A QUESTION OF LIFE AND DEATH
Question: “Is the Hindu view of reincarnation correct?”
Sri Ramana Maharshi spoke many times with regards to “reincarnation”. And as was his habit, he always spoke in a manner that would suit the temperament of the questioner. In some cases, he would elaborate on the “conditions” of the mind, the vasanas or habits therein, that would cause the ego (the lower mind) to take up another body after the present one became physically depleted. However, it seems fair to say that he usually would expound on this topic with this answer found in Talks: “No definite answer is possible for this question. There are pros and cons for the view. Even the present birth is denied “na tvevaham jatu nasam... etc.”: Bhagavad Gita II: 12: “Truly, there was never a time when I was not, nor you, nor these lords of men; and neither will there be a time when we shall cease to be, form this time onward.”
Question: “What then is the meaning, in the previous verses declaration of Sri Krishna (Gita II: 11), of a difference between the “living” and the “dead”?
You have asked a wonderful question, which lies right at the very heart of a proper understanding needed to achieve real spiritual progress. It is not a coincidence, therefore, that this secret is revealed in the very first teaching of Sri Krishna within the Bhagavad Gita.
Immediately prior to the Lord declaring that there was never a time when “we” ceased to be, He says: “gatasun agatasums ca nanusocanti panditah”, “The wise mourn neither for the dead or for the living.” The word used for “dead” is “gatasun”, the gone. The word used for “living” is “agatasun”, the not gone.
So, what has gone, and where has it gone? The answer is found by looking within the meanings of the root words in Sanskrit that formed the two words in question. In both cases they are the same, coming from “gata” and “asu”. “Gata” means gone, “asu” means breath! Now we should begin to see the reason why many scriptures of various religions refer to what we nonchalantly call “respiration” to, in reality, be the “Breath of Life”. Bhagavan says, in his famous eksloke, engraved above his marble statue in the Ashrams new hall of the temple dedicated to the Divine Mother: “If you follow the “I” thought to it’s source, or the breath to it’s source, you will arrive at the same origin- the Self”. The Buddha, and his descendants declare: “The breath will lead you all the way to Nirvana.” Thus, within many correct forms of meditation, watching the breath (awareness of its length and movement) is an essential aspect of a practice that leads to the most advanced attainment, to the purpose of life. The breath is therefore a means for ending the cycle of successive lives, if only we use it skillfully. The Self never waivers, neither from increase nor diminishment, It is! We are sometimes given the gift of “breath”, and with it we progress towards higher life in God. Sometimes we move, without the need for breath to sustain us, through “other worlds”, “other mansions” within creation to approach and serve our Creator. It all depends on the lessons we need to learn, the appointments we need to keep, and the habits we need to break or acquire! Our meditation brings us, eventually through skillful practice, to complete awareness and realization of being truly “awake” in God. Sri Krishna, therefore, ends this most important second chapter of the Gita by explaining this state as “stita prajna – steady in wisdom”. It is synonymous with “liberation” in life; the extinction of pain, infinite bliss, and steady (poised with dignity) throughout all of life’s joys and sorrows.
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