REVISITING THE REINCARNATION

    I was asked some questions about the reincarnation , and as such these  questions would come to any body's  mind if he  or she would think about the concept of the reincarnation . I Will try to address them and I am sure that there are more questions that will come out of the answers . This will make me think and look for the answers.
    1 . If our life is determined by what we did in last life , what about the 1st life? How was the course of the first life determined.?This question is quite common , and the then it becomes like  a question , 'what was first , the chicken or the egg'. But it is little better here . The cycle of the birth and death continues for the 'jive', from the beginning of the universe till the end . At the end of the universe, all the things go back in to unity. This includes the consciousness, all 3 Gunas -the qualities,  the 5 Mahabhuta-the elements and all the Jivas. So there is no real end and no  real beginning .These cycles of the beginning and the end of the universe has continued for EVER. So in reality there is no first life . If one remembers the video games , there is no 'end' to the screen , something like that is to the universe or same can be said about the Time . I will come back to the first life again in latter question.
    2 . If we were 'here ' and had 'interaction ' with the same people in our last lives, then how come we don't remember any of this life or the relationships etc. The answer is very simple. We do  carry forward the 'impressions' from one life to other , but these are in an abstract form . That is they are impressions, but not like we carry in present life . In all probability in this life , we will never forget our parents or our children or our spouse., unless of course our contact was too brief,or we become demented. But the impressions are carried as an abstract and  'give' and 'take' type of relationships .So we carry forward the debt and the balance related to one another without remembering exactly what this debt is due to or the balance is for . Let us say that I have helped some one with physical , or monitory or emotional help . This will have lasting impression in this life and if he in turn helps me , some of the debt will be repaid . But whatever is not repaid is carried to the next life as debt without knowing as what it is for. The actual incidence which created is not going to be remembered, as it is stored in 'physical brain ' exactly as it occurred, but stored in astral brain in abstract form . In other words, if I am keeping bookkeeping records of my expenses, I will be writing $50 for the dinner , $ 300 for the air line ticket or $1000 loaned to some one . This is the way in which it is stored in physical brain , but in astral brain it will be stored 'plus or  'minus ' . Since we do not carry our physical body from one life to other we do not remember these incidences.
    3. If our every action has reaction and every deed  has the effect of  'creating ' karma., then does a thought , either good or bad , especially bad , creates any 'karma '?This is a great question and the answer is same as in our present life . Let us say I went to LA once and I was trying to find way to a place . I never go to LA again and never went to that place . What is the chance that after 10 years I would remember it or better after 50 years  would I remember it ?  There is good chance that I would remember nothing. This is same as a 'thought'. If I think about  something -either good or bad- if it is only once , it will not have much long lasting impression and it will not 'creat' karma . i.e. I  have a  thought of  killing some one or a lust for some one  and I continue to have it repeatedly, then it will create lasting effect and will be a karma carried to next life . So the thought will create karma only if repeated .
    4.Did we come from the Animals? This one is interesting and and don't have all the answers . But as I understand we did come from animals and 'evolved' from the animal kingdom to Human beings. But this 'evolution ' is different than the Darwinian evolution. As you recollect there are 4 different types of existence in this world ,i.e. stone , plant, animal and human beings .The stone and plant kingdom have not much of intellect and no conscious and no bliss.But at the level of animal level some intellect is there , but most of the time they work at the level of 'instict' . The GOD put us through animal life to exhaust our 'wasanas ' --desires. If one observes the various animals , we realise that each one has different qualities. i.e. dogs are 'loyal ' fox is 'cunning ' the pig is 'dirty' etc. So we go through these 840000 different animal lives to get rid of all these desires . And then we come to the Human stage . In this one we are suppose to work on these  remaining desires to get rid of them .and one with the GOD . So we did go through animal kingdom .