The ancient Vedic people belived in an afterlife and spiritworld. The Vedic recycling is beautifully explained in Rigveda - once dead, one’s “life” is indeed transferred to new system, in earth, sky or waters. (RV 10.16.3) But is that “reincarnation”? No, it is a mere recycling of the constituents of the body, that become the life-promoting cells in another part in this earth.
Rebirth is conditioned and driven by the doctrine of Karma. Several verses of the Rig Veda speak of rebirth (punarjanam),
पुनर्नः सोमस्तन्वं ददातु पुनः पूषापथ्यां या सवस्तिः ||
शं रोदसी सुबन्धवे यह्वी रतस्य मातरा | (Rigveda 10.59.7)
Once again give me this earth, once again the sky and universe, once again this land blessed by the moon, once again this land of plenty.
In the cremated place of the dead person, the plants kiyambu, pakadurva and the vyalkaśa are asked to grow, and in the chill environment, Nachiketa asked to live again. (RV 10.16.14) There is no reason for us to believe that this birth has anything got to do with karma, or karmic recycling of “soul”.
The life once lost, is lost forever to “Time”. (Yama) There, these “souls” continue to inspire and instigate the humans of later generation.
My dear King Yudhiṣṭhira, when oblations of ghee and food grains like barley and sesame are offered in sacrifice, they turn into celestial smoke, which carries one to successively higher planetary systems like the kingdoms of Dhuma, Ratri, Kṛiṣṇapakṣa, Dakṣiṇam and ultimately the moon.
Then, however, the performers of sacrifice descend again to earth to become herbs, creepers, vegetables and food grains. These are eaten by different living entities and turned to semen, which is injected into female bodies. Thus one takes birth again and again. (Srimat Bhagavata 7.15.50-51)
ते तं भुक्त्वा स्वर्गलोकं विशालं क्षीणे पुण्ये मर्त्यलोकं विशन्ति ।
एवं त्रयीधर्ममनुप्रपन्ना गतागतं कामकामा लभन्ते ॥ Gita 9:21॥
When they have thus enjoyed heavenly sense pleasure, they return to this mortal planet again. Thus, through the Vedic principles, they achieve only flickering happiness. There are other verses in the Bhagavata Gita that talk of rebirth - 2.27, 4.7.
न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचि नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूय: |
अजो नित्य: शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे || (Gita 2:20)
The soul is neither born, nor does it ever die; nor having once existed, does it ever cease to be. The soul existence in the womb, birth, growth, procreation, diminution, and death (अस्ति, जायते, वर्धते, विपरिणामते, अपक्षीयते और विनिश्यति). It is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.
Reincarnation is fact that is corroborated in vedas, many people argue that in the vedas it is very hard to find a clear statement concerning reincarnation, but science of reincarnation is clearly mentioned.
आ त एतु मनः पुनः क्रत्वे दक्षाय जीवसे ।
ज्योक्च सूर्यं दृशे (Rig Veda 10.57.4)
May your spirit return again, to perform pure acts for exercising strength, and to live long to see the sun.
So here in above mantra it is stated that soul moves from one body to another. Reincarnation is also mentioned in the Rig veda 10.58.1-12 and Yajur veda 19.47.
Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.3.7 states: One, however, who has no insight, who has no control over the mind (and is) ever impure, reaches not that goal but returns to samsara (cycle of birth, rebirth).
Chandogya Upanishad which is part of Samaveda talks about rebirth. Samsara is therefore not the invention of some pandits but it's the conditional state in which rebellious souls are put into. To get freed from this pressure of birth, death, diseases and old age one must surrender unto supreme Lord, the only deliverer of material existence.
Rig Veda 10.16 has a prayer to God Agni. The dead person should be sent to the forefathers. Let him take a rebirth and increase his offspring.
Rig Veda 10.59 has a prayer requesting the Gods to give good sight and other organs in next birth. He who is the support of both the unmanifested prakrti and the jiva, who is the Lord of the three gunas and who is the cause of bondage, existence and liberation from samsara, is verily the creator of the universe, the knower, the inmost self of all things and their source, the omniscient Lord, the author of time, the possessor of virtues, the knower of everything. (Shvetasvatara Upaniṣad 6.16)
The earliest reference to the doctrine of rebirth is found in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4:1:3; Just as a worm coming to the end of a blade of grass reaches out and takes hold of another and draws itself forward, in the same manner an embodied jiva withdrawing from this physical body makes the transition to another body.
Atomic matter of the universe is associated with consciousness - consciousness is not an epi-phenomena of the brain - i.e. the brain doesn’t produce consciousness, it is inherent in the universe. The body is constantly changing - the body you have today is not the same body you had last year or when you were born - every cell changes, the whole system is constantly being upgraded and modified. Yet throughout all these changes the flow of consciousness remains - observing and noting the changes.
This witnessing consciousness is the Self with is obviously different to the body. The body is like the hardware and the subconscious mind (soul) is like the software. Amputation of a limb or limbs or physical disability or impairment doesn’t diminish one’s sense of Self. So Conscious Self and body are experienced as different - one limited and the other unlimited. Every baby is born with preconditioning, no one is born with a blank slate for a mind. The baby already has an individual disposition, like, dislikes, abilities, talents etc. Some elements can be ascribed to gene /DNA.
And some of us can even remember our past lives. There are hundreds of remarkable accounts of past lives by credible subjects which tally with known facts. Out of Body Experiences or Near Death Experiences confirm the doctrines of rebirth as taught in the Hindu Scriptures.
Most of our texts, not just the shruti speak of rebirth. These are not applicable to humans alone, but it is a universal principle, just as all other principles of the collection of customs and traditions known as Hinduism, many of the constructs of the revealed knowledge of our sages is still beyond science. But as science and human knowledge progress in time, we will understand these better.
Ancient Hindu scriptures reveal that humans are just 25% matter (prakriti) and 75% subtle energy (purusha). And from the fundamental theory of nature, our subtle energy doesn’t change right through our life.
Take any concept of Hinduism, and they will be eternal principles - varna, triguna, karma, purusha, prakriti - they are applicable to every “living” thing in the universe, as well as the universe itself. In fact the texts describe the universe as an embryo, that will have a fixed life, die and be reborn.
Yajurveda 4.15 has a prayer requesting for a good and healthy life in the next life. It also has a request to preserve us from misfortune and dishonor.
Yajurveda 19.47 mentions that there are two paths for the soul. One path leads to rebirth and other one frees the soul from cycle of birth and death.
Atharvaveda 7.67 has a prayer requesting for a healthy sense, possessions, knowledge, wealth and prosperity in next life.
This knowledge of the living entity's cycle of birth and death is given in the four Vedas, the Upanisads, the puranas and indeed all vedic scriptures. To deny this science is a sign of ignorance that put one on same level with animals.
In the Chhandogya Upanisad (5.10.5-8) there are some verses that describe when one leaves the body. There's a specific path that he takes to go to heaven (Sat-Chit-Ananda). Having dwelt in the moon planet till the exhaustion of their pious results. They return again by the same path as they came. They come to Akasha (sky), from Akasha to air. Having become air, they become smoke, having become smoke they become the white cloud.
Having become the white cloud, they become the rain-bearing cloud. They then fall as rain and are born in this world as rice and barley, herbs and trees, sesamum and beans. But the release from these is more difficult, for whoever eats the food and sows the seed, they become like him only.
Among them, those who have good residual results of action quickly reach a good womb, the womb of a Brahmana, of a ksatriya or of a vaisya. But those who have bad residual results of action quickly reach an evil womb, the womb of a chaṇḍala.
From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again.
बहूनां जन्मनामन्ते ज्ञानवान्मां प्रपद्यते |
वासुदेव: सर्वमिति स महात्मा सुदुर्लभ: ll (Gita 7:19)
After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.
आब्रह्मभुवनाल्लोकाः पुनरावर्तिनोऽर्जुन।
मामुपेत्य तु कौन्तेय पुनर्जन्म न विद्यते।। Gita 8.16।।
Why one does not remember his previous birth?
As per Mahabharat, Ashwamedhik Parva (17.17-18-19)
ततः स वेदनः सद्यो जीवः प्रच्यवते क्षरन्।
शरीरं त्यजते जन्तुश्छिद्यमानेषु मर्मसु।
वेदनाभिः परीतात्मा तद्विद्धि द्विजसत्तम॥१७॥
जातीमरणसंविग्नाः सततं सर्वजन्तवः।
दृश्यन्ते सन्त्यजन्तश्च शरीराणि द्विजर्षभ॥१८॥
गर्भसङ्क्रमणे चापि मर्मणामतिसर्पणे।
तादृशीमेव लभते वेदनां मानवः पुनः॥१९॥
Due to deep intense pain of birth and death, one's memory of that pain is destroyed, therefore we tend to forget our previous birth.
As per Bhagvat Puran (3.31.23-24-25)
तेनावसृष्ट: सहसा कृत्वावाक्शिर आतुर: ।
विनिष्क्रामति कृच्छ्रेण निरुच्छ्वासो हतस्मृति: ॥ २३ ॥
पतितो भुव्यसृङ्मिश्र: विष्ठाभूरिव चेष्टते ।
रोरूयति गते ज्ञाने विपरीतां गतिं गत: ॥ २४ ॥
परच्छन्दं न विदुषा पुष्यमाणो जनेन स: ।
अनभिप्रेतमापन्न: प्रत्याख्यातुमनीश्वर: ॥ २५ ॥
He loses his superior knowledge and cries under the spell of Maya. After coming out of the abdomen, the child is given to the care of persons who are unable to understand what he wants, and thus he is nursed by such persons. Unable to refuse whatever is given to him, he falls into undesirable circumstances.
The lifestyle determines the Karma or the internal action, and hence, as per Hindu philosophy (beliefs) that the good or bad actions of life foster the positive or negative merits for the rebirth of the soul. If our actions are good with sense of humanity for society / nature (evolution process), then there may be a chance to have rebirth as humans again to guide society as Guru / mentor/ leader / social Changer or if we failed to do good Karma, then the soul may come back as an animal and the process of rebirth goes on until and unless the taste of life / learning / sense of nature completed.
In Hinduism, it is commonly believed that if you are committing the most serious offence either to your parents or Guru or any respectful human, then you may come back to the lowest form of animal. Different philosophers from ancient times have got different opinions. On this earth, every living being is mortal but its soul is immortal, soul is identical to the mind and when a person dies, their mind survives in a ghostly state perhaps around us. So that in Hinduism, we offer fruits, milk, etc, as food to this soul after death for a few days at least and even we believe mortal soul will be happy and free to go to next level after Pinda Daan (Tarpan) at Gaya Vishnu Paada for the peace and escape to the departed soul of our ancestors. Aum Shanti
Authored by Dr Anadi Sahoo
