REBIRTH: RISING FROM THE ASHES

Reincarnation, in its essence, is a religious belief; with millions of people worldwide believing in cyclic rebirths based on “transmigration” of the human soul from one physical body to another. The dictionary meaning of the word reincarnation is “Coming back in the flesh”. The process of reincarnation allegedly continues until the soul reaches its full maturity and perfection when it joins its source, God or the “Ultimate Soul”.

“For the soul there is neither birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain” (Katha 1.2.18)

The roots of this religious belief can be traced back to ancient Greek and Egyptian philosophy. The Hindu and Buddhist teachings are also centered on this concept. The main idea is the same except for minor variations, which is being the constant evolution of the soul until it reaches a state when it can merge back into the "Universal Soul". The ancient Egyptians believed that the dead person returns back to this earth for another life as the same person he/she used to be. Consequently, the pharaoh (king) was buried with all his treasure and wealth intact so that he can claim them back upon his re-birth. The Hindu version of reincarnation is slightly different, believing that a dead person does not return as the same person, but as a completely different person with the same soul. The idea here is not to go into the depth and details of the various beliefs regarding the reincarnation theory, but to present a basic perspective of the concept and its validity. Reincarnation, in fact, forms the essential foundation of almost all the religions of the world.

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there” (Job 1:21)

“When Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor” (Hebrews 7:10)

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3)

It is believed that Christianity is opposed to the concept of reincarnation. In fact, this attitude is a departure from the origins of Christianity. Nowhere in the Bible is reincarnation denied, in fact it appears to be a concept that Jesus and his followers took pretty much for granted. Jesus himself speaks of John the Baptist as the return of Elias (Matthew 11:14, Matthew 17:11, Mark 9:11-13). It was during the development of the Roman Catholic Church and its doctrines when the concept of reincarnation lost favor in Christian tradition.

The first 300 years after Jesus’ death, there were many variations of Christian doctrine as the new religion spread throughout the Roman Empire. A number of sections developed, with some believing in reincarnation and some not. These groups were frequently in conflict. In an attempt to consolidate his crumbling Roman Empire, the Emperor Constantine in 325 A.D. offered his official support to Christians if they would settle their differences and establish a unified set of beliefs. The resulting Council of Nicaea put together the foundation of the Roman Catholic Church and established a new doctrine, from which reincarnation was omitted. Christians were subsequently instructed to drop any belief that was not covered in the doctrine.

However, the belief in reincarnation did not disappear easily, and in fact persisted for centuries afterwards. In the early 13th century, the Pope launched a crusade against a Christian sect in Italy and Southern France, which believed in reincarnation, wiping them out completely. This was finally effective in forcing Christians to give up their belief in reincarnation, at least publicly.

“Those who incurred the curse of Allah and His wrath, those of whom some He transformed into apes and swine, those who worshipped Evil; these are  worse in rank, and far more astray from the even Path" (Quran 5:63)

“We are not to be frustrated from changing your Forms and creating you in that ye know not” (Quran 56:60, 61)

“How can ye reject the faith in Allah? seeing that ye were without life, and He gave you life; then will He cause you to die, and will again bring you to life; and again to Him will ye return” (Quran 2:28)

Islam is also believed to oppose concept of rebirth. In fact, it is said to be the biggest critic of the theory of reincarnation. Muslims firmly believe that there is just one life here and then it’s all over, not getting any second chance to improve upon, being raised from the graves on the Day of Judgment, with their hands, shoulders, face etc. giving the testimony of their deeds.

“The Prophet said: …I would love to be martyred in Allah's Cause and then get resurrected and then get martyred, and then get resurrected again and then get martyred and then get resurrected again and then get martyred…” (Bukhari 4:54)

Even Muhammad (The Prophet), who was a chosen one by Allah, and could have never thought anything against Allah’s will, wished to get life again and again, proving the concept of rebirth not being anti Islamic or against Allah’s will. Prophet Muhammad believed in concept of rebirth. Quran contains many verses of Muhammad, which unambiguously show that he believed in the concept of rebirth.

In the current “scientific” era, a lot of people are resistant to the idea of the existence of soul.  Some people think it is outright silly. However, the concept of consciousness being able to detach from the body helps in explaining phenomena like Near Death Experiences, Out-of-Body Experiences and even reincarnation. In fact, the verification of cases of reincarnation is the finest scientific evidence one can have for the existence of a soul. The evidence for reincarnation is undeniable and cannot collectively be attributed to chance or any other physical explanation. If reincarnation exists, the soul has to exist.

One does not need any hard proof in order to be justified in believing in something, because there are so many good reasons that, when taken together cumulatively, provide a plausible account for the same.  This is known as “abductive reasoning” and is the kind of reasoning we use most in our everyday lives.

Reincarnation is not a thing that can be determined the same way a chemical reaction can. So the solution left is to gather sufficient pieces of evidence, which provide a stable proof and, in turn, can prove the existence of a soul.

A research was carried out on 3,000 children in the last 40 years by Dr. Ian Stevenson, a former Professor of Psychiatry. These children claimed to have memories and know people from their alleged past lives. Facial recognition software confirmed a facial resemblance to the alleged prior incarnation. Some had birth marks on places where they allegedly suffered fatal wounds from in their past life, which included dramatic and sometimes bizarre lesions, such as malformed digits or missing limbs, misshapen heads, and odd markings. In cases in which a postmortem report was obtained, it confirmed the correspondence between wounds and birthmarks.

Also, the memories the children recalled were far too specific to be chalked up to chance, with the specific details given by the children ranging from anything from the names, personalities, and occupations of their former parents and siblings to the precise layouts of the houses they lived in. Dr. Stevenson stated, “It was possible in each case to find a family that had lost a member whose life corresponded to the subject’s statements. The statements of the subject, taken as a group, were sufficiently specific so that they could not have corresponded to the life of any other person. We believe we have excluded normal transmission of the correct information to the subjects and that they obtained the correct information they showed about the concerned deceased person by some paranormal process.”

Another fact that was found interesting was the behavior of the children, regarding the phobias they showed, usually related to the mode of death from the life they claimed to remember. What seemed to be more than mere chance they were also able to accurately identify former acquaintances and relationships they had with people in their prior lives.

It is just a fraction of all evidence that exists for reincarnation. There can be only one explanation that can hold all these facts.  This cannot be a mere coincidence that so many people claim to have been other people, knowing the specific names and interpersonal relationships of the person they recall being, having similar behaviour and personalities as the people they claimed to be, having birthmarks and abnormalities where they claimed to have suffered wounds in their past lives, and having specific phobias linked back to alleged past life traumas. The accounts are far too precise to be chalked up as chance, and all explanations, other than reincarnation, are impoverished in trying to explain them.

Reincarnation can no longer be looked at as something pseudoscientific, and neither can the soul.  There has to be a non-physical part of us that contains memories that leaves our body and then enters into a new body.

In fact, a hypothesis has gotten serious attention in the mainstream scientific community. It states that at the time of death, quantum substances, forming the soul leave the nervous system and enter the universe at large. According to this idea, consciousness is a program for a quantum computer in the brain which can persist in the universe even after death. It suggests that the essence of soul is contained inside structures called microtubules within brain cells, and that the experience of consciousness is the result of quantum effects in these microtubules. Thus it can be said that the soul is more than the interaction of neurons in the brain, and are, in fact, constructed from the very fabric of the universe, and may have existed since the beginning of time.

“This Self is never born nor does it ever perish; nor having come into existence will it again cease to be. It is birthless, eternal, imperishable, timeless and is never destroyed when the body is destroyed” (Bhagwad Gita 2:20)

The concept is similar to the Buddhist and Hindu belief that consciousness is an integral part of the universe. At the time of death, the microtubules lose their quantum state, but the information within them is not destroyed. Instead it merely leaves the body and returns to the cosmos. If the person is revived, this quantum information can go back into the microtubules and the patient has a Near Death Experience. If he is not revived, and the patient dies, this quantum information exists outside the body, perhaps indefinitely, as a soul.

Above findings suggest that a part of the mind, which can be called the soul, is immortal and exists outside of space and time.

The hope of another life can give people courage to meet their own death, and to bear with the death of the loved ones. One can be twice as prepared if equipped with faith, which is backed by science.