Reincarnation or rebirth can be defined as getting born again in a living form after the death. The word reincarnation literally means “entering the flesh again.” Punarjanma is the Sanskrit word for reincarnation. Punarjanma literally means rebirth....
What is reincarnation (Rebirth)?
The word reincarnate means to "reenter the flesh." We Hindus believe the soul is immortal and keeps reentering a fleshy body time and time again in order to resolve experiences and thereby learn all the lessons life in the material world has to offer. Hindus believe in reincarnation. To them, it explains the natural way the soul evolves from immaturity to spiritual illumination.
According to Hindu scriptures, a soul, which is a part of the Supreme Soul, dwells in every living organism. The term death applies to our body only and not to the soul because the soul is immortal. The soul changes the bodies after the death as we change our clothes everyday. Depending upon our Karma, we get a new body. That is if you have done good Karma in this birth, then you would get the rewards for those in this and/or next life. If you have done bad Karma, you would get punishment for that in this or next life. The present conditions in our life are results of our Karma in this and/or past life. This cycle of birth, death, and reincarnation continues until we get salvation i.e. becoming one with the Supreme Soul.
Occurrences of Rebirth
Many important religions on the earth like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism believe in reincarnation. Many ancient cultures like Egypt and Greek also believed in reincarnation. Some sects from Christianity and Islam believe in reincarnation. Many cases of reincarnation have happened not only in those religions who believe in rebirth but also in those religions and cultures, which do not believe in it. The incidences of reincarnation have happened all over the world in all races, all genders, with almost 100% uniformity. Many cases have been investigated and marked as authentic by different scientists and institutes. Thousands of books have been written on this topic. The famous scientist Thomas Alva Edison was a Theosophist (Theosophists also believe in reincarnation). In a survey in 2005 in USA, about 20% of adults showed belief in reincarnation. Dalai Lama is considered as the biggest leader of Buddhists. Before the death, every Dalai Lama tells his disciples about how and where he would be born again.
Rules of reincarnation
There are certain rules known to mankind about reincarnation. These rules are told by sages, which were revealed to them in the state of deep meditation.
1. Most of the times a human being is born again as a human being only, but sometimes, he/she might get an animal body.
2. In general, after getting the three births of the same sex, we get the next birth of a different sex but there is no thumb rule.
3. Doing good Karma does not eradicate bad Karma. You have to undergo sufferings for bad Karma and get happiness for good Karma.
4. If a person dies suddenly with strong wills unfulfilled, he/she might become a ghost and remain there until the favorable conditions are available for next birth.
5. After death, we do not get the next birth immediately. In the meantime, our soul is in one of the seven levels. Once the proper conditions are created according to our Karma, we get born again.
6. The soul is always learning from its experiences. In its initial births, it gets attracted towards physical things more but as it grows in knowledge, it becomes more spiritual.
7. All our good and bad Karmas are recorded in our body and when we are dead, those memories also enter a new body with our soul. When the soul becomes fully knowledgeable, it attains salvation.
8. Some sages believe that everything since the time of big-bang is stored in our body but only a few people are able to recall those memories.
9. Only human beings can attain salvation. We get a human body after our soul travels through 8,400,000 species. Hence, salvation should be the final aim of our life.
