In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of King Yayaati’s reply to Sage Ashtaka’s important questions on how the “Karma Theory” operates, and how people transcend from the “Manushya Lokha” to the various other Lokhas like the “Svarga Lokha”, the different types of “Naraka Lokha”, etc. and how do they once again come back to the same “Manushya Lokha” to continue their “Karma”! Everytime we take birth in this world to wash off our existing “Sanchita Karma” through our “Praarabdha Karma” (We’ve witnessed all these definitions earlier), we keep on accumulating more and more “Karma” during the present birth and all of it goes back into our “Sanchita Karma”, only for the results to be experienced at a later stage – Perhaps within this birth itself if we’re lucky and fortunate, or in our subsequent births that we take! This is exactly the reason why King Yayaati is also coming down. He had the opportunity to ascend to the “Svarga Lokha” on account of the enormous amount of “Punya Karma” that he had accumulated in his birth as a righteous king. However, once his “Punya Karma” was washed out, he was again pushed back to the “Manushya Lokha”, only to accumulate more and more “Karma”! This is where King Yayaati feels extremely dejected with himself and is repenting for his mistake of desiring to go to the “Svarga Lokha”!
As King Yayaati replies thus, Sage Ashtaka again asks him another set of questions! He asks thus, “Oh King Yayaati! Now that you’re falling down from the “Svarga Lokha – How do you fall down with the same physical body (Deham)? Once you finish your birth in this world, the “Deham” is destroyed, isn’t it? How is it that you’re coming down with the same body as you had earlier?” This is where we’ve to understand an important point – When we transcend to different “Lokhas”, we would take different physical forms that are apt for that particular “Lokha”. For instance, if we’ve to go to the “Svarga Lokha”, our “Atman” would assume a physical form that is apt for enjoying all the luxuries that happen there. However, when we’ve to transcend to the “Naraka Lokha”, our “Atman” would be given a physical form that would be able to experience all the beatings and punishments that we would get there! For obtaining such punishments, there should be a “Deham” that should be able to take all of it, isn’t it? Hence, while being in the “Manushya Lokha”, our “Atman” has a different “Deham”. When we transcend to the “Svarga Lokha”, we leave this present “Deham” here itself and our “Atman” assumes another “Deham”. While we transcend to the “Naraka Lokha”, our “Atman” takes another “Deham” that is apt for it. Hence, we can see here that our “Atman” is constant and our “Deham” keeps on varying from one birth to the other!
Now comes another important question – There would be a time interval between one birth and the next, isn’t it? So how does the “Atman” sustain without a proper “Deham”? Can this even happen? The answer to this question is, “Yes”. The “Atman” is always permanent. Of course, there is a transition – For instance, when my current birth comes to an end, during the end-time itself, Bhagawan gives His verdict as to which place and which physical body should my “Atman” take next! Bhagawan’s judgement comes immediately within a split of a second and the future gets decided according to our “Karma”! For instance, if my “Punya Karma” is exceeding my “Paapa-Karma” and if Bhagawan designates us to take us to the “Svarga Lokha”, He gives us the apt “Deham” immediately after our demise in this earth! Of course, we cannot see all these transitions with our naked eyes, but such things happen!
However, there is a clause here – If the apt time doesn’t come for us to switch over from one “Deham” to another “Deham”, our “Atman” would be freely roaming around in the air! For instance, we would witness some deaths of people that happen due to accidents, or some physical ailments, etc. at a young age itself. Some people even commit suicides, isn’t it? Now what would happen to their “Atman”? The designated time given by Bhagawan hasn’t come for them yet to switch over to a new “Deham”, isn’t it? As per Bhagawan’s calculation, there is a stipulated lifespan for all of us, and when the time comes, we pass away! However, if we pre-decide to end our life earlier than Bhagawan designated, our “Atman” would not get the new “Deham” as per our whims and fancies! Only when the Bhagawan-designated-time arrives, will our “Atman” be able to get into the new “Deham”! But till that time arrives, the “Atman” would be roaming around without a “Deham”! Thus, there might be hundreds and thousands of “Atmans” that are roaming freely without a “Deham” around us at any point of time! We might not be able to see them with our eyes, but they might be roaming around! In fact, there might be thousands of “Atmans” within our own “Deham” today! We live amidst so many bacteria and viruses, isn’t it? Who knows how many viruses are present within our body at any point in time? Perhaps, our body might be immune to them and we might not exhibit any sickness, but does that mean that our body does not contain any virus?
Hence, the point here is that, there are thousands of “Atmans” that might be without a proper “Deham” roaming around for whatsoever reasons. The concept here is that, the “Atman” assumes a physical form when the apt time arrives. If Bhagawan has designated the date, time and place for an “Atman” to incarnate into a physical body, it would happen only according to that. So for today, let us understand this point very clearly and let us wait till the next episode to witness this interesting discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 