The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters.
Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Harilal M. Munje, The
Reincarnation Mystery Revealed, New Delhi, India: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
1992/1997, bahai-library.com.
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The
Reincarnation
Mystery Revealed

Dr. H.M. Munje

Baha'i Publishing Trust
6 Canning Road, P.B.No. 19
New Delhi.,110001
INDIA
© National Spiritual Assembly
of the Baha'fs of India

First Edition 1992
Second Revised Edition 1997

ISBN: 81-86953-02-7

Typeset at Pagitek Graphics, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi-92 and
printed at Divyanshu Graphics, Tel.: 5752195, 5764330
CONTENTS

Preface              Vll

Introduction          Xl

Chapter 1             1
Chapter 2            41
Chapter 3            71
Chapter 4            93
Note                 99
PREFACE
From 1940 onwards on my frequent visits to interior
villages in India, I came in contact with the masses who
had believed for ages in reincarnation; predestiny by
God for every soul; the caste system and many other
related ideas and practices. Similar beliefs were observed in the cities.
At that time I conceived the idea of writing articles
on these topics fQrthe enlightenment of the masses. This
I wanted to do with strong support from their religious
scriptures, common s~nse, and a scientific outlook. An
article on reincarnation was prepared in Hindi and it
was published much later in Abha Magazine in four instalments.
When I wrote it in English, completing the work on
February 26, 1950, it assumed the size of a small book.
Now it is enlarged.
In pursuit of my investigations over the years, I very
carefully studied the widest possible range of Hindu
sacred literature related to the subject- both in Sanskrit
and translations into other languages. Translations of the
Hindu Holy Scriptures from Sanskrit into English vary
considerably. In fact, some translations contain words
and phrases that are not given or not intended in the
original Sanskrit at all. Therefore, in some cases I have
made my own translations, followingthe letter and spirit
as closely as possible and endeavouring to be accurate.
In other instances I have used translations by Dr. Bhagwan Das, a very
prominent author and Theosophist, as I
find these to be of high quality.

Vll
I have gratefully used some appropriate references
from Dr. Raymond A Moody's books, Life After Life
and Reflections on Life After Life.
Reincarnation is a highly complex, subtle, deep and
difficult subject. The reader will note that certain
themes and statements arise repeatedly. Each time they
are investigated from a new angle.
God has blessed the human soul with mercy, compassion, love, and other tender
and beneficial attributes. Yet it has been observed that belief in the
theory of reincarnation and metempsychosis sometimes
prevents a person from helping someone else who is in
need or in peril. The believers in reincarnation at
times, look coldly at persons in real trouble. They think
that such troubles and afflictions are due to the sins of
the victims' past lives and hence they should not interfere. Let them suffer
and bum away their evil deeds of
their previous lives. Their souls will be unburdened and
they will be prepared for a better life in their next
birth. In my view, this kind of belief has slackened the
development of divine attributes in some communities
and has retarded the desired progress of the nation as
a whole.
A sudden and sharp squeal of a mortally hurt dog
was heard from the roadside. Patients sitting in my clini€
in Bombay rushed to the window to see' what had happened. I also peeped out of
the window. A dog was
crushed under a truck and some passersby were gathering around the bleeding
dog which was breathing its last.
They felt pity toward the dying animal. Some seemed
angry at the truck driver, but he did not care at all. He
started the truck with a jerk and was gone. My feeling of
compassion was aroused.

viii
One middle-aged person who was sitting outside my
clinic was absolutely unconcerned. He said to me, "Why
do you waste your precious time on such a thing, doctor?
The dog must have killed the driver in Purva Janma
(past life), so it got its punishment. Why should we
bother about it?" This gentleman, as I knew him, was
otherwise a noble, religious, pious and honest person,
but his belief, in reincarnation had made him hardhearted and merciless.
Another time the telephone rang and I was called for
a critical cancer case. As I was politely taking leave from
other waiting patients for this emergency, one lady accosted me, "Why do you
take up such terminal cases?
After all, there is no cure for cancer. Why do you spoil
your good name by helping such an incurable patient?
Don't you know that cancer is a divine scourge for the
expiation of the sins of his past life?" Due to her belief
in reincarnation she did not care at all if the patient
suffered or died! But by the grace of God that cancer
patient got well and lived long thereafter.
During the Second World WarJon hearing a rumour
that several thousands of people were killed in gas
chambers in Germany, one staunch believer in the
theory of reincarnation exclaimed: "Look at the justice
of God! Yama Raj -the Angel King of Death -is chastising people who had sinned
in their previous births!"
Even today, some dogmatic believers in the law of
karma, and reincarnation think that when terrorists kill
apparently innocent persons, the terrorists are in fact
repaying their victims who must have tyrannized them in
past lives. Could this cold-blooded, irrational attitude be
due to some or the other misunderstanding derived from
their belief in reincarnation?
Dr. H.M. Munje
INTRODUCTION

What happ~ns to the human body after death is clear
to all. It is either burnt to ashes or it decomposes and
returns to the earth. But, is this the end of the human
being? Or is there something more? This is the question
which each person has to answer for himself.
To any thoughtful person it is clear that a life of three
scores and ten, or a little more, or a little less, on this
planet cannot be the ultimate achievement of millions of
years of evolution-It would be fruitless, illogical and
therefore quite unthinkable for an intelligent Creator.
The infinite perfections of this universe clearly point to
a more fitting conclusion to millions of years of development and evolution.
Therefore there must be a higher
purpose to life than just existence!·
Each of the religions of the world emphasize that life
continues even after the death of the body. They cite the
fact that each person does not get his due reward or
punishment during the course of his life on this planet as
pr.oof. Thus some form of the human being, the soul,
must continue so that justice, mercy, compassion and
love may be fulfilled.
In this book, Dr. Munje clarifies the Scriptural and
spiritual reasons for a rational belief in life after death.
The Hindu Scriptures are essentiaily accepted to be the
Vedas, the Srimad Bhagwad Gita, and the Manu Smriti.
The ·Puranas, the Upanishads, and the other Writings are
the sayings of various Holy persons, often with the Vedas
as their base. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata have
a standing as historic epics/religious literature. In fact

xi
the multiplicity of beliefs that constitutes Hinduism
makes it difficult to cite a common acceptance of what is
Scripture and what the sayings of various holy persons.
This problem has been partly resolved by Dr. H.M.
Munje in this book by the use of quotations from a large
variety of sources including the Vedas, the Manu Smriti,
the Srimad Bhagwad Gita, the Mahabharata, the
Ramayana and th~ Upanishads. Such an extensive
perusal of Scriptural literature adds to the authenticity
of this much needed work.
Dr. Munje's insight into the subject arise from his
deep knowledge of both the Baha'i and Hindu Scriptures. The Baha'fs believe in
the oneness of God, oneness of religion and oneness of mankind. To them, the
purpose of their lives is to know and worship God.
The Avatar clearly states the Divine Truths. He
reveals an appropriate plan for the development of the
individual and society. He teaches man how to make
progress in all fields of human endeavour. His teachings
are enshrined in His Holy Book and are passed on as the
standard for His era.
Viewed in this light the Scriptures of all the religions
conform in common belief and are united in their expression of spiritual
reality. If this book was to achieve
only this that it causes people to realise that all the
Scriptures come from one common source, i.e., God and
agree on basic Spiritual teachings, it would have
achieved a great deal.
All the re}igionsof the world are part of a great plan
of God. They all await their Messiah who is to come an~
unite them and all mankind. In a very convincing way
Dr. Munje has emphasised that God's Avatar has come,
and it is a challenge to every person to investigate this

xii
claim_and accept Him. It is upto mankind now to realise
that the solution to the existing chaos is available. We
have to arise and fulfil the progress of civilisation on this
planet through global unity. Then will the purpose of the
prophecies of the past be realised and Vasudeva
Kutumbha Kum will be established. The whole world is
but one country and mankind its citizens.
CHAPTER ONE

Veligion, science, and human reason go hand in hand .
..a.'Bythe grace of God, science progresses through con-

scientious human efforts, whereas revealed religion advances age· after age
through a new and fresh revelation
from on high, through God's Manifestations (Ishwara
Avatar).
Religion, science and reason are complementary
tools used by man in his constant search for a deeper
understanding of reality and his desire to attain salvation. In the words of
the blessed Lord in the Gita:
P°
;ilt-tfu;ill-1qldlf'il          fu~~R,ci: I
~ $~ii.la ~ wtMb!l~t1cifi1,5,q.:i:
[lmlT6:8]

"He who is well content~d with knowledge and
science is called a yogi, the conqueror of senses,
he for whom iron, rock and gold are the same."
[Gita VI, 8]

~      U ~ ~                  Wf~I
~ ~.                 cisi:iti(i:41
IIT~~II

U~fc@I ~ ft
f'-1~-d'l'l_l
~~ ~ ~ &itlt1&1cl'l_
II
[1ffirr9:1, 2]

"To thee, the uncarping, verily shall I .declare this
most profound secret. Having knowledge of Nirguna Brahma along with the
knowledge of
manifest Divinity, knowing which you will be free
2           The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

from the evil of worldly existence. This knowledge is a sovereign science, a
sovereign secret,
supremely holy, most excellent, directly enjoyable, attended with virtue, very
easy to practise
and imperishable."
[Gita IX, 1, 2]
The fundamental principles of all true revealed
religions are one, as their source is God Himself. Hinduism, Zoroastrianism,
Buddhism, Christianity, Islam,
the Baha'i Faith, and other religions are all one in essence. In the words of
Baha'u'llah, the Founder of the
Baha'i Faith, believed by Baha'is to be the Manifestation
of God for our age.
"The purpose of religi,on as revealed from the
heaven of God's holy Will is to establish unity and
concord amongst the peoples of the world; make it
not the cause of dissension and strife. The religi,on
of God and His divine law are the most potent
instruments and the surest of all means for the
dawning of the light of unity amongst men. The
progress of the world, the development of nations,
the tranquillity of peoples, and the peace of all who
dwell on earth are among the principles and ordinances of God.
Religi,onbestoweth upon man the most prec_iousof
all gi,fts, off ereth the cup of prosperity, imparteth
eternal life, and showereth imperishqble benefits
upon mankind."
[Baha'u'llah, Writingsof Baha'u'llah, p. 235]
"That the divers communions of the earth, and the
manifold systems of religi,ousbelief, should never be
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed                3

allowed to faster the feelings of animosity among
men, is, in this Day, of the essence of the Faith of
God and His Religion. These principles and laws,
these firmly-established and mighty systems, have
proceeded from one Source, and are the rays of one
Light. That they differ one from another is to be
attributed to the varying requirements of the ages in
which they werepromulgated."
[Baha'u'llah, Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 310]
Hence, should the followers of any two religions advance two interpretations
or understandings about the
same fundamental principle, some misunderstanding
may occur between these followers; yet, the religions
themselves are not in conflict because they are all from
the same divine source.
Similarly, science can not contradict religious truth,
as that truth is in conformity with reality- and both
science and religion reveal reality to man. In the words
of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the son of Baha'u'llah.
''Any religious belief which does not conj arm with
scientific proof and investigation is superstition, for
true science is reason and reality, and religion is
essentially reality and pure reason; therefore, the
two must correspond."
['Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal
Peace, p. 107]
Science is a product of the human mind. It is influenced by divine revelation
in each age. Human beings
have been granted free will by the grace of God. They do
things voluntarily and spontaneously. Hence, scientific
knowledge and achievements may be misused. True
4          The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

religion prqvides the guidelines so that scientific developments can be
beneficial to humankind.
Simultaneously, scientific discoveries can confirm
knowledge available through divine revelation but not
clearly understood up to that time. How, then, can
religion oppose science or science, religion?
Scientists and religionists may differ in their opinions.
This is not bad or unnatural. "From the clash of opinion
the spark of truth comes forth." Since they both strive to
attain the same goal -to achieve an understanding of the
nature of reality- they ultimately express the same truth.
Science uses scientific method, involving trial and error,
but revealed religion in its pure form has no element of
error. In the latter case, humans must develop their
capacities to understand the newly revealed truth. This
requires a change of attitudes. A rigid adherence to old
viewpoints is characteristic of a static, unchanging sodety
making little progress where the masses are being led to
perdition.
Thus, there is no harm in verifying religious beliefs
and theories in the light of science. For this, scientific
strides must be properly channelised. This will ensure
the progress and development of the whole human race.
In India, itself, people, who have taken scientific and
materialistic approaches to life and living do. not believe
in reincarnation or at least have serious doubts about it.
There are others who believe in reinca:(nation. They extend various theories
as follows:
(1) A human being may be reborn as a human being
only.
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed            5

(2) A human being may be reborn as a human being
or as an animal.
(3) A huma:Q.being may be reborn as a human
being, as an animal, a tree, or even a stone.
(4) A human being may ultimately or even immediately attain moksha (liberty)
and does not
return.
Most people believe in reincarnation as the theory of
karma (law of action). By this they mean that the form in
which they return is the fruit of the actions of their previous life. Such
post-Vedic views are taken for granted by
nearly all the Hindu sects and philosophical schools.
The fact is that the theory of reincarnation and transmigration of souls has
over the centuries raised doubts,
contradictions and dilemmas that are hard to resolve.
We cannot find any belief in reincarnation and the
transmigration of souls in the [Veda Samhitas] or the
Brahmana Granthas. In the Vedic religion, the next life
is spiritual. Some souls ascend after death to the heavenly world while others
go to the depths (hell). The
doctrine of rebirth appears in the orthodox Brahmanical
tradition only later, at the time of the Upanishads, although, arguments
against the theory of reincarnation
can also be derived from a study of the Upanishads - a
good example of apparent contradictions found in
Hindu holy writings.
Although most Hindus interpret passages from the
Gita and certain other Hindu holy writings in such a way
as to support their belief in reincarnation and transmigration, we shall
demonstrate in this book that inter-
6          The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

pretations of many of the same passages can be set forth
questioning and doubting that belief.
Therefore, these beliefs obviously need to be investigated in light of both
modern science and religion.
During the course of this study, conclusions might be
reached contrary to some peoples' age-old impressions.
Those with investigating minds can overhaul their views
when new insights and deeper understanding is achieved.
Particularly if they realize that the old, untested beliefs
were and are harmful to society. Therefore, this writer
humbly and ardently appeals to all concerned to be just
and fair, and to be loving and compassionate in their heart
of hearts.
Slow or fast, a forward march is in the nature of
things. The natural law never admits any retrovertive
movement of life or retrograde living process.
Every moment past is past once and for all, never to
return. Every action performed can never become unperformed. Life can never
move backwards.
A wheat plant cannot ever be reverted to the selfsame wheat seed from which it
grew. The ground wheat
flour can never make a retrogressive life movement and
become the wheat seed once again. The ground wheat
flour can never be wheat grains once again.
Can a ripe but bitter fruit cut off from the tree be put
back to the flower state and be forced to spring forth
again as a sweet and delicious fruit the second time? No!
Can an unschooled and unlettered mature man be
made a child again by a retrogressive process in order to
school and educate him? No! Once he has passed the
The Reiµcarnation Mystery Revealed              7

stage of childhood he cannot be brought back to it to
educate him. Adult education is possible, but making
him a child again is impossible. That stage in his life is
passed forever.
Can any and all combined forces on earth reverse an
80 year old bachelor to a young blooming man of 16 in
order to get him married? Certainly not. He can
marry all right, but cannot become a young man for that
purpose.
Isn't it unscientific and illogical even to think of a
comeback process, in nature and through this process
expect a progressive result of evolution, improvement,
refinement, purification and the like?
There is no retrogression, no revertive movement in
nature at all; neither in time or space; neither in living or
inanimate objects. '.Abdu'l-Bahadeclared:
"When the shell is opened, it will be apparent and
evident whether it contains a pearl or worthless
matter. When the plant has grown it will bringforth
either thorns or flowers; there is no need for it to
grow up again. Besides, advancing and moving in
the worlds in a direct order according to the natural
law is the cause of existence; and a movement contrary to the system and law
of nature is the cause of
non-existence. The return of the soul after death is
contrary to the natural movement and opposed to
the divine system. "
"Therefore, by returning, it is absolutely impossible
to obtain existence....."
['.Abdu'l-Baha,Some Answered Questions, p. 329]
8           The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

Why is the return of the soul after death opposed to
the divine system? Firstly, we should consider the view
that the physical world is in perfect correspondence with
the spiritual world and that both the physical and
spiritual worlds are in the divine system.
"The worlds of God are in perfect hannony and
co"espondence one with another. Each world in
this limitless universe is, as it were, a mi"or reflecting the history and
nature of all the rest. The physical universe is, likewise, in perfect
co"espondence
with the spiritual or divine realm. The world of
matter is an outer expression or facsimile of the
inner kingdom of spirit."
[½.bdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal
Peace, p. 270]
Similarly we find in the Atharva Veda:
fl-tld-i~-ii-llg'6dl© ~     ~:     I
~~~~~:II
[~                                  10, 8, 23]

"He is called the Ancient, He again cometh new
today; (similarly) day and night are being
generated, (this and that are) semblances of one
another.''
[Atharva Veda X, 8, 23]

Secondly, both divine and natural laws are persistent.
Even if we try to resist, eventually we must follow them.
There is no going against the laws of God, either natural
or supernatural.
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed              9

Thirdly, both in the material and spiritual worlds the
law of life is upgoing (urdhvagah). In the Mahabharata it
is written:
dQRJ!la«t~ mS<t
m@' ~ 1
~:~:~~~II
[~ ~,1i<15uiqcf,3, 21]
"O Muni! That which is called the lofty favorite
realm is much exalted. The onward movement
for attaining to that realm is elevatory. Hence it is
known as the urdhvagah (upgoing). That is the
right path, the excellent way. Only the divine
vehicle can carry the soul to that destination."
[Mahabharata, Swargarohan Parva, 3, 21]
It follows that re-entry into any immediate or remote
past stage is an impossibility in the flow of life. Within a
stage there m~y be ups and downs, humps and bumps
until the end of the onward march within that stage, but
once the boundary line is crossed, there is no passage or
process of returning, and the next stage is on a higher
level.
A person may become fat or emaciated, gladdened
or saddened, educated or left ignorant, wealthy and
healthy or poor and diseased, spiritually developed into
a saint or corrupted into a devil, but every moment his
upward flow of life continues; he never reverts
downward to his previous age life. Similarly, once he is
physically dead he can never be brought back to his
physical life, either in the same body that b.e left at the
moment of death or in any other body composed of
physical elements of matter.
10          The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

The spirit of man, after his material death, passes on
to the spiritual world which is a step forward in the
spiritual lives of individuals. This same truth is expressed
in Shrimad Bhagwad Gita, the Holy Song of the Lord:
~~~~~~~,
'a'?.iT~1-dUIIM ~~SI ;i- ~ 11
[lffiff 2: 13]

"Just as the dweller in the body has childhood,
youth, (and) old age, following the same way he
gets a different body; the wise do not get deluded
thereby."
[Gita II, 13]
In this holy verse, there is no mention of the soul's
coming back to this corporeal world once again and obtaining some earthly body
composed of material elements. On the contrary, the statement unfolds the
ever-progressing stages in the life of the soul. From
being related to the childhood-body the soul proceeds to
the youth-body; from the youth-body, again the soul
proceeds to the old-age-body, and so on. The soul can
never go back to any of the preceding stages of its life
after having proceeded to a higher stage each time.
After youth, childhood can never return. Similarly, after
old age the soul cannot go back to the youth body. In the
same way after physical death the soul enters into the
spiritual world. How can it, ever again, wear any physical
body coIJ)posed of material elements? Life proceeds on
and on. How can it twist its onward course into a
retrograde movement, against the laws of nature, either
divine or material? 'Abdu'l-Baha said,
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed               11

"....Advancing and moving in the worlds in a direct
order according to the natural law, is the cause of
existence; and a movement contrary to the system
and law_of nature is the cause of non-existence.
The return of the soul after death is contrary
to the natural movement and opposed to the divine
system.
Therefore, by returning, it is absolutely impossible
to obtain existence; it is as if man, after beingfreed
from the womb, should return to it a second time.
Consider what a puerile imagination this is which is
implied by the belief in reincarnation and transmigration. Believers in it
consider the body as a
vessel, in which the spirit is contained, as water is
contained in a cup; this water has been taken from
one cup and poured into another. This is child's
play. They do not realise that the spirit is an incorporeal being, and does
not enter and come farth,
but is only connected with the body, as the sun is
with the mirror. If it were thus, and the spirit by
returning to this material world could pass through
the degrees, and attain to essential peif ection, it
would be better if God prolonged the life of the
spirit in the material world, until it had acquired
peif ections and graces; it then would not be necessaryfor it to taste of the
cup of death, or to acquire
a second life."
['.Abdu'l-Baha,Some Answered Questions,
pp. 329-30]

The forward development of the soul is referred to
in other holy verses in the Shrimad Bhagwad Gita:
12            The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

c11eift1     ~ ~ ~ ~ mSlrofur
-ilo,Tf.t                   ,
"'
om ~1<1<1fu1~ -ilul.:.t1.:.t11f.t
~ ~ ~ 11
~ M-GRi
~1~1fu1:ti'~ mcrcf>:
I
;i- ~ cfflc!;<.l•~-Uirl
~ ~Tiq<.I@~:    II
[l'ffin'2: 22-23]
''.Asa man casting off worn out garments takes on
other new ones, likewise the embodied (soul),
casting off worn out bodies, goeth on to others
that are new. Weapons cannot cut it nor can fire
burn it; water cannot drench it nor can wind
make it dry."
[Gita II, 22-23]
The above sacred verses, do not indicate that a soul
makes an about turn to reinhabit this material world
which it has left behind after its physical death. Nor
does the soul re-enter the same or another physical
body.
On the contrary, these verses elucidate the qualities
of the soul which is non-material, and cannot be cut by
weapons, or burned by fire, or drenched by water, or
dried by wind. The other world is not composed of
material elements; it is spiritual. That kind of spiritual,
non-material body is specificallydescribed in the following Shlokas from the
Mahabharata:
ft-ittllM ~l(HINI ~ mq~ I
~ '<1<(11~;i- q1<1fti<1
c61f                   ~ 11
;i-~;i-~~~lfl
~;i-~cRiG(lt@'ffirt#11
[~        {,cl•1l-0gu1
,rci,13-141
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed              13

"O Moudgalya!Their bodies have a glorious brilliancy which is awarded for
their pious deeds.
They are not composed of mother's ovum and
father's sperm.
0 Muni! Those bodies never sweat nor smell obnoxiously nor even have they any
urine or faeces.
Also their clothes never become dusty."
[Mahabharata, Swargarohan Parva, 13-14]
In the same vein ½.bdu'l-Baha has written:
".....In the other world the human reality doth not
assume a physical form, rather doth it take on a
heavenly form, made up of elements of that
heavenly realm."
[½.bdu'l-Baha,Selectionsfrom the Writingsof
'Abdu'l-Baha, p. 194]
This is not only true for those with good deeds but
also for the evil ones. In the Yajur Veda the point is
obvious:
..     ";fl1f ~        3tir-r
<'TlcliT  dfi-Qlqdl:I
m-~C'41N•li0Rt~ ~ iUNi§.fl ~= II
[~40:3]
"The evil ones, namely those wrapped in deep
blind error, go after death to the worlds beyond,
and even those people who kill their own selves
(their own consciences)."
[Yajur VedaXL, 3]
This indicates that the ones who knowingly and
deliberately sin and the other evil ones who remain in
14            The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

deep blind error and go on sinning by habit, both go to
the same world beyond this earthly world.
The next world is different from this world. There we
reap the fruits of our actions performed in this world.
Evidences of this is given in the following two Shlokas
from the Mahabharata:

lW~~dmttrem:l'~I
~ 1'i(wl ~ <«lqttl11
cnif,fi4f<+,i
[qg1ltmt, 3R1RI''qij'3, 247, 35]

"Whatever actions are done in this world the
same are reaped in that world, 0 Brahman ( the
one informed of divine knowledge). The divine
view is this: this is the action-world and that is.the
fruit-world."
[Mahabharata,Aranya Parva,3, 247, 35]
-«
:ffil1fq' ijiJllil•I: ~ lil•IN;jjqd I
';f' ~ t-114!&.ld  'ffiiT•l~@lqijj 'ffif:II
[qglltl«t, aroRf'qij',3, 247, 34]

''The fortunate one is born over there with the
share of happiness. If one does not conscie~tiously do his duty over here,
then he goes into the
abject evil condition over there."
[Mahabharata,Aranya Parva,3, 247, 34]
Both those who do good deeds and those who do evil
deeds go to the other transcendent worlds (Paraloka).
There exist worlds beyond this material world. These are
quite different from this ephemeral world of water and
clay. God is the Infinite Creator. He has created infinite
worlds. Our minds should therefore not be bound by this
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed               15

tiny, transitory earth ball on which we briefly live. In the
lucid words of 'Abdu'l-Baha:

"The idea that existence is restricted to this perishable world, and the
denial of the existence of divine
worlds, originally proceeded from the imaginations
of certain believers in reincarnation; but the divine
worlds are infinite. If the divine worlds culminated
in this material world, creation would be futile; nay,
existence would be pure child's play."
['Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 330]

The human soul, being eternal, has to live and go on
and on, first through the successive stages of physical
growth and, after physical death, through the successively progressing stages
and conditions of purely spiritual
advancement. These yarious stages of progression have
some relationship with the "clothes", the "garments",
the "coverings" mentioned above in the Gita (II, 22)
which are connected with the soul and facilitate its constant onward march
both in this physical life as well as in
its life beyond.
When the child-body is worn out, the soul climbs up
to a higher rung of the ladder of life and puts on a youthbody. Ultimately, in
this physical life, when its old.-age
body is worn out, the soul discards the physical body and
the physical world as a whole is abandoned. After death
the human soul enters into a different world altogether.
This is the soul-world the spiritual realm on high, from
which there is no return to the physical world. In that
spiritual world the human soul puts on abstract clothing
suitable to that celestial world. We recall the words of
16         The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

the Mahabharata: '~so      their clothes never become
dusty."
[Swargarohan Parva, 14]
Each body is absolutely "new" to the soul in its ever
advancing journey of life inasmuch as any state through
which the soul passes once is never regained. It is for
this that the holy Gita specifically uses the word "new"
(II, 22). This word "new" is quite clear in the sense of
"the unprecedented". In the sacred statement of the
holy Gita (JI, 13) three successive stages are mentioned
in progressive order: (1) childhood, (2) youth, and (3)
old age. Each stage is an unprecedented stage for the
soul. Similarly, the fourth and next stage necessarily
must be a new, unprecedented one. That is the stage of
putting on a new kind of unearthly and abstract body.
Also, how can the Gita (JI, 13, 22) state that we get
"new" "bodies" or "garments" or go through childhood,
youth and old age if we return to have physical bodies
and garments and stages of life of the same old kind
again? We must be reasonable.
In fact, Holy Books of the world's great religions
generally teach that the human soul after physical death
goes to a spiritual world.
Science definitely indicates that the human body
goes on changing during its life on earth. Biology teaches
that the process of metabolism comprises two processes
that work simultaneously and co-operatively: (1) anabolism and (2) catabolism.
Anabolism is a constructive process within the
protoplasm so that food or other material at a reJatively
low level of complexity becomes more complex until it is
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed            17

finally worked up into living matter. This is how countless tiny new cells are
being constantly formed in the
composition of all the tissues of the living body. Each
cell has its little span of life and a specific function to
perform in the living body.
Catabolism involves the breakdown or decomposition of substances into their
simpler constituents. Hence,
it is a process of the dying out of the micro-organisms.
Cells, having performed their functions, get senile and
die.
By the assimilation of food, water, air, heat, rays, and
various energy vibrations, the living body grows. Various
chemical, radioactive and other processes of life occur
within the tissues of the body to produce its growth and
enhance its vital energy. At the same time, through
various excretions, exhalations, emission of energies and
vibrations, and the discharge of stools, urine, sputum,
vomit, sweat, blood, leucorrhoea, pus, bile, etc., countless cells are
constantly eliminated from the body.
This is how a newly born child weighing 6, 8 or 10
lbs. gradually grows into a big man weighing 125, 150 or
even 200 lbs. or more. This body may be reduced in
weight but never in age. A young man may be equal in
weight to a child but cannot become a child. Old age
111aybe called a second childhood but actually and physically it is not.
We also see that the human soul is connected with
various progressive embryonic bodies or "garments" in
the womb of the mother, the zygote, segmentation,
morula, blastula, gastrula, neurula to foetus until at last
it is born in the form of a baby. Within two years or
18          The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

so, all the tissue cells are gradually changed and new
cells compose the body of the child. The same soul
remains. Again at the age of seven years or so, another
body that is connected with soul is gradually composed
of new cells. A similar but progressive process takes
place and, in a further eight years or so, all the new
cells take the place of old and worn out ones and compose a new young body.
Then at the ages of 21, 36 (or
40) and 50 (or 60) and so on, almost all the body cells
are changed each time. But throughout this changing of
the cells and bodies the human soul remains the same,
acquiring different experiences and witnessing new and
ever-progressing phases of physical life. This can
be what the Hindu Holy Scriptures mean by successive
"reincarnations" through which the human soul passes
in this earthly life.
The fact that the spirit unfolds in three stages
through three "births" is described and elaborated upo_n
in the Aitaraya Upanishada in the following way. The
Shruti says:
~ 6CIT        ~ ~:
3t4q1fct;<11                         ci@fflcfunS~
~:     l4iidql('il~cll<IU.:i   fct1lffi
I
~ ~ m,;a((I ~~..:t'-1@~ ffl ~ II
r~     aqf.tq( 2: 11

'½.t the very beginning the embryo is generated in
the man - that brilliant quintessence of all his
body limbs held within, which is exactly like himself-is surely the semen
which, when poured, is
born (conceived) in the woman, (that) is the very
first birth!"
[AitarayaUpanishada2: 1]
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed                19

Thus, the Aitaraya Upanishada proclaims that there
is no previous birth.
dfffieill ~ lTiU@'
I lN.IT ~q~I              <tmI
d(,l,l~i -tft-if-EaI lt1S~dqltli1-iq.ai1d~
~ \llc:INdce.11     I
I 'd'ffl 1"?-~
'ilc:l@'                I
~ ~Sll'sftr ~ I
lrrSlr'Q_c:I'
ll' ij~ql{ ~Sll'SM \llc:lil('llitlil-iqc:1 de(_
I
i-llc:lil~qj Mlc:fil-ti~ ~ 'ffilnT   ~ ~: I
~~~II

marfl11i1q1t1t1~=         ~=      S1@e.ni1a
,
3fflT tillil~d<                       ~I
amqr fidf>M'c:lcfll'@':
ll' ~: ~ 9.-1;;ilt1a~ ~ ~
[~      aqf:ittc;._2:
2-4]

"That becomes as the woman's own limb... the
tissue. It is for this reason that this welcome soul
over here does not give pain.

That nourishing lady becometh capable of giving
nourishment, and holding the embryo, evolves it
l?efore giving birth, she also enhances its progress
after that. This way generations increase and the
population of all peoples spreads. That is his
second birth.

This second soul is made to represent his good
deeds. Hence this soul performing duties, having
lived his life, journeys away from here for good.
Again he is delivered. That is his third birth."
[Aitaraya Upanishada 2: 2-4]
20           The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

Thus, the Aitaraya Upanishada proclaims that the
soul at the end of this earthly life goes away for good!
Two extremely important points are derived from
this passage from the Aitaraya Upanishada: (1) there is
no previous birth before conception and (2) when a person dies his soul goes
away permanently.
Firstly, the indication that there is no previous birth
before conception as given in the Upanishada is clearly
reinforced by the Universal House of Justice, the
supreme administrative body of the Baha'i Faith, in
these words " .....The soul of man comes into being at
conception." (From a letter of the Universal House of
Justice, July 31, 1970, cited in Lights of Guidance,
p. 261). The soul of man is an emanation from God.
Also as ½.bdu'l-Baha states:
".... The spirit encircles the body at the beginning of
the amalgamation of the elements and natures in
the womb; the power of the spirit begins then to
appear in the body gradually and successively according to the preparation and
capacity to receive
that everlasting abundance (of the gifts of the
Lord)."
[½.bdu'l-Baha,Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Baha,
Volume 1, p. 157]
Secondly, the indication that the soul goes away for
good after death, as given in the Upanishada, is reinforced by ½.bdu'l-Baha.
" ....The spirit of man after putting off this material form has an
everlasting life...."
[½.bdu'l-Baha cited in Chalice of Immortality, p. 40]
''As to the soul of man after death, it remains in the
degree of purity to which it has evolved during life
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed              21

in the physical body, and after it is freed from the
body it remains plunged in the ocean of God's
mercy.
From the moment the soul leaves the body and arrives in the Heavenly World,
its evolution is
spiritual, and that evolution is: The approaching
unto God."
[½bdu'l-Baha cited in Chalice of
Immortality, p. 33]
The soul ultimately attains the presence of God (the
Sak.shat Paramatma-Darshan). Therefore, after death
man's soul goes away from this material world forever.
Let us now further refer to the holy Gita:
~ ix4cR1ḥ.IP1.IIR
3tix4cR11c{IR                 ~I
'ffif cfiT 4R~G.jiII
3tix4cR1RSl.ii~c:4
2: 28]
[1T@T

"O Bharata (Arjuna)! Beings were unmanifest in
the beginning, are manifest in the middle, shall
likewise be unmanifest on decomposition. Where
comes in lamentation?"
[Gita II, 28]
This passage certainly does not seem to support the
view that the soul comes back to adopt a material
physical earthly body a second time? The manifest corporeal body is composed
of material elements that are
constantly in movement. This is only an intermediary
stage in the ever-onward journey of the individual
human soul, between two unmanifest stages. The soul
in itself and by itself ever remains unmanifest even
when embodied in the series of its physical and
22          The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

manifest garments (metabolism) throughout its earthly
life. This is also referred to in the holy Gita:
3tc!4ckf1Sili4R.I-NJSiii4Rlc:6ii!TSil!J.i:1-4d
I
d+'il~   fctre;ccl4 -ti,tpTIN:ltl,+tSR
II
[1ffilT
2:25]
"(The soul) is called unmanifest, unthinkable,
immutable. Having thus known this, therefore, to
grieve is unbecoming."
[Gita II, 25]
m
~ "14f.l~-Niid c1T~ ~•
'dffl' ~ ~l(ildU~ ~ ~TIR.lfii4Sf,t,1
II
[lTiffl 2, 26]

"O might-armed (Arjuna)! Even if you regard
this (soul) as constantly taking birth and constantly dying, still you should
not grieve like this."
[Gita II, 26]
Has not the Blessed Lord made it clear here that
there is no such reincarnation in the sense as it is
popularly supposed to be? Because here the Blessed
Lord seems to take it for granted for the sake of argument that even if a
person believes that the soril takes
repeated births and dies again and again on this earth
(which is not the fact), this should not be the cause of
grief for him.
It is evident, then, that the human soul continues to
live after the death of its physical body, in the unmanifest spiritual world,
where it is given a suitable
"garment" called "Karma-Deha". This "action-body"
(Literally: Karma-Deha), which is referred to in the
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed              23

Hindu Holy Scriptures, will be an absolutely ~•new"and
unprecedented "covering" for the soul in the spiritual
realms above. This "action-body" of the soul becomes
ready for use by the soul only after the metabolic physical bodies are worn
out, completely exhausted and finally discarded once and for all.
After leaving the physical body over here the soul, as
a bird from the cage, takes its flight to the heaven of
spiritual realms. As for noble and pious souls:
"They enter into a state which, should we only have
the eye to see, we would envy and earnestly desire. It is
only because we ignore the beautiful and glorious life of
the world beyond that we seem attached to our earthly
abode and often forget the goal of our very existence
here."
[From a letter on behalf of the Guardian to the
author, May 14, 1932, cited in
Dawn of a New Day, p. i96]
~bdu'l-Baha gave the wonderful example of the
relation of this life to the next life being like the child in
the womb. "It develops eyes, ears, hands, feet, a tongue,
and yet it has nothing to see or hear, it cannot walk or
grasp things or speak; all these faculties it is developing
for this world. If you tried to explain to an embryo what
this world is like it would never understand .....but it understands when it
is born, and its faculties can be used.
So we cannot picture our state in the next world. All we
know is that our consciousness, our personality, endures
in some new state, and that that world is as much better
than this one as this one is better than the dark womb of
our mother was."
24               The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

[From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an
individual, October 8, 1943, cited in Lights of
Guidance, pp. 162-163]
As for the sinful soul, a series of repentances,
punishments, and torments take place in order to "bum
away" the evil deeds and thus unburden the soul until at
last it attains the presence of God; the ultimate desire of
the soul; the final consummation of all its highest aspirations; the supreme
goal of its life and of its very existence. Boundless gladness; eclat and
exultation; infinite
love and rapturous enjoyment; all of the holiest nature,
characterise the celestial condition of the liberated soul.
This state is called "Nirvana", the Param Moksha, the
infinite liberation, the unending satisfaction, the eternal
bliss, the supreme salvation. The Mahabharata and the
Manu Smriti say; see how clearly the following verses
depict heaven and hell:
'ffirlfq-~=              ~ ·~w1f~h11~a      1
';f'   ¾   fl~&.lfl 'ffir '1-i@(titlqdlrnf: II
[~         3R1RJqci,3,247, 34]

"The fortunate one is born over there with a
share of happiness. If one does not conscientiously do his duty over here,
then he would go into
the abject evil condition over there."
[Mahabharata, Aranya Parva, 3, 247, 34]

::,wi¼u-s4~ ~ i:blfd-1
l~l-1'{1
~ ~ tmnfq- dfi.lht(QR.4\J{!id
II
:i;1G0:S~l~-s<liml'I Gog~1~ac111Z1
~I
~            q~(Gff@       ~       ½cf ~ II
[qiW@, 8: 127-128]
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed               25

"He who punisheth in a way not prescribed by
religious ordinances meeteth with infamy and
disgrace in this world and also doth not gain
paradise in the next world. He should, therefore,
shun this method outright, by punishing those
who do not deserve punishment and not punishing culprits, the king is put to
great disgrace and
also he goeth to hell."
[Manu Smriti, VIII, 127-28]

m~ ~ ~tt1G;qfca~,c:1--11det1R
3lcIT~ ~ ~•11-ii:16'ltta,
['tjW@, 8: 75]

"The witness who saith something quite different
from what he had observed and heard falleth
headlong into hell, and the virtues which he had
performed in order to gain paradise in the world
beyond are destroyed by this, his act of sin."
[Manu Smriti, VIII, 75]

~ n,1{1«1q{4.tffctiRicsi«t
~ ~I
ei' ~ ~ '{41'4ll!t-l-( ti'lf.t:l"a~
(qjW@, 8: 94]

"He who bears false witness concerning questions for determination and
clarification of religion, goeth with downcast head straight into the
darkest of all hell."
[Manu Smriti, VIII, 94]

en{ ~ 'iif''Q'Tfiq:
lITna.r-:t.csCHl"IIG~                1
m,wt'iif'~'iif'~~~fflll
[qjW@, 8: 307]
26          The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

"The king who doth not protect well his subject
but taketh ugahi, sali, or tax or monthly penalty,
that king immediately after his death goeth to the
hell."
[Manu Smriti, VIII, 307]

~=f~
qc{~~l~«f-t ITT~ I
~~~Fi~~~~((

"The king who despite suffering difficulties himself from the harassed and the
unhappy people,
forgiveth them, is highly respected and revered in
the paradise. He who, being intoxicated by his
sovereignty and who is arrogant of his position of
authority, forgiveth them not, goeth to hell."
[Manu Smriti, VIII, 313]

~:     ~ ~ ~ mtrTR
lrr,lqf: I
~: m 41lilf.a "fRI':{1}fi@"11
~ Ii
[4'3,fil@,8: 318]

"Sinners who, on receiving punishment from the
king, thus liberated from sins, become clean, and,
like the saints who have done good deeds, go to
paradise."
[Manu Smriti, VIII, 318]

~ ~ ~t!U~lfeRt~ Sl@Qld;lld
I
~ ffl ~ II
~Gfcl~'RffclcRl{i
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed             27

"He who gives money according to his capacity
for the possessors of divine knowledge attaineth
to paradise on his death."
[Manu Smriti,XI, 6]
~ "Q_cf
~~ ~~.SG!.l'f,11@
ll':I
mmuT       ~ ~ lfiORr
tl'4"41~1              II
[flit'!@ 8:17]
':After the death of the body it is only dharm
(religion) which goeth along with the soul, and
neither relatives nor friends go with it, for all
other connections are destroyed on death."
[Manu Smriti, VIII, 17]
In the Brahmana Granthas we find that there is
judgement for the soul after the death of its body, and its
deeds on earth are weighed in the balance and the soul
is rewarded or punished to the proportion of its virtues
or sins. People living on earth must do self-sacrificing
charities and prayers with devotion to God for the
liberation of the souls of their ancestors; that is why to
die childless was considered a terrible thing.
There are passages in the Hindu Holy Scriptures to
support the view that there is no comeback process
anywhere or in any way or form throughout the whole
course and procedure of human life, right from its very
beginning to eternity. The same reality is clearly attested
to in the holy Yajur Veda as follows:
~ ~:      ~:        fq'ffU ie.l'IU$1
I
dqi~cfi: ~     w      ~ cfi('Q<il'(11
<QIT
[.19:45]
28           The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

"The (souls of) forefathers are in the Kingdom of
Yam.a (the angel of death). Those (souls) are
homogeneous and conscious. They in that world
are capable of humbling and devoting themselves
to the Divine Being."
[Yajur Veda,XIX, 45]
This holy verse of the sacred Yajur Veda clarifies the
point that both good and evil spirits, after the death of
the physical body, ascend into the realm of Yam.a (the
angel of death). In that spiritual world all the spiritsgood and evil-
resemble one another (as their spiritual
bodies are composed of heavenly elements) just as in
this physical world all human beings - good and badresemble one another in
their bodies composed of
physical elements. So also in that world the souls are
conscious of themselves and of one another.
Further, those souls in the spiritual world are living
without material physical bodies. They maintain their
spiritual consciousness and realise many truths of which
they were ignorant in their physical worldly lives prior to
their ascension. Let us immerse ourselves in the inspiring words of
~bdu'l-Baha:
"The mysteries of which man is heedless in the
earthly world, those will he discover in the heavenly
world, and there will he be informed of the secrets
of the truth; how much more will he recognize or
discover persorzs with whom he has been associated. Undoubtedly the holy souls
who find a
pure eye and are favored with irzsight will in the
kingdom of lights be acquainted with all mysteries,
and will seek the bounty of witnessing the reality of
every great soul. They will even manifestly behold
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed               29

the Beauty of God in that world. Likewise will
they find all the friends of God, both those of the
former and recent times, present in the heavenly
assemblage.
"The difference and distinction between men will
naturally become realized after their departure
from this mortal world. But this distinction is not in
respect to place, but in respect to the soul and conscience. For the Ki.ngdom
of God is sanctified (or
free) from time and place; it is another world and
another universe. And know thou for a certainty
that in the divine worlds the spiritual beloved ones
will recognize one another, and will seek union with
each other, but a spiritual union. Likewise a love
that one may have entertained for anyone will not
be for-gotten in the world of the Ki.ngdom, nor wilt
thou for-get there the life that thou hadst in the
material world."
[:A..bdu'l-Bahacited in Chalice of Immortality,
pp. 46-47]
Consciousness of the soul before and after physical
death is a matter with which we must deal. We can see
very well that human child born in this earthly world has,
right after his conception and then continuing after his
birth, no conscious knowledge whatsoever of what he
did and where he was in a supposed previous life or how
and why he came back to this supposed rebirth in this
particular way and in this particular form.
The holy Gita says that the human soul "realizes intellectual consciousness of
the previous body" after
physical death and that this happens "over there" (Gita
VI, 43), that is, in the world beyond and not this physical
30           The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

world. If we apply the holy verses of the Gita to this
world, then, human beings generally would "realize intellectual consciousness
of the previous body", but it is a
fact that almost no human being on earth ever claims, to
possess this consciousness. As for those few who make
such claims, we can question their truthfulness, as there
have been proven examples of fraud. Both the holy Gita
and the holy Yajur Veda (XIX, 45) indicate that the
human soul retains lts consciousness when born into the
world of the spirit.
This consciousness is only one of the bounties of the
next world. 'Abdu'l-Baha, states in this connection:
"In the.matrix of the mothers we were the recipients
of the endowments and blessings of God, yet these
were as nothing compared to the powers and graces
bestowed upon us after birth into this human
world. Likewise if we are born from the matrix of
this physical and phenomenal environment into the
freedom and loftiness of the life and vision
spiritual, we shall consider this mortal existence
and its blessingsas worthless by comparison."
"In the spiritual world, the divine bestowa'lsare infinite, for in that realm
there is neither separation
nor disintegration which characterize the world of
material existence. Spiritual existence is absolute immortality, completeness
and unchangeable be-ing.
Therefore we must thank God that He has created
for us both material blessings and spiritual graces,
outer sight to view the lights of the sun and inner
vision by which we may perceive the glory of God."
['Abdu'l-Baha cited in Chalice of Immortality,
p. 113]
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed               31

The next world is sanctified from what we call
time and place. Time with us is measured by the sun.
When there is no more sunrise, and no more sunset,
that kind of time does not exist for man. Those who
have ascended have different attributes (conditions)
from those who are still on earth, yet there is no real
separation.
"In prayer there is a minglingof stations, a mingling of condition. Pray for
them as they pray for
you."
[½bdu'l-Baha cited in Chaliceof Immortality,
p.114]
The advanced souls mingle with the Divine Souls,
i.e., the souls of the Manifestations of God, Prophets,
Ishwari Avatars, Messengers of God, Rishis, Rasuls, etc.
in the spiritual world.
In a nutshell, the basic relationship between this
material world and the wonderful spiritual world is pinpointed in this sublime
statement from the Mahabharata:

~~~"ffi[_~~I
~ '(NMQr.[_~         'lfii<«lḥtt11II
-qcf3, 247, 351
[itfilitmt, 3T<tRI'

"Whatever actions are done in this world the
same are reaped in that world, 0 Brahman (the
One Informed of divine knowledge, the Brahma-
Gyani). The divine view is this: this is the actionworld and that is the
fruitworld."
[Mahabharata,Aranya Parva,3, 247, 35J
32          The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

As mentioned previously,science and religion should
be employed hand in hand to investigate reality and
to throw light on the subject of reincarnation. The
mysterious interactions between this physical world
and the world of the spirit have been investigated by Dr.
Raymond A Moody, Jr., in his world-famous, best-selling books Life After Life
and Reflections on Life After
Life. It must be pointed out that Dr. Moody's research
findings on "neardeath experiences" are similar to other
findings throughout the world, including India. After
making a survey of much of the literature on the
subject and their own study of cases, two medical
doctors declared, " .... Although culture-bound expectations do seem to
influence these experiences, reports
from different cultures also show remarkable uniformities." (Ian Stevenson and
Bruce Greyson, "Near-
Death Experiences: Relevance to the Question of
Survival After Death," Journal,of the American Medical
Association, July 20, 1979, p. 266). Thousands of people
have now reported about "near-death experiences" to
researchers in various parts of the world, and many
books and articles have been written on the subject.
These Researchers include psychologists, psychiatrists,
cardiologists, nurses, philosophers, and behavioral
specialists.
At the time of writing Life After Life, Dr. Moody
had investigated 150 cases of "near-death experiences",
and the experiences he studied fell into t4ree categories:

(1) "The experiences of persons who were resuscitated after having been
thought, adjudged, or
pronounced clinicallydead by their doctors.
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed          33

(2) The experiences of persons who, in the course
of accidents of severe injury or illness, came
very close to physical death.
(3) The experiences of persons who, as they died,
told them to other people who were present.
Later, th~se other people reported the content
of the death experiences to him."
[Moody, Life After Life, p. 16]
None of them reached the point of no return and
came back to tell of it; they experienced "near-death".
Moody found that, despite the fact that no two persons had exactly the same
experiences in detail, there
was a great similarity among the reports. Fifteen elements occurred over and
over again in the accounts.
From these he wrote of an "ideal" or "complete" experience that included all
the common elements in the
order in which they typically occurred.
A man (or woman) is dying and, as he (or she)
reaches the point of greatest physical distress, he hears
himself pronounced dead by his doctor. He begins to
hear an uncomfortable noise, a loud ringing or buzzing,
and at the same time feels himself moving very rapidly
through a long dark tunnel. After this, he suddenly finds
himself outside of his own physical body, but still in the
immediate physical environment, and he sees his own
body from a distance, as though he is a spectator. He
watches the resuscitation attempt from this unusual
vantage point and is in a state of emotional upheaval.
After a while, he collects himself and becomes more
accustomed to his odd condition. He notices that he still
has a "body", but one of a very different nature and
34          The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

with very different powers from the physical body he has
left behind. Soon other things begin to happen, others
come to meet and to help him. He glimpses the spirits of
relatives and friends who have already died, and a
loving, warm spirit of a kind he has never encountered
before - a being of light - appears before him. This
being asks him a question, non-verbally, to make him
evaluate his life and helps him along by showing him a
panoramic, instantaneous playback of the major events
of his life. At some point he finds himself approaching
some sort of barrier or border, apparently representing
the limit between earthly life and the next life. Yet, he
finds that he must go back to the earth, that the time for
his death has not yet come. At this point he resists, for by
now he is taken up with his experiences in the afterlife
and does not want to return. He is overwhelmed by intense feelings of joy,
love, and peace. Despite his attitude, though, he somehow reunites with his
physical
body and lives.
"Later he tries to tell others, but he has trouble doing
so. In the first place, he can find no human words adequate to describe, these
unearthly episodes. He also finds
that others scoff, so he stops telling other people. Still, the
experience affects his Zife profoundly, especially his views
about death and its relationship to Zife. "
[Moody, Life After Life, pp. 21-23]
Later, after additional investigation, Dr. Moody
wrote Reflections on Life After Life in which he wrote of
several new elements that were reported to him by more
than one person who had near-death experiences of extreme duration. These
experiences were not as common
as the original fifteen. These include ( 1) the vision of
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed          35

knowledge, (2) cities of light, and (3) a realm of bewildered spirits.
What Dr. Moody describes in these two remarkable
books is in basic agreement with references we have
already given that life after death is a spiritual, not a
physical, existence. The people who were interviewed by
Dr. Moody cannot adequately describe their experiences in words. They were, as
Dr. Moody puts it, in a
"spiritual world", and he uses the term "soul" to
describe what they were. The souls were living without
material bodies. The souls were "unthinkable" (see Gita
II, 25 above); we cannot in this physical world have a
remote understanding of what they are, as words cannot
describe them adequately. They were conscious of themselves and others. Loved
ones recognized each other.
Love for others still in the material world is not forgotten. The life the
person had in this material world is not
forgotten.
Some, but not all, persons interviewed who mentioned the phenomenon said they
had a non-material
"body" but this term really doesn't describe it. Others
never claimed they had a "body" at all. Almost
everyone that told Dr. Moody of this "body" became
frustrated and said, "I can't describe it" or gave some
similar remark. (Moody, Life After Life, p. 43). Dr.
Moody called it the "spiritual body". (See Gita II, 13,
22-23 Mahabharata, Swargarohan Parva, 13-14; and
'Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-
Baha, p.194, above). None of them experienced kinesthesis, odours, or tastes
while in the spiritual body, but
senses corresponding to vision and hearing were
reported as existing in the spiritual body. In fact,
36         The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

"seeing" and "hearing' seemed actually heightened and
more perfect than in physical life.
[Moody, Life After Life, p. 51]
Some of those who had gone deeply into the "neardeath experience" recounted
that they reached a
"border" or "limit" of some kind. In most cases they
indicated that they did not go to the other side. Some
described what was "seen" or "felt" on the other side,
and in all cases this was beautiful, peaceful, full of light,
etc. There is no indication whatsoever that what awaited
them on the other side was punishment and entry into
another physical body.
The experience of these souls was timeless. Time as
we understand it was not existent. No place as we know
it existed once the souls got past the initial stage of
retaining direct experience with the physical world.
As to reward and punishment, the good and bad
deeds and actions of the person throughout his life,
either in detail or as highlights, flashed by in less than an
instant when the soul was in contact with the "being of
light". Nothing can be hidden from the "being". Some
people interviewed characterized this as an educational
effort of the indescribably loving "being" and that the
"being" seemed to stress good things in life: ( 1) learning
to love other people and (2) acquiring knowledge. In the
Baha'i Faith it is taught that the basic purpose of man is
to know and to love God. When we love God, a general
love for the whole of mankind becomes possible.
Clearly, as shown by Moody in Reflections on Life
After Life, the souls had different stations, evidently
depending on their actions in this physical world. Some
The Reincarnation Mystery Reveale_d            37

were in "a realm of bewildered spirits", while others
were free from this unfortunate condition. These confused beings seemed unable
to give up their attachments
to the material world. " .... They seemed bound to some
particular object, person, or habit." (Moody, Reflections
on Life After Life p. 18). They were "dulled", their consciences seemed
limited compared with those of other
souls not in this sad condition. They were to be in that
condition only until they solved the problem or difficulty
that was holding them in that state.
Now, yet another vital question arises: can belief in
reincarnation be a cause for a soul to find itself in a
lower station such as the "realm of bewildered spirits",
after death? What if a person expects to come back to
this physical world in another physical body but doesnot? Could not this be a
cause of confusion and bewilderment? Does belief in reincarnation, perhaps
combined with other beliefs, strengthen a soul's attachment to this material
world? And would this then be a
cause of its finding itself in the unhappy "realm of bewildered spirits" or
some other unhappy condition? The
believer in reincarnation, particularly if his belief
strengthens other things such as caste prejudices, lack of
love and concern for others and other evils, could face
an unforeseen calamitous punishment in the spiritual
world. In the exalted words of the Mahabharata: "The
divine view is this: this is the action-world and that is the
fruit-world."
[Aranya Parva, 3, 247, 35]
Those who pass over, and are not in this confused
condition, experience an indescribably wonderful,
glorious state. The love the soul feels flowing from the
"being of light" is inexpressible. Souls realized many
38         The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

truths of which they had been ignorant when they had
the ''vision of knowledge." In fact, after souls reached a
certain point in their "near death experiences" they did
not want to return to this narrow, limited, earthly world.
Dr. Moody's investigations reveal that the people
who have reported "near-death experiences" often said
that suicide is not the way to go to the next world. In
fact, numerous people told him that they had learned
that suicide was a very unfortunate act that was attended
with a penalty.
[Moody, Reflections on Life After Life, pp. 44-45]
Of course, being a qualified psychiatrist using the
tools of science, which in studies like this have limitations, Dr. Moody was
cautious in drawing conclusions
about his findings. He stated he was not trying to prove
that there is life after death, though he personally
believes in it.
As for reincarnation, Moody stated, "not one of the
cases I have looked into is in any way indicative that
reincarnation occurs." (Moody, Life After Life, p. 141).
On the other hand, he states that if reincarnation does
occur, an interlude in some other realm might take place
between the time of separation from the old body and
the entry into the new. However, he evidently was unaware that his own
findings can be used to counteract
this supposition. The "interlude'' he refers to could be
like the extraordinary, wonderful, indescribable spiritual
experiences he describes from his interviewees. When
they reached a certain point, especially when they contacted the "being of
light", they did not want to come
back. Why then would God push them back. As a
punishment? In fact, some of those that returned gave
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed            39

the reasons why they did so - not at all for punishment
but because they felt an obligation to go back and raise
their children or felt they had left some important task
undone or that the love or prayers of others pulled them
back from death. (Moody, Life After Life, pp. 77-81).
Also, after their return, they had lost their fear of death.
They changed their attitudes, and led better lives as a
result of their experiences. Would not return to this
physical world after an "interlude" be a complete waste
of the beneficial effects attained through existence in
the spiritual world- especially when the soul was unaware of this interlude?
or of what preceded it? No
where do any of Dr. Moody's subjects state that they
came back to this world as a punishment! Also the idea
of an "interlude" may be almost as ancient as the theory
of reincarnation itself, being an early attempt to defend
the theory against objections to it based on the belief
that the next existence is entirely spiritual. In other
words, the "interlude" idea may be a compromise formulated years ago.
Thus, science, research, and reason do not consistently support the theory of
reincarnation. Also, the
author has found no clear cut, consistent support in the
Hindu Holy Books for the theory. Many passages in the
Holy Books seem against the theory, some of which are
referred to in this book. When these scriptural passages
are honestly translated as closely as possible to the letter
and spirit of the original texts and revised in the light of
all other passages as well as scientific knowledge, a contrary view can
prevail. 'Abdu'l-Baha declared, "Proofs
must be asked for from the believers in reincarnation,
and not conjectures, suppositions, and imaginations."
['Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions,p. 325]
40        The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

On this questionable basis some people have
adopted beliefs, about reincarnation that knowingly or
unknowingly, create many problems. Several such
beliefs are investigated in the chapters that follow.
CHAPTER Two

Believers in reincarnation say that millions (84 lakhs)
physical bodies die before the soul obtains release.
The soul comes back into this earthly world putting on
corporeal bodies each time in order to get its reward for
good deeds and to suffer the punishment of its evil
deeds of past births until at last, when all sins are burned
away, the soul goes on to rest permanently in the
transcendental celestial world and attains to "Param-
Dham" (literally: the Abode of Eternal Bliss).
Now, if every individual human soul comes into its
physical birth in this world for the sake of being
punished for its past life's sins and transgressions, then
what about the new soul which is born in this world for
the very first time? Why is fresh new soul born in this
world? Has that soul also committed some sins? If so,
when and where? 1t had no previous birth at all! If that
new soul is sinless, why was it born over here?
Science tells us that life began on earth about
3,50,00,00,000years ago. What sin did the very first creature on earth commit
that determined its nature? For
there was no life on earth before then. Also, according
to the Manu-Smriti and other Hindu Scriptures, Brahman created this creation
with all sorts of beings including plants, animals, humans, etc. Science tells
us that life
on earth at first was very simple and tiny microscopic
one-celled creatures were the rule. What sins had such
simple creatures committed to merit punishable lives?
They could have absolutely no knowledge of what is
meant by sin. What sins does a one-celled amoeba
commit?
42           The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

If this world, like a prison, is meant for punishing
sinners, then only sinners should come here to live. They
may be sinners for the first time or any millionth time. If
this is the case, what right, advantage or cause is there
for a brand new soul to be born in this world for the very
first time?
In fact, this material earthly world is not a jail for the
sinner-souls. This is the place for all new souls only and
all souls created by God start in this world.
"... The spirit encircles the body at the begi,nningof
the amalgamation of the elements and natures in
the womb; the power of the spirit begi,nsthen to
appear in the body gradually and successively according to the preparation and
capacity to receive
that everlasting abundance (of the gi,fts of the
Lord)."
[½.bdu'l-Baha, Tabletsof 'Abdu'l-Baha,
Volume I, p. 157]
This divine process of creating fresh and new souls is
continuous from all eternity to all eternity.
It is only during each soul's own physical lifetime on
this earth that it has the liberty of conscience and voluntary action to
perform either good or bad deeds on its
own account and at its own risk. Good deeds will beget
blessed rewards known as "Baikuntha" or "Swarga"
(literally: paradise) whereas evil deeds will be punished.
That punishment itself is known as "Narakagni" or hellfire. This is the
divinely ordained arrangement.
Why, then, should the punishable sinners be brought
back into this world? They would create unnecessary
troubles for the good souls and would afflict them over
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed              43

here. Good souls would be tempted learn evil. There is
no advantage to anyone at all.
God not punish the sinner-souls in some other
world? Is He powerless to create other worlds in which
this can be done? Has He got no other worlds in which
this can happen? There seems to be no good reason why
He cannot create a spiritual world to reward the good
and punish the wicked, a world in which the good souls
are protected from the mischief of the wicked.
Moreover, it is the sinning soul that is to be punished
and not the body. The body was merely an instrument
for the soul committing sins. That particular body is
dead and gone. Why should other bodies be punished
for the soul's sins committed through an old, discarded
body which has absolutely nothing to do with the new
body? Cannot the soul be directly punished (and
rewarded) in the unmanifest soul-world? No material
body is required for that purpose. To punish the soul no
earthly weapon is required. No material element has
any influence or-power whatsoever over the soul. Is this
not indicated by the Blessed Lord in the holy Gita when
He declared the following?
"Weapons cannot cut it (the soul) nor can fire
burn it: water cannot drench it nor can wind
make it dry."
[Gita II, 23]
In this connection the holy Gita clearly indicates that
no being gets any manifest physical life or material body
after death for either punishment or reward.
"O Bharata (Arjuna)! Beings were unmanifest in the
beginning, are unmanifest in the middle, shall likewise
44           The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

be unmanifest on decomposition. Where comes m
lamentation?"
[Gita II, 28]
The soul lives after death in the abstract and unmanifest soul-world assuming
the unmanifest form consequent upon its actions done in this earthly life.
Through the soul's prayers, supplications, humbling
itself before God, through invoking God's mercy and
through the prayers and good deeds done in its name by
its relatives and dear ones on this earth, its progress is
hastened. The mercy of the almighty God flows to that
soul in the spiritual world. In this manner, the soul's sins
are eliminated or "burnt away." Ultimately the soul attains to "Mukti" or
"Moksha" (liberation from imperfection). It attains the presence of God.
"From the moment the soul leaves the body and
arrives in the heavenly World, its evolution is
spiritual, and that evolution is: The approaching
unto God."
[½bdu'l-Baha cited in Chalice of
Immortality, p. 33]
"When the soul attaineth the Presence of God, it
will assume the form that best befitteth its immortality and is worthy of its
celestial habitation."
[Baha'u'llah, Gleaningsfrom the Writingsof
Baha'u'llah, p. 157]
In that sacred world of eternal salvation, the blessed
souls will recognize and converse with each other! They
will enjoy near access to the hallowed Souls of God's
Manifestations, the celestial concourse of heavenly
spirits, pious spirits of God's blessed saints and martyrs,
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed             45

and countless others who have unreservedly merged
their wills into the Holy Will of God! They will relate to
one another their experiences obtained in their earthly
lives and experience unimaginable joy and gladness.
Physical genders, lower passions, corrupt desires, greed,
lust and all unholy inclinations belonging to this mundane world have no
existence in that extremely blessed,
most exalted, incomprehensible, unthinkable and inexpressible world. Nirvana,
the Loftiest Swarga, the Eternal Moksha, the Infinite Satchitananda
(literally: "the
boundless joy in merging one's will into the Most Great
Truth") are some terms used to this spiritual state.
These references to the spiritual world are supported
by the SwargarohanaParva of the Mahabharata in the
followingverses:
~ cfiqO((,d:ii ~ «<I_~       AA'I
~ ~ ~ cnif      ~ 11
ḥf..<-1i0~
[~,       ~:i1iugo1-Qcf
3, 247, 28]

"The rewards of one's own deeds are reaped over
there. No new deeds are performed. The merits
of the original deeds are awarded."
[Mahabharata,SwargarohanaParva, 3, 247, 28]
~ qfo,iq) ~ @taiHI: f~: I
~ "lcl~ca~~ f~(il-tl 'ffit.
M'-cfi-l'(ll 30 II

"By beholding the splendors of the high awards
being enjoyed by those who are in the loftier
realms, the lower graded souls feel dissatisfied.
To describe the anguish of those souls is extremely difficult."
[Ibid. 30]
46           The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

dQUJj!i~ ~ ~~~~:I
~:    ~=     ~ ~41-iilll       ~ 112II
"O Muni! That which is called the lofty favourite
realm is much exalted. The onward movement
for attaining to that realm is elevatory, hence it is
known as the urdhvagah (up-going). That is the
right path, the excellent way. Only the divine
vehicle can carry the soul to the destination."
{Ibid. 2]

~ c:ld4~1§:@f4(,d
-1IIZl4id~:  I
~ ~ ~i<l~i(-d  ~ 'ii' fct~64id4:
1121 11

"They do not offer oblations of sacrifices. They
do not need the nectar of immortality. Their
bodies are of divine attributes and have no particular shape."
[Ibid. 21]

fl-:telf.t ~i<IUful "ic:i~Jtqq«Jdl'(f
~ ~ tj1G11<-4   NQ~ 1113II
;r 1TTQ"

"O Moudgalya! Their bodies have glorious brilliancy which are rewards for
their pious deeds.
They are not composed of mother's ovum and
father's sperm."                       [Ibid. 13]

~~~~9:U'f~'il'I
t
~ ~ 'ii' ~ cffl' ~ "ffil' ~ 1114II
"O Muni! Those bodies never sweat nor smell
obnoxiously nor even have they any urine or
faeces. Also their clothes never become dusty."
[Ibid. 14]
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed                   47

m -smma-
~ ~ q,jq~= tit1
-;r ~ ~l?fid~il(f -;r Ml~~4q('(.j,(: 1120 II

"Those of exalted realms are intrinsically illumined. They radiate light and'
are satisfied in
their desires. They have no lustful desires nor
ever have they any jealousy towards the
supremacy of the grandeurs of those in other
higher realms."
[Ibid. 20]

~:    GW-11~~1~.             ":q"
~:    I
cl'Tlrr~ iii~lt,,!.I •i'4!1cljG(,H{,1~$!11
ii 6 II
'Q_'Qi'~Rc61!1Hi     ~        si~q~q,~I:I
~=      q,jq{,IIQ...flMlcbi~Jtq!jj: 'ijm: 117 ii

"Over there, 0 Moudgalya, are separate grades
of realms for the divines, for those sages who
have attained, for universal beings, for multitudes
of saints, for self-controlling restraints, for
pilgrims, for captivating heavenly choruses, for
fairies, for damsels and for many other shining
groups. All of them are the possessors of the
powers of obtaining their desired bountiful bestowals, as they are refulgent
and felicitously fortunate."
[Ibid. 6-7]

~ iigJUti~St Mlc6i~i1q<.11:~ I
c:('S1!il~ipt(.fl~ 1@'f
~: ~: ~: 1118 II
"Still loftier are the realms of Brahma which are
extremely glorious and propitious where, 0
48           The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

Brahman, Holy Rishis with their own lustrous
virtues go."
[Ibid. 18]

~~:
~~..fl~~~:~ ~I
ilfOTT:
~ ~ ~: 1rt~ ~: 113711
The divine Messenger said:
"Even above Brahma's realm there exists the
Most Exalted Abode of the transcendental Lord
Vishnu. That is the pure and eternal, most
glorious station which is also called parambrahma (transcending Brahma)."
[Ibid. 37]

R<6fiHI~ tit.1af~t.11:
f;ri:iirr                   ,
9:fR (fl•IQ{ttiht ~ •li0RI   'q"Rqf; 1139 11

"Unselfish, having no egu, those human beings
who have subdued their own sensual passion and
risen up above the dual influences of pleasure
and pain, and are conscientiously meditating;
they are the ones who go over there."
[Ibid. 39]
The above mentioned holy verses of the sacred scriptures clearly depict the
soul's progress and condition in
the exalted spiritual world. In light of this, why should
any soul have to return to this material world?
Just as a child in the womb of its mother can never
understand this spacious, bright, vast and conscious
world, so also, while living in this womb-like world, we
cannot understand the spiritual world beyond death.
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed               49

This is why in comparison with that divinely illumined
spiritual world this material world is called dark by
the Holy Scriptures. Terms such as fflcfTlf~ "Dyava
prithivi" (literally: "the Illumined World") and the like
are often used in the holy Vedas, the sacred Gita, and
other divinely revealed scriptures.
Now let us study with unbiased minds and pure
hearts what Baha'u'llah, the Manifestation of God for
this age, has declared in His fresh Holy Revelation for
the guidance of all the peoples of the world on this same
subject. We will surely find the self-same eternal truths
and similar statements as revealed in the Holy Scriptures of the past,
including the Holy Books of the Hindus. This is because God is one, the God of
the past, the
present and the future. So also, religion is one, eternal in
the past, eternal in the future.
"Blessedis the soul which, at the hour of its separation from the body, is
sanctified from the vain imaginings of the peoples of the world. Such a soul
liveth and moveth ·in accordance with the Will of its
Creator, and entereth the all-highest paradise. The
Maids of Heaven, inmates of the loftiest mansions,
will circle around it, and the Prophets of God and
His chosen ones will seek its companionship. With
them that soul willfreely converse, and will recount
unto them that which it hath been made to endure
in the path of God, the Lord of all worlds. The
nature of the soul after death can never be
described, nor is it meet and permissible to reveal
its whole character to the eyes of men .... The world
beyond is as different from this world as this world
is different from that of the child while still in the
womb of its mother. When the soul attaineth the
50           The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

Presence of God, it will assume the form that best
befitteth its immortality and is worthy of its celestial
habitation. "
[Baha'u'llah, Gleaningsfrom the Writingsof
Baha'u'llah, pp. 155-157]
"The people of Baha ... are one and all, well aware
of one another's state and condition.... They that
are of the same grade and station are fully aware of
one another's capacity, character, accomplishments
and merits. They that are of a lower grade, however,
are incapable of comprehending adequately the
station, or of estimating the merits, of those that
rank above them ...
"The souls of the infidels, however, shall - and to
this I bear witness- when breathing their last be
made aware of the good things that have escaped
them, and shall bemoan their plight, and shall
humble themselves before God. They shall continue doing so after the
separation of their souls
from their bodies."

... And again:

"They that are the fa/lowers of the one true God
shall, the moment {hey depart out of this life, experience such joy and
gladness as would be impossible to describe, while they that live,in error
shall
be seized with such fear and trembling, and shall
be filled with such consternation, as nothing can
exceed."
[Baha'u'llah, Gleaningsfor the Writingsof
Baha'u'llah, pp. 169-170]
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed            51

Furthermore :
"Certain traditions of bygone ages rest on no foundaJions... Thou dost witness
how most of the commentaries and inte,pretations of the words of God,
now current amongst men, are devoid of truth.
Their falsity hath, in some cases, been exposed
when the intervening veils were rent asunder. They
themselves have acknowledged their failure in apprehendi.ng the meaning of any
of the words of
God."
[Baha'u'llah, Gleaningsfor the Writingsof
Baha 'u 'llah,pp. 170-171]

As mentioned before, some believers in reincarnation state that the souls
return to this material world to
suffer punishment for the deeds of their past lives. Now,
if this material world becomes a jail for punishment of
the souls, of what use, then, is "Naraka" or hell. Either
the souls come back on earth for punishment after death
or the souls receive punishment in the spiritual hell. One
or the other must take place. There is no sense in double
punishment, both in the earthly and spiritual worlds. If a
man drove his car once through a stop light, would the
police punish him twice for it? A man should not be
tried for the same crime twice. Would God be so unjust
as to inflict double a punishment on souls?
If the souls return to this earthly world for punishment, then there is no use
of any idle and unoccupied
hell beyond; and if a hell does exist in the spiritual
world, then it goes without saying that human souls do
not return at all to this physical world. In that case, to
think of a return would be a misconception.
52         The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

Let us further examine the Hindu Scriptures themselves. The Mahabharata
clearly states in its Swargarohan Parva that at the time when Dharmaraja
Yudhisthir was ascending to paradise along with God's
angels, he had to pass through hell. There he saw many
sinners undergoing punishment. He asked the angels
what had been the sins committed by these souls on
earth for which they were suffering such severe torments.
Just pause here for a while and think carefully about
that situation! Had return to the earthly world for
punishment been a reality, Dharmaraja Yudhisthir
would have exclaimed with surprise as to why those sinners had not been sent
back to their new physical lives
on earth for punishment!
Later in that same sequence the Mahabharata relates that Dharmaraja witnessed
the sons of Dhritrashtra- The Kauravas- suffering torments of hell
along with other rakshasas or devils. Then he saw his
own brothers -the Pandavas-in the loftiest mansions
of the Exalted Swarga, (paradise) occupyingthe highest
thrones. He became glad when he himself entered
paradise.
Now, think again minutely. Had there been reincarnation for punishment in this
earthly world, why is it that
the Kauravas, as well as other evil souls, were not sent
back here? Why were they all kept in that spiritual
world? Why were Dharmaraja Yudhisthir and all the
other angels not terribly shocked by the experience of
seeing the sinners in hell? Why were the sinners not sent
back to the material world for punishment?
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed              53

It was simply because this part of the Mahabharata
illustrates that there is no such reincarnation as conceived by some people.
The pious people of this earthly
world ascend, at death, to paradise, whereas the wickeddoers fall, on death,
into the spiritual hell-fire which,
basically, is a condition of remoteness from God. In this
connection we refer to the holy Gita:

6ffi'                clT \fl'~ ~ I
ffl ffficIT
cfTSIIGE4f~
d,@,ii~@td ~            ~         fl,dFI~~= II
2:37]
[1T@I'

"Either slain wilt (thou) obtain paradise, or gaining victory wilt enjoy the
earth; get up, therefore,
0 Son of Kunti (Arjuna), determined to fight."
[Gita II, 37]
And, how is it that Arjuna was to go unfailingly to
paradise and nowhere else? This is also clarified in the
holy Gita:

~        tiqfal?t~ f.ti!1~1~1«u l@T 1
lIT ~:     ~ ~sft:r           tJllJscf11
16: 5]
[1T@I'

"The divine properties are deemed to be for
liberation, the demoniacal for bondage. Grieve
not, 0 Pandava (Arjuna), thou art born with
divine properties."
[Gita XVI, 5]

Similarly the holy Gita clarifies that the wicked
people go to hell after death:
54           The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

I
3t~c6N'tiRl\ll-dl i.flf'ill<-lfiJtl<{dl:
~ c1,1q'if1~9, -mfi~ 11
1«1Rf
[1TI'ffi'
16: 16]

"Bewildered by numerous thoughts, enmeshed in
the web of delusion, addicted to the gratification
of carnal desires, they fall into the unholy hell."
[Gita XVI, 16]
Thus, the human soul receives chastisement for sins
and is castigated by hell-fire in the spiritual world alone
and never returns to the material world by taking birth
in any manifest physical body.
firRrt•Hchttl«
IR             ..jj~j..jqj(it~:   I
efillf: ef>M~~.
ffi\j~{,q ~61c:i('ll:st({_
16: 21]
[1TRIT

"This threefold gate of hell - is destructive to the
soul; let (everyone), therefore, discard this triad."

[Gita XVI, 21]
Does this not further support the view that as indicated in the Hindu Holy
Scriptures themselves, reincarnation never takes place in this material world?
Just
pause a little and again refer to the holy Gita:
ffiT'ff~~4l~i     R ~«Wct>'l
~ Tl'~       ~:   ~ ~'6"1-G"1
II
[1TI'ffi'
6: 43]

"Over there that (soul) realizes intellectual consciousness of the previous
body and thereupon
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed             55

redoubles its efforts for the perfect attainment, 0
Rejoice of the Kurns (Arjuna)."
[Gita VI, 43]
The word "tan-a" means "over there" or "in that
world," not "over here" or "in this world."
Moreover, the soul burdened with evil deeds, in addition to its having
knowledge of that spiritual world
wherein it then lives after physical death also retains a
consciousness of the total life it led in the physical body.
According to the Gita (VI, 43) just referred to, it is this
that constructively helps it to redouble its efforts in
order to attain the perfect bliss. Its efforts over there will
be of the nature of repentance, humbling itself, begging
for the mercy of God, as no new and independent deeds
can be performed over there like those that were performed in the physical
world.
Some Hindus believe that the spirits or souls of their
beloved and respected forefathers help protect and/or
guard them. For example, a farmer believes that the soul
of his dead grandfather protects his family's fields. But if
their forefathers had taken other births such as plants or
more divergent forms, how are those souls free to come
and help these people?
In the Ramayana which is very popular with the
Hindu masses, we clearly see that King Dashrath appears from Swarga (paradise)
to his son Rama who was
in Lanka, 14 years after his father's death, and blesses
him. Not only this, but, at the request of his son, Dashrath forgives
Kaikeyee, Rama's step-mother, who had
been the cause of all their sufferings and because of
whom Rama, Sita and Laxman were exiled for 14 years.
56         The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

This means that, as perceived by the writer of the
Ramayana, King Dashrath was not sent by God to this
world for enjoying the sweet fruits of his good deeds nor
for suffering punishment for his errors.
Hindus generally have a 30 day month (Shradh)
every year in which they feed Brahmins, their own
families, and poor people in memory of their forefathers
and for the benefit and progress of their souls. They say
prayers, read Holy Books and carry out charitable work
in the name of their forefathers. If their forefathers had
already taken rebirth (or perhaps many such rebirths) in
this world in other forms such as plants, animals, or
other human beings unrelated to them in another
society, what good would all these efforts be during this
month?
Most Hindus believe that the marriage between a
husband and wife is a strong bond between the two
souls. When the husband dies, the widow doesn't remarry. They say that for a
woman the husband is like God
(pati parmeshwar). Their bond is eternal. Even after her
husband's death, she is still married to her husband's
soul. Why should she marry someone else? But if her
husband has taken another birth (or many births) in
another form, such as a woman or another man or
animal or plant, what kind of relationship does the
widow have with her husband's soul? Then, when she
dies, if she also is supposed to be reborn as another
human being and her husband has also been reborn and
both of them marry other people; what sort of relationship would they have
then? How can they retain their
eternal bond? Instead, they are in a mess! On the other
hand, an eternal bond is only possible when they both go
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed           57

to the spiritual realm and live there together lovingly
making progress to attain nearness to God.
Thus, when we compare the beliefs of Hindus on
reincarnation with other beliefs they hold, we run into
all sorts of contradictions and confusion. Let us investigate yet another of
these suppositions. People say that
some children are born with physical and mental defects,
poor, destitute, with criminal tendencies, in low castes or
as untouchables, etc... as a punishment for the deeds of
their past lives.
Why are children born physically or mentally defective? In this age of science
we are well aware of the
causes of such defects. Mistakes of the pregnant mother
can permanently harm the child in the womb. Venereal
and chronic constitutional diseases of one or both the
parents in the form of latent miasma are inherited by the
children.
Children during their mothers' pregnancies are
directly and/or indirectly affected by many influences
(samskaras-literally: impressions or impacts on the
mind and the body) including social and economic conditions such as wealth or
poverty, diet, fear, shock, accidents, devotion or lack of devotion to God,
religious
beliefs, superstitions and blind beliefs, dreams, the company of friends, and
individual and collective actions
such as taking drugs, drinking alcohol, smoking, and innumerable other factors
- not by the deeds of an assumed past life.
Science has proved that the mother's diet during
pregnancy may cause various diseases like cretinism
mental retardation, drug addiction, growth retardation, a
58          The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

missing or an extra limb and even a weak or sickly disposition. Various
genetic diseases may cause the newly
born child to be defective in health, limbs or intellect.
Examples of this are, Mongolism, cancers, some heart
and skin diseases.
This is supported by the ancient Hindu system of
medicine, the Ayurveda, in Shushrut Samhita, Shavir
Sthan -Shushrut Adhyay.
Just as the pregnant mother's wrong diet creates diseases in the child,
similarly harmful food or bad habits
spoil the sperm of the father - in this manner whichever
child is conceived may be physical defects.
It has also been proved by medical science that the
foetus in the mother's womb can be affected by the
mothers emotional state and environment as also by the
company she keeps.
These foregoing scientific proofs establish the fact
that the physical or mental defects of the child are due
to genetic causes or the wrong feeding, the unhygenic
and undesirable environment in which the father and
mother live at the time of conception of the child and
the pregnancy period.
In this connection the Manu-Smriti declares:

"Where the woman is adored play the brilliant
ones."
[Manu Smriti, 3, 56]
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed           59

Note that, according to the ancient medical knowledge
(Ayurveda) no mention is made whatsoever that these
defects are due to the actions of a previous life! Modern
medicine too supports this.
Scientists and medical experts are working to find
the causes of defects in early childhood and indeed
throughout life so that much of this can be prevented
and treated. As this occurs and there will be less defects
and suffering among the people. Yet moral behaviour
continues to deteriorate. Does this mean that there is
less punishment for deeds in the life? No, it is due to the
advancement of science and medicine.
We use scientific knowledge, not suppositions and
conjectures, to understand why children suffer from
physical and mental defects in life, both before and after
birth. As referred to previously, in the words of the
blessed Lord in the Gita:
"He who is well contented with knowledge and
science is called a yogi, the conqueror of senses, who
stands steadfast as if on a rock."
[Gita VI, 8]

"To thee, the uncarping, verily shall I declare this
most profound secret: having knowledge through common sense along with science
(systematized knowledge),
thou shalt have salvation, freed from misfortune."
[Gita IX, 1]

Belief must be tested by science and common sense
as well as reference to the Holy Scriptures; otherwise it
may become an impediment to understanding reality.
60          The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

In the Vedas and in other Scriptures, medical science
teaches us how to cure people and prolong life. Countless herbs and chemicals
are also given by God. This
shows that our lives in this world are precious and for
preservation and not for punishment at the hands of
other persons -who may also be sinners in one way or
another.
Some Hindus believe that incapacitating accidents
occur to people as punishments for deeds performed in
past lives. In this connection, as mentioned previously,
it is proclaimed by God through Shri Krishna in the
Gita, II, 13:
Just as the dweller in the body has childhood, youth,
(and) old age, following the same way (soul) gets a different body; the wise
does not get deluded thereby.
Thus childhood is the past life (purwa-janma) of the
present young man who will, in turn, gradually be further
born at a later stage in the old-age body, which will be
his next life (punar-janma).
H a soul neglects its education in its child-body, it
suffers the ill consequences in its subsequent bodies:
the youth-body and the old-age body. If a naughty child
plays mischief and fall breaking his hand or leg or
blinding his eyes, he remains incapacitated, lame or
blind in his subsequent births viz. into the youth-body
and thereafter the old-age-body until he casts off this
senile old-age-body which is his final body on earth.
Therefore the soul suffers the consequences of actions
that took place in the child's life and not the consequences from a supposed
life before conception in the
mother's womb.
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed            61

After birth, children are punished and rewarded by
parents and teachers so that they may improve their
character. Sound principles of child psychology and pedagogy should be
followed. If a child is punished for his
actions by his educator, he must understand why he is
being punished. This will aid in preventing the repetition
of the misbehaviour. If a judge punishes a condemned
criminal for his crime, the culprit must know why he is
being punished. There is absolutely no sense in punishing a man for an
undeclared crime. If he does not know
the sins for which he is apparently being punished, he
can keep on committing the same sins. No improvement
in his character takes place. The punishment must be
specifically connected to the misbehaviour or crime,
otherwise the punishment is dangerously unjust. The
person punished will feel this injustice deeply and may
even rebel against punishment itself. Isn't God, the
Knower of all things, capable of a better approach to
reward and punishment? Yet followers of the theory of
reincarnation persist in the belief that children (and
adults) are punished by being born physically or mentally defective,
incapacitated, poor, destitute, in low castes
or as untouchables, etc... due to unknown actions in a
supposed past life! Such punishment does not arouse
sincere repentance. How then can any improvement
take place at all?
Some Hindus believe that human beings may be
reborn as animals, fish, birds, serpents, insects, trees and
plants or stones or some other inanimate objects. We
definitely know through science that unlike human
neither the things in the mineral kingdom nor vegetables
and not even animals have abstract intelligence. Hence,
how can minerals, plants, or animals understand about
62           The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

being punished for past sins or rewarded with goodly
gifts and divine bounties during their life spans? How
can any mineral, plant or animal improve to be a human
again under these circumstances? Moreover, if a mineral
or plant or animal was once a human, why doesn't the
mineral, plant or animal have human intelligence?
Without human intelligence, how can it appreciate
rewards or repent after punishments? What, then, is the
sense of rewards or punishment?
Believers in reincarnation often link this with belief
in predestiny. People are often heard to say something
like: "O God! What sins have we committed for which
Thou art punishing us in this way?" When in trouble or
misfortune, they connect this misfortune with the unknown evil deeds of a
supposed previous life and, as a
result, do not investigate the true causes of the
problems. Further, people come to them to console
them by saying that this calamity must have been predestined by God. But in
this connection, the Yogavashishtha
says:
~ ~sat                d(tii(lq<t~i~ I
,aq1~1fi..jc:llfltll ~ ~ q;,:q1P.Jd: 11
[i'Pr ~ 2: 8:15]

"Predestiny is merely a consolation for persons of
lower intellectual level at the time of calamities and
griefs. Otherwise, in reality, there is nothing like divine
predestiny for everyone."
[YogavashishthaII, 8:15]
In the Gita also the Blessed Lord has said a similar
thing:
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed            63

";J~ -;r~ t-llclH<I
~ ~:              I
";J   cliitlb(wlfiifl~i{,q\tlq~   ~ II
[1ffiU5:14]
"The Lord determines neither the doership nor
the doings of beings nor even their contant with
the fruits of actions. It is nature that functions."
[Gita V,14]

Many believers in reincarnation also believe that
Brahmans; the priests, K.shatriyas; the warriors and
kings, Vaishyas: the merchants, and Shudras: the servants are the four castes
of human beings created by
God Himself. When anyone is born in any of these castes, he or she is reaping
the fruits of his own deeds,
good or bad, of his past lives. This is how the so-called
higher caste people have been taking benefits of even
the meanest and the most inhuman kinds of services,
from shudras, the people of low caste, and yet hatefully
calling them Asprushyas, the Untouchables. Yet, among
the first, second and third highest castes human unity is
lacking and the dignity of each person is not preserved.
Even among the members of each caste there have
arisen innumerable subcastes and petty-sub-castes, with
deep down feelings of alienation against each other.
This is largely due to the fact that people are commonly
inclined to think that all others are the product of the
deeds of their past lives, and none may pity anyone else
except himself. Natural human feelings of loving compassion, mercy, and
forgiveness are suppressed by feelings that arise from the theory of the just
ice of rebirth
linked to the belief in reincarnation. Nor, do we see a
higher spiritual capacity in all individuals of higher cas-
64         The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

tes as we would expect if the belief in rebirth was actually valid.
Today, the world is rapidly changing, society is changing, the caste system is
breaking down. The old caste
groups, which were of some use for carrying out duties
and functions of a bygone era, have now become rigid
and oppressive. The progressive mentality of some
people and the laws of the country are helping to
gradually change the old beliefs of orthodox followers so
that the so-called low caste people are no longer
tyranised as they used to be.
The religious law also changes with time. There are
basically two types of teachings in religion: firstly, those
that are eternal and fundamental, such as the Law of
Love, and, secondly, those social ordinances that are not
eternal but change as centuries pass and societies evolve.
These include ordinances concerning health, diet, marriage, etc ... Lord
Krishna's teaching in the Gita about the
four social groups, the Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas,
and Shudras, was never meant to be eternal, rigid, and
fixed as some Hindus regard it. If God intended it to be
eternal and everlasting, why would the caste system be
breaking down and disintegrating today?
Thus, the following passage in the Gita should not be
regarded as creating four water-tight compartments of
four different groups of people:

~1~Blt.1{A4J,i~ ~ 1RoQ'
I
c6ḥitful~ ~icUl14a1"): II
[1TRIT
18: 41]
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed                    65

"The work of Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas
and Shudras, 0 Conqueror of Foes (Arjuna), is
separated as per everyone's nature-oriented
qualities."
[Gita XVIII, 41]

Let us now see what were the duties and functions
prescribed in the Gita for persons in each of these four
social groups:
~ ~:    ~ ~lf.auJc:1~c:1
~,
~ fct~
1~q1f«tefci  ~ II
&i;lcfi'i
['lffil'T18: 42]

"Serenity, self-restraint, austerity, purity, forgiveness, uprightness, and
even knowledge, science
and belief in God are the nature-born deeds of
Brahmans."
[Gita XVIII, 42]

~ ~ ~~ ~ =alllN('!lii~'(j
~l~ifl~,( ~ 8.{f:ii
~ ~II
['lffil'T18: 43]

"Bravery, splendour, steadfastness, dexterity in
battle, as also not to flee away cowardly,
generosity, charity and lordliness are the natureborn deeds of Kshatriyas."
[Gita XVIII, 43]

ifiN•ft:c~c:11fo1i.i4
~~cfi'i {q\ijc(;jj'( 1
d
QR.=aiif(4icfi :@.~IN lq\llc(;jl'( II
['lffil'T18: 44]
66          The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

'½.griculture, cattle caring and trade, the natureborn duties of the
Vaishyas. The duty of Shudras
is attending to the service, that also is born of
nature."
[Gita XVIII, 44]

~:   Slq@'\dl-ii ~ ~ 'ffill{_I
~c6'10II ~ ~ ~ ll"f.rcl':  11
[1ffirr18: 46]

"He from whom all beings are activated, by
Whom all this pervaded, worshiping Him through
one's own dutiful deeds, man achieves accomplishment."
[Gita XVIII, 46]
In none of these passages is there any reference to
Purvajanma (previous birth) or the deeds of past lives
and their rewards or punishments to be borne by human
beings in these four classifications.
As we noted above, love is an eternal teaching of
religion. No changes and chances of the ages and nations
and no revolutions of conditions, howsoever drastic they
may happen to be, can alter the ever-advancing, universal, eternal Law of
Love.
According to the Law of Love, God loves His creation; we the creatures should
therefore also love God
and at the same time love one another. We should love
all other human beings with a spark of the love of God.
This is what has been taught to us right from the time of
the Rigveda the most ancient known and still extant command of God on earth:
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed             67

~ "(:i'
e§'t0&:i"(:i'   cfl'lRffi:I'
;jji'1dl'{_
~ ~ ~ es:iti'11'11~ II
eq1.flq-?1
~:      1
~     eq1~q-1:~:~1
~ ~ ~ cf: ~ cfl'
gfciqt~fḥi 11

cf amJfar:
w:rr.ft'   ~~cf:                   I
eql'1qttl: crt"
q.fi~fi.lter: «eg1eRt u
[~     ~ 7, ~ 8, ~ 10, ar:8,
W 191fli;r~ 2, 3 ~ 4]
cf 49/3; 31'.

"Like the enlightened ones of the past who used
to acquire their share in unity, live ye all in harmony with one another,
consort in loving sweetness with all, be one in thought and in knowledge.
Let mind-protecting Divine Commandment be
equal to all, let there be equal commingling of ye
all, let all your minds be as one mind, and all your
attentions be in accord. I command ye all to be
equal under One Holy Command, I bring ye up
all alike offering Myself as a sacrifice.
Be united in your purpose, let your hearts be as
one heart, and your minds be as one mind,
so that your affairs may be co-operatively well
organized."
[Rig Veda Khand 7,Ashtak VIII, Manda! 10,
8-49/3/3, 10-191, verses 2-4]
Do these blessed words from the Rig Veda support
the caste system in any way. Do they not instal in our
hearts and minds the conviction that the disunity, disharmony, hatred,
inequality, and opposition inherent in the
caste system must be replaced with unity, harmony,
68          The ReincarnationMysteryRevealed

loving sweetness, equal commingling, oneness of mind
and heart, and cooperatively well organized affairs.
This principle of unity is repeated over and over
again in the world's great religions. Baha'u'llah, the
Manifestation of God for this modern age, has made it
the cornerstone of His teachings. The greatest need for
mankind today is universal love and unity, not the
preservation and perpetuation of caste, racism, etc ...
Baha'u'llah declared:
"The utterance of God is a lamp, whose light is
these words: Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the
leaves of one branch. Deal ye one with another
with the utmost love and harmony, with friendliness
and fellowship. He Who is the light of unity that it
can illuminate the whole earth. The One true God,
He Who knoweth all things, Himself testifieth to the
truth of these words."
[Baha'u'llah, Writings of Baha'u'llah, pp. 310-311]
Believer$ in reincarnation quote certain passages
from Hindu Holy Scriptures an attempt to support the
theory. The author has already cited some of them. Persons using the following
verse from the Gita often avoid
the first three words so that it looks like this:
" ...Death is certain of that which is born; birth is
certain of that which is dead. You should not therefore
lament over the inevitable."
[Gita II, 27]
But this is not the simple, straightforward divine verdict in the Gita. The
person should, instead, add the
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed              69

three words, ponder on the whole verse and the previous
one, and see the connection between the two.
t;t- r..~Niid m qf lPffl~,
a:rw
~ ~ qg1auii ¼ct:inRtwuim        11
~ fg ~ 'J~ ~ ~ if I
tt~1~qflg1'1~i ;i' ~ 41T1Mtl'IIJR=I
u
rrnrr
2:261
'½nd, 0 Mighty-armed (Arjuna), even if you
regard this (soul) as constantly talcing birth and
constantly dying, you should not grieve like this.
In that case death is certain of that which is born;
birth is certain of that which is dead. You should
not therefore lament over the inevitable."
[GitaII, 26-27]
In verse 26 the Blessed Lord has stated to Arjuna,
" ... even if you regard this (soul) as constantly talcing
birth ..." Thus the Blessed Lord was questioning Arjuna's
thinking about death and rebirth, even if the words introduce the element of
uncertainty and negation. The
Blessed Lord did not say " ... this (soul) is constantly
talcing birth and constantly dying, so you should not
grieve like this." In other words, there is no support at
all for the theory of reincarnation in these verses.
Also, with regard to the words in verse 27, " ... birth is
certain of that which is dead ...", we have already
referred to a verse in the Aitariya Upanishadathat states
that death here and entrance into the next world is
termed a third birth. In this connection the findings of
Dr. Moody and many others into near-death experiences
can be understood to show that the soul's release from
70         The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

the body into the spiritual world may very well be like a
"birth", as it is such an unexpectedly new, different, sudden experience -
just as the child experiences at the
time of its birth into this physical world.
CHAPTER THREE

God, in His own inscrutable wisdom, and as a token of
His supreme favor, has through His boundless love
and infinite mercy, made a very special arrangement to
guide mankind. He sends a divine Manifestation, Who
appears as a human being, at certain intervals when God
Himself deems it to be fit and necessary. This He has
regularly announced in the Holy Scriptures of the world.
We find in the Srimad Bhagwad Gita:
~ ~ fg ~ J<-ftMifcl@,trof I
OGfSS(qR ~~IRIS'( II
3W9,({!11'1qt(qt4
QR,110114~       fu-1Wlliii:I' ~firlidl'(I
tiite~IQ-1t~f4   ~          ~ ~ II
[1ffill'4, 7-8]

The Mighty Lord said:
"Whensoever there occurs a decline of religion,
0 Bharat (Arjuna), and the rise of irreligion, it is
then that I send forth My Spirit. For the full
protection of those who attain (to that spirit), for
the destruction in a particular manner (in every
age) of the wicked-doers, and to institutionalise
religion, make I Myself (manifest) possible from
age to age."
[Gita W, 7-8]
This same truth is expressed m the Ram-Charit
Manas in these words:
72          The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

nil'~~~~     ~I
~ fiQIRM~ 'QRl'11
~ 1UR~~~ m ~-~I
~ Fc.{<IF(fg ~ '1m' 'U!f-~       en{~     II
[~    'fitl° ,tlqi3lf'ld~ ~ ~
~~ 129]
"From time to time whenever religion is
decreased and the unholy, the irreligious, and the
haughty people increase, the Lord takes a body,
different from time to time, and removeth,
through His infinite bounties, the calamities of
the good people. He destroyeth the unholy, establisheth holiness and
protecteth the chain
(bridge) of His own sacred knowledge and diffuseth His Immaculate Glory in the
world. The
same is the motive of His Holiness Rama's
birth/'
[Tulsi,Ramcharit Manas, Bal Kand,
1st Sopan, 129]
The holy Vedas also say the same thing in these
words:
31g~ Q:(,(ld.flfq~ ~ ~ iit' I
~ ~ tionR.1g
31W          alc:tlctMf.t31T~ 11
[atS!ia~~4, 30-s1

"I stretch bow for the oppressed in order to kill
the tyrant and also the enemies of God; I create
all happiness for the people, I enter, prevailed
in heaven and earth, clad in the attire of
Manifestation."
[Atharva ~da, W, 30-5]
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed                   73

~d;t6!1d~ q~1~,11R6!1cl1ri'
~: \JIH<ilo,1
ffi fcl~I@ ~~@ ~: $.IT~~              11
SI\JIIQ@~(:'Rr Tllfs~Nli~qj.fl       ~m'      fci\Jlt~ftI
'ffi<f~ qftq~f~ W<l~ff4.:e;
~~II
[~     31: 18-19]
"I know that Most Great Ruler Who, like the
brilliancy of the sun, is beyond darkness; having
known Him alone is crossed the mortal stage; no
way is known for going but this.
The Essentially Unmanifestable moveth within,
the Lord of generations vividly manifesting Himself repeatedly; the steadfast
behold from all
sides the Abode of the Original Cause; in that
abide the worlds of the universe."
[Yajur Veda, XXX1, 18-19]
The Manifestation of God is the Meeting Point between God and man on earth.
Shrimad Bhagwad Gita
describes the Manifestation of the Divine Being on
earth in these holy words:

atci-iii..iRtltf ~~~~I
'Q"{'l.llc4q\Jll..j.ffi
1tlf 'tdlffl~<'l_ 11
[1ffirr9: 11]
"The foolish disobey Me when I am clad in a
human body; they know not My transcendental
nature; I am the Great Lord of beings."
[Gita IX, 11]
Not only in the Hindu Scriptures but also in other
religious Holy Books this same thing has been
described. The Qur'an says: "O the misery of men! No
74           The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

Messenger cometh unto them but they laugh Him to
scorn" (Qur'an 36: 30). Again He saith: "Each nation
has plotted darkly against their Messenger to lay violent
hold on Him, and disputed with vain words to invalidate
the truth."
[Qur'an 40: 5]
Baha'u'llah in this connection further explains:
"Verily He who is the Day-star of Truth and
Revealer of the Supreme Being holdeth, for all
time, undisputed sovereignty over all that is in
heaven and on earth, though no man be found on
earth to obey Him. He verily is independent of all
earthly dominion, though He be utterly destitute.
Thus ~ reveal unto thee the mysteries of the
Cause of God, and bestow upon thee the gems of
divine wisdom, that haply thou mayest soar on the
wings of renunciation to those heights that are
veiledfrom the eyes of men.
[Baha'u'llah, Writingsof Baha'u'llah, p. 97]
"It is clear and evident to thee that all the Prophets
(Manifestations of God) are the Temples of the
Cause of God, Who have appeared clothed in
diverse attire. If thou wilt observe with discriminating eyes, thou wilt
behold them all abiding in the
same tabernacle, soaring in the same heaven,
seated upon the same throne, uttering the same
speech, and proclaiming the same Faith. Such is
the unity of those Essences of being, those
Luminaries of infinite and immeasurable splendour. Wherefore, should one of
these Manifestations of Holiness proclaim saying: "I am the return
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed               75

of all the Prophets," He verily speaketh the truth. In
like manner, in every subsequent Revelation, the
return of the former Revelation is a fact, the truth
of which is firmly established. Inasmuch as the
return of the Prophets of God, as attested by verses
and traditions, hath been conclusively demonstrated, the return of their
chosen ones also is there-
!ore definitely proven. This return is too manifest in
itself to require any evidence or proof.
(Baha'u'llah, Kitab-i-iqan, pp. 97-98]
The purpose of the Manifestation of God appearing
in this world age after age is thus described in the holy
Gita:
4a<f;li~H@itto~'ii~d<I     ~ I
l=(' ~ojqjQj  ~ <-flcfi~~dfl Ii
';IT{Qlfl.ltf~~     fil!MIEl-i9;fc6-d.f
I
.fl.fcllld*U'<lai c@ lei' ~ ~ II
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ cfiijQ4dR(d:I
'q'q ci('t.llicid.fl ~:       llcm:
'Q1if      11
~Rt1~";t"~c61i~1
tich<+il~ cfiffi
+cilY,4tP·U~'IT:   11
'5Nf1:
[1Tiffl'
3: 21-24]

"Whatsoever the Most Great Man doeth, the
other people also do. It is He who setteth forth
the standard, by that the people go.
Neither the least work is there in the three
worlds, 0 Partha (literally: the Son of earth) (Arjuna) which should be done
by Me, nor is there
any unobtained thing which should be obtained;
still I occupy Myself in action.
76          The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

Should I not always occupy Myself, the unwearied, in action, the people all
around, 0 Partha, would follow My Path.
Were I not to perform action, these people would
be destroyed; and, in that case, I would slay these
generations.''
[Gita Ill, 21-24]
God allows every human soul the liberty to think and
act according to its own inherent capacity to decide between the good and the
bad. Each soul selects a course
of action by his/her own free choice - right or wrong.
The Lord gives these lessons, age after age, to keep souls
on the straight path of adopting divine virtues in life.
God does this by repeatedly sending forth His Holy
Manifestation (the Avatar) on earth in a human form.
The Avatar gives pious advice in words and also
demonstrates by His own example how to live in a saintly manner in this world.
This is nothing but a divine
method of guiding the people aright. This is characteristic of revealed
religion.
Thus, in every age, there is a new revelation of God's
new lessons for human beings exactly in accordance with
the progress of human society both mental as well as
spiritual. The most fundamental lesson God teaches
each human being is the lesson of love. Love for God
and love for all other human beings. To teach this essence of religion, the
Manifestation of God, in His
authority as the sole mouthpiece of God, commands us
to love one another for the sake of the love of God. In
His capacity as a simple human being, the Avatar actually loves us and
practically demonstrates the meaning of
love in action. While loving us He is confronted with
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed           77

bitter opposition and surrounded by severe afflictions
and torture which He patiently bears. He thus teaches us
a lesson in patience and forbearance.
For example, His Holiness Jesus Christ was a
Manifestation of God on earth. His opponents determined to put Him to death.
The evening before He was
to be crucified, He went into the garden of Gethsemane
and sincerely prayed to God saying: "Father, all things
are possible for you. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I
will, but what You will." (Mark
14: 36). We know that this prayer of Lord Jesus was not
granted by God, and Lord Jesus' body had to be
crucified. In spite of that supreme affliction and unbearable test, Lord Jesus
remained not only steadfast
but also, at the last moment of His earthly life, prayed to
God to forgive thm,e who were crucifying Him because
they knew not what they were doing.
This teaches, all of us, for all times to come, to live
virtuous lives and to remain steadfast until our physical
death. We should sincerely and lovingly forgive even
those who inflict woes and tyrannies upon us. Each
human being can do it if he but chooses to think in the
right way and to do the right thing. A Manifestation of
God, while performing human duties in His earthly life,
takes help from the Divine Source. Any other human
being can also follow this path. However he first has to
decide to do it and seek help from God. He should not
be disappomted even if the help, as wished or hoped for,
is not forthcoming at once. Such are the martyrs in the
path of God's religion in every age. Thus the followers of
a religion, like the followers of previous religions before
them can be so transformed that they would renounce
for the sake of God their families, their beliefs, and even
78          The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

their lives. These souls reap the rewards of their pious
actions in the spiritual world and can reach the presence
of God.
In this way each religion is the resurrection of its
predecessor religion. Similar circumstances, more or
less, appear each time. This is the renewal of religion,
and the return of the Manifestation of God. This is the
repetition of history in which many things reappear, including similar
personalities, similar clashes of thought,
similar tyrants, similar victims, especially among the followers of religion,
and similar opposition, tests, and
calamities as well as similar victories. In sum, from this
point of view, religion is renewed, the Manifestations
return, and their followers return. Thus the familiar expression, "History
repeats itself."
In the light of the foregoing discussion we can now
investigate the underlying meaning and significance of
the following holy verses of the Shrimad Bhagwad Gita:

.git wrcrr-r
acmi:
~ ir ~ffi<ilR  ~ ocf ~ I
~ ~ ~ -;r~ ffier~ II
RSN fi"1~41(1,4i~<1"1lḥfl~{l-)lQ'~I
~       {<:W-1filea14 'fl'~a1i41(1,4q1441
[1ffiIT4: 5-6]

The Mighty Lord Speak:
"Many births of Mine have passed, and thine, 0
Arjun; all these do I know, but thou knowest not.
0 chastiser of foes (Arjuna).
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed            79

Though being the Unborn, as well as essentially
the Inexhaustible Self, as also the Lord of all
beings, I make Myself Manifest by subduing My
own nature through My innate (Divine) Apparition (Maya)."
[Gita Iv, 5-6]
Thus, this divine proclamation of Shri Krishna in the
Gita refers to the return of the Manifestation. The Holy
Spirit that comes to the Manifestation is one, but They
are different physical men. Similarly devoted followers
such as Arjuna are found in every religion; they are different physical men
and women. This passage should be
understood at a deeper level rather than just interpreting it to establish the
concept of reincarnation which we
have found from our discussion so far, is a fallacy. The
Baha'i writings accept the concept of the return of attributes, so it is true
in a sense, that persons like Arjuna
are born in every age.
In these verses there is a specific mention of God's
own Maya, His Innate Divine Apparition. This is an extraordinary power of
divinity alone with which the ordinary physical birth and death of human
beings should
not be confused. The Blessed Lord cannot be born or
make Himself die. He transcends both birth and death.
He is the Lord of all beings. His birth refers to the coming of God's
Manifestation on earth to fulfil a specific
purpose as given in the Gita Iv, 7-8. God's manifestation
on earth is also referred to in the Yajur Veda XXX], 19
and in the Gita IX, 11 mentioned previously.
Usually people translate the word "Maya" as "illusion." The religion of God is
not "illusion", nor ate
divine religious matters "illusive." God's sending forth
80         The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

of His Holy Spirit into this world from age to age is not
an illusion. God does not create illusions' but reality. He
wants to clear all illusions from the insight of each and
every human being.
Religion is a divine substantial fact. It is the most
important of all that is important to man in this world. It
is for this that God reveals His divine religion age
after age through His Manifestations Who become
"apparent" to the human world in the bodies of human
beings. God is the Most Invisible of the invisible. He is
the transcendental Spirit, incomprehensible to anyone
else except Himself. So in every age He sands forth His
Most Great Representative - through Whose pure soul
He reveals Himself. Through Him He contacts the
human world. He lives in it. He is the authentic Mouthpiece of God, -
releasing the newly revealed Word of
God, He talks with human beings. He loves them: He
opens wide their spiritual eyes. He gives them new
higher bestowals and lessons. He solves their problems,
by helping them at every step in life. He elevates their
souls to greater heights than in a previous age. He changes their
circumstances by establishing a new order;
giving them newer and broader institutions to facilitate
their day-to-day functioning. He teaches the newest
methods and techniques: raising their physical, mental,
psychological, spiritual, educational, economic, social,
and political states and all other levels of their lives,
both outwardly as well as inwardly. In other words, each
Manifestation of God inspires a new era of human
power. He releases a fresh measure of divine Grace and
renews man's energy.
Such is the dawn of a divine day for human beings on
earth. The Author of this is the Holy Manifestation of
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed          81

God- a Messenger of the Divine Being, a Mouthpiece
of God Himself,1 an Ishwari Avatar, a Divine Rishi, a
Major Prophet of God, a Rasul from Allah, an Asho
Vakhshur, a Divinely Enlightened Tathagata-the Holy
Person Who possessed the Boddhi Satta, the Apparitor
of the Divine King of Kings. Saint Charan Das, in one of
his heart-enchanting couplets, expounds this very truth
in simple words, short and sure:
r:iw:fiHm iW ~ im:rr~ 3TTciiR:
,
~~ci'l-m          ~~~II

"The Brahma is formless, Maya has forms;
Behold a Personage wieldeth both the norms!"
[Saint Charan Das]
Thus a new religious dispensation of the Cause of
God appears. A typical pattern is followed each time. In
the beginning very few persons believe and accept this
new and broader dimension of truth. The majority
rejects it and tyrants torment the believers. But gradually the tide is turned
and the new Faith of God prevails
far and wide and better conditions become apparent.
The religion reaches a peak and is associated with a
great civilization. But then the religion weakens, hatred
and disunity replace love and harmony, and a new
religious cycle begins with the appearance of a new
religion from God. The seed of the old, dying tree is
planted and a new, young tree grows and flourishes.
Such similar cycles come repeatedly, each one being
superseded by the next. This is called the birth and rebirth of religion.
God's Manifestations, Their followers
and Their opponents are all reborn, in this way.
82          The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

Now a new light shines upon the verses from the
Gita: it illuminates our understanding of the births and
lives of the Manifestations of God through Maya. Shri
Krishna's own manifestation in this world five thousand
years ago is an example.
Although the Mighty Lord is invisible and unattainable and human beings cannot
understand His essence, He still guides mankind through His Holy Spirit
which He sends forth in every age. His Manifestation
then appears in the form of a human personage and in a
specific way religion is once again established and peace
and prosperity become possible for mankind. There is
no physical birth involved.
~ cri-~ T4Rar~cl ffl ffic@: 1
1fl"
~~P~~m5ḥ11
pf@T4: 9]
"He who knoweth in essence My divine birth and
action, having abandoned the body, is not born
again; cometh he unto Me, 0 Arjun!"
[Gita Iv, 9]
After physical death the human soul makes an entry
into the realm of the spirits, which is a spiritual birth
over there in the Paraloka. The foregoing verse indicates
that in the spiritual worlds beyond, the sanctified soul
will not have to take birth again and again in its journey
to God. The Baha'f Writings indicate 'rebirth' in the
spiritual world after our passing away from the earth.
There are endless Spiritual worlds of God. The human
soul can either journey through each one of them or
attain the presence of God without having to do so.
However, there is no rebirth for the human soul in the
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed           83

material world again. Then the final attainment of that
soul, according to the Darshan Shastra, the science of
attaining to the highest station of seeing God (literally:
Darshan), is to come to.the presence of God. There is no
higher station for a soul than this according to any
philosophy in the world; the Hindu belief is no exception. We, like the
devoted followers of the religions of
the past, can in this modem age follow the same spiritual
path toward the presence of God.
Let us read from the holy Gita the verse immediately
following:

ci)d,(l•l'iiiii6t!l'I ~ q1y;q1fiJldl:
I
~ ~l-1dQ,Eti1@'T~lqql•ldl:        11
[11@T4:10]
"Freed from attachment, fear and anger, mentally absorbed in Me, taking refuge
in Me, purified
by the fire of knowledge, many have attained
unto My nature."
[GitaW, 10]

Here there is a specific mention of the higher
spiritual nature. In physical nature there is selfishness,
attachment to this mundane world, lack of faith in God,
anger, hatred. But the divine nature is quite different. It
is characterized by the divine virtues of generosity, forgiveness, tolerance,
obliging others without selfish motives, trust in God, and pious actions and
deeds all
dedicated to the love of God. No reward is anticipated.
This is called by Shri Krishna "Nishkam Karma" (unselfish deeds). So, God
assures us that those who subdue
their own lower nature and rise up to the higher spiritual
84         The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

nature will attain unto His nature. Again, we can be like
the devoted followers of the past religions and develop
our spiritual nature.
In this connection, we have to remember that
"Punarjanma" as stated in the Holy Books is a series of
birth after birth, and not birth after death and then again
birth and again death, and so on. In the Aiteriya
Upanishada we have seen that there are three births of a
human being: at conception, at the delivery of the child,
and when the body dies. Then the soul enters the world
of the spirits. The holy Gita says the "soul-body" is
neither cut by weapons, nor burnt by fire, nor drenched
by water, nor dried by wind. This is the innate nature of
the human soul, even when it is living in connection with
the physical human body. After dissociating from the
body and going to the spiritual world the soul remains
the same. In other great religions of the world that is
called "Intaqal", meaning "transfer" from this physical
world to the spiritual realm. In the Baha'i Faith this is
called ascension to the lofty Kingdom of God; in the
Hindu religious terminology it is called "Swargarohan",
meaning "ascension to Paradise." There is no death between any two births. It
is simply birth after birth. The
idea of putting the word "death" in between the two
births is a relative latecomer in Hindu literature.
In God's Maya, the Manifestation of God, His
devotees, friends, enemies, foolish people and all other
categories of persons collectively appear in sequence
and play their respective roles in the same basic way as
in the previous religious dispensations. This is called the
reincarnation of qualities. and rebirth of attributes. This,
though similar, is called the "same", and this is the root
cause of misunderstanding.
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed            85

Last year's mango and this year's mango, even from
the same tree or the same branch, are absolutely different from one another,
yet, if we call them both the
"same", keeping in view their essential qualities, it is not
wrong. Shastras call the son as a reincarnation of his
father if he represents the same behaviour and similar
attributes in life.
An industrial concern manufactures several items.
Each item includes many pieces. We call them the
"same". Not only this, but we emphatically call them
"exactly the same" whether produced this year or even
ten years ago because each piece is standardised in
quality and nature. Each mold, moulds thousands of
pieces of some particular thing, and the pieces are called
exactly the same. But in reality, each piece is not exactly
the "same" because, among other things, it is made up
of different atoms.
Thus we see that reincarnation of similar qualities
and rebirth of similar attributes in people can take place,
but they cannot be exactly the same. Both in outward
appearance and inward character there has never been,
there is not, nor will there ever be a person exactly like
you in this world.
Now we shall refer specifically to the aspect of the
return, renewal, resurrection of divine revelation through
the reappearance of the Manifestation of God in each
age. This takes place in the form of the reappearance of
the divine attributes and the heavenly qualities in the life
and teachings of the Founder of a religion each time.
Many people are prone to mix this up with their ideas of
reincarnation or transmigration of individual souls from
body to body.
86           The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

What is taught by the Holy Revelation is as follows:
.... Endeavour to grasp the significance of
"return': "revelation•: and "resurrection'~as witnessed in the days of the
Manifestations of the
divine Essence, that thou mayest behold with thine
own eyes the "return" of the holy souls into
sanctified and illumined bodies, and mayest wash
away the dust of ignorance, and cleanse the
darkened self with the waters of mercyflowing from
the Source of divine Knowledge; that perchance
thou mayest, through the power of God and the
light of divine guidance, distinguish the Mom of
everlasting splendour from the darksome night of
error.
Furthermore, it is evident to thee that the Bearers of
the trust of God are made manifest unto the
peoples of the earth as the Exponents of a new
Cause and the Bearers of a new Message. Inasmuch as these Birds of the
Celestial Throne are all
sent down from the heaven of the Will of God, and
as they all arise to proclaim His irresistibleFaith,
they therefore are regarded as one soul and the
same person. For they all drink from the one cup of
the love of God, and all partake of the fruit of the
same Tree of Oneness.
[Baha'u'llah, The Ki,tab-i-iqan;The Book of
Certitude,pp. 97-98]
This "Tree of Oneness" is called in the holy Gita
'½shvattha-Vriksha'':
aW4'i('l+ii.l: ~IFl.sl+i~cl~ Slif1@il'l l
~~'q1JJTR'~~~~II
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed               87

-:ITT.l~&f Sl~dl«lfq ~ 101Sl<i41~qiiSlclldl:I
~ 1i<-tl.:ei:1eaa1R            ~~ii
cfiqi:{isl.:uJR
[lffiff 15: 1-2]

The Mighty Lord said:
"The imperishable Ashvattha Tree is said to be
with its roots above and branches below; its
leaves are the mantras (verses) of the Vedas and
he who knows it is the knower of the Vedas.
Its branches are spread below and above,
nourished by the attributes, sense-objects are its
buds, and the roots stretch downwards in the
world of men binding with action."
[Gita XV, 1-2]
As in the case of the appearance and return of Lord
Krishna, the appearance of a Manifestation of God age
after age in this world of humanity has its roots above in
the Supreme Heaven of the Will of Lord Vishnu, the
Unmanifest God, Who sends forth His Manifestation in
every age with a new divine revelation, the teachings of
which are progressive in accordance with the increasing
spiritual capacities of human beings. The Holy Verses
each Manifestation of God reveals may be termed the
Vedas, which means the Knowledge of Divine Doctrine.
Such holy revelations have spread their branches, in
various parts of the human world, and are actually
nourishing divine attributes in human beings. In practical life, they
strengthen spiritual intelligence to control
bodily senses in all worldly activities. They bind the
people together in unity.
88         The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

Thus we see that The Avatar has a dual station. Firstly he is the return of
the spirit of Lord Vishnu. Secondly
he is a human form bound by the senses and physical
laws. He is thus an example of the spiritual Reality for
all mankind. He is also the cause of the spread of
spiritual inspiration. The Divine spirit returns from age
to age. The human form is different each time.
Now as regards the rebirth and return of Arjuna, the
foremost follower of Lord Krishna, let us understand the
spiritual significance of the rebirth of the devoted followers of the
Manifestation of God. In the words of
Baha'u'llah:
.... Whoever believed in Him (the Manifestation of
God) and acknowledged His Faith, was endowed with
the grace of a new life. Of him it would be truly said that
he was reborn and revived, inasmuch as previous to his
belief in God and his acceptance of His Manifestation,
he had set his affections on the things of the world, such
as attachment to earthly goods, to wife, children, food,
drink, and the like, so much so that in the day-time and
in the night season his one concern had been to amass
riches and procure for himself the means of enjoyment
and pleasure. Aside from these things, before his partaking of the reviving
waters of faith, he had been so
wedded to the traditions of his forefathers, and so passionately devoted to
the observance of their customs and
laws, that he would have preferred to suffer death rather
than violate one letter of those superstitious forms and
manners current amongst his people. Even as the people
have cried: "Verily we found our fathers with a faith, and
verily, in their footsteps we follow." (1)
1. Qur'an 43:22
The Reincarnation Mystery-Revealed             89

"These same people, though wrapt in all these veils
of limitation, and despite the restraint of such observances, as soon as they
drank the immortal draught of faith,
from the cup of certitude, at the hand of the Manifestation of the
All-Glorious, were so transformed that they
would renounce for His sake their kindred, their substance, their lives, their
beliefs, yea, all else save God!
So overpowering was their yearning for God, so uplifting
their transports of ecstatic delight, that the world and all
that is therein faded before their eyes into nothingness.
Have not this people exemplified the mysteries of
"rebirth" and "return"? Hath it not been witnessed that
these same people, ere they were endued with the new
and wondrous grace of God, sought through innumerable devices, to ensure the
protection of their
lives against destruction? Would not a thorn fill them
with terror, and the sight of a fox put them to flight? But
once having been honoured with God's supreme distinction and having been
vouchsafed His bountiful grace,
they would, if they were able, have freely offered up ten
thousand lives in His path! Nay, their blessed souls, contemptuous of the cage
of their bodies, would yearn for
deliverance. A single warrior of that host would face and
fight a multitude! And yet, how could they, but for the
transformation wrought in their lives, be capable of
manifesting such deeds which are contrary to the ways of
men and incompatible with their wmldly desires?
It is evident that nothing short of this mystic transformation could cause
such spirit and behaviour, so utterly
unlike their previous habits and manners, to be made
manifest in the world of being. For their agitation was
turned into peace, their doubt into certitude, their
timidity into courage. Such is the potency of the Divine
90         The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

Elixir, which, swift as the twinkling of an eye, transmuteth the souls of men!
For instance, consider the substance of copper. Were
it to be protected in its own mine from becoming
solidified, it would, within the space of seventy years,
attain to the state of gold. There are some, however, who
maintain that copper itself is gold, which by becoming
solidified is in a diseased condition, and hath not therefore reached its own
state.
Be that as it may, the real elixer will, in one instant,
cause the substance of cdpper to attain the state of gold,
and will traverse the seventy-year stages in a single moment. Could this gold
be called copper? Could it be
claimed that it hath not attained the state of gold, whilst
the touchstone is at hand to assay it and distinguish it
from copper?
Likewise, these souls through the potency of the
Divine Elixir, traverse, in the twinkling of an eye, the
world of dust and advance into the realm of holiness;
and with one step cover the earth of limitations and
reach the domain of the Placeless. It behoveth thee to
exert thine utmost to attain unto this Elixir which, in one
fleeting breath, causeth the west of ignorance to reach
the east of knowledge, illuminates the darkness of night
with the resplendence of the morn, guideth the
wanderer in the wilderness of doubt to the well-spring of
the Divine Presence and Pount of certitude, and conferreth upon mortal souls
the honour of acceptance into
the Ridvan of immortality. Now, could this gold be
thought to be copper, these people could likewise be
thought to be the same as before they were endowed
with faith.
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed          91

0 brother, behold how the inner mysteries of
"rebirth", of "return", and of "resurrection" have each,
through these all-sufficing,these unanswerable, and conclusive utterances,
been unveiled and umavelled before
thine eyes. God grant that through His gracious and invisible assistance, thou
mayest divest thy body and soul
of the old garment, and array thyself with the new and
imperishable attire.
Therefore, those who in every subsequent Dispensation preceded the rest of
mankind in embracing the
Faith of God, who quaffed the clear waters of knowledge
at the hand of the divine Beauty, and attained the loftiest summits of faith
and certitude, these can be
regarded, in name, in reality, in deeds, in words, and in
rank, as the "return" of those who in a former Dispensation had achieved
similar distinctions. For whatsoever
the people of a former Dispensation have manifested,
the same hath been shown by the people of this latter
generation. Consider the rose: whether it blossometh in
the East or in the West, it is none the less a rose. For
what mattereth in this respect is not the outward shape
and form of the rose, but rather the smell and fragrance
which it doth impart."
[Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-fqan; The Book of Certitude,
pp. 99-102]
CHAPrER FOUR

Jt is thus clear that the attributes of the Manifestation
of God, and His near and dear ones return once again
to this planet. Once more religion is reborn and the
universal cycle is repeated.
An incident from the early history of the Baha'f Faith
illustrates this concept of rebirth, of coming again. This
occurred in the early 1900's in Haifa, Israel the World
Centre of the Baha'f Faith.
"Narayenrao Rangnath Shethji (1886-1943), known
as Vakil, was the first Baha'f among the Hindu nation.
He had been raised as an orthodox Hindu and as a
devotee of Lord Krishna, but he came to accept that
Baha'u'llah, who was the return of Lord Krishna, had
come to the world to bring unity to the religions of
mankind. Vakil was betrothed to a young girl,
Jashodaben (1904-1966),who was a Hindu. While on his
first pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where Baha'u'llah had
spent the last years of His life as a prisoner and an exile,
Vakil asked 'A.bdu'l-Baha about his prospective marriage. 'Abdu'l-Baha
replied, "Marry the girl to whom you
are betrothed and I pray that she may become a
Baha'i..."
[Dipchand Khianra, Immortals, p. 14]
In 1929, Vakil went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land
again, but this time he was accompanied by his wife
Jashodaben and two lovely daughters. By that time
'Abdu'l-Baha had passed on to the next world (in 1921)
and had appointed His grandson Shoghi Effendi as the
Guardian of the Baha'f Faith. The Guardian showered
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love and kindness on the whole family.
"Jashodaben had always been a great devotee of
Lord Krishna and, although she loved her husband and
was a good wife to him, she did not share his beliefs.
While in the Holy Land, she spent much time with
the Greatest Holy Leaf (the daughters of Baha'u'llah
and sister of '.Abdu'l-Baha) who was the kindest and
sweetest person she had ever known. There was a
woman there who knew Gujarati and translated for her
and her children.
Jashodaben continued with her own prayers and
worship of Lord Krishna until one night when the Guardian sent the family to
sleep in the Mansion of
Baha'u'llah in Bahjf. Before going to bed, J ashodaben
said her prayers as usual and put the Holy Book
Bhagavad Gita with a picture of Lord Krishna under her
pillow. ThcJ.tnight J ashodaben had a beautiful dream.
She saw a holy Figure in white standing by a cupboard
from which he took out beautiful jewelled crowns, one
after the other, and gave them to her to put in another
cupboard in the room. Every crown was more beautiful
than the other, and the holy Figure said to her that these
were the crowns of Lord Krishna which now belonged to
Baha'u'llah. Then she saw Lord Krishna and Baha'u'llah
together. Lord Krishna took off his crown and gave it to
Baha'u'llah, and Baha'u'llah gave His Taj* to Lord
Krishna. Baha'u'llah then looked at J ashodaben and
said, "There is no difference between us; we are the
same."

* Taj literally means crown. It is a headgear which
Baha'u'llah used to wear.
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The next morning J ashodaben woke up very happy
and narrated her dream to her husband. Vakil's joy was
boundless because he knew that the words of ½.bdu'l-
Baha had now become true and his wife had become a
Baha'i.
Even before she was a believer in this Cause,
½.bdu'l-Baha had mentioned Jashodaben in His Tablets
(letters) to her husband ....
In 1919, ½.bdu'l-Baha addressed a Tublet to both
Vakil and his wife in which He said:
"O two candles of Divine Love!.... I pray in the
Court of Oneness for you to be guarded and
protected under His guard and protection, and to
be helped in propagating the verses of Unity and
assisted in guiding others, so that you may lay a
foundation of everlasting life in this perishable
world and kindle a light-in this darkness of the
physical kingdom..."
[Dipchand Khianra, Immortals, pp. 27-29]
We can therefore see that the recognition of truth
irrespective of name, culture, creed or class is based on
both reason and understanding as well as on Faith and
emotion. Both these faculties must be in unity and harmony. Only then will the
light of Faith be protected by
the lamp of reason. For the individuals growth both are
required.
Baha'fs believe that Baha'u'llah has brought a new
divine revelation suited to the needs of the modem age.
He gives the most fundamental teaching of the existence
of God whose essence is an incomprehensible mystery.
The basic purpose of man is to krtow and love God. This
96           The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

capacity to know and love God is ".... the generating
impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole
of creation." (Baha'u'llah, Gleaningsfrom the Writingsof
Baha'u'llah, XXVII). The knowledge and love of God
are sought not only because they are qualities necessary
in this life but also because they are needed in the
spiritual world to come. The purpose of life on this earth
is to develop th~ good qualities needed in the wonderful
world to come. 'Abdu'l-Baha declared,
"What is he in need of in the Ki,ngdom which
transcends the life and limitation of this mortal
sphere? That world beyond is a world of sanctity
and radiance; there/ore it is necessary that in this
world he should acquire these divine attributes. In
that world there is need of spirituality, faith, assurance, the knowledge and
love of God. These he
must attain in this world so that after his ascension
from the earthly to the heavenly Ki,ngdom he shall
find all that is needful in that life eternal ready for
him."
['Abdu'l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity,p. 63]
God is manifested and made known to man through
His Manifestations, those great souls possessed of the
Holy Spirit, the central Figures of the world's great
religions. Some appeared in the world in such ancient
times that Their names have been lost. But others are
well known today. They include such mighty figures as
Sri Rama, Lord Krishna, the Buddha, Lord Abraham,
Lord Moses, Lord Zoroaster, Jesus the Christ, the
Prophet Muhammad, and in this age, the Bab (the
forerunner of Baha'u'llah), and Baha'u'llah. In the
Baha'f Writings the unity of the Manifestations of God
and the singleness of their purpose are upheld. There is
The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed           97

only one religion of God. This one religion is progressive. Differences in
beliefs of the peoples of the world
must not lead to conflict. All the Manifestations are like
teachers in the same school of this world. Here the
religion of God is taught. This school has different classes according to each
era and different teachers for each
class or age. All the teachers are united in their purpose
and teach the students (mankind) what is needed, each
according to the capacity of their class.
It is evident that God provides guidance to mankind
not only for the spiritual development of the individual
but for society as a whole. It is now up to each person to
achieve what he or she is capable of doing. After toiling
on this planet and passing through each of the various
stages the individual soul will leave its physical body behind and pass on to
a spiritual realm. Here it will be
conscious of what it has achieved and will receive its
reward or punishment. It will continue its journey to
God in whatever state or form is appropriate but always
aware and growing from stage to stage.
Thus though we may be unable to understand the
nature and details of the world's to come because of our
lack of spiritual understanding, we are assured that happiness is the goal of
our life. We can look forward to an
eternity of Grace and Mercy and Joy. This is our incentive to honest work and
service in the path of God. This
is the purpose of God's creation!
As old superstitions and blind beliefs are swept away
throughout the world and throughout India and new patterns of life come into
being suited to the modern age,
we can look forward, in the long run, to a very bright
future for mankind and for the masses of India. But we
98        The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

must work unitedly toward that end. India and its people
will be given a new life when the age-old beliefs associated with the theory
of reincarnation and the transmigration of souls are replaced by new beliefs
suited to
modern man. The task is an enormous one and will continue for many years to
come. But the world does not
stand still. India can become a paradise.
NOTE

Dr. H.M. Munje was an outstanding teacher of the
Baha'i Faith and a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
India for over 40 years. He was
a highly accomplished homeopathic doctor, and the
founder of a college of homeopathy in Kanpur, Uttar
Pradesh. He was the author of other books including
The Whole World is But One Family and 1844 : Pinpoint
Targetof All Faiths.
Dr. Munje died at the age of 78 just before completing the first draft of the
manuscript for this book. His
daughter, Dr. (Mrs.) Radha Munje Rost, and her husband, Dr. H.T.D. Rost,
undertook to complete the task.
They had discussed the manuscript with him at great
length, often going far into the night, when it was being
written in the late 1980s and therefore had a clear idea
of his approach, views, and intentions. In completing the
work Dr. H.T.D. Rost wrote the section on "near-death
experiences" at Dr. Munje's request, the whole of chapter 4, and bits and
pieces of the rest of the final
manuscript. Dr. Radha Rost checked the primary
Sanskrit sources and made many valuable alterations
and improvements. But the book is basically a product of
Dr. Munje's experience, knowledge, and will.
Dr. Munje was knowledgeable in 14 languages and
had made a deep study of the world's great religions
from childhood, often being able to read the sacred texts
in the original languages. He had a deep knowledge of
Sanskrit. Referring to "The Reincarnation Mystery
Revealed", Dr. Munje wrote, "This is my laborious and
difficult fiftyyears of research work through my in-depth
100        The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed

study of the Hindu Scriptures in their original Sanskrit
texts."
[Letter from Dr. H.M Munje to
Mr. AA. Furutan, March 29]
A professor of Sanskrit at Fergusson College, Pune,
highly praised a translation Dr. Munje had made of a
Baha'i Holy Book, The Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah,
into Sanskrit. The professor declared that the book read
like the Vedas.
Dr. Munje not only studied the holy texts on the subject of reincarnation
extensively, but also explained to
Dr. and Dr. (Mrs.) Rost that he discussed it with Hindu
pundits, priests, and holy men over a period of many
years. He said that the very passages from the sacred
books that the priests used to try to prove the validity of
the theory of reincarnation, as Hindus commonly understand it, are used by him
in this book in this endeavor to
show that it is invalid.
This is very challenging, difficult, and complex subject. It is hoped that
justice has been done in presenting
Dr. Munje's views as he would have wished. The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed
is certainly not going to be
the last word on the subject of reincarnation. But surely
this historic book reveals new insights into the subject
that challenge a multitude of sometimes contradictory,
inadequately supported, and occasionally even unexamined suppositions.
    — The Reincarnation Mystery Revealed (Used by permission of the curator)