What is the reality of Re-incarnation in Hinduism?

Question

Man is been blessed by one life only, what is the logic behind the belief of reincarnation?

Answer 1

Well, i myself dont know and actually dont believe in re-incarnation. Well, i guess this concept has got so influential these days bcoz of movies and the world of fiction!!!!!

Answer 2

I am sorry you have not understood that man never incarnates. It is only the God who incarnates Himself in any form or manner, to set things in order, whenever the disorder reaches the peak. God declared in Gita, " Parithranaya Sadhunam, Vinachaya Dhushkritam; Dharma Samsthapanarthyam, Sambhavami Yugae, yugae". The Hindu Bhagavatam has chronicled the different incarnation Lord Vishnu had taken. The different forms of inclarnation that He took will clearly prove the theory of evolution.
There is nothing unsual about this theory of incarnation. The Old Testement predicted the arrival of another Messiah; Christians believe that Christ was that messiah. And there is even a belief that God's son will do a 'second coming'; at that second coming, he will come here to punish the evil and will show no mercy. That is similar to the belief of the Hindus that when the Lord comes as Kalki, he will destroy the evil like none and the same will be annihilated, true to the declaration made in 'Gita'.
As far as human beings are concerned, there is no question of reincarnation. They are shbjected to the rule of Karma. They take birth after birth, to work out their past karma. The purging of their karma will liberate them from the cycle of birth. That stage is called 'Mukti'. Atman or life is one and the same. Death of the body in one life, does not annihilate the Atman. It assumes another form in the next birth, in the same manner, during the dreams, the same person assumes a different consciousness. The theory of transmigration of soul was universally accepted once upon a time. And there are internal evidences for that even in Old Testement. It was only in the Second Constatinople Conference, the Christians repudiated the theory of karma and rebirth, for a belief in that theology undermines the faith in divine grace. But, the resolution adopted in the said Conference has no basis in the history of human thoght. For a fuller understanding of this theory, you may read 'An Auto-biography of a Yogi' by Paramahansa Yogananda.
I wish you are able to appreciate the theology of other religions also and consider them with an open mind.

Answer 3

Thanks for asking, Maria. It's better than assuming.

Hinduism is based on the concept that every soul is potentially divine and needs to find it's way. The ultimate aim of each soul is to realise itself as a part of God - and thereby become one with God. Between the present state of realisation and the final one, there are seven stages - and man must evolve from one stage to the other.

It's a concept of "The world changes if we change. The world improves if we improve".

In this journey, each soul must pass spiritual experiences and realisations. - which (some believe) gets quickened by meditation. We believe that we carry forward our spiritual knowledge to the next life - along with our actions. Thereby, good (correct) action leads us closer to the goal and incorrect action (sin) leads us farther away.

There is no finite set of do or don't in Hinduism. It's a personal journey - spread out over one or many lives. And we must realise this journey on our own and by and for ourselves.

To a Hindu, the Christian path is correct - because this is BHAKTI (Faith), which is a very strong path to reach the goal. But then again, there are so many paths. Therefore, when someone says that this is one life... A Hindu feels Maybe - and Maybe not. It all depends on the actions.

There are several instances of rebirth in the world. A recent case is where a 5 year old girl sees the father from a previous life and recognises him. This reminds her of everything from her past life - except for what happened while she was dead. Many theories came up - and it was in the news. But the fact remained that a five year old could not pull such a bluff in front of the whole world. She also remembered her personal relationships and intricate details of hte life.

Answer 4

Reincarnation is suggested by the texts of nearly all major religions. Buddhism and Hinduism are well known. In the Biblical writings, we have 1) the question of whether John the Baptists is Elijah (could be transmutation), or, as a better example, 2) the story of the man born blind and healed by Jesus. In that parable the man is born blind, and the disciples ask Jesus "...Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" (John 9:1-2). It does not matter how Jesus answers this question. For the man to be blind from birth and the disciples to think it reasonable to ask if it was through some fault of his own, that fault must have occurred in a previous life. This event, if taken seriously, suggests that both Judaism and early Christianity accepted the idea of reincarnation.

Answer 5

Its a good beginning if you ask what about the reality.

The logic behing re-incarnation is one that has been researched upon and contemplated and concluded to be true and happening.

If you ask about re-incarnation I assume that you do believe in the Soul Energy. Now the Soul when leaving this corporeal body of ours goes where? and what happens to the balance sheet of actions performed during a lifetime? Even if the balance of actions is reached in the lifetime itself the resultant effects (karma) still is tagged to the soul. How to balance out the karmic records then? Also with so many people having died in the past, where do we suppose the souls reside till the day of judgement if there is any such day at the end of the time. Isnt the energy of souls being rendered inert and wasted if they just have to wait for so long as to await the judgement day?

The logical answer to all these questions is in Re-incarnation. The Soul carries on in a different body taking care of its karmic past, keeping the energy balance on this planet, and being judged for its immediate past life before taking birth again, thereby deciding its future birth and way of life and living conditions and all.

Also as a fellow contributer here rightly said there is ample evidence to the fact that during hypnotic regression people are known to have revealed facts about their past lives accurate to the point of exact dates and events in history. Not to mention that the kind of person we are and grow into is but a reflection of all our experiences, fears, achievements, and deeds in the past lives. Hence recounting the past often help people overcome their phobias and fears in this present lifetime and they see a reason for their actions now.

All in all re-incarnation is a truth. To believe it or not is individual perception.

Thanks

Answer 6

Man and all living beings are made of matter that never dies .Agreed? That is why the dead bodies form a good manure for the plants .Plants and animals that eat the dead body do not die but grow more profusely and in a healthy manner .Agreed? So when a man dies , that is when he ceases to breath , the body disintegrates and some elements get out of th matter as gases and others as liquids and semi solids and solids and get digested by the earth as humous . The matter that formed the body do not cease to exist , but exist in different forms .They are taken up by many plants and worms and creatures which are eaten by other animals .So the elements that formed the body of an individual get into the body of so many plants and animals and continue live as differnet creatures but don't vanish into nothing .They re-incarnate into so many beings and they never re-surrect as the same creaturea or being again at any time .It is against the order of natue for any creature to come back alive in the same body and shape and same individual .But it is possible and in accordance with the order of nature to re-incarnte into so many things and beings .It is just a recycling of the matter .Suppose that you discord a used glass bottle. All sucn bottles are collected by the county and sent to a glass factory where they are put into the glass furnace and melted and made into new things like bottles , paper weights , flower vases , glass tumblers etc. .Your bottle would have merged with all the glass stuff that were put into the furnace and melted with the other glass pieces .Your glass bottle is there among the new stuff made by recycling the old glass stuff .But it might be forming part of very many new stuff .and does not retrurn as the same glass bottle .,This is re-incarnation.It happens truely and it is into so many things and beings and not in a particular being .Hindus believe in this from time immemorial and long before the science could tell us that matter gets recycled naturally.and is indestructible .Thier thought is scientifically proved as ture and perfect ..The matter in the universe was never created . but it alwys existed and would also exist in the future for ever.See what Kraihna says about this in his second teaching of Bhagavad -Gita. .

Answer 7

What my Guru Vethathiri Maharishi tells about reincarnation is that one's previous birth is their parents.

He says this, as the Soul we get, is from them with their imprints or karma to us at the time of ovulation itself.

The energy they give is their energy.

According to the capital [karma]they get from their parents, they attract souls for their journey.

This is why we see a sudden change[ good or bad] in some persons.

The next birth is their children as the same happens with their child also.They give their energy etc. & so on.

There is a chance of it to be right when thinking deeply that way.

Not only the heriditary diseases or character, everything we give it to our children.

We should think this life to be one so that in this birth itself we will realize the self, the God.

Otherwise we have to fall in the cycle of birth until we purify & realize the truth.

Answer 8

a valmiki "moved" from being a hunter to a renowned sage in one lifetime.

a vishwamitra "moved " from a king to a renowned sage in one life time.

not every one is as lucky or as dedicated to their journey. some get down at the railway stations (the births) and enjoy the fruits of their labour. some others recognise the station for what it is - just another enroute halt and move on towards their goal, the final destination.

in order to give a level playing field for the people who enjoy the fruits of their labour at the stations, reincarnation is a necessity. other"vice" they will never reach their goal, their final destiny, their destination.

they learn their lessons at each and every station. and move forward to the next station. they gain experience at every halt and carry forward their tuition and lectures.

look deep inside to understand reincarnation. personally go to the roots - vedas, upanishads and meditation. don't beleive anything including this answer - its just another opinion.

all the best.

Answer 9

Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and HE SHALL GO NO MORE OUT. This is concept of reincarnation.Early Christian church who accepted this principle.are clement of Alexandria, St. Jerome & Origen.
In AD 553 this principle was removed from church teachings By council of Constantinople Nowadays westerners accept the LAW of KARMA AND reincarnation seeing INEQUITIES in LIFE..
Soul to evolve take new bodies, the past one we do not remember.

Answer 10

See here a link in the comment section into a youtube video that seems somewhat a leading indicator or proof for reincarnation. May be science is moving fast to that conclusion with latest researches in Genetical Engineering with Genes travelling thru many bodies in a gross level. Perhaps Science is yet to find out instruments to track the subtle travel of individual soul, Jeevatma from one body into another thru birth and death. But inferences here in this link do not negate that concept of reincarnation, but leads us to that conclusion that Reincarnation can be a Real Fact. Perhaps till this date against this phenomenon called Reincarnation, nobody has found out any scientifically proven arguements. But logics lead to believe this empirically with these inferences and experiences in this Gross World.

The Theory of Reincarnation really explains many of the so called unsolved paradoxes in life as discussed in the last answer with the link.

Do not forget to see the Youtube video with comment section ..

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AklQbkMc.mXWQ37yST4m6jIjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20061125174539AApXCjZ

Here the Sathya Sai Thought for the Day,

In rendering service, one should have no thought of one’s self. One should only consider how well one can render the service as an offering to the Divine. One should note the difference between Karma (action) and Karma Yoga (action as spiritual discipline). Ordinary activity is motivated by self interest or the desire to achieve some objective. In Karma Yoga, the action is desireless. Ordinary Karma is the cause of birth, death and rebirth, whereas Karma Yoga leads to freedom from birth. You should regard all service as a form of Karma Yoga – rendering service without any expectation of reward, and without even the feeling that one is ‘serving’ others. Any service done to anyone is actually service to the Divine.

- BABA

http://www.radiosai.org/pages/thought.asp

SAI RAM

Answer 11

the reality is about as hard to prove as the reality of Christan life after death.

it seems that some people can remember things from other lives. that's what they say anyway and one person i knew a bit told me that he could remember another life and i don't think he was lying. he was from Scientology. they practice remembering things. but i don't like them they charge to much money.

i think we can get memory's but are they ours or other peoples lives that we some how pick up that signal , like a kind of ghost thing.

iv heard story's from people under hypnosis and other things not just Scientology so maybe there is something to it.