By Dr. Tan Kheng Khoo

"Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try as you may.
What is destined to happen will happen, do what you may to prevent it.
This is certain. The best course is therefore, to remain silent."

Sri Ramana Maharshi
 

G-plan

G-plan is a blueprint or chart that we formulate for our forthcoming incarnation while we are still in the spirit world. "G" may stand either for God or for Ground. After spending one to two hundred years in the spirit world, we decide that the only way to progress further is to reincarnate once more. Being in the spirit world there is knowledge of our own spiritual level or status. We also know about our past lives and how much we have progressed or how much we have botched up our spiritual path. Then we are also able to assess our own tendencies, habits and propensities, and then work out an incarnation in which these foibles and bad habits can be gradually or quickly diminished. We know that our bad habits and tendencies will inevitably recur to a greater or smaller extent in the next incarnation. We then have to fashion a life in which we can diminish or eradicate these foibles or negative traits. This is easier said than done, because we have earned a certain amount of negative and positive karma hitherto. Therefore the conditions of our next life must also fit in to the limitations of our karmic pie (see chart attached).

So in order to glean the utmost for our spiritual growth, one has to choose a country, a type of profession and degree of education for the purpose of promoting spiritual growth. It does not mean that the more educated we are the greater advantage we will have in order to achieve our quest. Sometimes we have to even choose a poorer lifestyle or a handicapped physical body for this incarnation, remembering that our sole purpose is to increase our vibrations. Therefore being very rich or highly educated or extremely good looking are not necessarily conducive to our mission. Having gauged our conditions for rebirth, we then have to fit our wishes to our karmic balance. For instance, if we have been a banker or a broker for six lives in order to eradicate greed, and at the end of the six lives we have become even greedier, then we will be denied a future life to be banker or broker. Even though we recognise that to be a broker or banker is ideal for eradicating greed, our karmic credit /debit does not allow us to take on those disciplines again. Our karmic balance may not allow us to live in a country of our choosing, and therefore we have to accept the next best country offered to us. Also in our past lives if we have been very cruel, and we had severely injured or maimed other people, then we may have to come down to earth this time as a handicapped person. Or if we have been emotionally tortured our loved ones for selfish reasons, then our next life would be filled with emotional hardships.



Therefore, from the chart on karmic pie we can see that there is very little free will left for us to manipulate. Thus, summarising the conditions for our future birth, we have decided on our sex, our parents, spouse, children and other relatives; then we have also agreed to have sacred contracts with our close and ordinary friends, associates, our colleagues, workmates and underlings. The sacred contracts must also include situations that will arise with these people. Further, our race, country of birth and country that we are emigrating to have also to be arranged. Lastly, we must also decide on poverty or wealth, sickness or health, success or failure in life, and emotional hardship or ease. That means our free will can only be used to purifying our "samskaras". Samskaras is defined as impressions or accumulated imprints of past experiences, which determine one’s desires and actions.

Every Incarnation is Solely for Spiritual Growth

The purpose of every incarnation is for spiritual growth and increasing of our vibrations. The methods used are essentially three-pronged (1) purification (2) service and (3) acquisition of love and wisdom.

Purification

In this category, we try to reduce our foibles, negative tendencies, bad habits and characteristics. These are generally categorised as (1) Craving, (2) Ill will, (3) Selfishness, (4) Pride and (5) Ignorance.

1) Craving. This generally embraces (a) desire, (b) lust, (c) greed and (d) covetousness. The attrition of these traits and foibles is slow. It is easier if one has the wisdom to let go. The wisdom entailed is to realise that our life is of limited duration, and every one has to die one day. The only question is ‘when’. This ‘when’ is part of our G-plan. Besides this finality of death, we must also realise that we cannot take anything along with us when we go to the spirit world. So we delude ourselves by saying that we are accumulating for our children and not for ourselves. We are lying to ourselves and to others. Besides our children have their own karma and G-plan, and what we give them may be squandered in one month or a year. Similarly we cannot take our "name" or status with us. Even if a statue is erected in commemoration of our earthly achievements, the memory of our good deeds will be erased from the mind of the general public in no time.

2) Ill Will. Ill will includes (a) envy, (b) jealousy, (c) anger, (d) hatred, (e) irritability, (f) resentment and (g) depression. These negative traits represent self-poison. Every time we are angry or jealous we are the ones that suffer. Every burst of anger is equivalent to a spoonful of poison. We hurt ourselves. Anger against the self becomes depression. None of these traits give us pleasure. Negative karma is earned at the same time. This is the worst foible to have. We brought most of the ill will with us from our past lives.

3) Selfishness. Whatever we do, say or think is normally for one’s own self or one’s immediate family. That means altruism and compassion are not a daily function of our life. We must possess the opposite trait, selflessness, in order to serve others. Yet again, selfishness generates negative karma. Family selfishness gives rise to rivalry and animosity, whilst national selfishness leads to war.

4) Pride. We are proud of many things: our nationality, colour of our skin, place of birth, intellect and education. We boast of our wealth, the fame of our families and the positions we hold in our jobs. We are proud of our physique and our good looks and our eloquence. We like to hear complementary statements of ourselves e.g. our I.Q. and our humility. We like to tell people how pure and spiritual we are and that we are on the spiritual path. All these boasting and accreditation are merely boosting of our ego, which is like inflating of a balloon. This balloon must inevitably burst.

5) Ignorance. Ignorance includes delusion, illusion, wrong views and doctrines about spiritual paths. Most religions have been teaching wrong beliefs especially of life after death. The concept of God and soul is also wrongly taught. The teaching of hell and heaven cannot be further from the truth. There is no such place as hell. Karma and reincarnation are poorly taught or not taught at all. It is a false belief that God punishes and rewards. It is a false belief that humans will ever reincarnate as animals. We falsely believe that if we scrupulously learned the religious texts and adorned a robe or religious garb, we are spiritual. By going to church every Sunday, we can be looked upon as pure and clean. If we can quote chapter and verse of Buddhist, Hindu and Christian texts, we can be deemed to be holy. This is so because we can hide our true intentions, and nobody can read our minds as in the spirit world. Ignorance can only be replaced by wisdom. And wisdom can only be gained by eradication of greed, ill will, selfishness and pride.

Therefore one can see what a tall order it is to overcome the above 5 poisons. It cannot be done in one life. It requires many incarnations, and the number of incarnations is dependent on how diligent one is in each life. For some of us thousands of incarnations are required for this purification. The earliest incarnations do not warrant a G-plan, because as primitive people we are not aware of the existence of cause and effect. These primitive people belong to population I, which has a short intermission period in the spirit world of between 5 to 16 years only. Most of you reading this article are in population II. Those in population II normally spend more than 100 to 200 years in the intermission period. Of course the very developed beings in population III with intermission periods of more than 230 years can also come down as early as 15 years to complete their projects on earth.

Service

Pari passu with the above purification, one has to service the human, animal, vegetation and mineral kingdoms. In servicing, we are practising compassion and empathy in unselfish acts. We are now not exercising greed and ill will. In service we promote the welfare of others at our own expense.

Universal service means helping and not hurting humans, animals, vegetables, and minerals. There is consciousness in each of these kingdoms. Mineral has the smallest and human has the largest. Humans are the only ones that have individual souls. Animals, vegetation, and minerals have group souls. When it comes to service we have to start with our human race.

The first area of work must be our immediate family. If we are married with children that should be our first port of call. If one is unmarried then it has to be one’s parents and siblings. Charity and duty must begin at home. Not only do we have to provide food, accommodation and clothing to our nuclear family; we also have to ensure their peace of mind. And ensuring their security and safety does this. But the most vital assurance of confidence we can give them is being there to advise and counsel them whenever they need it. Some parents pour money and luxuries down their throats, but when it comes to giving them a few minutes of their time they cannot spare the time. Parents should be available for help when urgently required. But, of course, the children should be understanding and catch the parent only after working hours, unless it is most urgent. This applies to our parents as well. Whenever a parent needs us urgently we have to make ourselves available straightaway. This is because if our parents did not agree in the spirit world to have us as their children we would not be reborn to practise the spiritual path. Our debt to them is huge. Buddha said that if one carries a parent on one’s shoulders and walk round the world with the parent, one still would not have paid back one’s debt to the parent. Normally a parent would not bother an offspring unless the parent is really in need of help anyway.

Beyond the nuclear family, close and distant relatives come next. Try and service them when help is needed. After this we enlarge our circle to close friends and working colleagues. From here onwards we have to look after our underlings and those who work for us, e.g. maids etc. These menial servants give up their own homes and families to look after us. The least we could do is to take care of them as if they are part of our own families. When they are sick, we should send them to see their doctors and pay their medical fees. If they have problems in their homes we should allow them to return to their families. The last category to be assisted is strangers. When you assist a stranger do not be surprised by unexpected karmic kickbacks. However, one may also be cheated every now and then. So what? You probably owe them anyway!

As humans we have to maintain a compassionate attitude and behaviour to animals, vegetation and minerals. These should not be abused and should be treated with tender care and love. Our treatment of them should not be inferior to that of humans.

Acquisition of Love (Agape) and Wisdom

Agape: This last prong of the trinity is both important and difficult. The love to be acquired is divine and unconditional. It is not erotic or platonic. It is selfless, and purely altruistic. This form of love must not demand gratitude or thanks. It is completely bereft of selfishness. There is no thought of reflective glory or earning of merit. It is a very satisfying commodity when given with wisdom. This is the divine love that Jesus advocates. When performed repeatedly, it becomes second nature to the giver, and this is engraved in the person’s character. Finally, this love becomes universal, at which time that person is becoming at one with the universe. The essence of God or the Universal Consciousness is agape. Therefore if you are already imbued with agape, one becomes Godlike. This selflessness (anatta) automatically rights us from the horizontal stance to the vertical. When vertical we are connected to a high powered cable and our presence become electrified. Wherever one goes one bestows beneficence. It is a natural consequence of our presence and there is no need to try to do anything. The benevolent emanation is spontaneous.

Wisdom: This quality arises from the elimination of the five poisons (greed, ill will, selfishness, pride and ignorance), especially ignorance. In working towards its eradication, remember that whatever assets we accumulate due to greed will last only till the end of this life. Majority of us cannot live longer than 90 to 100 years. So if we are already 60 or 70 years old there is very little time left. How foolish are we to continue with this grabbing to no avail! We must also be wise enough to realize that the minute we die, the memory of our existence will fade very quickly, whether we are famous or notorious. The surest and fastest way to abolish ignorance is to steadily Let Go. This letting go must be done in stages. It is like peeling an onion. As we peel, we shed tears of our letting go. Firstly our assets, thence our relationships and finally our egos. These are difficult steps but they must be persistently taken with awareness. After letting go half way, the process becomes easier because one finds that it is really not very difficult after all and one becomes lighter throwing away our excess baggage. Do not however broadcast your success at letting go. It must be done in secret.

Constructing Our G-plan

From the above facts, one must then construct a G-plan accordingly. Using what we know about ourselves, we then have to formulate a blueprint that will promote our spiritual status:

1) Our past lives.
2) Our level of spirituality, i.e. our vibration rate.
3) Our Samskaras, (impressions; accumulated imprints of past experiences, which determine one’s desires and actions) good points, foibles, handicaps and tendencies.
4) Our major weaknesses, e.g. for money, power and sex.
5) Our strong points and our skills must be taken into account as well.
6) The state of our karmic pie (see diagram).
7) We can only bring about 10% of our total spirit down to earth for practice. This 10% is the soul for the coming incarnation. Therefore the same proportion of good and bad karma must come down with the soul. We also have to determine what weaknesses and habits we want to improve.
8) In a scale of 1 to 1000 units of vibration, if we know that we are at 500 units, how much do we want to increase our vibration in the next incarnation? 100 units? 50 units?
9) How long do we want to take to attain this increase of vibration? From ten to ninety years on earth? That means the date of birth (DOB) and date of death (DOD) are fixed.
10) We have to determine our sex.
11) Profession, vocation and hobbies.
12) The country of birth, nationality and country of emigration.
13) State of health and major illnesses. Our emotional makeup is also vital.
14) State of wealth or poverty.
15) The people that we want to go down with, e.g. family, work colleagues, friends etc.
16) On top of all these parameters, we have to try and attain some of the three-pronged goals: (a) purification, (b) service and (c) acquisition of love and wisdom.

From the above parameters, one should then sit down and work out a blueprint by which our spiritual status can be improved (by X percent). We must then try to achieve this goal with our Curriculum Vitae as stated above within our karmic pie. This is our G-plan. Some people would call this the main Sacred Contract, but I call it G-plan to distinguish it from the rest of the contracts with our tribes, friends and colleagues. Much more time would have to be taken to draw numerous sacred contracts with all the people, animals and plants that we will encounter in our next incarnation. The G-plan is almost immutable. It is like we have constructed a tunnel of our next life, in which we have a little leeway above and below the main path in the tunnel (see diagram). However all of us almost never break out of the tunnel. It is through repeated breakdowns with heinous crimes, killings, massacres and genocide or gigantic cheating and swindling that we break out downwards of our tunnel (G-Plan). Examples here are Hitler, Stalin, Sadam Hussein and Pol Pot. On the other hand, we can also breakout on the upside. The examples here are Buddha, Jesus Christ and Mohamed bearing in mind that these sages might just be merely carrying out their G-plans. That means what has been outlined as "G-plan" is truly our predetermined future life. When we are born, we start at the beginning of a tunnel, which inclines upwards, because we intend to increase our vibrations during this life. At birth, the cells in the body have our G-plan engraved in their DNA. Our life invariably has its ups and downs, and therefore range up and down within this tunnel, and usually not breaking the borders (see diagram).

However, we may break through either upward or downward, if we perform admirably or dismally in the extreme. That means we either outperform or underperform in order to dismantle our own G-Plan. This happens very, very rarely. One may breakout upward when one suddenly decides to give up the rat race and become totally spiritual. One then starts to practise prodigiously to expand one’s consciousness to the awareness of no self, and at the same time one has to surrender totally to one’s Tao. This quantum leap normally happens to those who have practised for many lives before. In the opposite case the other individual breaks down through his tunnel, as he persistently and repeatedly does not uphold his aspiration of his G-plan. His spiritual guides failed over and over again to influence him otherwise. In the astral world, before his present incarnation, the latter has been intimated about the possibility of his breakdown, as he has tried many times before the same path without success. That means, he has been forewarned of the possible downturn while negotiating the conditions of his G-plan. As soon as he has broken down out of the tunnel, his life is full of misery. Either his health is in a total wreck or he is in abject poverty. Nothing is right for him. Nobody respects him including his own family. There is no way out until he repents and jumps back onto the tract of his G-plan again. At this point his guides and friends will come to help out. He does not have to do it alone, but if he is adamant, then he continues to suffer.

Sacred Contracts

Now that the man has written out his G-plan, he has now to go around in the spirit world contacting all the people who will play a part, whether big or small, in his next incarnation. These are his parents, wife, siblings, his children, friends, distant relatives, work-mates, colleagues, his underlings, superiors and casual acquaintances etc. Every one who may play a part in his future life would have to be contacted and contracts made. Of course his children would have to come to him instead to initiate their contracts. Similarly, those who need his help in the next life would have to do the same. These are spiritual contracts and are spiritually binding. They must be beneficially to both parties or everybody concerned (e.g. all members of the one family). These contracts must also involve all the spiritual guides of every participant of the contract. That means that both the humans and their spiritual guides must work hard to carry out the contracts. Quite often it also means that the entire tribe or archetype will partake in the execution of the contract. If the process is a very difficult one but is within one’s G-plan, the success of the project may appear miraculous. A lot of horse-trading is carried out at this stage. Some of the participants are unwilling partners to the contracts. That is why not all contracts succeed. These contracts are not as binding as one’s G-plan. However, the same conditions as enumerated above, karmic balance, samskaras, past relationships and the respective goals of all concerned must be taken into account. This means that the negotiations must be meticulous and all encompassing, and if possible no stone is left unturned. But the best-laid plans may still falter or fail. These contracts will have to involve many families and sometimes they are enacted in different countries. A world war necessitates numerous sacred contracts. A noble prize also requires a sacred contract. Similarly, the concentration camps and genocide of different countries need elaborate contracts drawn.

Coming down to the nitty gritty of individuals, the strongest contract would have to be with the marriage partner. Next come the children and parents. Siblings, distant relatives and friends then follow suit. Sometimes a life long friend has a much stronger contract than even the spouse’s. Then business partners, work colleagues and club or sporting mates have also to be contracted. These contracts will have to involve the locality, the country and the organisation that they work in. So the contract will have to stipulate the venue as well. All and sundry must benefit. Contracts must also be made with enemies, rivals and competitors.

At the end all events and processes must end up as experiences for everybody concerned. It is the experience that counts the most. In other words everybody wins. Nobody loses. We gain in experience even when we lose out or tragedy strikes us. "Every day is a good day". For some, dying and death is the best teacher. Although our soul and our body cells know when we are going to die, the conscious mind does not.

If someone runs another down in a car and causes spinal injury to the extent that the victim is paralysed from the neck downwards, this incident warrants a contract. A handicapped child must also have a contract signed with his parents and siblings, as everybody in the family suffer accordingly. Sometimes the parents suffer more than the child. Any form of congenital disease, long standing injury or mental and physical handicap that requires constant and prolonged help or assistance will need to have a contract made with the caregiver. At the end some good will transpire out of all the horrors, tragedies, pain and suffering of a war. The dead and the maimed and their relatives must learn from war and genocide. An economic recession or individual financial disasters must also provide lessons to the victims. If lessons are learned, there are no victims. All these so-called disasters or tragedies are part of a cleansing process. A cancer striking an individual hits the whole family. The patient must know the reason for the cancer, and the family must also learn from the victim how the cancer came about. From this lesson, the entire family must then know what attitudes in life one must avoid. There are no losers if one were to look at it from a spiritual point of view.


FACTS, CONDITIONS & SITUATIONS THAT ARE AGREED UPON BEFORE BIRTH

· Grand parents & parents
· Spouse or Spouses, mistresses and lovers
· Siblings
· Children
· Other relatives, enemies and friends.
· Race
· Country of birth
· Sex
· Profession , vocation and hobbies
· State of wealth (rich, poor or mediocre)
. State of health (deformities, blind, deaf, major illnesses like stroke and heart diseases, cancer and autoimmune diseases.)
· Dates of Birth and Death
· Country of further study
· Country of emigration
· When and where to embark on the Spiritual Path
· Date of meeting Guru - or no necessity to have a guru
· How difficult is one’s life going to be emotionally (and mentally for some)
· The amount of travelling and where
· Are we going to be a care-provider to a loved one or a stranger?
· Success or failure in one’s life profession or vocation.