Reincarnation: Reincarnation In Lower Births

By Sri Swami Sivananda

Ordinarily in most cases the soul is not willing to take birth in the lower Yonis (wombs) for the salient reason that it has done good works in the physical body as a human being in the past incarnation. No human being is out and out an incarnation of Lucifer. Certain good qualities and actions prompted by such good qualities always outweigh the bad qualities and their actions and the human being steps into another birth either low or high out of the same species for the future evolution of the soul.

The instances where the human soul should take a lower birth either as a wolf or as a pig may be very few, just as in the physical world, a murderer awaits his exit only through the doors of the gallows. At the same time we cannot deny the truth of the scriptural texts, considering the law that every cause produces its corresponding effect.

The future birth of each soul is the result of its past actions, and the theory of Karma and reincarnation plays an important part in determining the same. The law of cause and effect, action and reaction, holds good in the case of Karma also.

Generally man evolves upwards. The tendency of the evolution is to take a man to a high level or status. This is the natural biological law. But there are exceptions. If a man is endowed with devilish traits or Asuric tendencies and does highly brutal acts, if he behaves worse than an animal, if he acts like a dog or a donkey or monkey, he surely does not deserve a human birth in the next life. He will take birth in the womb of animals. He will be born as a dog or a monkey or a donkey. Such cases are, however, rare indeed.

If a man does very heinous sins, he can get the maximum punishment while dwelling in this very physical body. In such extreme cases it is not necessary that he should wait to take the birth of an animal. Man suffers more for his sins while remaining in the body of a man than taking an animal birth. The sufferings of a leper, or a consumptive, a person suffering from syphilis, gonorrhoea are beyond description.

The inexorable working of this law is brought out tellingly in the very unusual and extremely interesting case cited hereunder.

Tarak, aged 18 or 19, compounder of Kaviraj Mahendranath Sen of Benda, got intense colic which drove him unconscious. A Brahmin of Sarvavidya lineage touched with pity, put vermilion on Tarak’s forehead, uttering Mantras and praying to Mother Kali, to let him know why Tarak was suffering so badly.

Tarak roared in his unconsciousness, “I am a part of Mother Kali. Shall I not punish Tarak? In a past life he insulted his mother and his mother kicked her own husband, Tarak’s father. Both have been condemned to suffer for 7 births, Tarak from this terrible colic and his mother to become a widow only fourteen days after marriage. They have had 4 births already, and 3 more to suffer.”

“Is there no means of deliverance, Mother” asked the kind Brahmin.

Tarak, still unconscious, replied: “There can be no deliverance unless Tarak takes ‘Padodak’ (the water with which feet are washed) of his mother and also ‘Uchhishta’ (the leaving of her food), and if his mother gives him medicine, he may be cured in this life”. On enquiring where Tarak’s mother was, the unconscious Tarak replied: “Gopal Sen’s widow is Tarak’s mother”.

Tarak came to his senses, heard everything from the Brahmin and obeyed the mandate. Tarak’s mother gave him a portion of a ‘Pan’ (betel leaf) which Tarak wore in a ‘Maduli’. Tarak was cured straightaway.

Next year the same disease returned but Tarak was cured when Tarak’s mother sprinkled her ‘Padodak’. It was then found that Tarak’s ‘Maduli’ has been defiled by taking water from a lady in her menses.

Man learns lessons through bitter and painful experiences in this world. However sinful, cruel and brutal a man may be, he corrects and educates himself through sufferings, pains, sorrows, troubles and difficulties and diseases, loss of property, poverty and death of dear and near relations. God moulds and corrects the sinners in a mysterious manner. Sufferings and pain act as useful educative forces. They serve as eye-openers in the case of evil-doers. They check them from falling back and pull them upwards. They begin to do good actions and seek the company of the saints.

Some say that a man can never reincarnate in an animal body, as his individuality cannot be conveniently accommodated by the insufficient and incapable body of an animal. The higher principles of man can find no receptacle and expression in the rude, rough and imperfect habitation of the animal. The body of a creature is always an encrustation, as it were, of its inner bodies which, too, are similarly of the same shape and cast. Thus, the encrustation or body of a human soul should always be human. It should correspond to the necessities, requirements and ambitions of a human soul. It should be furnished with all the instruments of perception and conception, which a human soul stands in need of. It should, in short, be cast upon the mould and matrix of the causal and astral bodies which generally form the plan and design of a human body. Thus a human body cannot but incarnate in a human body. The sayings of ancient writers that a cruel person will become a wolf, an avaricious person a cobra, a lustful person a bitch, etc. are all metaphorical statements. When they say that a cruel person will reincarnate as a wolf, they mean thereby that he will be reborn as a ferocious and voracious man like a wolf and similarly do other statements mean.

Others hold the view that a man may try to fall back, nay, may do his best to live the life of a lower animal. He may try to push out of his mind all higher and finer feelings, and if he really succeeds in making a monkey of himself, if he succeeds in making his desires nothing but animal desires, and if he makes an animal of himself, then, of course, he will be born a monkey in the next incarnation. But man cannot do that. There are other forces which prevent and keep him back. Those forces are what are called sorrow, trouble, suffering etc. They are the guaranteed agencies against any falling back. These forces will not allow man to fall down; thus, progress is secured. Life of evolution is progress and progress must be made, and thus constant and continuous warfare is necessary. This is another view of others.

A human birth is the result of mixed Karmas, viz., good and bad. When good Karmas outweigh the bad, man gets the birth of a Deva, Yaksha, Gandharva, and the like. When evil Karmas outweigh the good, he takes birth as an animal, devil, etc. He falls into a lower birth. When good and bad Karmas are more or less equal, he gets a human birth. By good Karmas man attains heaven, by bad Karmas hell, and by mixed Karmas he attains the world of men.

It is the nature of a man or a beast to get attached to the particular body in which it resides. The body of an ant is as dear to it as the body of an elephant is to an elephant or a human body is to a man. This wonderful attachment to the body arising out of ignorance keeps this wheel of birth and death eternally going. Of all births a particular creature likes the particular body which it has taken in the particular incarnation. A man likes a human birth; an elephant is pleased with its birth as an elephant and so on. At the same time everyone craves for evolution and attainment of unalloyed bliss. This is common for all created beings.

Birth as a man is superior because he has the power to discriminate and decide for himself. He knows himself and others and he is endowed with finer emotions of love, faith, shame, decency, non-injury, etc. An animal is devoid of intelligence, memory and knowledge. Therefore, birth as an animal is not desirable.

The life of a man who is not endowed with discrimination, knowledge of the Self, non-identification with the physical body, faith and love for fellow-beings is equal to that of a beast. The ignorant man sinks in the ocean of Samsara, and takes birth in various wombs until the eye of discrimination is opened, until he comes in contact with a guide who is ready to take him to a higher path. The ignorant worldly man takes birth as a dog, a cobra, a wolf or a tiger. There is no definite law as regards to them. The Sastras are quite correct in their statements. It is a serious mistake to take such utterances of the scriptures as merely figurative or metaphorical.

A spiritual Sadhaka who has started his life in the Divine has no fear of birth in a lower womb. A Yogi who practises Yoga even though he happens to fall from his entitled position is not ruined. He takes birth in better circumstances once again and pursues his spiritual path. In the Bhagavadgita, you will find: “O Partha, neither in this world, or in the next world is there destruction for him (who has fallen from the path of Brahman); none verily, who does good, O my son, ever comes to grief. Having attained to the worlds of the righteous and having dwelt there for everlasting years, he who fell from Yoga is reborn in a house of the pure and wealthy. Or he is born in a family of even the wise Yogis” (Chapter VI—40, 41, 42).

King Bharata, son of Rishabha, renounced his kingdom and took to the path of an ascetic. One day he observed a small motherless deer in the forest. He took pity on the poor creature and he so passionately loved this little one that his thoughts were mainly centred on the deer and thoughts of God gradually waned away. At the time of his death the thought of the small deer harassed him much and he took the birth of a deer.

King Bharata was well versed in all the scriptures, Vedas and Puranas. He did very rigorous Tapas and meditated on the lotus-feet of the glorious Vasudeva. But the inordinate attachment to the animal gave him the birth of a deer. Bharata opened his eyes and recognised his folly. The deer remembered every detail of the past life as King Bharata. It ever meditated on the Lord, ate but little and never mixed with other deers of its type. It was actually counting the number of days of its life to get freedom from the low birth. The deer after leaving its body again took the birth of a Brahmin known by the name Jada Bharata. Now Jada Bharata grew wise enough as not to commit the same mistake once again and from his very boyhood kept himself aloof. He had a mind free from attraction and repulsion. Thus he escaped the clutches of Maya and at the dissolution of his mortal sheath attained oneness with the Paramatman.

Gajendra, though he had to take the birth of an elephant, never forgot his real nature and ever prayed to Lord Hari and attained emancipation from the life of an elephant itself. The Sastras quote instances where animals and even birds have attained emancipation. Vritrasura, the great Rakshasa, was highly devoted to Vasudeva. He was King Chitraketu in his past birth who was cursed by Uma to become a Rakshasa.

From the foregoing examples it is quite clear that for a true and sincere Sadhaka there is no fear of downfall. Devotees of the Lord become absolutely fearless and they are devoid of all desires. They welcome any birth in which the Lord can be remembered.

What is wanted is real devotion to the Lord. That being achieved, a man becomes happy in any sort of life and under any circumstances. He gets a peculiar joy which helps him to bear even the most excruciating pain of Samsara.

The Rishis of yore had power to curse wicked persons and bless the virtuous. The sons of Kubera became trees by the curse of Narada. Gautama cursed his wife Ahalya to become a stone. They do this out of compassion for those who go astray, leaving the feet of Lord Hari. It is not with any selfish motive or by becoming a victim to anger that they curse the wicked. Therefore, contact with a saintly personality is highly beneficial in changing one’s destiny.

Rishis are Trikalajnanis (knowers of the past, present and future). Therefore, they know the mysterious ways of Karma. They attained knowledge of the Self and by virtue of this knowledge everything else became known to them. The kind of body into which one enters depends on the pattern of the mind which is its causative factor. The law is inexorable.

It does not matter much what kind of body we wear. It matters much what our thoughts are. A man of high position may have the thoughts of a beast. When he becomes a prey to lust and anger, he is worse than an animal. A cow is a thousand times better than such a man who is devoid of discrimination, who indulges in vulgar enjoyments, who loses his temper for trifles.

Do not worry yourself as to what birth you will take in the future. Utilise the present life profitably and free yourself from death and birth. Develop devotion to the Lord. Renounce base desires. Be ever intent on doing good to others. Be kind and do good.

Lord Hari is the protector of the three worlds. The responsibility of taking every one of His creation to His immortal abode rests with Him. Let Him take you through any path He likes. Let Him give you Mukti when you are in the body of a man, a beast or a devil. Let your mind be ever centred on Him and cling to His lotus-feet like the bee that sticks to a full-blown lotus. Drink the sweet honey flowing from His lotus-feet and surrender yourself to Him like a child.

May you all become free from this ever-revolving wheel of Karma resulting in numerous births in various wombs and attain the bliss of the Immortal in this very life.

* * *

This was an excerpt from the book What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Sri Swami Sivananda.

The death and dying and the life after death has always fascinated man. We want to now the truth behind near death experiences and become certain that there really is a life after death.

Many books have been written on the subject of death, but most of the works deal mainly with the astral or other spirit world. It has mostly been the study of the conditions in the Pretaloka which is merely one among the numerous supramundane planes or lokas beyond the grave. Spiritualism, seance and the testimony of recognised mediums have for most part featured prominently in all such works.

What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj is a departure from the usual line in that it is based, to a great extent, upon authoritative scriptural texts and upon knowledge derived through reasoning, deep reflection and personal meditation. It throws a flood of light upon all aspects of life after death not adequately dealt with in other works. The book also gives valuable information about the different beliefs on this subject, of the various races and religions.

The book is dealing with rebirth, the soul, reincarnation, moksha, heaven and hell, karma and different lokas. It even includes death poems and death poetry, giving a complete picture and a new face of death. For more material see this link: What Becomes Of The Soul After Death.

* * *