Rebirth
Introduction
The theory of rebirth is central to Hinduism. Rebirth represents the reaction in the action-reaction pair of Karma and Rebirth. Hindu philosophy claims that the form each man is born with and the life he lives is in direct relation to his past karma. This concept alienates Hinduism from the other main religions, Christianity and Islam. These religions believe in one life and after death either the person goes to heaven or hell based on his deeds. There are many things that are left unanswered if the concept of rebirth is not accepted. This section brings out these questions and explains the concept to rebirth as understood from the hindu texts.
The concept of Rebirth
To understand rebirth one must first understand the concepts of the soul and the relation of the soul to the supreme being the "brahman".
The supreme being is considered to be the sum total of all the energies in the cosmos and the soul is a infinitisimally small fragment of this energy.
The properties of the soul, and hence the Brahman, is that it can neither be created nor destroyed. This fact is justified by the following quotes from the Bhagavad Gita.
Chapter 2
Text 20
na jayate mriyate va kadacin
nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah
ajo nityah sasvato 'yam purano
na hanyate hanyamane sarire
TRANSLATION
For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into
being, does
not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-e
xisting and
primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.
Text 23
nainam chindanti sastrani
nainam dahati pavakah
na cainam kledayanty apo
na sosayati marutah
TRANSLATION
The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moist
ened by
water, nor withered by the wind.
This is nothing but the famous conservation of mass and energy, that scientists so often speak of!
Every living entity right from amoeba to man has a soul. So all matter in the cosmos is a representation of a certain amount of energy. Leading us to the much acclaimed Einstein's energy-mass conversion(E = MC^2).
Each soul is supposed to initially exist in the energy state, pass through a series of matter states(living entities) and finally complete the cycle by reverting to its energy state.
This loop of matter energy interconversions, ensures the stability of the entire cosmos in which matter and energy coexist in equilibrium.
It is the series of material states that we as men are interested in.
The series begins with the smallest of living organisms, whatever they may be. It then proceeds to higher and higher organisms till it reaches the state - Man.
The soul has no choice in its movement from the smallest living being to man. This is something like a routine and just keeps going on. The evident reason is that the concept of karma doesn't apply to other living entities. Their actions are totally dependent on their instincts and they cause no harm willfully. It is only justified that they are not punished for their acts however hedious they may be. And so they always get a promotion.
However these concessions are revoked the moment the soul takes the form of man. Here he has the right to think and act accordingly. This phase is like a junction in the material transit of the soul. The soul is given the previledged option to proceed further or recede. If the latter is chosen, the soul reenters the animal world and then comes back to this junction. This is like an infinite loop which prevents the final goal of the soul to reenter its energy state.
If the soul wisely decides otherwise then the promotion is dependent on the effort put in. The soul climbs the human ladder and finally regains its energy state.
This is a broad outline of the concept of rebirth. So your present life and form are based on the sum total of all the good and bad deeds that you have performed in your previous human lives. What is the form that you receive when you step on the first rung of the human ladder? This can be considered to be some sort of a default value that initiates you into the human form. This would at least give you all the attributes that distinguishes man from animals.
The concept of Nirvana or Moksha just represent the souls liberation from this myriad of life forms to the energy state.
This is the cycle that is often reffered to as the balance maintained by nature.
Need for the concept of rebirth
Now that we have understood the essence of rebirth, let try to understand the need for rebirth in the first place.
The following are some of the intriuging questions that have baffled philosophers of the western world for ages.
1. Why in the first place was I born?
2. Why is it that children are born different?
3. Why are many born with deformities?
4. Why do some people who do multiple crimes get away and others who are innocent get convicted?
5. Why is there so such difference in the efforts people put in and the corresponding rewards they receive?
These questions are just to give you an idea of the need for the concept of rebirth. Ofcourse you can come up with millions of such unanswered and often irritating questions.
caution!!
I would advice the reader to read the following paragraph with a scientific temperament and not consider this to be an attack on a particular religion.
In Cristianity the concept of rebirth doesn't exist. They believe in the day of judgement when the person based on his deeds is classified as good or bad and sent to heaven or hell respectively.
Jesus Christ in Christianity is considered to be very benovelent. If this be true. Why should a child be born lame and in poverty and another be born healthy and in an affluent family. Everyone will accept that the first child has more chances of going in the wrong path due to lack of education and poverty. The first child also suffers terribly because it is lame and all this is for no fault of the child.
If god is really that benovelent why then this disparity!!
Further the person isn't given another chance to prove himself. The results of the day of judgement are on two extremes. Jesus being all forgiving, should probably take every dead to heaven, irrespective of their sins. How would god discriminate between a person who has done some bad deeds and another who is the devil himself?
Those who have dealt with pattern classification will appreciate that the decision surface for classification as good or bad is highly obscure and totally illogical. This is like a two class problem and the user has no choice but to classify the individual into either of the classes, however remote he be from the classes themselves.
Hinduism solves this problem by increasing the number of classes to such an extent that you almost have an entire continuum to deal with. Now more accurate classification can be achieved. Sorry for the rather neural and fuzzy sounding discussion, but this is again evidence to show the scientific temperament of the religion Hinduism.
You have come a long way to attain this human form and it should be your primary duty to ensure that you still stay on the human ladder. Better still if you can climb a few more rungs of the ladder!
Give this some thought and I am sure you would feel more enlightened!
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