On reincarnation

Oasis

The late Sathya Sai Baba was once asked about crises in the different parts of the globe and why he was not doing something about it. Sri Ramana Maharishi was asked a similar question at the height of the Korean war. Sri Ramana replied: “How do you know I am not doing something about it? Just because I do not go around giving speeches and drawing attention to myself, does not mean I am inactive.” It reminds us of a line from the Bhagavad Gita: “The wise man is active in inaction and inactive in action’.

Sai Baba replied by saying it is the responsibility of the five elements to look after the universe. The economists play a very small role in effecting that correction. These utterances from self-realised masters need to be understood and put in proper perspective. The raging pandemic is a good illustration: We are utterly helpless in engaging it. All over the world, there is abject insecurity, fear and uncertainty.

The idea of reincarnation is an integral part of Hindu doctrine. It is an incontrovertible fact and widely accepted and recognised as such. It is affirmed in Hindu, Buddhist and Tibetan scriptures. Reincarnation was a widely accepted belief in even the Catholic Church until the Pope banned it in the fifth century to preserve the unity of the laity.

Sri Ramana Maharishi's The Journey Continues is another astonishing work that records past life experiences. His past lives are revealed to him in meditation and the result is a deeply moving account that will leave the reader spellbound.

The Gita informs us that the cause of rebirth is our thoughts at the time of death. The desires we have during these moments occasion rebirth. This is why the Gita teaches us to contemplate the supreme being at the time of death because what our minds are fixed upon during these moments is what we become.