The discussion of life. Part 3 - Karma and Reincarnation...

In this 3rd installment of my discussion I wanted to talk about Karma.  Once again I would like to remind all that these are my thoughts that were triggered by the Hare Krishna meeting and the few phrases the Monk said.  I do not claim to know Bhagavad Gita and have only read a few passages.  My intention is not to criticise but find my own truth. 

The Monk mentioned that you can you can be born as anything including animals and humans depending on what you do in your previous life.  He mentioned that the goal is to continue to grow in spirit and there were specific ways to progress or regress depending on actions.  He said that we should do well otherwise we will regress and be born as an animal for instance and we do not want to do so.  Animals, he mentioned, lead a terrible existance and they are different from humans since they do not have a consiousness.  I originally got tangled up on the idea of being reborn into a different species (animals, bugs, etc.) which I didn't believe.  I cannot deny that it is a possibility although I stuggle to see a point other than experience chosen by the soul ( I will come back to that point later.)  If a person does "bad things" in this lifetime and is "punished" by being born into the animal kingdom in their next lifetime, what growth can be achieved by this if an animal is without consiouss?  If all animals lack the vehicle of spiritual development (consiousness) what is the reason for punishment?  Furthermore, how can one determine what is higher on the spiritual step a cow or a dog?...

It is my belief that you can incarnate as a different species if you choose to do so...I went to a Hare Krishna website to get some more informaiton on Karma and Reincarnation and among other things here is what I have found (http://krishna.org/reincarnation-faq/)

“When one dies in the mode of goodness, he attains to the pure higher planets. When one dies in the mode of passion, he takes birth among those engaged in fruitive activities; and when he dies in the mode of ignorance, he takes birth in the animal kingdom”(Bhagavad-gita 14.14-15)
“Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail”(Bhagavad-gita 8.6)  ... As already explained, a person gets his next life’s birth according to what he thinks of at the time of death. If someone is too attached to his wife, naturally he thinks of his wife at the time of death, and in his next life he takes the body of a woman. Similarly, if a woman thinks of her husband at the time of death, naturally she gets the body of a man in her next life. –Srimad Bhagavatam (3.31.41)

Again, just by these 2 paragraphs above I get a sense that if a person is ignorant he will become an animal and whatever he thinks about just before death he will become.  Being as objective as I can I find it hard to imagine that we are putting these limitations on God and self.  Are we saying that a soul has no choice as to its next incarnation?  Are there really these simple rules in place and no freedoms?  There are other passages that I will reference in my next discussion on Bhagavad Gita as a Spiritual PhD but here in relation to Karma and Reincarnation I wish to respectfully disagree. 

My view of Karma and Reincarnation is this.  Before we are born we decide on the path this life will take.  We chose the time of birth, the parents, societal factors, etc. We decide which souls we are born with and will utilize to experience certain events.  We also choose possible exit points (3 or so times in your life when you may chose to die.)  We chose if we come as a man, woman, healthy or with debilitating conditions and we chose major experiences.  The goal of each incarnation is to experience a part of yourself and the goal of Karma is to keep a history of all actions that we have accumulated.  For instance if in the past we have "wronged" someone and understand that doing so is bad but we may chose to experience that from another point of view and be born as someone that gets "wronged" in the same way.  Karma is not a punishment.  There is no vengefull God that believes in Eye for an Eye.  We are the ones that decide on what to experience because in understanding all sides we understand ourselves better and that is the point of incarnations. 

As to the "old" and "new" soul concept and being on different "spiritual" levels...  I do believe that some souls are "older" or more experienced than others and thus chose to "play with different toys".  If eating and drinking and sex are the experience chosen by one, to others these things are less important.  They may instead be focused on growing spiritually or giving to society, etc.  On the other hand I also believe that since we chose what to focus on in each life, a very advanced soul may decide to "relax" in a life and just party to see what it feels like.  Thus I feel that judging souls by their actions in life is simplistic and shows that we don't understand the full spectrum.  So to the Monk I would pose these thoughts and see what Bhagavad Gita would answer.