Reincarnation

Well, first of all, reincarnation is almost universally accepted as an idea in the all of the Indian tradition, including whatever gets called Hinduism, Buddhism, Janism, sikhism. And most of it is actually described in the second chapter of the bhagavad gita by Krishna. In fact, the bhagavad gita is more or less the locust classicus of the whole idea of reincarnation. And there, for example, one finds this remark, a part of which nobody would disagree with, but the other part is to be questioned. The remark that Krishna makes is that everybody who is born will die and everybody who dies will be born again. Now, as I said, the first part, who could disagree with that?

It's the second part that is the question. And very strong idea, something that in a way I have already implied earlier, that is the spiritual element, which is neither born nor does it die. In fact Krishna repeatedly keeps emphasizing that it never gets burnt by fire. It doesn't get wet by water or anything else. And that element is free of any of the worldly effects on it.

But the element that is incorporating that part, which we call the body, that will die. And then that very classical example or illustration that Krishna uses just as a person changes one's clothes when the clothes are old or dirty. Similarly, this particle of divinity changes the body when the body is no longer functioning. And so the whole idea of reincarnation is what is being reincarnated is that particle of divinity in me. So one could therefore say that it's Ravi being reincarnated, but strictly speaking is that particle of divinity which is being reincarnated.

By which one means it takes on the body again and again and again. Why? As I mentioned earlier, also in order for this whatever body it takes on, for it to assist its evolution so that it comes to a level where it doesn't need to be evolving any further. And therefore, it would not have to take reincarnation again. That's the overall idea, really, reincarnation.

And it is, as I said, absolutely throughout the Indian tradition, very strongly accepted as an idea. And then maybe a couple of related remarks may assist when Buddhism went to China, slightly more than two thousand years ago, reincarnation was a little bit of a problem from the Chinese perspective because one of the very wrong tendency there was that the elders remain in a kind of a heavenly place. And for them to be born again in the sense that for them to be like my own son or my granddaughter, could be my previous grandfather. It was striking to them unacceptable. And then the way the Buddhist actually accommodated that idea was that if the ancestors were exalted enough, then they are not reincarnate, but at an ordinary level, they are reincarnated, which is also, by the way, the reason why you will not find in the Indian context.

For example, my father would not call his sons the same names as his father or his grandfather, which is quite a common tendency here in the Jude Christian world. And so very strong notion that whatever has been the quality of evolution brought about my previous incarnation now that body is no longer helping it. Just like as I said, the clothes are getting old or dirty, so they need to be changed. But death what is usually called death in the usual language. In the Indian tradition, it is regarded as actually a part of overall life with a capital l, if you like.

Being born and dying is not getting away from life. Life has many phases just like changing the clothes. Again, and again, I give this example because Krishna uses that example. And so the therefore, death is not really regarded something to be afraid of. It's just part of the universal order. And but one can be free of death only if one is free of the whole idea of reincarnation.

And that requires that I'm developed enough that I no longer need a body. To assist the evolution of my spiritual element, which is why I earlier mentioned the that even if they are developed enough, they don't need to be reincarnated, but they undertake to be reincarnated. It to assist the evolution of the others. So that's really the overall notion of reincarnation. And, but as I said, it is so deeply rooted in the Indian tradition.

And also, it might interest you. There have been in the last, maybe, couple of decades, more and more interest even in the scientific world on reincarnation. And particularly a person called, his last name was Stevens. I Ian Stevens or some name like that. In fact, I had met him in a workshop in Finland, and I asked him that many of the examples that he's giving, they all seem to be either from Asia or from Africa, but he doesn't give those examples from Europe or North America.

He said the trouble is if a two and a half year or three year old kid in North America or Europe uses a strange language, people think there is something psychologically wrong with him. And therefore, whereas in Asia, basically, they would say, well, he's recalling his previous reincarnation. Sometimes they might even pursue it to try to follow what language it was, what who's parent age, etcetera. So this guy has done actually a lot of research on that. And then he's he actually died a few years back, but the research continues And some of this is actually arising from a very basic shift even in the scientific world.

I should mention that. Earlier I, as I said, classical science basically be begins from that matter is the fundamental reality. This is being challenged more and more, even by some of the scientists, something called a Gallillo Commission, of which actually I'm even a member of that myself. Where the suggestion overall is that the fundamental reality's consciousness, not matter, which is, of course, really very much the underlying idea of all the spiritual traditions. And then the suggestion is that fundamental reality is consciousness And why even if the body is dead?

Sometimes this consciousness can exist. For example, there have been many cases now, so called near death experiences. In which a person may have an accident or you're shot by somebody. And from all medical perspective, he's dead. But still, even after a few minutes or a few hours sometimes, he comes back alive.

And meanwhile, clearly, there was some consciousness because he can even say what the doctor was saying to the nurse during his so called being dead. So clearly, more and more information is being gathered from a scientific point of view. That what we ordinarily call death is the death of the body. It's not the death of this consciousness that is taken on the body. And as I said, a lot of research has been done.

And then and the contemporary most of the data of people who experience near death experiences. They happily seem to come back having experience having met some very remarkable people or having had a different perspective, and it in general changes their life. But this is not hundred percent of the cases. This is I should remind people often that gets more emphasized But there are some cases in which people experience something quite terrible. But it is also true something that strikes me again.

I've been trying to point it out to the scientific medical network people who are part of the Gallilio Commission. That even in the so called near death experience, if you're coming from a Christian background, what you end up experiencing is meeting some Christian sages or even Christ. If you come from a Buddhist background, you end up meeting a Buddhist sage or even possibly the Buddha. So what does that mean? That even at that level, we are deeply conditioned by our cultural religious background. Something that I've been asking them to come in.

So what we really need is to come to some clarity and understanding beyond these cultural manifestations or cultural backgrounds, but that still certainly seems to be the case at present. And then somebody who has been suddenly killed, for example, somebody shot as a soldier or something, tend to be born more or less immediately or reborn, I should say, or reincarnated. And in some cases, this is from the scientific point of view. In some cases, actually much to my own surprise, they even have, for example, if somebody has been shot in the head, the new baby who is born will have a biological mark still at that place, which in a way surprises me that even across death, somehow that kind of mark continues. So many questions are really being raised purely from a scientific point of view. However, I think if you actually read, for example, the chapter on Christianity, in encyclopedia Britannica, is written by a professor at Yale.

He actually says that these days most Christians do not believe in the idea of permanent, permanently, and heaven are permanently in hell. That there is more and more interest in the idea of reincarnation, etcetera. Even in the Christian world, who they're talking about. Even in USA, actually, so called Pew Research Center, there is some kind of a research center. They, according to them, that a lot of people now actually believe very much in the idea of reincarnation. Some of this is coming likely from the philosophical society interests.

And also in a global culture, people can be aware of what the other cultures say or, and the notion of permanently being in hell obviously hardly appeals to anybody. And if they look at themselves impartially, they can't believe that they will be permanently in heaven. Depending on what they have been doing, although they may wish to serve. So then they can give more money into the churches, etcetera. And so as they get more blessed to be permanently in heaven. So my own impression is whether whatever cultural background one comes from, that the idea of reincarnation needs to be taken seriously enough at least according to some of the scientific evidence or data that has been gathered.

And certainly traditionally in the whole of the Indian tradition very strongly emphasized, very, very strongly.