Hindu philosophy speaks of rebirth. The Infinite created from itself millions of souls and set them free in the Universe in order for these souls to enjoy freedom and varied experiences and then return to the Source of Peace and Bliss. These souls were covered by the five elements, the five senses, five organs of action and the three gunas of satwa, rajas and tamas. As the soul undergoes experiences, it gets covered by layers of negativity and desires. The soul dons on many bodies and undergoes a variety of experiences. It evolves till it reaches the state of pristine purity and merges with the Light. Just as we discard old and torn clothes and wear new ones, the soul also discards sick and aged bodies and dons new ones. One of the great Jagad Gurus of India has explained rebirth in a very logical manner in the example given below:
His Holiness JagadGuru Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi, was Swami of Kanchi Kamakoti Math. He was called Mahaperiyavaal (a great man of towering proportions) due to his wisdom, patience, calmness and kindness. Mahaperiyavaal was an enlightened being and a man of God. He received visitors from all over the world and cleared and clarified the doubts of the seekers.
Once, a foreigner who was interested in Hindu philosophy was waiting for the darshan of Mahaperiyavaal. He had a very important doubt to clarify with the JagadGuru. Shortly, he was called in and without wasting time he set out his doubt to the JagadGuru: Swamiji, I understand all the concepts of Hinduism and respect them. But there is a particular one about which I have doubts. You believe that the same soul is born again and again. The same soul appears in different bodies according to the accumulation of paapa(wrong deeds) and punya (good deeds) which are carried forward to the next birth. The soul takes on a body, background and personal qualities as per the good and bad deeds of the past. Can you make me comfortable on this aspect? In our religion we are taught that we reap the rewards for whatever we do in this birth itself. If we are good and honest and God is pleased with us and we go to heaven and enjoy its benefits and if we are dishonest, we are punished by Him by being sent to Hell and suffer miseries there.
At this point the Mahaperiyavaal interrupted him. He asked if his visitor had a car and if he could do him a favour of collecting some statistical information within Kanchipuram using his vehicle. The visitor readily agreed but at the same time wondered why his question was not answered spontaneously. He was directed to visit ten maternity centres within Kanchipuram and collect data on the children born within the last two days. He had to collect information regarding the child’s gender, health conditions, parents name and status, education qualification and time of birth. He was given two days to do the work.
The visitor left immediately and went about completing the task given to him. He collected the required information and rushed back the same evening to see the Mahaperiyavaal. He presented the exact statistics: 15 children born in 10 hospitals, 8 female and 7 male out of which 3 children had malnutrition defects, 2 were the first child of very wealthy parents and born in luxury hospitals while 4 were children of laborers who already had several children.
Mahaperiyavaal smiled and asked the visitor few questions: These children are only a day or two old. Do you think they have been honest or dishonest or earned paapa or punya in these two days? They are too young to even recognize their own mothers. They have definitely not done wrong or good deeds.
As per the concepts given by you, all these children should be in the same status and living in same manner. But it is not so. Some are ill, some are healthy. Some are born to rich parents and others to poor parents. Remember, all these children are born with a few hours gap from each other in the same longitude and latitude and so their horoscopes would be almost identical. The horoscopes are surely not to blame!
The visitor was dumbfounded. He had no answer and now could clearly understand the concept of rebirth and past karmas. All the children whom he had visited and checked on were born according to their past deeds or misdeeds and every child had a different status and position in life.
The purpose of rebirth is to give new opportunities for the soul to cleanse and purify the layers of desires and negativity that cover it. We take endless number of births for this purpose. Let us utilize the time given to us in this birth in the right manner by doing the SitaRam Mantra, meditation and following the teachings of the Guru so that we reach this state of pristine purity and merge with the Light.
