HOW DOES A UNIVERSAL PHILOSOPHY
AND RELIGION
APPROACH THE UNIVERSE?
REINCARNATION
Reason asks: "Does our intellectual understanding manifest as a result of our material genes and the material world that surrounds us?" Perhaps there is another answer?
THE FOLLOWING IS TAKEN FROM THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
"Along with this idea of the soul we find another
group of ideas in regard to its perfection. The
soul in itself is perfect. The Old Testament of
the Hebrews admits man perfect at the beginning.
Man made himself impure by his own actions."
Nature of the Soul
"But he has to regain his old nature, his pure nature.
Some speak of these things in allegories, fables,
and symbols. But when we begin to analyse these
statements, we find they all teach the human soul
is in its nature perfect, and one is to regain that
original purity. How? By knowing God. Just as the
Bible says, "No man can see God but through
the Son." What's meant by it? That seeing God
is the aim and goal of all human life. The sonship
must come before we become one with the Father.
Remember that man lost his purity through his own
actions. When we suffer, it is because of our own
acts; God is not to be blamed for it."
Eternity of the Soul
"Closely connected with these ideas is the doctrine
- which was universal before the Europeans mutilated
it - the doctrine of reincarnation. Some of you
may have heard of and ignored it. This idea of reincarnation
runs parallel with the other doctrine of the eternity
of the human Soul."
The Doctrine of Reincarnation
"Nothing which ends at one point can be without
a beginning and nothing that begins at one point
can be without an end. We can't believe in such
a monstrous impossibility as the beginning of the
human soul. The doctrine of reincarnation asserts
the freedom of the soul. Suppose there was an absolute
beginning. Then the whole burden of this impurity
in man falls on God. The all-merciful Father responsible
for the sins of the world! If sin comes in this
way, why should one suffer more than another? Why
such partiality, if it comes from an all-merciful
God? Why are millions trampled underfoot? Why do
people starve who never did anything to cause it?
Who's responsible? If they had no hand in it, surely,
God would be responsible. Therefore the better explanation
is that one is responsible for the miseries one
suffers. If I set the wheel in motion, I'm responsible
for the result. And if I can bring misery, I can
also stop it. It necessarily follows that we're
free. There's no such thing as fate. There's nothing
to compel us. What we have done, that we can undo."
Experience and Reincarnation
To one argument in connection with this doctrine
I will ask your patient attention, as it is a little
intricate. We gain all our knowledge through experience;
that is the only way."
"What we call experiences are on the plane of consciousness.
For illustration: A man plays a tune on a piano,
he places each finger on each key consciously. He
repeats this process till the movement of the fingers
becomes a habit. He then plays a tune without having
to pay special attention to each key. Similarly,
in regard to ourselves, we find our tendencies are
the result of past conscious actions. A child is
born with certain tendencies. Whence do they come?
No child is born with a tabula rasa - with a clean,
blank page-of a mind. The page has been written
on previously."
We Come in with Distincty Different Tendencies
"The old Greek and Egyptian philosophers taught
that no child came with a vacant mind. Each child
comes with a hundred tendencies generated by past
conscious actions.
It didn't acquire these in this life, and we are
bound to admit it must have had them in past lives.
The rankest materialist has to admit these tendencies
are the result of past actions, only they add that
these tendencies come through heredity. Our parents,
grandparents, and great-grandparents come down to
us through this law of heredity. Now if heredity
alone explains this, there's no necessity of believing
in the soul at all, because body explains everything.
We needn't go into the different arguments and
discussions on materialism and spiritualism. So
far the way is clear for those who believe in an
individual soul. We see that to come to a reasonable
conclusion we must admit that we've had past lives.
This is the belief of the great philosophers and
sages of the past and of modern times. Such a doctrine
was believed in among the Jews. Jesus Christ believed
in it. He says in the Bible, "Before Abraham
was, I am." And in another place it is said,
"This is Elias who is said to have come."
