shailendrasharma.org · Published site text
Great Spirits
11 sections
- The break of time between bodies
- Gandhi as the incarnation of Chanakya
- Habits or work
- What the interval depends on
- Catalytic spirits
- Practice without karma
- Memory of past lives
- Beyond the five elements
- 1936 initiation and the Kriya yoga surge
- Ahimsa as the weapon; the goal was the Empire
- Chosen for change; developed souls
§1
The break of time between bodies
Book 4 · Rebirth and past lives Also: Spirit, soul and liberation
Q: What is the break of time for the spirit and soul between one body and another?
Sh: Well, it depends on the development of the spirit. From one second to many centuries. Many persons who died in accidents or were murdered take immediate birth.
But if a natural death happens, usually there is a gap of several years.
And a highly evolved person waits for the right time for an opportunity to take birth again. It may take centuries.
§2
Gandhi as the incarnation of Chanakya
Book 4 · Rebirth and past lives Also: Religions, history, society and science
* * *
I traced the last births of Mahatma Gandhi . I was very much surprised to learn that he was the direct incarnation of a very great famous person 2000 years back. His name was Vishnu Gupta Chanakya. And when we observed similarities between their lives, they were exactly the same.
Vishnu Gupta Chanakya also created history. There was a very great kingdom belonging to the Nand dynasty. And once upon a time there was an incident when Nand insulted Chanakya publically. And Chanakya promised himself that he would finish that kingdom. And he did that.
The same is with Mahatma Gandhi. When he was going in a first class compartment in a train one British officer kicked him out and threw him on the platform. And he promised himself he would finish the British Empire. And he did exactly that.
And he used to look almost the same. Dressed in the same way. And they were both murdered.
So may be such powerful spirits come when some political, social change is to begun.
§3
Habits or work
Book 4 · Rebirth and past lives
Q: So it means that the habits don’t change?
Sh: No, the work is almost similar, not the habit.
§4
What the interval depends on
Book 4 · Rebirth and past lives
Q: Time between reincarnations — what does it depend on?
Sh: It depends on say the power of the spirit. And the situation. Whether the situation is correct for that spirit to take incarnation or not. Because I was surprised that Mahatma Gandhi’s spirit took more than 2000 years to incarnate, to take birth because the situation was not right for him.
And they usually come for some specific purpose only. There is no karma involved in their births.
§5
Catalytic spirits
Book 4 · Rebirth and past lives Also: Karma, destiny and astrology
Q: So there are spirits born to do karma and get the result of karma and some spirits are…
Sh: They are born to create and change certain situations. So that it affects other human beings. They actually act like a catalytic agent. They create situations, join some situations together so that humanity learn lessons out of that.
§6
Practice without karma
Book 4 · Rebirth and past lives Also: Spirit, soul and liberation
Q: But such spirits like Mahatma Gandhi, coming once in centuries, are they noted to practice yoga?
Sh: They have already done a lot of practice. So no karma is involved in their births, they are already very far advanced. But still they come.
§7
Memory of past lives
Book 4 · Rebirth and past lives
Q: And they don’t remember their past lives.
Sh: They may be remembering but they will never tell it to others because who will believe it?
Q: So Gandhi may have remembered his past lives.
Sh: It looks like that. Or at the certain point of their lives they remember.
Q: But then when they die the whole memory comes back.
Sh: Yes.
§8
Beyond the five elements
Book 4 · Rebirth and past lives Also: Religions, history, society and science
Q: So is it like when you are there with two elements supporting you and you enter this, you exchange your past memories for the other three elements?
Sh: No, may be they have already gone beyond the five elements. That’s why they are so powerful that they are sent for a specific purpose. You see Gandhi’s coming. It was a great change. We saw the end of British Empire and we also saw democracy coming to India. The same thing happened at Chanakya’s time also. They always come when a great change is to be introduced.
§9
1936 initiation and the Kriya yoga surge
Book 2 · The Kriya lineage: Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, Yogananda and Guruji's own line Also: Religions, history, society and science
In 1936 Gandhi was initiated by Yogananda .
Q: But then why did he practice if he doesn’t need the practice?
Sh: May be he needed to practice because the body was new. Maybe for a certain purpose. Also another point comes to my mind: after Mahatma Gandhi began to practice Kriya yoga became very famous all over the world. In 1936 it was not so famous. And even Yogananda’s autobiography became the bestseller. May be it was the element which was needed in the flow of life. And may be by initiating Mahatma Gandhi Yogananda himself became world famous. His book is considered as one of the best 100 books of the century. And also it is very interesting to note that after 1936, after he received initiation, we see the rise of Mahatma Gandhi. And he was able to shake the British Empire.
§10
Ahimsa as the weapon; the goal was the Empire
Book 5 · Politics, war, democracy and the new world order Also: Karma, destiny and astrology
* * *
Gandhi was using ahimsa as a weapon against Britishers, against the British Empire. So he never did it because it was impossible for him to use ahimsa against such a great empire. It was impossible for him to finish that. So he used ahimsa as the greatest of weapons and won the battle, won the war.
Q: So when there is a war we can’t be non violent.
Sh: No, you will have to also consider why he was doing it. The motive behind it.
Q: He wanted to liberate India, no?
Sh: No, not to liberate India. He was after the British Empire. He was trying to act as a British gentleman in the beginning. He went even to London and got a degree in law. He was traveling in the first class and some Britishers just punched him and kicked him out. From there he resolved that he would finish this empire. The freedom movement of India just started then and he used it in his own purpose. And his purpose was very big — he created history.
And he started his movement from South Africa, not from India. But then there was a big political movement going on against Britishers in India. He came back to India and became a hero, a leader. I am sure his destiny was such and his birth was a very special birth. Even in his previous birth he did exactly the same thing and every thing started with the insult first.
§11
Chosen for change; developed souls
Book 4 · Rebirth and past lives Also: Religions, history, society and science
You see they are very great spirits. They come to the Earth once in thousands of years only to bring about some very great social and political change. They are chosen only for that.
Q: So this is not their life mission to develop their soul because their soul is already developed.
Sh: No, they are already developed. They know their mission exactly. But others fail to understand it.