Lucky to be alive?

My nimble mind tells me that karma law says that the soul must complete the cycle before reaching moksha. Depending on how good the soul behaves, it moves up the ladder. The step above man is devata (wise man or demigod). Along the way, the soul has to endure being born a speck of dirt, algae, grass, tree, a maggot, a roach, a quadruped, an ungulate, a man and finally, the soul would break the chain of rebirth bondage.

That always made me think that your miseries reduce as you climb the rung of the proverbial karma ladder. The physical body of the soul of the low-life would be trampled upon. Their outcome is non-sequential to the equation of the universe. I wonder how they could boost their standing in their next birth. Dirt and amoeba do not think.

In fact, one wonders whether 'lesser' life forms in the hierarchy, below man, even think beyond their primordial needs of fulfilling the satiety of hunger, lust and sleep. A cat does not visualise and have ambitions of wanting to be a famous exemplary cat for the cat kingdom to emulate. Neither do they aim to do good because they fear being judged on Judgement Day or being stuck in purgatory, nor do they have ambitions or worries about what is in store for the future.

Is philosophical contemplation possible?
©FG

Paradoxically, being born in supposedly higher strata bogs you with many life uncertainties and undue worries. There is a social contract that needs to be met. Family obligations need to be fulfilled. The curse of mankind, memory, keeps you awake with thoughts about how your life could have turned. You ponder upon the things you omitted in life. You curse yourself for missed opportunities. You lose sleep about how your offspring would turn out or whether you have the best arrangement for them. You worry about your twilight years and how you would bid farewell, alone, peaceful, at the mercy of others, a nuisance or rotting.

And they say you must be privileged and be thanking your lucky stars for having the honour of having this birth. In the same breath, they also say that life spent on Earth is a kind of punishment with all the aches, pains, failure and helplessness. But then people hold dearly to their dear life no matter what. The good die young, so the living must be bad. It does not compute.

If Man has so many dilemmas, imagine what a demigod (a devata birth) would have. We already have that on DC and Marvel comics. With great powers come great responsibility!

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