Question

If we die the Kamma decides in which realm we are reborn (I am going to rephrase that) When we die the Kamma decides in which realm we are reborn or how long we stay there. Does this mean if we are born in the god realms, we use up all our positive Kamma or are there qualities like the Paramis and Wisdom we keep in mind?

Answer

I will have to go by the scriptures here. Certainly to be born in a god realm, in what they call the Deva realms or heavenly realms, means you have good positive Kamma. Whether we use up our positive Kamma depends on how much of the Paramis you have developed.

The teachings explain that there is so much happiness in the Deva realms that some heavenly beings are overwhelmed with pleasure and forget about spirituality. But I have also read in the scriptures about heavenly beings coming to visit the Buddha and hearing the teachings. So, whether they are inspired to come and visit a spiritual teacher, I would think depends on what type of good Kamma helped them get reborn there. Perhaps if the good Kamma, which helped a person get reborn to a heavenly rebirth, was being a monk or nun all their life correctly, perhaps they will get there and have a craving to go and visit human beings in that type of situation, I am not sure. I hope so!

But usually what is taught is that the lives are so long and so pleasant that they don't get to see impermanence very easily, they don't get to see Dukkha very easily. Aging, disease and some of the memories of these things, perhaps in their past human life, tend to be forgotten. So, it is not considered a good place to develop the Paramis. The human realm is usually considered the best place for developing the practice because of the mixture of the Dukkha and happiness, Sukha. This is why the human realm is considered such a good place to develop the practice, because it is much easier to see aging, disease and death. But as I said, I have also read in the scriptures about heavenly beings coming and visiting teachers, and also read about teachers going to the heavenly realms to teach them. So, I would think it depends on what type of Kamma enabled them to be reborn in those realms as to whether they would be interested in visiting such teachers in the human realm or whether they are able to remember some of these things from their human existence.

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