Reincarnation, Transmigration of the Soul - Crystalinks  Reincarnation, literally "to be made flesh again", is a doctrine or mystical belief that some essential part of a living being (in some variations only human beings) survives death to be reborn in a new body. This essential part is often referred to as the Spirit or Soul, the 'Higher or True Self', 'Divine Spark', 'I' or the 'Ego' (not to be confused with the ego as defined by psychology). According to such beliefs, a new personality is developed during each life in the physical world, but some part of the being remains constantly present throughout these successive lives as well.Belief in reincarnation is an ancient phenomenon. This doctrine is a central tenet within the majority of Indian religious traditions, such as Hinduism (including Yoga, Vaishnavism, and Shaivism), Jainism, and Sikhism. The idea was also entertained by some Ancient Greek philosophers. Many modern Pagans also believe in reincarnation as do some New Age movements, along with followers of Spiritism, practitioners of certain African traditions, and students of esoteric philosophies such as Kabbalah, Sufism and Gnostic and Esoteric Christianity. The Buddhist concept of Rebirth although often referred to as reincarnation differs significantly from the Hindu-based traditions and New Age movements in that there is no "self" (or eternal soul) to reincarnate.During recent decades, a significant minority of people in the West have developed a belief in reincarnation. Films (such as Kundun and Birth), contemporary books by authors such as Carol Bowman and Vicki Mackenzie, as well as popular songs, regularly mention reincarnation.Researchers, such as Professor Ian Stevenson, have explored the issue of reincarnation and published suggestive evidence. Some skeptics are critical of this work and others say that more reincarnation research is needed.Ancient Belief SystemsAncient EgyptIn ancient Egypt, The Egyptian Book of the Dead mentions the travel of the soul into a next world without coming back to Earth. As it is well known, the ancient Egyptians embalmed the dead in order that the body might be preserved and accompany the soul into that world. This rather suggests their belief in resurrection than in reincarnation. Likewise, in many cases of ancient tribal religions that are credited today with holding to reincarnation, it is rather a belief in the pre-existence of the soul before birth or its independent survival after death that is taught. This has no connection with the classic idea of transmigration from one physical body to another, according to the demands of an impersonal law such as karma. Eastern Religions and TraditionsEastern philosophical and religious beliefs regarding the existence or non-existence of an enduring 'self' have a direct bearing on how reincarnation is viewed within a given tradition. There are large differences in philosophical beliefs regarding the nature of the soul (also known as the jiva or atma) amongst the Dharmic Religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. Some schools deny the existence of a 'self', while others claim the existence of an eternal, personal self, and still others say there is neither self or no-self, as both are false. Each of these beliefs has a direct bearing on the possible nature of reincarnation, including such concepts as samsara, moksha, nirvana, and bhakti.Reincarnation and JainismIn Jainism, particular reference is given to how devas (gods) also reincarnate after they die. A Jainist who accumulates enough good karma may become a deva, but this is generally seen as undesirable since devas eventually die and one might then come back as a lesser being. This belief is also commonplace in a number of other schools of Hinduism.Reincarnation and HinduismIn India the concept of reincarnation is first recorded in the Upanishads (c. 800 BCE), which are philosophical and religious texts composed in Sanskrit. The doctrine of reincarnation is absent in the Vedas, which are generally considered the oldest of the Hindu scriptures.According to Hinduism, the soul (atman) is immortal, while the body is subject to birth and death. The Bhagavad Gita states that:Worn-out garments are shed by the body; Worn-out bodies are shed by the dweller within the body. New bodies are donned by the dweller, like garments.The idea that the soul (of any living being - including animals, humans and plants) reincarnates is intricately linked to karma, another concept first introduced in the Upanishads. Karma (literally: action) is the sum of one's actions, and the force that determines one's next reincarnation. The cycle of death and rebirth, governed by karma, is referred to as 'samsara.'Hinduism teaches that the soul goes on repeatedly being born and dying. One is reborn on account of desire: a person desires to be born because he or she wants to enjoy worldly pleasures, which can be enjoyed only through a body.Hinduism does not teach that all worldly pleasures are sinful, but it teaches that they can never bring deep, lasting happiness or peace (ananda). According to the Hindu sage Adi Shankaracharya - the world as we ordinarily understand it - is like a dream: fleeting and illusory. To be trapped in Samsara is a result of ignorance of the true nature of being.After many births, every person eventually becomes dissatisfied with the limited happiness that worldly pleasures can bring. At this point, a person begins to seek higher forms of happiness, which can be attained only through spiritual experience. When, after much spiritual practice (sadhana), a person finally realizes his or her own divine nature - i.e., realizes that the true "self" is the immortal soul rather than the body or the ego - all desires for the pleasures of the world will vanish, since they will seem insipid compared to spiritual ananda. When all desire has vanished, the person will not be reborn anymore.When the cycle of rebirth thus comes to an end, a person is said to have attained moksha, or salvation. While all schools of thought agree that moksha implies the cessation of worldly desires and freedom from the cycle of birth and death, the exact definition of salvation depends on individual beliefs. For example, followers of the Advaita Vedanta school (often associated with jnana yoga) believe that they will spend eternity absorbed in the perfect peace and happiness that comes with the realization that all existence is One (Brahman), and that the immortal soul is part of that existence. The followers of full or partial Dvaita schools ("dualistic" schools, such as bhakti yoga), on the other hand, perform their worship with the goal of spending eternity in a loka, (spiritual world or heaven), in the blessed company of the Supreme being (i.e Krishna or Vishnu for the Vaishnavas, Shiva for the Shaivites).In the beliefs of Eastern teachings like Hinduism and Buddhism, the Goddess Kali, the Mistress of life, death and rebirth, governs this wheel of becoming. This is the 'Wheel of Reincarnation'. Kali is considered the Great Mother that all must pass through to enter the afterworld. In the west we have come to fear her for she is often portrayed with skulls hanging from her wrists. Thus we have come to associate her with death and slaughter.The origin of samsara has to be searched for in Hinduism and its classic writings. It cannothave appeared earlier than the 9th century BC because the Vedic hymns, the most ancientwritings of Hinduism, do not mention it, proving that reincarnation wasn1t stated yet at the timeof their recording (13th to 10th century BC). We will therefore analyze the development of theconcept of immortality in the major Hindu writings, beginning with the Vedas and Brahmanas. Immortality in the Vedic hymns and the Brahmanas:At the time the Vedic hymns were written, the belief was that man continuesto exist after death as a whole person. Between man and gods was statedan absolute distinction, as in all other polytheistic religions of theworld. The concept of an impersonal fusion with the source of all existence,as later stated in the Upanishads, was far away. Here are some argumentsfor this thesis that result from the exegesis of the funeral ritual:1. As was the case in other ancient religions (for instance those ofEgypt and Mesopotamia), the deceased was buried with food and clothingnecessary in the afterlife. More than that, the belief of ancient Aryansin the preservation of personal identity after death led them to incineratethe dead husband together with his (living) wife and bow so that they couldaccompany him in the afterlife. In some parts of India this ritual wasperformed until the British colonization.2. Similar to the tradition of ancient Chinese religion, the departedrelatives constituted a holy hierarchy. The last one deceased was commemoratedindividually for a year after his departure and then included in the mortuaryofferings of the monthly shraddha ritual (Rig Veda 10,15,1-11).This ritual was necessary because the dead could influence negatively orpositively the life of the living (Rig Veda 10,15,6).3. According to Vedic anthropology, the components of human nature arethe physical body, ashu and manas. Ashu representsthe vital principle (different from personal attributes), and manasthe sum of psycho-mental faculties (mind, feeling and will). The beliefin the preservation of the three components after death is proved by thefact that the family addressed the departed relative in the burial ritualas a unitary person: "May nothing of your manas, nothing of theashu, nothing of the limbs, nothing of your vital fluid, nothing ofyour body here by any means be lost" (Atharva Veda 18,2,24).Yama, the god of death (mentioned in old Buddhist and Taoist scripturestoo) was sovereign over the souls of the dead and also the one who receivedthe offerings of the family for the benefit of the departed. In the RigVeda it is said about him: "Yama was the first to find us our abode, aplace that can never be taken away, where our ancient Fathers have departed;all who are born go there by that path, treading their own" (Rig Veda10,14,2). Divine justice was provided by the gods Yama, Soma and Indra,not by an impersonal law such as karma. One of their attributes was tocast the wicked into an eternal dark prison out of which they can neverescape (Rig Veda 7,104,3-17).The premise for reaping the reward of onešs life in a new earthly existence(instead of the heavenly afterlife) appeared in the Brahmana writings (9thcentury BC). They stated a limited heavenly immortality, depending on thedeeds and the quality of the sacrifices performed during life. After reapingthe reward for them, man has to face a second death in the heavenly realm(punarmrityu) and therefore return to an earthly existence. Theproper antidote against this situation came to be considered esoteric knowledge,attainable only during onešs earthly existence.Reincarnation in the UpanishadsThe Upanishads were the first writings to move the place of onešs "seconddeath" from the heavenly realm to this earthly world, considering its propersolution the knowledge of the atman-Brahman identity.Ignorance of onešs true self (atman or purusha) launcheskarma into action, the law of cause and effect in Eastern spirituality.Its first clear formulation can be found in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad(4,4,5): "According as one acts, according as one behaves, so does he become. Thedoer of good becomes good. The doer of evil becomes evil. One becomesvirtuous by virtuous action, bad by bad action." Reincarnation (samsara)is the practical way in which one reaps the fruits of his deeds. Therefore,the self is forced to enter a new material existence until all karmic debtis paid: "By means of thought, touch, sight and passions and by the abundanceof food and drink there are birth and development of the (embodied) self.According to his deeds, the embodied self assumes successively variousforms in various conditions" (Shvetashvatara Upanishad 5,11).There can be observed a fundamental mutation in the meaning of afterlifein comparison with the Vedic perspective. Abandoning the desire to havecommunion with the gods (Agni, Indra, etc.), attained as a result of bringinggood sacrifices, the Upanishads came to consider manšs final destiny tobe the impersonal fusion atman-Brahman, attained exclusively byesoteric knowledge. In this new context, karma and reincarnation are keyelements that will mark from now on all particular developments in Hinduism.Reincarnation in the Epics and PuranasIn the Bhagavad Gita, which is a part of the Mahabharata,reincarnation is clearly stated as a natural process of life that has tobe followed by any mortal. Krishna says:"Just as the self advances through childhood, youth and old agein its physical body, so it advances to another body after death. The wiseperson is not confused by this change called death (2,13). Just as thebody casts off worn out clothes and puts on new ones, so the infinite,immortal self casts off worn out bodies and enters into new ones (2,22)."In the Puranas the speculation on this subject is more substantial andtherefore specific destinies are figured for each kind of sin one performs:"The murderer of a Brahmin becomes consumptive, the killer of acow becomes hump-backed and imbecile, the murderer of a virgin becomesleprous, all three born as outcastes. The slayer of a woman and the destroyerof embryos becomes a savage full of diseases; who commits illicit intercourse,a eunuch; who goes with his teacheršs wife, disease-skinned. The eaterof flesh becomes very red; the drinker of intoxicants, one with discoloredteeth.... Who steals food becomes a rat; who steals grain becomes a locust...perfumes, a muskrat; honey, a gadfly; flesh, a vulture; and salt, an ant....Who commits unnatural vice becomes a village pig; who consorts with a Sudrawoman becomes a bull; who is passionate becomes a lustful horse.... Theseand other signs and births are seen to be the karma of the embodied, madeby themselves in this world. Thus the makers of bad karma, having experiencedthe tortures of hell, are reborn with the residues of their sins, in thesestated forms (Garuda Purana 5)."Similar specific punishments are figured by The Laws of Manu (12, 54-69).According to the Upanishads and Vedanta philosophy, the entity that reincarnatesis the impersonal self (atman). Atman lacks any personalelement, reason for which the use of the reflexive pronoun "self" is notquite right. Atman can be defined only through negating any personalattributes. Although it constitutes the existential substrata of manšistence, atman cannot be the carrier of onešs "spiritual progress",because it cannot record any data produced in the illusory domain of psycho-mentalexistence. The spiritual progress one accumulates toward realizing theatman-Brahmanidentity is recorded by karma, or rather by a minimal quantity of karmicdebt. According to onešs karma, at (re)birth the whole physical and mentalcomplex man consists of is reconstructed, all that pertains to the worldof illusions. At this level, the newly shaped person experiences the fruitsof "his" actions from previous lives and has to do his best to stop thevicious cycle avidya-karma-samsara.As a necessary aid in explaining the reincarnation mechanism, Vedantaadopted the concept of a subtle bodies (sukshma-sharira), attachedto atman as long as its bondage lasts, which actually records thekarmic debts and transmits them from one life to another. However, this"subtle body" cannot be a form of preserving onešs personal attributes,as it does not offer any actual data belonging to previous lives to thepresent conscious psycho-mental life. All this kind of data is erased,so that the facts recorded by the subtle body are a sum of hidden tendenciesor impressions (samskara) imprinted by karma. They will materializeunconsciously in the life of the individual, without giving him any hintfor understanding his actual condition. There is no possible form of transmittingconscious memory from one life to another, because its domain belongs tothe world of illusions and dissolves at death.In the Samkhya and Yoga darshanas, the entity that reincarnatesis purusha, an equivalent of atman. Given the absoluteduality stated between purusha and prakriti (substance),nothing that belongs to the psycho-mental life can pass from one life tothe other because it belongs to prakriti, which has a mere illusory relation with purusha. However, in the Yoga Sutra (2,12)is defined a similar mechanism of transmitting the effects of karma fromone life to another, as was the case in Vedanta. The reservoir of karmasis called karmashaya. It accompanies purusha from one lifeto another, representing the sum of impressions (samskara) thatcould not manifest themselves during the limits of a certain life. In noway can it be a kind of conscious memory, a sum of information that theperson could consciously use or a nucleus of personhood, because karmashayahas nothing in common with psycho-mental abilities. This deposit of karmamerely serves as a mechanism for adjusting the effects of karma in onešslife. It dictates in an impersonal and mechanical manner the new birth(jati), the length of life (ayu) and the experiences that must accompany it (bhoga).Reincarnation and Buddhism Wheel of LifeThe Buddha taught a concept of rebirth that was distinct from that of any Indian teacher contemporary with him. This concept was consistent with the common notion of a sequence of related lives stretching over a very long time, but was constrained by two core Buddhist concepts: anatta, that there is no irreducible atman or "self" tying these lives together; and anicca, that all compounded things are subject to dissolution, including all the components of the human person and personality. At the death of one personality, a new one comes into being, much as the flame of a dying candle can serve to light the flame of another.Since according to Buddhism there is no permanent and unchanging self (identify) there can be no transmigration in the strict sense. However, the Buddha himself referred to his past-lives. Buddhism teaches that what is reborn is not the person but that one moment gives rise to another and that that momentum continues, even after death. It is a more subtle concept than the usual notion of reincarnation, reflecting the sophisticated Buddhist concept of personality existing (even within one's lifetime) without a "soul".Buddhism never rejected samsara, the process of rebirth, but suggests that it occurs across six realms of beings. It is actually said to be very rare for a person to be reborn in the immediate next life as a human.However, Tibetan Buddhists do believe that a new-born child may be the rebirth of some important departed lama.The Buddha has this to say on rebirth. Kutadanta continued:"Thou believest, O Master, that beings are reborn; that they migrate in the evolution of life; and that subject to the law of karma we must reap what we sow. Yet thou teachest the non-existence of the soul! Thy disciples praise utter self-extinction as the highest bliss of Nirvana. If I am merely a combination of the sankharas, my existence will cease when I die. If I am merely a compound of sensations and ideas and desires, whither can I go at the dissolution of the body?"Said the Blessed One: "O Brahman, thou art religious and earnest. Thou art seriously concerned about thy soul. Yet is thy work in vain because thou art lacking in the one thing that is needful.""There is rebirth of character, but no transmigration of a self. Thy thought-forms reappear, but there is no egoentity transferred. The stanza uttered by a teacher is reborn in the scholar who repeats the word."Buddhism denies the reality of a permanent self, together with all things pertaining to the phenomenal world. The appearance of human existence is generated by a mere heap of five aggregates (skandha), which suffer from constant becoming and have a functional cause-effect relation: 1. the body (material form and senses), 2. sensation (product of the senses),3. perception (built on sensation), 4. mental activity 5. consciousness. All five elements, as well as the whole assembly they construct, are impermanent (anitya), undergo constant transformation and have no abiding principle or self. Man usually thinks that he has a self because of consciousness. But being itself in a constant process of becoming and change, consciousness cannot be identified with a self that is supposed to be permanent. Beyond the five aggregates nothing else can be found in man. However, something has to reincarnate, following the dictates of karma. When asked about the differences between people in the matters of life span, illnesses, wealth, etc., the Buddha taught:Men have, O young man, deeds as their very own, they are inheritors of deeds, deeds are their matrix, deeds are their kith and kin, and deeds are their support. It is deeds that classify men into high or low status. - (Majjhima Nikaya 3,202).If there is no real self, who inherits the deeds and reincarnates? Buddha answered that only karma is passing from one life to another, using the illustration of the light of a candle, which is derived from other candle without having a substance of its own. In the same manner there is rebirth without the transfer of a self from one body to another. The only link from one life to the next is of a causal nature. This is without doubt the weirdest definition of reincarnation ever stated. In the Garland Sutra (10) we read:According to what deeds are doneDo their resulting consequences come to be;Yet the doer has no existence:This is the Buddhašs teaching.The Yogachara and Vajrayana (Tibetan Buddhism) schools of Mahayana Buddhism consider that there actually is an entity that reincarnates, namely consciousness (one of the five aggregates), thus having the same function as the atman of Vedanta. The Tibetan Book of the Dead describes in detail the alleged experiences one has in the intermediary state between two incarnations, suggesting that the deceased keeps some personal attributes. Although it is not clear what actually survives after death in this case, there is mentioned a mental body that cannot be injured by the visions experienced by the deceased:When it happens that such a vision arises, do not be afraid! Donot feel terror! You have a mental body made of instincts; even if it iskilled or dismembered, it cannot die! Since in fact you are a natural formof voidness, anger at being injured is unnecessary! The Yama Lords of Deathare but arisen from the natural energy of your own awareness and reallylack all substantiality. Voidness cannot injure voidness! (Tibetan Bookof the Dead, 12)Whatever the condition of the deceased after death might be, any hypothetical personal nucleus vanishes right before birth, so there can be no psycho-mental element transmitted from one life to another. The newborn person doesnšt remember anything from previous lives or trips into the realm of intermediary state (bardo).The Dali Lama The 14th IncarnationYears ago a boy came forward who said he was the incarnationof the Dali Lama who is the head of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. He has incarnated many times throughout the centuriesreassuming his position from lifetime to lifetime.This tradition first began when this young boy first presentedas the reincarnation of the first Dali Lama. He was accepted by the priests by way of many signs. He proceeded to miracles of knowing,telepathy, mind reading and ceremony to prove that claim. This process has allowed subsequent Monks to develop a system to rediscovery successive incarnations of the Dali Lama and others of high spiritual development in each age.TaoismReincarnation is a teaching hard to find in the aphorisms of the Tao-teChing (6th century BC), so it must have appeared later in Taoism. Althoughit is not specified what reincarnates, something has to pass from one lifeto another. An important scripture of Taoism, the Chuang Tzu (4thcentury BC), states:Birth is not a beginning; death is not an end. There is existencewithout limitation; there is continuity without a starting point.Existence without limitation is space. Continuity without a startingpoint is time. There is birth, there is death, there is issuingforth, there is entering in. That through which one passes in andout without seeing its form, that is the Portal of God (Chuang Tzu)Western Religions and TraditionsClassical Greek philosophyAmong the ancient Greeks, Socrates, Pythagoras, and Plato may be numbered among those who made reincarnation an integral part of their teachings. At the end of his life, Socrates said, "I am confident that there truly is such a thing as living again, and that the living spring from the dead." Pythagoras claimed he could remember his past lives, and Plato presented detailed accounts of reincarnation in his major works. In the Hermetica, a Graeco-Egyptian series of writings on cosmology and spirituality attributed to Hermes Trismegistus - Thoth the doctrine of reincarnation is also central.Plato stated the pre-existence of the soul in a celestial world and its fall into a human body due to sin. In order to be liberated from its bondage and return to a state of pure being, the soul needs to be purified through reincarnation. In stating these beliefs Plato was strongly influencedby the earlier philosophical schools of Orphism and Pythagoreanism. The first important Greek philosophical system that adopted a similar view on reincarnation to Hinduism was Neo-Platonism, born in the 3rd century AD, under certain Eastern influences.JudaismWhile ancient Greek philosophers like Plato and Socrates attempted to prove the existence of reincarnation through philosophical proofs, Jewish mystics who accepted this idea did not. Rather, they offered explanations of why reincarnation would solve otherwise intractable problems of theodicy (how to reconcile the existence of evil with the premise of a good God).The idea of reincarnation, called gilgul, became popular in folk belief, and is found in much Yiddish literature among Ashkenazi Jews. Among a few kabbalists, it was posited that some human souls could end up being reincarnated into non-human bodies. These ideas were found in a number of Kabbalistic works from the 1200s, and also among many mystics in the late 1500s. The idea of reincarnation as animals is well known in Hasidic Judaism in particular.Among well known Rabbis who rejected the idea of reincarnation are the Saadia Gaon, Hasdai Crescas, Yedayah Bedershi (early 14th century), Joseph Albo, Abraham ibn Daud, the Rosh and Leon de Modena. The Saadia Gaon, in Emunoth ve-Deoth, concludes Section vi with a refutation of the doctrine of metempsychosis (reincarnation). While refuting reincarnation, the Saadia Gaon states that Jews who hold to reincarnation have adopted non-Jewish beliefs. Crescas writes that if reincarnation was real, people should remember details of their previous lives.While many Jews today do not believe in reincarnation, the belief is common in Orthodox Judaism. Most Orthodox siddurim (prayerbooks) have a prayer asking for forgiveness for one's sins that one may have committed in this gilgul or a previous one.The Kabala, the ancient mystical teachings of the Jewish faith is filled with references to reincarnation that are thousands of years old. GnosticismMany Gnostic groups believed in reincarnation. For them, reincarnation was a negative concept: Gnostics believed that the material body was evil, and that they would be better off if they could eventually avoid having their 'good' souls reincarnated in 'evil' bodies.Christianity, The Bible and Reincarnation Some Christian denominations reject reincarnation mainly because they consider the theory to challenge a basic tenet of their interpretation of Christianity. Many churches do not directly address the issue and leave the matter open to individual interpretation due to the few biblical references which survived the purging of texts considered to be heretical in the founding years of Christianity as a church. Most of the philosophies associated with the theory of reincarnation focus on "working" or "learning" through various lifetimes to achieve some sort of higher understanding or state of "goodness" before salvation is granted or acquired. Basic to Roman Catholicism is the doctrine that humans can never achieve the perfection God requires and the only "way out" is total and complete forgiveness accomplished through the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross wherein He took the sins of mankind. There seems to be evidence however that some of the earliest Christian sects such as the Sethians and followers of the Gnostic Church of Valentinus believed in reincarnation, and they were persecuted by the Romans for this.A number of Evangelical and (in the USA) Fundamentalist Christian groups have denounced any belief in reincarnation as heretical, and explained any phenomena suggestive of it as deceptions of the devil. Although the Bible never mentions the word reincarnation, there are several passages through New Testament that Orthodox Christians interpret as openly rejecting reincarnation or the possibility of any return or contact with this world for the souls in Heaven or Hell (see 9:27 and Luke 16:20-31)The Bible contains passages in the New Testament that seem to refer to reincarnation. In Matthew 11:10-14and 17:10-13, Jesus says that John the Baptist is the prophet Elijah who had lived centuries before, and he does not appear to be speaking metaphorically.There are various contemporary attempts to entwine Christianity and reincarnation. Geddes Macgregor, wrote a book called Reincarnation in Christianity : A New Vision of Rebirth in Christian Thought. And Rudolf Steiner wrote Christianity as Mystical Fact.Several Christian denominations which support reincarnation include the Liberal Catholic Church, Unity Church, The Christian Spiritualist Movement, the Rosicrucian Fellowship and the Lectorium Rosicrucianum. The Medieval heretical sect known variously as the Cathars or Albigensians who flourished in the Languedoc believed in Reincarnation, seeing each soul as a fallen angel born again and again into the world of Matter created by Lucibel (Lucifer). Only through a Gnostic 'Rebirth' in the Holy Spirit through Christ could the soul escape this process of successive existences and return to God.Ancient RomeReincarnation was a basic tenant of the Catholic church until the fourthcentury AD when the Roman Emperor Constantine decided to tailor it to his specifications. Roman, having been the dominant military leader was on the verge of change. The Christians had been a cult that had been persecutedfor over 300 years. That is when they were throwing them to the lions.The ancient religions of the Gods were slowly disappearing, since the extraterrestrial contact that had caused them in the first place was no longer happening. Gaul had broken away from the Empire. Rome saw it's power slipping and the rise of another star coming.The Roman Emperor Constantine married his way into power. His wife mysteriously disappeared. His second wife was his ticket to the throne.Then he had her killed. His third wife was a prostitute who had risen to thethrone in the same diabolical ways Constantine had and who lived to havea devastating effect on the belief in reincarnation. She feared that her sins would follow from lifetime to lifetime infuriated her.She did not like the idea of Karma. Her life was filled with lies andtreachery. She was not interested in advocated any religion that would demote her in another life. Thus she persuaded Emperor Constantine to remove reincarnation from Christianity.Constantine, for all reports was vain and fearful for his many sins.He considered himself on one hand to be the incarnation of the Gods Apollo, Mytha, Jupiter, and Christ. On the other hand hewas afraid that when he died he would anger these Gods in heaven. He was the first Roman Emperor to support complete religiousfreedom of all faiths so that when he got to heaven no God would want to take vengeance on him personally. Norse MythologyReincarnation also appears in Norse mythology, in the Poetic Edda. The editor of the Poetic Edda says that Helgi Hjorvarosson and his mistress, the valkyrie Svafa, whose love story is told in the Helgakvioa Hjörvarossonar, were reborn as Helgi Hundingsbane and the valkyrie Sigrún. Helgi and Sigrun's love story is the matter of a part of the Volsunga saga and the lays Helgakvioa Hundingsbana I and II. They were reborn a second time as Helgi Haddingjaskati and the valkyrie Kara, but unfortunately their story, Káruljoo, only survives in a probably modified form in the Hromundar saga Gripssonar.The belief in reincarnation was probably commonplace among the Vikings since the annotator of the Poetic Edda wrote that people formerly used to believe in it, but that it was in his (Christian) time considered "old wife's folly".Native AmericanReincarnation is an intrinsic part of many Native American and Inuit traditions. In the now heavily Christian Polar North (now mainly parts of Greenland and Nunavut), the concept of reincarnation is enshrined in the Inuit language. The survival of the concept of reincarnation applies across these nations in varying degrees of integrity, as these countries are now sandwiched between Native and European traditions. Ancient Shamans and tribal groups worldwide have long believed that a traumatic experience within the realm of our inner selves can serve as a catalyst for the truth seeker to move beyond the illusions of the little self and enter the unity of the greater whole. The Skull: By stripping away the illusions of society and the egoic structure of the little self one experiences an inner death. Kali's skulls were the symbol of those who would risk this personal death and transformation only to be reborn in the image of the greater self. Thus she sees through us to our essential core as we pass through the doorway of life, death, and rebirth.Transmigration of the Soul Transmigration of the soul (sometimes given simply as Transmigration) is a philosophy of reincarnation incorporating the specific belief that after death, the soul of a living being is then transferred (or transmigrates) into another living form and thus takes birth again.The philosophy of transmigration is often connected with a belief that the karma (or, the actions) of the soul in one life (or, more generally, a series of past lives) determines the future existence. It is a belief found within Hindu traditions (such as Yoga, Vaishnavism, and Jainism), Greek philosophy, animism, theosophy, anthroposophy, Wicca, and other theological systems, including Kabballa and a number of minority Christian groups.Some psychic mediums of a variety of religious persuasions (from Wiccan all the way to Christian) and some Spiritualists believe in transmigration of the soul but hold that reincarnation is an anomaly if it occurs at all.Transmigration in Hinduism and BuddhismAs the believed nature of the soul (jiva or atman) has a significant impact on any philosophy concerning transmigration, there are a number of significant differences between both Hindu and Buddhist versions as well as minor differences within the varied Hindu and Buddhist traditions themselves. In general, the Hindu sense is different from the Buddhist sense because, in Hinduism, a soul is both immutable and eternal, but in many schools of Buddhism the soul is believed to be susceptible to change, and thus the character of a soul from a previous life is imprinted on the new one."Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be. As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change". (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, texts 12-13)Platonism, transmigration, and "innate knowledge"The transmigration of souls, or metempsychosis, is a concept which underpins Plato's ideas concerning innate knowledge. Plato may have incorporated this concept from two Greek religious groups that preceded him: the Pythagoreans or the Orphics. Plato taught that "all learning is but recollection" because we have innate knowledge of universal ideas (e.g., everywhere, a triangle has 3 sides - hence its universality) from the past experiences of our immortal soul. This soul, according to Platonic thought, once separated from the body, spends an indeterminate amount of time in "formland" and then assumes another body. Therefore, according to Plato, we need only recall our buried memories to manifest innate knowledge.Contemporary PerspectivesDuring the Renaissance, a new flowering of public interest in reincarnation occurred. One of the prominent figures in the revival was Italy's leading philosopher and poet Giordano Bruno, who was ultimately sentenced to be burned at the stake by the Inquisition because of his teachings about reincarnation.During the classical period of German literature metempsychosis attracted much attention: Goethe played with the idea, and it was taken up more seriously by Lessing, who borrowed it from Charles Bonnet, and by Herder. It has been mentioned with respect by Hume and by Schopenhauer.SpiritismReincarnation is the core of the doctrine of Spiritism, a tolerant religious movement started in France in 1857. According to Spiritists souls will reincarnate to perfect themselves toward communion with God. The evolution of the soul is one of the main laws of the universe; it cannot be truly stopped, only delayed. Spirits have new chances to learn and evolve by reincarnating into new bodies. Forgetfulness of the past, including previous lives, is a gift through which souls get a chance to overcome their past, paying their debts to their enemies and themselves, and acquiring newer experiences for the future.AnthroposophyReincarnation plays an important role in the ideas of Anthroposophy, a spiritual movement founded by Rudolf Steiner. Steiner described the human soul as gaining new experiences in every epoch and in a variety of races or nations. The unique personality, with its weaknesses and abilities, is not simply a reflection of the body's genetic heritage. Though Steiner described the incarnating soul as searching for and even preparing a familial lineage supportive of its future life, a person's character is also determined by his or her past lives.Anthroposophy describes the present as being formed by a tension between the past and the future. Both influence our present destiny; there are events that occur due to our past, but there are also events that occur to prepare us rightly for the future. Between these two, there is space for human free will; we create our destiny, not only live it out, just as we build a house in which we then choose to live.Anthroposophy has developed various spiritual exercises that are intended to develop the capacity to discern past lives and the deeper nature of the human being. In addition, Steiner investigated the karmic relationships of many historical individuals, from Karl Marx to Julian the Apostate.TheosophyModern theosophy, which draws its inspiration from India, has taken reincarnation as a cardinal tenet; it is, according to a recent theosophical writer, "the master-key to modern problems," including heredity.ScientologyThe Church of Scientology, founded by L. Ron Hubbard accepts past lives and holds that all beings are immortal, although in a variety of levels of awareness. The motto of their fraternal religious order Sea Organization is "Revenimus" or "We Come Back". Scientology does not use the word "reincarnation" to describe its beliefs, noting that: "The common definition of reincarnation has been altered from its original meaning. The word has come to mean 'to be born again in different life forms' whereas its actual definition is 'to be born again into the flesh of another body.' Scientology ascribes to this latter, original definition of reincarnation." The first writings in Scientology regarding past lives date from around 1951 and slightly earlier. In 1960, Hubbard wrote a book on past lives entitled Have You Lived Before This Life. In 1968 he wrote Mission Into Time, a report on a five-week sailing expedition to Sardinia, Sicily and Carthage to see if specific evidence could be found to substantiate L. Ron Hubbard's recall of incidents in his own past, centuries ago.Scientology extends the concept of past lives to what is effectively eternity. In this context, past lives take place not only prior to Earth but also in non-Earth civilizations, and even a primordial universe, where conditions and rules of existence can be different.Edgar CayceAmerican mystic Edgar Cayce taught reality of reincarnation and karma, but as instruments of a loving God rather than blind natural laws. Its purpose is to teach us certain spiritual lessons. Animals are said to have undifferentiated, "group" souls rather than individuality and consciousness. Once the soul evolves through a succession of animal incarnations and achieves human status, it is not then reborn in animal form. Cayce's view arguably incorporates Theosophical teachings on spiritual evolution.Seth And Jane Robertsn the series of books supposedly dictated to the medium Jane Roberts, "Seth" talks about reincarnation and life after death. Seth believed that time and space are basically illusions. Consistent with this view, Seth argues that only parts of each person incarnate (appear in physical reality). This last argument is part of Seth's view that man is a multi-dimensional entity simultaneously alive in many contexts.Famous PeopleWhen seeing yourself as someone famous, it is possible you are playing that role in a parallel grid reality, but it is as likely you have matched your grid frequency signature with that person's and believe you are one and the same. You may experience it in this reality, while they are totally oblivious to your existence here.Henry Ford was convinced he had lived before, most recently as a soldier killed at the battle of Gettysburg. A quote from the San Francisco Examiner from August 26, 1928 described Ford's beliefs:"I adopted the theory of Reincarnation when I was twenty six. Religion offered nothing to the point. Even work could not give me complete satisfaction. Work is futile if we cannot utilise the experience we collect in one life in the next. When I discovered Reincarnation it was as if I had found a universal plan I realised that there was a chance to work out my ideas. Time was no longer limited. I was no longer a slave to the hands of the clock. Genius is experience. Some seem to think that it is a gift or talent, but it is the fruit of long experience in many lives. Some are older souls than others, and so they know more. The discovery of Reincarnation put my mind at ease. If you preserve a record of this conversation, write it so that it puts menšs minds at ease. I would like to communicate to others the calmness that the long view of life gives to us."Famous World War II General George Patton was a staunch believer in reincarnation and, along with many other members of his family, often claimed to have seen vivid, lifelike visions of his ancestors. In particular, Patton believed he was a reincarnation of Carthaginian General Hannibal as well as the reincarnation of Julius Ceasar. Sadam Hussein believed he was the reincarnation of the ancient Babylonian King Nebakanether. Some of the musical great of the last few centuries leave us wondering about reincarnation.Mozart was composing entire symphonies by the time he was six years old. Beethoven and Bach were similar.Genius in almost every art form has emerged at almost unbelievable ages showing a proclivity for talent far beyond any mortal logic.The New Age MovementThere are people who say they remember their past lives and use that knowledge to help them with their current lives; the belief in this kind of occurrence is central to the New Age movement. Some of the people who remember, say they simply remember without any effort on their part. They simply "see" previous times and see themselves interacting with others, occasionally even different creatures besides people themselves.ResearchResearch indicates that a person's previous (parallel) incarnations can apparently shape certain aspects of their emotional dispositions as well as their physical body. For example Burmese children who now remember previous lifetimes as British or American air force pilots shot down over Burma during World War II. All of them have fairer hair and complexions than their darker colored siblings. Some people still bear marks or scares from other lifetimes. Some people have fears and phobias as results of past life experiences. It is as if the template of the modern body remembered the experiences of the former body and reformed a new body with the old problems and physical markings.Thomas Huxley, the famous English biologist, thought that reincarnation was a plausible idea and discussed it in his book Evolution and Ethics and other Essays. The most detailed collections of personal reports in favor of reincarnation have been published by Professor Ian Stevenson, from the University of Virginia, in books such as Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation.Stevenson spent over 40 years devoted to the study of children who have apparently spoken about a past life. In each case, Professor Stevenson methodically documented the child's statements. Then he identified the deceased person the child allegedly identified with, and verified the facts of the deceased person's life that matched the child's memory. He also matched birthmarks and birth defects to wounds and scars on the deceased, verified by medical records such as autopsy photographs.In a fairly typical case, a boy in Beirut spoke of being a 25-year-old mechanic, thrown to his death from a speeding car on a beach road. According to multiple witnesses, the boy provided the name of the driver, the exact location of the crash, the names of the mechanic's sisters and parents and cousins, and the people he went hunting with -- all of which turned out to match the life of a man who had died several years before the boy was born, and who had no apparent connection to the boy's family.Stevenson believed that his strict methods ruled out all possible "normal" explanations for the childšs memories. However, it should be noted that a significant majority of Professor Stevenson's reported cases of reincarnation originate in Eastern societies, where dominant religions often permit the concept of reincarnation.There are many people who have investigated reincarnation and come to the conclusion that it is a legitimate phenomenon, such as Peter Ramster, Dr. Brian Weiss, Dr. Walter Semkiw, and others, but their work is generally ignored by the scientific community. Professor Stevenson, in contrast, published dozens of papers in peer-reviewed journals.Some scientists, such as Paul Edwards, have analyzed many of these accounts. In every case they apparently found that further research into the individuals involved provides sufficient background to weaken the conclusion that these cases are credible examples of reincarnation. Philosophers like Robert Almeder, having analyzed the criticisms of Edwards and others, suggest that the gist of these arguments can be summarized as "we all know it can't possibly be real, so therefore it isn't real" - an argument from lack of imagination.The most obvious objection to reincarnation is that there is no evidence of a physical process by which a personality could survive death and travel to another body, and researchers such as Professor Stevenson recognize this limitation. Another fundamental objection is that most people simply do not remember previous lives, although it could be argued that only some, but not all, people reincarnate. Certainly the vast majority of cases investigated at the University of Virginia involved people who had met some sort of violent or untimely death.Some skeptics explain that claims of evidence for reincarnation originate from selective thinking and the psychological phenomena of false memories that often result from one's own belief system and basic fears, and thus cannot be counted as empirical evidence. But other skeptics, such as Dr Carl Sagan, see the need for more reincarnation research.  Reality is a consciousness and energy which create grids or a matrix in which we experience in the hologram of time and emotion. Your focused awareness allows you to experience in many grids simultaneously. Reality is multidimensional, souls existing in many grid programs of exerience simultaneously, for in truth, like the magic and electromagnetic energies of our exerience here, linear time is projected illusion created by thought consciousness, called 'source.'There are many theories about reincarnation, past lives, deja vu, parallel experiences, genetic memories (science has theorized that we store our ancestor's memories in our DNA), grid experiences, connecting with the frequency signature of someone in another time line and experiencing as a past life.As I see it, there is no reincarnation because everything is in the NOW. It is all happening at one time, and has a beginning and an end. The duality of our experience allows to view time as linear, but in truth each soul is having different experiences simultaneously, the Slinky Effect. If you meditate, you understand that once you move your consciousness beyond third dimension, you are moving faster than the speed of light, where time does not exist. The same hold true in dream time and out of body experiences.Belief in reincarnation allows one to feel that the soul is immortal, which it is. When it ceases to exist in the physical, it will return in another body in a future timeline. Many people find this as a source of great comfort. Sometimes they see the next life as a way to rectify wrongful deeds committed in this or a prior lifetime. It seems plausible that when we think we are having past life memories, we are merely tapping into the information from the grid linked to other experiences our soul is having in other grid programs, or the DNA genetic race memories of other people in other grids linked to your heritage. Our souls carry DNA memories and 'time capsules' that activate when w are ready and help us move along on our spiritual mission to remember who we are as sparks of light. During hypnosis, your DNA encoded memories can give you memories of others in your bloodline. You might consider these genetically encoded memories, your past lives.Hypnosis can take you to parallel realities. Reality is very fluid, more so now as our consciousness is vibrating faster as we evolve, return to our state of spirit. Learning about a 'past life' can help you with emotional issues that you are trying to work through, as the souls struggle to free themselves from the electromagnetic pull of third dimension. If you are hypnotized you will go to a place where you will be shown something that will help you release your issues, or find another aspect of your soul. You may see another soul experience in which those detrimental to you here, are people you are hurting, the 'karmic wheel', what goes around comes around, whatever it takes to release the burden so your soul can be free.In truth we are all linked, we are all one, one soul, one experience, many realities to see and understand it in the alchemy of time and consciousness. Do we chose our experiences? No one can prove it either way, but I personally do not believe so. I feel it is random experience. 12 Around 1Sacred GeometryZero PointRelated LinksIn the News ...Found: An Ancient Monument to the Soul New York Times - November 18, 2008  In a mountainous kingdom in what is now southeastern Turkey, there lived in the eighth century B.C. a royal official, Kuttamuwa, who oversaw the completion of an inscribed stone monument, or stele, to be erected upon his death. The words instructed mourners to commemorate his life and afterlife with feasts 'for my soul that is in this stele.' University of Chicago archaeologists who made the discovery last summer in ruins of a walled city near the Syrian border said the stele provided the first written evidence that the people in this region held to the religious concept of the soul apart from the body. By contrast, Semitic contemporaries, including the Israelites, believed that the body and soul were inseparable, which for them made cremation unthinkable, as noted in the Bible. Circumstantial evidence, archaeologists said, indicated that the people at Samšal, the ancient city, practiced cremation. The site is known today as Zincirli (pronounced ZIN-jeer-lee)......Clinical death is one of the biggest mysteries that modern science still cannot solve Pravda - March 22, 2005Some people say they remember their previous lives and can describe what they saw and did when they were having other bodies hundreds or thousands of years ago. Vladimir Zatovka, head of the reanimation department in the Kaliningrad regional hospital revealed many astonishing facts about life and death when journalists interviewed him several years ago. The experienced doctor believes that clinical death is one of the biggest mysteries that modern science still cannot solve. Indeed, patients who revive after clinical death say they get some mysterious information and learn new things. Journalists were slightly shocked to hear the doctor saying the soul actually exists and lives its individual life. ....PAST LIVESWHAT IS A SOUL?KARMAPAST LIFE REGRESSIONPSYCHIC AND SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT INDEXALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ALL FILES CRYSTALINKS MAIN PAGECRYSTALINKS MAILING LIST, NEWSLETTER, UPDATESPSYCHIC READING WITH ELLIE  Enter your search terms Submit search form Search Crystalinks Web |
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