Question & Answer sessions with HH Sri Datta Vijayananda Teertha Swamiji – 2015
Why did the first human birth occur ?
Question :
Why did the first human birth occur?
Answer :
It is better not to ask this question. Ignorance has no beginning. It is eternal. Science cannot explain this because Ignorance transcends Time. Mind, evolved from Hiranyagarbha, causes everything. Pure Consciousness corrupted by ignorance, became Mind. How can Consciousness which is pure, get contaminated? There is no answer. Even Vedas and Sastras fail to answer that question.
Instead of investigating the cause of illness, it is more important to cure the illness. Instead of asking about the first birth, it is more beneficial to remove the cause of birth itself through the grace of Guru.
What is the purpose of birth? It is to ensure that future births do not occur. Knowing this is enough. Would that make this the last birth? When Truth alone exists, there is nothing before or after it. This game (of life) is untruth. To realize that this is all unreal, is Self-realization. Once that occurs, births will end.
Why did the first birth occur? Because of ignorance or ego. Who became egotistical? Undoubtedly, Parmatma became egotistical, since He alone exists. He took birth, got rid of His ego, and regained His original pristine status. Because people cannot accept this, they are told that the Supreme Soul is ever pure, and the individual soul got separated from Him. This separation theory gives existence to two entities, Jeevatma and Paramatma, which voids the Vedic statement, ‘Brahman is only one and no second entity has any existence’. Therefore, Paramatma Himself became ignorant.
Birth occurred whenever Creation occurred, or whenever birth occurred, Creation occurred. Eradicate births altogether rather than worry about how the first birth occurred, because that question yields no benefit.
Jaya Guru Datta