Transmigration

[Guest guest]

A translation of sloka 28 of SrI Sankara's SataSlokI is given below.

 

The indwelling self, being non-different from the Supreme Self (Brahman),

is infinite and so all-pervading. It cannot therefore be said that the

indwelling self enters the womb when a child is conceived. Nor can it be

said that it leaves the body when a person dies. It is the subtle body,

constituted of the mind and the sense organs, that enters the physical body

when a child is conceived and leaves the physical body when a person dies.

Birth is the entry of the subtle body into the physical or gross body and

death is the departure of the subtle body from the gross body. On death the

subtle body goes to the higher or lower worlds according to the karma of the

person. The self does not take on the characteristics of the gross body such

as leanness, stoutness, etc. The subtle body, along with the sense organs

(which form part of it) and the samskaras, departs from the gross body on

death. After sojourn in higher or lower worlds, it comes back to this world

to take on another gross body.

 

Note. The subtle body consists of the five organs of perception

(jnanendriyas), the five organs of action (karmendriyas), the five vital

airs (prana, apana, vyana, samana and udana), the mind (manas) and the

intellect (buddhi). It is the subtle body which transmigrates from one

physical body to another. The physical body perishes on death, but the

subtle body continues until ignorance is destroyed by the realization of

Brahman (Brahma-sakshatkara). When the subtle body leaves the physical body

it carries with it the knowledge acquired by the person, the effects of his

karma (punya and papa) and the impressions of past actions (samskaras) (See

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, IV.iv.2 ). The pure Atma, being eternal and

all-pervading, has neither birth nor death, nor can there be any question of

its going from one place to another. See also Bhagavad gita, 15.8.

 

A number of quotations from SrI Sankara's bhAshya on the subject of

transmigration have been collected and given on my website

http://www.geocities.com/snsastri

 

under the heading "Terms and Concepts in Vedanta" and sub-heading

'Transmigration'.

 

All the slokas of Satasloki in Devanagari script in pdf with English

translation and explanatory notes are available on this website. I request

members to visit the same.

 

S.N.sastri

[Guest guest]

H.N.Sreenivasa Murthy

Pranams to all.

 

advaitin, "S.N. Sastri" <sn.sastri wrote:

 

Respected Sri S.N.Sastri,

A small clarification is requested for the following:

You have stated:The pure Atma, being eternal and

all-pervading, has neither birth nor death, nor can there be any

question of its going from one place to another.

You have also stated about the existence of The subtle body, along

with the sense organs (which form part of it) and the samskaras,

as well as the phtsical body.

If Atman is all-pervading, can the entities as stated in the

above para exist apart from Atman? Are they not Atman Itself?

I draw your kind attention to the Mantras 1 and 2 of the 7th

chapter of Chandogya Upanishad. Are not all these bodies mere

vikalpas?

With respectful namaskarams,

Sreenivasa Murthy.

 

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