Is reincarnation a fact?? have you lived before this life??

Question

jeanmarie,there is much misunderstanding of the bible. you lived before you had this body and will live after it is gone.Karma (cause and effect,sin) then makes sense.When the body dies then your spirit will review the past life and choose the next. until at some point in time & space one merges into the allness of GOD losing the sense of self seperate from GOD,DYING the"it is appointed once for man to die".thereby returning back into whence it came.

Answer 1

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 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.

Generally, in the Eastern traditions it is considered that all forms of life or species have souls, which is the entity who reincarnates. Previous to when an entity is ready to incarnate as a human being on Earth, the soul may have gone through a whole series of lives in order to experience various levels of existence and consciousness. The principle is that an entity may actually progress through the different species of life, gradually working their way up until they reach the human form. Of course, the body is only the covering of the soul in which it appears. The living being will continually move upward in its cycles of reincarnation until it has experienced all the main varieties of existences that the material realm has to offer. This way the living being is fully experienced in working out material desires or longings in all kinds of forms by the time it reaches the human stage. Of course, not every being may have to go through all of this.

How reincarnation works is most elaborately described in the Vedic texts of India. The Bhagavad-gita (8.6) explains that whatever state of consciousness one attains when he or she quits this body, a similar state will be attained in the next life. This means that after the person has lived his or her life, the numerous variegated activities of the person forms an aggregated consciousness. All of our thoughts and actions throughout our life will collectively influence the state of being we are in at the time of death. This consciousness will determine what that person is thinking of at the end of one’s life. This last thought and consciousness will then direct where that person will most likely go in the next life because this state of being carries over from this life into the next.

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.

After death, one continues the consciousness that was cultivated during 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, which consists of mind, intelligence and false ego. The soul is covered by this subtle body, which exists within the gross material form. When the physical vehicle 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 frame 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?

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.

After what can be millions of births and deaths through many forms of life, trying to satisfy all of one’s material desires, the soul may begin to get tired of these continuous attempts for happiness that often turn out to be so temporary. Then the person may turn toward finding spiritual meaning in life. In one’s search for higher meaning, depending on the level of consciousness that a person develops, he or she can gradually enter higher and higher levels of development. Finally, if a person detects that he is actually not this body but a spiritual being within it, and reaches a spiritual level of consciousness, he can perfect his life so that he will enter the spiritual strata and no longer have to incarnate in the physical world. Thus, liberation is attained through Self-realization and the development of devotional service to God, which is the perfection of the spiritual path. Through human existence on Earth, the doorway to many other planes of existence is possible, including entrance into the spiritual world. It only depends on how we use this life.

The idea that a person has only one life to either become qualified to enter heaven or enter eternal damnation offers the soul no means of rehabilitation and only endless misery. This is not reasonable. The doctrine of reincarnation gives anyone ample scope to correct and re-educate himself in future births. An eternity in hell means that an infinite effect is produced by a finite cause, which is illogical. God has not created men to become nothing more than ever-lasting fuel to feed the fires of hell. Such a purpose in His creation would not come from an ever-loving God, but comes from the faulty ideas of man and his imperfect conceptions of God. After all, how many spotless men could there be in this world? Who has such a pure character to receive an immediate pass to heaven? 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.

Furthermore, a person reaps the results of his sinful deeds for a limited amount of time. After being purged of one’s sins, meaning suffering the painful reactions from one’s bad activities, a person, knowing right from wrong, can have a fresh chance to freely work for his emancipation from further entanglement in material life. When he deserves and attains such freedom, the soul can enjoy perfect and eternal bliss in its devotional union with the Supreme Being. This is why it is always encouraged for one to strive for spiritual knowledge and the practice of enlightenment. By developing sincere and purified devotion for the Lord, one does not have to worry about one’s future birth. Once a person has started this path of devotion, each life will take one closer to spiritual perfection, in whatever situation one finds him or herself.

So a person is encouraged to repent for one’s sins or ill choices that were made while under the influence of lust, anger or greed, and cultivate forgiveness, purity and generosity. A person should also engage in charity, penance, meditation, japa (personal chanting of the Lord’s holy names), 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 reincarnation.

Answer 2

Others believe reincarnations only occur within a tribe, race, or family. Another view is that there is a resting period between reincarnations, where the soul rests in a state of bliss before it passes into the next reincarnation. Reincarnation as a learning experience. Each reincarnation not only purifies the soul more, but comes through opportunities to learn more in life if the soul is willing.

Answer 3

No, I personally think it’s ridiculous to believe in reincarnation.
Remember the dialogue from “BEFORE THE SUNRISE” when Ethan Hawke was talking about reincarnation and that at the beginning of humanity there were only 2 people with only 2 souls that now makes us the 6 billion living on earth now a very tiny micro fraction of the original souls!!
That’s ridiculous.

I think that each individual has his own soul and NO that individual can’t sell it to the devil to get 7 wishes as some may assume.

People have memories from another lifetime I sometimes believe that stuff but I don’t take it as a proof for reincarnation.

Answer 4

I do not like the idea, I am not happy on this planet, yet I think it is so.To those who are quoting the Bible,read again,there is a second death clearly in the bible.Also many names in the bible were changed, i.e. Saul you will now be called Paul,Why a name change ? a rebirth.Then we have those who lived 960 years and begat 74 children and so on, To me that was a list of there many lives.

Answer 5

Would you have to ask another creature, great or small? I thought a lot of reincarnation had to do with shifting life form. There is a religion, where reincarnation back to human is believed, and the sign is a birthmark and its location. Got one?

Answer 6

Reincarnation is a truth..and it does not become untruth if a "Book" does not believe in it.

As per Hindu belief, soul starts its journey in lower forms and after tasting 8.4 million different species, becomes Human

Human soul too has to learn innumerable lessons to reach divinity, and all these lessons of pain, joys, riches, poverty, etc cant be learnt in one life.

After death one goes to Heaven or Hell as per one's Karma and then takes another birth to learn new lessons

This chain of Karma and births continue till one reaches enlightenment...or becomes one with God

We all have taken many births earlier...and wil continue taking more births..till we finish our lessons and learn that we are the Truth

Answer 7

Reincarnation is a religious belief and therefore cannot be proven. I happen to believe in reincarnation and believe I have lived many times and will do so again, but I cannot prove it.

Answer 8

I think so. I have recognized people before that I have never met in my life. Also, I feel I have been with my lover before, even many times before. WIth our minds the way they are (I'm talking mine and my husbands) I think that not only have we been together before, but we were of opposite genders. I have also heard of people called old souls, that are old spiritually even when they are young. I believe in reincarnation.

Answer 9

Yes...reincarnation is very real.i am the reincarnation of my mother's mother whom died when my mother was only 16 years of age.many thing i say, do and experience seem familiar in some way to me but i never thought about it much...until i told my mother something she only shared with her mother...plus everyone says that i look, sound and act just like her......so yes sweetie, reincarnation is very real.

Answer 10

Someone answered correctly that bible states, "man is appointed once to die, after death comes judgement"
Most who believe in reincarnation (I was brought up with this view, even though as a child I knew it wasn't true somehow) that we pay for our transgressions in our next life.
Now,if one believes that Jesus is the christ then why did he die on the cross? And wasn't this enough?
How can one be a christian AND believe in reincarnation?

Answer 11

Yes, i was a nun in one life, a school teacher in the olden days, and i was a poor person who was shot and killed. I was also living during the civil war and my next door neighbor now was my sister. this is true ! we lost our husbands to the war.