THE CONCEPT OF REINCARNATION

The concept of birth and death in Sanatan Dharma (eternal order or righteousness) is related to the transmigration or reincarnation of the Ātman (inner self, inner spirit, or soul). The Ātman, within every being, has no birth or death; it is eternal. Birth and death are stages in the life process. The essence of the life process is the self, the immortal Ātman. Self is the atman within every being and not the objects outside. The purpose of the perceiver is to perceive the Ātman.

The doctrine of reincarnation and transmigration of the soul goes beyond the conception of believing we are our physical bodies. That way of subjecting oneself to the perpetual revolving in the ocean of material existence known as life and death.

In the Greek philosophical tradition, particularly among the Pythagoreans,  the doctrine of transmigration of soul is based on the belief that the soul is immortal and that it migrates from one living body to another upon its death. It asserts that the human body is a prison for the soul and that  bodily desires impede the freedom of the soul.

 1. Outline

Liberation, or moksha, in the Sanātan Dharma (eternal order or righteousness), is a fundamental right of every being.

Liberation is elevated through fixation and movement within the eternal order or way of life. It is detachment from all bonds of worldly pleasure and pain, birth and death, sorrow and happiness, and all other types of dual opposites. It is an elevation from attachments, bondages, and dualities of opposites towards purity and chastity in our whole body, mind, and intellect mechanism. It is an elevatory movement towards steadfastness, fullness, infinities, and a fuller realisation of Divine Consciousness.

Liberation, or moksha, is the birthright of man. There is a struggle in and out for liberation, freedom, and shaking off every kind of bondage. There is nothing anyone needs in this world except freedom to the largest extent possible and for the longest duration conceivable. Ultimately, freedom from ignorance, bondage, attachments, all types of pathological moorings, and finally, freedom from death Man's bondage... is his incapacity to know where he is standing. Ignorance is bondage; knowledge is freedom. But man aspires for freedom only. He does not bother about birth and death. The fact that we are after a positive attainment of ultimate freedom, infinite and eternal in its nature, irrespective of the impending difficulty of birth and death, demonstrates that we are finally destined for this freedom. We are bound in a way—perhaps bound in every way here; yet, this is not the final word in the history of man."

True knowledge is the ability to decipher between the real and the unreal. Self is the Ātman (inner self or inner spirit) within every being and not the objects outside. The purpose of the perceiver is to perceive the Ātman. The inner spirit is eternal, invisible, imperishable, and unchanging. It exists beyond the grasp of our ordinary senses and can only be perceived by a true perceiver.

"The final stroke of a physical annihilation of our personality is not brought about by our connections with our family members or the society of people, but by our connection to space and time.... Space and time are not beyond us. We cannot see space, though we appear to be seeing it with our eyes. It is inwardly woven into the very fibre of our personality. There is space inside us also. Space is not outside anything, nor can it be said to be inside everything, because the very conception of a localised existence is impossible without the conception of space."

2. Transient and Eternal

"The entrance of a soul into a body is called birth. The soul’s departure from the body is called death. A body is dead if the soul is absent....Just as man sleeps and wakes up, so are death and birth."

"Death does not end your personality and self-consciousness. It merely opens the door to a higher form of life. Death is only the gateway to a fuller life... Birth and death are jugglery of Maya. He who is born begins to die. He who dies begins to live. Life is death, and death is life. Birth and death are merely doors of entry and exit on the stage of this world," so says Swami Sivananda.

Sri Krishna observes in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita

nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ

ubhayorapi dṛiṣhṭo ’nta stvanayos tattva-darśhibhiḥ

Of the transient there is no endurance, and of the eternal there is no cessation. This has been verifiably observed and concluded by the seers of the Truth, after studying the nature of both.

"Death is not the extinction of personality. It is merely the cessation of an important individuality. It is only a change of form. Life flows on to achieve its conquest of the universe; life flows on till it merges in the Eternal."

Aldous Huxley, the famous English writer and philosopher of the 20th century, says man possesses a double nature: a phenomenal ego and an eternal Self, which is the inner man, the spirit, the spark of divinity within the soul. It is possible for a man, if he so desires, to identify himself with the spirit and therefore with the Divine Ground, which is of the same or similar nature with the spirit. Man’s life on earth has only one purpose: to identify himself with his eternal Self and so come to unitive knowledge of the Divine Ground.

 3. Scriptures

It is well articulated in the Katha Upanishad about the nature of being that one must not fear anyone or anything, not even death, as its true essence is Ātman (internal spirit). It is neither born nor dies; it is eternal and is Brahmān (the Supreme Being).

The seer (Atman, Self) is not born, nor does he die,

He does not originate from anybody, nor does he become anybody,

Eternal, ancient one, he remains eternal,

he is not killed, even though the body is killed.

If the killer thinks that he kills,

if the killed thinks that he is killed,

they do not understand;

for this one does not kill, nor is that one killed.

The Self (Ātman), smaller than small, greater than great,

is hidden in the heart of each creature,

Free from avarice, free from grief, peaceful and content,

he sees the supreme glory of Ātman. — Katha Upanishad, 1.2.18-1.2.20, Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass,

It is quietly emphatically expressed in the Bhagavad Gita that

na jāyate mriyate vā kadāchin

nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ

ajo nityaḥ śhāśhvato ’yaṁ purāṇo

na hanyate hanyamāne śharīre

The soul is neither born nor does it ever die; nor, having once existed, does it ever cease to be. The soul is without birth, eternal, immortal, and ageless. It is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.

"The soul is not born, nor does it die; it did not spring from something, and nothing sprang from it. It is unborn, eternal, immortal, and ageless. It is not destroyed when the body is destroyed," so says the Brihadāraṇyaka Upanishad.

Bhagavad Gita continues to say so:

vāsānsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya

navāni gṛihṇāti naro ’parāṇi

tathā śharīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇānya

nyāni sanyāti navāni dehī

As a person sheds worn-out garments and wears new ones, likewise, at the time of death, the soul casts off its worn-out body and enters a new one.

nainaṁ chhindanti śhastrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ

na chainaṁ kledayantyāpo na śhoṣhayati mārutaḥ

Weapons cannot shred the soul, nor can fire burn it. Water cannot wet it, nor can the wind dry it.

achchhedyo ’yam adāhyo ’yam akledyo ’śhoṣhya eva cha

nityaḥ sarva-gataḥ sthāṇur achalo ’yaṁ sanātanaḥ

The soul is unbreakable and incombustible; it can neither be dampened nor dried. It is everlasting, in all places, unalterable, immutable, and primordial.

jātasya hi dhruvo mṛityur dhruvaṁ janma mṛitasya cha

tasmād aparihārye ’rthe na tvaṁ śhochitum arhasi

Death is certain for one who has been born, and rebirth is inevitable for one who has died. Therefore, you should not lament over the inevitable.

4. Remarks

Birth and death are stages in the life process. Swami Sivananda says, "Every soul is a circle. The circumference of this circle is nowhere, but its centre is in the body. Death means the change of this centre from body to body. Death is not the end of life. It is an aspect of life. It is a natural incident in the course of life. It is necessary for your evolution."

These births and deaths are called the manifest and the unmanifest. "When a Jiva is born, it does not mean that something that never existed before has emerged anew. Also, when a person dies, it does not mean that he is totally lost. How can he appear when he never existed before? He was certainly there, but in a subtle form. Similarly, when he dies, he does not vanish into nothingness. He continues in a subtle manner. It is really the body that dies when the jiva leaves it, not the jiva, says the upanishad."

Self-enquiry is a key practise in Advaita Vedanta. It is often practised in conjunction with other spiritual practises, such as meditation and self-realization, to help individuals deepen their understanding of themselves and their connection to the universe.

Ramana Mahrashi says, "Self-enquiry is certainly not an empty formula; it is more than the repetition of any mantra. If the inquiry, ‘Who am I?’ were a mere mental questioning, it would not be of much value. The very purpose of self-enquiry is to focus the entire mind at its source. It is not, therefore, a case of one ‘I’ searching for another 'I.' Where the ‘I’ merges, another entity emerges as ‘I’ of its own accord. That is the perfect Self. Inquiring into the nature of one's self, which is in bondage, and realising one's true nature is release. Though the ‘I’ is always present, one's attention has to be drawn to it. Then only knowledge dawns."

If the ego is, everything else also is. If the ego is not healthy, nothing else is. Indeed, the ego is all.

Therefore, leaving the corpse-like body as an actual corpse and remaining without even uttering the word ‘I’ by mouth, if one now keenly enquires, ‘What is it that rises as ‘I’? then in the Heart a certain soundless sphurana, ‘I-I’, will shine forth of its own accord.

-Asutosh Satpathy