How to Stop Reincarnating

Gauracandra · July 19, 2003

This week’s Srila Siddhaswarupananda television program concerns how to get off of the cycle of birth and death.

We are now going to speak about how a person can get off of the wheel of birth and death. The material world is one of superficial pleasure and suffering. I understand that this is the age of positive thinking and so some might view this as negative thinking.

But the reality is that you are spirit soul. As spirit you are not meant for this material world. First, I want to make sure you understand why you are on this wheel of birth and death. There are three main reasons. First, the individual still has material desires. Second, the individual has karmic reactions. And third, the individual is still attached to some material form.

Now actually these three cannot be separated from one another. Still we separate them for the purpose of discussion. If you want to stop this cycle you must become free of material desire, must purify yourself of karmic reactions, and at the time of death your mind must not be attached to a material form. If these things are achieved then you will not be reborn.

How can we do this? We must become completely God conscious. Love the Supreme Lord with all your heart, mind, and being. Work for His pleasure. If you make your love perfect and without deviation then you can transcend this wheel of birth and death through God consciousness.

Why does God consciousness free a person? First, in connection with material desires, a person tries to enjoy his senses to achieve some level of happiness. But as Mick Jagger still sings “I can’t get no satisfaction.” You will always be craving more. But a spiritualist is self-satisfied in God consciousness and is free from material desires.

Second, how does one become free of karmic reactions? If a person is God conscious, then they are conscious of the fact that God owns everything including their body and themselves. They understand the truth of the Sri Isopanishad (mantra 1):

“Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.”

A person who lives life as though they are the enjoyer lives life as a false god. God is the rightful owner and enjoyer of all fruits. A person who lives with this knowledge does not engage in activities that bind him to another birth. This is confirmed in Sri Isopanishad (mantra 2):

“One may aspire to live for hundreds of years if he continuously goes on working in that way, for that sort of work will not bind him to the law of karma. There is no alternative to this way for man.”

In addition, the Bhagavad-Gita 5:12 states:

“The steadily devoted soul attains unadulterated peace because he offers the result of all activities to Me; whereas a person who is not in union with the Divine, who is greedy for the fruits of his labor, becomes entangled.”

For a person who sees the material world as his playground, his activities become binding and create karmic reactions. However, actions in the service of God do not create reactions.

The third point I would like to go into more depth. The person in God consciousness is thinking of the one he loves. It is similar to how one loves their wife, or husband, or friend very much. We’ve all experienced our heart being someone else’s property. You can’t go to sleep without thinking of the one you love. This is actually a cause of rebirth. At the time of death your heart goes toward what you treasure.

“From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again.” Bhagavad-Gita 8:16

It is very unfortunate that people do not know these subtle material laws. Do not think that the form is the person. Real love is not attachment to that form. Misguided love is love directed towards a material form. This causes one to be reborn in connection to that form.

I know this one lady who loves this poodle very much. Every day she brushes his hair, talks to him, feeds him. Her consciousness is being immersed in the form of this dog. Most likely she will think of this form at death and take on a dog’s body. This is very unfortunate.

There is the story of Jada Bharat from the Vedic scripture the Srimad Bhagavatam. He was a very spiritually advanced person. One day he was meditating in the forest when he saw a pregnant mother deer. A lion roared and scared the mother deer to jump into a river where she gave birth. Seeing this he jumped into the river to save the baby deer. From that moment he would take care of this deer constantly. The deer became his friend. He would be meditating and the deer would snuggle up against him. In this way, over time his heart became attached to this deer.

When the time came for him to leave his body, he was thinking of this deer friend. This dear deer friend. By natures arrangement he took on the body in his next life as a deer. However, due to the blessings of the Lord, he was able to remember his previous life. He understood that he wasn’t a deer. To make a long story short, since we are running out of time, when he next took the human form of life, he decided never again to become attached to anyone or anything. He would act like he was deaf, dumb, and crazy. In his young adulthood he finally spoke. And from here we learn of the teachings of Jada Bharat.

You will take on the form of what you think of at the time of death. If you love God and perceive His spiritual form your mind will be on the transcendental form of God.

“For one who always remembers Me without deviation, I am easy to obtain, O son of Prtha, because of his constant engagement in devotional service.

After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.” Bhagavad-Gita 8:14-15

Serve Him, surrender to Him, and become perfectly God conscious. Then you will go to Him and transcend the wheel of birth and death.

PN Prasad · July 20, 2003

Thank you Gaurachandra !!!

July 20, 2003

Where is the proof that reincarnation ever takes place?

theist · July 20, 2003

One angle is that at every moment your carnal body is changing. Matter coming and going continually, yet you remain.

If you trace that back from young manhood to boyhood to childhood to the infant stage then into the womb,and then to the moment of conception, then ask "where did I begin exactly?"

For the matter that made up that sperm and egg was just a part of the similar process taking place in the bodies of your parents. That particular matter of sperm and egg wasn't them, as we've seen, so why would it be you? it was molecules assuming that shape for a temporary function.

If not you then what is you? If that then was not your beginning when was it? It must have been before that event if you even "began" at all. So its easy to see you predate the body.

Unless you think you can prove that consciousness is a product of some later stage of the interactions of matter (in which case I will ask for proof)it is logical to accept that it predates your present form.

So now just extend the visualization in the other direction and you will see that death has no relation to you just as birth has no relation to you.

So now we see that birth and death are events apart from us. The next question is why am I experiencing them as real? And if I am experiencing this birth and death sequence as real why not one before this one or one after?

The real proof is the word of the Acarya's and scripture but most of us are addicted to the slower path of logic.

So there is no logic that you are the body. And no logic that you are ever born or die. And no logic that confirms you only dream this sequence once.

The proof or confirmation will have to come fom the Lord in your heart.

July 21, 2003

I wanted to make a small correction in the story. It was not Jada Bharata who nurtured the infant deer, but it was the king Bharata, who was observing his Vanaprasthashrama. Due to his attachment to the deer, he was born as a deer in the next birth, but remembered his folly and constantly remained in the company of holy sages. When the deer was died, it was born as Jada Bharata, who was much wiser now.