The Devoted Wife
They say that a god of that heaven named Garland-wearer went to his pleasure-grounds in company with a thousand celestial nymphs. Five hundred of these goddesses ascended trees and threw down flowers, while five hundred picked up the flowers that were thrown down and decked the god therewith.
One of these goddesses, while on the bough of a tree, fell from that existence, her body vanishing like the flame of a lamp.
Then she was conceived in a high-caste family of Savatthi, and was born with a reminiscence of her previous existences. And saying to herself, "I am the wife of the god Garland-wearer," she made offerings of perfumes, garlands, and the like, with the prayer that in her next rebirth she might again be with her husband. And when at the age of sixteen years she married into another family, with ticket-food, and fortnightly food, she continued to give alms, saying, "May this prove efficacious in bringing about my rebirth with my husband."
Thereupon the priests gave her the name of Husband-honorer, for they said: "She works early and late, and her only desire is for her husband."
Husband-honorer continually took care of the hall where the priests sat. She brought forward the drinking water, and spread out the mats to sit on. And when other people were desirous of giving ticket-food and other alms, they would bring it to her, and say, "Dear lady, prepare this for the congregation of the priests." And by going to and fro in this manner, she acquired the fifty-six salutary qualities, all at one time.
Then she conceived, and at the end of ten lunar months she brought forth a son; and when he was old enough to walk, another, until she had four sons.
One day, after she had given alms and offerings, and had listened to the Doctrine, and kept the precepts, she died toward night-fall from a sudden disease, and was reborn into the presence of her husband.
The other goddesses had continued to deck the god throughout the whole interval.
"We have not seen you since morning," said the god. "Where have you been?"
"I fell from this existence, my lord."
"Are you in earnest?"
"It was precisely so, my lord."
"Where were you born?"
"At Savatthi, in a family of high caste."
"How long were you there?"
"My lord, at the end of ten months I issued from my mother's womb, and at the age of sixteen years I married into another family; and having borne four sons, and having given gifts and done other meritorious deeds with the prayer that I might again be with you, I have been born into your presence."
"How long is the life of men?"
"Only a hundred years."
"Is that all?"
"Yes, my lord."
"If that is the length of life to which men are born, pray, now, do they pass the time asleep and reckless, or do they give gifts and do other meritorious deeds?"
"Nothing of the kind, my lord. Men are always reckless, as if they were born to a life of an incalculable number of years, and were never to grow old and die."
At this the god Garland-wearer became exceedingly agitated.
"Men, it appears, are born to a life of only one hundred years, yet they recklessly lie down and sleep away their time. When will they ever get free from misery?"
A hundred of our years make one day and night of the Gods of the Suite of the Thirty-three; thirty such days and nights their month; and twelve such months their year. And the length of their lives is a thousand such celestial years, or in human notation thirty-six million years. Thus for that god not one day has passed; but like a moment had the interval seemed to him. And thus he thought, "Recklessness for short-lived men is extremely unsuitable."
On the next day, when the priests entered the village, they found the hall had not been looked after; the mats had not been spread, and the drinking water had not been placed. Then they inquired,
"Where is Husband-honorer?"
"Reverend sirs, how could you expect to see her? Yesterday, after your worships had eaten and departed, she died at even-tide."
When the priests heard this, the unconverted among them, calling to mind her benefactions, were unable to restrain their tears, while those in whom depravity had come to an end had their elements of being agitated.
After breakfast they returned to the monastery, and made inquiry of The Teacher:
"Reverend Sir, Husband-honorer worked early and late doing many kinds of meritorious deeds, and prayed only for her husband. Now she is dead. Where, pray, has she been reborn?"
"With her husband, O priests."
"But, Reverend Sir, she is not with her husband."
"O priests, it was not this husband she was praying for. She had a
husband named Garland-wearer, a God of the Suite of the Thirty-three, and
fell from that existence while he was decorating himself with flowers. Now she has returned and been born again at his side."
"Reverend Sir, is it really so?"
"Assuredly, O priests."
"Alas, Reverend Sir, how very short is the life of all creatures! In the morning she waited on us, and in the evening a disease attacked her, and she died."
"Assuredly, O priests," said The Teacher, "the life of creatures is
indeed short. And thus it is that death gets creatures into his power, and drags them away howling and weeping, and still unsated in their senses and lusts."
So saying, he pronounced the following stanza:
"While eagerly man culls life's flowers,
With all his faculties intent,
Of pleasure still insatiate-
Death comes and overpowereth him."
Buddhist Doctrine - (exerpt)
Buddhist Sources
c500bc
Translation: Warren, Henry Clarke
Interview with past-lives hypnotherapist Dr. Brian Weiss
There is no death. We go from life to life.
Plato wrote about reincarnation. Ancient civilizations believed in this. We lost this belief only recently, mostly for political reasons. In Judaism, belief in reincarnation, or gilgul, existed until the early 1800's. Only with the migration out of Eastern Europe to the West and the need to be accepted in the age of enlightenment and science did the belief go underground - but not in Chasidic (ultrorthodox) populations.
In Christianity, it went underground much earlier - the Second Council of Constantinople in the sixth century declared reincarnation a heresy. Christianity was becoming a state religion, and the Romans felt that without the whip of Judgement Day, people would not behave, would not follow. They'd think, "Well, I'll do it next time around."
OMNI: How do you think the length of time between lifetimes is determined?
WEISS: People who die violently, or children who die, often return much faster. For those people who live longer and die more peacefully, there can be a longer time between lives, 100 years or more.
OMNI: How many past lives do people generally have?
WEISS: That varies, but the number that comes up most often in my work is 100, not the thousands and thousands that the Buddhists talk about.
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OMNI: Are new souls being created...?
WEISS: My inclination is to say no. We're probably all ageless and have been around from the beginning.
OMNI: Are some people here now experiencing their first life?
WEISS: Theoretically, I'd guess yes. Maybe they "transferred in" and are "here" for the first time, but I suspect most of us have been here other times. If Earth is one of millions of worlds, it's like asking where did all those children go to junior high before the new one was built? Well, they were elsewhere. We shouldn't delude ourselves into thinking that we're the only place.
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You may be father and son in one lifetime but lovers in this lifetime. Switching of sex seems frequent. You may have a preference, but you've tried out the other to see what it's like. That's also true of religions.
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OMNI: Religions and philosophies say the goal is perfection, to become "one with God," the creator or higher being.
WEISS: That's part of it... We're limited by what we know. I suspect the reward has to do with love, with merging with higher consciousness, but it may be so far beyond what we can comprehend now; it's hard to put into words. You can sense it when you're on target. You do something compassionate and a tear of joy comes to your eyes.
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Past lives also affect us in symptoms, emotional and physical. Certain fears and anxieties carry over from other lifetimes. Physical symptoms...frequently come up.
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OMNI: Can we go on to future lives?
WEISS: People are doing this work...I haven't found it, probably because I'm not looking for it. ...At another level, as physicists tell us, there is no time. I tried going into the future with (a patient) right off the bat, and she said it wasn't allowed. You can learn from the past, but the future, that's a series of probabilities. Parallel lives or universes, too, represent alternatives. But to me it's like climbing a tree. The higher up you get, the more committed you are to a particular branch. You're not on the other branches, but they're still there.
Dr. Brian Weiss
OMNI
April 1994
The Conversion Of Animals
The Blessed One, moreover, was The Teacher, because he gave instruction also to animals. These, by listening to the Doctrine of The Blessed One, became destined to conversion, and in the second or third existence would enter the Paths. The frog who became a god is an illustration.
As tradition relates, The Blessed One was teaching the Doctrine to the inhabitants of the town of Campa, on the banks of Lake Gaggara; and a certain frog, at the sound of The Blessed One's voice, obtained the mental reflex. And a certain cowherd, as he stood leaning on his staff, pinned him down fast by the head. The frog straightway died, and like a person awaking from sleep, he was reborn in the Heaven of the Thirty-three, in a golden palace twelve leagues in length. And when he beheld himself surrounded by throngs of houris, he began to consider: "To think that I should be born here! I wonder what ever I did to bring me here."
And he could perceive nothing else than that he had obtained the mental reflex at the sound of the voice of The Blessed One. And straightway he came with his palace, and worshiped at the feet of The Blessed One. And The Blessed One asked him: -
"Who is it worships at my feet,
And flames with glorious, magic power,
And in such sweet and winning guise,
Lights up the quarters all around?"
"A frog was I in former times,
And wandered in the waters free,
And while I listened to thy Law,
A cowherd crushed me, and I died."
Then The Blessed One taught him the Doctrine, and the conversion of eighty-four thousand living beings took place. And the frog, who had become a god, became established in the fruit of conversion, and with a pleased smile on his face departed.
Buddhist Doctrine - (exerpt)
Buddhist Sources
c500bc
Translation: Henry Clarke Warren
Krishna:
Thou grievest where no grief should be! thou speak'st
Words lacking wisdom! for the wise in heart
Mourn not for those that live, nor those that die.
Nor I, nor thou, nor any one of these,
Ever was not, nor ever will not be,
For ever and for ever afterwards.
All, that doth live, lives always! To man's frame
As there come infancy and youth and age,
So come there raisings-up and layings-down
Of other and of other life-abodes,
Which the wise know, and fear not. This that irks -
Thy sense-life, thrilling to the elements -
Bringing thee heat and cold, sorrows and joys,
'Tis brief and mutable! Bear with it, Prince!
As the wise bear. The soul which is not moved,
The soul that with a strong and constant calm
Takes sorrow and takes joy indifferently,
Lives in the life undying! That which is
Can never cease to be; that which is not
Will not exist. To see this truth of both
Is theirs who part essence from accident,
Substance from shadow. Indestructible,
Learn thou! the Life is, spreading life through all;
It cannot anywhere, by any means,
Be anywise diminished, stayed, or changed.
But for these fleeting frames which it informs
With spirit deathless, endless, infinite,
They perish. Let them perish, Prince! and fight!
He who shall say, "Lo! I have slain a man!"
He who shall think, "Lo! I am slain!" those both
Know naught! Life cannot slay. Life is not slain!
Never the spirit was born; the spirit shall cease to be never;
Never was time it was not; End and Beginning are dreams!
Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the spirit for ever;
Death hath not touched it at all, dead though the house of it seems!
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.....but as when one layeth
His worn-out robes away,
And, taking new ones, sayeth,
"These will I wear to-day!"
So putteth by the spirit
Lightly its garb of flesh,
And passeth to inherit
A residence afresh.
I say to thee weapons reach not the Life,
Flame burns it not, waters cannot o'erwhelm,
Nor dry winds wither it. Impenetrable,
Unentered, unassailed, unharmed, untouched,
Immortal, all-arriving, stable, sure,
Invisible, ineffable, by word
And thought uncompassed, ever all itself,
Thus is the Soul declared! How wilt thou, then,
Knowing it so, - grieve when thou shouldst not grieve?
How, if thou hearest that the man new-dead
Is, like the man new-born, still living man -
One same, existent Spirit - wilt thou weep?
The end of birth is death; the end of death
Is birth: this is ordained! and mournest thou,
Chief of the stalwart arm! for what befalls
Which could not otherwise befall? The birth
Of living things comes unperceived; the death
Comes unperceived; between them, beings perceive:
What is there sorrowful herein dear Prince?
Wonderful, wistful, to contemplate!
Difficult, doubtful, to speak upon!
Strange and great for tongue to relate,
Mystical hearing for every one!
Nor wotteth man this, what a marvel it is,
When seeing, and saying, and hearing are done!
Bhagavad-Gita Or Song Celestial (excerpts)
Hindu Sources, 400 BC
Translation: Sir Edwin Arnold