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लब्ध्वा निमित्तमव्यक्तं व्यक्ताव्यक्तं भवत्युत ।
यथायोनि यथाबीजं स्वभावेन बलीयसा ॥ ५४ ॥
एष प्रकृतिसङ्गेन पुरुषस्य विपर्यय: ।
आसीत्स एव नचिरादीशसङ्गाद्विलीयते ॥ ५५ ॥
आसीत्स एव नचिरादीशसङ्गाद्विलीयते ॥ ५५ ॥
The process of changing one’s nature at the critical moment of death is explained here. It is a very scientific process and in one line only we can understand the whole thing.
Our state of mind at the time of death determines the state we will attain after death.
So we can understand from this that we ( souls ) are eternal. Even though our bodies will get old and die, we, the spirit souls within the bodies, do not die.
Death? – Its simply the soul leaving one body and going somewhere else.
यं यं वापि स्मरन्भावं त्यजत्यन्ते कलेवरम् ।
तं तमेवैति कौन्तेय सदा तद्भावभावित: ॥ ६ ॥
तं तमेवैति कौन्तेय सदा तद्भावभावित: ॥ ६ ॥
And this verse very clearly and scientifically states what determines our destination after leaving this body. AND – That is our state of mind.
There are many examples. If one ( human being ) 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 hearts content.
what is reincarnation / Rebirth ?
“ Reincarnation is called samsara in the classic Vedic texts of India.
The word samsara is Sanskrit and means being bound to the cycle of repeated birth and death through numerous lifetimes.
How this works is that those who are materially conditioned ( The living entity who falsely identifies with his body as himself ) transmigrate through different bodies according to one’s desires and past activities (or karma) and familiarities. Their desires, if materially motivated, requires a physical body to enable them to continue to work out their material longings in various conditions of life
thoughts in the mind of a person
As it is further explained, the living entity in the material world carries the different levels of consciousness from one body to another IN THE SAME WAY, 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.
Of course, the next life may be in another physical body or in a subtle body in between births, or even in heavenly or hellish states of being
MENTAL THOUGHTS AT THE TIME OF A DEATH
After death, one continues the SAME consciousness that was cultivated during his previous life.
It is our thought patterns that build the consciousness, which then directs us toward the required experience after death.
One’s state of consciousness or conception of life exists in the subtle body ( सूक्ष्म शरीर ), which consists of mind, intelligence and false ego.
The soul is covered by this subtle body, which exists within our gross material body.
When the physical vehicle ( gross body ) can no longer function, the subtle body and soul are forced out of it.
Then, when the time is right, they are placed in another physical body which properly accommodates the state of mind of the living entity.
This is how the mental state which attracts the dying man determines how he begins his next life.
If the dying man is absorbed in thoughts of material gain or sensual pleasures of wife, family, relatives, home, etc., then he must, at some point, get another material body to continue pursuing his worldly interests.
After all, how can one satisfy his material desires without a material body? Also the karma of that person plays a major role for his next birth if that should be as a human being or as an animal.
For this reason, it is best that a person always cultivate pious activities and spiritual thoughts to help him or her enter a better life after death.
If a person has tried to cut the knots of attachment to materialistic life, and engaged in spiritual activities, to the degree of advancement the person has made, he or she can go to a heavenly realm after death, or even reach the kingdom of God.
In any case, we can begin to understand that dying in the right consciousness in order to become free from the cycle of birth and death is an art that takes practice.
We have to prepare for the moment of death so that we are not caught off guard or in an unsuitable state of mind. This is one of the purposes of yoga, Bhakti Yoga.
what are the 84 lakh yonis ( 8.4 millions species of life ) ?
According to the Vedas & Puranas, there are 8.4 million species of life and the conditioned soul is continuously passing through the different species of life according to his karma, under divine supervision.
The Bhagavad Gita (2.22) says,
वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय
नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि ।
तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णा-
न्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही ॥ २२ ॥
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.
Thus there are 8.4 million (84 lakh) types of different bodies, out of which the soul accepts a particular type of body in different lifetimes.
Bifurcation Of The 8.4 million species of the life? –
There are 8,400,000 ‘species’ of life within six main divisions, as follows:
- Humans (including demigods) – 400,000 species
- Beasts – 3,000,000 species
- Birds – 1,000,000 species
- Insects – 1,100,000 species
- Aquatics – 900,000 species
- Plants – 2,000,000 species
Although each soul has his it’s unique destiny, already determined at birth, human beings have some (limited) freedom of choice to determine their future. In other words, destiny and human agency (free will) exist simultaneously.
“Man is the architect of his own fortune”. ( i.e., if he wants to achieve the liberation in this life itself or has to keep on wandering in the different kinds of bodies )
one of the evidence from the thousands, of REBIRTH
Indian forensic scientist Vikram Raj Singh Chauhan has presented his findings at the National Conference of Forensic Scientists in India.
Chauhan has discovered a six-year-old boy named Taranjijt Singh who says he remembers his previous life. According to his this life’s parents, he’s been talking about this since he was two years old and used to run away from home.
- The boy knew the village he lived in during his former life.
- As well as his and his father’s names.
- He knew the name of the school he attended as well.
- On September 10, 1992, he was riding his bike home when he was hit by a motor scooter. He received head injuries and died the next day.
His present father, Ranjit Singh, says as the boy became more and more insistent, so he and his wife went to the village where he claimed to have lived in the past.
At first, they couldn’t find anyone who resembled the descriptions of his former parents.
Then someone told him to go to another nearby village, where they met a teacher at the local school who confirmed the story of the motor scooter accident. They found out where the boy had lived and went there to meet the parents.
When they told the family their story, Ranjit Singh mentioned that his son claimed the books he was carrying when the accident occurred had gotten blood on them.
He also described how much money he had in his wallet. When the woman heard this, she began to cry and said she had saved the blood-stain books and the money in memory of her dead child.
Taranjit Singh’s parents and siblings from his former life soon came to his new home to meet him. The boy recognized a wedding picture his former parents brought with him.
Vikram Chauhan ( the scientist ) eventually became curious and decided to investigate further. He visited both villages and found the boy and both sets of parents repeated the same story.
He spoke to a shopkeeper who told him that the boy had owed him the money that was in his wallet when he was hit, and was probably bringing it to him to pay for a notebook he’d gotten on credit.
Vikram Chauhan took samples of both boys’ handwriting and compared them. He found they were identical. It’s a basic tenet of forensic science that no two handwriting styles can be identical, because each person’s handwriting has specific characteristics.
Experts can usually spot even expertly forged handwriting. A person’s handwriting style is dictated by individual personality traits.
Chauhan’s theory is that if the soul is transferred from one person to another, then the mind – and thus the handwriting – will remain the same.
A number of other forensic experts examined the handwriting samples and agreed they were identical.
Chauhan says, “In his present birth, Taranjit has never gone to school as he belongs to a poor family, but yet when I told him to write the English and Punjabi alphabet, he wrote them correctly.” ( because of his past life memory & samskaras )
The above is just one of thousands of cases on rebirth.
progression to the human body
As discussed in the previous topic, the vast cosmic wheel of birth and death rolls through 8,400,000species of life:
900,000 different species of aquatics, 2,000,000 different species of plants, 1,100,000 different species of insects, 1,000,000 different species of birds, 3,000,000 different species of quadrupeds, and 400,000 different species of humans.
If you start at the lowest level of the species, you first have to pass through the very simplest, one-celled organisms ( which may barely be seen through the telescope ) before reaching those species with the sense perception.
Finally, you evolve through all the mammals up to the human being stage.
Lord Krishna explains,
श्रोत्रं चक्षु: स्पर्शनं च रसनं घ्राणमेव च ।
अधिष्ठाय मनश्चायं विषयानुपसेवते ॥ ९ ॥
“After 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 about the mind. He thus enjoys a particular set of sense objects.”
( Bhagavad Gita – 15.9 )
Therefore the type of body we have now is an expression of our consciousness at the time of our last death.
The path of karma doesn’t always lead uphill. What does that mean? – It means, once having reached the human life’s stage, we can fall back down into lower forms of life ( animals, aquatic, etc. ) if we misuse the facilities of the human body.
The human body’s form is special because only human beings have sufficient intelligence to inquire into the means for getting out of the cycle of birth and death.
Only in the human form can we stop identifying ourselves with the bodies we are passing through and learn to see our spiritual identity within.
Once we realize our eternal, indestructible spiritual nature, – AS A SOUL, we become eligible to be free from the vicious cycle of birth and death and achieve the liberation through Bhakti Yoga.
We are not the body but individual spirit souls occupying our respective bodies. I am occupying my body and you are occupying your body, just as you are residing in your house and I am residing in my house.
This does not mean that I am the house. I am different than my house. Similarly I am not the body but I am the spirit soul, who is residing within the body.
When the body becomes old, I (the spirit soul) have to leave the body just as I have to leave my house, when it is destroyed, to occupy a new one.
The new house that I will occupy will depend on the bank balance that I possess – if I have huge amount of money I can buy a palace or I may have to contend with a lowly hut if I have a meager sum.
Similarly, the body that we will get after giving up the present body will depend upon our stock of past karma (activities).
If we have a stock of sinful activities we will have to assume an animal’s body or even lower forms whereas if we have a stock of pious activity we may get a human or a super-human body.
When the house is destroyed, it does not mean its residents are also dead; they leave the old house and occupy a new house.
Similarly, when the body is dead (destroyed), the soul is not destroyed. It leaves the dead body and occupies a new body. The spirit soul is eternal and immortal, i.e. it neither dies nor takes birth ( न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे: Bhagavad Gita – 2.20 )
The Photograph Experiment
- Take a photograph of your childhood and place it in front of you.
- What do you observe? Do you still look the same physically? Certainly not, there has been a considerable change in the height, weight, and the overall physique. Isn’t it?
- The next question is, “Despite the change in appearance, has the individual in the photo and yourself change?” You might have grown in age but the soul inside is still the same individual. Isn’t it?
- This means that however, the body changed but you as an individual did not change.
One can at once realize that the unchangeable identity that did not change – HAS to be the real identity and not the temporary changeable body.
Just as the soul travels,
- from the body of the child to the body of a teenager,
- then to the body of an adult, and
- then to the body of an old person,
- at death when this current body diminishes,
- the eternal soul moves on to another body as per the laws of material nature.
life in the womb of a mother
Life in the womb is among the most painful and miserable of human experiences.
Most perfect scientific explanation from the essence of the Vedas called Srimad Bhagavatam:
श्रीभगवानुवाच
कर्मणा दैवनेत्रेण जन्तुर्देहोपपत्तये ।
स्त्रिया: प्रविष्ट उदरं पुंसो रेत:कणाश्रय: ॥ १ ॥
कललं त्वेकरात्रेण पञ्चरात्रेण बुद्बुदम् ।
दशाहेन तु कर्कन्धू: पेश्यण्डं वा तत: परम् ॥ २ ॥
मासेन तु शिरो द्वाभ्यां बाह्वङ्घ्र्याद्यङ्गविग्रह: ।
नखलोमास्थिचर्माणि लिङ्गच्छिद्रोद्भवस्त्रिभि: ॥ ३ ॥
चतुर्भिर्धातव: सप्त पञ्चभि: क्षुत्तृडुद्भव: ।
षड्भिर्जरायुणा वीत: कुक्षौ भ्राम्यति दक्षिणे ॥ ४ ॥
( Srimad Bhavatam – 3.31.1,2,3,4 )
Translation:
Under the supervision of the Supreme Lord (Sri Krishna) and according to the results of his work,
- The living entity, the soul, is made to enter the womb of a woman through the particle of a man’s semina to assume a particular kind of body.
- On the 1st night, the semina and ovum mix, and
- In the 5th night the mixture ferments into a bubble.
- On the 10th night it develops into a form like a plum, and after that it gradually turns into a lump of flesh.
- In the course of 1 month, a head is formed, and
- At the end of 2 months, hands, feet and other limbs take shape.
- By the end of 3 months, the nails, fingers, toes, body hair, bones and skin appear, as do the organ of generation and the other apertures in the body, namely, the eyes, nostrils, ears, mouth and anus.
- Within 4 months from the date of conception, the 7 essential ingredients of the body (lymph, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow and semina) come into existence.
- At the end of 5 months, hunger and thirst make themselves felt, and
- At the end of 6 months the fetus begins to move in the abdomen on the right side if the child is a male and on the left side if female.”
feeling inside the womb of a mother
मातुर्जग्धान्नपानाद्यैरेधद्धातुरसम्मते ।
शेते विण्मूत्रयोर्गर्ते स जन्तुर्जन्तुसम्भवे ॥ ५ ॥
कृमिभि: क्षतसर्वाङ्ग: सौकुमार्यात्प्रतिक्षणम् ।
मूर्च्छामाप्नोत्युरुक्लेशस्तत्रत्यै: क्षुधितैर्मुहु: ॥ ६ ॥
कटुतीक्ष्णोष्णलवणरूक्षाम्लादिभिरुल्बणै: ।
मातृभुक्तैरुपस्पृष्ट: सर्वाङ्गोत्थितवेदन: ॥ ७ ॥
उल्बेन संवृतस्तस्मिन्नन्त्रैश्च बहिरावृत: ।
आस्ते कृत्वा शिर: कुक्षौ भुग्नपृष्ठशिरोधर: ॥ ८ ॥
अकल्प: स्वाङ्गचेष्टायां शकुन्त इव पञ्जरे ।
तत्र लब्धस्मृतिर्दैवात्कर्म जन्मशतोद्भ.वम् ।
स्मरन्दीर्घमनुच्छ्वासं शर्म किं नाम विन्दते ॥ ९ ॥
आरभ्य सप्तमान्मासाल्लब्धबोधोऽपि वेपित: ।
नैकत्रास्ते सूतिवातैर्विष्ठाभूरिव सोदर: ॥ १० ॥
( Srimad Bhavatam – 3.31.5,6,8,9,10 )
Translation:
- Deriving its nutrition from the food and drink taken by the mother, the fetus ( inside the womb ) grows and remains in that abominable residence of stools and urine, which is the breeding place of all kinds of worms.
- Bitten again and again all over the body by the hungry worms in the abdomen itself, the child suffers terrible agony because of his tenderness. He thus becomes unconsciousmoment after moment because of the terrible condition.
- Owing to the mother’s eating – bitter, pungent foodstuffs, or food which is too salty or too sour, the body of the child incessantly suffers pains which are almost intolerable.
- Placed within the amnion and covered outside by the intestines, the child remains lying on one side of the abdomen, his head turned towards his belly and his back and neck arched like a bow.
- The child thus remains just like a bird in a cage, without freedom of movement. At that time, if the child is fortunate, he can remember all the troubles of his past one hundred births, and he grieves wretchedly. What is the possibility of peace of mind in that condition?
- Thus endowed with the development of consciousness from the 7th month after his conception, the child is tossed downward by the airs that press the embryo during the weeks preceding ( before ) delivery. Like the worms born of the same filthy abdominal cavity, he cannot remain in one place.
WE ALL HAVE BEEN THROUGH THE WOMB OF THE MOTHER FOR THE DURATION OF 9 TO 10 MONTHS. THIS PROCESS GOES ON BIRTHS AFTER BIRTHS UNTIL WE ACHEIVE THE LIBERATION FROM THE CYCLE OF BIRTH & DEATH.
how to get saved from the process of REBIRTH / cycle of the birth & death ?
A great scientist may make discoveries in atomic energy for the quick destruction of the world, but he has to undergo the reactions of his work by rotating in the cycle of repeated births and deaths under the superhuman law of material nature.
The Bhagavad Gita explains that even the worst sinner can cross the ocean of birth and death by ascending the boat of transcendental knowledge.
We simply have to be sincere in reaching that boat.
Thus the only way to escape from the chained victimization 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 ( भौतिक इच्छाएं ).
It’s not necessary, or even possible, to stop desiring altogether; rather, it is the quality of our desires that must change – FROM material to spiritual.
Material desires we’re familiar with—we’ve been cultivating them all our lives. But what 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: ॥ ३४ ॥
He explains,
“Engage your mind always in thinking of Me and become My devotee. Offer obeisances and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.” ( Bhagavad Gita – 9.34 )
At present we are always absorbed in thoughts of our material well-being. As we have seen, however, this mentality inevitably leads to the misery and frustration of repeated birth and death.
To be released from this painful wheel of karma, we need only transfer our thoughts to the Supreme Lord, Krishna. Then, at the time of death, He will award us a spiritual body to enjoy eternal, blissful association with Him.
A person is encouraged to repent for his / her own sins that he / she made while under the influence of lust, anger or greed, AND should cultivate forgiveness, purity and generosity. We should also engage in,
- Penance,
- Meditation on Sri Krishna,
- Japa (personal chanting of the Lord’s holy names regularly),
- Listening / Singing the Kirtan (congregational singing of the Lord’s holy names and other spiritual practices, which destroy all sins and removes all doubts about spiritual knowledge.
Then through steady practice one can gradually reach the spiritual world and be free from any further entanglement in rebirth.
The easiest way to absorb our mind in thoughts of Sri Krishna is to hear and chant His glories, beginning with the maha-mantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, or any Naama ( name ) of Lord Sri Hari.
In addition, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has written many books, translated them from the sanskrit to the various languages from the Vedas, Upanishads & the Puranas, describing the activities, qualities and words of Lord Krishna.
By sincerely trying to follow the instructions found in these books, all of which contain the highest Vedic wisdom, one can cultivate loving devotion to Sri Krishna and go back home, Back to Godhead ( abode of God ) at the end of this lifetime
AUDIO EXPLANATIONS
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On What Basis Do We Get The Next Birth ? ( Hindi )
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Mystery Of Rebirth After The Death ? ( Hindi )
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How This Ocean Of Birth & Death Will Be Crossed ? ( Hindi )