| Â | | | | rebirths could be endless. The goal of the Hindu is to |
| Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Karkkitaka( A HINDU ERA OR | | | | achieve enough good karma to remove him from the |
| CALENDAR ) is supposed to be the darkest month | | | | cycle of rebirths and achieve eternal bliss. |
| and the Karutha Vaavu day ( new  moon day ) | | | |         Once the atman is relieved and released |
| the darkest day of the year and incidentally that day | | | | from this cycle it is a liberated Soul. This is called |
| falls today.The day is unique for the fact that all the | | | | Self-realisation. For achieving this end humans thrive |
| Hindoos of Kerala offer "bali" to the dead on this | | | | throughout their life.. |
| day.Here "bali" does not signify saccrifice as such. It is | | | | Moksha, also known as mukti, is the Hindu term used |
| muchmore than that. | | | | for the liberation of the soul from the wheel of |
| Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The Hindu religion is rooted in the belief | | | | karma. For the Hindu, the chief aim of his existence is |
| of the cycle of births and rebirths.Liberation signifies | | | | to be freed from sarnsara (the binding life cycle) and |
| liberation from the entanglement of the cycle of | | | | the wheel of karma with its endless cycle of births, |
| births and rebirths. According to ancient Indian | | | | deaths and rebirths. When one achieves this |
| thoughts and knowledge every phenomenon in the | | | | liberation, he enters into a state of fullness or |
| universe is cyclic.So is the phenomenon of birth and | | | | completion. This state can be attained through death |
| rebirth after death. The great English Romantic poet | | | | or preferably while one is still living. |
| Wordsworth deals with this in his poem "The | | | | Moksha can be achieved through three paths: (1) |
| Immortality Ode" or "Child is the Father of Man". Â | | | | knowledge, or inana; (2) devotion, or bhakti, or (3) |
| Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â | | | | ritual works, or karma. One who achieves moksha |
| Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The | | | | before death is known as jivanmukta. The greatest |
| faith in the occurrence of rebirth is consolidated by | | | | champion  of this Hindu faith in the modern age is |
| the theoty of Karma and Karma Bhala. Only through | | | | the Father of The nation MAHATMA GANDHI |
| selfless and noble Karma one can rid off the | | | | himself.The great Hindu Text of Bhagavat Gita is but |
| imprisonment of the cyclic births and rebirths.The | | | | the expression of this faith and it is the quintissence |
| word karma literally means action and has reference | | | | of all that is said in all the Upanishads, the Srutis and |
| to a person's actions and the consequences thereof. | | | | Smritis. |
| In Hinduism, one's present state of existence is | | | | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â In the inception I alluded to the Vaavu |
| determined by his performance in previous lifetimes. | | | | Bali ( on newmoon day )Â in the month of |
| The law of karma is the law of moral consequence | | | | Karkitakom ceremoniously observed by the eldest |
| or the effect of any action upon the performer in a | | | | son for the release or liberation of the atman of the |
| past, a present or even a future existence. As one | | | | dead from the cycle of births and rebirths leading to |
| performs righteous acts, he moves towards liberation | | | | the realisation of the Self. To speak the truth I |
| from the cycle of successive births and deaths. The | | | | cannot affiliate myself to the faith in a life after |
| term poetic justice need not be a substitute for | | | | death. No one can expound the enigma as it seems |
| Karma bhala.Contrariwise, if one's deeds are evil, he | | | | that no one returns after death to this world to |
| will move further from liberation. The determining | | | | extricate the knot of birth, death and rebirth...The |
| factor is one's karma. The cycle of births, deaths and | | | | argument will go on and on ....... |