Reincarnation Part II

Although the soul’s journey on earth is predestined, in the physical we have free-will, and therefore, are responsible for our own actions. The soul continues to incarnate, until it reaches its ultimate goal of nirvana—eternal peace. There are three steps to achieving nirvana. First, the soul needs to shed all ego-based desires and prejudices. Second, the soul needs to learn agape—pure love of all mankind. Third, the soul must acquire enlightenment.

Striving for oneness with the source, dates as far back, as prehistoric times. In the beginning of humanity, there was Shamanism, a visionary form of religion. There were no doctrines. Instead, shamans followed traditions, that were handed down, from one generation, to the next. During this early time, of man’s evolution, souls were closer to their origin, and life was very simple, making it much easier to recall, and/or to bring forth knowledge, from a higher source.

In those early days of civilization, man was still in tune with the universe and its mysteries through self-hypnosis, induced by beating a drum. The voice of wisdom came to the shamans, as did the voice of God to Abraham. This ability to commune with the forces of the universe has been lost in the man of the material world, whose mind is so busy achieving ego desires, that it cannot experience silence long enough to see or hear truth.

Later, the mystical insights of the rishis, who sought Ultimate Reality—enlightenment, through meditation in the forest, were recorded in the Hindu books, The Vedas, written about 1,500 BCE. One of the central ideas taught by the rishis is reincarnation—the soul leaves the dead body and enters a new one:

As a leech, having reached the end of a blade of grass, takes hold of another blade, and draws itself to it, so the Self, having left his body behind it unconscious, takes hold of another body, and draws himself to it. [Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]

Around 400-300 B.C.E., another theory on reincarnation evolved—The Wheel of Life, central to Buddhism. The principle being that, “one changing state of being sets another into motion: every event depends on a cause, creating karma.” The Buddhist’s goal is nirvana—eternal peace. Literally translated, nirvana refers to “extinguishes a flame from lack of fuel”.

The wheel of life represents a series of birth and rebirth, into one of 31 planes of existence recognized by Buddhists, whereby the soul experiences, “ageing, decay, suffering, death and painful rebirth, until it is freed into Nirvana, which is beyond all the cause-and-effect-run planes of existence.” “The impressions of our good and bad actions help to create our personality moment-by-moment. When we die, this process continues, passing on the flame, to a new life, on a plane, that reflects, our past karma.” [p.120] To end the cycle, in which desire feeds the wheel of suffering, we must end all cravings, and lead a passion-free existence, which has no karmic consequences.

The Ramayana, considered to be the very soul of India, written about 100 B.C.E., is a series of epics dealing with good and evil, symbolized by battles involving the incarnation of Vishnu or his avatar, to restore balance to the universe.

Although reincarnation is often thought of as a tenet of Eastern religions, it is not limited to those philosophies. Many, many passages in the Judeo-Christian scriptures of the Bible refer to reincarnation, both the Old and New Testaments, and the Koran. From the Zohar known as the Book of Splendor and Radiance, the basic work of Jewish mysticism, the profoundest achievement of the Kabbalah, we find:

All souls are subject to the trials of gilgul (transmigration); and men do not know the designs, of the Most High, with regard to them; they know not how they are being, at all times judged, both before coming into this world, and when they leave it. They do not know, how many transformations, and mysterious trials, they must undergo; how many souls and spirits, come to this world, without returning to the palace of the Divine King.

The souls must re-enter, the Absolute Substance, whence they have emerged. But to accomplish this end, they must develop all the perfections, the germ of which is planted in them; and if they have not fulfilled this condition during one life, they must commence another, a third, and so forth, until they have acquired the condition which fits them, for reunion with God. — 2.99 et seq.

The Tree of Life, an important symbol in the Kabbalah, pictures the evolutionary path that the soul has to pass through before it can join again with Ain Soph, the hidden God. [p.214]

The New Testament is filled with references to reincarnation. In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus reveals that Elijah has incarnated as John the Baptist.

Matthew 11:13-14 "For all the prophets and the law have prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who was to come."

Matthew 11:13-14 "For all the prophets and the law have prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who was to come."

Matthew 17:10-13 "And the disciples asked him, saying, 'Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?' But he answered them and said, 'Elijah indeed is to come and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also shall the Son of Man suffer at their hand.' Then the disciples understood that he had spoken of John the Baptist."

Another example comes from a direct question posed to Jesus from Nicodemus, a Pharisee:

John 3:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou does, except God be with him.

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

A great Sufi mystic of the 10th century, Mansur al-Hallaj, whose writings are very important to all Muslims, wrote :



Like the herbage 
I have sprung up many a time 
On the banks of flowing rivers. For a hundred thousand years,
I have lived and worked, In every sort of body. 

[p.154]

The Koran itself clearly states:

And you were dead, and He brought you back to life. And He shall cause you to die, and shall bring you back to life, and in the end shall gather you unto Himself. (2:28).

There are numerous mentions of reincarnation in both the Old and New Testaments. As reflected in the philosophies of Socrates and Plato, humanity has carried the knowledge of the immortality of the soul, and reincarnation, since the beginning of time. To protect the growing power of the Church, they were dismissed as heresy, and removed from some of the Christian religious texts at the Second Council of Constantinople in A.D. 553, only to be found again in 1945—an entire Gnostic library, known as the Gnostic Gospels, was unearthed in Nag Hammadi, Egypt. I suggest that you read books whose authors have painstakingly researched the religious texts, and present them with background, and references.

Madame Helena Blavatsky, founder of Theosophy (Divine Wisdom), popularized the theory of reincarnation in the West, in the latter part of the 19th century. In The Secret Doctrine, Madame Blavatsky reveals the “Truth” as was taught to her in Tibet, by masters Koot Hoomi and Morya, who are believed to have preserved the ancient knowledge. The Mahatma Koot Hoomi wrote the following on the origin of modern Theosophy:

"Theosophy is no new candidate for the world's attention, but only the restatement of principles which have been recognized from the very infancy of mankind."

For more on this please see my presentation on thebutterflygift.com.

Cotterell, Arthur (Ed.). The Penguin Encyclopedia of Classical Civilizations. England, 1995.

Fisher, Mary Pat. Living Religions. 2nd Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1994.

Gaffney, Mark H. Gnostic Secrets of the Naassenes. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2004.

Merrell-Wolff, Franklin. Transformations In Consciousness. New York: State University of New York Press, 1995.

Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels. New York: Vintage Books, 1989.

Puryear, Herbert Bruce. Why Jesus Taught Reincarnation, A Better News Gospel, Scottsdale, AZ: Paradigm Press, 1992.

Van Auken, John. Born Again and Again. Virginia Beach, VA: A.R.E. Press, 1989.