Simply Splendid--A Deva's Mantra

The other day, a friend and I were having a wonderful, philosophical e-mail conversation, and chanced to hit upon the subject of karma. He expressed the belief that each being chooses the pattern of their life before birth, while I was of the opinion that each life of each being is shaped by the karma incurred in previous lives.

So-which of us was right?

Interestingly, we're both right.

According to the teachings of the Buddha, there are six realms of existence: the four lower realms, the human realm and the higher planes, called deva and brahma (the realms of celestial beings.)

If you're like me, you just read that and thought: No way! Four hells? That's right, four. If we allow our minds to become conditioned to anger, greed, delusion and hatred-well, let's just say they "leave the light on for ya".

But, when generosity and morality are constantly practiced, karma leads us to the higher planes where, it is taught, dwell beings made entirely of light that live in a blissful state.

Okay-so...how can one both choose their fate before birth and accumulate positive karma to occasion rebirth in a higher realm?

Here's how:

Nearly a year ago now, I was privileged to attend the death of my husband's father, Eugene Jones. I say privileged because I feel the final stage in transitioning from this realm to the next is both wondrous and mystical.

As often happens when children are confronted by the death of a parent, my husband and his siblings began questioning what they'd always been taught about death and the afterlife. Their reactions varied from outright shock at their father's passing to feelings of abandonment, and even having been cheated of enjoying more time with him. But over all of them settled a miasma of doubt.

And so, in an effort to express a comfort I sensed but couldn't put words to, I picked up Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield's book, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom.

Here's what I read:

The karma generated at the moment of death plays a crucial role in determining the circumstances of rebirth... the mind states generated by the performance or remembrance of wholesome or unwholesome actions in the last moments before dying will condition rebirth.

I had felt this at the time, as we all stood around Dad's bedside, speaking our final, loving words to him in this life, while weeping. I had felt it at my mother's passing too, as I thought my last words to her as she lay dying: "Thank you for my life." Certainly the others had had their best memories of Dad in that moment, at his bedside, long before the funeral with its copious flower arrangements and pictures of Gene in every walk of life in this realm. Surely it was the communicating of our memories of his generous, loving actions that brought him what The Heart of Wisdom refers to as proximate karma, in those moments.

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