Let’s understand the universal law of reincarnation. The universal law is precise and flawless. A small seed carries in it the potential of an oak tree. It’s only the cactus as a plant that can survive in the desert. The human body and its functioning is a marvel. Many examples can be recited to speak on the wonders of nature. It is the purpose of human life to understand and comprehend this law that operates the human body. Life flows through man. The human mind with abundant thoughts keeps man entangled, enmeshed and trapped in the material world.
Through the subtle body or linga sharira the soul carries with it the sense perceptions and knowledge of the past. The re manifestation of this subtle body in the gross human body is the process of Reincarnation. Child prodigies are an example of Reincarnation. Tendencies or inclinations towards a particular skill get transferred in the new birth.
However, we do not carry forward details of our past lives in our memory. However, certain impressions like phobias, intense cravings, illnesses, psychosomatic issues and suppressed emotions stores themselves. Memory is such that we may not even remember what we had for breakfast or even how our childhood was. But experiences that impact and affect us, good or bad, leave an indelible mark.
Heredity and hereditary cannot explain the inequalities and diversities in life. Samskaras are the impression of our past lives.
Every child carries with it certain tendencies, habits and fears of the past. The present life gets moulded and sculpted accordingly.
Karma and Reincarnation
The majority of humankind accepts the Doctrine of Reincarnation. Most of the Eastern nations hold this theory accurate. The ancient civilization of Egypt believed this doctrine, and it was handed over to Pythagoras, Plato, Virgil and Ovid, who spread it through Greece and Italy. It was the keynote of Plato’s doctrine when he says that all knowledge is based on recollections and memories. This has been wholly embraced by the Neo-Platonists such as Plotinus and Proclus. It was a focal point in the faith of the Persian Unagi. Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism are based on the philosophy of Reincarnation. The Philosophy of Metempsychosis has been an essential principle of the Druid religion, the Celts, the Gauls and the Britons. One of the Arab’s Philosophers The rites and festivals of Romans, Druids and Hebrews are the basis of this doctrine.
The Jews embraced it after the Babylonian captivity. John the Baptist was to them a second Elijah. Jesus was thought of as a reappearance of John the Baptist or a few of those old prophets. Philosophers like Kant, Schelling and Schopenhauer have upheld this doctrine. Theologians like Julius Muller, Dorner, and Edward Beecher possess maintained it. And now it reigns over the Burmese, Siamese, Chinese, almost two-thirds of the human race.
This ancient philosophy of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, which prevailed before the Christian era, cannot be superimposed with absurd dogmas of the dark ages. Despite wars and persecutions, the world is not plunged into the darkness of ignorance.
There are many instances of people speaking about their past lives. They can give a vivid description of their previous births and incidences. They can point out very minute details that transpired in their lives.
Metempsychosis or Study of Transmigration of the Soul
Metempsychosis is the study of transmigration of the soul. It is a study of how at the death of a human or animal, it takes a new form of the same or a different Homosapien. Ancient Greek philosophers followed this study.
The suckling of A child and the action of swimming of a duckling–those instinctive acts are proofs Of memory that must be the result of the corresponding and inseparable feelings left with the same acts in a Past incarnation. Every action leaves Samskaras in The Chitta that causes memory. Memory, in its turn, contributes to new activities and fresh beliefs. This cycle or Chakrika continues eternally like the analogy of seed and tree.
The identity to the individuality and personality in man has been there for ages. There is no beginning or end to desires and cravings. The attachment and clinging to material possessions, situations and people have been there for aeons and will continue to be. Emotions are carries through different lives and births.
Geniuses and exceptionally skilled children are a gift of nature. They have carried the skill from their previous lives. The talents get inscribed in the souls.
Even From the New Testament, there is enough evidence for Reincarnation. His disciple questioned Jesus – what sin did the parents do that their child had been born blind? This refers to two popular theories of Time – one from Moses, who taught that the sin of fathers would descend on Children to the third and fourth generation, and another, that of the Philosophy of Reincarnation. Jesus merely says that neither that man’s sin nor his father’s sin has been the cause of His blindness; he doesn’t deny the pre-existence of that man. Lord Jesus suggests that John took the Reincarnation of Elijah.
Truth on Reincarnation
Reincarnation is a scope for improvement and rectification—It enables the development of virtues and progression. The body decays and perishes with age, but the subtle life force lives on.
One lifetime is insufficient for an individual to experience all aspects of life. It is like a school where we start in kindergarten and graduate slowly. The consoling factor is the soul is in the process of evolution. Every new birth is a new beginning for new learnings and experiences. We meet various kinds of people from different castes and culture.
However, if the doctrine of reincarnation were true, why is it that we do not remember our past lives. The soul carries with it the impressions, elements and the subtle map of the previous life. But in the new body, new organs are formed, and so to the brain. Indeed, we do not remember our infancy or the previous days’ affair, so it’s a distant dream to recall past lives. We do get glimpses at times.
However, through his sadhana and practices, the yogi can feel past impressions in the form of waves and vibrational frequencies.
Transmigration of Souls
The term ‘transmigration’ means the souls passing from one lifetime to another. This is a fundamental tenet of most Indian philosophy schools, excluding the Charvaka and the atheists. They do not believe in the infinite nature of the soul. The soul traverses through several lives for attaining perfection. This is “transmigration of souls’
This distinct religious doctrine is as ancient as primitive man. One solution to this mystery of death and a consoling idea about death is the indestructibility of the soul and its existence after death in other forms. In India, the ancient Aryans discovered that this was the solution to the age-long issue of human suffering.
The purpose of transmigration is not of punishment but improvement and perfection. It’s not possible to attain perfection and complete liberty with no plurality of lives.
Man develops trend and aptitude through different births before being a genius. Siddhartha became a Buddha only in his last birth. In one birth, you cannot develop all virtues. One can cultivate the virtues by slow development.
There have been numerous instances of children like Santi Devi, who have narrated their previous lives. These have been wholly corroborated too. The children have pointed out their homes. They lived in their prior lives.
Soul, Pythagoras also taught the theory of transmigration.
The ancient Egyptians mummified the bodies after death by embalming and wrapping them in cloth. Pyramids or tombs are an example of this. They believed in resurrection and that the body will rise again.
Body and Soul
The human body is only a place for dwelling for the soul to complete its journey. That’s why the body is called a temple. We are spiritual beings in a human body. No one can escape the laws of reincarnation and karma.
The spirit, all encompassed with the virtue and divinity obtained in the Previous existence, enters another life to better and develop that Original inventory. Through the process of evolution, the soul carries with it all attributes of the previous life.
Everyone gets the opportunity, the sinner and the saint, to purify himself. The doctrine of transmigration provides considerable scope for the sinner to rectify learn and present himself in future births. Vedanta states that there’s the hope of salvation for the worst sinner. He reaps the crop of his misdeeds for a restricted period till he is born again to learn and evolve.
Each one of us has our journeys and opportunities to learn. We assimilate our learning not to repeat the same mistake. The Law of Karma gives freedom and liberty to an individual to develop to complete perfection.
Through various lives and reincarnation, the man proceeds towards divinity. The soul cleanses and gets purer through each birth.
“He is relieving himself of his vices and impure thoughts. He gravitates towards god”
Once a man begins to question his purpose for being born or questions relating to life, he wakes up from his slumber and becomes more aware.
After a series of transmigrations through higher and lower births, the individual soul ultimately merges with the supreme soul.
