Rebirth

Have just begun reading the Bhagwad Gita (translated by Eknath Easwaran), and the commentary at the beginning is already providing some fascinating arguments and thoughts. Here's one about rebirth, a concept that is well entrenched in Hinduism, but until today, had never been presented to be in such a lucid manner!

If personality consists of several layers, the outermost being the body, there is no reason for it to be lost when the body is given up. Our sages considered karma as a set of forces, driving the individual to live in a way that was harmonious with his dharma, and maintained the balance of nature. When the process of death interrupted this, those forces remain, until circumstances allow them to work again (in the new birth).

Consider when we are asleep, and shuttling between dreams and dreamless sleep. During dreams, consciousness is withdrawn from the body and senses, but continues to be engaged with the mind. When a person enters dreamless sleep, the consciousness is suspended from the mind as well, as even the sense of "I" is withdrawn. When a person awakens, though, the consciousness is returned to the body and mind, and personality returns to the body.

The ego dies every night, and returns in the morning, picking up our desires where we left off the previous night. Dying is a similar process, where the consciousness is removed from the body, sense and mind, and finally consolidated into the ego, and the body is taken away. The ego remains, a potent mix of desires and karma. And as our last waking thoughts determine our dreams, the contents of the unconscious at the time of death determine the context of our next life. We take a new body, so we can fulfill our karma.

The self-realized person, however, has no karma to work out, no personal desires left to fulfill, and hence, at the time of death, he is absorbed into the Lord.

Disclaimer: This article, and the many that are sure to follow, are no reflection of my beliefs. They are simply an honest attempt to understand what our sages, and the many learned commentators that have researched our holy scriptures, have to say!