Good Karma Can Drive Out Bad Karma
Most beings, our souls survive death, and continue their existence in a spiritual realm. Some believe in reincarnation or rebirth on the material plane, and a few believe in transmigration of souls, or rebirth in different forms in accordance with one's karma. The Baha'is believe that the soul is a distinct spiritual entity. Upon its separation from the physical body at death, it lives eternally, ever progressing towards reunion with its Creator, its status and progress directly dependent upon the purity of life led on earth. Heaven and hell are also variously described as locations where the virtuous find happiness and sinners languish in suffering. In reality they are not places but states of existence overjoy and sorrow, of having attained nearness to God or being distanced from he Divine threshold in accordance with our deeds. The closer the soul to his beloved Lord, the happier it is. The key to proximity to the Divine threshold is the performance of goodly deeds. Baha'u'llah, founder of the Baha'i faith, has enjoined a process of personal audit as a means to monitor our lives. He has called upon all to "Bring thyself to account each day, ere thou are summoned to a reckoning; for death, unheralded, shall call upon thee, and thou shalt be called to give account for thy deeds." We are required to do all the good possible so that at the end of each day we find ourselves on the credit side, that our good deeds outweigh our shortcomings. We question ourselves each night and answer honestly. "Wasi completely sincere today? Was i humble. patient kind and generous? Was i frank and courageous, obedient and faithful? Or was i dishonest, proud, impatient and quarrelsome, unkind and miserly, deceitful and cowardly, disobedient and disloyal?" The personal audit takes five minutes. You are alone and forthright with yourself. Nobody shames or embarrasses you. You confess to yourself only, and the exercise comes to be a gradual self-purification and spiritually rewarding process. And eventually leads to salvation. A young boy who had come to take away old newspapers weighed the pile and calculated the value at Rs76. From his purse he took out Rs75 and fished around in his pockets for the remaining rupee. The Rs75 were accepted and he was told to forget about the rupee. He left. Fifteen min utes later he was back. He had cycled and was back to pay his one rupee! “Better to pay debts in this world tto be answerable in the next!" he saby way of explanation. Another kind of personal Audi was suggested by a wise manto a cscientious seeker. "For every sin ycommit, drive a nail into the wall cyour room. And for every good deedraw outanail. At the end of the month you will know by the numb of nails in the wall whether your sins were greater or your good deeoutdid the bad deeds." This the madid faithfully. At month end he happily found had no nails in the wall, but was lewith a scarred wall, where the nail had been wrenched out. He went bto the wise man and reported: "Ihano nails left but my wall is damage” That", the wise man said "is the sleft on your soul even though your sins and good deeds may seem balanced."
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Sheriar Nooreyezdan views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it.
Courtesy: Sheriar Nooreyezdan and Speaking Tree,Times of India
Good Karma Can Drive Out Bad Karma
Most beings, our souls survive death, and continue their existence in a spiritual realm. Some believe in reincarnation or rebirth on the material plane, and a few believe in transmigration of souls, or rebirth in different forms in accordance with one's karma. The Baha'is believe that the soul is a distinct spiritual entity. Upon its separation from the physical body at death, it lives eternally, ever progressing towards reunion with its Creator, its status and progress directly dependent upon the purity of life led on earth. Heaven and hell are also variously described as locations where the virtuous find happiness and sinners languish in suffering. In reality they are not places but states of existence overjoy and sorrow, of having attained nearness to God or being distanced from he Divine threshold in accordance with our deeds. The closer the soul to his beloved Lord, the happier it is. The key to proximity to the Divine threshold is the performance of goodly deeds. Baha'u'llah, founder of the Baha'i faith, has enjoined a process of personal audit as a means to monitor our lives. He has called upon all to "Bring thyself to account each day, ere thou are summoned to a reckoning; for death, unheralded, shall call upon thee, and thou shalt be called to give account for thy deeds." We are required to do all the good possible so that at the end of each day we find ourselves on the credit side, that our good deeds outweigh our shortcomings. We question ourselves each night and answer honestly. "Wasi completely sincere today? Was i humble. patient kind and generous? Was i frank and courageous, obedient and faithful? Or was i dishonest, proud, impatient and quarrelsome, unkind and miserly, deceitful and cowardly, disobedient and disloyal?" The personal audit takes five minutes. You are alone and forthright with yourself. Nobody shames or embarrasses you. You confess to yourself only, and the exercise comes to be a gradual self-purification and spiritually rewarding process. And eventually leads to salvation. A young boy who had come to take away old newspapers weighed the pile and calculated the value at Rs76. From his purse he took out Rs75 and fished around in his pockets for the remaining rupee. The Rs75 were accepted and he was told to forget about the rupee. He left. Fifteen min utes later he was back. He had cycled and was back to pay his one rupee! “Better to pay debts in this world tto be answerable in the next!" he saby way of explanation. Another kind of personal Audi was suggested by a wise manto a cscientious seeker. "For every sin ycommit, drive a nail into the wall cyour room. And for every good deedraw outanail. At the end of the month you will know by the numb of nails in the wall whether your sins were greater or your good deeoutdid the bad deeds." This the madid faithfully. At month end he happily found had no nails in the wall, but was lewith a scarred wall, where the nail had been wrenched out. He went bto the wise man and reported: "Ihano nails left but my wall is damage” That", the wise man said "is the sleft on your soul even though your sins and good deeds may seem balanced."
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Sheriar Nooreyezdan views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it.
Courtesy: Sheriar Nooreyezdan and Speaking Tree,Times of India