Rebirth - Choice or Compulsion? (Paranormal Part-7)

The other day I was enjoying a light conversation with my friend over a cup of coffee when, unexpectedly, the focus drifted to a subject which I intentionally avoid indulging in----rebirths and reincarnations. I was trying to manoeuver my way through coffee cups and donuts laid out on the table only to reach my favorite muffin lying at the far end of the table when that embarrassing moment struck. I am guessing it was my bracelet that did the honors. (LOL) As I stretched my hand to grab the muffin, the bracelet dangling from my wrist apparently gave a slight push to my coffee cup and (whoops) in a split second the hot liquid was all over the table, drowning those tiny glazed donuts and mouth-watering muffins. I witnessed the rampage for a few seconds with my eyes wide open with amazement; I couldn’t believe that I could be so clumsy. I looked around the restaurant but couldn’t see anyone who could help us to clear the mess.

“Damn! There’s not even a single soul here.” The words just popped out of my mouth. It was quite unlikely to see an empty restaurant on a busy street of New York on a pleasant summer evening.

“That’s what you say! I can see many souls around. One is just standing right next to you.” My friend quipped. Startled, I looked in the direction where she was pointing but couldn’t see anything.

“Ok! That’s enough.  I haven’t gotten over the damage yet.” I was starving until the fateful thing happened but suddenly I wasn’t hungry any more. The coffee stains on my dress made me feel sick.

“Come on! Don’t sulk now. I’ll get you something to eat.” She got up from her chair and while taking out her wallet from the handbag, she whispered in my ear, “I think the lady didn’t want you eat these donuts.” She, again, had that mysterious look in her eyes when she glanced over my shoulder. I knew she was just trying to scare me. She had been always good at such things. 

That one sentence, which I had blurted out unintentionally, triggered off an hour long conversation about souls caught up between two worlds. I didn’t know that I could talk that much about a subject for which I had no evidence to substantiate. I couldn’t believe myself saying that “Souls can be more confused than human beings. Imagine the trauma they have to undergo by being stranded in no man’s land and without a body to carry out God’s purpose. Imagine that you, so desperately, want to be heard by people around you but they don’t see or hear you and pass right through you as if you were nothing but thin air. How would you feel? Picture your predicament! Wouldn’t you get tired and weary of your existence as a wandering soul? Don’t you think that coming back to the earth in human form would seem like a better option than roaming aimlessly for ages without a purpose?” All what I said was absolutely without any premeditation but it did make sense to both of us. Although my friend always made a mockery out of the entire spirituality and paranormal thing, yet she, surprisingly, happened to agree with me. Perhaps it was easier for her to give her consensus as my theory was based more on logic rather than ‘paranormal’. After all it does not matter which way you choose to achieve your goals; it’s only the end result that counts.

I wonder what happens to souls which are forced out of their bodies before time like in case of people committing suicide or being brutally murdered. (What happens to souls who are ripped off their bodies against their wishes? I’m sure some of these souls can be responsible for interfering with the lives of living people mainly due to the anger they retain in their psyche). In case of those who take their own lives in an attempt to get rid of their chronic miseries and agonies, they intend fleeing from this world but unknowingly get caught in an equally painful situation. However, it does not take long enough for them to realize that the pain which had seemed so overwhelming while in the living form, appears to be trivial and insignificant from where they stand. It just amounts to looking at the matrix from outside. Since they cannot get the luxury of being united with the Higher Self for the sole reason of leaving their karmic obligations unfulfilled, they are left with no choice but to wait, in absolute vacuum, for the moment when they can start their journey afresh and complete the cycle of ‘Karma’ designated for them. The waiting period can sometimes last for hundreds of years. It’s scary. Isn’t it?

Does it mean that a soul chooses to be born out of its own free Will and that there is nothing like Heaven or Hell where such precarious decisions are made? Again a logical inference! As per Hindu philosophy, a soul keeps coming back to the earth in a living (not necessarily a human) form until it attains liberation (‘Nirvana’ in Buddhism and ‘Mukti’ in Hinduism). The ultimate purpose of being blessed with life is to be able to attain liberation and to merge with the Higher Self; if the purpose cannot be achieved until all the Karmic obligations are done with, what sense does it make to give up life before the designated time? In any case the departed soul has to come back and start the journey right from the scratch (not mentioning the psychic imprints which help in paving way for spiritual upliftment) so why get into the hassle of entering the cycle of life and death over and over again? Why not pay attention to Karma and surrender before the wishes of Almighty without showing any resistance so that the journey through life becomes relatively easier and the path to spiritual transformation seems easier to walk on.