Question: Often we hear the results we attain in this material world are temporary. But how to understand inspiration coming from previous births, for example, in the case of child prodigies who are not on a devotional path? It seems that what they acquired from previous birth does not seem to have been lost. Please kindly help me understand this.
Answer by Romapada Swami:
Yes, it is true the results we obtain in this material world are temporary. The word temporary means there is eventually an end to what we have. The conditioned soul accumulates karma. “karma” means “activity” and the law of karma regulates the reactions to our activities. If we act in pious ways, we reap good reactions. If we act in impious, sinful, or destructive ways, we reap bad reactions in the future. Some of the reactions (good or bad) come to us immediately, some come to us in our next life, and some take many lifetimes to fructify.
In this way, when we see people who are born in a very well-to-do families, having lot of talent, skills, power, beauty, education, including child prodigies, we should understand that it the result of their good, pious activities they have performed in their previous life(s).
Karma binds us up in a cycle of action and subsequent reaction. If we are in this cycle, we will experience both happiness and distress and have to accept another material body at death to enjoy/suffer the reactions to our materially good/bad actions.
For devotees, who are completely engaged in devotional service, their actions do not yield karma, rather it is called akarma (actions for which there is no karmic reaction). This is the only way to break the vicious cycle of birth and death.
Karma is temporary. We can break free from its bonds by performing devotional service to Krishna. Devotional service purifies our consciousness and gradually helps awaken our spiritual knowledge and innate love for Krishna. Thus, both our karma and our long-standing desire to enjoy life within the illusory material world—the root cause of our bondage—are destroyed.
