Reincarnation And Its Origins

[Mez]

A lot of people believe in reincarnation and talk a lot about reincarnation but what are their sources? I believe there is a lot of misinformation and speculation regarding this topic.

To my knowledge the Bhagavad Gita (spoken by Krishna (god) to Arjuna on the battlefield) is the first and most complete mention of the mechanism known as reincarnation (birth, death, rebirth Vs transcendance)

A full (and accurate) english translation is available in mp3 format here. I encourage anyone interested in reincarnation to give this 5000 year old text a listen.

http://www.krishna.com/node/915

[Sharpe]

I don't see it.
How does it work?
Animals can't think logically that good.
So how does ones consciousness go from a deceased body to an newly borned animal?
Can they think like us?

Or in the human to human reincarnation.
Why does the newly born human not have any knowledge of their past life?

I heard that some have, but it's too rare.
If they have no memory of their past life, what's the connection?

[Mez]

well these are all valid questions and i can answer them for you

During the course of your human life lets say you lived like any westener did. You'll note that the individual lives a life of sense gratification, attachment to material possesion and fear of death. In doing all this you rack up certain Karma...

you're attachted to ("temporary") physical things = next life will be in the physical
sense gratification = you will reincarnate next in a body more appropriate for your desires (eg animal)

lemme explain the second one to you a bit better.

why not human you ask? well apparently humans purpose is to acheive transcendace hence we are given the intelligence to understand all we need to know in order to do this. So one who lives a life of sense gratification (indugling the senses) is not focused on transendance, rather he desires only to eat, sleep and play... so he is given in the next life and animal body for this is more appropriate to his desires.

Animals do not have the intelligence to understand all they need to know in order to transcend and I believe that when one enters the body of an animal one doesnt have a recollection of ever being human UNLESS one WAS on the spiritual path and made significant progress but then somehow strayed (theres a small story about this). One may also incarnate as a plant, be it a tree or a vegetable or what have you. Your behaviour in your new body will be just your animal instincts... as you live you will incur certain karmas (good and bad i guess) and this will determine your next body... EVENTUALLY you will return to being human again although consider the number of animal and plant life forms on the planet vs the number of humans. Incarnating in human form is very rare and if you fall into the animal kingdom it may be hundreds of years before you are human again. (hence why i take this stuff kinda seriously)

It is possible that if you made enough spiritual progress as a human (but not enough to remember your past life) that you will reincarnate again straight back to human form for another shot at transcendace... but I wouldnt count on it.

The reason one has no recollection of their past lives is that this would be far too confusing. Imagine having hundreds upon hundreds of lifetimes worth of memories... It would be a nightmare. No, see the ability to remember past lives is earned by way of action... only when one understands the need for transcendance may one be READY to remember past lives.

The more I think about an examine this mechanism I can only conclude its flawless.
Karma is not a system of punishment and reward, its designed to be 100% neutral.

[Astir]

I have believed and always said I was reincarnated since I was two years old. It's not so much a belief as much as it is a feeling I have every second of every single day. I don't require much confirmation beyond that, there is no question...though I am reading the Bhagavad Gita, but only because it makes me happy. No texts, modern or ancient are perfect or absolute.

The western world is not completely materialistic, there are plenty of spiritual people here, mixed in. And even so, it's not such an offense to derive joy from things. The persuit, I think, is joy that is achieved unselfishly. That makes the most sense. I personally derive joy from things that I create, it's my nature, to deny that would be a greater error.

[josemi]

Hi  folx

If someone knows Spanish, here there is a link to an article by the historian Cesar Vidal, that treats of the origins of the belief in reincarnation in the ancient India:
http://revista.libertaddigital.com/articulo.php/1275322722

I'll summarize it a bit. On the year 1000 bc the original indian people, the dravidians, had been invaded by the arians, who imposed a system of beliefs according to which, if you behaved well, you could get a better reincarnation in the next life. With it the conquerors got to submit the dravids, those who at the same time felt comforted with that belief.


About the same theme, this article by Ray Harris deals with the two paradoxical trends on the indian mentality: arian patriarchy versus dravidian matriarchy.

http://www.integralworld.net/index.html?harris32.html

I want to read your opinions