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KARMA AND REINCARNATION
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actions, or you may be born to do hard labour in a estate if you had done any evil actions. A drunkard will have thoughts of liquor when he is dying. A licentious man will think of women only when he is about to expire. I saw a dying man who had the habit of using snuff. When he was in an unconscious state he used to move his fingers towards the nose every now and then and do imaginary snuffing. Obviously he had thoughts of snuff. A medical officer of a hospital used all sorts of abusive terms while he was in a dying condition. Raja Jada Bharata, out of compassion for a deer took great care of the animal. He gradually developed attachment. The one thought of the deer only occupied his mind when he was about to die. So he had to take the birth of a deer. In every Hindu home the Names of God, such as Hari Om, Ram, Ram Narayan and Krishna are whispered into the ear of the dying man The idea is that the dying man may remember the Name and form of the Lord and thereby reach the blissful abode If a man leads a virtuous life for many years, and if he does Japa and meditation for a long time, then only, through the force of habit he will remember God and His Name at the moment of death.
Hindu scriptures say that a man may become a Deva or a beast or a bird or vegetable or stone according to his merit or demerit The Upanishads also corroborate this statement Kapila also agrees on this point. But Buddhism and some Western
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