Idea of Reincarnation

Many rich people dislike the idea of reincarnation, feeling how terrible it would be not to have their riches, and yet they must leave them behind when they die! Not a bit of it. If they have earned or deserved them they will be theirs in the future, always provided that they have not stolen them in any way, for in that case the jewels will not approach in the balancing of karma. So there is, after all, material as well as spiritual gain in holding to the virtues. There is, however, in the doctrine the clear notion that not all past karmas can be brought together at one time, or even in one lifetime or, more properly, body time. There is therefore an effect of the grouping into a type of lifetime of a certain number of compatible karmas. This being the case that not all the karmas can be represented at one time, but only a compatible group - it could be possible for a well to do person to find himself in poverty for a while, even perhaps for a lifetime. Thus, as it was once put, 'The dead king may next see the light in. a coolie's tent'.

A case which came within my own experience is to the point. A certain elderly blind man whom I knew well had for many years practised yoga under the direction of a guru known to both of us. This blind man told me that as a result of his yoga meditations he had become able to see into his previous life, which, he said, took place about seven hundred years ago. In that life, his story proceeded, he had been a small raja (king) in northern India. While being kind to his family and those who pleased him, he had been harsh and sometimes dreadfully cruel to the poor cultivators and his, enemies. The result of some of his acts of oppression and cruelty, he said, was his present blindness and poverty, which had, however, been a blessing in disguise, because they had caused him to become great friends with the poor villagers living round about, and so he had 'learnt real friendship in this life'. When the bad karma was paid off the believed - he would be back again in a position of comparative wealth and influence, with the advantage of an improved character and disposition. I had, of course, no means of verifying the accuracy of his vision or memory of the past, but I did find that in ordinary matters he had remarkable clairvoyance and telepathic powers.

4. The word here translated 'non-sensuality is Brahmacharya. Charya means 'conduct' or way of life'. Brahma here means roughly 'spiritual' or 'of the character of Brahman'. It is generally taken to mean celibate, though there are many who interpret it to mean that cohabitation may be indulged in, not however for bodily or emotional pleasure, but only as and when enjoined by the scriptures or when regarding the function as a sacred trust of power to ensure the future of humanity or of the family.