Q: What Krishna says can be accepted if one believes in rebirth. What about those whose religious beliefs do not allow them to believe in rebirth?
In the Gita Krishna does not speak to Hindus alone. This Jagat guru, universal Master, does not exclude other religious believers. He speaks spiritual truth, universal truth.
First of all, we should be careful not to reduce these truths to facts. Sattva means I will be reborn as God, rajas means I will be reborn a human and tamas means I will be reborn an animal. These are metaphorical truths, not scientific facts. Krishna says that the tendency, the vasana, which is an outcome of your guna, your nature, gets carried forward. You can be divine or animal in the human body. You do not have to sprout wings or become a pig.
Secondly, religions that deny rebirth do not follow the teachings of their founding Masters. They reinterpreted the spiritual teachings of the founders to exercise control. Christ never denied reincarnation. The Bible has references to previous births. The Christian church denies rebirth. Otherwise, their entire system of control by fear and greed through hell and heaven collapses. Their denial has nothing to do with your spiritual progress or their interest in your spiritual progress. It is to do with their survival, which depends on how well you are controlled.
I am not being harsh on the Christian church alone. This is true of all religious institutions, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, or Christian. The moment spirituality is organized into religion it becomes a business. All transactions are conditional and based on survival.
Christianity believes in the Holy Spirit. What is the Holy Spirit? It is shrouded in mystery. Holy Spirit is the Universal Consciousness, Universal Energy, God, Father, Krishna, Shiva, Buddha, Allah or any other name you wish to give it. It is not trademarked and copyrighted to one religion.
I was told someone was trying to copyright the word
'OM'. It is like copyrighting the word 'amen' or 'God'. People have copyrighted the word yoga. What nonsense is this! Just because you set the temperature of the room high or low, can you copyright truths that were public 10,000 years ago? We cannot blame the ignorant fools who try to copyright these truths. We should blame the ignorant and foolish system that allows this to happen by fostering greed.
All religious organizations promote hell and heaven so that they can earn money. When I lead devotees to the Himalayan Mountains, we visit sacred shrines at Kedarnath and Badrinath. They allow me into the garbha graha, the inner sanctum, and the authorities let me worship. The priests do not like it because it spoils their income. I tell my devotees, 'Please give money to the poor who line the streets; however, you don't need to pay through your nose to these priests.'
These priests charge people to sacrifice a cow in order to redeem the person's ancestors. They start the worship process and then ask you to pay. If you don't pay, they curse you. They tell you that your ancestors will go to hell, you will go to hell and your children will go to hell. You can stop this by paying . There is no cow. Mainly, it is a virtual cow. Even if they show you a cow, the same cow is donated a thousand times. These people understand corporate accounting better than Wall Street specialists!
The Christian church did the same thing through the sale of indulgences. That is why Martin Luther rebelled and broke away. However, the Protestant Church has its own compulsions to make money. All organizations do. That's why spirituality is a path of aloneness. It can never be a collective path of hundreds, thousands or millions. It does not work that way.
Religions exercise control because people fear death. Some are afraid of the pain, but mostly they fear what lies beyond. They are afraid because they do not know what lies ahead. They feel comforted when someone tells them that if you do this, you will go to a happy place. And if you do that, you will go to an unhappy place. They are led by their nose to do things that lead them to a happy place. They have no clue as to where they will finally go. However, they have this deep-rooted need to believe. No one comes back from the beyond to tell them. Their religion becomes the only way. What a sad state of affairs!