Reincarnation

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, " Violet " <violetubb

wrote:

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> Reincarnation - (Excerpt Chapter 4,

>

 

http://www.adishakti.org/_/great_cover_up_of_reincarnation.htm

The Great Cover Up [of reincarnation] - Emperor Justinian</a><br>

[Guest guest]

Reincarnation and Past-Life-Regression are not modern concepts. People have

believed in reincarnation since ancient times. Since prehistoric times, there

have been numerous techniques used to explore past lives. Every religion has an

'inner teaching', and within that inner teaching, reincarnation and its

evolutionary implications have been accepted as the universal truth. There is

sufficient evidence to show that the Hindus, Ancient Celts, the Egyptians, the

Tibetans, and the Hebrew Cabalists etc. used past-life remembrance.

 

Sri Krishna and the Bhagawad Gita: Sri Krishna said in 'The Bhagawad Gita', " As

a man, casting off worn-out garments, takes new ones, so the dweller in the

body, casting off worn-out bodies, enters into others that are new " . He has also

said " The misdeeds of our past lives torment us in the form of illnesses or

ailments " . From this we understand how all our ailments have their root cause in

past-life actions. This is the fundamental principle on which the entire concept

of Past-Life-Regression is based. 'Past-Life-Regression' is based on the

universal law of cause and effect, which is also known as the Law of Karma. A

person's past actions affect his or her present conditions. The effect could be

on physical health, emotional condition, mental state or spiritual well-being. A

few examples of root causes are: unfulfilled desires, thoughts, feelings,

emotions, vows, promises, decisions, evasions or traumatic experiences. The root

causes are invariably in the past.

 

Patanjali Maharishi: The ancient Indian sage Patanjali Maharshi, has done

extensive work on Past-Life-Regression. In his yoga sutras Patanjali Maharishi

called this process of past-life-regression as 'Prati-Prasav'. It is the process

of reabsorbing back to the cause. This means bringing effect back to the cause

or the process of involution. When a child is born it is Prasav. Prati-Prasav

means you are born again in the memory; you go back to the very birth, the

trauma when you were born, and you live it again. If there is something, some

trouble, some problem, then we go back to the original source from where it

started. Because we can go on trying to solve the problem, but unless we go to

the roots it cannot be solved. Effects cannot be solved unless they are forced

back to the cause. For example, if there is an unwanted weed and we go on

cutting the branches and the leaves in an attempt to remove the weed, we find

that more and more branches and leaves take the place of the ones we cut off. To

remove the weed once and for all, we have to actually remove the weed from the

roots.

 

Buddha: Buddha is said to have recounted thousands of his past-lives, of which

around 550 have been narrated in the 'Jataka' Tales. Buddha asked his disciples

to explore their own past lives to gain a complete understanding of the cycle of

birth and death. According to the teachings of Buddha, one attains 'Nirvana' or

Salvation when one becomes free from the cycle of birth and death.

 

Mahavira: Mahavira called 'Remembering past-lives' as 'Jati-Smaran'. Remembering

of past lives is an integral part of ancient Jain Practices. Jain teachings call

the attaining of freedom from rebirth as 'Kaivalya'.

 

Tibetan wisdom: Early Tibetan history contains a wealth of literature on the

subject of reincarnation and afterlife states. One of the most important sources

of ancient Tibetan wisdom about reincarnation and the afterlife states is the

'Tibetan Book of The Dead'. This book was read to those who were dying when

their souls were about to vacate their bodies. Also read during funeral

ceremonies, the wisdom imparted was supposed to prepare the dying person to make

the transition from life to the after life state in a smooth manner. It also

taught the near and dear of the deceased person that they should not hold back

the dying person by mourning, but that they should graciously send them on their

journey with positive thoughts and emotions. Compiled in the eighth century

A.D., this book is a masterpiece that contains the wisdom gathered over a period

spanning many centuries from different Tibetan Masters.

 

A lot of cases of Near Death Experiences are reported even in modern times where

people are found to return to life after being pronounced dead. These

experiences are very similar to early stages of death as described by the

Tibetan sages. As the spirits move toward a realm of light, they slough off

emotional attachments to their earlier earthly existence. In the process, they

may face spiritual beings who guide them, and who present them with a kind of

mirror reflecting their life and actions. Filled at last with peace and

contentment, the deceased prepare either to abandon the world altogether or to

reenter the cycle of birth and death with higher awareness of the illusory

nature of life.

 

Christian Mystics: Many Christian mystics have stated that after death, the soul

separates from the body and leaves. There are instances of people with Christian

upbringing who had 'near death experiences'. They tell us that their spirits

entered a 'realm of light' where they were received by 'beings of light'. They

were then shown a complete review (somewhat like a movie except that it took no

time) of their all the events of their life and their actions were weighed. This

description is very similar to the description given by the Tibetans.

 

Egyptian Civilization: Ancient Egyptians believed in reincarnation. They

believed that it took 3000 years to complete all lives that one had to live. All

this goes to prove that the ancient Egyptians strongly believed in life after

death and reincarnation.

 

Ancient Greeks: Reincarnation was not an unknown concept to the ancient Greeks.

Noted Greek philosophers like Pythagoras and Plato believed in reincarnation and

they have also explained about it in their teachings. Pythagoras is believed to

have remembered and described many of his past lives. Some of the lives that he

recounted were as: a Trojan warrior, a prophet, a peasant, a prostitute, and a

shopkeeper.

 

Evidence form prehistoric times: Though reincarnation has been studied

scientifically only during recent times, the possibility that we live many lives

has been accepted on faith since ancient times. If one studies the ancient

indigenous cultures of Africa, Asia, North America, South America and Australia,

one would find ample evidence that reincarnation was one of their core beliefs.

It can be seen that evidence of the belief in reincarnation can be found in

people of diverse cultures, from different parts of the world and even people

from vastly different time periods (modern, medieval, ancient, prehistoric

etc.).

 

 

Why do we reincarnate?

 

Having come to know that belief in reincarnation has existed from ancient and

even prehistoric times,

we now come to the important question:

 

Why do we reincarnate?

 

The reasons for reincarnation are:

 

To learn lessons: Consider the whole earth as one training school. We cannot

complete our training unless we study and graduate from one level, move on to

the next level and continue this process till we attain mastery. This is the

fundamental and most important reason for reincarnation. Most of the other

reasons are offshoots of this reason. Take the example of a school. If we fail

in one grade, we have to repeat the grade till we pass it. So also with our

lives on earth. If we do not learn our lessons properly, we keep returning till

we learn all the lessons. Learning the lessons properly is the key to our

spiritual growth and eventual freedom from the cycle of birth and death. Our

spiritual growth depends on how well we learn our lessons.

 

To have fun: We incarnate to have fun. We incarnate to experience the beauty of

creation, and that is fun. We incarnate to express our creativity, and that too

is fun. There is no limit to the beauty of creation. Even our creative abilities

are limitless. There are infinite ways of experiencing the beauty of creation.

There are also infinite ways of expressing our creativity. Therefore, the

experiences possible are far too many to go through in one incarnation and hence

the longing for the soul to reincarnate again and again. Though the experiences

of the soul are equally valid whether we are in incarnation or not, the joy of

creation can be experienced only when we are on this physical plane of

existence.

 

To teach: After the soul has learnt all the lessons required to be learnt, it

does not have to reincarnate. However, such a soul may choose to reincarnate to

help in the evolution of the other souls who are still caught in the cycle of

birth and death. The main work done by such souls when they reincarnate is

teaching. They work for creating a shift in the consciousness of the people on

earth.

 

 

Law of Karma

 

" .....Believing as I do in the theory of rebirth, I live in the hope that if not

in this birth, in some other birth I shall be able to hug all humanity in

friendly embrace. " -Mohandas K. Gandhi

 

We have heard a lot about 'Karma'. 'Karma' is a Sanskrit word which means

'action'. Karma is the process of cause and effect, which is associated with our

thoughts, emotions and behaviors. Jesus said, " As you sow, so shall you reap " .

This single statement contains the essence of what Karma is.

 

The Dynamics of Karma: We are all spiritual beings having a human experience and

the dynamics of Karma help us to keep learning and progressing through the

actions done by us in each lifetime. Therefore, Karma is neither good nor bad.

Karma operates on universal laws, which create total justice. Karma is very

impersonal and it applies to everyone without exception at all times. Karma

makes us realize that we are all one irrespective of our nationality, religion,

race, creed, caste, sex etc. and thereby teaches us oneness. Karma teaches us

take self-responsibility as it makes us feel responsible for our actions in

every situation. Karma makes us understand the cause and effect of our actions.

Understanding Karma is a major step in our Spiritual Evolution.

 

Different types of Karma:

 

SANCHITA KARMA: This is the sum total of the Karma accumulated from all the

lifetimes.

 

PRARABDHA KARMA: This is the Karma that is ripened. The effects of this type of

Karma will be felt in this lifetime and in current situations.

 

AGAMI KARMA or KRIYAMANA KARMA: This is the recently added Karma resulting from

present actions. This kind of Karma, which is added recently, affects the

future.

 

Reincarnation and Karma: Most of us believe that our individual characters are

formed from birth in this present life. We therefore assume that our

psychological makeup is molded from parental and social conditioning as well as

our genetic inheritance. Factors like complexes, patterning, personal myths,

scripts and family of origin etc. are believed to influence our characters.

These have been used to explain how our psyche has been affected by our

childhood experiences and/or our genetic inheritance. Modern psychology is

predominantly based on this model.

 

What this model fails to provide suitable explanations for are the instances

wherein many people are found to possess special gifts and character traits that

cannot be due to their family history or genetic inheritance. It also cannot

explain why two people with identical family history and genetic inheritance

often have vastly varying and sometimes diametrically opposite character traits

and behavior. This model is therefore incomplete in its understanding of the

human psyche. This is the reason why it has had an insignificant success rate

when it comes to treating most psychological disorders and ailments.

 

Any search for a fully integrated model, which can provide the answers to all

the questions that remain unanswered using the present model, leads us to the

study of reincarnation. Reincarnation is the missing link, which helps us to

complete our understanding. Once we realize that we are eternal beings who have

lived many lifetimes before this one, we can easily understand that our psyche

represents the sum total of all experiences of all our lifetimes including the

present one. This explains how our character, situations and conditions in the

present life have their roots in our past lives. Past life activities, past life

habits, past life patterns, traumatic experiences in the past lives, emotionally

charged events from past lives and many more past life experiences all together

make up our present self and character structure.

 

The main reason for reincarnating is to learn lessons. Reincarnation and Karma

are thus interrelated. However, this does not apply to those who choose to

reincarnate to teach others and help them to grow spiritually. Before we

reincarnate, we choose the circumstances, parents, social conditions and

situations into which we are born so as to give us the ideal conditions for

learning the lessons that we have set out to learn in this lifetime. Hence

current family genetics and psychological environments are not mainly

responsible for our psychological makeup. They are only the vehicles for the

expression of the soul and serve to bring about the interplay of factors

required for the natural unfolding of the karmic drama.

 

Karma is not Punishment: It is very important for us to understand that Karma is

not a system of punishment put in place by a higher authority. The common

misconception is that the laws of Karma operate in such a manner as to punish us

for our so-called 'wrong doings'. The punishment is always self-inflicted from

the karmic point of view. Strong Identification with patterns of guilt leads to

a need to punish oneself, and therefore the punishment is invariably

self-inflicted punishment.

 

Source: http://www.liferesearchacademy.com/regression.html