Will the memory of the punishment for the sins in the past birth not prevent a sinner from repeating the sin in the new birth?

[Mrs. Anita Renkuntla asked: Swami, I desperately want to have Your darśanam. Am staying in Karnataka as my husband works in a cement company in Lokapur, Karnataka. But COVID is on the rise here. My husband is a sugar patient and has a thyroid problem too. Our visit to Hyderabad has been postponed to the Diwali festival. At this time, can I get Your darśanam? Also, are all the discourses available in the Hindi and Telugu languages?

Here is my question, Swamiji. Humans do not have the knowledge of their previous birth. They might have done good or bad deeds. Let us say that a man had undergone punishment for his bad deeds in hell, and has taken birth again on earth as a man. If the man repeats the same bad deeds, why does God not remind him of his previous birth’s punishment, just before the man tries to kill someone or before he does any kind of sin, in the present birth? What I feel is, some innocent people will be saved, if the sinner remembers his previous birth’s punishment. Violence and discrimination will also stop.]

Swami replied: The control of sin through fear does not last for a long time, unless the concept of sin is understood through spiritual knowledge. Spiritual knowledge alone can bring permanent reformation in the soul. Your point of bringing the punishments of the sins of previous births to the mind of the soul is valid only as far as the temporary control of sin is concerned. But there is a big issue with it. These memories also include the various relationships that the soul had during the past birth. This causes the soul to be terribly confused, making the soul unable to start a fresh life with just the relationships that are limited to this birth. Sometimes, these past relationships with other souls can greatly contradict the relationships that a soul has with those souls in the present birth. Remembering those relationships will drive the soul mad! Sage Aṣṭāvakra told King Janaka that his present wife was his mother in the previous birth!

The relationships of a soul with other souls in any birth are temporary and also totally unreal. They are like the relationships between actors, which change from one movie to another. In an old movie, we find two actors acting as the hero and the heroine (husband and wife). In a more recent movie, we find the same two actors acting as the son and the mother because the actress has aged quicker than the actor. Here, the point to be noted is that all worldly bonds are temporary and hence, they are also totally unreal, as told by Śaṅkara. Śaṅkara said that the absolute reality is always permanent and that the temporary reality is totally unreal. The bond between the two actors was unreal in the past (before the shooting of the movie), it will be unreal in the future (after the shooting) and it is not real even in the present, during the shooting. In any case, we do find examples of some people having some memories of their previous birth in this world. Such examples are exhibited by God to give practical proof for the concept of the rebirth of the soul.

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| Shri Datta Swami | Will the memory of the punishment for the sins in the past birth not prevent a sinner from repeating | Shankara

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