Change of Bodies - Reincarnation
As
the
embodied
soul
continuously passes, in this
body from boyhood to youth
to old age, the soul similarly
passes into another body at
death. A sober person is not
bewildered by such a change.
(BG 2.13)
Transmigration of Soul
The Soul

The soul can be experienced or
perceived by the presence of
consciousness.

Many spiritual traditions of the
world accept “consciousness” as
being a symptom of the SOUL.

At the time of death, all physical
and chemical components of the
body remain in place but something
non-physical has been lost.

Even through our language we
identify ourselves as being
different from the body.

Body is compared to a vehicle.
How can we understand the existence
of the soul?

Seeing isn’t believing.

How do scientists deal with certain sub-atomic particles?

We can believe that solid matter, such as a rock, is really composed
of tiny solar systems in which electrons revolve at incredible speeds
around protons.
Qualities of the Soul

“For the soul there is neither birth nor death
at any time. He has not come into being,
does not come into being, and will not come
into being. He is unborn, eternal, everexisting and primeval. He is not slain when
the body is slain.” (BG 2.20)
Qualities of the soul


“The soul can never be cut
to pieces by any weapon,
not burned by fire, nor
moistened by water, nor
withered by the wind.
This individual soul is
unbreakable and
insoluble…and eternally
the same. The soul is
invisible, inconceivable
and immutable.” (BG
2.23-25)
väsäàsi jérëäni yathä vihäya
naväni gåhëäti naro ’paräëi
tathä çaréräëi vihäya jérëäny
anyäni saàyäti naväni dehé
Bhagavad - gétä 2.22
“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.”
The connection between karma
and reincarnation



Like Newton’s Third Law of Motion, the law of
Karma says that for every action, there is a
reaction -- act good, get good facilities; act bad,
get bad facilities.
In The Republic (617e), Plato paraphrased the
same principle: “God is blameless: man has
chosen his own fate, and this by his actions.”
The Biblical equivalent would be “As ye sow,
so shall ye reap.”
“You
are
what
you eat”
Bear
Tree
The Bhagavad Gita


“As the embodied soul
continuously passes, in this
body, from boyhood to
youth to old age, the soul
similarly passes into another
body at death. A sober
person is not bewildered by
such a change.” (BG 2.13)
“One who has taken birth is
sure to die, and after death
one is sure to take birth
again…” (BG 2.27)
Reincarnation & Other Religions

Christianity

Jesus Christ: story of the prophet Elijah

Origen: theologian and father of early
Christianity - Third century A.D.
Emperor Justinian: 553 A.D
Reincarnation & Other Religions

Koran


“And you were dead, and He brought you back
to life. And He shall cause you to die, and shall
bring you back to life, and in the end shall gather
you unto Himself.”
Judaism

In the Zohar, a principle book of the Kabbalah
Famous Personalities on
Reincarnation

Ben Franklin:


John Adams:


“Finding myself to exist in the world, I believe I shall in some
shape or other always exist.”
“Those souls who revolted against God were
placed here to transmigrate through various
species of animals, birds, reptiles, etc.”
Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”:

“I know I am deathless…We have thus far exhausted trillions of
winters and summers, There are trillions ahead, and trillions
ahead of them.”
Famous Personalities on
Reincarnation

Socrates:


“I am confident that there truly is such a
thing as living again and the living
spring from the dead.”
Plato:

“First, the fallen souls take birth in human forms, the
highest of which is that of the philosopher, who strives
for higher knowledge. If his knowledge becomes
perfect, the philosopher can return to an eternal
existence. But if he becomes hopelessly entangled in
material desires, he descends into the animal species
of life. After some time, the soul again attains the
human form and another chance to achieve liberation.”