punarjanma, moksham

a very valid question raised by a very deeply learned friend

Human birth is the nearest point one can try to realise moksha and shirk off the cycle of birth and death. When a person , especially a close relative or friend, passes away we pray that let his/her soul merge in the Brahman. We daily pray so during food " Brahmani me aatmaa amritatwaya'.

When a girl in the family becomes pregnant, some people tend to bless by saying that let the grand father/ father in law or mother ( or some such close relative not alive) be reborn. Is it not against our belief or prayer. Why should the departed soul get into the cycle?

My views on this

Let us take it this way.. If the person is steadfast towards realization of the Brahmam, and attain Mukthi, his path is clear.. No desire to the contrary by way of either blessing or curse is going to affect him.. But by some chance, the Karmagati in this life is not clear enough to fetch him the mukthi, is it better that he is reborn in the same environs and continues his purusit towards mukthi from the point where he left.?. In such cases, the blessings from elders and the family might do him a lot of good.

.

Human desires, blessings and evan curses are just expressions of human mind.. But sometimes in rare cases such minds would have reacahed such exalted states that such desires or curses would come true.. However, such cases are rarest of the rare..

In fact even in the case of the most exalted persons with sadhana, a directed and purposeful or sakama thought or curse, even when it materializes would deplete the accumulated tapas or the potential spiritual energy of the person at some exalted spirituals stage, and he becomes mere human with karma once again..

This happend to sage Visvamitra again and again

May be the Gods representing the supreme being are exceptions.. because, they will not deplete have their powers depleted through granting boons..

But even they would suffer, like Brahma in many cases, Shiva in the case of Bhasmasura etc..

Secondly, the explanations of life phenomena through Vaidic view following path of yajna etc,, that result in giving blessings like the grandson being reborn as grandson, and the theory of path of Jnaana which carries one to Moksha are basically at variance.. Yajnas prescribed by Vedas are just ladders to enjoyment in heaven, and once the merits gained are used up, the people who went to heaven will have to return to this earth to resume their toils here.. In that case a wish or blessing that he may come back and start as a human in the same family might do him good.. He can, in fact, be reborn as a worm or a piece or grass or a snake or a donkey or a bacteria

And these rules do not apply for the once who are relieved from the cycle of birth and death through Moksham..

Niether blessings nor curses really matter to them.