IS REINCARNATION A FACT?

 

MAN’S GREATEST GIFT IS THE ABILITY TO FORGET

In this modern world, when you say, “Believe this or believe that”, people do not believe because many structures seem to be based on disbelief. There was a time, say, two thousand years ago, during the time of Christ or before that, Buddha or Krishna, when injunctions were made: “Thou shalt and thou shalt not”, and they were taken in good faith and belief. But perhaps the mind of today is a bit more sophisticated and wants explanations; they want answers, scientific data, and logical explanations, and their belief could be led to faith and then to knowingness.

You do not need to remember the lessons you have learnt; they become part and parcel of yourself and are already there. The greatest gift man has been given is the ability to forget; that is the greatest gift. Never mind past lives; even if you could remember every negative incident that happened to you in this life, you would end up in a lunatic asylum. The greatest gift man has been given is the ability to forget. It is not necessary to know past lives to progress in this life. If we want light in this room, we put on the switch. We do not need to analyse darkness. We just put on the switch, and we have the various meditation methods at our disposal.

When you sit down to the meal your wife has cooked for you, you are interested in that moment, when you are eating the meal, how you are enjoying the meal and if the meal is palatable. You will not lose the pleasure of eating by dissecting or analysing what spices or herbs went into it. When you sit down to eat, you enjoy the meal. So, let us live this life in such a way that it could become very, very enjoyable and remarkable. That is the purpose.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BELIEVE

I disagree with the philosopher Nietzsche and the law of perpetual reoccurrence. This life is never lived over again in the same pattern. It is always a different life. Because the life we live today is the total of all past lives, then there would be a difference in this life from past lives. What answer is there for all the experiences that we have gained. It is all the experiences, all the words, deeds and actions of past lives that have formulated this life. Although incorporating all past life experiences, this life is necessary and has to be a different life. As a different life, we have perhaps taken a step further on the ladder. We are on a different step and must progress and climb more until we reach the summit and the roof. And when we get to the top, we have a grand view of the whole universe, the entire cosmos.

You do not have to believe. It is not a matter of belief; it is a matter of knowing. For your spiritual evolution to find happiness, you do not need to believe these things; they are unnecessary. Therefore, I said that the human mind can only infer these things because these previous existences are not to be appreciated intellectually. The finite mind can never know the infinity within the 90% dormant mind, and the 90% dormant mind or the totality of man’s mind is as vast as the entire universe. It does require some understanding. You cannot understand it by the mind. Something just clicks inside, telling you, “Ah, this is true.”

THERE IS A PROGRESSIVE EVOLUTION GOING ON AND ON AND ON

To believe in reincarnation, you must accept the law of Karma. You will have to consider evolution, the law of Karma and the law of reincarnation as a totality.

Our existence today has not come about just as humans; humans accept the law of evolution. From the amoebic cell, man has progressed through the mineral kingdom, from there to the plant kingdom, to the animal kingdom, and then to the stage of man. There are millions and millions and billions and billions of atoms in the universe, and each atom is an entity of its own. Each atom contains a completeness on its own. If you can dissect and know the secrets of one atom, you will learn the whole workings of the universe. This has been said by science. It is not a question of more souls existing today than before but a question of more sub-human beings becoming human at this period of life. In proportion and ratio, there will be more self-realised people. That is the procedure all the time. So, there is a progressive evolution going on and on and on.

MAN OF TODAY IS NO BETTER THAN MAN THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO

I would not say that humanity has made any progress. The people who live today are not necessarily better than those who lived during Christ’s time. Technological advancement is not necessarily spiritual evolution. Sometimes, technological advancement can lead one to devolution rather than evolution. Look at the evil of the technological progress in creating the hydrogen bomb, which, according to several nuclear experts, has the potential to be 1,000 times more powerful than an atomic bomb, which was so destructive that it killed thousands of people instantly. We remember Hiroshima. So, technological advancement is no proof of human evolution, and today’s human beings are no better than those who lived during the time of Christ. They are none better. They still have the same weaknesses and the same vices. But out of the gallon of milk churning it, a certain amount of cream does float up, and I would say that if I could lead just one person to a greater realisation, to self-realisation, the mission of my life would be accomplished.

… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang UK 1976 – 08