Why do we attribute some people’s actions to their present association and others’ actions to their past lives?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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Thank you. Question.
When talking about the monkeys, we say that their virtues were inspired by Ram’s loving and caring for them. But then they were demigods in previous lives and wouldn’t that contribute to their character? In contrast, when we talk about Karna, we attribute his negative choices to his past life. So actually speaking, it’s not that simple.
Our actions are a result of both the inclinations that we get from our past lives and the choices that we make in this life. And the choices can be inspired by certain factors or causes in this life. So with respect to the monkeys, certainly the monkey leaders were the devtas, but not all of monkeys were devtas.
And there were many monkeys who were ordinary monkeys. They were and they were inspired by Ram. And also we do recognize that the previous life matters.
So certainly when we are trying to draw a particular lesson in a particular context, we focus on those factors. So if we are trying to, say, inspire someone to change their behavior, then it’s important to see what causes, what things can we do right now to change their behavior. And we do those things to the best of our capacity.
But when we are, when we are, say, seeing somebody continue to behave in a particular way, despite our best effort to get them to change, then we can maybe gain a greater acceptance of that behavior by understanding that our behavior is also shaped by our choices and choices in previous life. And with respect to Karna, both factors are there. We do say that Karna did make wrong choices.
His mistake was mistaken loyalty. He was more, he gave his word of honor more importance than living a life of honor. But that wrong choice is also considered and that wrong choice was, we say, often because of bad association.
He’s an example of a good person becoming bad because of bad association of Duryodhana. And of course, when we talk about his, more about his, how was he godly? He had some virtues because of his association with Surya in a previous life. And he also had his demoniac previous birth.
So that also led to his bad quality. So there’s a complex combination of good and bad within him. And there is a set of factors which made him go more toward the bad.
So overall, depending on the context in which a particular example is being cited, with the intent with which is being cited, particular factors might be emphasized. But other factors are also involved and they also need to be duly acknowledged. So it is not this or that.
It is usually this and that. Thank you.