Reincarnation: More Questions & Answers

[Gauracandra 1]

This week’s Srila Siddhasvarupananda television program is a question and answer session on reincarnation.

 

Srila Siddhaswarupananda: This will be our concluding program on reincarnation. I know that in this seminar we haven’t covered all aspects of this topic since it is a very big subject. But if any of you have questions please ask them.

 

Audience Member: I was wondering about ghosts.

 

Srila Siddhaswarupananda: A ghost is a person like you except they only have a subtle material body and lack a gross physical body. A person is neither the gross nor subtle material body, but the spirit soul within. Why a person becomes a ghost is also a long subject. A person may become a ghost if they commit suicide or die on drugs. If they die before their body was meant to die then they will hover around in a subtle material body until a new body is ready for them. Ghosts still have material desires but have no facility to engage those desires. They want to taste but have no tongue. Because of this they will often try to inhabit the bodies of others in order to experience this enjoyment.

 

Audience Member: If a person experiences a dream in this life does that mean it comes from another life? Also, what about déjà vu?

 

Srila Siddhaswarupananda: Dreams are a glimpse of past experiences. [He then quotes a verse from Srimad Bhagavatam, the meaning of which is that what we imagine, we are only able to imagine because we have experienced it before]. Lets say you have a song in your mind, perhaps some rock & roll song, or some sales jingle. The only way it got there is by you having experienced it. A lot of people have dreams of flying over mountains and valleys. The feeling is so real. You are in fact flying. How can you experience this? It is possible because you have flown before. Perhaps you were a bird. You re-experience something you have engaged in before. Your mind may also combine different experiences. You may have experienced gold, and seen a mountain, and then in a dream you see a gold mountain. This is also based on experience.

 

Audience Member: I understand how higher forms of life can go down to lower forms, but how do lower forms rise to higher forms of life?

 

Srila Siddhaswarupananda: In the human form of life man has a particular consciousness and as such is responsible for his actions. But not every species of life is responsible for their actions. Animals simply are pulled by the modes of material nature. They are given certain kinds of bodies to engage in various activities. There is an automatic progression for these animals to go from lower to higher material bodies. There are then different animals that act as jumping off points to human life. From the monkey one can take a human form in the mode of ignorance. From the lion one can take a human form in the mode of passion. And from the cow one can take on a human form in the mode of goodness.

 

But the human form is the take off point. With this form, we are given full facility to inquire into the absolute truth. Who am I? Why am I here? What is my relationship with God? The human form is judged based on his actions. But even if you don’t succeed in transcending the wheel of birth and death, still you can take to the human form of life again. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna is asked about what happens to the unsuccessful transcendentalist. Such a person will be born into a very wealthy family, or into another family of transcendentalists. And from there they have another chance to inquire into the absolute truth.

 

Earlier in the seminar we discussed how material desires and karmic reaction lead to reincarnation. However, if you develop love for God you will break out of this cycle. God will give you what you want. There is no way we can discuss the whole subject of Bhakti yoga in this short period of time. But I will briefly summarize.

 

If you have material desires then you need to be purified. If you are dirty, you can’t just scrub the dirt and hope to get clean. You need a cleansing agent. For a person whose heart is covered by material attachments, whose dormant love for God is covered, the cleansing agent is God Himself. If you can make a connection with Him then you will be purified. He descends in this world in His Holy Names (this is the primary method), in the deity form, in scripture, and through his teachers. Since He is all pure He is all purifying. If you hear the names of God, sing the names of God, meditate on the form of God, hear from His servants, and place your whole body in connection with God, then you will cultivate this love for God. Our institute, the Science of Identity, exists for this purpose, to help you cultivate love for God. That is why we are putting on these television seminars.

 

Thank you very much.