BHAGAVAD GITA ON REINCARNATION
Many Westerners, in order to gain a deeper understanding about reincarnation, are turning to the original sources of knowledge about past and future lives. Among all available literatures, the Sanskrit Vedas of India are the oldest on earth and present the most comprehensive and logical explanations of the science of reincarnation, teachings that have maintained their viability and universal appeal for more than five thousand years.
The most fundamental information about reincarnation appears in Bhagavad gita, the essence of Vedic knowledge and one of the most important Upanisads. The Gita was spoken fifty centuries ago by Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to His friend and disciple Arjuna on a battlefield in northern India. A battlefield is the perfect place for a discussion about reincarnation, for in combat, men directly confront the fateful questions of life, death, and the afterlife.
As Krsna begins to speak on the immortality of the soul, He tells Arjuna, "Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be." The Gita further instructs, "Know that which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul." The Soul. Here we speak of something so subtle that it is not immediately verifiable by the limited human mind and senses. Therefore, not everyone will be able to accept the existence of the soul. Krsna informs Arjuna, "Some look on the soul as amazing, some describe him as amazing, and some hear of him as amazing, while others, even after hearing about him, cannot understand him at all." Accepting the existence of the soul is, however, not merely a matter of faith. Bhagavad gita appeals to the evidence of our senses and logic, so we may accept its teachings with some degree of rational conviction and not blindly, as dogma. It is impossible to understand reincarnation unless one knows the difference between the actual self (the soul) and the body. Gita helps us see the nature of the soul by the following example. "As the sun alone illuminates all this universe, so does the living entity, one within the body, illuminate the entire body by consciousness."
Consciousness is concrete evidence of the presence of the soul within the body. On a cloudy day, the sun may not be visible, but we know it is there in the sky by the presence of sunlight. Similarly, we may not be able to directly perceive the soul, but we may conclude it is there by the presence of consciousness. In the absence of consciousness, the body is simply a lump of dead matter. Only the presence of consciousness makes this lump of dead matter breathe, speak, love, and fear. In essence, the body is a vehicle for the soul, through which it may fulfill its myriad material desires. The Gita explains that the living entity within the body is "seated as on a machine made of the material energy." The soul falsely identifies with the body, carrying its different conceptions of life from one body to another as the air carries aromas. Just as an automobile cannot function without the presence of a driver, similarly, the material body cannot function without the presence of the soul.
As one grows older, the distinction between the conscious self and the physical body becomes more obvious. Within his lifetime a person can observe that his body is constantly changing. It does not endure, and time proves the child ephemeral. The body comes into existence at a certain time, grows, matures, produces by products (children), and gradually dwindles and dies. The physical body is thus unreal, for it will, in due time, disappear. As the Gita explains, "Of the nonexistent there is no endurance." But despite all the changes of the material body, consciousness, a symptom of the soul within, remains unchanged. ("Of the existent there is no cessation.") Therefore, we may logically conclude that consciousness possesses an innate quality of permanence that enables it to survive the dissolution of the body. Krsna tells Arjuna, "For the soul there is neither birth nor death....He is not slain when the body is slain."
But if the soul is "not slain when the body is slain," then what becomes of it? The answer given in the Bhagavad gita is that the soul enters another body. This is reincarnation. This concept may be difficult for some people to accept, but it is a natural phenomenon, and the Gita gives logical examples to aid our understanding: "As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self realized soul is not bewildered by such a change."
In other words, man reincarnates even in the course of one lifetime. Any biologist will tell you that the body's cells are constantly dying and being replaced by new ones. In other words, each of us has a number of "different" bodies in this very life. The body of an adult is completely different from the body the same person had as an infant. Yet despite bodily changes, theperson within remains the same. Something similar happens at the time of death. The self undergoes a final change of body. The Gita says, "As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, so the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones." Thus the soul remains entrapped in an endless cycle of births and deaths. "For one who has taken his birth, death is certain; and for one who is dead, birth is certain," the Lord tells Arjuna.
According to the Vedas, there are 8,400,000 species of life, beginning with the microbes and amoebas, rising through the fish, plants, insects, reptiles, birds, and animals to the humans and demigods. According to their desires, the living entities perpetually take birth in these species.
The mind is the mechanism that authorizes these transmigrations, propelling the soul to newer and newer bodies. The Gita explains, "Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state of being he will attain without fail (in his next life.") Everything we have thought and done during our life makes an impression on the mind, and the sum total of all these impressions influences our final thoughts at death. According to the quality of these thoughts, material nature awards us a suitable body. Therefore, the type of body that we have now is the expression of our consciousness at the time of our last death.
"The living entity, thus taking another gross body, obtains a certain type of eye, ear, tongue, nose, and sense of touch, which are grouped around the mind. He thus enjoys a particular set of sense objects," the Gita explains. Further, the path of reincarnation does not always lead uphill; the human being is not guaranteed a human birth in his next life. For example, if one dies with the mentality of a dog, then he will in his next life receive the eyes, ears, nose, etc., of a dog, thus allowing him to enjoy canine pleasures. Lord Krsna confirms the fate of such an unfortunate soul, saying, "When he dies in the mode of ignorance, he takes birth in the animal kingdom."
According to Bhagavad gita, humans who do not inquire about their nonphysical, higher nature are compelled by the laws of karma to continue in the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, sometimes appearing as humans, sometimes as animals, and sometimes as plants or insects.
Our existence in the material world is due to the multiple karmic reactions of this and previous lives, and the human body provides the only loophole through which the materially conditioned soul can escape. By properly utilizing the human form, one can solve all the problems of life (birth, death, disease, and old age) and break the endless cycle of reincarnation. If, however, a soul, having evolved to the human platform, wastes his life by engaging only in activities for sense pleasure, he can easily create sufficient karma in this present life to keep him entangled inthe cycle of birth and death for thousands upon thousands of lives. And they may not all be human.
Lord Krsna says, "The foolish cannot understand how a living entity can quit his body, nor can they understand what kind of body he enjoys under the spell of the modes of nature. But one whose eyes are trained in knowledge can see all this. The endeavoring transcendentalist, who is situated in selfªrealization, can see all this clearly. But those who are not situated in self realization cannot see what is taking place, though they may try."
A soul fortunate enough to obtain a human body should seriously endeavor for self realization, to understand the principles of reincarnation and become free from repeated birth and death. We can't afford not to.
The most fundamental information about reincarnation appears in Bhagavad gita, the essence of Vedic knowledge and one of the most important Upanisads. The Gita was spoken fifty centuries ago by Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to His friend and disciple Arjuna on a battlefield in northern India. A battlefield is the perfect place for a discussion about reincarnation, for in combat, men directly confront the fateful questions of life, death, and the afterlife.
As Krsna begins to speak on the immortality of the soul, He tells Arjuna, "Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be." The Gita further instructs, "Know that which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul." The Soul. Here we speak of something so subtle that it is not immediately verifiable by the limited human mind and senses. Therefore, not everyone will be able to accept the existence of the soul. Krsna informs Arjuna, "Some look on the soul as amazing, some describe him as amazing, and some hear of him as amazing, while others, even after hearing about him, cannot understand him at all." Accepting the existence of the soul is, however, not merely a matter of faith. Bhagavad gita appeals to the evidence of our senses and logic, so we may accept its teachings with some degree of rational conviction and not blindly, as dogma. It is impossible to understand reincarnation unless one knows the difference between the actual self (the soul) and the body. Gita helps us see the nature of the soul by the following example. "As the sun alone illuminates all this universe, so does the living entity, one within the body, illuminate the entire body by consciousness."
Consciousness is concrete evidence of the presence of the soul within the body. On a cloudy day, the sun may not be visible, but we know it is there in the sky by the presence of sunlight. Similarly, we may not be able to directly perceive the soul, but we may conclude it is there by the presence of consciousness. In the absence of consciousness, the body is simply a lump of dead matter. Only the presence of consciousness makes this lump of dead matter breathe, speak, love, and fear. In essence, the body is a vehicle for the soul, through which it may fulfill its myriad material desires. The Gita explains that the living entity within the body is "seated as on a machine made of the material energy." The soul falsely identifies with the body, carrying its different conceptions of life from one body to another as the air carries aromas. Just as an automobile cannot function without the presence of a driver, similarly, the material body cannot function without the presence of the soul.
As one grows older, the distinction between the conscious self and the physical body becomes more obvious. Within his lifetime a person can observe that his body is constantly changing. It does not endure, and time proves the child ephemeral. The body comes into existence at a certain time, grows, matures, produces by products (children), and gradually dwindles and dies. The physical body is thus unreal, for it will, in due time, disappear. As the Gita explains, "Of the nonexistent there is no endurance." But despite all the changes of the material body, consciousness, a symptom of the soul within, remains unchanged. ("Of the existent there is no cessation.") Therefore, we may logically conclude that consciousness possesses an innate quality of permanence that enables it to survive the dissolution of the body. Krsna tells Arjuna, "For the soul there is neither birth nor death....He is not slain when the body is slain."
But if the soul is "not slain when the body is slain," then what becomes of it? The answer given in the Bhagavad gita is that the soul enters another body. This is reincarnation. This concept may be difficult for some people to accept, but it is a natural phenomenon, and the Gita gives logical examples to aid our understanding: "As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self realized soul is not bewildered by such a change."
In other words, man reincarnates even in the course of one lifetime. Any biologist will tell you that the body's cells are constantly dying and being replaced by new ones. In other words, each of us has a number of "different" bodies in this very life. The body of an adult is completely different from the body the same person had as an infant. Yet despite bodily changes, theperson within remains the same. Something similar happens at the time of death. The self undergoes a final change of body. The Gita says, "As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, so the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones." Thus the soul remains entrapped in an endless cycle of births and deaths. "For one who has taken his birth, death is certain; and for one who is dead, birth is certain," the Lord tells Arjuna.
According to the Vedas, there are 8,400,000 species of life, beginning with the microbes and amoebas, rising through the fish, plants, insects, reptiles, birds, and animals to the humans and demigods. According to their desires, the living entities perpetually take birth in these species.
The mind is the mechanism that authorizes these transmigrations, propelling the soul to newer and newer bodies. The Gita explains, "Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state of being he will attain without fail (in his next life.") Everything we have thought and done during our life makes an impression on the mind, and the sum total of all these impressions influences our final thoughts at death. According to the quality of these thoughts, material nature awards us a suitable body. Therefore, the type of body that we have now is the expression of our consciousness at the time of our last death.
"The living entity, thus taking another gross body, obtains a certain type of eye, ear, tongue, nose, and sense of touch, which are grouped around the mind. He thus enjoys a particular set of sense objects," the Gita explains. Further, the path of reincarnation does not always lead uphill; the human being is not guaranteed a human birth in his next life. For example, if one dies with the mentality of a dog, then he will in his next life receive the eyes, ears, nose, etc., of a dog, thus allowing him to enjoy canine pleasures. Lord Krsna confirms the fate of such an unfortunate soul, saying, "When he dies in the mode of ignorance, he takes birth in the animal kingdom."
According to Bhagavad gita, humans who do not inquire about their nonphysical, higher nature are compelled by the laws of karma to continue in the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, sometimes appearing as humans, sometimes as animals, and sometimes as plants or insects.
Our existence in the material world is due to the multiple karmic reactions of this and previous lives, and the human body provides the only loophole through which the materially conditioned soul can escape. By properly utilizing the human form, one can solve all the problems of life (birth, death, disease, and old age) and break the endless cycle of reincarnation. If, however, a soul, having evolved to the human platform, wastes his life by engaging only in activities for sense pleasure, he can easily create sufficient karma in this present life to keep him entangled inthe cycle of birth and death for thousands upon thousands of lives. And they may not all be human.
Lord Krsna says, "The foolish cannot understand how a living entity can quit his body, nor can they understand what kind of body he enjoys under the spell of the modes of nature. But one whose eyes are trained in knowledge can see all this. The endeavoring transcendentalist, who is situated in selfªrealization, can see all this clearly. But those who are not situated in self realization cannot see what is taking place, though they may try."
A soul fortunate enough to obtain a human body should seriously endeavor for self realization, to understand the principles of reincarnation and become free from repeated birth and death. We can't afford not to.
Comments