12. Preparation for Rebirth

As mentioned earlier, in the astral world, the initial one-third duration of stay is spent in resting recuperation, the succeeding one-third in going through the experiences of hell and heaven and the remaining in making preparations for the next birth in the material world. After the perceptions of hell and heaven, the being feels particularly encouraged to make a fresh beginning in the next life. The punishment in hell wipes out earlier serious sins but stubborn habits persist. In parlance of spirituality, the hardened traits which are carried forward by the soul in the next birth are known as Samskars. The Samskars remain integrally attached to the soul, till the being identifies them by virtue of enlightenment and struggles hard to get rid of them. It is the Samskars which are responsible for the bondage of the soul to the cycles of life and death and consequent good and bad experiences. God has provided absolute freedom of action to the human being. It weaves the cobweb of Samskars around its soul out of its own free will and remains entombed therein. Maya - the inability to perceive the world in its true perspective is only a synonym for ignorance. Why does an individual make one's own self unhappy by getting entangled in a self-created bondage of ignorance, is an enigma. This complex phenomena itself is describes as the insurmountable bondage of Maya in parlance of spirituality.

The Samskars accumulated in previous cycles of life and deaths are not totally wiped out even after making penance for the evil deeds in the other world. As a habitual gambler desires to bet again and again after losing a number of times or an addict craves for the drug in spite of repeated suffering the being looks for a place to be born again because of old habits. An average person generally looks for a familiar socio-geographical environment of previous life. For instance, a farmer in this life who has accumulated Samskars related to farming would like to take up the same profession in the next birth, instead of becoming a businessman. Let us not assume that some alien Super Being compels the soul to take rebirth as a person in a particular environment. Man, by virtue of his own Samskars is motivated to be born at a place of his choice. Like a vulture flying high in the sky, looking for a carcass, the soul searches an environment of its liking in the immense space around choice. Like a vulture flying high in the sky, looking for a carcass, the soul searches an environment of its liking in the immense space around the world. As mentioned earlier, since the intellectual faculty (Budhi) of the material world which uses logic and arguments, does not exist in the astral world, the soul does not manipulate for a better worldly status in the next birth which does not conform to its habit of previous life. As a small child used to living in a poor family prefers to live in a hutment rather than a palace, an individual accustomed to the Samskars of a business environment likes to be born in a family of businessmen. More or less fifty percent individuals prefer to be born in their east-while household or family. Unless insulted, accused or ostracized, the being desires to take birth in the same house, family and community or its neighborhood where it was living in the earlier life. The same holds true about the geographical preferences, since the language, customs and culture have a deep imprint on the psyche, all beings with very few exceptions, prefer to live in the state where they had been living in the previous life. Thus unless there is some specific reason, an Italian would not like to settle in India, nor would an Indian in Turkey.

Our physical senses find it difficult to identify the psychological environment or the state of psyche of an individual, but the beings of the astral world can do so very easily. They wander around the family where the environment appears congenial. The beings of the astral world also have recollections of their earlier life cycles. And because of previous attachments to people and places, they are instinctively attracted towards them. At times, because of a long passage of time the attitude of soul towards the previous environment undergoes a change or on the other hand the environment of the erstwhile family itself changes. In such anomalous situations too the soul, at times takes rebirth in the same family. Birth of an idiot in a clan of scholars or a saint amongst sinners is thus indicative of one of the following situations: (1) Either, while passing through several cycles of life and death, there has been some change in the environment of the family, while the soul continues to retain the old Samskars, or (2) The soul has molded itself into different frame of Samskars, but it is attracted towards the asserted that each being has the freedom to change its Samskars by changing its behavior (character). Hence, if a child born in a family has a different nature, it indicated either some change in the ancestral traits of the soul or an old attachment of the soul for the family because of which it gets into the incongruous association.

Having located a family of its liking, the soul hovers around it waiting for an opportunity to enter the material world. When a woman therein becomes pregnant it makes an entry into the womb and after nine months forces its way out to the external world as a new born baby. Many experts are of the view that the soul reserves the embryo before hand and permanently enters the body of the child when it is about to be released from the womb. In my view when the sperm and ovum fertilize, the soul takes charge soon thereafter and begins to live in the embryo lodged in the womb. There is a general misconception that living in the narrow confines of the womb is a very painful experience for the unborn child. It is not true since the underdeveloped brain; sense organs hardly inhibit the freedom of spatial movement of the soul since at this stage it does not have any particular attachment to the body. By virtue of its faculty of animation (Chetna), it is able to wander around beyond the body, using the womb as its nest. However, a little before the moment of birth, when the sense organs of the child acquire maturity, the being loses its freedom and immediately tries to force its way out along with the body of the newborn. This is the period of spasms during the delivery (Prasava Kal)

At times, there are a number of beings intending to take birth in the same family. In such a case, they have to await their turn. In spite of the intention to enter the womb of a particular woman, if it is not it's (soul's) turn or if the woman is not in a position to conceive, a stop gap arrangement is sought and the being has to choose an alternative place for rebirth. At times a soul keeps on waiting for a very long period for an opportunity to be born in a particular family. If such an opportune moment does not arise and the specified period of stay in the astral world expires, it hastens to take rebirth at some place or the other. As a strong urge to vomit forces one to discharge instantaneously at an inappropriate place, so does the being hurries to accept an unintended environment on expiry of his tenure in astral world.

The soul has no control over formation of internal and external organs of the body of the embryo. The new body is a joint venture of the genes of the parents and requirements of the being. For example a desired piece of pottery is produced by the efforts of an expert potter nad proper raw material. The sperm and the ovum may be compared to the raw material and the soul with the potter. An artless potter cannot produce a good piece even with excellent material. On the other hand effort of an expert potter is wasted if the material is not good. A soul having superior Samskars exerts positive influence on the physical characteristics of sperm and ovum whereas the one with bad Samskars contaminates the good characteristics of sperm and ovum. The quality of thoughts of parents and their character (Bhavana nad Charitra) too affect the development of embryo. Unless highly evolved, the being is compelled to live under the influence of inferior Samskars of the parents. It is seen that a child born of adultery is often troublesome, since during the coitus the parents are full of anxiety which leaves an impression on the fertilizing embryo.

Some individuals become firmly addicted to bad habits and misuse a particular sense organ again and again. For this reason they are repeatedly required to go through the treatment of hell in successive life cycles. On account of strong habits, however, they forget this punishment and revert back to the old practice. Such individuals are ultimately deprived of the misappropriated sense organs for a number of succeeding cycles of life. This system created by the Supreme Being works to reform the compulsive sinners and is akin to temporary debarment of a person from membership of an organization or cancellation of license issued for a firearm. Congenital aberrations such as defenses, dumbness, blindness, and deformities of limbs, absence or under-development of genitalia, mental retardation are given to such individuals who have become habituated to misutilization of the particular organ of sense-gratification. However the life on this earth as a deeds of previous life. The soul of even the handicapped person is healthy and active (Jagrat) like others, and gives the person freedom to strive for enlightenment, if the individual so desires. Then there are very wicked individuals misappropriating all sense organs throughout their life. They are made to "take birth" in the biological kingdom as an immobile being (Jad Yoni). Thus the plant-life belongs to the species (Yoni) in which the being is made to suffer for the sins committed in life exists, most of the animation pertaining to physical activity (Kriyashil Chetna) is confiscated. Placing the soul in this Jad Yoni (Plant Life) too is indicative of benevolence of God. Since otherwise, the degraded individual would find it difficult to discard the compulsive bad habits and the retrogressive Samskars. From this state again begins progressive evolution of the soul. Gradually passing through numerous cycles of life and death as bacteria, worms, animals, birds and so on and so forth it successively moves to higher levels of enlightenment. This phenomenon is corroborated by Darwin's theory of evolution. According to Hindu Scriptures the number of such Yonis is 8.4 millions, whereas material scientists would consider the number to be much larger. Notwithstanding the number of Yonis the fact remains that wicked beings who misuse their senses take birth in a Jad Yoni and in order to be born again as human being, have to undergo progressive evolution for millions of years. If there is some interruption in the process of evolution the being is made to appear in a particular Yoni again and again, till it qualifies for the next grade, like a failed student. However, only extremely wicked persons are awarded Jad Yoni. An average individual committing small acts of sins and virtues takes birth again as a human being, since the wisdom accumulated in course of millions of year of living in numerous species is not so insignificant as to be overlooked reverting the being to the arduous process of evolution. Man is again and again provided an opportunity for self-evolution in order to achieve the ultimate objective of deliverance from the bondage of life and death.