Reincarnation is the transmigration of soul from one body to another. At the time of death, we (The Soul) leave one body and enter a new one. That is called reincarnation.
We can observe that we change from one body to another throughout our lifetime. Our body at birth is completely different from our adult body. Yet throughout these changes, the conscious self remains the same. Similarly, the conscious self remains the same at death and transfers from one body to the next in the cycle of reincarnation.
Our present body is the result of a long series of actions and reactions in previous lives. The law that governs this is known as karma: every action has a reaction. Our previous actions and consciousness have produced our present body, and our current actions and consciousness will determine our next body.
Bhagavad Gita (2.22) compares this to change of clothes.
वासमसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय नवानि गृह्नाति नरोऽपरानि I
तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णनी अन्यानि संयति नवानि देहि II
“As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.”
Laws of Reincarnation
- According to the laws of reincarnation, all living entities must remain for a specific length of time in a particular body before being promoted to a higher form. When an animal is killed before its time, the soul must return to that same species to complete its engagement in that type of body. Therefore, the Vedas instruct that one should always avoid whimsically killing other living beings.
- The Vedas tell us that the soul is responsible for his lives in the material world, where he is trapped in the cycle of reincarnation, material body after material body. If he likes, he can remain suffering in the prison house of material existence, or he can return to his original home in the spiritual world.
- The souls who have materialistic desires transmigrate from one body to another so that they can continue to work out their material longings in various life forms. After all, how can one satisfy his material desires without a material body? On the other hand, a self-realized soul who enters the eternal, spiritual world would certainly not have an obligation, nor desire to reappear in this temporary material world of birth, death, disease, and old age.
What kind of body will you get in next life?
Lord Krishna Explains
यं यं वापि स्मरन्भावं त्यजत्यन्ते कलेवरम् ।
तं तमेवैति कौन्तेय सदा तद्भावभावित: ॥8.6॥
“Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body that state he will attain without fail.” (Bhagvad Gita 8.6)
A person gets his next birth according to what he thinks of at the time of death. If someone is too attached to his wife, naturally he thinks of his wife at the time of death, and in the next life he takes the body of a woman. Similarly, if a woman thinks of her husband at the time of death, naturally she gets the body of a man in her next life. (Srimad Bhagavatam 3.31.41)
At the moment of death we are not able to control our minds. We naturally think about things we are most attached to. For example, if a person is very much attached to swimming and surfing in the ocean then the human form of body is not very good for that. If at the time of death one is dreaming about swimming and surfing in the ocean then Sri Krishna may mercifully award him the benediction of getting the body of a fish in his next life. In that way he can swim in the ocean to his heart’s content.
In this way, the living entity creates his own body by his personal desires, and the external energy of Lord supplies him with exact form by which he can enjoy his desires to the fullest extent.
If you think that whole life you will be absorbed in materialistic things and at the moment of death you will think about god then that is not possible as you will not be able to control your mind at the time of death. Therefore Vedas suggests us to develop our spiritual consciousness from early life so that we can think about God at the moment of death and can reach in the spiritual world or at least enter a better life.
How to Break the Cycle of Reincarnation?
The only way to break the cycle of repeated birth and death in this material world is to transform our mentality in such a way that at the moment of death we’ll be completely free of all material desires.
Dying in the right consciousness is an art that takes practice. We have to prepare for the moment of death so that we are not surprised or in an unsuitable state of mind when it happens.
For this Lord Krishna explains in Bhagavad Gita (4.9)
“One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, takes birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.”
The Bhagavad Gita further explains that even the most sinful person can cross the ocean of birth and death by boarding the boat of transcendental knowledge.
We simply have to be genuinely committed to reach the boat.
It is not realistic to put an end to all desires altogether. Instead our focus should shift from material to spiritual desires.
We know Material desires well since we have been nurturing them throughout our lives. However, what exactly are spiritual desires, and how can we cultivate them? Sri Krishna explains in the Bhagavad Gita:
मन्मना भव मद्भक्तो मद्याजी मां नमस्कुरु ।
मामेवैष्यसि युक्त्वैवमात्मानं मत्परायण: ॥9.34॥
“Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, Offer obeisance to Me and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.” (Bhagavad Gita – 9.34)
“Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer and give away, and whatever austerities you perform- do that as an offering unto Me. In this way you will be freed from bondage to work and its auspicious and inauspicious results. With your mind fixed on Me in this principle of renunciation, you will be liberated and come to Me.” (Bhagavad Gita – 9.27-28)
In this passage, Lord Krishna instructs Arjun to perform all actions as an offering to him because when we work for Krishna there is no karmic reaction generated by that work and if we eat food that have prepared with love and devotion and offered to Krishna that food becomes sanctified and spiritually charged therefore does not generate any karmic reaction. Such activities clear the mirror of the mind and the person gradually makes progress in spiritual realization.
Other than above mentioned practices we can also engage our mind in devotion through the following practices:
- Penance
- Japa (Chanting the Lord’s holy names regularly)
- Meditation on Lord’s Form
- Reading & Listening to Lord’s Glories & Lord’s Teachings
Then through steady practice one can gradually reach the spiritual world for our eternal life of knowledge and bliss.
Evidence suggesting the Reality of Reincarnation
Shanti Devi Evidence
Shanti Devi is one of the best cases of children’s past life memories to ever be recorded. The case was investigated by a committee of prominent citizens appointed by Indian political leader Mahatma Gandhi, who accompanied Shanti Devi to the village of her past-life and recorded what they witnessed. Subsequently, several other researchers interviewed her, and published articles and books about her. Shanti Devi’s story is perhaps the most famous reincarnation case on record.
On January 18, 1902, Chaturbhuj, a resident of Mathura, was blessed with a daughter, who was named Lugdi. When Lugdi reached the age of 10, she was married to Kedarnath Chaube, a shopkeeper of the same locality. It was the second marriage for Kedarnath, as his earlier wife had died. Kedarnath Chaube owned a cloth shop in Mathura and also a branch shop at Hardwar. Lugdi was very religious and had been to several pilgrimage places at a very young age. While on one pilgrimage, she was injured in her leg for which she had to be treated, both at Mathura and later at Agra.
When Lugdi became pregnant for the first time, her child was stillborn following a Cesarean section. For her second pregnancy, the worried husband took her to the government hospital at Agra, where a son was born, again through a Cesarean on September 25, 1925. Nine days later, however, on October 4, Lugdi’s condition deteriorated and she died.
One year ten months and seven days after Lugdi’s death, on December 11, 1926, Babu Rang Bahadur Mathur of Chirawala Mohulla, a small locality of Delhi, was blessed with a daughter, whom they named Shanti Devi. She was just like any other girl except that until the age of four she did not speak much. But when she started talking, she was a different girl-she talked about her “husband” and her “children.”
She said that her husband was in Mathura where he owned a cloth shop and they had a son. She called herself Chaubine (Chaube’s wife). The parents considered it a child’s fantasy and took no notice. They got worried, however, when she talked repeatedly about it and, over time, narrated a number of incidents connected with her life in Mathura with her husband. On occasions at meals, she would say, “In my house in Mathura, I ate different kinds of sweets.” Sometimes when her mother was dressing her, she would tell what type of dresses she used to wear. She mentioned three distinctive features about her husband: he was fair, had a big wart on his left cheek, and wore reading glasses. She also mentioned that her husband’s shop was located in front of Dwarkadhish temple.
By this time Shanti Devi was six years old, and her parents were perplexed and worried by such statements. The girl even gave a detailed account of her death following childbirth. They consulted their family physician, who was amazed how a little girl narrated so many details of the complicated surgical procedures. The mystery, thus, continued to deepen. The parents started thinking that these memories might have been of a past life.
Shanti Devi as an adult
As the girl grew older, she persisted in asking her parents to be taken to Mathura. She, however, never mentioned her husband’s name up to the age of eight or nine. It is customary in India that wives do not utter the name of their husbands. Even when specifically asked, she would blush and say that she would recognize him, if taken there, but would not say his name. One day a distant relation, Babu Bishanchand, a teacher in Ramjas High School Daryaganj in Delhi, told Shanti Devi that if she told him her husband’s name, he would take her to Mathura. Lured by this offer, she whispered into his ear the name Pandit Kedarnath Chaube. Bishanchand then told her that he would arrange for the trip to Mathura after due inquiries. He wrote a letter to Pandit Kedarnath Chaube, detailing all the statements made by Shanti Devi, and asked him to visit Delhi. Kedarnath replied confirming most of her statements and suggested that one of his relatives, Pandit Kanjimal, who lived in Delhi, be allowed to meet this girl.
A meeting with Kanjimal was arranged, during which Shanti Devi recognized him as her husband’s cousin. She gave some details about her house in Mathura and informed him of the location where she had buried some money. When asked whether she could go by herself from the railway station to her house in Mathura, she replied in the affirmative, if they would take her there.
Kanjimal was so impressed that he went to Mathura to persuade Kedarnath to visit Delhi. Kedarnath came to Delhi on November 12, 1935, with Lugdi’s son Navneet Lal and his present wife. They went to Rang Bahadur’s house the next day. To mislead Shanti Devi, Kanjimal introduced Kedarnath as the latter’s elder brother. Shanti Devi blushed and stood on one side. Someone asked why she was blushing in front of her husband’s elder brother. Shanti said in a low firm voice, “No, he is not my husband’s brother. He is my husband himself.” Then she addressed her mother, “Didn’t I tell you that he is fair and he has a wart on the left side cheek near his ear?”
She then asked her mother to prepare meals for the guests. When the mother asked what should she prepare, she said that he was fond of stuffed potato parathas and pumpkin squash. Kedarnath was dumbfounded as these were his favorite dishes. Then Kedarnath asked whether she could tell them anything unusual to establish full faith in her. Shanti replied, “Yes, there is a well in the courtyard of our house, where I used to take my bath.”
Shanti was emotionally overwhelmed on seeing Navneet, the son in her previous life. Tears welled in her eyes when she hugged him. She asked her mother to bring all her toys and give them to Navneet. But she was too excited to wait for her mother to act and ran to bring them. Kedarnath asked her how she had recognized Navneet as her son, when she had seen him only once as an infant before she died. Shanti explained that her son was a part of her soul and the soul is able to easily recognize this fact.
After dinner, Shanti asked Kedarnath, “Why did you marry her?” referring to his present wife. “Had we not decided that you will not remarry?” Kedarnath had no reply.
During his stay at Delhi, Kedarnath found Shanti Devi’s behavior similar to that of Lugdi in many ways. Before retiring for the night, he asked to be allowed to talk with her alone and later said that he was fully convinced that Shanti Devi was his wife Lugdi Bai because there were many things she had mentioned which no one except Lugdi could have known.
Shanti Devi became upset before Kedarnath’s return to Mathura on November 15. She begged to be allowed to go to Mathura with him but her parents refused.
Her story spread all over the country through the media and many intellectuals got interested in it. When Mahatma Gandhi heard about it, he called Shanti Devi and talked to her. Gandhi then appointed a committee of 15 prominent people, including parliamentarians, national leaders, and members from the media, to study the case. The committee persuaded her parents to allow her to accompany them to Mathura. They left by rail with Shanti Devi on November 24, 1935. The committee’s report describes some of what happened:
“As the train approached Mathura, she became flushed with joy and remarked that by the time they reach Mathura the doors of the temple of Dwarkadhish would be closed. Her exact language was, ‘Mandir ke pat band ho jayenge,’ so typically used in Mathura.
The committee members took her in a tonga, instructing the driver to follow her directions. On the way she described the changes that had taken place since her time, which were all correct. She recognized some of the important landmarks which she had mentioned earlier without having been there.
As they neared the house, she got down from the tonga and noticed an elderly person in the crowd. She immediately bowed to him and told others that he was her father-in-law, and truly it was so. When she reached the front of her house, she went in without any hesitation and was able to locate her bedroom. She also recognized many items of hers. She was tested by being asked where the “jajroo” (lavatory) was, and she told where it was. She was asked what was meant by “katora.” She correctly said that it meant paratha (a type of fried pancake). Both words are prevalent only in the Chaubes of Mathura and no outsider would normally know of them.
Shanti then asked to be taken to her other house where she had lived with Kedarnath for several years. She guided the driver there without any difficulty. One of the committee members, Pandit Neki Ram Sharma, asked her about the well of which she had talked in Delhi. She ran in one direction; but, not finding a well there, she was confused. Even then she said with some conviction that there was a well there. Kedarnath removed a stone at that spot and, sure enough, they found a well. As for the buried money, Shanti Devi took the party to the second floor and showed them a spot where they found a flower pot but no money. The girl, however, insisted that the money was there. Kedarnath later confessed that he had taken out the money after Lugdi’s death.
She was then taken to her parents’ home where she recognized her parents. The mother and daughter wept openly at their meeting. It was a scene which moved everybody there.
Shanti Devi was then taken to Dwarkadhish temple and to other places she had talked of earlier and almost all her statements were verified to be correct.
The publication of the committee’s report attracted worldwide attention. Many learned personalities, including saints, parapsychologists, and philosophers came to study the case.
Shanti’s emotional reactions on meeting relatives from her previous life were very significant. The manner in which she burst into tears on meeting the parents of her past life moved everyone present there. The committee mentioned in their report that it was a blessing that the past lives are forgotten. They felt that by bringing Shanti Devi to Mathura they had taken a big responsibility, and they had to forcibly separate her from the parents she had in the previous life.
Shanti Devi case is just one of thousands of cases on reincarnation which strongly suggest the reality of Reincarnation.
Reincarnation FAQs
1.Does reincarnation have a scientific foundation?
Biologists say our body’s cells undergo constant turnover, with old cells dying and being replaced by new ones. Every seven years, we experience a complete renewal of our cell population, which means we change our body every seven years. However, this process occurs gradually and is not readily noticeable. Thus, throughout our lives, we inhabit multiple distinct bodies. For instance, the body of an adult is completely different from the body they had as an infant. Despite these physical changes, the person within remain the same. In other words, we reincarnate even within a single lifetime. Similarly, at the moment of death, when the body ceases to function, the self undergoes a final change of body and that is called death. Therefore Lord Krishna says:
“As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth, and then to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death” (Bhagavad Git 2.13)
“As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones” (Bhagavad Gita 2.22)
Additionally, scientists studying “near-death” experiences claim they’ve discovered evidence indicating that consciousness may persist even after the brain stops working.
2.Why don’t we remember our past lives?
Our memories of past lives are not removed from our subtle mind (subconscious). They are simply not present in the gross mind (conscious mind). We inhabit two bodies: the subtle material body comprising the mind, intelligence, and false ego, and the gross material body perceived by our senses. Some indications of past life memories are Inclination & Phobias. For example, someone may have an irrational fear of something seemingly harmless like water or heights, while others are unaffected.
However, it’s ultimately the grace of God that these memories don’t dominate our conscious mind because even in this very life we get over traumas only by forgetting them with the passage of time, what to speak of all the traumas we have faced in our previous lives. Nature, in its wisdom, ensures that these memories are erased from our conscious mind to prevent psychological distress and dysfunction.
3.Do humans reincarnate as animals?
Yes, after reaching the human stage, we can fall down into lower forms of life (animals, aquatic, etc.) if we misuse the facilities of the human body. Vedic literature explains that a human birth is very rare. In other words, most living beings in the material world have assumed nonhuman forms. This happens when the soul, giving up the purpose of human life, namely self-realization, becomes entangled in animalistic desires. It must then take its next birth in the animal or lower-than-animal kingdoms.
In this regard Lord Krishna says:
“When one dies in the mode of goodness, he attains to the pure higher planets. When one dies in the mode of passion, he takes birth among those engaged in fruitive activities; and when he dies in the mode of ignorance, he takes birth in the animal kingdom” (Bhagavad Gita 14.14-15)
4.How can I determine if someone has reincarnated or gone to spiritual world after death?
There are two ways of passing from this world–one in light and one in darkness. When one passes in light, he does not come back; but when one passes in darkness, he returns. Those who pass away from the world during the influence of the fiery god, in the light, at an auspicious moment, during the fortnight of the waxing moon, or during the six months when the sun travels in the north, don’t come back. But who passes away from this world during the smoke, the night, the fortnight of the waning moon, or the six months when the sun passes to the south, again comes back. (Bhagavad Gita 8.24-26)
5.What is the issue if we keep reincarnating forever?
The aim of understanding reincarnation is to break free from the painful cycle of birth and death, and reach the spiritual world for our eternal life of knowledge and bliss. The miserable condition of material existence is not only felt when we come out of the womb of the mother, but is also present within the womb. There is popular myth that Death & Rebirth are painless transitions. Most chic reincarnation theorists would have us believe that after a brief period of cosmic slumber, we will experience a warm, drifting, floating sensation as the soul slowly proceeds toward its next human body. Then, we are told, we enter a cozy human womb where we are protected from cruel outside elements etc.
All of this sounds wonderful, but the harsh truth is that birth and death are extremely painful experiences.
The great sage Kapila Muni informs his mother about the true nature of the death experience: “In that diseased condition, one’s eyes bulge due to the pressure of air from within, and his glands become congested with mucus. He has difficulty breathing, and there is a rattling sound within the throat. He dies most pathetically, in great pain and without consciousness.” (Srimad Bhagavatam- 3.30.16-18)
The soul is so habituated to live in the body that it must be forced out by the laws of nature at the moment of death. Just as no one likes to be forcibly evicted from his home, the soul naturally resists eviction from the material body. Even the tiniest insects will display the most amazing abilities and techniques for avoiding death when their lives are threatened. But as death is inevitable for all living beings, so are the fear and pain associated with it.
Vedic literature informs us that only self-realized and liberated souls have the power to experience death without anxiety. This is possible because such highly elevated personalities are completely detached from their temporary bodies, fixed in the knowledge that they are spirit souls with an eternal, nonmaterial existence, independent of all material bodies. Such great souls remain in a state of continuous spiritual bliss and are not bewildered by bodily pains and changes at the time of death.
Also, taking birth in the material world is no picnic either. For months the human fetus lies cramped within the darkness of the womb, suffering severely, scorched by the mother’s gastric fire, continually jolted by sudden movements, and feeling constant pressure from being contained in the small amnion, or sack, which surrounds the body in the womb. This tight, constricting pocket forces the child’s back to arch constantly like a bow. Further, the unborn child is tormented by hunger and thirst and is bitten again and again all over the body by hungry worms in the abdominal cavity, and what makes the situation even worse, when the child is killed within the womb. Taking the life of an unborn child is considered the same as taking any life, and there are grave karmic repercussions.
Unfortunately, we forget all these experiences and do not take the miseries of birth very seriously. One has to transmigrate from one body to another, and the transmigration into the bodies of dogs and hogs is especially miserable. But despite such miserable conditions, due to the spell of maya we forget everything and become enamored by the present so-called happiness, which is described as actually no more than a counteraction to distress.
6.What do we carry from our previous lives into a new life?
The living entity in the material world carries the different levels of consciousness from one body to another like the air carries aromas. In other words, we cannot see the aromas that the air carries, yet it can be perceived by the sense of smell. In a similar way, we cannot see the types of consciousness that the living being has developed, but it is carried from this body at the time of death and proceeds to another body in the next life to take up where it left off from the preceding existence. After death, one continues the same consciousness that was cultivated during his previous life. This is how the mental state which attracts the dying man determines how he begins his next life.