Hinduism: Continuity of change: Part II
The two armies in Mahabharata assembled for the battle along with the kings, which is not accidental. There is no such thing as chance in the scientific law of cause and effect that rules all creation. When you sow wheat, you cannot reap barley. There is a timeless continuity from the past to the present and continuing to the future. The reality is beyond the manmade concept of time. We calculate time from one given point to another. But from where does one begin counting when no one knows the first unit of time? Man has, therefore, named the first unit of time with the oxymoronic unintelligent term “the First Second”. Also, no one knows the last, so from where does one count time? Expounding this timeless reality, Krishna says that our true essence always was, is and shall be.
The philosophical conclusion therefore arrives at a continuity from the past, which conditions the future body equipment and its self ordained situations in life, termed as “prarabdha” ( situations that one meets in life, as well as the kind of body-mind equipment that one is born with). The theory of reincarnation is now being largely accepted as a logical belief across religions. The parapsychology department of Jaipur and the Columbia University have been doing extensive research and experiments on it. They have quoted many instances where individuals have remembered their past lives with accuracy. Christ himself told his disciples that John the Baptist was Elijah. A famous Christian preacher Origen states: “Every man received a body for himself according to his deserts in former lives.”
Prarthna Saran, President, Chinmaya Mission, Delhi.
