Q. 1. Why don’t we remember the past life sufferings? If one is suffering in this life some say that it is due to one’s past bad karma, which is vague to believe.
Answer by Romapada Swami: The workings of karma are not vague, but quite reasonable and logical to understand.
When someone has a contagious disease, it is evident that they must have somehow come in contact with an infected place or person or foodstuff in the past. An uninformed person or child may find it difficult to correlate the present symptoms of disease with a particular activity in the past, but one who is familiar with the knowledge of how infections are contracted can easily put them together. In the same way, those who are familiar with the Vedic science of action and reaction (karma) can easily comprehend how present suffering must indicate some past misdeed, even if the cause may not be known in detail – and with that understanding in place, just as in the example of a infected patient, more importance is given to find the remedy than to trace the exact cause by trying to analyze previous activities in this life or previous lives.
With a little introspection, we can reasonably conclude that each of our actions must bear some consequence in due course of time, whether immediately or after several years. Routinely we witness the effects of one’s actions fructifying after a passage of time, as in the above example. Similarly when a seed is sown, it begins to germinate after a period of dormancy. Karma — the effect of one’s actions, both sinful and pious – is very much likened to a seed, and it fructifies in due course of time – some sooner and others later in a future life. The Padma purana even identifies the different stages of fructification of karma viz. kuta (dormant), bija (germinating), prarabdha (mature, i.e those sinful reactions which one is presently suffering from) and aprarabdha (yet to mature in the future) (For detailed discussion, please see BG 9.2 purport )
It should be kept in mind that life is in fact a continuum; although we speak in terms of past life and present life, it is the same individual who is experiencing them, just as much a grown-up person may be reaping the effects of some childhood incident which they may not remember.
One simple reason why some karmic results are carried over to the next life is that the fructification of certain karmic reactions necessitates a change of body, just as a prisoner who may receive an inheritance is likely to enjoy it only after the completion of his prison sentence. Thus one may have to wait for a suitable body before one can reap the results of certain actions.
Furthermore, human life is a life of responsibility. Humans have higher discrimination potential or capacity, and knowledge is given in the form of scriptures so that we may refrain from sinful actions. In case one acts improperly, there are suitable prescriptions by which one can atone and rectify such sins. If one performs proper atonement for both deliberate and unknowingly committed sins in one’s life, then one does not have to suffer in the next life. But if ‘prayascitta’ is not undertaken within one’s lifetime, it is then that those reactions accrue upon death for which the soul will have to suffer in hell or in future life. (Cf SB 6.1.7 ) Such punishment or suffering is coded in the subtle body and although one may not remember, it prevents one from the tendency to commit such sins again just as a child that experiences a burn will stay away from fire.
It is the defect of modern mass education that it does not facilitate anyone to deeply reflect and consider these simple truths but tries to explain away everything as a product of blind chance. Meanwhile, one is excessively preoccupied with this short life of few years as all in all, without consideration for the consequences and responsibility for one’s own actions. Otherwise, even until recent times almost everyone in India, and in more remote times in cultures throughout the world, was accustomed to think and conduct their daily lives with an understanding of past and future lives and the effects of one’s actions.
For a thoughtful person, it is much more difficult to believe that all the disparities among people and the happiness and suffering as being due to blind chance. With even a little spiritual education when properly given, not only such concepts as afterlife and karma become very tangible but can bring much auspiciousness in people’s lives.
Q. 2. If the Lord gives remembrance of the bad karma from the past life and we can realize very quickly that we are suffering in this life due to the bad karma we have performed, and then one can be taken to God-realization to come out of sufferings.
Answer by Romapada Swami: The arrangements of the Supreme Lord are perfect even if we are unable to see how. It is in fact the Lord’s mercy that He gives us forgetfulness of past lives. For instance, the trauma of transmigration, death, and birth are so painful, that if one were to remember them, one could possibly not bear them and remain balanced in mind.
Besides, the very reason behind our transmigration in different bodies is due to false-ego – the conditioned living entity in the material world wants to forget his real identity as an eternal spirit soul and identify himself with different false designations. To remember one’s previous lives would run contrary to this purpose. For instance, it would make life very difficult if one were to remember that a dear relative was in a previous life an avowed enemy, whom they have to now serve due to the consequence of past mistreatment!
It is not necessary that by the remembrance of the details of past misdeeds one would come to repent and take shelter of God, although it may happen in some cases. Even in things concerning one’s immediate present life, we increasingly see people indulging in habits that they know will have harmful consequences, and often they do not come to their good sense and admit their mistake even when suffering the consequences. As long as the heart is not purified of the effects of the modes of passion and ignorance, viz. lust, greed, anger, etc, one cannot break away from sinful reactions and take to God-realization. Thus the real panacea is to impart proper spiritual training to people through education, culture, and devotion so that their hearts may be purified of sinful desires.
