samarth
I believe the seven lives contract starts only on a spiritual level where the soul embarks on a journey to self realization after getting a human birth , depending on what gender it is born into . Marraige is the state where he learns to love , then love selflessly [ by his love for the children ..........the highest level of selflessness that he can attain .........a parent's love for a child is the closest to egoless, sacrificing , unattached love for the Eternal spirit required in self realization . Carrying imprints of that love experienced in that birth , the soul carries that level forward and goes on achieving a higher and higher state of love and realization till both souls unite and become one with God . Hence there is no eighth birth . It has been calculated by our self realized ancestors that if after acquiring a human birth the couple follows the Grihasthashrama as told by our scriptures , we can be free after the seventh birth .
I repeat , Im no scholar , just a layman . The contract is on a spiritual level , [ to my understanding ] and if the soul is in its third birth and follows the rules , only four more births remain for the couple to fuse into each other and God .................Shivaparvati symbolise that union . It is the fusion of Purush and Prakriti and the realisation that they both are one and not seperate from each other is the fnal knowledge .
The Grihasthashrama advocated by Hindus is really extremely spiritual on every level . Now the problem is that it is not followed anymore to the perfection required .............maybe it was followed to perfection in the Satyayuga and literally the spiritual realizations occured in the seventh birth . We do read of unusual couples that have filtered down to us even in this age ........Atri and Anasuya , Agastya and Lopamudra , Satyavan and Savitri ........Manu and Shatarupa . Somehow , these names have remained . When we read of their Grihashtashrama we understand that their levels of love and understanding of the state of marraige were much above what we see it today . Maybe they were the ones who did not require an eighth birth and truly became free in the seventh .
There are exceptions to this spiritual theory too , and in theKaliyuga , the exceptions have outnumbered the rule . Cheating in a marraige , selfishness , greed have destroyed the state of Grihasthasrama . Today it is merely a state of convenience , not a state to achieve a spiritual goal . In such cases the soul does not travel smoothly on its seven lives journey with its life partner and the seven janma contract as u put it stops applying . The soul , entangled in its own karmic actions suffers a series of inferior births tillit once more acquires a human body .
I feel that the seven birth contract was applicable only in another era when it was truly understood and aimed at . Today it is merely a remembrance , a formality [ the saptapadi ritual for instance ] like the many vows we take ignorantly with bored faces looking sleepy due to the uninterested droning of the Brahmin priests , wondering when we can go home in our hired AC car [ bedecked with flowers] and get rid of all our finery and slip into a comfortable night gown and embark on the suhaag raat , the most interesting part of a marraige day .
Please dont throw tomatoes at me for boring u guys . Just my thoughts ........i do not say that this is a fact . It is merely my understanding .
Kumkum Bhagya
Anupamaa
