soul who saw within himself the supramental designs of the universe, he declared that man could hasten his own evolution from the state of an ignorant consciousness being struck in an animal body struggling to express itself to the august state of a supramental consciousness manifesting itself in a divine and immortal body of light and bliss. He even prophesied that it would be possible to attain immortality at the cellular level of the human body by making each cell self-conscious in itself.

“To know, possess and be the divine being in an animal and egoistic consciousness, to convert our twilit or obscure physical mentality into the plenary supramental illumination.- this is offered to us as the manifestation of God in matter and the goal of Nature in her terrestrial evolution,” he wrote.

Thus, it can be concluded that Hinduism believes in the cyclical nature of life as a result of the descent of consciousness into matter through association and diversification and its subsequent ascent into spirit through isolation and integration. Evolution happens through the involvement of consciousness in matter and liberation through their disassociation. From unity to diversity and then to unity. This is the intended order. Creation begins with the retrogressive process of the descent of the Universal Self into a playground of names, forms, and modifications, and ends in progressive phases with its ascent from the world of illusion into the reality of an eternal and indivisible state. Each being that comes into existence into the manifest worlds is in a state of transformative flux, with a hidden intent and purpose, to seek liberation from ignorance, darkness, delusion, and mortality, and move towards knowledge, light and immortality through a process of purification and illumination. Thus, the Self descends into the morass of mortal  world to move the wheels of creation and bides its time until it is liberated

In Hinduism we learn that everything in creation has a purpose and a role. Existence is characterized by duality. Nothing can exist without an opposite. Creation and destruction are part of the same duality. The ultimate aim of all this is to facilitate the forward movement of life. Creation hides in its bosom the seeds of destruction and destruction hides in its design creation as the effect. If the birth of an individual is creation, his death is destruction in which is again hidden the source of his rebirth. It is through this repeated process of creation and destruction that  individual beings evolve gradually through tiers and stages. The One indivisible Self, divides Himself into many in order to become One again. “In a word, godhead; to remake ourselves in the divine image.”

The same is true with regard to cause and effect. They are inseparable. In the cause itself is hidden its effect, which only Time can reveal. Those who transcend Time by transcending Death (Kala) can bridge that duality and instantaneously precipitate an effect from its cause without the intervention of Time. It is what we call the ultimate Siddhi or the highest perfection, which is considered the power of God (divya shakti) or the Miracle of Manifestation (maha shrishti). That power is yours when you have the highest and purest intelligence beyond all duality, division and separation.

This in brief is the story of evolution in Hinduism.

by Jayaram V

Note: This is next in series to the Symbolism of the Descent of Ganga (Gangavataran) in which I have explained the deeper symbolism hidden in the descent of the River Ganga from the highest heaven and its manifestation upon earth. Here I have explained the importance of the river as a purifier and liberator. I may keep improving this essay as the knowledge of the Ganga flows into my mind. Jayaram V

Those who are familiar with the beliefs and practices of Hinduism know that the River Ganga is the most sacred river for Hindus. People strive to make a pilgrimage to the banks of the river and immerse themselves in its water under the belief that whoever takes a dip in its waters will get rid of their sins and achieve liberation. Some of the oldest temples and pilgrim places of Hindus are located on its banks.

Symbolically Ganga also symbolizes purity and the power to purify. There is little doubt that Ganga is the mother of all purifiers. In the spiritual practices of Hinduism, purifiers occupy an important place. In Hinduism the mortal world is considered an impure place since it is infused with death, delusion, ignorance, desires and sinful karma, which envelop the souls like a dark cloud and bind them to the cycle of births and deaths. Since the minds and bodies are infused with them and subject to the modifications of Nature, they are also considered impure. Liberation is not possible unless the souls become purified and find an escape from them.

Hence, a great emphasis is placed in Hinduism upon the purification of the mind and body through transformative practices and techniques such as yoga and Tantra. Without cultivating purity, none can become enlightened or liberated. The waters of Ganga symbolize the power to purify mortal beings. Like the flow of water that never stagnates she purifies all that she touches.

Symbolic significance of River Ganga as a purifier

As the purifier and liberator of souls, the River Ganga symbolizes the following symbols and sacred objects of Hinduism.

1. Knowledge of the Vedas

Ganga symbolizes the spiritual knowledge of the Vedas. The knowledge eternally flows in the highest heaven, just as Ganga flows. That knowledge cannot be sustained by humans or directly transmitted to them without the intervention of a spiritual teacher (or guru), or an enlightened Brahman priest, who acts as the intermediary and translates it into human speech, just as Shiva acted as the shock absorber and transmitter in case of the descent of Ganga.

The knowledge of the Vedas thus transmitted not only brings peace and prosperity to the humans but also helps them in their liberation. Just like in case of Ganga, whoever come into contact with the Vedas become purified and cleansed of their sins. In fact, like the goddess Ganga, the Vedas offer an easier and popular path for those who are not privileged or who do not have the opportunity to study the Vedas and become liberated. To them, like Ganga, they provide an easier and less strenuous alternative of karma yoga or the yoga of obligatory duties and sacrificial ceremonies (karmakanda).

2. Breath

The ever flowing River Ganga symbolizes the ever flowing Prana or breath in the mortal body. Like Ganga, prana also descends from the highest heaven and enters the human body through the incoming breath. Just as Ganga splits into seven streams after falling upon the head of Shiva, Prana also splits into seven breaths¹ after entering the human body. Thus, Ganga symbolizes the flowing and purifying power of breath. In the very name of Ganga is hidden its symbolic meaning of breath. “Ga,” means whatever that flows and “anga” means a bodily organ. Ganga literally means that which flows in the organs of the body, which is clearly a reference to Prana or breath. The Upanishads clearly identify Breath (Prana) as the lord of the organs and the highest deity in the sphere of the body because it is incorruptible. While all the organs in the body are susceptible to desires and evil thoughts, breath not only remains impervious to them but also destroys all evil thoughts as soon as they come into contact with it.

Just as the river nourishes the earth by carrying the life-giving water, breath nourishes all the organs in the body by carrying food to them. Thus in its function and significance Ganga clearly symbolizes Prana or breath as the one that moves (ga) in the organs (anga) and purifies them. Like Ganga, breath also liberates all the organs in the mortal body at the time of death by carrying them into the mid-region and letting them return to their respective spheres.

3. Ritual water

Water is invariably used in Hindu rituals, domestic worship, sacrificial ceremonies, and temple worship. Ganga symbolizes the ritual water (tirtham) or the water used on such occasions. In fact, water from the River Ganga itself is preferably used in many Hindu ceremonies. Water infused with the power of Vedic mantras and used in rituals as an offering is considered sacred just like the water from the river Ganga. It is sprinkled upon ritual places, people and objects to purify them and make them fit for worship. Worshippers sip the ritual water to purify their minds and bodies. During the ceremonies it is offered to the deities and poured into the sacrifices as an offering. The remaining water of that offering is also considered sacred.

Ganga symbolizes the ritual water both as an offering and the remains of an offering. Just as the ritual water is infused with the power of Brahman hidden in the Vedic chants, the water of Ganga that flows upon earth is infused with the power of Shiva from whose head it flows. Secondly, the water that flows from his head is but the remains of a sacrifice because in an act of self-sacrifice Ganga falls down from the heaven and enters the mortal world. Hence, it has the same sanctity and purifying power as the ritual water that is used in ritual worship as an offering and as the remainder of an offering.

4. The rain water or the waters of Ambhas

According to Hinduism, rains play an important role in the transmigration of souls and their liberation. Ganga symbolizes rains that fall from heaven, especially the rains that fall during the month of Asvin, which are considered sacred. They represent the waters of life upon earth. Just like Ganga they reside in the water laden heaven (ambhas) and descend to the earth to nourish it and purify it. Just as Ganga liberated the sons of Sagara stuck by the heat of Kapila’s penance, rain water liberates the parched earth from the heat of the sun and brings it back to life. Most importantly rain water facilitates the rebirth of souls and helps their parents to perform their obligatory duties and find salvation.

5. The waters of life

According to Vedic beliefs, when beings die, their embodied souls go to the ancestral heaven. After exhausting their karmas, they fall down from there to the earth through rains. From the earth they enter the plants through the same rain water. When men eat them, they enter their bodies, and through the water in the food they become part of their semen, which is symbolically considered in Vedic imagery as the life giving water. Thus, the rain water from heaven becomes the waters of life (semen) in the human body. Just as the River goddess Ganga uses the body of Shiva for her support, the rain water, having become the waters of life, uses the human body for its support to facilitate procreation, or the flow of life force (ganga or prana) from one body to another. This process is facilitated by a male sexual organ, which is literally a reference to Bhagiratha, which means the rider or the occupant of bhaga ( the female genital organ).

6. Fluids in the mother’s body

Upon sexual union, the semen is released into the womb of the mother. Just as the waters of Ganga that flow into the mortal world from heaven, the waters of Ambhas, having become semen in the male body (Shiva), flow into the womb. Symbolically, the mother is a reference to the earth since she is the bearer (dharitri) of the children (praja). Since the semen flows (ga) in the sexual organs (anga) of both male and female, it represents Ganga or Prana, or that which flows in the organs of the body. In the body of the mother it unites with the mother’s egg and becomes fetus, thereby bringing to life the lifeless womb (the lower world in the body) and sanctifying it, just as the River Ganga did at the time of her descent. In this context, Bhagiratha is a reference to both the father and the fetus. One is the rider of the bhaga (female genital organ) and the other is the occupant of bhaga (mother’s womb). Bhagiratha means both. Especially, in this context it is a reference to the fetus of the eldest son. According to Vedic beliefs a son purifies not only his father and mother by taking birth through them but also brings his ancestors back to life by facilitating their rebirth. By giving birth to a son, the mother (symbolically the earth) also become purified, as she discharges her karmic debt to both the father and the son, and the rest of the ancestors.

7. Devayana, the Path of Immortality

As stated before, Ganga symbolizes pure consciousness or the intelligence (prajna) of supreme Brahman. She flows in the heaven as the very essence of Brahman. When she descends into the humans (jivas) through an awakening, facilitated by their penance, intelligence (buddhi) and purity (sattva), she liberates them from mortality and helps the bound souls (jivatmas) to return to the world of Brahman through the path of gods, known as devayana. The path represents the ascent or return of Ganga from the earth back to the highest heaven. She descends into the mortal world through the Southern Path as rains and facilitates rebirth by becoming the waters of life in the body, and life nourishing water in the earth. She ascends and returns to the heaven through the Northern Path (Uttarayana), also known as the Path of Gods (Devayana) or the path to immortality, and carries with her all the liberated souls. In the process she comes to a full circle, like the infinity itself.

8. Brahman, creation and existence

From the above discussion we can see that in Hinduism the River Ganga carries a great significance, which only the Vedic seers knew and used a physical river upon earth to symbolize it. Ganga represents the eternal power of Brahman that gives life, nourishes life, purifies life, facilitates renewal and rebirth, and liberates life. In short, she symbolizes life (Prana) itself and all the movement (chaitanyam) that characterizes life and creation. With her roots in heaven and branches below, she even symbolizes the famous Asvattha Tree, or the Tree of Life, which is mentioned in the Upanishads as the tree that is upside down. Like Ganga, the Tree too has its roots in heaven and branches in the worlds below. In the ultimate sense, the River Ganga is not just a river and a flow of consciousness, but creation itself that originates from Brahman as a movement (ga) and descends into the mortal world, (which is but a limb (anga) of creation), through Isvara (Shiva), the lord of the universe, to release the bound souls from the previous cycle of creation and give them a chance to liberate themselves.

Rahul Gandhi’s demand and the cabinet’s decision to declare Jains a national minority is a welcome but overdue decision. It rectifies an inexplicable omission since a community based on a unique faith comprising less than 0.5 per cent of the population was nationally not recognised as a religious minority!

Apart from the general apathy of successive governments and the absence of a persistent demand by the Jain community, the main reason was the 2005 decision of the apex court in Bal Patil vs Union of India.

A strong advocate of a minority status for the community, Patil had petitioned the Supreme Court to notify Jains as a minority under the National Minorities Commission Act, 1992. The apex court, disagreeing with the petitioner’s contention, ought to have rejected the petition on the established legal principle that a direction cannot be issued to an authority to issue a notification where the statute gives a discretion in that regard.

Instead, the three-member bench did an exegesis as to how Jains were a part of Hinduism, how Jains are a reformist movement among the Hindus (like the Arya Samajis), that within the fold of Hinduism everyone is a minority and that such recognition militates against the concept of Indian secularism!

Not only was all this unnecessary, the five-page, 37-paragraph judgement also displayed a monumental lack of understanding of Indian history, philosophy and comparative religion on the part of the apex court. The government thereafter did not notify Jains on the plea that Jains, being part of Hinduism, cannot be a minority!

Astonishingly, the apex court ignored the remarkably rich Jain heri­tage in India for over 5,000 years. The Jain and the Vedic traditions comprise the two ancient streams of religious and philosophical tho­ught in India, the former being the older. Jain principles are radically different from mono/polytheistic faiths; Jainism, for instance, is irreligious in its denial of the concept of creation/creator and ins­tead follows the ‘Anadi Anantam Cho’ evolutionary concept, that is, the universe has always existed and will always continue. Nude figures, considered Rishabha, have been discovered at Mohenjodaro and Harappa. Seal motifs found there are identical to those found in the ancient Jain art at Mathura. Scholars like Radha Mookerji, Roth, Chakravarti, Ram Prasad Chanda, T.N. Ramchandran, Maha­devan, Kamta Jain, Radhakrishnan, Hiralal Jain, Zimmer, Jacobi and Vincent Smith have all established that Jainism is an ancient religion which is not a sect or sub-sect. The Shramana tradi­tion of Jainism significantly predates the Vedic one.

Radhakrishnan noted that Rishabhdeo had been recognised even in the Bhagvada Purana and was worshipped well before the first century BC. The Yajurveda mentions the names of three Tir­thankaras. The constitutional founding fathers included a Jain representative in the Constituent Assembly. The Bombay government in 1909 endorsed “the claim of the important Jain community” for reservation as a min­ority. In 1993, the Minorities Commission recommended that the community be declared a mino­rity religious community. Nehru’s secretary clarified in 1950 on his behalf, “…there can be no doubt that they are a distinct religious community and the Constitution does not in any way affect this well recognised position.” This last sentence was intended to dispel the interpretation of Article 25 Expln II clubbing Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains with Hinduism. In Discovery of India, Nehru wrote that “Jain­ism and Buddhism were certainly not Hinduism or Vedic dharma….” Eminent writer Dr Jyoti Jain wrote that there is absolutely no evidence that “Jainism branched off from the Vedic religion…instead it may well be the oldest living religion of non-Aryan or pre-Aryan origin”. From the Encyclopaedia of Religions to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Jainism is defined and treated as a separate religion. There is no dispute here.

A catena of judicial pronouncements consistently endorsed the same position. Since 1957, it is accepted that a numerical minority at the state and/or at the central level is sufficient for qualification as a minority. Ironically, Jains are already a notified minority in 12 states and while these states comprise well over 50 per cent of India’s population, Jains nationally were not a minority!

That Jains do not believe in God as a creator, that it was a distinct religion flourishing before Christianity, that it flourished long before Hinduism as an independent religion and that Jains always rejected the authority of the Vedas and cannot be called Hindus, has respecti­vely been held by the apex court in 1954 and by different HC judgements in 1939, 1951, 1957, 1968 and 1976. Not one of these decisions or books or material is even cited in the Bal Patil case!

The valiant effort by a later, smaller two-member bench of the apex court in 2006 could do no more than distinguish Bal Patil but was unable to undo the clear error of substantive principle.

It is interesting that not all Jains share the perception of the need for minority status. Despite being India’s second smallest religion after Parsis, Jains have a literacy rate of 94 per cent (compared to the national average of 65 per cent) and a female literacy rate of over 90 per cent (as against 54 per cent nationally). The sex ratio for Jains is much better than the national average. The community has the highest per capita income, paying over 20 per cent of the income tax in the country. Many, including this author, believe that Jains should thank the government but refuse the benefits (including reservations) which may flow under the notification, though that is unlikely to happen. In the ultimate analysis, Jains’ fight for minority status should seek to protect and promote Jainism as a distinct faith and culture.

(The author is MP, Congress national spokesperson and jurist.)