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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Reincarnation, by Swami Abhedananda
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Reincarnation
+
+Author: Swami Abhedananda
+
+Posting Date: April 12, 2014 [EBook #7377]
+Release Date: January, 2005
+First Posted: April 22, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REINCARNATION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Dave Maddock, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY
+
+FIVE LECTURES ON REINCARNATION
+
+BY
+
+SWAMI ABHEDANANDA
+
+_Author of "India and her People", "Self-Knowledge", "How to be a
+Yogi", "Divine Heritage of Man", etc._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  I.--REINCARNATION
+
+ II.--HEREDITY AND REINCARNATION
+
+III.--EVOLUTION AND REINCARNATION
+
+ IV.--WHICH IS SCIENTIFIC, RESURRECTION OR REINCARNATION?
+
+  V.--THEORY OF TRANSMIGRATION
+
+
+
+
+I. REINCARNATION
+
+
+The visible phenomena of the universe are bound by the universal law
+of cause and effect. The effect is visible or perceptible, while the
+cause is invisible or imperceptible. The falling of an apple from a
+tree is the effect of a certain invisible force called gravitation.
+Although the force cannot be perceived by the senses, its expression
+is visible. All perceptible phenomena are but the various expressions
+of different forces which act as invisible agents upon the subtle and
+imperceptible forms of matter. These invisible agents or forces
+together with the imperceptible particles of matter make up the subtle
+states of the phenomenal universe. When a subtle force becomes
+objectified, it appears as a gross object.  Therefore, we can say,
+that every gross form is an expression of some subtle force acting
+upon the subtle particles of matter. The minute particles of hydrogen
+and oxygen when combined by chemical force, appear in the gross form
+of water. Water can never be separated from hydrogen and oxygen, which
+are its subtle component parts. Its existence depends upon that of its
+component parts, or in other words, upon its subtle form. If the
+subtle state changes, the gross manifestation will also change. The
+peculiarity in the gross form of a plant depends upon the peculiar
+nature of its subtle form, the seed. The peculiar nature of the gross
+forms in the animal kingdom depends upon the subtle forms which
+manifest variously in each of the intermediate stages between the
+microscopic unit of living matter and the highest man. The gross human
+body is closely related to its subtle body.  Not only this, but every
+movement or change in the physical form is caused by the activity and
+change of the subtle body. If the subtle body be affected or changed a
+little, the gross body will also be affected similarly. The material
+body being the expression of the subtle body, its birth, growth, decay
+and death depend upon the changes of the subtle body.  As long as the
+subtle body remains, it will continue to express itself in a
+corresponding gross form.
+
+Now let us understand clearly what we mean by a subtle body. It is
+nothing but a minute germ of a living substance. It contains the
+invisible particles of matter which are held together by vital force,
+and it also possesses mind or thought-force in a potential state, just
+as the seed of a plant contains in it the life force and the power of
+growth. According to Vedanta, the subtle body consists of
+_Antahkaranam_, that is, the internal organ or the mind substance
+with its various modifications, mind, intellect, egoism, memory, the
+five instruments of perception: the powers of seeing, hearing,
+smelling, tasting and touching; the five instruments of action, such
+as the powers of seizing, moving, speaking, evacuating, and
+generating, and the five _Prānas. Prāna_ is a Sanskrit word which
+means vital energy or the life-sustaining power in us. Although
+_Prāna_ is one, it takes five different names on account of the
+five different functions it performs. This word _Prāna_ includes
+the five manifestations of the vital force: First, that power which
+moves the lungs and draws the atmospheric air from outside into the
+system. This is also called _Prāna_. Second, that power which
+throws out of the system such things as are not wanted. It is called
+in Sanskrit _Apāna_. Third, it takes the name of _Samāna_,
+as performing digestive functions and carrying the extract of food to
+every part of the body. It is called _Udāna_ when it is the cause
+of bringing down food from the mouth through the alimentary canal to
+the stomach, and also when it is the cause of the power of speech. The
+fifth power of _Prāna_ is that which works in every part of the
+nervous system from head to foot, through every canal, which keeps the
+shape of the body, preserves it from putrefaction, and gives health
+and life to every cell and organ. These are the various manifestations
+of the vital force or _Prāna_. These subtle powers together with
+the non-composite elements of the gross body, or the ethereal
+particles of subtle matter, and also with the potentialities of all
+the impressions, ideas and tendencies which each individual gathers in
+one life, make up his subtle body.  As a resultant of all the
+different actions of mind and body which an individual performs in his
+present life, will be the tendencies and desires in his future life;
+nothing will be lost.
+
+Every action of body or mind which we do, every thought which we
+think, becomes fine, and is stored up in the form of a _Samskāra_
+or impression in our minds. It remains latent for some time, and then
+it rises up in the form of a mental wave and produces new
+desires. These desires are called in Vedanta, _Vāsanās_. Vāsanās
+or strong desires are the manufacturers of new bodies. If Vāsanā or
+longing for worldly pleasures and objects remains in anybody, even
+after hundreds of births, that person will be born again. Nothing can
+prevent the course of strong desires. Desires must be fulfilled sooner
+or later.
+
+Every voluntary or involuntary action of the body, sense or mind must
+correspond to the dormant impressions stored up in the subtle
+body. Although growth, the process of nourishment and all the changes
+of the gross physical body take place according to the necessarily
+acting causes, yet the whole series of actions, and consequently every
+individual act, the condition of the body which accomplishes it, nay,
+the whole process in and through which the body exists, are nothing
+but the outward expressions of the latent impressions stored up in the
+subtle body. Upon these rests the perfect suitableness of the animal
+or human body to the animal or human nature of one's impressions. The
+organs of the senses must therefore completely correspond to the
+principal desires which are the strongest and most ready to
+manifest. They are the visible expressions of these desires. If there
+be no hunger or desire to eat, teeth, throat and bowels will be of no
+use. If there be no desire for grasping and moving, hands and legs
+will be useless. Similarly it can be shown that the desire for seeing,
+hearing, etc., has produced the eye, ear, etc. If I have no desire to
+use my hand, and if I do not use it at all, within a few months it
+will wither away and die. In India there are some religious fanatics
+who hold up their arms and do not use them at all; after a few months
+their arms wither and become stiff and dead. A person who lies on his
+back for six months loses the power of walking. There are many such
+instances which prove the injurious effects of the disuse of our limbs
+and organs.
+
+As the human form, generally, corresponds to the human will,
+generally, so the individual bodily structure corresponds to the
+character, desires, will and thought of the individual. Therefore the
+outer nature is nothing but the expression of the inner nature. This
+inner nature of each individual is what re-incarnates or expresses
+itself successively in various forms, one after another. When a man
+dies the individual ego or _Jīva_ (as it is called in Sanskrit),
+which means the germ of life or the living soul of man, is not
+destroyed, but it continues to exist in an invisible form. It remains
+like a permanent thread stringing together the separate lives by the
+law of cause and effect. The subtle body is like a water-globule which
+sprang in the beginningless past from the eternal ocean of Reality;
+and it contains the reflection of the unchangeable light of
+Intelligence.  As a water-globule remains sometimes in an invisible
+vapory state in a cloud, then in rain or snow or ice, and again as
+steam or in mud, but is never destroyed, so the subtle body sometimes
+remains unmanifested and sometimes expresses itself in gross forms of
+animal or human beings, according to the desires and tendencies that
+are ready to manifest. It may go to heaven, that is, to some other
+planet, or it may be born again on this earth. It depends on the
+nature and strength of one's life-long tendency and bent of mind. This
+idea is clearly expressed in Vedanta. "The thought, will or desire
+which is extremely strong during lifetime, will become predominant at
+the time of death and will mould the inner nature of the dying
+person. The newly moulded inner nature will express in a new form."
+(Bhagavad Gītā.) The thought, will or desire which moulds the inner
+nature has the power of selecting or attracting such conditions or
+environments as will help it in its way of manifestation. This process
+corresponds in some respects to the law of "natural selection."
+
+We shall be better able to understand that process by studying how the
+seeds of different trees select from the common environments different
+materials, and absorb and assimilate different quantities of
+elements. Suppose two seeds, one of an oak and the other of a
+chestnut, are planted in a pot. The power of growth in both the seeds
+is of the same nature. The environments, earth, water, heat and light
+are the same. But still there is some peculiarity in each of the
+seeds, which will absorb from the common environments different
+quantities of elements and other properties which are fit to help the
+growth of the peculiar nature and form of the fruit, flower, leaves of
+each tree. Suppose the chestnut is a horse-chestnut. If, under
+different conditions, the peculiar nature of the horse-chestnut
+changes into that of a sweet chestnut, then, along with the changes in
+the seed, the whole nature of the tree, leaves, fruits will also be
+changed. It will no more attract, absorb or assimilate those
+substances and qualities of the environments which it did when it was
+a horse-chestnut. Similarly, through the law of "natural selection"
+the newly moulded thought-body of the dying person will choose and
+attract such parts from the common environments as are helpful to its
+proper expression or manifestation. Parents are nothing but the
+principal parts of the environment of the re-incarnating
+individual. The newly moulded inner nature or subtle body of the
+individual will by the law of "natural selection" involuntarily
+choose, or be unconsciously drawn to, as it were, its suitable parents
+and will be born of them. As, for instance, if I have a strong desire
+to become an artist, and if after a life-long struggle I do not
+succeed in being the greatest, after the death of the body I will be
+born of such parents and with such environments as will help me to
+become the best artist.
+
+The whole process is expressed in Eastern philosophy by the doctrine
+of the Reincarnation of the individual soul.  Although this doctrine
+is commonly rejected in the West, it is unreservedly accepted by the
+vast majority of mankind of the present day, as it was in past
+centuries. The scientific explanation of this theory we find nowhere
+except in the writings of the Hindus; still we know that from very
+ancient times it was believed by the philosophers, sages and prophets
+of different countries. The ancient civilization of Egypt was built
+upon a crude form of the doctrine of Reincarnation. Herodotus says:
+"The Egyptians propounded the theory that the human soul is
+imperishable, and that where the body of any one dies it enters into
+some other creature that may be ready to receive it." Pythagoras and
+his disciples spread it through Greece and Italy. Pythagoras says:
+"All has soul; all is soul wandering in the organic world, and obeying
+eternal will or law."
+
+In Dryden's Ovid we read:--
+
+  "Death has no power the immortal soul to slay,
+  That, when its present body turns to clay,
+  Seeks a fresh home, and with unlessened might
+  Inspires another frame with life and light."
+
+It was the keynote of Plato's philosophy.  Plato says: "Soul is older
+than body. Souls are continually born over again into this life." The
+idea of Reincarnation was spread widely in Greece and Italy by
+Pythagoras, Empedocles, Plato, Virgil and Ovid.  It was known to the
+Neo-Platonists, Plotinus and Proclus. Plotinus says: "The soul leaving
+the body becomes that power which it has most developed.  Let us fly
+then from here below and rise to the intellectual world, that we may
+not fall into a purely sensible life by allowing ourselves to follow
+sensible images...." It was the fundamental principle of the religion
+of the Persian Magi. Alexander the Great accepted this idea after
+coming in contact with the Hindu philosophers. Julius Caesar found
+that the Gauls had some belief regarding the pre-existence of the
+human soul. The Druids of old Gaul believed that the souls of men
+transmigrate into those bodies whose habits and characters they most
+resemble. Celts and Britons were impressed with this idea. It was a
+favorite theme of the Arab philosophers and many Mahomedan Sufis. The
+Jews adopted it after the Babylonian captivity.  Philo of Alexandria,
+who was a contemporary of Christ, preached amongst the Hebrews the
+Platonic idea of the pre-existence and rebirth of human souls.  Philo
+says: "The company of disembodied souls is distributed in various
+orders. The law of some of them is to enter mortal bodies, and after
+certain prescribed periods be again set free." John the Baptist was
+according to the Jews a second Elijah; Jesus was believed by many to
+be the re-appearance of some other prophet. (See Matt, xvi, 14, also
+xvii, 12.) Solomon says in his Book of Wisdom: "I was a child of good
+nature and a good soul came to me, or rather because I was good I came
+into an undefiled body."
+
+The Talmud and Cabala teach the same thing.  In the Talmud it is said
+that Abel's soul passed into the body of Seth, and then into that of
+Moses.  Along with the spread of the Cabala this doctrine (which was
+known as Transmigration and Metempsychosis) "began to take root in
+Judaism and then it gained believers even among men who were little
+inclined towards Mysticism. Juda ben Asher (Asheri) for instance,
+discussing this doctrine in a letter to his father endeavored to place
+it upon a philosophical basis." (Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol.  XII,
+p. 232.) We also read, "The Cabalists eagerly adopted the doctrine on
+account of the vast field it offered to mystic speculations. Moreover
+it was almost a necessary corollary of their psychological system. The
+absolute condition of the soul is, according to them, its return,
+after developing all those perfections, the germs of which are
+eternally implanted in it, to the Infinite Source from which it
+emanated. Another term of life must therefore be vouchsafed to those
+souls which have not fulfilled their destiny here below, and have not
+been sufficiently purified for the state of union with the Primordial
+Cause. Hence if the soul, on its first assumption of a human body and
+sojourn on earth, fails to acquire that experience for which it
+descended from heaven and becomes contaminated by that which is
+polluting, it must reinhabit a body till it is able to ascend in a
+purified state through repeated trials."  This is the theory of the
+Zohar, which says: "All souls are subject to transmigration; and men
+do not know the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He!  They do not know
+that they are brought before the tribunal both before they enter into
+this world and after they leave it; they are ignorant of the many
+transmigrations and secret probations which they have to undergo, and
+of the number of souls and spirits which enter into this world and
+which do not return to the palace of the Heavenly King. Men do not
+know how the souls revolve like a stone which is thrown from a
+sling. But the time is at hand when these mysteries will be
+disclosed." (Zohar, II, 99 _b_.)
+
+Like many of the Church Fathers the Cabalists used as their main
+argument in favor of the doctrine of metempsychosis the justice of
+God. But for the belief in metempsychosis, they maintained, the
+question why God often permits the wicked to lead a happy life while
+many righteous are miserable would be unanswerable. Then too the
+infliction of pain upon children would be an act of cruelty unless it
+is imposed in punishment of sin committed by the soul in a previous
+state. Isaac Abravanel sees in the commandment of the Levirate a proof
+of the doctrine of metempsychosis for which he gives the following
+reasons: (1) God in His mercy willed that another trial should be
+given to the soul, which having yielded to the sanguine temperament of
+the body had committed a capital sin, such as murder, adultery, etc.;
+(2) it is only just that when a man dies young a chance should be
+given to his soul to execute in another body the good deeds which it
+had not time to perform in the first body; (3) the soul of the wicked
+sometimes passes into another body in order to receive its deserved
+punishment here below instead of in the other world where it would be
+much more severe. (Commentary on Deuteronomy, XXV, 5.)
+
+Christianity is not exempt from this idea. Origen and other Church
+Fathers believed in it. Origen says: "For God, justly disposing of his
+creatures according to their desert, united the diversities of minds
+in one congruous world, that he might, as it were, adorn his mansion
+(in which ought to be not only vases of gold and silver, but of wood
+also and clay, and some to honor and some to dishonor) with these
+diverse vases, minds or souls. To these causes the world owes its
+diversity, while Divine Providence disposes each according to his
+tendency, mind and disposition." He also says: "I think this is a
+question how it happens that the human mind is influenced now by the
+good, now by the evil. The causes of this I suspect to be more ancient
+than this corporeal birth." The idea of Reincarnation spread so fast
+amongst the early Christians that Justinian was obliged to suppress it
+by passing a law in the Council of Constantinople in 538 A.D. The law
+was this: "Whoever shall support the mythical presentation of the
+pre-existence of the soul, and the consequently wonderful opinion of
+its return, let him be Anathema." The Gnostics and Manichaeans
+propagated the tenets of Reincarnation amongst the mediaeval sects
+such as the Bogomiles and Paulicians. Some of the followers of this
+so-called erroneous belief were cruelly persecuted in 385 A.D.
+
+In the seventeenth century some of the Cambridge Platonists, as
+Dr. Henry More and others, accepted the idea of rebirth. Most of the
+German philosophers of the middle ages and of recent days have
+advocated and upheld this doctrine. Many quotations can be given from
+the writings of great thinkers, like Kant, Scotus, Schelling, Fichte,
+Leibnitz, Schopenhauer, Giardano Bruno, Goethe, Lessing, Herder and a
+host of others. The great skeptic Hume says in his posthumous essay on
+"The Immortality of the Soul," "The metempsychosis is therefore the
+only system of this kind that philosophy can hearken to." Scientists
+like Flammarion and Huxley have supported this doctrine of
+Reincarnation. Professor Huxley says: "None but hasty thinkers will
+reject it on the ground of inherent absurdity. Like the doctrine of
+evolution itself, that of transmigration has its roots in the world of
+reality." ("Evolution and Ethics," p. 61.)
+
+Some of the theological leaders have preached it. The eminent German
+theologian Dr. Julius Müller supports this theory in his work on "The
+Christian Doctrine of Sin." Prominent theologians, such as Dr. Dorner,
+Ernesti, Rückert, Edward Beecher, Henry Ward Beecher, Phillips Brooks,
+preached many a time touching the question of the pre-existence and
+rebirth of the individual soul. Swedenborg and Emerson maintained
+it. Emerson says in his essay on Experience, "We wake and find
+ourselves on a stair. There are stairs below us which we seem to have
+ascended; there are stairs above us, many a one, which go upward and
+out of sight."
+
+Almost all of the poets, ancient or modern, profess it. William
+Wordsworth says in "Intimations of Immortality:"--
+
+  "The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
+    Hath had elsewhere its setting,
+  And cometh from afar."
+
+Tennyson writes in the "Two Voices;"
+
+  "Or, if through lower lives I came--
+  Tho' all experience past became,
+  Consolidate in mind and frame--
+  I might forget my weaker lot;
+  For is not our first year forgot?
+  The haunts of memory echo not."
+
+Walt Whitman says in "Leaves of Grass:"
+
+  "As to you, Life, I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths,
+  No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before."
+
+Similar passages can be quoted from almost all the poets of different
+countries. Even amongst the aboriginal tribes of Africa, Asia, North
+and South America, traces of this belief in the rebirth of souls is to
+be found. Nearly three-fourths of the population of Asia believe in
+the doctrine of Reincarnation, and through it they find a satisfactory
+explanation of the problem of life. There is no religion which denies
+the continuity of the individual soul after death.
+
+Those who do not believe in Reincarnation try to explain the world of
+inequalities and diversities either by the one-birth theory or by the
+theory of hereditary transmission. Neither of these theories, however,
+is sufficient to explain the inequalities that we meet with in our
+everyday life. Those who believe in the one-birth theory, that we have
+come here for the first and last time, do not understand that the
+acquirement of wisdom and experience is the purpose of human life; nor
+can they explain why children who die young should come into existence
+and pass away without getting the opportunity to learn anything or
+what purpose is served by their coming thus for a few days, remaining
+in utter ignorance and then passing away without gaining anything
+whatever. The Christian dogma, based on the one-birth theory, tells us
+that the child which dies soon after its birth is sure to be saved and
+will enjoy eternal life and everlasting happiness in heaven. The
+Christians who really believe in this dogma ought to pray to their
+heavenly Father for the death of their children immediately after
+their birth and ought to thank the merciful Father when the grave
+closes over their little forms. Thus the one-birth theory of Christian
+theology does not remove any difficulty.
+
+Two great religions, Judaism with its two offspring--Christianity and
+Mahomedanism--and Zoroastrianism, still uphold the one-birth theory.
+
+The followers of these, shutting their eyes to the absurdity and
+unreasonableness of such a theory, believe that human souls are
+created out of nothing at the time of the birth of their bodies and
+that they continue to exist throughout eternity either to suffer or to
+enjoy because of the deeds performed during the short period of their
+earthly existence. Here the question arises why should a man be held
+responsible throughout eternity for the works which he was forced or
+predestined to perform by the will of the Lord of the universe? The
+theory of predestination and grace, instead of explaining the
+difficulty, makes God partial and unjust. If the omnipotent personal
+God created human souls out of nothing, could He not make all souls
+equally good and happy? Why does He make one to enjoy all the
+blessings of life and another to suffer all miseries throughout
+eternity? Why is one born with good tendencies and another with evil
+ones? Why is one man virtuous throughout his life and another bestial?
+Why is one born intelligent and another idiotic? If God out of His own
+will made all these inequalities, or, in other words, if God created
+one man to suffer and another to enjoy, then how partial and unjust
+must He be! He must be worse than a tyrant. How can we worship Him,
+how call Him just and merciful?
+
+Some people try to save God from this charge of partiality and
+injustice by saying that all good things of this universe are the work
+of God, and all evil things are the work of a demon or Satan. God
+created everything good, but it was Satan who brought evil into this
+world and made everything bad. Now let us see how far such a statement
+is logically correct. Good and evil are two relative terms; the
+existence of one depends upon that of the other. Good cannot exist
+without evil, and evil cannot exist without being related to
+good. When God created what we call good, He must have created evil at
+the same time, otherwise He could not create good alone. If the
+creator of evil, call him by whatever name you like, had brought evil
+into this world, he must have created it simultaneously with God;
+otherwise it would have been impossible for God to create good, which
+can exist only as related to evil. As such they will have to admit
+that the Creators of good and evil sat together at the same time to
+create this world, which is a mixture of good and evil. Consequently,
+both of them are equally powerful, and limited by each other.
+Therefore neither of them is infinite in powers or omnipotent. So we
+cannot say that the Almighty God of the universe created good alone
+and not the evil.
+
+Another argument which the Vedantists advance in support of the theory
+of Reincarnation is that "Nothing is destroyed in the universe."
+Destruction in the sense of the annihilation of a thing is unknown to
+the Vedantic philosophers, just as it is unknown to the modern
+scientists. They say "non-existence can never become existence and
+existence can never become non-existence;" or, in other words, that
+which did not exist can never exist, and conversely that which exists
+in any form can never become non-existent. This is the law of
+nature. As such, the impressions or ideas which we now have, together
+with the powers which we possess, will not be destroyed but will
+remain with us in some form or other. Our bodies may change, but the
+powers, Karma, Samskaras or impressions and the materials which
+manufactured our bodies must remain in us in an unmanifested
+form. They will never be destroyed. Again science tells us that that
+which remains in an unmanifested or potential state must at some time
+or other be manifested in a kinetic or actual form. Therefore we shall
+get other bodies, sooner or later. It is for this reason said in the
+"Bhagavad Gītā": "Birth must be followed by death and death must be
+followed by birth." Such a continuously recurring series of births and
+deaths each germ of life must go through. Another consideration is
+that the beginning, ending and continuing are conceptions of the human
+mind; their significance depends entirely upon our conception of
+time. But we all know that time has no absolute existence. It is
+merely a form of our knowledge of our own existence in relation to
+that of nature.  The conception of time vanishes at the sleep of
+death, just as it does every night when we are in sound sleep. Death
+resembles the state of our sound sleep. The soul wakes up from the
+sleep of death just in the same manner as the insects awake in spring
+after sleeping the long and rigid winter-sleep, as a chrysalis in the
+bed of a cocoon spun by itself in autumn. Nature teaches us the great
+lesson of rebirth and the similarity between sleep and death by the
+rejuvenation of the chrysalis in the spring. After death the soul
+wakes up and puts on or manufactures the garment of a new body, just
+in the same manner as we put on new clothes after throwing away the
+old and worn-out ones. Thus the soul continues to manifest itself over
+and over again either on the human or any other plane of existence,
+being bound by the Law of Karma or of Cause and Sequence.
+
+  "Death, so called, is but older matter dressed
+  In some new form. And in a varied vest,
+  From tenement to tenement though tossed,
+  The soul is still the same, the figure only lost."
+
+  _Poem on Pythagoras, Dryden's Ovid._
+
+Here it may be asked, if we existed before our birth why do we not
+remember? This is one of the strongest objections often raised against
+the belief in pre-existence. Some people deny the existence of the
+soul in the past simply because they cannot remember the events of
+their past. Others, again, who hold memory as the standard of
+existence, say, if our memory of the present ceases to exist at the
+time of death, with it we shall also cease to be; we cannot be
+immortal; because they hold that memory is the standard of life, and
+if we do not remember then we are not the same beings.
+
+Vedanta answers these questions by saying that it is possible for us
+to remember our previous existences.  Those who have read "Raja Yoga"
+will recall that in the 18th aphorism of the third chapter it is said:
+"By perceiving the Samskāras one acquires the knowledge of past
+lives." Here the Samskāras mean the impressions of the past experience
+which lie dormant in our subliminal self, and are never lost. Memory
+is nothing but the awakening and rising of latent impressions above
+the threshold of consciousness. A Raja Yogi, through powerful
+concentration upon these dormant impressions of the subconscious mind,
+can remember all the events of his past lives. There have been many
+instances in India of Yogis who could know not only their own past
+lives but correctly tell those of others. It is said that Buddha
+remembered five hundred of his previous births.
+
+Our subliminal self, or the subconscious mind, is the storehouse of
+all the impressions that we gather through our experiences during our
+lifetime. They are stored up, pigeon-holed there, in the _Chitta_, as
+it is called in Vedanta. "Chitta" means the same subconscious mind or
+subliminal self which is the storehouse of all impressions and
+experiences. And these impressions remain latent until favorable
+conditions rouse them and bring them out on the plane of
+consciousness. Here let us take an illustration: In a dark room
+pictures are thrown on a screen by lantern-slides. The room is
+absolutely dark. We are looking at the pictures. Suppose we open a
+window and allow the rays of the midday sun to fall upon the
+screen. Would we be able to see those pictures? No. Why? Because the
+more powerful flood of light will subdue the light of the lantern and
+the pictures. But although they are invisible to our eyes we cannot
+deny their existence on the screen. Similarly, the pictures of the
+events of our previous lives upon the screen of the subliminal self
+may be invisible to us at present, but they exist there. Why are they
+invisible to us now? Because the more powerful light of
+sense-consciousness has subdued them. If we close the windows and
+doors of our senses from outside contact and darken the inner chamber
+of our self, then by focusing the light of consciousness and
+concentrating the mental rays we shall be able to know and remember
+our past lives, and all the events and experiences thereof. Those who
+wish therefore to develop their memory and remember their past should
+practice Raja Yoga and learn the method of acquiring the power of
+concentration by shutting the doors and windows of their senses. And
+that power of concentration must be helped by the power of
+self-control. That is, by controlling the doors and windows of our own
+senses.
+
+These dormant impressions, whether we remember them or not, are the
+chief factors in moulding our individual characters with which we are
+born, and they are the causes of the inequalities and diversities
+which we find around us. When we study the characters and powers of
+geniuses and prodigies we cannot deny the pre-existence of the
+soul. Whatever the soul has mastered in a previous life manifests in
+the present. The memory of particular events is not so important. If
+we possess the wisdom and knowledge which we gathered in our previous
+lives, then it matters very little whether or not we remember the
+particular events, or the struggles which we went through in order to
+gain that knowledge. Those particular things may not come to us in our
+memory, but we have not lost the wisdom. Now, study your own present
+life and you will see that in this life you have gained some
+experience. The particular events and the struggles which you went
+through are passing out of your memory, but the experience, the
+knowledge which you have gained through that experience, has moulded
+your character, has shaped you in a different manner. You will not
+have to go through those different events again to remember; how you
+acquired that experience is not necessary; the wisdom gained is quite
+enough.
+
+Then, again, we find among ourselves persons who are born with some
+wonderful powers. Take, for instance, the power of self-control. One
+is born with the power of self-control highly developed, and that
+self-control may not be acquired by another after years of hard
+struggle. Why is there this difference? Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna was
+born with God-consciousness, and he went into the highest state of
+Samādhi when he was four years old; but this state is very difficult
+for other Yogis to acquire. There was a Yogi who came to see
+Ramakrishna. He was an old man and possessed wonderful powers, and he
+said: "I have struggled for forty years to acquire that state which is
+natural with you." There are many such instances which show that
+pre-existence is a fact, and that these latent or dormant impressions
+of previous lives are the chief factors in moulding the individual
+character without depending upon the memory of the past. Because we
+cannot remember our past, because of the loss of memory of the
+particular events, the soul's progress is not arrested. The soul will
+continue to progress further and further, even though the memory may
+be weak.
+
+Each individual soul possesses this storehouse of previous experiences
+in the background, in the subconscious mind. Take the instance of two
+lovers. What is love? It is the attraction between two souls. This
+love does not die with the death of the body. True love survives death
+and continues to grow, to become stronger and stronger. Eventually it
+brings the two souls together and makes them one. The theory of
+pre-existence alone can explain why two souls at first sight know each
+other and become attached to each other by the tie of friendship. This
+mutual love will continue to grow and will become stronger, and in the
+end will bring these lovers together, no matter where they
+go. Therefore, Vedanta does not say that the death of the body will
+end the attraction or the attachment of two souls; but as the souls
+are immortal so their relation will continue forever.
+
+The Yogis know how to develop memory and how to read past lives. They
+say, time and space exist in relation to our present mental condition;
+if we can rise above this plane, our higher mind sees the past and
+future just as we see things before our eyes. Those who wish to
+satisfy the idle curiosity of their minds may spend their energy by
+trying to recollect their past lives. But I think it will be much more
+helpful to us if we devote our time and energy in moulding our future
+and in trying to be better than we are now, because the recollection
+of our former condition would only force us to make a bad use of the
+present. How unhappy he must be who knows that the wicked deeds of his
+past life will surely react on him and will bring distress, misery,
+unhappiness or suffering within a few days or a few months. Such a man
+would be so restless and unhappy that he would not be able to do any
+work properly; he would constantly think in what form misery would
+appear to him. He would not be able to eat or even sleep. He would be
+most miserable. Therefore we ought to regard it as a great blessing
+that we do not recollect our past lives and past deeds. Vedanta says,
+do not waste your valuable time in thinking of your past lives, do not
+look backward during the tiresome journey through the different stages
+of evolution, always look forward and try first to attain to the
+highest point of spiritual development; then if you want to know your
+past lives you will recollect them all. Nothing will remain unknown to
+you, the Knower of the universe. When the all-knowing Divine Self will
+manifest through you, time and space will vanish and past and future
+will be changed into the eternal present. Then you will say as Sri
+Krishna said to Arjuna, in the "Bhagavad Gita:" "Both you and I have
+passed through many lives; you do not recollect any, but I know them
+all." (Ch. iv., 5.)
+
+
+
+II. HEREDITY AND REINCARNATION.
+
+
+Those who accept the theory of heredity deny the existence of the
+human soul as an entity separable from the gross physical
+organism. Consequently they do not discuss the question whether the
+individual soul existed in the past or will continue to exist after
+the death of the body. This kind of question does not disturb their
+minds. They generally maintain that the individual soul is inseparable
+from the body or the brain or nervous system; consequently what we
+call soul or the conscious entity or the thinker is produced along
+with the birth of the organism or brain, lasts as long as the body
+lasts and dies when the organism is dissolved into its elements.  But
+those, on the other hand, who accept the theory of Reincarnation admit
+the existence of soul as a conscious entity which is independent of
+the physical organism, that it continues to live after death and that
+it existed before the birth of the body. The theory of heredity has
+always been supported by the materialistic scientists, atheists and
+agnostics of all ages and also by those who believe in the special
+creation of the first man and woman at a certain definite time and
+that their qualities, character, life and soul have been transmitted
+to all humanity through successive generations. The commonly accepted
+meaning of the theory of heredity is that all the well-marked
+peculiarities, both physical and mental, in the parents are handed on
+to the children; or, in other words, heredity is that property of an
+organism by which its peculiar nature is transmitted to its
+descendants.
+
+In the whole history of humanity there has never been a time when this
+question of heredity has been discussed so minutely and in so many
+different ways as it has been in the present century. Although this
+theory was known in the East by the ancient Vedanta philosophers, by
+the Buddhists of the pre-Christian era and by the Greek philosophers
+in the West, still it has received a new impetus and has grown with
+new strength since the introduction of the Darwinian theory of the
+evolution of species.  Along with the latest discoveries in
+physiology, biology, embryology and other branches of modern science,
+the popular simple meaning of heredity--that the offspring not only
+resemble their parents among animals as well as among men, but inherit
+all the individual peculiarities, life and character of their
+parents--has taken the shape of the most complicated and difficult
+problem which it is almost impossible to solve. Our minds are no
+longer satisfied with Haeckel's definition that heredity is simply an
+overgrowth of the individual, a simple continuity of growth; but we
+want to know the particular method by which hereditary transmission
+takes place.  We ask, how can a single cell reproduce the whole body
+of the offspring, its mind, character and all the peculiarities of an
+organism? Out of the myriads of cells of which a body is composed,
+what kind of cell is that which possesses the power of reproducing the
+peculiarities, both mental and physical, which are to be found in the
+form of the new-born babe?  This is the most puzzling of all the
+problems which the scientific mind has ever encountered. The
+fundamental question connected with the theory of heredity is: How can
+a single cell of the body contain within itself all the hereditary
+tendencies of the hypothesis of the continuity of the germ-plasm gives
+an identical starting-point to each successive generation, and thus
+explains how it is that an identical product arises from all of
+them. In other words, the hypothesis explains heredity as part of the
+underlying problems of assimilation and of the causes which act
+directly during ontogeny. (Vol. I, p. 170.)
+
+According to Weismann, all the peculiarities which we find in an
+organism are not inherited by the organism from that of the parents,
+but he says: "Nothing can arise in an organism unless the
+predisposition to it is pre-existent, for every acquired character is
+simply the reaction of the organism upon a certain stimulus." (Vol. I,
+p. 172.) Therefore the germ-cells do not inherit all the peculiarities
+of the parents, but possess the predisposition or a potentiality of
+the tendencies which gradually develop into individual characters.
+
+We will be able to understand his theory better from the following
+quotations, which give his own words. He says: "I have called this
+substance 'germ-plasm,' and have assumed that it possesses a highly
+complex structure, conferring upon it the power of developing into a
+complex organism."  ("Heredity," Vol. I, p. 170.) Again he says:
+"There is, therefore, continuity of the germ-plasm from one generation
+to another. One might represent the germ-plasm by the metaphor of a
+long, creeping rootstock from which plants arise at intervals, these
+latter representing the individuals of successive generations. Hence
+it follows that the transmission of acquired characters is an
+impossibility, for if the germ-plasm is not formed anew in each
+individual, but is derived from that which preceded it, its structure,
+and, above all, its molecular constitution, cannot depend upon the
+individual in which it happens to occur, but such an individual only
+forms, as it were, the nutritive soil at the expense of which the
+germ-plasm grows, while the latter possessed its characteristic
+structure from the beginning, viz., before the commencement of growth.
+But the tendencies of heredity, of which the germ-plasm is the bearer,
+depend upon this very molecular structure, and hence only those
+characters can be transmitted through successive generations which
+have been previously inherited, viz., those characters which were
+potentially contained in the structure of the germ-plasm. It also
+follows that those other characters which have been acquired by the
+influence of special external conditions, during the lifetime of the
+parent, cannot be transmitted at all."  (Vol. I, p. 273.) In
+conclusion, Weismann writes: "But at all events we have gained this
+much, that the only facts which appear to directly prove a
+transmission of acquired characters have been refuted, and that the
+only firm foundation on which this hypothesis has been hitherto based
+has been destroyed."(Vol. I, p. 461.)
+
+Thus we see how far the theory of heredity has been pushed by the
+great scientific investigators of the present age. We have no longer
+any right to believe in the old oft-refuted hypothesis which assumes
+that each individual organism produces germ-cells afresh again and
+again and transmits all its powers developed and acquired by the
+parents; but, on the contrary, we have come to know to-day that
+parents are nothing but mere channels through which these germ-plasms
+or germ-cells manifest their peculiar tendencies and powers which
+existed in them from the very beginning. The main point is that the
+germs are not created by the parents, but that they existed in
+previous generations.
+
+Now, what are those germs like? Wherefrom do they acquire these
+tendencies, these peculiarities?  That is another very difficult
+problem. Dr. Weismann and his followers say that these peculiarities
+are gained or inherited "from the common stock," but what that common
+stock is they do not explain.  Where is that common stock and why will
+certain germs acquire certain tendencies and other germs retain other
+peculiarities? What regulates them? These questions are not solved. So
+far we have gathered from Dr. Weismann's explanation that the parents
+are not the creators of the germs but, on the contrary, that the germs
+existed before the birth of the body, before the growth of the body,
+in previous generations, or in the common stock of the universe. The
+previous generations are dead and gone, so we may say that they
+existed in the universe. We cannot now believe the old, crude,
+often-refuted idea that God creates the germ at the time of birth and
+puts into it all the powers and peculiarities of the parents. This
+theory makes God unjust and partial, so it does not appeal to us any
+more. We need better and more rational explanations. The one-birth
+theory, which has been preached by Christian ministers and other
+religionists for so many years, does not remove the difficulties, does
+not explain the cause of the inequalities and diversities, does not
+answer the question whether we acquire all the tendencies and
+peculiarities of the parents or whether acquired characters cannot be
+transmitted. We have already seen that these questions are left
+unsolved by the one-birth theory of Christianity and of Judaism. But
+this theory of "continuity of the germ-plasm" pushes the question of
+heredity to the door of Reincarnation. If modern science can explain
+what that common stock is and why and how these germs retain those
+peculiarities and tendencies, then the answer will be complete and not
+until then. The Vedanta philosophy, however, has already explained the
+cause of the potentiality in the germ of life or "germ-plasm" or
+germ-cell.
+
+Vedanta solves this difficulty by saying that each of these
+germ-plasms or germ-cells is nothing but the subtle form of a
+reincarnating individual, containing potentially all the experiences,
+characters, tendencies, and desires which one had in one's previous
+life. It existed before the birth of the body and it will continue
+after the death of the body. This germ or subtle body is not the same
+as the astral body of the Theosophists, or the double of the
+metaphysical thinkers or the disembodied spirit of the Spiritualists;
+but it is an ethereal center of activity-physical, mental and
+organic. It is a center which possesses the tendency to manifest these
+powers on different planes of existence. It contains the minute
+particles of matter or ethereal substance and the life principle or
+vital energy by which we live and move. It also possesses the mental
+powers and sense powers; but all these remain latent, just as in a
+seed we see that the powers of growth, of assimilation and of
+producing flowers and fruits are latent.
+
+At the time of death the individual soul contracts and remains in the
+form of a germ of life. It is for this reason, Vedanta teaches, that
+it is neither the will of God nor the fault of the parents that forms
+the characters of children, but each child is responsible for its
+tendencies, capacities, powers and character. It is its own "Karma" or
+past actions that make a child a murderer or a saint, virtuous or
+sinful. The stored-up potentialities in a subtle body manifest in the
+character of an individual.
+
+The argument advanced by the supporters of the theory of hereditary
+transmission does not furnish a satisfactory explanation of the cause
+of the inequalities and diversities of the universe. Why is it that
+the children of the same parents show a marked dissimilarity to their
+parents and to each other?
+
+Why do twins develop into dissimilar characters and possess opposite
+qualities, although they are born of the same parents at the same time
+and brought up under similar conditions and environments? How can
+heredity explain such cases? Suppose a man has five children; one is
+honest and saintly, another is an idiot, the third becomes a murderer,
+the fourth a genius or prodigy, and the fifth a cripple and
+diseased. Who made these dissimilarities? They cannot be
+accidents. There is no such thing as an accident. Every event of the
+universe is bound by the law of cause and effect. There must be some
+cause of these inequalities. Who made one honest and saintly, another
+an idiot, and so forth? Parents? That cannot be. They never dreamed
+that they would beget a murderer or a villain or an idiot. On the
+contrary, all parents wish their children to be the best and
+happiest. But in spite of such desires they get such children. Why?
+What is the cause? Does the theory of heredity explain it? No, not at
+all. Suppose a man, twenty-four years old, who has certain traits,
+like musical or artistic talents, such as painting and so on, has a
+crooked nose and other peculiarities, like cross-eyes, which resemble
+those of his grandfather. Suppose his grandfather died six years
+before he was born. Now, those who believe in the theory of heredity
+will say that this young man inherited all these peculiarities from
+his grandfather. When did he inherit? His grandfather had died six
+years before he was born. He inherited, of course, in the form of that
+germ. What is that germ like? A minute protoplasm, a jelly-like
+substance, and if you examine it with a powerful microscope you will
+hardly find any difference between it and the proto-plasmic germ of a
+dog, or of a cat, or of a tree. It is smaller than a pin's head. And
+in that state this young man inherited all these peculiarities from
+his grandfather; or, in other words, before he had a nose, he got a
+crooked nose; before he had eyes, he inherited cross-eyes, and before
+he had any brain, he inherited all the wonderful powers-his musical
+and artistic talents. Does it not seem absurd to you? Even if we admit
+this theory of heredity, then what do we understand? That the whole of
+this young man existed in the form of a protoplasm before he was
+born. His cross-eyes, his crooked nose, his artistic talents--all
+these pre-existed in the form of a protoplasmic cell. This leads up to
+the same thing which is taught by the theory of Reincarnation, or, in
+other words, if it be possible for this young man to remain in the
+form of a protoplasm and inherit all these things before his birth,
+why cannot we believe that the soul or the subtle body of this young
+man possessed them from the very beginning? According to Vedanta this
+young man was not the creature of his grandfather, but he had his own
+independent existence; only by coming through the channel of his
+parents he had received certain characteristic impressions, just as a
+tree in its process of growth will receive from the environments
+certain peculiarities when it assimilates those properties.
+
+The doctrine of Reincarnation alone can explain satisfactorily and
+rationally the diversities among children and the reason of the many
+instances of uncommon powers and genius displayed in childhood. The
+theory of heredity has up to this time failed to give any good reason
+for them. Why is it that Pascal, when twelve years old, succeeded in
+discovering for himself the greater part of plane geometry. How could
+the shepherd Mangiamelo, when five years old, calculate like an
+arithmetical machine. Think of the child Zerah Colburn: when he was
+under eight years of age he could solve the most tremendous
+mathematical problems instantly and without using any figures. "In one
+instance he took the number 8 and raised it up progressively to the
+sixteenth power and instantly mentioned the result which contained 15
+figures--28l,474,976,710,656." Of course he was right in every
+figure. When asked the square root of numbers consisting of six
+figures, he would state the result instantly with perfect accuracy. He
+used to give the cube root of numbers in the hundreds of millions the
+very moment when it was asked. Somebody asked him once how many
+minutes there were in 48 years, he answered, 25,288,800.
+
+Mozart, the great musician, wrote a sonata when he was four years old
+and an opera in his eighth year. Theresa Milanolla played the violin
+with such skill that many people thought that she must have played
+before her birth. There are many such instances of wonderful powers
+exhibited by artists and painters when they were quite young.
+Sankarācharya, the great commentator of the Vedanta philosophy,
+finished his commentary when he was twelve years old. How can such
+cases be explained by the theory of hereditary transmission? Many of
+you have heard of the wonderful musical talents of Blind Tom. This
+blind negro slave was born on his master's plantation and was brought
+up as a typical negro.  He received no training in music or in any
+other line. One day when his master's family were at dinner he
+happened to come into his master's parlor and displayed his marvelous
+musical power for the first time by playing on his master's
+piano. Afterwards he was exhibited in different states of this
+country. Physically he was nothing but a typical negro. His intellect
+was very poor, but in music he was a master. His musical talents were
+so great that he composed music for himself and played his own
+compositions. Sometimes after hearing a new piece of rapid music once,
+he could reproduce it note for note. Where did he get all these
+powers? From whom did he inherit them? His parents perhaps never heard
+of a piano. He never had a lesson in his life, and he could not have
+understood even if he had had any. Not long ago I saw a girl of about
+six years, who played the piano most beautifully and who could
+reproduce the most difficult music after hearing it once. It seems to
+me that she must have played the piano in her previous incarnation.
+This is the only explanation that we can give.
+
+Does heredity explain such cases? No. These illustrations are
+sufficient to disprove the theory of "cumulative heredity".
+"Cumulative" means gradualness.  The believers in this theory say that
+a genius is the result of cumulative heredity, that is, it presents
+itself by degrees from less genius to greater and still greater and so
+on. In the whole history of the genealogy of geniuses, like Homer,
+Plato, Shakespeare, Goethe, Raphael, there never was in their families
+almost Plato, almost Shakespeare, or almost Goethe. Neither is it
+possible to trace the extraordinary powers of any of these back to any
+member of their ancestral line. Therefore we can say that no other
+theory than that of Reincarnation can explain satisfactorily the
+causes which produce geniuses and prodigies in this world.
+
+Those who accept the truth of Reincarnation do not blame their parents
+for their poor talents, or for not possessing extraordinary powers,
+but they remain content with their own lot, knowing that they have
+made themselves as they are to-day by their own thoughts and deeds in
+their previous incarnations. They understand the meaning of the saying
+"what thou sowest thou must reap," and always endeavor to mould their
+future by better thoughts and better deeds. They explain all the
+inequalities and diversities of life and character by the law of
+"Karma," which governs the process of Reincarnation as well as the
+gradual evolution of the germs of life from lower to higher stages of
+existence.
+
+
+
+III. EVOLUTION AND REINCARNATION.
+
+
+The amazing achievements of modern science have been opening every day
+new gates of wisdom and slowly bringing human minds nearer and nearer
+to the ultimate reality of the universe. The fire of knowledge kindled
+by science has already burnt down many dogmas and beliefs, held sacred
+by the superstition of the past, which stood in the way of
+truth-seeking minds. In the first place science has disproved the
+theory of the creation of the universe out of nothing by the action of
+some supernatural power. It has shown that the universe did not appear
+in its present form or come into existence all of a sudden only a few
+thousand years ago, but that it has taken ages to pass through
+different stages before it could reach its present condition.  Each of
+these stages was directly related to a previous stage by the law of
+causation, which always operates in accordance with definite
+rules. The phenomena of the universe, according to science, are
+subject to evolution, or gradual change and progressive development
+from a relatively uniform condition to a relative complexity. From the
+greatest solar system down to the smallest blade of grass, everything
+in the universe has taken its present shape and form through this
+cosmic process of evolution. Our planet earth has gradually evolved,
+perhaps out of a nebulous mass which existed at first in a gaseous
+state. The sun, moon, stars, satellites and other planets have come
+into existence by going through innumerable changes produced by the
+evolutionary process of the Cosmos. Through the same process plants,
+insects, fishes, reptiles, birds, animals, man, and all living matter
+that inhabit this earth have evolved from minute germs of life into
+their present forms. The theory of Evolution says that man did not
+come into existence all of a sudden, but is related to lower animals
+and to plants, either directly or indirectly. The germ of life had
+passed through various stages of physical form before it could appear
+as a man. That branch of science which is called Embryology has proved
+the fact that "man is the epitome of the whole creation." It tells
+that the human body before its birth passes through all the different
+stages of the animal kingdom--such as the polyp, fish, reptile, dog,
+ape, and at last, man. If we remember that nature is always
+consistent, that her laws are uniform and that whatever exists in the
+microcosm exists also in the macrocosm, and then study nature, we
+shall find that all the germs of life which exist in the universe are
+bound to pass through stages resembling the embryonic types before
+they can appear in the form of man.
+
+In explaining the theory of Evolution, science says that there are two
+principal factors in the process of evolution; the first is the
+tendency to vary, which exists in all living forms whether vegetable
+or animal; the second is the tendency of environment to influence that
+variation, either favorably or unfavorably. Without the first,
+evolution of any kind would be absolutely impossible. But the cause of
+that innate tendency to vary is still unknown to science. Upon the
+second depends the law of natural selection. The variation must be
+adapted to favorable conditions of life; consequently either the germ
+of life will select suitable environments or vary itself in order to
+suit the surrounding conditions, if they are unfavorable. But the
+agent of this selective process is the struggle for existence, which
+is a no less important factor. Thus Evolution depends on these three
+laws: Tendency to vary, or variation, natural selection, and struggle
+for existence. Science tries to explain through these three laws the
+physical, mental, intellectual, moral and spiritual evolution of
+mankind. But the theory of Evolution will remain unintelligible until
+science can trace the cause of that innate "tendency to vary" which
+exists in every stage of all living forms.
+
+If we study closely we find that man's "self" consists of two natures,
+one animal and the other moral or spiritual. Animal nature includes
+all the animal propensities, desire for sense enjoyments, love of
+self, fear of death and struggle for existence. Each of these is to be
+found in lower animals as well as in human beings, the difference
+being only in degree and not in kind. In a savage tribe the expression
+of this animal nature is simple and natural, while in a highly
+civilized nation it is expressed not in a simple and straightforward
+manner, but in an artful and refined way. In a civilized community the
+same nature working through varied device, policy and plan brings the
+same results in a more polished form. In the struggle for existence
+amongst lower animals and savage tribes, those who are physically
+strong survive and gain advantage over those who are physically weak;
+while in the civilized world the same result is obtained, not by
+displaying physical force, but by art, diplomacy, policy, strategy and
+skill. Various kinds of defensive and offensive weapons have been
+invented to conquer those who are less skillful in using them,
+although they may be physically stronger. The simple expression of
+animal nature which we notice in savages and lower animals, by the
+natural process of evolution has gradually become more and more
+complex, as we find in the civilized nations of the world. The energy
+of the lower human nature is spent chiefly in the struggle for
+material existence.
+
+But there is another nature in man which is higher than this. It
+expresses itself in various ways, but on a higher plane. Love of
+truth, mastery over passion, control of the senses, disinterested
+self-sacrifice, mercy and kindness to all creatures, desire to help
+the distressed, forgiveness, faith in a Supreme Being and devotion;
+all these are the expressions of that higher moral and spiritual
+nature. They cannot be explained as developed from animal nature by
+means of the struggle for material existence. For these qualities are
+not to be found in lower animals, although the struggle for existence
+is there. The moral and spiritual nature of human beings cannot be
+traced as the outgrowth or gradual development of the animal
+nature. There is a dispute among the Evolutionists as to the method of
+explaining their cause. Some say that these higher faculties have
+evolved out of the lower ones and have developed by variation and
+natural selection; while others hold that some other higher influence,
+law or agency is required to account for them.
+
+Professor Huxley says: "As I have already urged, the practice of that
+which is ethically best--what we call goodness or virtue--involves a
+course of conduct which in all respects is opposed to that which leads
+to success in the cosmic struggle for existence. In place of ruthless
+self-assertion, it demands self-restraint; in place of thrusting aside
+or treading down all competitors, it requires that the individual
+shall not merely respect, but shall help his fellows; its influence is
+directed not so much to the survival of the fittest as to the fitting
+of as many as possible to survive. It repudiates the gladiatorial
+theory of existence. It demands that each man who enters into the
+enjoyment of the advantages of a polity shall be mindful of his debt
+to those who have laboriously constructed it, and shall take heed that
+no act of his weakens the fabric in which he has been permitted to
+live. Laws and moral precepts are directed to the end of curbing the
+cosmic process, and reminding the individual of his duty to the
+community, to the protection and influence of which he owes, if not
+existence itself, at least the life of something better than a brutal
+savage." ("Evolution and Ethics," pp. 81-82.)
+
+Prof. Calderwood says: "So far as human organism is concerned, there
+seem no overwhelming obstacles to be encountered by an evolution
+theory, but it seems impossible under such a theory to account for the
+appearance of the thinking, self-regulating life distinctly human."
+Thus, according to some of the best thinkers, the explanation of the
+moral and spiritual nature of man as a development of the animal
+nature, is quite insufficient and unsatisfactory.  The theory of
+natural selection in the struggle for existence cannot explain the
+cause of the higher nature of man. We cannot say that a theory is
+complete because it explains many facts.  On the contrary, if it fails
+to explain a single fact, then it is proved to be incomplete. As such,
+the theory that cannot explain satisfactorily the cause of the moral
+and spiritual nature of man cannot be accepted as a complete
+theory. That explanation will be considered as complete which will
+explain most satisfactorily all the various manifestations of the
+animal, moral and spiritual nature.  Moreover, supposing the "tendency
+to vary" has evolved into the moral and spiritual nature of man,
+science does not explain the cause of that tendency to vary, nor how
+animal nature can be transformed into moral and spiritual nature. Is
+that "tendency to vary" indefinite, or is it limited by any definite
+law? Science does not say anything about it.
+
+The explanation of the theologians, that the spiritual nature has been
+superadded to the animal nature by some extra-cosmic spiritual agency
+is not scientific, nor does it appeal to our reason. Now let us see
+what Vedanta has to say on this point. Vedanta accepts evolution and
+admits the laws of variation and natural selection, but goes a step
+beyond modern science by explaining the cause of that "tendency to
+vary." It says, "there is nothing in the end which was not also in the
+beginning." It is a law which governs the process of evolution as well
+as the law of causation. If we admit this grand truth of nature, then
+it will not be difficult to explain by the theory of Evolution the
+gradual manifestation of the higher nature of man.  The tendency of
+scientific monism is towards that end.
+
+Some of the modern scientists who hold the monistic position have
+found out the same truth which was discovered long ago by the Vedantic
+philosophers in India. J. Arthur Thomson, an eminent English scientist
+of the present day, in his book on "The Study of Animal Life," says:
+"The world is one, not two-fold-, the spiritual influx is the primal
+reality and there is nothing in the end which was not also in the
+beginning." But the evolutionists do not accept this truth. Let us
+understand it clearly. It means that that which existed potentially at
+the time of the beginning of evolution has gradually manifested in the
+various stages and grades of evolution. If we admit that a unicellular
+germ of life or a bioplasm, after passing through various stages of
+evolution, has ultimately manifested in the form of a highly developed
+human being, then we shall have to admit the potentiality of all the
+manifested powers in that germ or bioplasm, because the law is "that
+which exists in the end existed also in the beginning."  The animal
+nature, higher nature, mind, intellect, spirit, all these exist
+potentially in the germ of life.  If we do not admit this law then the
+problem will arise: How can non-existence become existent?  How can
+something come out of nothing? How can that come into existence which
+did not exist before? Each germ of life, according to Vedanta,
+possesses infinite potentialities and infinite possibilities.  The
+powers that remain latent have the natural tendency to manifest
+perfectly and to become actual. In their attempt they vary according
+to the surrounding environments, selecting suitable conditions or
+remaining latent as long as circumstances do not favor them. Therefore
+variation, according to Vedanta, is caused by this attempt of the
+potential powers to become actual. When life and mind began to evolve,
+the possibilities of action and reaction hitherto latent in the germ
+of life became real and all things became, in a sense, new. Nobody can
+imagine the amount of latent power which a minute germ of life
+possesses until it expresses in gross form on the physical plane. By
+seeing the seed of a Banyan tree, one who has never seen the tree
+cannot imagine what powers lie dormant in it. When a baby is born we
+cannot tell whether he will be a great saint, or a wonderful artist,
+or a philosopher, or an idiot, or a villain of the worst type. Parents
+know nothing about his future. Along with his growth certain latent
+powers gradually begin to manifest. Those which are the strongest and
+most powerful will overcome others and check their course for some
+time; but when the powers that remain subdued by stronger ones get
+favorable conditions they will appear in manifested forms. As, for
+instance, chemical forces may slumber in matter for a thousand years,
+but when the contact with the re-agents sets them free, they appear
+again and produce certain results. For thousands of years galvanism
+slumbered in copper and zinc, which lay quietly beside silver. As soon
+as all three are brought together under the required conditions silver
+is consumed in flame. A dry seed of a plant may preserve the
+slumbering power of growth through two or three thousand years and
+then reappear under favorable conditions. Sir G. Wilkinson, the great
+archaeologist, found some grains of wheat in a hermetically sealed
+vase in a grave at Thebes, which must have lain there for three
+thousand years. When Mr. Pettigrew sowed them they grew into plants.
+Some vegetable roots found in the hands of an Egyptian mummy, which
+must have been at least two thousand years old, were planted in a
+flower-pot, and they grew and flourished. Thus, whenever the latent
+powers get favorable conditions, they manifest according to their
+nature, even after thousands of years.
+
+Similarly, there are many instances of slumbering mental powers. After
+remaining dormant for a long period in our normal condition, they may,
+in certain abnormal states--such as madness, delirium, catalepsy,
+hypnotic sleep and so forth-flash out into luminous consciousness and
+throw into absolute oblivion the powers that are manifesting in the
+normal state. Talents for eloquence, music, painting, and uncommon
+ingenuity in several mechanical arts, traces of which were never found
+in the ordinary normal condition, are often evolved in the state of
+madness. Somnambulists in deep sleep have solved most difficult
+mathematical problems and performed various acts with results which
+have surprised them in their normal waking states. Thus we can
+understand that each individual mind is the storehouse of many powers,
+various impressions and ideas, some of which manifest in our normal
+state, while others remain latent. Our present condition of mind and
+body is nothing but the manifested form of certain dormant powers that
+exist in ourselves. If new powers are roused up and begin to manifest
+the whole nature will be changed into a new form. The manifestation of
+latent powers is at the bottom of the evolution of one species into
+another. This idea has been expressed in a few words by Patanjali, the
+great Hindu evolutionist who lived long before the Christian
+era. [Footnote: The reader ought to know that the doctrine of
+Evolution was known in India long before the Christian era. About the
+seventh century, B. C., Kapila, the father of Hindu Evolutionists,
+explained this theory for the first time through logic and
+science. Sir Monier Monier Williams says: "Indeed if I may be allowed
+the anachronism, the Hindus were Spinozites more than 2,000 years
+before the existence of Spinoza; and Darwinians many centuries before
+Darwin; and Evolutionists many centuries before the doctrine of
+Evolution had been accepted by the scientists of our time and before
+any word like Evolution existed in any language of the world." (P. 12,
+"Hinduism and Brahminism.") Prof. Huxley says: "To say nothing of
+Indian Sages to whom Evolution was a familiar notion ages before Paul
+of Tarsus was born." (P. 150, "Science and Hebrew Tradition.")] In the
+second aphorism of the fourth chapter (see "Raja Yoga," by Swami
+Vivekananda, p. 210) it is said, "The Evolution into another species
+is caused by the in-filling of nature."  The nature is filled not from
+without but from within.  Nothing is superadded to the individual soul
+from outside. The germs are already there, but their development
+depends upon their coming in contact with the necessary conditions
+requisite for proper manifestation. We sometimes see a wicked man
+suddenly become saintlike. There are instances of murderers and
+robbers becoming saints. A religionist will explain the cause of their
+sudden change, by saying that the grace of the Almighty has fallen
+upon them and transformed their whole nature.  But Vedanta says that
+the moral and spiritual powers that remained latent in them have been
+roused up, and the result is the sudden transformation. None can tell
+when or how the slumbering powers will wake up and begin to
+manifest. The germ of life, or the individual soul as it is ordinarily
+called, possesses infinite possibilities. Each germ of life is
+studying, as it were, the book of its own nature by unfolding one page
+after another. When it has gone through all the pages, or, in other
+words, all the stages of evolution, perfect knowledge is acquired, and
+its course is finished. We have read our lower nature by turning each
+page, or, in other words, by passing through each stage of animal life
+from the minutest bioplasm up to the present stage of existence. Now
+we are studying the pages which deal with moral and spiritual laws. If
+any one wants to read any page over again he will do it. Just as in
+reading a book, if anybody feels particularly interested in any page
+or chapter he will read it over and over again and will not open a new
+page or a new chapter until he is perfectly satisfied with
+it. Similarly, in reading the book of life, if the individual soul
+likes any particular stage, he will stay there until he is perfectly
+satisfied with it; after that he will go forward and study other
+pages. One may read very slowly, and another very fast; but whether we
+read slowly or rapidly each one of us is bound to read the whole book
+of nature and attain to perfection sooner or later.
+
+According to Vedanta, the end and aim of Evolution is the attainment
+of perfection. Physical evolution of animal life reached its
+perfection in human form. There cannot be any other form higher than
+human on this earth under present conditions. It is the perfection of
+animal form. From this we can infer that the tendency of the law of
+Evolution is to reach perfection. When it is attained to, the whole
+purpose is served. Do we see in nature any other higher form evolved
+out of the human body? No.  Shall we not be justified if we say that
+the end of physical evolution is the attainment of the perfection of
+animal form? Again as the purpose and method of natural laws are
+uniform throughout the universe, the end of intellectual, moral and
+spiritual evolution will be attained when intellectual, moral and
+spiritual perfection are acquired. Intellectual perfection means
+perfection of intellect; and intellect is perfect when we understand
+the true nature of things and never mistake the unreal for the real,
+matter for spirit, non-eternal for eternal, or _vice versa_. Moral
+perfection consists in the destruction of selfishness; and spiritual
+perfection is the manifestation of the true nature of spirit which is
+immortal, free, divine and one with the Universal Spirit or
+God. Evolution attains to the highest fulfilment of its purpose when
+the spirit manifests perfectly.  The tendency of nature is to have
+perfect manifestation of all her powers. When certain powers
+predominate they manifest first while the others remain dormant. As we
+find in the process of evolution, when animal nature manifests
+perfectly the moral and spiritual nature remain latent. Again when
+moral and spiritual nature manifest fully, the animal is in
+abeyance. It is for this reason we do not find expressions of moral
+and spiritual nature in lower animals or in those human beings who
+live like them. Man is the only animal in whom such perfect
+expressions of moral and spiritual nature are possible.  When the
+individual soul begins to study its spiritual nature, its lower or
+animal nature is gradually eclipsed. As the higher nature becomes
+powerful the lower nature dwindles into insignificance; its energy is
+transformed into that of the higher nature, and ultimately it
+disappears altogether and rises no more. Then the soul becomes free
+from the lower or animal nature. There are many stages in the higher
+nature, as well as in the lower. Each of these stages binds the
+individual soul so long as it stays there. As it rises on a higher
+plane the lower stages disappear and cease to bind. But the moment
+that any individual, after passing through all the stages of the
+spiritual nature, reaches the ultimate point of perfection, he
+realizes his true nature which is immortal and divine. Then his true
+individuality manifests. For lack of true knowledge, he identified
+himself with each stage successively and thought that his
+individuality was one with the powers which were manifested in each
+stage. Consequently he thought by mistake that he was affected by the
+changes of each stage. But now he realizes that his real individuality
+always remained unaffected.  He sees that his true individuality
+shines always in the same manner, although the limiting adjuncts may
+vary. As the light of a lamp appears of different colors, if it passes
+through glasses of different colors, so the light of the true
+individual appears as animal or human when it passes through the
+animal or human nature of the subtle body. The subtle body of an
+individual changes from animal nature through moral and spiritual into
+divine. As this gradual growth cannot be expected in one life we shall
+have to admit the truth of Reincarnation, which teaches gradual
+evolution of the germ of life or the individual soul through many
+lives and various forms. Otherwise the theory of Evolution will remain
+imperfect, incomplete and purposeless. The doctrine of Reincarnation
+differs from the accepted theory of Evolution in admitting a gradual
+but continuous evolution of the subtle body through many gross
+forms. The gross body may appear or disappear, but the subtle body
+continues to exist even after the dissolution of the gross body and
+re-manifests itself in some other form.
+
+The theory of Reincarnation when properly understood will appear as a
+supplement to the theory of Evolution. Without this most important
+supplement the Evolution theory will never be complete and
+perfect. Evolution explains the process of life, while Reincarnation
+explains the purpose of life. Therefore, both must go hand in hand to
+make the explanation satisfactory in every respect.
+
+James Freeman Clarke says: "That man has come up to his present state
+of development by passing through lower forms, is the popular doctrine
+of science to-day. What is called Evolution teaches that we have
+reached our present state by a very long and gradual ascent from the
+lowest animal organizations. It is true that the Darwinian theory
+takes no notice of the evolution of the soul, but only of the
+body. But it appears to me that a combination of the two views would
+remove many difficulties which still attach to the theory of natural
+selection and the survival of the fittest. If we are to believe in
+Evolution let us have the assistance of the soul itself in this
+development of new species. Thus science and philosophy will
+co-operate, nor will poetry hesitate to lend her aid." (P. 190, "Ten
+Great Religions," II.) Evolution of the body depends upon the
+evolution of the germ of life or the individual soul. When these two
+are combined the explanation becomes perfect.
+
+The theory of Reincarnation is a logical necessity for the completion
+of the theory of Evolution. If we admit a continuous evolution of a
+unit of the germ of life through many gross manifestations then we
+unconsciously accept the teachings of the doctrine of Reincarnation.
+In passing through different forms and manifestations the unit of life
+does not lose its identity or individuality. As an atom does not lose
+its identity or individuality (if you allow me to suppose an atom has
+a kind of individuality) although it passes from the mineral, through
+the vegetable, into the animal, so the germ of life always preserves
+its identity or individuality although it passes through the different
+stages of evolution.
+
+Therefore it is said in the "Bhagavad Gītā," as in our ordinary life
+the individual soul passes from a baby body to a young one and from a
+young to an old, and carries with it all the impressions, ideas and
+experience that it has gathered in its former stage of existence and
+reproduces them in proper time, so when a man dies the individual soul
+passes from an old body into a new one, and takes with it the subtle
+body wherein are stored up all that it experienced and gathered during
+its past incarnations. Knowing this, wise men are never afraid of
+death. They know that death is nothing but a mere change from one body
+into another. Therefore, if any one does not succeed in conquering the
+lower nature by the higher, he will try again in his next incarnation,
+after starting from the point which he reached in his past life. He
+will not begin again from the very beginning, but from the last stage
+at which he arrived. Thus we see that Reincarnation is the logical
+sequence of evolution. It completes and makes perfect that theory and
+explains the cause of the moral and spiritual nature of man.
+
+
+
+IV. WHICH IS SCIENTIFIC--RESURRECTION OR REINCARNATION?
+
+
+The students of history are interested to know where the idea of
+resurrection first arose and how it was adopted by other nations. If
+we read carefully the writings ascribed to Moses and other writers of
+the Old Testament we find that the ancient Israelites did not believe
+in the Christian heaven or hell, nor in reward or punishment after
+death. It is doubtful whether they had any clear conception of the
+existence of soul after the dissolution of the human body. They had no
+definite idea of the hereafter.  They did not believe in the
+resurrection either of the soul or body. Job longed for death thinking
+that it would end his mental agony. In Psalms we read, "Wilt Thou shew
+wonders to the dead?  Shall the dead arise and praise Thee?"
+(Ps. lxxxviii, 10.) "In death there is no remembrance of Thee; in the
+grave who shall give Thee thanks?" (Ps. vi, 5.) Again (Ps. cxlvi, 4)
+it is said about princes and the son of man,--"His breath goeth forth,
+he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish." "The
+dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence."
+(Ps. cxv, 17.)  Solomon speaks boldly: "All things come alike to all;
+there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and
+to the clean and to the unclean... as is the good, so is the sinner."
+(Eccl. ix, 2.) "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine
+with a merry heart....  Live joyfully with thy wife... for there is no
+work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou
+goest." (Eccl. ix, 7, 9, 10.)  Again in verse 5 it is said: "The dead
+know not anything, neither have they anymore a reward, for the memory
+of them is forgotten." Solomon says: "For that which befalleth the
+sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them; as the
+one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath, so that
+a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast." "All go into one place; all
+are of the dust and all turn to dust again." "Who knoweth the spirit
+of man that goeth upward and the spirit of the beast that goeth
+downward to the earth?" (Eccl.  iii, 19-21.) There are many such
+passages which show clearly that before the Babylonian captivity the
+Israelites had no belief in reward or punishment, neither in heaven
+nor hell nor in the resurrection of the soul. Some say that they had a
+belief in a sheol or pit where departed souls remained after death,
+but were never resurrected. But when the ancient Jews were conquered
+by the Persians, 536 B.C., they came in contact with a nation which
+had developed a belief in one God, in a heaven and a hell, in the
+resurrection of the dead, in reward and punishment after death, and in
+the last day of judgment. Under the dominion of Persia, whose rule
+began with the capture of Babylon and lasted from 536-333 B.C., the
+Jews were greatly influenced by the Persian religion.  They gave up
+their idolatry, gradually developed social organization and had
+considerable liberty.  About that time the Jews were divided into two
+classes, the Pharisees and Sadducees. Those who adopted the religious
+ideas of the Parsees were called Pharisees (according to some
+authorities the word Pharisee was the Hebrew form of Parsee), and
+those who followed strictly the Jewish ideas, ceremonies, rituals and
+beliefs were called Sadducees. The former were sharply opposed to the
+latter in their doctrinal beliefs. They believed in angels and
+spirits, they expected the resurrection of the dead and believed in
+future reward and punishment and also in Divine pre-ordination. The
+Sadducees did not step beyond the bounds of ancient Judaism.  They
+were Orthodox and very conservative in their views. They denied the
+existence of angels and spirits, the resurrection of the dead, and
+reward and punishment after death. In Matt, xxii, 23, we read, "The
+same day came to him the Sadducees which say that there is no
+resurrection." The Sadducees were fewer in number than the
+Pharisees. Gradually the latter grew very powerful and after the death
+of Jesus their doctrines of the resurrection of the dead, and of
+reward and punishment after death, and the belief in angels and
+spirits, became the cardinal principles of the new Christian sect.
+Thus we see that the idea of resurrection first arose in Persia and
+afterwards took a prominent place in the writings of the New
+Testament, and since then it has been largely accepted by the
+Christians of the Western countries. The Zoroastrians believed that
+the soul of the dead hovers about the body for three nights and does
+not depart for the other world until the dawn after the third night.
+Then the righteous go to heaven and the wicked to hell. There the
+wicked remain until the time of renovation of the universe, that is,
+the judgment day. After the renovation, when Ahriman or Satan is
+killed, the souls of the wicked will be purified and have everlasting
+progress. [Footnote: "Sacred Books of the East," Vol. xvii, pp. 27,
+34, 46.] The question was asked, "How shall they produce
+resurrection?" Ahura Mazda says: "The reply is this, that the
+preparation and production of the resurrection are an achievement
+connected with miracle, a sublimity, and afterwards also a wondrous
+appearance unto the creatures uninformed. The secrets and affairs of
+the persistent Creator are like every mystery and secret." [Footnote:
+_Ibid_., p. 80.]
+
+The Zoroastrians believed in the resurrection, not of the physical
+body, but of the soul, and that it was an act of miracle. Similarly
+miraculous was the resurrection of Jesus. Although Jesus Himself never
+mentioned what kind of resurrection, whether of body or of soul that
+He meant and believed in, the interpretation of the writers of the
+Gospels shows that His disciples understood Him to mean bodily
+resurrection and the re-appearance of His physical form. The three
+days remained, just as the Zoroastrians believed. The miraculous and
+wondrous appearance of Jesus before His disciples was preached most
+vigorously by Paul. In his Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul declares
+emphatically that the whole of the Christian religion depends upon the
+miraculous resurrection and re-appearance of Jesus.  Although Paul
+said the spiritual body of the risen dead is not the same as flesh and
+blood body (I Cor., XV), still that important point is generally
+overlooked, and the result is the belief which we find amongst some of
+the Christian sects; that at the call of the angels, the body will
+rise from the grave and the mouldering dust of bones and flesh will be
+put together by the miraculous power of the Almighty God. Paul says:
+"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of
+them that slept" (I Cor., XV, 20). He preached that Christ was the
+first born from the dead, that those who believe in Christ would rise
+as He did and that those who would not believe in Him or in His
+resurrection should not rise.
+
+We have already noticed that the Parsees believed in a miraculous
+resurrection; that the same miracle became more definite in the case
+of Jesus; and that the Christian faith was afterwards founded upon
+that miraculous event. Both the Parsees and the followers of Christ
+did not mean by resurrection any universal law, but a miracle done by
+certain supernatural powers. They did not give any scientific reasons
+for such a miracle.
+
+But modern science denies miracles. It teaches that this universe is
+guided, not by miracles as the old thinkers used to believe, but by
+definite laws which are always consistent and universal. There cannot
+be any exception to those laws which are uniform throughout. If
+resurrection be one of those laws, then it must have existed before
+the birth of Jesus; as such, how could He be the first born from the
+dead, as described by Paul. Conversely, if Jesus was the first who
+rose from the dead, then resurrection cannot be a universal
+law. Scientists would not believe in anything which is not based upon
+universal laws. Some of the agnostics and materialists have gone so
+far as to say that Jesus did not die on the cross, but his animation
+was suspended when his body was taken down from the cross by Joseph of
+Arimathsea. When Joseph went to Pilate and craved the body of Jesus,
+Pilate marvelled if He were dead (Mark XV, 44), because it was only
+six hours after the crucifixion. Some of the modern physiologists are
+of opinion that temperate and strong men might live for several days
+on the cross. These heretical agnostics and skeptical scientists say
+that the body of Jesus revived after a few hours in the cool, rock-cut
+tomb, that he walked out of the tomb, went to Galilee and appeared
+before his disciples. [Footnote: Vide "Science and Christian
+Tradition," by Prof. Huxley, pp.  279-280.] Whatever the facts may be
+(nobody can now tell exactly what actually happened), it is clear that
+the scientists are not ready to take anything upon authority. They do
+not care to believe in anything because it is written in this book or
+that. They must have convincing proofs and a rational explanation of
+every phenomenon of nature. They want to penetrate into miracles in
+order to discover the universal laws that govern them. If they do not
+find any such laws, they will surely reject every event that is
+supposed to be caused by miraculous or supernatural powers.
+
+The theory of a miraculous resurrection is attended with the belief
+that the individual soul does not exist before birth. The supporters
+of this theory hold that at the time of birth, the individual, being
+created out of nothing, comes fresh into existence. But science tells
+us that sudden creation out of nothing and a total destruction of
+anything are both impossible. Matter and force are indestructible.
+Science teaches evolution and not creation, and denies the
+intervention of any supernatural being as the cause of phenomenal
+changes. The theory of Resurrection ignores all these ultimate
+conclusions of modern science. On the contrary, the doctrine of
+Reincarnation, after accepting all the truths and laws of nature that
+have been discovered by modern science, carries them to their proper
+logical conclusions.  Reincarnation is based upon evolution.  It means
+a continuous evolution of an individual germ of life, and a gradual
+re-manifestation of all the powers and forces that exist in it
+potentially. Moreover, the doctrine of Reincarnation is founded on the
+law of cause and effect. It teaches that the cause is not outside of
+the effect, but lies in the effect. The cause is the potential or
+unmanifested state of the effect, and effect is the actual or
+manifested cause.  There is one current of infinite force or power
+constantly flowing in the ocean of reality of the universe, and
+appearing in the innumerable forms of waves. We call one set of waves
+the cause of another set, but in fact that which is the cause is the
+potentiality of the future effect and the actuality of a previous
+potential cause. The underlying current is one and the same
+throughout. Reincarnation denies the idea that the soul has come into
+existence all of a sudden or has been created for the first time, but
+it holds that it has been existing from the beginningless past, and
+will exist all through eternity.  The individual soul enjoys or
+suffers according to the acts it performs. All enjoyment and suffering
+are but the reactions of our actions. Actions are the causes and the
+reactions are the results. Our present life is the result of our past
+actions, and our future will be the result of the present. The actions
+which we are now doing will not be lost. Do you think that the
+thought-forces of one life-time will end suddenly after death?
+No. They will be conserved and remain potentially in the center and
+re-manifest under suitable conditions. Each human soul is nothing but
+a center of thought-force. This center is called in Sanskrit
+_Sūkshma Sarīra_ or the subtle body of an individual. The subtle
+germ of life or, in other words, the invisible center of
+thought-forces, will manufacture a physical vehicle for expressing the
+latent powers that are ready for manifestation.  This process will
+continue until the germ can express most perfectly all the powers that
+are coiled up in its invisible form. As the doctrine of Reincarnation
+is in agreement with all the physical laws, so it is based upon
+psychical, moral and ethical laws. As on the objective plane the law
+of action and reaction governs the objective phenomena, so on the
+subjective plane of consciousness, if the mental action or thought be
+good, the reaction will be good, and the reaction will be evil if the
+mental action be evil, because every action produces a similar
+reaction, A good reaction is one which makes us happy and brings
+pleasant sensations or peace of mind, while an evil reaction brings
+suffering, unpleasant sensations, and makes one miserable. Thus
+Reincarnation makes us free agents for action, as well as for reaping
+the results or reactions of those actions. In fact, we mould our own
+nature, according to our desires, tendencies and works.
+
+The theory of Resurrection, as commonly understood, does not explain
+why one man is born with a sinful nature and another with a virtuous
+one. It contents itself with saying as Luther said: "Man is a beast of
+burden who only moves as his rider orders; sometimes God rides him and
+sometimes Satan."  But why God should allow Satan to ride His own
+creature nobody can tell. At any rate, man must suffer eternally for
+the crimes which he is forced by Satan to commit. Moreover this theory
+pre-supposes predestination and that the individual soul is
+fore-doomed to go either to heaven or to hell. St.  Augustine first
+started this doctrine of Predestination and Grace to explain why one
+is born sinful and another sinless. According to this theory, God, the
+merciful, favors somebody with His grace at the time of his birth and
+then he comes into this world ready to be saved, but the mass of
+humanity is born sinful and destined for eternal damnation. Very few
+indeed receive the gift of grace and are predestined to be
+saved. Moreover, this doctrine tells us that God creates man out of
+nothing, forbids him something, but at the same time He does not give
+him the power to obey His commands. Ultimately God punishes him with
+eternal torture on account of his weakness. The body and soul will not
+be separated.  He will not be set free from his body, because, if it
+be so, there will be the end of his suffering, which God does not
+like. All these sufferings and punishments are predestined before his
+birth. Thus, St.  Augustine's dogma of Predestination and Grace
+instead of explaining the difficulty satisfactorily brings horror and
+dread to human minds, while the doctrine of Reincarnation teaches
+gradual progress from lower to higher, through ages until the
+individual reaches perfection. It holds that each individual will
+become perfect like Jesus or Buddha or like the Father in heaven and
+manifest divinity either in this life or in some other. One span of
+life is too short for developing one's powers to perfection.  If you
+should try to train an idiot to become a great artist or a
+philosopher, would you ever succeed in your attempt to make him so
+during his lifetime?  No. And will you punish him because he cannot
+become so? Can a man who possesses the slightest common sense be so
+unreasonable? Similarly what would you think if God punishes a man
+because he cannot become perfect within a lifetime? It is a poor
+argument to say that God has given us free-will to choose between
+right and wrong, and we are responsible for our choice; if we choose
+wrongly we must be punished. The advocates of such an argument forget
+that at the same time God has let loose His powerful Satan to corrupt
+His creatures.
+
+It reminds me of an old story. Once on a time at a certain place a
+prisoner was released and set free through the kindness of a
+tyrant. The tyrant said to the prisoner "Look here, wicked man, I give
+you freedom, you can go to any place; but there is one condition; if
+you are attacked by any wild animal you will be put in the dungeon and
+there will be no end to your torture." So saying he gave him freedom,
+but at the same time ordered his servants to let loose a hungry wolf
+to chase the man. You can imagine what became of the prisoner. Can we
+call this an act of mercy!
+
+The doctrine of Reincarnation says that each individual soul is
+potentially perfect and is gradually unfolding its powers and making
+them actual through the process of Evolution. At every step of that
+process it is gaining different experiences which last only for a
+time. Therefore neither God nor Satan is responsible for our good or
+evil actions.  Good and evil are like the up and down or the crest and
+hollow of a wave in the sea. A wave cannot rise without making a
+hollow somewhere in the sea.  So in the infinite ocean of reality
+innumerable waves are constantly rising. The summit of each wave is
+called good, while the hollow beside it is evil or misery and the
+current of each individual life is constantly flowing towards the
+ultimate destination which we call perfection. Who can tell how long
+it will take to reach that goal? If anybody can attain to perfection
+in this life, he is no longer bound to reincarnate. If he fails he
+will continue to progress by taking some other body. Reincarnation
+does not teach, as many people think, that in the next incarnation one
+will begin from the very beginning, but it says that one will start
+from that point which one reaches before death and will keep the
+thread of progress unbroken. It does not teach that we go back to
+animal bodies after death, but that we get our bodies according to our
+desires, tendencies and powers. If any person has no desire to come
+back to this world or to any other and does not want to enjoy any
+particular object of pleasure, and if he is perfectly free from
+selfishness that person will not have to come back. The theory of
+Reincarnation is logical and satisfactory. While the theory of
+Resurrection is neither based on scientific truths nor can it
+logically explain the cause of life and death, Reincarnation solves
+all the problems of life and explains scientifically all the questions
+and doubts that arise in the human mind.
+
+"Reincarnation is not easily understood by a thoughtless child deluded
+by the delusion of wealth, name or fame. Everything ends with death,
+he thinks, and thus falls again and again under the sway of death."
+
+
+
+V. THEORY OF TRANSMIGRATION.
+
+
+The theory of transmigration is one of the oldest theories accepted by
+the people of the Orient to solve the problems concerning life and
+death as well as to explain the continuity of existence after death.
+This theory presupposes the existence of the soul as an entity which
+can live even when the gross material body is dead or dissolved into
+its elements.  Those who deny the existence of the soul, of the
+self-conscious thinker and actor, as an entity distinct from the gross
+material body, necessarily deny this theory of transmigration. The
+materialistic thinkers of all ages have refused to accept this theory,
+because they do not admit the existence of a soul or a self-conscious
+thinker and actor as an entity, separate from the gross material
+body. Consequently they do not ask or discuss whether the soul will
+exist after death or not, whether it will continue to live or not.
+Such materialists are not the creatures of the twentieth century, but
+they have lived in all ages, in all countries. In India and in other
+civilized countries of ancient times you will find that materialistic
+thinkers prevailed and they gave the same arguments which we hear now
+from the agnostics and scientists of to-day. Their arguments are
+generally one-sided and unsatisfactory. They try to deduce the soul or
+self-conscious entity from the combination of matter or material
+forces, but they have not succeeded in giving a scientific proof of
+it. No arguments in favor of the existence of a soul as an entity will
+convince them, because they deny the existence of anything that cannot
+be perceived by sense powers.  If we could bring the soul down on the
+sense plane and make it visible to these materialistic thinkers, and
+if they could make experiments upon it, then perhaps they would be
+convinced to a certain extent, but not until then. But how can we
+bring the soul down on the sense plane when it is ethereal and finer
+than anything that we can perceive with our senses?
+
+Those who try to explain the cause of our earthly life by the theory
+of heredity do not believe in the truth of transmigration. The modern
+scientists, agnostics and materialists generally accept the theory of
+heredity and endeavor to explain everything by it; but if we examine
+their arguments for the theory of heredity, we shall find that the
+theory of transmigration is much more satisfactory, much more rational
+than that of heredity.
+
+Among the followers of the great religions of the world, the majority
+of Christians, Jews, Mohammedans and Parsees deny the truth of
+transmigration.  Of course, there was a time when the Christians
+believed in this transmigration theory. Origen and other Church
+Fathers accepted it until the time of Justinian, who anathematized all
+those who believed in Reincarnation or the pre-existence of the soul.
+Among the Jews we find that in the Cabala this idea of transmigration
+plays the most important part.  In fact the Cabalists accepted this
+theory to explain all the difficulties that could not be explained by
+any other theory. But those Jews, Christians, Mohammedans and Parsees
+who do not believe in the theory of transmigration accept the
+one-birth theory; that is, that God creates the souls at the time of
+birth out of nothing, and these souls, having come into existence out
+of nothing, continue to live forever; that this is our first and last
+birth that we receive; we did not exist before, we are suddenly
+created by God, and after death each one of us will continue to live
+either in heaven or hell to enjoy or to suffer throughout
+eternity. Among the modern Spiritualists we find that those who are
+born and brought up with this idea of one birth do not accept the
+theory of transmigration. Still there are millions and millions of
+people all over the world who do believe in transmigration and who
+have found comfort and consolation in their lives as well as a
+satisfactory solution of the problems of life and death.
+
+The theory of Transmigration, or Metempsychosis, as it has been called
+by many philosophers, originally meant the passing of a soul from one
+body after death into another; or, in other words, it meant that the
+soul after dwelling in one particular body for a certain length of
+time leaves it at the time of death, and in order to gain experience
+enters into some other body, either human, animal or angelic, which is
+ready to receive it. It may migrate from the human body to an angelic
+body and then come down on the human plane, or to the animal plane and
+be born again as an animal. So the original meaning of transmigration
+or metempsychosis was the revolution of the soul from body to body
+whether animal, human, angelic or of the gods. The migrating substance
+being a fixed quantity, with fixed qualities, chooses its form
+according to its taste, desire and bent of character. This idea
+prevailed among the ancient Egyptians, according to whom the soul,
+after leaving the dead body, would travel from one body to another for
+thousands and thousands of years in order to gain experiences in each
+of the different stages of life.
+
+Among the Greek philosophers we find that Pythagoras, Plato and their
+followers believed in this theory of Metempsychosis or Transmigration
+of souls.  Pythagoras says: "After death the rational mind, having
+been freed from the chains of the body, assumes an ethereal vehicle
+and passes into the region of the dead where it remains till it is
+sent back to this world to inhabit some other body human or
+animal. After undergoing successive purgations, when it is
+sufficiently purified, it is received among the gods and returns to
+the eternal source from which it first proceeded." Plato also believed
+in this theory. Of course we cannot tell exactly from whence
+Pythagoras and Plato got these ideas.  Some say that they learned
+these doctrines from Egypt; others believed that, either directly or
+indirectly, they learned the theory of transmigration from
+India. Plato describes in "Phaedrus," in mythological language, why
+and how the souls take their birth upon this plane, either as human or
+animal.  He says: "In the heaven Zeus, the Father and Lord of all
+creatures, drives his winged car, ordering all things and
+superintending them. A host of deities and spirits follow him, each
+fulfilling his own function.  Whoever will and can follows them. After
+taking this round, they advance by a steep course along the inner
+circumference of the heavenly vault and proceed to a banquet. The
+chariots of the gods, being well balanced and well driven, advance
+easily; others with difficulty; for the vicious horse, unless the
+charioteer has thoroughly broken him, weighs down the car by his
+proclivity towards the earth, whereupon the soul is put to the
+extremity of toil and effort. The souls of gods reach the summit, go
+outside and stand upon the surface of heaven, and enjoy celestial
+bliss. Such is the life of the gods; other souls which follow God best
+and are likest to Him succeed in seeing the vision of truth and in
+entering into the outer world with great difficulty.  The rest of the
+souls longing after the upper world all follow; but not being strong
+enough, they are carried round in the deep below, plunging, treading
+on one another, striving to be first, and there, in confusion and
+extremity of effort, many of them are lamed and have their wings
+broken. Thus when the soul is unable to follow and fails to behold the
+vision of Truth, sinks beneath the double load of forgetfulness and
+vice, her feathers fall from her and she drops to earth and is born
+again and again as human beings or as animals." Plato says: "Ten
+thousand years must elapse before the soul can return to the place
+from whence she came, for she cannot grow her wings in less." "At the
+end of the first thousand years, the souls of the good and of the evil
+kind come together to draw lots, and choose their bodies according to
+their tendencies and the bent of their characters. They may take any
+they like.  Instead of receiving the natural consequences of their
+deeds and misdeeds of their previous lives they are allowed to choose
+their own lot, according to their experience and bent of
+character. Some, being disgusted with mankind, prefer to be born as
+animals, such as lions and eagles or some other animals. Others
+delight in trying their luck as human beings." From this mythological
+description we gather what Plato meant by transmigration.
+
+This Platonic idea of transmigration or of successive lives of those
+who inhabit this earth has been criticized by various thinkers of
+modern times; and referring to this idea the late Doctor Myers, of the
+Psychical Research Society of London, writes in his second volume of
+"Human Personality": "The simple fact that such was probably the
+opinion of both Plato and Virgil shows that there is nothing here
+which is alien to the best reason or to the highest instincts of
+men. Nor, indeed, is it easy to realize any theory of the _direct
+creation_ of spirits at such different stages of advancement as
+those which enter upon the earth in the guise of mortal man. There
+_must_, one feels, be some kind of continuity--some form of
+spiritual past." (P. 134.)  Why does He not create all souls equal?
+Why will one soul be highly advanced spiritually while another is
+entirely ignorant and idiotic? This question cannot be answered, this
+problem cannot be solved by the special creation theory, and therefore
+Doctor Myers says that there is no doubt that there was some previous
+continuity or spiritual past of each individual soul, and therefore he
+tacitly admits the theory of Transmigration. Although from a
+scientific viewpoint he could not give any direct proof regarding this
+idea of a pre-existence of the soul, still he could not deny it
+entirely when he said: "The shaping forces which have made our bodies
+and our minds what they are may always have been psychical
+forces--from the first living slime-speck to the complex intelligences
+of to-day." "The old transmigrationist's view would thus possess a
+share of truth and the actual man would be the resultant not only of
+intermingling heredities on father's and mother's sides, but of
+intermingling heredities, one of planetary and one of cosmic scope."
+("Human Personality," Vol. II, p. 267.)
+
+But this theory of Transmigration, as described by Plato, is a little
+different from a similar theory which existed in India before his
+time. In the Platonic idea of transmigration, as we have already seen,
+the souls were allowed to choose their own lot according to their
+experience or bent of character, but not to receive the natural
+consequence of their deeds and misdeeds. Plato did not say anything
+about the law which governs souls; but in ancient India the great
+thinkers and philosophers explained that each individual soul is bound
+by the inexorable law of nature to receive its body as a natural
+consequence of its former deeds and misdeeds, and not to have free
+choice of its lot according to its bent of character. The great
+thinkers and philosophers of ancient India discovered the universal
+law of cause and effect, of action and reaction, and called it by the
+Sanskrit term "Karma," which means the law of cause and sequence; that
+every cause must be followed by an effect of a similar nature, that
+every action must produce similar reaction, and conversely every
+reaction or effect is the result of an action or cause of a similar
+character. Thus there is always a balance and harmony between cause
+and effect, between action and reaction. This law of Karma has now
+become a fundamental verity of modern science. It is called by
+different names: the scientists call it the law of causation, the law
+of compensation, the law of retribution, the law of action and
+reaction, but they all refer to the same idea,--that every cause must
+produce a similar result and every action must produce a similar
+reaction.
+
+Now these ancient thinkers of India applied this law of Karma to
+explain the destiny of human souls, and it was upon this law they
+based the theory of Transmigration. They maintained that human souls
+are bound by this irresistible law and cannot get out of it; their
+thoughts and deeds are the causes which produce results of similar
+nature. So their future birth does not depend upon their whimsical,
+free choice, but it is limited by the thoughts and deeds or misdeeds
+of their previous lives. In the Platonic idea we find that the souls
+go according to their choice. They may not take a human form if they
+prefer an animal form, but in the Hindu idea of transmigration we find
+that it is not a result of free choice, but, if our thoughts and deeds
+force us to take a particular form, then we are subject to the law of
+Karma, which governs our future birth and the evolution of our
+souls. Consequently the Hindu theory of Transmigration differs
+fundamentally from the Platonic as well as from the Egyptian idea of
+Transmigration. In the Platonic and Egyptian theories we see that the
+souls, after leaving the body, enter into another body which is
+waiting to receive the migrating soul, but in the Hindu theory of
+Transmigration the body is not waiting to receive the migrating soul,
+but on the contrary the soul, being subject to the laws of evolution,
+manufactures the gross material body according to its desires and
+tendencies. Just as a germ of life will develop a grosser form by
+cellular subdivision, by growth, and by assimilation of the
+environmental conditions, so the germ of the human soul will
+manufacture the body by obeying the laws which govern the physical
+plane.  Parents are nothing but the channels through which the
+migrating souls receive their material forms.  Parents do not create
+the souls; they have no power to create. They can only give the
+suitable environments necessary for manufacturing a gross physical
+body. The souls come with their tendencies, with their desires, and
+they remain as germs of life.
+
+Now these germs of life contain vital forces, sense powers, psychic
+powers, and ethereal particles of matter. At the time of death the
+soul contracts and withdraws all its powers from the sense organs to
+its innermost center, and in that contracted state it leaves the
+body. But these powers do not leave the soul. By the law of
+persistence of force and conservation of energy they remain latent in
+that center until environmental conditions become favorable for their
+remanifestation. Rebirth means the manifestation of the latent powers
+which exist in the germ of life or in the individual soul. These germs
+of life are called by different names. Leibnitz called them monads and
+modern scientists call them bioplasms or some such name, but the
+Vedanta philosophers describe them as subtle bodies. These germs or
+subtle bodies are subject to evolution and growth; they arise from
+lower to higher stages of development, from the mineral through the
+vegetable to the animal kingdom and eventually they become human
+beings and then they go on progressing.
+
+In the Platonic theory the idea of progress, growth or gradual
+evolution of the soul from the lower to higher stages of existence is
+entirely excluded, because, as I have already said, the migrating
+substance is of a fixed quantity with fixed qualities, that is, these
+qualities do not change and are not affected by either growth or
+evolution. They are constant quantities.  In order to differentiate
+these two ideas we should call the Hindu theory of Transmigration by
+the term "Reincarnation." The Hindu or Vedantic theory of
+Reincarnation, however, is not the same as the Buddhistic theory of
+Rebirth, for the Buddhists do not believe in the permanence of the
+soul entity.  There is another point where the Reincarnation theory
+differs from Platonic transmigration. According to this theory of
+Reincarnation there is growth and evolution of each individual soul
+from the lower to higher stages of development. The soul or germ of
+life, after passing through the lower stages, comes to the human plane
+and gains experience and knowledge; and after coming to the human
+plane, it does not retrograde to animal bodies. The Platonic theory
+teaches that human souls migrate into animal bodies or angelic bodies
+and return from the angelic to the human or the animal, and that some
+of them prefer to become animals; while the theory of Reincarnation,
+taking its stand upon the scientific truth of gradual evolution,
+teaches that the human souls have already passed through different
+grades of the animal, nay, of the vegetable kingdom, by the natural
+process of evolution. After having once received the human organism,
+why should a soul choose to go back to the lesser and more imperfect
+organism of an animal? How is it possible for a lesser manifestation
+to hold a greater one? Why should a greater manifestation choose more
+limited forms in preference to those of others? This question arises
+in the Platonic theory of Transmigration. Therefore, the Reincarnation
+theory, or the theory of Transmigration according to the Hindus,
+rejects this idea of the going back of human souls to animal forms.
+We have already passed in the evolutionary process through the lower
+grade of animal organisms. Now that we have outgrown them why should
+we go back to them?
+
+It is true, however, that in India there are many uneducated people
+among the Hindus who believe that human souls do migrate into animal
+bodies after death to gain experience and reap the results of their
+wicked deeds, being bound by the law of Karma; but in the Platonic
+theory the law of Karma plays no part in the transmigration of
+souls. The educated and thoughtful minds of India, however, accept the
+more rational and scientific theory of Reincarnation. Although there
+are passages in the scriptural writings of the Hindus which apparently
+refer to the retrogression of the human soul into animal nature, still
+such passages do not necessarily mean that the souls will be obliged
+to take animal bodies. They may live like animals even when they have
+human bodies, as we may find among us many people like cats and dogs
+and snakes in human form and they are often more vicious than natural
+cats, dogs or snakes. They are reaping their own Karma and manifesting
+their animal nature, though physically they look like human
+beings. This kind of retrogression is possible for one who after
+reaching the human plane goes backward on account of wicked thoughts
+and deeds on the animal plane. Such a temporary retrogression brings
+knowledge and helps it in its onward progress toward the manifestation
+of higher powers on the higher plane of consciousness.  All the wicked
+thoughts and wicked deeds are nothing but the results of our own
+mistakes. What is sin?  Sin is nothing but a mistake and it proceeds
+from ignorance. For instance, if I do not know that fire burns, I may
+put my finger into it and get burned.  The result of this mistake is
+the burning of the finger and this has taught me once for all that
+fire burns; I shall never again put my finger into fire.  So every
+mistake is a great teacher in the long run.  No one is born so high
+and perfect as not to commit any mistake or any sin. Every mistake
+like this opens our eyes to the laws of the universe by bringing to us
+such results as we do not desire. As one life is not enough to gain
+experience in all the stages of evolution, we must have to admit the
+doctrine of the Reincarnation of the soul for the fulfillment of the
+ultimate purpose of earthly life. Professor Huxley says: "None but
+hasty thinkers will reject it on the ground of inherent absurdity.
+Like the doctrine of evolution itself that of transmigration has its
+roots in the world of reality."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+<head>
+  <title> Vedanta Philosophy</title>
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Reincarnation, by Swami Abhedananda
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Reincarnation
+
+Author: Swami Abhedananda
+
+Posting Date: April 12, 2014 [EBook #7377]
+Release Date: January, 2005
+First Posted: April 22, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REINCARNATION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Dave Maddock, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
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+</pre>
+
+
+
+<p align="center" class="header">Vedanta Philosophy</p>
+
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">Five Lectures on Reincarnation</p>
+
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">By</p>
+
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">Swami Abhedananda</p>
+
+<p align="center"><i>Author of "India and her People", "Self-Knowledge", "How to be a
+Yogi", "Divine Heritage of Man", etc.</i></p>
+
+<hr width="75%" size="1" />
+
+<p class="smallcaps">Contents</p>
+
+<p class="smallcaps"><a href="#I">I.&mdash;Reincarnation</a></p>
+
+<p class="smallcaps"><a href="#II">II.&mdash;Heredity and Reincarnation</a></p>
+
+<p class="smallcaps"><a href="#III">III.&mdash;Evolution and Reincarnation</a></p>
+
+<p class="smallcaps"><a href="#IV">IV.&mdash;Which is Scientific, Resurrection or Reincarnation?</a></p>
+
+<p class="smallcaps"><a href="#V">V.&mdash;Theory of Transmigration</a></p>
+
+<hr width="75%" size="1" />
+
+<a name="I"></a>
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">I. Reincarnation</p>
+
+<p>The visible phenomena of the universe are bound by the universal law
+of cause and effect. The effect is visible or perceptible, while the
+cause is invisible or imperceptible. The falling of an apple from a
+tree is the effect of a certain invisible force called gravitation.
+Although the force cannot be perceived by the senses, its expression
+is visible. All perceptible phenomena are but the various expressions
+of different forces which act as invisible agents upon the subtle and
+imperceptible forms of matter. These invisible agents or forces
+together with the imperceptible particles of matter make up the subtle
+states of the phenomenal universe. When a subtle force becomes
+objectified, it appears as a gross object.  Therefore, we can say,
+that every gross form is an expression of some subtle force acting
+upon the subtle particles of matter. The minute particles of hydrogen
+and oxygen when combined by chemical force, appear in the gross form
+of water. Water can never be separated from hydrogen and oxygen, which
+are its subtle component parts. Its existence depends upon that of its
+component parts, or in other words, upon its subtle form. If the
+subtle state changes, the gross manifestation will also change. The
+peculiarity in the gross form of a plant depends upon the peculiar
+nature of its subtle form, the seed. The peculiar nature of the gross
+forms in the animal kingdom depends upon the subtle forms which
+manifest variously in each of the intermediate stages between the
+microscopic unit of living matter and the highest man. The gross human
+body is closely related to its subtle body.  Not only this, but every
+movement or change in the physical form is caused by the activity and
+change of the subtle body. If the subtle body be affected or changed a
+little, the gross body will also be affected similarly. The material
+body being the expression of the subtle body, its birth, growth, decay
+and death depend upon the changes of the subtle body.  As long as the
+subtle body remains, it will continue to express itself in a
+corresponding gross form.</p>
+
+<p>Now let us understand clearly what we mean by a subtle body. It is
+nothing but a minute germ of a living substance. It contains the
+invisible particles of matter which are held together by vital force,
+and it also possesses mind or thought-force in a potential state, just
+as the seed of a plant contains in it the life force and the power of
+growth. According to Vedanta, the subtle body consists of
+<i>Antahkaranam</i>, that is, the internal organ or the mind substance
+with its various modifications, mind, intellect, egoism, memory, the
+five instruments of perception: the powers of seeing, hearing,
+smelling, tasting and touching; the five instruments of action, such
+as the powers of seizing, moving, speaking, evacuating, and
+generating, and the five <i>Pr&acirc;nas. Pr&acirc;na</i> is a Sanskrit word which
+means vital energy or the life-sustaining power in us. Although
+<i>Pr&acirc;na</i> is one, it takes five different names on account of the
+five different functions it performs. This word <i>Pr&acirc;na</i> includes
+the five manifestations of the vital force: First, that power which
+moves the lungs and draws the atmospheric air from outside into the
+system. This is also called <i>Pr&acirc;na</i>. Second, that power which
+throws out of the system such things as are not wanted. It is called
+in Sanskrit <i>Ap&acirc;na</i>. Third, it takes the name of <i>Sam&acirc;na</i>,
+as performing digestive functions and carrying the extract of food to
+every part of the body. It is called <i>Ud&acirc;na</i> when it is the cause
+of bringing down food from the mouth through the alimentary canal to
+the stomach, and also when it is the cause of the power of speech. The
+fifth power of <i>Pr&acirc;na</i> is that which works in every part of the
+nervous system from head to foot, through every canal, which keeps the
+shape of the body, preserves it from putrefaction, and gives health
+and life to every cell and organ. These are the various manifestations
+of the vital force or <i>Pr&acirc;na</i>. These subtle powers together with
+the non-composite elements of the gross body, or the ethereal
+particles of subtle matter, and also with the potentialities of all
+the impressions, ideas and tendencies which each individual gathers in
+one life, make up his subtle body.  As a resultant of all the
+different actions of mind and body which an individual performs in his
+present life, will be the tendencies and desires in his future life;
+nothing will be lost.</p>
+
+<p>Every action of body or mind which we do, every thought which we
+think, becomes fine, and is stored up in the form of a <i>Samsk&acirc;ra</i>
+or impression in our minds. It remains latent for some time, and then
+it rises up in the form of a mental wave and produces new
+desires. These desires are called in Vedanta, <i>V&acirc;san&acirc;s</i>. V&acirc;san&acirc;s
+or strong desires are the manufacturers of new bodies. If V&acirc;san&acirc; or
+longing for worldly pleasures and objects remains in anybody, even
+after hundreds of births, that person will be born again. Nothing can
+prevent the course of strong desires. Desires must be fulfilled sooner
+or later.</p>
+
+<p>Every voluntary or involuntary action of the body, sense or mind must
+correspond to the dormant impressions stored up in the subtle
+body. Although growth, the process of nourishment and all the changes
+of the gross physical body take place according to the necessarily
+acting causes, yet the whole series of actions, and consequently every
+individual act, the condition of the body which accomplishes it, nay,
+the whole process in and through which the body exists, are nothing
+but the outward expressions of the latent impressions stored up in the
+subtle body. Upon these rests the perfect suitableness of the animal
+or human body to the animal or human nature of one's impressions. The
+organs of the senses must therefore completely correspond to the
+principal desires which are the strongest and most ready to
+manifest. They are the visible expressions of these desires. If there
+be no hunger or desire to eat, teeth, throat and bowels will be of no
+use. If there be no desire for grasping and moving, hands and legs
+will be useless. Similarly it can be shown that the desire for seeing,
+hearing, etc., has produced the eye, ear, etc. If I have no desire to
+use my hand, and if I do not use it at all, within a few months it
+will wither away and die. In India there are some religious fanatics
+who hold up their arms and do not use them at all; after a few months
+their arms wither and become stiff and dead. A person who lies on his
+back for six months loses the power of walking. There are many such
+instances which prove the injurious effects of the disuse of our limbs
+and organs.</p>
+
+<p>As the human form, generally, corresponds to the human will,
+generally, so the individual bodily structure corresponds to the
+character, desires, will and thought of the individual. Therefore the
+outer nature is nothing but the expression of the inner nature. This
+inner nature of each individual is what re-incarnates or expresses
+itself successively in various forms, one after another. When a man
+dies the individual ego or <i>J&icirc;va</i> (as it is called in Sanskrit),
+which means the germ of life or the living soul of man, is not
+destroyed, but it continues to exist in an invisible form. It remains
+like a permanent thread stringing together the separate lives by the
+law of cause and effect. The subtle body is like a water-globule which
+sprang in the beginningless past from the eternal ocean of Reality;
+and it contains the reflection of the unchangeable light of
+Intelligence.  As a water-globule remains sometimes in an invisible
+vapory state in a cloud, then in rain or snow or ice, and again as
+steam or in mud, but is never destroyed, so the subtle body sometimes
+remains unmanifested and sometimes expresses itself in gross forms of
+animal or human beings, according to the desires and tendencies that
+are ready to manifest. It may go to heaven, that is, to some other
+planet, or it may be born again on this earth. It depends on the
+nature and strength of one's life-long tendency and bent of mind. This
+idea is clearly expressed in Vedanta. "The thought, will or desire
+which is extremely strong during lifetime, will become predominant at
+the time of death and will mould the inner nature of the dying
+person. The newly moulded inner nature will express in a new form."
+(Bhagavad G&icirc;t&acirc;.) The thought, will or desire which moulds the inner
+nature has the power of selecting or attracting such conditions or
+environments as will help it in its way of manifestation. This process
+corresponds in some respects to the law of "natural selection."</p>
+
+<p>We shall be better able to understand that process by studying how the
+seeds of different trees select from the common environments different
+materials, and absorb and assimilate different quantities of
+elements. Suppose two seeds, one of an oak and the other of a
+chestnut, are planted in a pot. The power of growth in both the seeds
+is of the same nature. The environments, earth, water, heat and light
+are the same. But still there is some peculiarity in each of the
+seeds, which will absorb from the common environments different
+quantities of elements and other properties which are fit to help the
+growth of the peculiar nature and form of the fruit, flower, leaves of
+each tree. Suppose the chestnut is a horse-chestnut. If, under
+different conditions, the peculiar nature of the horse-chestnut
+changes into that of a sweet chestnut, then, along with the changes in
+the seed, the whole nature of the tree, leaves, fruits will also be
+changed. It will no more attract, absorb or assimilate those
+substances and qualities of the environments which it did when it was
+a horse-chestnut. Similarly, through the law of "natural selection"
+the newly moulded thought-body of the dying person will choose and
+attract such parts from the common environments as are helpful to its
+proper expression or manifestation. Parents are nothing but the
+principal parts of the environment of the re-incarnating
+individual. The newly moulded inner nature or subtle body of the
+individual will by the law of "natural selection" involuntarily
+choose, or be unconsciously drawn to, as it were, its suitable parents
+and will be born of them. As, for instance, if I have a strong desire
+to become an artist, and if after a life-long struggle I do not
+succeed in being the greatest, after the death of the body I will be
+born of such parents and with such environments as will help me to
+become the best artist.</p>
+
+<p>The whole process is expressed in Eastern philosophy by the doctrine
+of the Reincarnation of the individual soul.  Although this doctrine
+is commonly rejected in the West, it is unreservedly accepted by the
+vast majority of mankind of the present day, as it was in past
+centuries. The scientific explanation of this theory we find nowhere
+except in the writings of the Hindus; still we know that from very
+ancient times it was believed by the philosophers, sages and prophets
+of different countries. The ancient civilization of Egypt was built
+upon a crude form of the doctrine of Reincarnation. Herodotus says:
+"The Egyptians propounded the theory that the human soul is
+imperishable, and that where the body of any one dies it enters into
+some other creature that may be ready to receive it." Pythagoras and
+his disciples spread it through Greece and Italy. Pythagoras says:
+"All has soul; all is soul wandering in the organic world, and obeying
+eternal will or law."</p>
+
+<p>In Dryden's Ovid we read:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>"Death has no power the immortal soul to slay,<br />
+That, when its present body turns to clay,<br />
+Seeks a fresh home, and with unlessened might<br />
+Inspires another frame with life and light."</blockquote>
+
+<p>It was the keynote of Plato's philosophy.  Plato says: "Soul is older
+than body. Souls are continually born over again into this life." The
+idea of Reincarnation was spread widely in Greece and Italy by
+Pythagoras, Empedocles, Plato, Virgil and Ovid.  It was known to the
+Neo-Platonists, Plotinus and Proclus. Plotinus says: "The soul leaving
+the body becomes that power which it has most developed.  Let us fly
+then from here below and rise to the intellectual world, that we may
+not fall into a purely sensible life by allowing ourselves to follow
+sensible images...." It was the fundamental principle of the religion
+of the Persian Magi. Alexander the Great accepted this idea after
+coming in contact with the Hindu philosophers. Julius Caesar found
+that the Gauls had some belief regarding the pre-existence of the
+human soul. The Druids of old Gaul believed that the souls of men
+transmigrate into those bodies whose habits and characters they most
+resemble. Celts and Britons were impressed with this idea. It was a
+favorite theme of the Arab philosophers and many Mahomedan Sufis. The
+Jews adopted it after the Babylonian captivity.  Philo of Alexandria,
+who was a contemporary of Christ, preached amongst the Hebrews the
+Platonic idea of the pre-existence and rebirth of human souls.  Philo
+says: "The company of disembodied souls is distributed in various
+orders. The law of some of them is to enter mortal bodies, and after
+certain prescribed periods be again set free." John the Baptist was
+according to the Jews a second Elijah; Jesus was believed by many to
+be the re-appearance of some other prophet. (See Matt, xvi, 14, also
+xvii, 12.) Solomon says in his Book of Wisdom: "I was a child of good
+nature and a good soul came to me, or rather because I was good I came
+into an undefiled body."</p>
+
+<p>The Talmud and Cabala teach the same thing.  In the Talmud it is said
+that Abel's soul passed into the body of Seth, and then into that of
+Moses.  Along with the spread of the Cabala this doctrine (which was
+known as Transmigration and Metempsychosis) "began to take root in
+Judaism and then it gained believers even among men who were little
+inclined towards Mysticism. Juda ben Asher (Asheri) for instance,
+discussing this doctrine in a letter to his father endeavored to place
+it upon a philosophical basis." (Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol.  XII,
+p. 232.) We also read, "The Cabalists eagerly adopted the doctrine on
+account of the vast field it offered to mystic speculations. Moreover
+it was almost a necessary corollary of their psychological system. The
+absolute condition of the soul is, according to them, its return,
+after developing all those perfections, the germs of which are
+eternally implanted in it, to the Infinite Source from which it
+emanated. Another term of life must therefore be vouchsafed to those
+souls which have not fulfilled their destiny here below, and have not
+been sufficiently purified for the state of union with the Primordial
+Cause. Hence if the soul, on its first assumption of a human body and
+sojourn on earth, fails to acquire that experience for which it
+descended from heaven and becomes contaminated by that which is
+polluting, it must reinhabit a body till it is able to ascend in a
+purified state through repeated trials."  This is the theory of the
+Zohar, which says: "All souls are subject to transmigration; and men
+do not know the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He!  They do not know
+that they are brought before the tribunal both before they enter into
+this world and after they leave it; they are ignorant of the many
+transmigrations and secret probations which they have to undergo, and
+of the number of souls and spirits which enter into this world and
+which do not return to the palace of the Heavenly King. Men do not
+know how the souls revolve like a stone which is thrown from a
+sling. But the time is at hand when these mysteries will be
+disclosed." (Zohar, II, 99 <i>b</i>.)</p>
+
+<p>Like many of the Church Fathers the Cabalists used as their main
+argument in favor of the doctrine of metempsychosis the justice of
+God. But for the belief in metempsychosis, they maintained, the
+question why God often permits the wicked to lead a happy life while
+many righteous are miserable would be unanswerable. Then too the
+infliction of pain upon children would be an act of cruelty unless it
+is imposed in punishment of sin committed by the soul in a previous
+state. Isaac Abravanel sees in the commandment of the Levirate a proof
+of the doctrine of metempsychosis for which he gives the following
+reasons: (1) God in His mercy willed that another trial should be
+given to the soul, which having yielded to the sanguine temperament of
+the body had committed a capital sin, such as murder, adultery, etc.;
+(2) it is only just that when a man dies young a chance should be
+given to his soul to execute in another body the good deeds which it
+had not time to perform in the first body; (3) the soul of the wicked
+sometimes passes into another body in order to receive its deserved
+punishment here below instead of in the other world where it would be
+much more severe. (Commentary on Deuteronomy, XXV, 5.)</p>
+
+<p>Christianity is not exempt from this idea. Origen and other Church
+Fathers believed in it. Origen says: "For God, justly disposing of his
+creatures according to their desert, united the diversities of minds
+in one congruous world, that he might, as it were, adorn his mansion
+(in which ought to be not only vases of gold and silver, but of wood
+also and clay, and some to honor and some to dishonor) with these
+diverse vases, minds or souls. To these causes the world owes its
+diversity, while Divine Providence disposes each according to his
+tendency, mind and disposition." He also says: "I think this is a
+question how it happens that the human mind is influenced now by the
+good, now by the evil. The causes of this I suspect to be more ancient
+than this corporeal birth." The idea of Reincarnation spread so fast
+amongst the early Christians that Justinian was obliged to suppress it
+by passing a law in the Council of Constantinople in 538 A.D. The law
+was this: "Whoever shall support the mythical presentation of the
+pre-existence of the soul, and the consequently wonderful opinion of
+its return, let him be Anathema." The Gnostics and Manichaeans
+propagated the tenets of Reincarnation amongst the mediaeval sects
+such as the Bogomiles and Paulicians. Some of the followers of this
+so-called erroneous belief were cruelly persecuted in 385 A.D.</p>
+
+<p>In the seventeenth century some of the Cambridge Platonists, as
+Dr. Henry More and others, accepted the idea of rebirth. Most of the
+German philosophers of the middle ages and of recent days have
+advocated and upheld this doctrine. Many quotations can be given from
+the writings of great thinkers, like Kant, Scotus, Schelling, Fichte,
+Leibnitz, Schopenhauer, Giardano Bruno, Goethe, Lessing, Herder and a
+host of others. The great skeptic Hume says in his posthumous essay on
+"The Immortality of the Soul," "The metempsychosis is therefore the
+only system of this kind that philosophy can hearken to." Scientists
+like Flammarion and Huxley have supported this doctrine of
+Reincarnation. Professor Huxley says: "None but hasty thinkers will
+reject it on the ground of inherent absurdity. Like the doctrine of
+evolution itself, that of transmigration has its roots in the world of
+reality." ("Evolution and Ethics," p. 61.)</p>
+
+<p>Some of the theological leaders have preached it. The eminent German
+theologian Dr. Julius M&uuml;ller supports this theory in his work on "The
+Christian Doctrine of Sin." Prominent theologians, such as Dr. Dorner,
+Ernesti, R&uuml;ckert, Edward Beecher, Henry Ward Beecher, Phillips Brooks,
+preached many a time touching the question of the pre-existence and
+rebirth of the individual soul. Swedenborg and Emerson maintained
+it. Emerson says in his essay on Experience, "We wake and find
+ourselves on a stair. There are stairs below us which we seem to have
+ascended; there are stairs above us, many a one, which go upward and
+out of sight."</p>
+
+<p>Almost all of the poets, ancient or modern, profess it. William
+Wordsworth says in "Intimations of Immortality:"&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>"The soul that rises with us, our life's star,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Hath had elsewhere its setting,<br />
+And cometh from afar."</blockquote>
+
+<p>Tennyson writes in the "Two Voices;"</p>
+
+<blockquote>"Or, if through lower lives I came&mdash;<br />
+Tho' all experience past became,<br />
+Consolidate in mind and frame&mdash;<br />
+I might forget my weaker lot;<br />
+For is not our first year forgot?<br />
+The haunts of memory echo not."</blockquote>
+
+<p>Walt Whitman says in "Leaves of Grass:"</p>
+
+<blockquote>"As to you, Life, I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths,<br />
+No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before."</blockquote>
+
+<p>Similar passages can be quoted from almost all the poets of different
+countries. Even amongst the aboriginal tribes of Africa, Asia, North
+and South America, traces of this belief in the rebirth of souls is to
+be found. Nearly three-fourths of the population of Asia believe in
+the doctrine of Reincarnation, and through it they find a satisfactory
+explanation of the problem of life. There is no religion which denies
+the continuity of the individual soul after death.</p>
+
+<p>Those who do not believe in Reincarnation try to explain the world of
+inequalities and diversities either by the one-birth theory or by the
+theory of hereditary transmission. Neither of these theories, however,
+is sufficient to explain the inequalities that we meet with in our
+everyday life. Those who believe in the one-birth theory, that we have
+come here for the first and last time, do not understand that the
+acquirement of wisdom and experience is the purpose of human life; nor
+can they explain why children who die young should come into existence
+and pass away without getting the opportunity to learn anything or
+what purpose is served by their coming thus for a few days, remaining
+in utter ignorance and then passing away without gaining anything
+whatever. The Christian dogma, based on the one-birth theory, tells us
+that the child which dies soon after its birth is sure to be saved and
+will enjoy eternal life and everlasting happiness in heaven. The
+Christians who really believe in this dogma ought to pray to their
+heavenly Father for the death of their children immediately after
+their birth and ought to thank the merciful Father when the grave
+closes over their little forms. Thus the one-birth theory of Christian
+theology does not remove any difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>Two great religions, Judaism with its two offspring&mdash;Christianity and
+Mahomedanism&mdash;and Zoroastrianism, still uphold the one-birth theory.</p>
+
+<p>The followers of these, shutting their eyes to the absurdity and
+unreasonableness of such a theory, believe that human souls are
+created out of nothing at the time of the birth of their bodies and
+that they continue to exist throughout eternity either to suffer or to
+enjoy because of the deeds performed during the short period of their
+earthly existence. Here the question arises why should a man be held
+responsible throughout eternity for the works which he was forced or
+predestined to perform by the will of the Lord of the universe? The
+theory of predestination and grace, instead of explaining the
+difficulty, makes God partial and unjust. If the omnipotent personal
+God created human souls out of nothing, could He not make all souls
+equally good and happy? Why does He make one to enjoy all the
+blessings of life and another to suffer all miseries throughout
+eternity? Why is one born with good tendencies and another with evil
+ones? Why is one man virtuous throughout his life and another bestial?
+Why is one born intelligent and another idiotic? If God out of His own
+will made all these inequalities, or, in other words, if God created
+one man to suffer and another to enjoy, then how partial and unjust
+must He be! He must be worse than a tyrant. How can we worship Him,
+how call Him just and merciful?</p>
+
+<p>Some people try to save God from this charge of partiality and
+injustice by saying that all good things of this universe are the work
+of God, and all evil things are the work of a demon or Satan. God
+created everything good, but it was Satan who brought evil into this
+world and made everything bad. Now let us see how far such a statement
+is logically correct. Good and evil are two relative terms; the
+existence of one depends upon that of the other. Good cannot exist
+without evil, and evil cannot exist without being related to
+good. When God created what we call good, He must have created evil at
+the same time, otherwise He could not create good alone. If the
+creator of evil, call him by whatever name you like, had brought evil
+into this world, he must have created it simultaneously with God;
+otherwise it would have been impossible for God to create good, which
+can exist only as related to evil. As such they will have to admit
+that the Creators of good and evil sat together at the same time to
+create this world, which is a mixture of good and evil. Consequently,
+both of them are equally powerful, and limited by each other.
+Therefore neither of them is infinite in powers or omnipotent. So we
+cannot say that the Almighty God of the universe created good alone
+and not the evil.</p>
+
+<p>Another argument which the Vedantists advance in support of the theory
+of Reincarnation is that "Nothing is destroyed in the universe."
+Destruction in the sense of the annihilation of a thing is unknown to
+the Vedantic philosophers, just as it is unknown to the modern
+scientists. They say "non-existence can never become existence and
+existence can never become non-existence;" or, in other words, that
+which did not exist can never exist, and conversely that which exists
+in any form can never become non-existent. This is the law of
+nature. As such, the impressions or ideas which we now have, together
+with the powers which we possess, will not be destroyed but will
+remain with us in some form or other. Our bodies may change, but the
+powers, Karma, Samskaras or impressions and the materials which
+manufactured our bodies must remain in us in an unmanifested
+form. They will never be destroyed. Again science tells us that that
+which remains in an unmanifested or potential state must at some time
+or other be manifested in a kinetic or actual form. Therefore we shall
+get other bodies, sooner or later. It is for this reason said in the
+"Bhagavad G&icirc;t&acirc;": "Birth must be followed by death and death must be
+followed by birth." Such a continuously recurring series of births and
+deaths each germ of life must go through. Another consideration is
+that the beginning, ending and continuing are conceptions of the human
+mind; their significance depends entirely upon our conception of
+time. But we all know that time has no absolute existence. It is
+merely a form of our knowledge of our own existence in relation to
+that of nature.  The conception of time vanishes at the sleep of
+death, just as it does every night when we are in sound sleep. Death
+resembles the state of our sound sleep. The soul wakes up from the
+sleep of death just in the same manner as the insects awake in spring
+after sleeping the long and rigid winter-sleep, as a chrysalis in the
+bed of a cocoon spun by itself in autumn. Nature teaches us the great
+lesson of rebirth and the similarity between sleep and death by the
+rejuvenation of the chrysalis in the spring. After death the soul
+wakes up and puts on or manufactures the garment of a new body, just
+in the same manner as we put on new clothes after throwing away the
+old and worn-out ones. Thus the soul continues to manifest itself over
+and over again either on the human or any other plane of existence,
+being bound by the Law of Karma or of Cause and Sequence.</p>
+
+<blockquote>"Death, so called, is but older matter dressed<br />
+In some new form. And in a varied vest,<br />
+From tenement to tenement though tossed,<br />
+The soul is still the same, the figure only lost."</blockquote>
+
+<blockquote><i>Poem on Pythagoras, Dryden's Ovid.</i></blockquote>
+
+<p>Here it may be asked, if we existed before our birth why do we not
+remember? This is one of the strongest objections often raised against
+the belief in pre-existence. Some people deny the existence of the
+soul in the past simply because they cannot remember the events of
+their past. Others, again, who hold memory as the standard of
+existence, say, if our memory of the present ceases to exist at the
+time of death, with it we shall also cease to be; we cannot be
+immortal; because they hold that memory is the standard of life, and
+if we do not remember then we are not the same beings.</p>
+
+<p>Vedanta answers these questions by saying that it is possible for us
+to remember our previous existences.  Those who have read "Raja Yoga"
+will recall that in the 18th aphorism of the third chapter it is said:
+"By perceiving the Samsk&acirc;ras one acquires the knowledge of past
+lives." Here the Samsk&acirc;ras mean the impressions of the past experience
+which lie dormant in our subliminal self, and are never lost. Memory
+is nothing but the awakening and rising of latent impressions above
+the threshold of consciousness. A Raja Yogi, through powerful
+concentration upon these dormant impressions of the subconscious mind,
+can remember all the events of his past lives. There have been many
+instances in India of Yogis who could know not only their own past
+lives but correctly tell those of others. It is said that Buddha
+remembered five hundred of his previous births.</p>
+
+<p>Our subliminal self, or the subconscious mind, is the storehouse of
+all the impressions that we gather through our experiences during our
+lifetime. They are stored up, pigeon-holed there, in the <i>Chitta</i>, as
+it is called in Vedanta. "Chitta" means the same subconscious mind or
+subliminal self which is the storehouse of all impressions and
+experiences. And these impressions remain latent until favorable
+conditions rouse them and bring them out on the plane of
+consciousness. Here let us take an illustration: In a dark room
+pictures are thrown on a screen by lantern-slides. The room is
+absolutely dark. We are looking at the pictures. Suppose we open a
+window and allow the rays of the midday sun to fall upon the
+screen. Would we be able to see those pictures? No. Why? Because the
+more powerful flood of light will subdue the light of the lantern and
+the pictures. But although they are invisible to our eyes we cannot
+deny their existence on the screen. Similarly, the pictures of the
+events of our previous lives upon the screen of the subliminal self
+may be invisible to us at present, but they exist there. Why are they
+invisible to us now? Because the more powerful light of
+sense-consciousness has subdued them. If we close the windows and
+doors of our senses from outside contact and darken the inner chamber
+of our self, then by focusing the light of consciousness and
+concentrating the mental rays we shall be able to know and remember
+our past lives, and all the events and experiences thereof. Those who
+wish therefore to develop their memory and remember their past should
+practice Raja Yoga and learn the method of acquiring the power of
+concentration by shutting the doors and windows of their senses. And
+that power of concentration must be helped by the power of
+self-control. That is, by controlling the doors and windows of our own
+senses.</p>
+
+<p>These dormant impressions, whether we remember them or not, are the
+chief factors in moulding our individual characters with which we are
+born, and they are the causes of the inequalities and diversities
+which we find around us. When we study the characters and powers of
+geniuses and prodigies we cannot deny the pre-existence of the
+soul. Whatever the soul has mastered in a previous life manifests in
+the present. The memory of particular events is not so important. If
+we possess the wisdom and knowledge which we gathered in our previous
+lives, then it matters very little whether or not we remember the
+particular events, or the struggles which we went through in order to
+gain that knowledge. Those particular things may not come to us in our
+memory, but we have not lost the wisdom. Now, study your own present
+life and you will see that in this life you have gained some
+experience. The particular events and the struggles which you went
+through are passing out of your memory, but the experience, the
+knowledge which you have gained through that experience, has moulded
+your character, has shaped you in a different manner. You will not
+have to go through those different events again to remember; how you
+acquired that experience is not necessary; the wisdom gained is quite
+enough.</p>
+
+<p>Then, again, we find among ourselves persons who are born with some
+wonderful powers. Take, for instance, the power of self-control. One
+is born with the power of self-control highly developed, and that
+self-control may not be acquired by another after years of hard
+struggle. Why is there this difference? Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna was
+born with God-consciousness, and he went into the highest state of
+Sam&acirc;dhi when he was four years old; but this state is very difficult
+for other Yogis to acquire. There was a Yogi who came to see
+Ramakrishna. He was an old man and possessed wonderful powers, and he
+said: "I have struggled for forty years to acquire that state which is
+natural with you." There are many such instances which show that
+pre-existence is a fact, and that these latent or dormant impressions
+of previous lives are the chief factors in moulding the individual
+character without depending upon the memory of the past. Because we
+cannot remember our past, because of the loss of memory of the
+particular events, the soul's progress is not arrested. The soul will
+continue to progress further and further, even though the memory may
+be weak.</p>
+
+<p>Each individual soul possesses this storehouse of previous experiences
+in the background, in the subconscious mind. Take the instance of two
+lovers. What is love? It is the attraction between two souls. This
+love does not die with the death of the body. True love survives death
+and continues to grow, to become stronger and stronger. Eventually it
+brings the two souls together and makes them one. The theory of
+pre-existence alone can explain why two souls at first sight know each
+other and become attached to each other by the tie of friendship. This
+mutual love will continue to grow and will become stronger, and in the
+end will bring these lovers together, no matter where they
+go. Therefore, Vedanta does not say that the death of the body will
+end the attraction or the attachment of two souls; but as the souls
+are immortal so their relation will continue forever.</p>
+
+<p>The Yogis know how to develop memory and how to read past lives. They
+say, time and space exist in relation to our present mental condition;
+if we can rise above this plane, our higher mind sees the past and
+future just as we see things before our eyes. Those who wish to
+satisfy the idle curiosity of their minds may spend their energy by
+trying to recollect their past lives. But I think it will be much more
+helpful to us if we devote our time and energy in moulding our future
+and in trying to be better than we are now, because the recollection
+of our former condition would only force us to make a bad use of the
+present. How unhappy he must be who knows that the wicked deeds of his
+past life will surely react on him and will bring distress, misery,
+unhappiness or suffering within a few days or a few months. Such a man
+would be so restless and unhappy that he would not be able to do any
+work properly; he would constantly think in what form misery would
+appear to him. He would not be able to eat or even sleep. He would be
+most miserable. Therefore we ought to regard it as a great blessing
+that we do not recollect our past lives and past deeds. Vedanta says,
+do not waste your valuable time in thinking of your past lives, do not
+look backward during the tiresome journey through the different stages
+of evolution, always look forward and try first to attain to the
+highest point of spiritual development; then if you want to know your
+past lives you will recollect them all. Nothing will remain unknown to
+you, the Knower of the universe. When the all-knowing Divine Self will
+manifest through you, time and space will vanish and past and future
+will be changed into the eternal present. Then you will say as Sri
+Krishna said to Arjuna, in the "Bhagavad Gita:" "Both you and I have
+passed through many lives; you do not recollect any, but I know them
+all." (Ch. iv., 5.)</p>
+
+<a name="II"></a>
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">II. Heredity and Reincarnation.</p>
+
+<p>Those who accept the theory of heredity deny the existence of the
+human soul as an entity separable from the gross physical
+organism. Consequently they do not discuss the question whether the
+individual soul existed in the past or will continue to exist after
+the death of the body. This kind of question does not disturb their
+minds. They generally maintain that the individual soul is inseparable
+from the body or the brain or nervous system; consequently what we
+call soul or the conscious entity or the thinker is produced along
+with the birth of the organism or brain, lasts as long as the body
+lasts and dies when the organism is dissolved into its elements.  But
+those, on the other hand, who accept the theory of Reincarnation admit
+the existence of soul as a conscious entity which is independent of
+the physical organism, that it continues to live after death and that
+it existed before the birth of the body. The theory of heredity has
+always been supported by the materialistic scientists, atheists and
+agnostics of all ages and also by those who believe in the special
+creation of the first man and woman at a certain definite time and
+that their qualities, character, life and soul have been transmitted
+to all humanity through successive generations. The commonly accepted
+meaning of the theory of heredity is that all the well-marked
+peculiarities, both physical and mental, in the parents are handed on
+to the children; or, in other words, heredity is that property of an
+organism by which its peculiar nature is transmitted to its
+descendants.</p>
+
+<p>In the whole history of humanity there has never been a time when this
+question of heredity has been discussed so minutely and in so many
+different ways as it has been in the present century. Although this
+theory was known in the East by the ancient Vedanta philosophers, by
+the Buddhists of the pre-Christian era and by the Greek philosophers
+in the West, still it has received a new impetus and has grown with
+new strength since the introduction of the Darwinian theory of the
+evolution of species.  Along with the latest discoveries in
+physiology, biology, embryology and other branches of modern science,
+the popular simple meaning of heredity&mdash;that the offspring not only
+resemble their parents among animals as well as among men, but inherit
+all the individual peculiarities, life and character of their
+parents&mdash;has taken the shape of the most complicated and difficult
+problem which it is almost impossible to solve. Our minds are no
+longer satisfied with Haeckel's definition that heredity is simply an
+overgrowth of the individual, a simple continuity of growth; but we
+want to know the particular method by which hereditary transmission
+takes place.  We ask, how can a single cell reproduce the whole body
+of the offspring, its mind, character and all the peculiarities of an
+organism? Out of the myriads of cells of which a body is composed,
+what kind of cell is that which possesses the power of reproducing the
+peculiarities, both mental and physical, which are to be found in the
+form of the new-born babe?  This is the most puzzling of all the
+problems which the scientific mind has ever encountered. The
+fundamental question connected with the theory of heredity is: How can
+a single cell of the body contain within itself all the hereditary
+tendencies of the hypothesis of the continuity of the germ-plasm gives
+an identical starting-point to each successive generation, and thus
+explains how it is that an identical product arises from all of
+them. In other words, the hypothesis explains heredity as part of the
+underlying problems of assimilation and of the causes which act
+directly during ontogeny. (Vol. I, p. 170.)</p>
+
+<p>According to Weismann, all the peculiarities which we find in an
+organism are not inherited by the organism from that of the parents,
+but he says: "Nothing can arise in an organism unless the
+predisposition to it is pre-existent, for every acquired character is
+simply the reaction of the organism upon a certain stimulus." (Vol. I,
+p. 172.) Therefore the germ-cells do not inherit all the peculiarities
+of the parents, but possess the predisposition or a potentiality of
+the tendencies which gradually develop into individual characters.</p>
+
+<p>We will be able to understand his theory better from the following
+quotations, which give his own words. He says: "I have called this
+substance 'germ-plasm,' and have assumed that it possesses a highly
+complex structure, conferring upon it the power of developing into a
+complex organism."  ("Heredity," Vol. I, p. 170.) Again he says:
+"There is, therefore, continuity of the germ-plasm from one generation
+to another. One might represent the germ-plasm by the metaphor of a
+long, creeping rootstock from which plants arise at intervals, these
+latter representing the individuals of successive generations. Hence
+it follows that the transmission of acquired characters is an
+impossibility, for if the germ-plasm is not formed anew in each
+individual, but is derived from that which preceded it, its structure,
+and, above all, its molecular constitution, cannot depend upon the
+individual in which it happens to occur, but such an individual only
+forms, as it were, the nutritive soil at the expense of which the
+germ-plasm grows, while the latter possessed its characteristic
+structure from the beginning, viz., before the commencement of growth.
+But the tendencies of heredity, of which the germ-plasm is the bearer,
+depend upon this very molecular structure, and hence only those
+characters can be transmitted through successive generations which
+have been previously inherited, viz., those characters which were
+potentially contained in the structure of the germ-plasm. It also
+follows that those other characters which have been acquired by the
+influence of special external conditions, during the lifetime of the
+parent, cannot be transmitted at all."  (Vol. I, p. 273.) In
+conclusion, Weismann writes: "But at all events we have gained this
+much, that the only facts which appear to directly prove a
+transmission of acquired characters have been refuted, and that the
+only firm foundation on which this hypothesis has been hitherto based
+has been destroyed."(Vol. I, p. 461.)</p>
+
+<p>Thus we see how far the theory of heredity has been pushed by the
+great scientific investigators of the present age. We have no longer
+any right to believe in the old oft-refuted hypothesis which assumes
+that each individual organism produces germ-cells afresh again and
+again and transmits all its powers developed and acquired by the
+parents; but, on the contrary, we have come to know to-day that
+parents are nothing but mere channels through which these germ-plasms
+or germ-cells manifest their peculiar tendencies and powers which
+existed in them from the very beginning. The main point is that the
+germs are not created by the parents, but that they existed in
+previous generations.</p>
+
+<p>Now, what are those germs like? Wherefrom do they acquire these
+tendencies, these peculiarities?  That is another very difficult
+problem. Dr. Weismann and his followers say that these peculiarities
+are gained or inherited "from the common stock," but what that common
+stock is they do not explain.  Where is that common stock and why will
+certain germs acquire certain tendencies and other germs retain other
+peculiarities? What regulates them? These questions are not solved. So
+far we have gathered from Dr. Weismann's explanation that the parents
+are not the creators of the germs but, on the contrary, that the germs
+existed before the birth of the body, before the growth of the body,
+in previous generations, or in the common stock of the universe. The
+previous generations are dead and gone, so we may say that they
+existed in the universe. We cannot now believe the old, crude,
+often-refuted idea that God creates the germ at the time of birth and
+puts into it all the powers and peculiarities of the parents. This
+theory makes God unjust and partial, so it does not appeal to us any
+more. We need better and more rational explanations. The one-birth
+theory, which has been preached by Christian ministers and other
+religionists for so many years, does not remove the difficulties, does
+not explain the cause of the inequalities and diversities, does not
+answer the question whether we acquire all the tendencies and
+peculiarities of the parents or whether acquired characters cannot be
+transmitted. We have already seen that these questions are left
+unsolved by the one-birth theory of Christianity and of Judaism. But
+this theory of "continuity of the germ-plasm" pushes the question of
+heredity to the door of Reincarnation. If modern science can explain
+what that common stock is and why and how these germs retain those
+peculiarities and tendencies, then the answer will be complete and not
+until then. The Vedanta philosophy, however, has already explained the
+cause of the potentiality in the germ of life or "germ-plasm" or
+germ-cell.</p>
+
+<p>Vedanta solves this difficulty by saying that each of these
+germ-plasms or germ-cells is nothing but the subtle form of a
+reincarnating individual, containing potentially all the experiences,
+characters, tendencies, and desires which one had in one's previous
+life. It existed before the birth of the body and it will continue
+after the death of the body. This germ or subtle body is not the same
+as the astral body of the Theosophists, or the double of the
+metaphysical thinkers or the disembodied spirit of the Spiritualists;
+but it is an ethereal center of activity-physical, mental and
+organic. It is a center which possesses the tendency to manifest these
+powers on different planes of existence. It contains the minute
+particles of matter or ethereal substance and the life principle or
+vital energy by which we live and move. It also possesses the mental
+powers and sense powers; but all these remain latent, just as in a
+seed we see that the powers of growth, of assimilation and of
+producing flowers and fruits are latent.</p>
+
+<p>At the time of death the individual soul contracts and remains in the
+form of a germ of life. It is for this reason, Vedanta teaches, that
+it is neither the will of God nor the fault of the parents that forms
+the characters of children, but each child is responsible for its
+tendencies, capacities, powers and character. It is its own "Karma" or
+past actions that make a child a murderer or a saint, virtuous or
+sinful. The stored-up potentialities in a subtle body manifest in the
+character of an individual.</p>
+
+<p>The argument advanced by the supporters of the theory of hereditary
+transmission does not furnish a satisfactory explanation of the cause
+of the inequalities and diversities of the universe. Why is it that
+the children of the same parents show a marked dissimilarity to their
+parents and to each other?</p>
+
+<p>Why do twins develop into dissimilar characters and possess opposite
+qualities, although they are born of the same parents at the same time
+and brought up under similar conditions and environments? How can
+heredity explain such cases? Suppose a man has five children; one is
+honest and saintly, another is an idiot, the third becomes a murderer,
+the fourth a genius or prodigy, and the fifth a cripple and
+diseased. Who made these dissimilarities? They cannot be
+accidents. There is no such thing as an accident. Every event of the
+universe is bound by the law of cause and effect. There must be some
+cause of these inequalities. Who made one honest and saintly, another
+an idiot, and so forth? Parents? That cannot be. They never dreamed
+that they would beget a murderer or a villain or an idiot. On the
+contrary, all parents wish their children to be the best and
+happiest. But in spite of such desires they get such children. Why?
+What is the cause? Does the theory of heredity explain it? No, not at
+all. Suppose a man, twenty-four years old, who has certain traits,
+like musical or artistic talents, such as painting and so on, has a
+crooked nose and other peculiarities, like cross-eyes, which resemble
+those of his grandfather. Suppose his grandfather died six years
+before he was born. Now, those who believe in the theory of heredity
+will say that this young man inherited all these peculiarities from
+his grandfather. When did he inherit? His grandfather had died six
+years before he was born. He inherited, of course, in the form of that
+germ. What is that germ like? A minute protoplasm, a jelly-like
+substance, and if you examine it with a powerful microscope you will
+hardly find any difference between it and the proto-plasmic germ of a
+dog, or of a cat, or of a tree. It is smaller than a pin's head. And
+in that state this young man inherited all these peculiarities from
+his grandfather; or, in other words, before he had a nose, he got a
+crooked nose; before he had eyes, he inherited cross-eyes, and before
+he had any brain, he inherited all the wonderful powers-his musical
+and artistic talents. Does it not seem absurd to you? Even if we admit
+this theory of heredity, then what do we understand? That the whole of
+this young man existed in the form of a protoplasm before he was
+born. His cross-eyes, his crooked nose, his artistic talents&mdash;all
+these pre-existed in the form of a protoplasmic cell. This leads up to
+the same thing which is taught by the theory of Reincarnation, or, in
+other words, if it be possible for this young man to remain in the
+form of a protoplasm and inherit all these things before his birth,
+why cannot we believe that the soul or the subtle body of this young
+man possessed them from the very beginning? According to Vedanta this
+young man was not the creature of his grandfather, but he had his own
+independent existence; only by coming through the channel of his
+parents he had received certain characteristic impressions, just as a
+tree in its process of growth will receive from the environments
+certain peculiarities when it assimilates those properties.</p>
+
+<p>The doctrine of Reincarnation alone can explain satisfactorily and
+rationally the diversities among children and the reason of the many
+instances of uncommon powers and genius displayed in childhood. The
+theory of heredity has up to this time failed to give any good reason
+for them. Why is it that Pascal, when twelve years old, succeeded in
+discovering for himself the greater part of plane geometry. How could
+the shepherd Mangiamelo, when five years old, calculate like an
+arithmetical machine. Think of the child Zerah Colburn: when he was
+under eight years of age he could solve the most tremendous
+mathematical problems instantly and without using any figures. "In one
+instance he took the number 8 and raised it up progressively to the
+sixteenth power and instantly mentioned the result which contained 15
+figures&mdash;28l,474,976,710,656." Of course he was right in every
+figure. When asked the square root of numbers consisting of six
+figures, he would state the result instantly with perfect accuracy. He
+used to give the cube root of numbers in the hundreds of millions the
+very moment when it was asked. Somebody asked him once how many
+minutes there were in 48 years, he answered, 25,288,800.</p>
+
+<p>Mozart, the great musician, wrote a sonata when he was four years old
+and an opera in his eighth year. Theresa Milanolla played the violin
+with such skill that many people thought that she must have played
+before her birth. There are many such instances of wonderful powers
+exhibited by artists and painters when they were quite young.
+Sankar&acirc;charya, the great commentator of the Vedanta philosophy,
+finished his commentary when he was twelve years old. How can such
+cases be explained by the theory of hereditary transmission? Many of
+you have heard of the wonderful musical talents of Blind Tom. This
+blind negro slave was born on his master's plantation and was brought
+up as a typical negro.  He received no training in music or in any
+other line. One day when his master's family were at dinner he
+happened to come into his master's parlor and displayed his marvelous
+musical power for the first time by playing on his master's
+piano. Afterwards he was exhibited in different states of this
+country. Physically he was nothing but a typical negro. His intellect
+was very poor, but in music he was a master. His musical talents were
+so great that he composed music for himself and played his own
+compositions. Sometimes after hearing a new piece of rapid music once,
+he could reproduce it note for note. Where did he get all these
+powers? From whom did he inherit them? His parents perhaps never heard
+of a piano. He never had a lesson in his life, and he could not have
+understood even if he had had any. Not long ago I saw a girl of about
+six years, who played the piano most beautifully and who could
+reproduce the most difficult music after hearing it once. It seems to
+me that she must have played the piano in her previous incarnation.
+This is the only explanation that we can give.</p>
+
+<p>Does heredity explain such cases? No. These illustrations are
+sufficient to disprove the theory of "cumulative heredity".
+"Cumulative" means gradualness.  The believers in this theory say that
+a genius is the result of cumulative heredity, that is, it presents
+itself by degrees from less genius to greater and still greater and so
+on. In the whole history of the genealogy of geniuses, like Homer,
+Plato, Shakespeare, Goethe, Raphael, there never was in their families
+almost Plato, almost Shakespeare, or almost Goethe. Neither is it
+possible to trace the extraordinary powers of any of these back to any
+member of their ancestral line. Therefore we can say that no other
+theory than that of Reincarnation can explain satisfactorily the
+causes which produce geniuses and prodigies in this world.</p>
+
+<p>Those who accept the truth of Reincarnation do not blame their parents
+for their poor talents, or for not possessing extraordinary powers,
+but they remain content with their own lot, knowing that they have
+made themselves as they are to-day by their own thoughts and deeds in
+their previous incarnations. They understand the meaning of the saying
+"what thou sowest thou must reap," and always endeavor to mould their
+future by better thoughts and better deeds. They explain all the
+inequalities and diversities of life and character by the law of
+"Karma," which governs the process of Reincarnation as well as the
+gradual evolution of the germs of life from lower to higher stages of
+existence.</p>
+
+<a name="III"></a>
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">III. Evolution and Reincarnation.</p>
+
+<p>The amazing achievements of modern science have been opening every day
+new gates of wisdom and slowly bringing human minds nearer and nearer
+to the ultimate reality of the universe. The fire of knowledge kindled
+by science has already burnt down many dogmas and beliefs, held sacred
+by the superstition of the past, which stood in the way of
+truth-seeking minds. In the first place science has disproved the
+theory of the creation of the universe out of nothing by the action of
+some supernatural power. It has shown that the universe did not appear
+in its present form or come into existence all of a sudden only a few
+thousand years ago, but that it has taken ages to pass through
+different stages before it could reach its present condition.  Each of
+these stages was directly related to a previous stage by the law of
+causation, which always operates in accordance with definite
+rules. The phenomena of the universe, according to science, are
+subject to evolution, or gradual change and progressive development
+from a relatively uniform condition to a relative complexity. From the
+greatest solar system down to the smallest blade of grass, everything
+in the universe has taken its present shape and form through this
+cosmic process of evolution. Our planet earth has gradually evolved,
+perhaps out of a nebulous mass which existed at first in a gaseous
+state. The sun, moon, stars, satellites and other planets have come
+into existence by going through innumerable changes produced by the
+evolutionary process of the Cosmos. Through the same process plants,
+insects, fishes, reptiles, birds, animals, man, and all living matter
+that inhabit this earth have evolved from minute germs of life into
+their present forms. The theory of Evolution says that man did not
+come into existence all of a sudden, but is related to lower animals
+and to plants, either directly or indirectly. The germ of life had
+passed through various stages of physical form before it could appear
+as a man. That branch of science which is called Embryology has proved
+the fact that "man is the epitome of the whole creation." It tells
+that the human body before its birth passes through all the different
+stages of the animal kingdom&mdash;such as the polyp, fish, reptile, dog,
+ape, and at last, man. If we remember that nature is always
+consistent, that her laws are uniform and that whatever exists in the
+microcosm exists also in the macrocosm, and then study nature, we
+shall find that all the germs of life which exist in the universe are
+bound to pass through stages resembling the embryonic types before
+they can appear in the form of man.</p>
+
+<p>In explaining the theory of Evolution, science says that there are two
+principal factors in the process of evolution; the first is the
+tendency to vary, which exists in all living forms whether vegetable
+or animal; the second is the tendency of environment to influence that
+variation, either favorably or unfavorably. Without the first,
+evolution of any kind would be absolutely impossible. But the cause of
+that innate tendency to vary is still unknown to science. Upon the
+second depends the law of natural selection. The variation must be
+adapted to favorable conditions of life; consequently either the germ
+of life will select suitable environments or vary itself in order to
+suit the surrounding conditions, if they are unfavorable. But the
+agent of this selective process is the struggle for existence, which
+is a no less important factor. Thus Evolution depends on these three
+laws: Tendency to vary, or variation, natural selection, and struggle
+for existence. Science tries to explain through these three laws the
+physical, mental, intellectual, moral and spiritual evolution of
+mankind. But the theory of Evolution will remain unintelligible until
+science can trace the cause of that innate "tendency to vary" which
+exists in every stage of all living forms.</p>
+
+<p>If we study closely we find that man's "self" consists of two natures,
+one animal and the other moral or spiritual. Animal nature includes
+all the animal propensities, desire for sense enjoyments, love of
+self, fear of death and struggle for existence. Each of these is to be
+found in lower animals as well as in human beings, the difference
+being only in degree and not in kind. In a savage tribe the expression
+of this animal nature is simple and natural, while in a highly
+civilized nation it is expressed not in a simple and straightforward
+manner, but in an artful and refined way. In a civilized community the
+same nature working through varied device, policy and plan brings the
+same results in a more polished form. In the struggle for existence
+amongst lower animals and savage tribes, those who are physically
+strong survive and gain advantage over those who are physically weak;
+while in the civilized world the same result is obtained, not by
+displaying physical force, but by art, diplomacy, policy, strategy and
+skill. Various kinds of defensive and offensive weapons have been
+invented to conquer those who are less skillful in using them,
+although they may be physically stronger. The simple expression of
+animal nature which we notice in savages and lower animals, by the
+natural process of evolution has gradually become more and more
+complex, as we find in the civilized nations of the world. The energy
+of the lower human nature is spent chiefly in the struggle for
+material existence.</p>
+
+<p>But there is another nature in man which is higher than this. It
+expresses itself in various ways, but on a higher plane. Love of
+truth, mastery over passion, control of the senses, disinterested
+self-sacrifice, mercy and kindness to all creatures, desire to help
+the distressed, forgiveness, faith in a Supreme Being and devotion;
+all these are the expressions of that higher moral and spiritual
+nature. They cannot be explained as developed from animal nature by
+means of the struggle for material existence. For these qualities are
+not to be found in lower animals, although the struggle for existence
+is there. The moral and spiritual nature of human beings cannot be
+traced as the outgrowth or gradual development of the animal
+nature. There is a dispute among the Evolutionists as to the method of
+explaining their cause. Some say that these higher faculties have
+evolved out of the lower ones and have developed by variation and
+natural selection; while others hold that some other higher influence,
+law or agency is required to account for them.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Huxley says: "As I have already urged, the practice of that
+which is ethically best&mdash;what we call goodness or virtue&mdash;involves a
+course of conduct which in all respects is opposed to that which leads
+to success in the cosmic struggle for existence. In place of ruthless
+self-assertion, it demands self-restraint; in place of thrusting aside
+or treading down all competitors, it requires that the individual
+shall not merely respect, but shall help his fellows; its influence is
+directed not so much to the survival of the fittest as to the fitting
+of as many as possible to survive. It repudiates the gladiatorial
+theory of existence. It demands that each man who enters into the
+enjoyment of the advantages of a polity shall be mindful of his debt
+to those who have laboriously constructed it, and shall take heed that
+no act of his weakens the fabric in which he has been permitted to
+live. Laws and moral precepts are directed to the end of curbing the
+cosmic process, and reminding the individual of his duty to the
+community, to the protection and influence of which he owes, if not
+existence itself, at least the life of something better than a brutal
+savage." ("Evolution and Ethics," pp. 81-82.)</p>
+
+<p>Prof. Calderwood says: "So far as human organism is concerned, there
+seem no overwhelming obstacles to be encountered by an evolution
+theory, but it seems impossible under such a theory to account for the
+appearance of the thinking, self-regulating life distinctly human."
+Thus, according to some of the best thinkers, the explanation of the
+moral and spiritual nature of man as a development of the animal
+nature, is quite insufficient and unsatisfactory.  The theory of
+natural selection in the struggle for existence cannot explain the
+cause of the higher nature of man. We cannot say that a theory is
+complete because it explains many facts.  On the contrary, if it fails
+to explain a single fact, then it is proved to be incomplete. As such,
+the theory that cannot explain satisfactorily the cause of the moral
+and spiritual nature of man cannot be accepted as a complete
+theory. That explanation will be considered as complete which will
+explain most satisfactorily all the various manifestations of the
+animal, moral and spiritual nature.  Moreover, supposing the "tendency
+to vary" has evolved into the moral and spiritual nature of man,
+science does not explain the cause of that tendency to vary, nor how
+animal nature can be transformed into moral and spiritual nature. Is
+that "tendency to vary" indefinite, or is it limited by any definite
+law? Science does not say anything about it.</p>
+
+<p>The explanation of the theologians, that the spiritual nature has been
+superadded to the animal nature by some extra-cosmic spiritual agency
+is not scientific, nor does it appeal to our reason. Now let us see
+what Vedanta has to say on this point. Vedanta accepts evolution and
+admits the laws of variation and natural selection, but goes a step
+beyond modern science by explaining the cause of that "tendency to
+vary." It says, "there is nothing in the end which was not also in the
+beginning." It is a law which governs the process of evolution as well
+as the law of causation. If we admit this grand truth of nature, then
+it will not be difficult to explain by the theory of Evolution the
+gradual manifestation of the higher nature of man.  The tendency of
+scientific monism is towards that end.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the modern scientists who hold the monistic position have
+found out the same truth which was discovered long ago by the Vedantic
+philosophers in India. J. Arthur Thomson, an eminent English scientist
+of the present day, in his book on "The Study of Animal Life," says:
+"The world is one, not two-fold-, the spiritual influx is the primal
+reality and there is nothing in the end which was not also in the
+beginning." But the evolutionists do not accept this truth. Let us
+understand it clearly. It means that that which existed potentially at
+the time of the beginning of evolution has gradually manifested in the
+various stages and grades of evolution. If we admit that a unicellular
+germ of life or a bioplasm, after passing through various stages of
+evolution, has ultimately manifested in the form of a highly developed
+human being, then we shall have to admit the potentiality of all the
+manifested powers in that germ or bioplasm, because the law is "that
+which exists in the end existed also in the beginning."  The animal
+nature, higher nature, mind, intellect, spirit, all these exist
+potentially in the germ of life.  If we do not admit this law then the
+problem will arise: How can non-existence become existent?  How can
+something come out of nothing? How can that come into existence which
+did not exist before? Each germ of life, according to Vedanta,
+possesses infinite potentialities and infinite possibilities.  The
+powers that remain latent have the natural tendency to manifest
+perfectly and to become actual. In their attempt they vary according
+to the surrounding environments, selecting suitable conditions or
+remaining latent as long as circumstances do not favor them. Therefore
+variation, according to Vedanta, is caused by this attempt of the
+potential powers to become actual. When life and mind began to evolve,
+the possibilities of action and reaction hitherto latent in the germ
+of life became real and all things became, in a sense, new. Nobody can
+imagine the amount of latent power which a minute germ of life
+possesses until it expresses in gross form on the physical plane. By
+seeing the seed of a Banyan tree, one who has never seen the tree
+cannot imagine what powers lie dormant in it. When a baby is born we
+cannot tell whether he will be a great saint, or a wonderful artist,
+or a philosopher, or an idiot, or a villain of the worst type. Parents
+know nothing about his future. Along with his growth certain latent
+powers gradually begin to manifest. Those which are the strongest and
+most powerful will overcome others and check their course for some
+time; but when the powers that remain subdued by stronger ones get
+favorable conditions they will appear in manifested forms. As, for
+instance, chemical forces may slumber in matter for a thousand years,
+but when the contact with the re-agents sets them free, they appear
+again and produce certain results. For thousands of years galvanism
+slumbered in copper and zinc, which lay quietly beside silver. As soon
+as all three are brought together under the required conditions silver
+is consumed in flame. A dry seed of a plant may preserve the
+slumbering power of growth through two or three thousand years and
+then reappear under favorable conditions. Sir G. Wilkinson, the great
+archaeologist, found some grains of wheat in a hermetically sealed
+vase in a grave at Thebes, which must have lain there for three
+thousand years. When Mr. Pettigrew sowed them they grew into plants.
+Some vegetable roots found in the hands of an Egyptian mummy, which
+must have been at least two thousand years old, were planted in a
+flower-pot, and they grew and flourished. Thus, whenever the latent
+powers get favorable conditions, they manifest according to their
+nature, even after thousands of years.</p>
+
+<p>Similarly, there are many instances of slumbering mental powers. After
+remaining dormant for a long period in our normal condition, they may,
+in certain abnormal states&mdash;such as madness, delirium, catalepsy,
+hypnotic sleep and so forth-flash out into luminous consciousness and
+throw into absolute oblivion the powers that are manifesting in the
+normal state. Talents for eloquence, music, painting, and uncommon
+ingenuity in several mechanical arts, traces of which were never found
+in the ordinary normal condition, are often evolved in the state of
+madness. Somnambulists in deep sleep have solved most difficult
+mathematical problems and performed various acts with results which
+have surprised them in their normal waking states. Thus we can
+understand that each individual mind is the storehouse of many powers,
+various impressions and ideas, some of which manifest in our normal
+state, while others remain latent. Our present condition of mind and
+body is nothing but the manifested form of certain dormant powers that
+exist in ourselves. If new powers are roused up and begin to manifest
+the whole nature will be changed into a new form. The manifestation of
+latent powers is at the bottom of the evolution of one species into
+another. This idea has been expressed in a few words by Patanjali, the
+great Hindu evolutionist who lived long before the Christian
+era. [Footnote: The reader ought to know that the doctrine of
+Evolution was known in India long before the Christian era. About the
+seventh century, B. C., Kapila, the father of Hindu Evolutionists,
+explained this theory for the first time through logic and
+science. Sir Monier Monier Williams says: "Indeed if I may be allowed
+the anachronism, the Hindus were Spinozites more than 2,000 years
+before the existence of Spinoza; and Darwinians many centuries before
+Darwin; and Evolutionists many centuries before the doctrine of
+Evolution had been accepted by the scientists of our time and before
+any word like Evolution existed in any language of the world." (P. 12,
+"Hinduism and Brahminism.") Prof. Huxley says: "To say nothing of
+Indian Sages to whom Evolution was a familiar notion ages before Paul
+of Tarsus was born." (P. 150, "Science and Hebrew Tradition.")] In the
+second aphorism of the fourth chapter (see "Raja Yoga," by Swami
+Vivekananda, p. 210) it is said, "The Evolution into another species
+is caused by the in-filling of nature."  The nature is filled not from
+without but from within.  Nothing is superadded to the individual soul
+from outside. The germs are already there, but their development
+depends upon their coming in contact with the necessary conditions
+requisite for proper manifestation. We sometimes see a wicked man
+suddenly become saintlike. There are instances of murderers and
+robbers becoming saints. A religionist will explain the cause of their
+sudden change, by saying that the grace of the Almighty has fallen
+upon them and transformed their whole nature.  But Vedanta says that
+the moral and spiritual powers that remained latent in them have been
+roused up, and the result is the sudden transformation. None can tell
+when or how the slumbering powers will wake up and begin to
+manifest. The germ of life, or the individual soul as it is ordinarily
+called, possesses infinite possibilities. Each germ of life is
+studying, as it were, the book of its own nature by unfolding one page
+after another. When it has gone through all the pages, or, in other
+words, all the stages of evolution, perfect knowledge is acquired, and
+its course is finished. We have read our lower nature by turning each
+page, or, in other words, by passing through each stage of animal life
+from the minutest bioplasm up to the present stage of existence. Now
+we are studying the pages which deal with moral and spiritual laws. If
+any one wants to read any page over again he will do it. Just as in
+reading a book, if anybody feels particularly interested in any page
+or chapter he will read it over and over again and will not open a new
+page or a new chapter until he is perfectly satisfied with
+it. Similarly, in reading the book of life, if the individual soul
+likes any particular stage, he will stay there until he is perfectly
+satisfied with it; after that he will go forward and study other
+pages. One may read very slowly, and another very fast; but whether we
+read slowly or rapidly each one of us is bound to read the whole book
+of nature and attain to perfection sooner or later.</p>
+
+<p>According to Vedanta, the end and aim of Evolution is the attainment
+of perfection. Physical evolution of animal life reached its
+perfection in human form. There cannot be any other form higher than
+human on this earth under present conditions. It is the perfection of
+animal form. From this we can infer that the tendency of the law of
+Evolution is to reach perfection. When it is attained to, the whole
+purpose is served. Do we see in nature any other higher form evolved
+out of the human body? No.  Shall we not be justified if we say that
+the end of physical evolution is the attainment of the perfection of
+animal form? Again as the purpose and method of natural laws are
+uniform throughout the universe, the end of intellectual, moral and
+spiritual evolution will be attained when intellectual, moral and
+spiritual perfection are acquired. Intellectual perfection means
+perfection of intellect; and intellect is perfect when we understand
+the true nature of things and never mistake the unreal for the real,
+matter for spirit, non-eternal for eternal, or <i>vice versa</i>. Moral
+perfection consists in the destruction of selfishness; and spiritual
+perfection is the manifestation of the true nature of spirit which is
+immortal, free, divine and one with the Universal Spirit or
+God. Evolution attains to the highest fulfilment of its purpose when
+the spirit manifests perfectly.  The tendency of nature is to have
+perfect manifestation of all her powers. When certain powers
+predominate they manifest first while the others remain dormant. As we
+find in the process of evolution, when animal nature manifests
+perfectly the moral and spiritual nature remain latent. Again when
+moral and spiritual nature manifest fully, the animal is in
+abeyance. It is for this reason we do not find expressions of moral
+and spiritual nature in lower animals or in those human beings who
+live like them. Man is the only animal in whom such perfect
+expressions of moral and spiritual nature are possible.  When the
+individual soul begins to study its spiritual nature, its lower or
+animal nature is gradually eclipsed. As the higher nature becomes
+powerful the lower nature dwindles into insignificance; its energy is
+transformed into that of the higher nature, and ultimately it
+disappears altogether and rises no more. Then the soul becomes free
+from the lower or animal nature. There are many stages in the higher
+nature, as well as in the lower. Each of these stages binds the
+individual soul so long as it stays there. As it rises on a higher
+plane the lower stages disappear and cease to bind. But the moment
+that any individual, after passing through all the stages of the
+spiritual nature, reaches the ultimate point of perfection, he
+realizes his true nature which is immortal and divine. Then his true
+individuality manifests. For lack of true knowledge, he identified
+himself with each stage successively and thought that his
+individuality was one with the powers which were manifested in each
+stage. Consequently he thought by mistake that he was affected by the
+changes of each stage. But now he realizes that his real individuality
+always remained unaffected.  He sees that his true individuality
+shines always in the same manner, although the limiting adjuncts may
+vary. As the light of a lamp appears of different colors, if it passes
+through glasses of different colors, so the light of the true
+individual appears as animal or human when it passes through the
+animal or human nature of the subtle body. The subtle body of an
+individual changes from animal nature through moral and spiritual into
+divine. As this gradual growth cannot be expected in one life we shall
+have to admit the truth of Reincarnation, which teaches gradual
+evolution of the germ of life or the individual soul through many
+lives and various forms. Otherwise the theory of Evolution will remain
+imperfect, incomplete and purposeless. The doctrine of Reincarnation
+differs from the accepted theory of Evolution in admitting a gradual
+but continuous evolution of the subtle body through many gross
+forms. The gross body may appear or disappear, but the subtle body
+continues to exist even after the dissolution of the gross body and
+re-manifests itself in some other form.</p>
+
+<p>The theory of Reincarnation when properly understood will appear as a
+supplement to the theory of Evolution. Without this most important
+supplement the Evolution theory will never be complete and
+perfect. Evolution explains the process of life, while Reincarnation
+explains the purpose of life. Therefore, both must go hand in hand to
+make the explanation satisfactory in every respect.</p>
+
+<p>James Freeman Clarke says: "That man has come up to his present state
+of development by passing through lower forms, is the popular doctrine
+of science to-day. What is called Evolution teaches that we have
+reached our present state by a very long and gradual ascent from the
+lowest animal organizations. It is true that the Darwinian theory
+takes no notice of the evolution of the soul, but only of the
+body. But it appears to me that a combination of the two views would
+remove many difficulties which still attach to the theory of natural
+selection and the survival of the fittest. If we are to believe in
+Evolution let us have the assistance of the soul itself in this
+development of new species. Thus science and philosophy will
+co-operate, nor will poetry hesitate to lend her aid." (P. 190, "Ten
+Great Religions," II.) Evolution of the body depends upon the
+evolution of the germ of life or the individual soul. When these two
+are combined the explanation becomes perfect.</p>
+
+<p>The theory of Reincarnation is a logical necessity for the completion
+of the theory of Evolution. If we admit a continuous evolution of a
+unit of the germ of life through many gross manifestations then we
+unconsciously accept the teachings of the doctrine of Reincarnation.
+In passing through different forms and manifestations the unit of life
+does not lose its identity or individuality. As an atom does not lose
+its identity or individuality (if you allow me to suppose an atom has
+a kind of individuality) although it passes from the mineral, through
+the vegetable, into the animal, so the germ of life always preserves
+its identity or individuality although it passes through the different
+stages of evolution.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore it is said in the "Bhagavad G&icirc;t&acirc;," as in our ordinary life
+the individual soul passes from a baby body to a young one and from a
+young to an old, and carries with it all the impressions, ideas and
+experience that it has gathered in its former stage of existence and
+reproduces them in proper time, so when a man dies the individual soul
+passes from an old body into a new one, and takes with it the subtle
+body wherein are stored up all that it experienced and gathered during
+its past incarnations. Knowing this, wise men are never afraid of
+death. They know that death is nothing but a mere change from one body
+into another. Therefore, if any one does not succeed in conquering the
+lower nature by the higher, he will try again in his next incarnation,
+after starting from the point which he reached in his past life. He
+will not begin again from the very beginning, but from the last stage
+at which he arrived. Thus we see that Reincarnation is the logical
+sequence of evolution. It completes and makes perfect that theory and
+explains the cause of the moral and spiritual nature of man.</p>
+
+<a name="IV"></a>
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">IV. Which is Scientific&mdash;Resurrection or Reincarnation?</p>
+
+<p>The students of history are interested to know where the idea of
+resurrection first arose and how it was adopted by other nations. If
+we read carefully the writings ascribed to Moses and other writers of
+the Old Testament we find that the ancient Israelites did not believe
+in the Christian heaven or hell, nor in reward or punishment after
+death. It is doubtful whether they had any clear conception of the
+existence of soul after the dissolution of the human body. They had no
+definite idea of the hereafter.  They did not believe in the
+resurrection either of the soul or body. Job longed for death thinking
+that it would end his mental agony. In Psalms we read, "Wilt Thou shew
+wonders to the dead?  Shall the dead arise and praise Thee?"
+(Ps. lxxxviii, 10.) "In death there is no remembrance of Thee; in the
+grave who shall give Thee thanks?" (Ps. vi, 5.) Again (Ps. cxlvi, 4)
+it is said about princes and the son of man,&mdash;"His breath goeth forth,
+he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish." "The
+dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence."
+(Ps. cxv, 17.)  Solomon speaks boldly: "All things come alike to all;
+there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and
+to the clean and to the unclean... as is the good, so is the sinner."
+(Eccl. ix, 2.) "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine
+with a merry heart....  Live joyfully with thy wife... for there is no
+work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou
+goest." (Eccl. ix, 7, 9, 10.)  Again in verse 5 it is said: "The dead
+know not anything, neither have they anymore a reward, for the memory
+of them is forgotten." Solomon says: "For that which befalleth the
+sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them; as the
+one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath, so that
+a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast." "All go into one place; all
+are of the dust and all turn to dust again." "Who knoweth the spirit
+of man that goeth upward and the spirit of the beast that goeth
+downward to the earth?" (Eccl.  iii, 19-21.) There are many such
+passages which show clearly that before the Babylonian captivity the
+Israelites had no belief in reward or punishment, neither in heaven
+nor hell nor in the resurrection of the soul. Some say that they had a
+belief in a sheol or pit where departed souls remained after death,
+but were never resurrected. But when the ancient Jews were conquered
+by the Persians, 536 B.C., they came in contact with a nation which
+had developed a belief in one God, in a heaven and a hell, in the
+resurrection of the dead, in reward and punishment after death, and in
+the last day of judgment. Under the dominion of Persia, whose rule
+began with the capture of Babylon and lasted from 536-333 B.C., the
+Jews were greatly influenced by the Persian religion.  They gave up
+their idolatry, gradually developed social organization and had
+considerable liberty.  About that time the Jews were divided into two
+classes, the Pharisees and Sadducees. Those who adopted the religious
+ideas of the Parsees were called Pharisees (according to some
+authorities the word Pharisee was the Hebrew form of Parsee), and
+those who followed strictly the Jewish ideas, ceremonies, rituals and
+beliefs were called Sadducees. The former were sharply opposed to the
+latter in their doctrinal beliefs. They believed in angels and
+spirits, they expected the resurrection of the dead and believed in
+future reward and punishment and also in Divine pre-ordination. The
+Sadducees did not step beyond the bounds of ancient Judaism.  They
+were Orthodox and very conservative in their views. They denied the
+existence of angels and spirits, the resurrection of the dead, and
+reward and punishment after death. In Matt, xxii, 23, we read, "The
+same day came to him the Sadducees which say that there is no
+resurrection." The Sadducees were fewer in number than the
+Pharisees. Gradually the latter grew very powerful and after the death
+of Jesus their doctrines of the resurrection of the dead, and of
+reward and punishment after death, and the belief in angels and
+spirits, became the cardinal principles of the new Christian sect.
+Thus we see that the idea of resurrection first arose in Persia and
+afterwards took a prominent place in the writings of the New
+Testament, and since then it has been largely accepted by the
+Christians of the Western countries. The Zoroastrians believed that
+the soul of the dead hovers about the body for three nights and does
+not depart for the other world until the dawn after the third night.
+Then the righteous go to heaven and the wicked to hell. There the
+wicked remain until the time of renovation of the universe, that is,
+the judgment day. After the renovation, when Ahriman or Satan is
+killed, the souls of the wicked will be purified and have everlasting
+progress. [Footnote: "Sacred Books of the East," Vol. xvii, pp. 27,
+34, 46.] The question was asked, "How shall they produce
+resurrection?" Ahura Mazda says: "The reply is this, that the
+preparation and production of the resurrection are an achievement
+connected with miracle, a sublimity, and afterwards also a wondrous
+appearance unto the creatures uninformed. The secrets and affairs of
+the persistent Creator are like every mystery and secret." [Footnote:
+<i>Ibid</i>., p. 80.]</p>
+
+<p>The Zoroastrians believed in the resurrection, not of the physical
+body, but of the soul, and that it was an act of miracle. Similarly
+miraculous was the resurrection of Jesus. Although Jesus Himself never
+mentioned what kind of resurrection, whether of body or of soul that
+He meant and believed in, the interpretation of the writers of the
+Gospels shows that His disciples understood Him to mean bodily
+resurrection and the re-appearance of His physical form. The three
+days remained, just as the Zoroastrians believed. The miraculous and
+wondrous appearance of Jesus before His disciples was preached most
+vigorously by Paul. In his Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul declares
+emphatically that the whole of the Christian religion depends upon the
+miraculous resurrection and re-appearance of Jesus.  Although Paul
+said the spiritual body of the risen dead is not the same as flesh and
+blood body (I Cor., XV), still that important point is generally
+overlooked, and the result is the belief which we find amongst some of
+the Christian sects; that at the call of the angels, the body will
+rise from the grave and the mouldering dust of bones and flesh will be
+put together by the miraculous power of the Almighty God. Paul says:
+"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of
+them that slept" (I Cor., XV, 20). He preached that Christ was the
+first born from the dead, that those who believe in Christ would rise
+as He did and that those who would not believe in Him or in His
+resurrection should not rise.</p>
+
+<p>We have already noticed that the Parsees believed in a miraculous
+resurrection; that the same miracle became more definite in the case
+of Jesus; and that the Christian faith was afterwards founded upon
+that miraculous event. Both the Parsees and the followers of Christ
+did not mean by resurrection any universal law, but a miracle done by
+certain supernatural powers. They did not give any scientific reasons
+for such a miracle.</p>
+
+<p>But modern science denies miracles. It teaches that this universe is
+guided, not by miracles as the old thinkers used to believe, but by
+definite laws which are always consistent and universal. There cannot
+be any exception to those laws which are uniform throughout. If
+resurrection be one of those laws, then it must have existed before
+the birth of Jesus; as such, how could He be the first born from the
+dead, as described by Paul. Conversely, if Jesus was the first who
+rose from the dead, then resurrection cannot be a universal
+law. Scientists would not believe in anything which is not based upon
+universal laws. Some of the agnostics and materialists have gone so
+far as to say that Jesus did not die on the cross, but his animation
+was suspended when his body was taken down from the cross by Joseph of
+Arimathsea. When Joseph went to Pilate and craved the body of Jesus,
+Pilate marvelled if He were dead (Mark XV, 44), because it was only
+six hours after the crucifixion. Some of the modern physiologists are
+of opinion that temperate and strong men might live for several days
+on the cross. These heretical agnostics and skeptical scientists say
+that the body of Jesus revived after a few hours in the cool, rock-cut
+tomb, that he walked out of the tomb, went to Galilee and appeared
+before his disciples. [Footnote: Vide "Science and Christian
+Tradition," by Prof. Huxley, pp.  279-280.] Whatever the facts may be
+(nobody can now tell exactly what actually happened), it is clear that
+the scientists are not ready to take anything upon authority. They do
+not care to believe in anything because it is written in this book or
+that. They must have convincing proofs and a rational explanation of
+every phenomenon of nature. They want to penetrate into miracles in
+order to discover the universal laws that govern them. If they do not
+find any such laws, they will surely reject every event that is
+supposed to be caused by miraculous or supernatural powers.</p>
+
+<p>The theory of a miraculous resurrection is attended with the belief
+that the individual soul does not exist before birth. The supporters
+of this theory hold that at the time of birth, the individual, being
+created out of nothing, comes fresh into existence. But science tells
+us that sudden creation out of nothing and a total destruction of
+anything are both impossible. Matter and force are indestructible.
+Science teaches evolution and not creation, and denies the
+intervention of any supernatural being as the cause of phenomenal
+changes. The theory of Resurrection ignores all these ultimate
+conclusions of modern science. On the contrary, the doctrine of
+Reincarnation, after accepting all the truths and laws of nature that
+have been discovered by modern science, carries them to their proper
+logical conclusions.  Reincarnation is based upon evolution.  It means
+a continuous evolution of an individual germ of life, and a gradual
+re-manifestation of all the powers and forces that exist in it
+potentially. Moreover, the doctrine of Reincarnation is founded on the
+law of cause and effect. It teaches that the cause is not outside of
+the effect, but lies in the effect. The cause is the potential or
+unmanifested state of the effect, and effect is the actual or
+manifested cause.  There is one current of infinite force or power
+constantly flowing in the ocean of reality of the universe, and
+appearing in the innumerable forms of waves. We call one set of waves
+the cause of another set, but in fact that which is the cause is the
+potentiality of the future effect and the actuality of a previous
+potential cause. The underlying current is one and the same
+throughout. Reincarnation denies the idea that the soul has come into
+existence all of a sudden or has been created for the first time, but
+it holds that it has been existing from the beginningless past, and
+will exist all through eternity.  The individual soul enjoys or
+suffers according to the acts it performs. All enjoyment and suffering
+are but the reactions of our actions. Actions are the causes and the
+reactions are the results. Our present life is the result of our past
+actions, and our future will be the result of the present. The actions
+which we are now doing will not be lost. Do you think that the
+thought-forces of one life-time will end suddenly after death?
+No. They will be conserved and remain potentially in the center and
+re-manifest under suitable conditions. Each human soul is nothing but
+a center of thought-force. This center is called in Sanskrit
+<i>S&ucirc;kshma Sar&icirc;ra</i> or the subtle body of an individual. The subtle
+germ of life or, in other words, the invisible center of
+thought-forces, will manufacture a physical vehicle for expressing the
+latent powers that are ready for manifestation.  This process will
+continue until the germ can express most perfectly all the powers that
+are coiled up in its invisible form. As the doctrine of Reincarnation
+is in agreement with all the physical laws, so it is based upon
+psychical, moral and ethical laws. As on the objective plane the law
+of action and reaction governs the objective phenomena, so on the
+subjective plane of consciousness, if the mental action or thought be
+good, the reaction will be good, and the reaction will be evil if the
+mental action be evil, because every action produces a similar
+reaction, A good reaction is one which makes us happy and brings
+pleasant sensations or peace of mind, while an evil reaction brings
+suffering, unpleasant sensations, and makes one miserable. Thus
+Reincarnation makes us free agents for action, as well as for reaping
+the results or reactions of those actions. In fact, we mould our own
+nature, according to our desires, tendencies and works.</p>
+
+<p>The theory of Resurrection, as commonly understood, does not explain
+why one man is born with a sinful nature and another with a virtuous
+one. It contents itself with saying as Luther said: "Man is a beast of
+burden who only moves as his rider orders; sometimes God rides him and
+sometimes Satan."  But why God should allow Satan to ride His own
+creature nobody can tell. At any rate, man must suffer eternally for
+the crimes which he is forced by Satan to commit. Moreover this theory
+pre-supposes predestination and that the individual soul is
+fore-doomed to go either to heaven or to hell. St.  Augustine first
+started this doctrine of Predestination and Grace to explain why one
+is born sinful and another sinless. According to this theory, God, the
+merciful, favors somebody with His grace at the time of his birth and
+then he comes into this world ready to be saved, but the mass of
+humanity is born sinful and destined for eternal damnation. Very few
+indeed receive the gift of grace and are predestined to be
+saved. Moreover, this doctrine tells us that God creates man out of
+nothing, forbids him something, but at the same time He does not give
+him the power to obey His commands. Ultimately God punishes him with
+eternal torture on account of his weakness. The body and soul will not
+be separated.  He will not be set free from his body, because, if it
+be so, there will be the end of his suffering, which God does not
+like. All these sufferings and punishments are predestined before his
+birth. Thus, St.  Augustine's dogma of Predestination and Grace
+instead of explaining the difficulty satisfactorily brings horror and
+dread to human minds, while the doctrine of Reincarnation teaches
+gradual progress from lower to higher, through ages until the
+individual reaches perfection. It holds that each individual will
+become perfect like Jesus or Buddha or like the Father in heaven and
+manifest divinity either in this life or in some other. One span of
+life is too short for developing one's powers to perfection.  If you
+should try to train an idiot to become a great artist or a
+philosopher, would you ever succeed in your attempt to make him so
+during his lifetime?  No. And will you punish him because he cannot
+become so? Can a man who possesses the slightest common sense be so
+unreasonable? Similarly what would you think if God punishes a man
+because he cannot become perfect within a lifetime? It is a poor
+argument to say that God has given us free-will to choose between
+right and wrong, and we are responsible for our choice; if we choose
+wrongly we must be punished. The advocates of such an argument forget
+that at the same time God has let loose His powerful Satan to corrupt
+His creatures.</p>
+
+<p>It reminds me of an old story. Once on a time at a certain place a
+prisoner was released and set free through the kindness of a
+tyrant. The tyrant said to the prisoner "Look here, wicked man, I give
+you freedom, you can go to any place; but there is one condition; if
+you are attacked by any wild animal you will be put in the dungeon and
+there will be no end to your torture." So saying he gave him freedom,
+but at the same time ordered his servants to let loose a hungry wolf
+to chase the man. You can imagine what became of the prisoner. Can we
+call this an act of mercy!</p>
+
+<p>The doctrine of Reincarnation says that each individual soul is
+potentially perfect and is gradually unfolding its powers and making
+them actual through the process of Evolution. At every step of that
+process it is gaining different experiences which last only for a
+time. Therefore neither God nor Satan is responsible for our good or
+evil actions.  Good and evil are like the up and down or the crest and
+hollow of a wave in the sea. A wave cannot rise without making a
+hollow somewhere in the sea.  So in the infinite ocean of reality
+innumerable waves are constantly rising. The summit of each wave is
+called good, while the hollow beside it is evil or misery and the
+current of each individual life is constantly flowing towards the
+ultimate destination which we call perfection. Who can tell how long
+it will take to reach that goal? If anybody can attain to perfection
+in this life, he is no longer bound to reincarnate. If he fails he
+will continue to progress by taking some other body. Reincarnation
+does not teach, as many people think, that in the next incarnation one
+will begin from the very beginning, but it says that one will start
+from that point which one reaches before death and will keep the
+thread of progress unbroken. It does not teach that we go back to
+animal bodies after death, but that we get our bodies according to our
+desires, tendencies and powers. If any person has no desire to come
+back to this world or to any other and does not want to enjoy any
+particular object of pleasure, and if he is perfectly free from
+selfishness that person will not have to come back. The theory of
+Reincarnation is logical and satisfactory. While the theory of
+Resurrection is neither based on scientific truths nor can it
+logically explain the cause of life and death, Reincarnation solves
+all the problems of life and explains scientifically all the questions
+and doubts that arise in the human mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Reincarnation is not easily understood by a thoughtless child deluded
+by the delusion of wealth, name or fame. Everything ends with death,
+he thinks, and thus falls again and again under the sway of death."</p>
+
+<a name="V"></a>
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">V. Theory of Transmigration.</p>
+
+<p>The theory of transmigration is one of the oldest theories accepted by
+the people of the Orient to solve the problems concerning life and
+death as well as to explain the continuity of existence after death.
+This theory presupposes the existence of the soul as an entity which
+can live even when the gross material body is dead or dissolved into
+its elements.  Those who deny the existence of the soul, of the
+self-conscious thinker and actor, as an entity distinct from the gross
+material body, necessarily deny this theory of transmigration. The
+materialistic thinkers of all ages have refused to accept this theory,
+because they do not admit the existence of a soul or a self-conscious
+thinker and actor as an entity, separate from the gross material
+body. Consequently they do not ask or discuss whether the soul will
+exist after death or not, whether it will continue to live or not.
+Such materialists are not the creatures of the twentieth century, but
+they have lived in all ages, in all countries. In India and in other
+civilized countries of ancient times you will find that materialistic
+thinkers prevailed and they gave the same arguments which we hear now
+from the agnostics and scientists of to-day. Their arguments are
+generally one-sided and unsatisfactory. They try to deduce the soul or
+self-conscious entity from the combination of matter or material
+forces, but they have not succeeded in giving a scientific proof of
+it. No arguments in favor of the existence of a soul as an entity will
+convince them, because they deny the existence of anything that cannot
+be perceived by sense powers.  If we could bring the soul down on the
+sense plane and make it visible to these materialistic thinkers, and
+if they could make experiments upon it, then perhaps they would be
+convinced to a certain extent, but not until then. But how can we
+bring the soul down on the sense plane when it is ethereal and finer
+than anything that we can perceive with our senses?</p>
+
+<p>Those who try to explain the cause of our earthly life by the theory
+of heredity do not believe in the truth of transmigration. The modern
+scientists, agnostics and materialists generally accept the theory of
+heredity and endeavor to explain everything by it; but if we examine
+their arguments for the theory of heredity, we shall find that the
+theory of transmigration is much more satisfactory, much more rational
+than that of heredity.</p>
+
+<p>Among the followers of the great religions of the world, the majority
+of Christians, Jews, Mohammedans and Parsees deny the truth of
+transmigration.  Of course, there was a time when the Christians
+believed in this transmigration theory. Origen and other Church
+Fathers accepted it until the time of Justinian, who anathematized all
+those who believed in Reincarnation or the pre-existence of the soul.
+Among the Jews we find that in the Cabala this idea of transmigration
+plays the most important part.  In fact the Cabalists accepted this
+theory to explain all the difficulties that could not be explained by
+any other theory. But those Jews, Christians, Mohammedans and Parsees
+who do not believe in the theory of transmigration accept the
+one-birth theory; that is, that God creates the souls at the time of
+birth out of nothing, and these souls, having come into existence out
+of nothing, continue to live forever; that this is our first and last
+birth that we receive; we did not exist before, we are suddenly
+created by God, and after death each one of us will continue to live
+either in heaven or hell to enjoy or to suffer throughout
+eternity. Among the modern Spiritualists we find that those who are
+born and brought up with this idea of one birth do not accept the
+theory of transmigration. Still there are millions and millions of
+people all over the world who do believe in transmigration and who
+have found comfort and consolation in their lives as well as a
+satisfactory solution of the problems of life and death.</p>
+
+<p>The theory of Transmigration, or Metempsychosis, as it has been called
+by many philosophers, originally meant the passing of a soul from one
+body after death into another; or, in other words, it meant that the
+soul after dwelling in one particular body for a certain length of
+time leaves it at the time of death, and in order to gain experience
+enters into some other body, either human, animal or angelic, which is
+ready to receive it. It may migrate from the human body to an angelic
+body and then come down on the human plane, or to the animal plane and
+be born again as an animal. So the original meaning of transmigration
+or metempsychosis was the revolution of the soul from body to body
+whether animal, human, angelic or of the gods. The migrating substance
+being a fixed quantity, with fixed qualities, chooses its form
+according to its taste, desire and bent of character. This idea
+prevailed among the ancient Egyptians, according to whom the soul,
+after leaving the dead body, would travel from one body to another for
+thousands and thousands of years in order to gain experiences in each
+of the different stages of life.</p>
+
+<p>Among the Greek philosophers we find that Pythagoras, Plato and their
+followers believed in this theory of Metempsychosis or Transmigration
+of souls.  Pythagoras says: "After death the rational mind, having
+been freed from the chains of the body, assumes an ethereal vehicle
+and passes into the region of the dead where it remains till it is
+sent back to this world to inhabit some other body human or
+animal. After undergoing successive purgations, when it is
+sufficiently purified, it is received among the gods and returns to
+the eternal source from which it first proceeded." Plato also believed
+in this theory. Of course we cannot tell exactly from whence
+Pythagoras and Plato got these ideas.  Some say that they learned
+these doctrines from Egypt; others believed that, either directly or
+indirectly, they learned the theory of transmigration from
+India. Plato describes in "Phaedrus," in mythological language, why
+and how the souls take their birth upon this plane, either as human or
+animal.  He says: "In the heaven Zeus, the Father and Lord of all
+creatures, drives his winged car, ordering all things and
+superintending them. A host of deities and spirits follow him, each
+fulfilling his own function.  Whoever will and can follows them. After
+taking this round, they advance by a steep course along the inner
+circumference of the heavenly vault and proceed to a banquet. The
+chariots of the gods, being well balanced and well driven, advance
+easily; others with difficulty; for the vicious horse, unless the
+charioteer has thoroughly broken him, weighs down the car by his
+proclivity towards the earth, whereupon the soul is put to the
+extremity of toil and effort. The souls of gods reach the summit, go
+outside and stand upon the surface of heaven, and enjoy celestial
+bliss. Such is the life of the gods; other souls which follow God best
+and are likest to Him succeed in seeing the vision of truth and in
+entering into the outer world with great difficulty.  The rest of the
+souls longing after the upper world all follow; but not being strong
+enough, they are carried round in the deep below, plunging, treading
+on one another, striving to be first, and there, in confusion and
+extremity of effort, many of them are lamed and have their wings
+broken. Thus when the soul is unable to follow and fails to behold the
+vision of Truth, sinks beneath the double load of forgetfulness and
+vice, her feathers fall from her and she drops to earth and is born
+again and again as human beings or as animals." Plato says: "Ten
+thousand years must elapse before the soul can return to the place
+from whence she came, for she cannot grow her wings in less." "At the
+end of the first thousand years, the souls of the good and of the evil
+kind come together to draw lots, and choose their bodies according to
+their tendencies and the bent of their characters. They may take any
+they like.  Instead of receiving the natural consequences of their
+deeds and misdeeds of their previous lives they are allowed to choose
+their own lot, according to their experience and bent of
+character. Some, being disgusted with mankind, prefer to be born as
+animals, such as lions and eagles or some other animals. Others
+delight in trying their luck as human beings." From this mythological
+description we gather what Plato meant by transmigration.</p>
+
+<p>This Platonic idea of transmigration or of successive lives of those
+who inhabit this earth has been criticized by various thinkers of
+modern times; and referring to this idea the late Doctor Myers, of the
+Psychical Research Society of London, writes in his second volume of
+"Human Personality": "The simple fact that such was probably the
+opinion of both Plato and Virgil shows that there is nothing here
+which is alien to the best reason or to the highest instincts of
+men. Nor, indeed, is it easy to realize any theory of the <i>direct
+creation</i> of spirits at such different stages of advancement as
+those which enter upon the earth in the guise of mortal man. There
+<i>must</i>, one feels, be some kind of continuity&mdash;some form of
+spiritual past." (P. 134.)  Why does He not create all souls equal?
+Why will one soul be highly advanced spiritually while another is
+entirely ignorant and idiotic? This question cannot be answered, this
+problem cannot be solved by the special creation theory, and therefore
+Doctor Myers says that there is no doubt that there was some previous
+continuity or spiritual past of each individual soul, and therefore he
+tacitly admits the theory of Transmigration. Although from a
+scientific viewpoint he could not give any direct proof regarding this
+idea of a pre-existence of the soul, still he could not deny it
+entirely when he said: "The shaping forces which have made our bodies
+and our minds what they are may always have been psychical
+forces&mdash;from the first living slime-speck to the complex intelligences
+of to-day." "The old transmigrationist's view would thus possess a
+share of truth and the actual man would be the resultant not only of
+intermingling heredities on father's and mother's sides, but of
+intermingling heredities, one of planetary and one of cosmic scope."
+("Human Personality," Vol. II, p. 267.)</p>
+
+<p>But this theory of Transmigration, as described by Plato, is a little
+different from a similar theory which existed in India before his
+time. In the Platonic idea of transmigration, as we have already seen,
+the souls were allowed to choose their own lot according to their
+experience or bent of character, but not to receive the natural
+consequence of their deeds and misdeeds. Plato did not say anything
+about the law which governs souls; but in ancient India the great
+thinkers and philosophers explained that each individual soul is bound
+by the inexorable law of nature to receive its body as a natural
+consequence of its former deeds and misdeeds, and not to have free
+choice of its lot according to its bent of character. The great
+thinkers and philosophers of ancient India discovered the universal
+law of cause and effect, of action and reaction, and called it by the
+Sanskrit term "Karma," which means the law of cause and sequence; that
+every cause must be followed by an effect of a similar nature, that
+every action must produce similar reaction, and conversely every
+reaction or effect is the result of an action or cause of a similar
+character. Thus there is always a balance and harmony between cause
+and effect, between action and reaction. This law of Karma has now
+become a fundamental verity of modern science. It is called by
+different names: the scientists call it the law of causation, the law
+of compensation, the law of retribution, the law of action and
+reaction, but they all refer to the same idea,&mdash;that every cause must
+produce a similar result and every action must produce a similar
+reaction.</p>
+
+<p>Now these ancient thinkers of India applied this law of Karma to
+explain the destiny of human souls, and it was upon this law they
+based the theory of Transmigration. They maintained that human souls
+are bound by this irresistible law and cannot get out of it; their
+thoughts and deeds are the causes which produce results of similar
+nature. So their future birth does not depend upon their whimsical,
+free choice, but it is limited by the thoughts and deeds or misdeeds
+of their previous lives. In the Platonic idea we find that the souls
+go according to their choice. They may not take a human form if they
+prefer an animal form, but in the Hindu idea of transmigration we find
+that it is not a result of free choice, but, if our thoughts and deeds
+force us to take a particular form, then we are subject to the law of
+Karma, which governs our future birth and the evolution of our
+souls. Consequently the Hindu theory of Transmigration differs
+fundamentally from the Platonic as well as from the Egyptian idea of
+Transmigration. In the Platonic and Egyptian theories we see that the
+souls, after leaving the body, enter into another body which is
+waiting to receive the migrating soul, but in the Hindu theory of
+Transmigration the body is not waiting to receive the migrating soul,
+but on the contrary the soul, being subject to the laws of evolution,
+manufactures the gross material body according to its desires and
+tendencies. Just as a germ of life will develop a grosser form by
+cellular subdivision, by growth, and by assimilation of the
+environmental conditions, so the germ of the human soul will
+manufacture the body by obeying the laws which govern the physical
+plane.  Parents are nothing but the channels through which the
+migrating souls receive their material forms.  Parents do not create
+the souls; they have no power to create. They can only give the
+suitable environments necessary for manufacturing a gross physical
+body. The souls come with their tendencies, with their desires, and
+they remain as germs of life.</p>
+
+<p>Now these germs of life contain vital forces, sense powers, psychic
+powers, and ethereal particles of matter. At the time of death the
+soul contracts and withdraws all its powers from the sense organs to
+its innermost center, and in that contracted state it leaves the
+body. But these powers do not leave the soul. By the law of
+persistence of force and conservation of energy they remain latent in
+that center until environmental conditions become favorable for their
+remanifestation. Rebirth means the manifestation of the latent powers
+which exist in the germ of life or in the individual soul. These germs
+of life are called by different names. Leibnitz called them monads and
+modern scientists call them bioplasms or some such name, but the
+Vedanta philosophers describe them as subtle bodies. These germs or
+subtle bodies are subject to evolution and growth; they arise from
+lower to higher stages of development, from the mineral through the
+vegetable to the animal kingdom and eventually they become human
+beings and then they go on progressing.</p>
+
+<p>In the Platonic theory the idea of progress, growth or gradual
+evolution of the soul from the lower to higher stages of existence is
+entirely excluded, because, as I have already said, the migrating
+substance is of a fixed quantity with fixed qualities, that is, these
+qualities do not change and are not affected by either growth or
+evolution. They are constant quantities.  In order to differentiate
+these two ideas we should call the Hindu theory of Transmigration by
+the term "Reincarnation." The Hindu or Vedantic theory of
+Reincarnation, however, is not the same as the Buddhistic theory of
+Rebirth, for the Buddhists do not believe in the permanence of the
+soul entity.  There is another point where the Reincarnation theory
+differs from Platonic transmigration. According to this theory of
+Reincarnation there is growth and evolution of each individual soul
+from the lower to higher stages of development. The soul or germ of
+life, after passing through the lower stages, comes to the human plane
+and gains experience and knowledge; and after coming to the human
+plane, it does not retrograde to animal bodies. The Platonic theory
+teaches that human souls migrate into animal bodies or angelic bodies
+and return from the angelic to the human or the animal, and that some
+of them prefer to become animals; while the theory of Reincarnation,
+taking its stand upon the scientific truth of gradual evolution,
+teaches that the human souls have already passed through different
+grades of the animal, nay, of the vegetable kingdom, by the natural
+process of evolution. After having once received the human organism,
+why should a soul choose to go back to the lesser and more imperfect
+organism of an animal? How is it possible for a lesser manifestation
+to hold a greater one? Why should a greater manifestation choose more
+limited forms in preference to those of others? This question arises
+in the Platonic theory of Transmigration. Therefore, the Reincarnation
+theory, or the theory of Transmigration according to the Hindus,
+rejects this idea of the going back of human souls to animal forms.
+We have already passed in the evolutionary process through the lower
+grade of animal organisms. Now that we have outgrown them why should
+we go back to them?</p>
+
+<p>It is true, however, that in India there are many uneducated people
+among the Hindus who believe that human souls do migrate into animal
+bodies after death to gain experience and reap the results of their
+wicked deeds, being bound by the law of Karma; but in the Platonic
+theory the law of Karma plays no part in the transmigration of
+souls. The educated and thoughtful minds of India, however, accept the
+more rational and scientific theory of Reincarnation. Although there
+are passages in the scriptural writings of the Hindus which apparently
+refer to the retrogression of the human soul into animal nature, still
+such passages do not necessarily mean that the souls will be obliged
+to take animal bodies. They may live like animals even when they have
+human bodies, as we may find among us many people like cats and dogs
+and snakes in human form and they are often more vicious than natural
+cats, dogs or snakes. They are reaping their own Karma and manifesting
+their animal nature, though physically they look like human
+beings. This kind of retrogression is possible for one who after
+reaching the human plane goes backward on account of wicked thoughts
+and deeds on the animal plane. Such a temporary retrogression brings
+knowledge and helps it in its onward progress toward the manifestation
+of higher powers on the higher plane of consciousness.  All the wicked
+thoughts and wicked deeds are nothing but the results of our own
+mistakes. What is sin?  Sin is nothing but a mistake and it proceeds
+from ignorance. For instance, if I do not know that fire burns, I may
+put my finger into it and get burned.  The result of this mistake is
+the burning of the finger and this has taught me once for all that
+fire burns; I shall never again put my finger into fire.  So every
+mistake is a great teacher in the long run.  No one is born so high
+and perfect as not to commit any mistake or any sin. Every mistake
+like this opens our eyes to the laws of the universe by bringing to us
+such results as we do not desire. As one life is not enough to gain
+experience in all the stages of evolution, we must have to admit the
+doctrine of the Reincarnation of the soul for the fulfillment of the
+ultimate purpose of earthly life. Professor Huxley says: "None but
+hasty thinkers will reject it on the ground of inherent absurdity.
+Like the doctrine of evolution itself that of transmigration has its
+roots in the world of reality."</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Reincarnation, by Swami Abhedananda
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Reincarnation, by Swami Abhedananda
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Reincarnation
+
+Author: Swami Abhedananda
+
+Posting Date: April 12, 2014 [EBook #7377]
+Release Date: January, 2005
+First Posted: April 22, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REINCARNATION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Dave Maddock, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
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+
+
+VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY
+
+FIVE LECTURES ON REINCARNATION
+
+BY
+
+SWAMI ABHEDANANDA
+
+_Author of "India and her People", "Self-Knowledge", "How to be a
+Yogi", "Divine Heritage of Man", etc._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  I.--REINCARNATION
+
+ II.--HEREDITY AND REINCARNATION
+
+III.--EVOLUTION AND REINCARNATION
+
+ IV.--WHICH IS SCIENTIFIC, RESURRECTION OR REINCARNATION?
+
+  V.--THEORY OF TRANSMIGRATION
+
+
+
+
+I. REINCARNATION
+
+
+The visible phenomena of the universe are bound by the universal law
+of cause and effect. The effect is visible or perceptible, while the
+cause is invisible or imperceptible. The falling of an apple from a
+tree is the effect of a certain invisible force called gravitation.
+Although the force cannot be perceived by the senses, its expression
+is visible. All perceptible phenomena are but the various expressions
+of different forces which act as invisible agents upon the subtle and
+imperceptible forms of matter. These invisible agents or forces
+together with the imperceptible particles of matter make up the subtle
+states of the phenomenal universe. When a subtle force becomes
+objectified, it appears as a gross object.  Therefore, we can say,
+that every gross form is an expression of some subtle force acting
+upon the subtle particles of matter. The minute particles of hydrogen
+and oxygen when combined by chemical force, appear in the gross form
+of water. Water can never be separated from hydrogen and oxygen, which
+are its subtle component parts. Its existence depends upon that of its
+component parts, or in other words, upon its subtle form. If the
+subtle state changes, the gross manifestation will also change. The
+peculiarity in the gross form of a plant depends upon the peculiar
+nature of its subtle form, the seed. The peculiar nature of the gross
+forms in the animal kingdom depends upon the subtle forms which
+manifest variously in each of the intermediate stages between the
+microscopic unit of living matter and the highest man. The gross human
+body is closely related to its subtle body.  Not only this, but every
+movement or change in the physical form is caused by the activity and
+change of the subtle body. If the subtle body be affected or changed a
+little, the gross body will also be affected similarly. The material
+body being the expression of the subtle body, its birth, growth, decay
+and death depend upon the changes of the subtle body.  As long as the
+subtle body remains, it will continue to express itself in a
+corresponding gross form.
+
+Now let us understand clearly what we mean by a subtle body. It is
+nothing but a minute germ of a living substance. It contains the
+invisible particles of matter which are held together by vital force,
+and it also possesses mind or thought-force in a potential state, just
+as the seed of a plant contains in it the life force and the power of
+growth. According to Vedanta, the subtle body consists of
+_Antahkaranam_, that is, the internal organ or the mind substance
+with its various modifications, mind, intellect, egoism, memory, the
+five instruments of perception: the powers of seeing, hearing,
+smelling, tasting and touching; the five instruments of action, such
+as the powers of seizing, moving, speaking, evacuating, and
+generating, and the five _Pranas. Prana_ is a Sanskrit word which
+means vital energy or the life-sustaining power in us. Although
+_Prana_ is one, it takes five different names on account of the
+five different functions it performs. This word _Prana_ includes
+the five manifestations of the vital force: First, that power which
+moves the lungs and draws the atmospheric air from outside into the
+system. This is also called _Prana_. Second, that power which
+throws out of the system such things as are not wanted. It is called
+in Sanskrit _Apana_. Third, it takes the name of _Samana_,
+as performing digestive functions and carrying the extract of food to
+every part of the body. It is called _Udana_ when it is the cause
+of bringing down food from the mouth through the alimentary canal to
+the stomach, and also when it is the cause of the power of speech. The
+fifth power of _Prana_ is that which works in every part of the
+nervous system from head to foot, through every canal, which keeps the
+shape of the body, preserves it from putrefaction, and gives health
+and life to every cell and organ. These are the various manifestations
+of the vital force or _Prana_. These subtle powers together with
+the non-composite elements of the gross body, or the ethereal
+particles of subtle matter, and also with the potentialities of all
+the impressions, ideas and tendencies which each individual gathers in
+one life, make up his subtle body.  As a resultant of all the
+different actions of mind and body which an individual performs in his
+present life, will be the tendencies and desires in his future life;
+nothing will be lost.
+
+Every action of body or mind which we do, every thought which we
+think, becomes fine, and is stored up in the form of a _Samskara_
+or impression in our minds. It remains latent for some time, and then
+it rises up in the form of a mental wave and produces new
+desires. These desires are called in Vedanta, _Vasanas_. Vasanas
+or strong desires are the manufacturers of new bodies. If Vasana or
+longing for worldly pleasures and objects remains in anybody, even
+after hundreds of births, that person will be born again. Nothing can
+prevent the course of strong desires. Desires must be fulfilled sooner
+or later.
+
+Every voluntary or involuntary action of the body, sense or mind must
+correspond to the dormant impressions stored up in the subtle
+body. Although growth, the process of nourishment and all the changes
+of the gross physical body take place according to the necessarily
+acting causes, yet the whole series of actions, and consequently every
+individual act, the condition of the body which accomplishes it, nay,
+the whole process in and through which the body exists, are nothing
+but the outward expressions of the latent impressions stored up in the
+subtle body. Upon these rests the perfect suitableness of the animal
+or human body to the animal or human nature of one's impressions. The
+organs of the senses must therefore completely correspond to the
+principal desires which are the strongest and most ready to
+manifest. They are the visible expressions of these desires. If there
+be no hunger or desire to eat, teeth, throat and bowels will be of no
+use. If there be no desire for grasping and moving, hands and legs
+will be useless. Similarly it can be shown that the desire for seeing,
+hearing, etc., has produced the eye, ear, etc. If I have no desire to
+use my hand, and if I do not use it at all, within a few months it
+will wither away and die. In India there are some religious fanatics
+who hold up their arms and do not use them at all; after a few months
+their arms wither and become stiff and dead. A person who lies on his
+back for six months loses the power of walking. There are many such
+instances which prove the injurious effects of the disuse of our limbs
+and organs.
+
+As the human form, generally, corresponds to the human will,
+generally, so the individual bodily structure corresponds to the
+character, desires, will and thought of the individual. Therefore the
+outer nature is nothing but the expression of the inner nature. This
+inner nature of each individual is what re-incarnates or expresses
+itself successively in various forms, one after another. When a man
+dies the individual ego or _Jiva_ (as it is called in Sanskrit),
+which means the germ of life or the living soul of man, is not
+destroyed, but it continues to exist in an invisible form. It remains
+like a permanent thread stringing together the separate lives by the
+law of cause and effect. The subtle body is like a water-globule which
+sprang in the beginningless past from the eternal ocean of Reality;
+and it contains the reflection of the unchangeable light of
+Intelligence.  As a water-globule remains sometimes in an invisible
+vapory state in a cloud, then in rain or snow or ice, and again as
+steam or in mud, but is never destroyed, so the subtle body sometimes
+remains unmanifested and sometimes expresses itself in gross forms of
+animal or human beings, according to the desires and tendencies that
+are ready to manifest. It may go to heaven, that is, to some other
+planet, or it may be born again on this earth. It depends on the
+nature and strength of one's life-long tendency and bent of mind. This
+idea is clearly expressed in Vedanta. "The thought, will or desire
+which is extremely strong during lifetime, will become predominant at
+the time of death and will mould the inner nature of the dying
+person. The newly moulded inner nature will express in a new form."
+(Bhagavad Gita.) The thought, will or desire which moulds the inner
+nature has the power of selecting or attracting such conditions or
+environments as will help it in its way of manifestation. This process
+corresponds in some respects to the law of "natural selection."
+
+We shall be better able to understand that process by studying how the
+seeds of different trees select from the common environments different
+materials, and absorb and assimilate different quantities of
+elements. Suppose two seeds, one of an oak and the other of a
+chestnut, are planted in a pot. The power of growth in both the seeds
+is of the same nature. The environments, earth, water, heat and light
+are the same. But still there is some peculiarity in each of the
+seeds, which will absorb from the common environments different
+quantities of elements and other properties which are fit to help the
+growth of the peculiar nature and form of the fruit, flower, leaves of
+each tree. Suppose the chestnut is a horse-chestnut. If, under
+different conditions, the peculiar nature of the horse-chestnut
+changes into that of a sweet chestnut, then, along with the changes in
+the seed, the whole nature of the tree, leaves, fruits will also be
+changed. It will no more attract, absorb or assimilate those
+substances and qualities of the environments which it did when it was
+a horse-chestnut. Similarly, through the law of "natural selection"
+the newly moulded thought-body of the dying person will choose and
+attract such parts from the common environments as are helpful to its
+proper expression or manifestation. Parents are nothing but the
+principal parts of the environment of the re-incarnating
+individual. The newly moulded inner nature or subtle body of the
+individual will by the law of "natural selection" involuntarily
+choose, or be unconsciously drawn to, as it were, its suitable parents
+and will be born of them. As, for instance, if I have a strong desire
+to become an artist, and if after a life-long struggle I do not
+succeed in being the greatest, after the death of the body I will be
+born of such parents and with such environments as will help me to
+become the best artist.
+
+The whole process is expressed in Eastern philosophy by the doctrine
+of the Reincarnation of the individual soul.  Although this doctrine
+is commonly rejected in the West, it is unreservedly accepted by the
+vast majority of mankind of the present day, as it was in past
+centuries. The scientific explanation of this theory we find nowhere
+except in the writings of the Hindus; still we know that from very
+ancient times it was believed by the philosophers, sages and prophets
+of different countries. The ancient civilization of Egypt was built
+upon a crude form of the doctrine of Reincarnation. Herodotus says:
+"The Egyptians propounded the theory that the human soul is
+imperishable, and that where the body of any one dies it enters into
+some other creature that may be ready to receive it." Pythagoras and
+his disciples spread it through Greece and Italy. Pythagoras says:
+"All has soul; all is soul wandering in the organic world, and obeying
+eternal will or law."
+
+In Dryden's Ovid we read:--
+
+  "Death has no power the immortal soul to slay,
+  That, when its present body turns to clay,
+  Seeks a fresh home, and with unlessened might
+  Inspires another frame with life and light."
+
+It was the keynote of Plato's philosophy.  Plato says: "Soul is older
+than body. Souls are continually born over again into this life." The
+idea of Reincarnation was spread widely in Greece and Italy by
+Pythagoras, Empedocles, Plato, Virgil and Ovid.  It was known to the
+Neo-Platonists, Plotinus and Proclus. Plotinus says: "The soul leaving
+the body becomes that power which it has most developed.  Let us fly
+then from here below and rise to the intellectual world, that we may
+not fall into a purely sensible life by allowing ourselves to follow
+sensible images...." It was the fundamental principle of the religion
+of the Persian Magi. Alexander the Great accepted this idea after
+coming in contact with the Hindu philosophers. Julius Caesar found
+that the Gauls had some belief regarding the pre-existence of the
+human soul. The Druids of old Gaul believed that the souls of men
+transmigrate into those bodies whose habits and characters they most
+resemble. Celts and Britons were impressed with this idea. It was a
+favorite theme of the Arab philosophers and many Mahomedan Sufis. The
+Jews adopted it after the Babylonian captivity.  Philo of Alexandria,
+who was a contemporary of Christ, preached amongst the Hebrews the
+Platonic idea of the pre-existence and rebirth of human souls.  Philo
+says: "The company of disembodied souls is distributed in various
+orders. The law of some of them is to enter mortal bodies, and after
+certain prescribed periods be again set free." John the Baptist was
+according to the Jews a second Elijah; Jesus was believed by many to
+be the re-appearance of some other prophet. (See Matt, xvi, 14, also
+xvii, 12.) Solomon says in his Book of Wisdom: "I was a child of good
+nature and a good soul came to me, or rather because I was good I came
+into an undefiled body."
+
+The Talmud and Cabala teach the same thing.  In the Talmud it is said
+that Abel's soul passed into the body of Seth, and then into that of
+Moses.  Along with the spread of the Cabala this doctrine (which was
+known as Transmigration and Metempsychosis) "began to take root in
+Judaism and then it gained believers even among men who were little
+inclined towards Mysticism. Juda ben Asher (Asheri) for instance,
+discussing this doctrine in a letter to his father endeavored to place
+it upon a philosophical basis." (Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol.  XII,
+p. 232.) We also read, "The Cabalists eagerly adopted the doctrine on
+account of the vast field it offered to mystic speculations. Moreover
+it was almost a necessary corollary of their psychological system. The
+absolute condition of the soul is, according to them, its return,
+after developing all those perfections, the germs of which are
+eternally implanted in it, to the Infinite Source from which it
+emanated. Another term of life must therefore be vouchsafed to those
+souls which have not fulfilled their destiny here below, and have not
+been sufficiently purified for the state of union with the Primordial
+Cause. Hence if the soul, on its first assumption of a human body and
+sojourn on earth, fails to acquire that experience for which it
+descended from heaven and becomes contaminated by that which is
+polluting, it must reinhabit a body till it is able to ascend in a
+purified state through repeated trials."  This is the theory of the
+Zohar, which says: "All souls are subject to transmigration; and men
+do not know the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He!  They do not know
+that they are brought before the tribunal both before they enter into
+this world and after they leave it; they are ignorant of the many
+transmigrations and secret probations which they have to undergo, and
+of the number of souls and spirits which enter into this world and
+which do not return to the palace of the Heavenly King. Men do not
+know how the souls revolve like a stone which is thrown from a
+sling. But the time is at hand when these mysteries will be
+disclosed." (Zohar, II, 99 _b_.)
+
+Like many of the Church Fathers the Cabalists used as their main
+argument in favor of the doctrine of metempsychosis the justice of
+God. But for the belief in metempsychosis, they maintained, the
+question why God often permits the wicked to lead a happy life while
+many righteous are miserable would be unanswerable. Then too the
+infliction of pain upon children would be an act of cruelty unless it
+is imposed in punishment of sin committed by the soul in a previous
+state. Isaac Abravanel sees in the commandment of the Levirate a proof
+of the doctrine of metempsychosis for which he gives the following
+reasons: (1) God in His mercy willed that another trial should be
+given to the soul, which having yielded to the sanguine temperament of
+the body had committed a capital sin, such as murder, adultery, etc.;
+(2) it is only just that when a man dies young a chance should be
+given to his soul to execute in another body the good deeds which it
+had not time to perform in the first body; (3) the soul of the wicked
+sometimes passes into another body in order to receive its deserved
+punishment here below instead of in the other world where it would be
+much more severe. (Commentary on Deuteronomy, XXV, 5.)
+
+Christianity is not exempt from this idea. Origen and other Church
+Fathers believed in it. Origen says: "For God, justly disposing of his
+creatures according to their desert, united the diversities of minds
+in one congruous world, that he might, as it were, adorn his mansion
+(in which ought to be not only vases of gold and silver, but of wood
+also and clay, and some to honor and some to dishonor) with these
+diverse vases, minds or souls. To these causes the world owes its
+diversity, while Divine Providence disposes each according to his
+tendency, mind and disposition." He also says: "I think this is a
+question how it happens that the human mind is influenced now by the
+good, now by the evil. The causes of this I suspect to be more ancient
+than this corporeal birth." The idea of Reincarnation spread so fast
+amongst the early Christians that Justinian was obliged to suppress it
+by passing a law in the Council of Constantinople in 538 A.D. The law
+was this: "Whoever shall support the mythical presentation of the
+pre-existence of the soul, and the consequently wonderful opinion of
+its return, let him be Anathema." The Gnostics and Manichaeans
+propagated the tenets of Reincarnation amongst the mediaeval sects
+such as the Bogomiles and Paulicians. Some of the followers of this
+so-called erroneous belief were cruelly persecuted in 385 A.D.
+
+In the seventeenth century some of the Cambridge Platonists, as
+Dr. Henry More and others, accepted the idea of rebirth. Most of the
+German philosophers of the middle ages and of recent days have
+advocated and upheld this doctrine. Many quotations can be given from
+the writings of great thinkers, like Kant, Scotus, Schelling, Fichte,
+Leibnitz, Schopenhauer, Giardano Bruno, Goethe, Lessing, Herder and a
+host of others. The great skeptic Hume says in his posthumous essay on
+"The Immortality of the Soul," "The metempsychosis is therefore the
+only system of this kind that philosophy can hearken to." Scientists
+like Flammarion and Huxley have supported this doctrine of
+Reincarnation. Professor Huxley says: "None but hasty thinkers will
+reject it on the ground of inherent absurdity. Like the doctrine of
+evolution itself, that of transmigration has its roots in the world of
+reality." ("Evolution and Ethics," p. 61.)
+
+Some of the theological leaders have preached it. The eminent German
+theologian Dr. Julius Mueller supports this theory in his work on "The
+Christian Doctrine of Sin." Prominent theologians, such as Dr. Dorner,
+Ernesti, Rueckert, Edward Beecher, Henry Ward Beecher, Phillips Brooks,
+preached many a time touching the question of the pre-existence and
+rebirth of the individual soul. Swedenborg and Emerson maintained
+it. Emerson says in his essay on Experience, "We wake and find
+ourselves on a stair. There are stairs below us which we seem to have
+ascended; there are stairs above us, many a one, which go upward and
+out of sight."
+
+Almost all of the poets, ancient or modern, profess it. William
+Wordsworth says in "Intimations of Immortality:"--
+
+  "The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
+    Hath had elsewhere its setting,
+  And cometh from afar."
+
+Tennyson writes in the "Two Voices;"
+
+  "Or, if through lower lives I came--
+  Tho' all experience past became,
+  Consolidate in mind and frame--
+  I might forget my weaker lot;
+  For is not our first year forgot?
+  The haunts of memory echo not."
+
+Walt Whitman says in "Leaves of Grass:"
+
+  "As to you, Life, I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths,
+  No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before."
+
+Similar passages can be quoted from almost all the poets of different
+countries. Even amongst the aboriginal tribes of Africa, Asia, North
+and South America, traces of this belief in the rebirth of souls is to
+be found. Nearly three-fourths of the population of Asia believe in
+the doctrine of Reincarnation, and through it they find a satisfactory
+explanation of the problem of life. There is no religion which denies
+the continuity of the individual soul after death.
+
+Those who do not believe in Reincarnation try to explain the world of
+inequalities and diversities either by the one-birth theory or by the
+theory of hereditary transmission. Neither of these theories, however,
+is sufficient to explain the inequalities that we meet with in our
+everyday life. Those who believe in the one-birth theory, that we have
+come here for the first and last time, do not understand that the
+acquirement of wisdom and experience is the purpose of human life; nor
+can they explain why children who die young should come into existence
+and pass away without getting the opportunity to learn anything or
+what purpose is served by their coming thus for a few days, remaining
+in utter ignorance and then passing away without gaining anything
+whatever. The Christian dogma, based on the one-birth theory, tells us
+that the child which dies soon after its birth is sure to be saved and
+will enjoy eternal life and everlasting happiness in heaven. The
+Christians who really believe in this dogma ought to pray to their
+heavenly Father for the death of their children immediately after
+their birth and ought to thank the merciful Father when the grave
+closes over their little forms. Thus the one-birth theory of Christian
+theology does not remove any difficulty.
+
+Two great religions, Judaism with its two offspring--Christianity and
+Mahomedanism--and Zoroastrianism, still uphold the one-birth theory.
+
+The followers of these, shutting their eyes to the absurdity and
+unreasonableness of such a theory, believe that human souls are
+created out of nothing at the time of the birth of their bodies and
+that they continue to exist throughout eternity either to suffer or to
+enjoy because of the deeds performed during the short period of their
+earthly existence. Here the question arises why should a man be held
+responsible throughout eternity for the works which he was forced or
+predestined to perform by the will of the Lord of the universe? The
+theory of predestination and grace, instead of explaining the
+difficulty, makes God partial and unjust. If the omnipotent personal
+God created human souls out of nothing, could He not make all souls
+equally good and happy? Why does He make one to enjoy all the
+blessings of life and another to suffer all miseries throughout
+eternity? Why is one born with good tendencies and another with evil
+ones? Why is one man virtuous throughout his life and another bestial?
+Why is one born intelligent and another idiotic? If God out of His own
+will made all these inequalities, or, in other words, if God created
+one man to suffer and another to enjoy, then how partial and unjust
+must He be! He must be worse than a tyrant. How can we worship Him,
+how call Him just and merciful?
+
+Some people try to save God from this charge of partiality and
+injustice by saying that all good things of this universe are the work
+of God, and all evil things are the work of a demon or Satan. God
+created everything good, but it was Satan who brought evil into this
+world and made everything bad. Now let us see how far such a statement
+is logically correct. Good and evil are two relative terms; the
+existence of one depends upon that of the other. Good cannot exist
+without evil, and evil cannot exist without being related to
+good. When God created what we call good, He must have created evil at
+the same time, otherwise He could not create good alone. If the
+creator of evil, call him by whatever name you like, had brought evil
+into this world, he must have created it simultaneously with God;
+otherwise it would have been impossible for God to create good, which
+can exist only as related to evil. As such they will have to admit
+that the Creators of good and evil sat together at the same time to
+create this world, which is a mixture of good and evil. Consequently,
+both of them are equally powerful, and limited by each other.
+Therefore neither of them is infinite in powers or omnipotent. So we
+cannot say that the Almighty God of the universe created good alone
+and not the evil.
+
+Another argument which the Vedantists advance in support of the theory
+of Reincarnation is that "Nothing is destroyed in the universe."
+Destruction in the sense of the annihilation of a thing is unknown to
+the Vedantic philosophers, just as it is unknown to the modern
+scientists. They say "non-existence can never become existence and
+existence can never become non-existence;" or, in other words, that
+which did not exist can never exist, and conversely that which exists
+in any form can never become non-existent. This is the law of
+nature. As such, the impressions or ideas which we now have, together
+with the powers which we possess, will not be destroyed but will
+remain with us in some form or other. Our bodies may change, but the
+powers, Karma, Samskaras or impressions and the materials which
+manufactured our bodies must remain in us in an unmanifested
+form. They will never be destroyed. Again science tells us that that
+which remains in an unmanifested or potential state must at some time
+or other be manifested in a kinetic or actual form. Therefore we shall
+get other bodies, sooner or later. It is for this reason said in the
+"Bhagavad Gita": "Birth must be followed by death and death must be
+followed by birth." Such a continuously recurring series of births and
+deaths each germ of life must go through. Another consideration is
+that the beginning, ending and continuing are conceptions of the human
+mind; their significance depends entirely upon our conception of
+time. But we all know that time has no absolute existence. It is
+merely a form of our knowledge of our own existence in relation to
+that of nature.  The conception of time vanishes at the sleep of
+death, just as it does every night when we are in sound sleep. Death
+resembles the state of our sound sleep. The soul wakes up from the
+sleep of death just in the same manner as the insects awake in spring
+after sleeping the long and rigid winter-sleep, as a chrysalis in the
+bed of a cocoon spun by itself in autumn. Nature teaches us the great
+lesson of rebirth and the similarity between sleep and death by the
+rejuvenation of the chrysalis in the spring. After death the soul
+wakes up and puts on or manufactures the garment of a new body, just
+in the same manner as we put on new clothes after throwing away the
+old and worn-out ones. Thus the soul continues to manifest itself over
+and over again either on the human or any other plane of existence,
+being bound by the Law of Karma or of Cause and Sequence.
+
+  "Death, so called, is but older matter dressed
+  In some new form. And in a varied vest,
+  From tenement to tenement though tossed,
+  The soul is still the same, the figure only lost."
+
+  _Poem on Pythagoras, Dryden's Ovid._
+
+Here it may be asked, if we existed before our birth why do we not
+remember? This is one of the strongest objections often raised against
+the belief in pre-existence. Some people deny the existence of the
+soul in the past simply because they cannot remember the events of
+their past. Others, again, who hold memory as the standard of
+existence, say, if our memory of the present ceases to exist at the
+time of death, with it we shall also cease to be; we cannot be
+immortal; because they hold that memory is the standard of life, and
+if we do not remember then we are not the same beings.
+
+Vedanta answers these questions by saying that it is possible for us
+to remember our previous existences.  Those who have read "Raja Yoga"
+will recall that in the 18th aphorism of the third chapter it is said:
+"By perceiving the Samskaras one acquires the knowledge of past
+lives." Here the Samskaras mean the impressions of the past experience
+which lie dormant in our subliminal self, and are never lost. Memory
+is nothing but the awakening and rising of latent impressions above
+the threshold of consciousness. A Raja Yogi, through powerful
+concentration upon these dormant impressions of the subconscious mind,
+can remember all the events of his past lives. There have been many
+instances in India of Yogis who could know not only their own past
+lives but correctly tell those of others. It is said that Buddha
+remembered five hundred of his previous births.
+
+Our subliminal self, or the subconscious mind, is the storehouse of
+all the impressions that we gather through our experiences during our
+lifetime. They are stored up, pigeon-holed there, in the _Chitta_, as
+it is called in Vedanta. "Chitta" means the same subconscious mind or
+subliminal self which is the storehouse of all impressions and
+experiences. And these impressions remain latent until favorable
+conditions rouse them and bring them out on the plane of
+consciousness. Here let us take an illustration: In a dark room
+pictures are thrown on a screen by lantern-slides. The room is
+absolutely dark. We are looking at the pictures. Suppose we open a
+window and allow the rays of the midday sun to fall upon the
+screen. Would we be able to see those pictures? No. Why? Because the
+more powerful flood of light will subdue the light of the lantern and
+the pictures. But although they are invisible to our eyes we cannot
+deny their existence on the screen. Similarly, the pictures of the
+events of our previous lives upon the screen of the subliminal self
+may be invisible to us at present, but they exist there. Why are they
+invisible to us now? Because the more powerful light of
+sense-consciousness has subdued them. If we close the windows and
+doors of our senses from outside contact and darken the inner chamber
+of our self, then by focusing the light of consciousness and
+concentrating the mental rays we shall be able to know and remember
+our past lives, and all the events and experiences thereof. Those who
+wish therefore to develop their memory and remember their past should
+practice Raja Yoga and learn the method of acquiring the power of
+concentration by shutting the doors and windows of their senses. And
+that power of concentration must be helped by the power of
+self-control. That is, by controlling the doors and windows of our own
+senses.
+
+These dormant impressions, whether we remember them or not, are the
+chief factors in moulding our individual characters with which we are
+born, and they are the causes of the inequalities and diversities
+which we find around us. When we study the characters and powers of
+geniuses and prodigies we cannot deny the pre-existence of the
+soul. Whatever the soul has mastered in a previous life manifests in
+the present. The memory of particular events is not so important. If
+we possess the wisdom and knowledge which we gathered in our previous
+lives, then it matters very little whether or not we remember the
+particular events, or the struggles which we went through in order to
+gain that knowledge. Those particular things may not come to us in our
+memory, but we have not lost the wisdom. Now, study your own present
+life and you will see that in this life you have gained some
+experience. The particular events and the struggles which you went
+through are passing out of your memory, but the experience, the
+knowledge which you have gained through that experience, has moulded
+your character, has shaped you in a different manner. You will not
+have to go through those different events again to remember; how you
+acquired that experience is not necessary; the wisdom gained is quite
+enough.
+
+Then, again, we find among ourselves persons who are born with some
+wonderful powers. Take, for instance, the power of self-control. One
+is born with the power of self-control highly developed, and that
+self-control may not be acquired by another after years of hard
+struggle. Why is there this difference? Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna was
+born with God-consciousness, and he went into the highest state of
+Samadhi when he was four years old; but this state is very difficult
+for other Yogis to acquire. There was a Yogi who came to see
+Ramakrishna. He was an old man and possessed wonderful powers, and he
+said: "I have struggled for forty years to acquire that state which is
+natural with you." There are many such instances which show that
+pre-existence is a fact, and that these latent or dormant impressions
+of previous lives are the chief factors in moulding the individual
+character without depending upon the memory of the past. Because we
+cannot remember our past, because of the loss of memory of the
+particular events, the soul's progress is not arrested. The soul will
+continue to progress further and further, even though the memory may
+be weak.
+
+Each individual soul possesses this storehouse of previous experiences
+in the background, in the subconscious mind. Take the instance of two
+lovers. What is love? It is the attraction between two souls. This
+love does not die with the death of the body. True love survives death
+and continues to grow, to become stronger and stronger. Eventually it
+brings the two souls together and makes them one. The theory of
+pre-existence alone can explain why two souls at first sight know each
+other and become attached to each other by the tie of friendship. This
+mutual love will continue to grow and will become stronger, and in the
+end will bring these lovers together, no matter where they
+go. Therefore, Vedanta does not say that the death of the body will
+end the attraction or the attachment of two souls; but as the souls
+are immortal so their relation will continue forever.
+
+The Yogis know how to develop memory and how to read past lives. They
+say, time and space exist in relation to our present mental condition;
+if we can rise above this plane, our higher mind sees the past and
+future just as we see things before our eyes. Those who wish to
+satisfy the idle curiosity of their minds may spend their energy by
+trying to recollect their past lives. But I think it will be much more
+helpful to us if we devote our time and energy in moulding our future
+and in trying to be better than we are now, because the recollection
+of our former condition would only force us to make a bad use of the
+present. How unhappy he must be who knows that the wicked deeds of his
+past life will surely react on him and will bring distress, misery,
+unhappiness or suffering within a few days or a few months. Such a man
+would be so restless and unhappy that he would not be able to do any
+work properly; he would constantly think in what form misery would
+appear to him. He would not be able to eat or even sleep. He would be
+most miserable. Therefore we ought to regard it as a great blessing
+that we do not recollect our past lives and past deeds. Vedanta says,
+do not waste your valuable time in thinking of your past lives, do not
+look backward during the tiresome journey through the different stages
+of evolution, always look forward and try first to attain to the
+highest point of spiritual development; then if you want to know your
+past lives you will recollect them all. Nothing will remain unknown to
+you, the Knower of the universe. When the all-knowing Divine Self will
+manifest through you, time and space will vanish and past and future
+will be changed into the eternal present. Then you will say as Sri
+Krishna said to Arjuna, in the "Bhagavad Gita:" "Both you and I have
+passed through many lives; you do not recollect any, but I know them
+all." (Ch. iv., 5.)
+
+
+
+II. HEREDITY AND REINCARNATION.
+
+
+Those who accept the theory of heredity deny the existence of the
+human soul as an entity separable from the gross physical
+organism. Consequently they do not discuss the question whether the
+individual soul existed in the past or will continue to exist after
+the death of the body. This kind of question does not disturb their
+minds. They generally maintain that the individual soul is inseparable
+from the body or the brain or nervous system; consequently what we
+call soul or the conscious entity or the thinker is produced along
+with the birth of the organism or brain, lasts as long as the body
+lasts and dies when the organism is dissolved into its elements.  But
+those, on the other hand, who accept the theory of Reincarnation admit
+the existence of soul as a conscious entity which is independent of
+the physical organism, that it continues to live after death and that
+it existed before the birth of the body. The theory of heredity has
+always been supported by the materialistic scientists, atheists and
+agnostics of all ages and also by those who believe in the special
+creation of the first man and woman at a certain definite time and
+that their qualities, character, life and soul have been transmitted
+to all humanity through successive generations. The commonly accepted
+meaning of the theory of heredity is that all the well-marked
+peculiarities, both physical and mental, in the parents are handed on
+to the children; or, in other words, heredity is that property of an
+organism by which its peculiar nature is transmitted to its
+descendants.
+
+In the whole history of humanity there has never been a time when this
+question of heredity has been discussed so minutely and in so many
+different ways as it has been in the present century. Although this
+theory was known in the East by the ancient Vedanta philosophers, by
+the Buddhists of the pre-Christian era and by the Greek philosophers
+in the West, still it has received a new impetus and has grown with
+new strength since the introduction of the Darwinian theory of the
+evolution of species.  Along with the latest discoveries in
+physiology, biology, embryology and other branches of modern science,
+the popular simple meaning of heredity--that the offspring not only
+resemble their parents among animals as well as among men, but inherit
+all the individual peculiarities, life and character of their
+parents--has taken the shape of the most complicated and difficult
+problem which it is almost impossible to solve. Our minds are no
+longer satisfied with Haeckel's definition that heredity is simply an
+overgrowth of the individual, a simple continuity of growth; but we
+want to know the particular method by which hereditary transmission
+takes place.  We ask, how can a single cell reproduce the whole body
+of the offspring, its mind, character and all the peculiarities of an
+organism? Out of the myriads of cells of which a body is composed,
+what kind of cell is that which possesses the power of reproducing the
+peculiarities, both mental and physical, which are to be found in the
+form of the new-born babe?  This is the most puzzling of all the
+problems which the scientific mind has ever encountered. The
+fundamental question connected with the theory of heredity is: How can
+a single cell of the body contain within itself all the hereditary
+tendencies of the hypothesis of the continuity of the germ-plasm gives
+an identical starting-point to each successive generation, and thus
+explains how it is that an identical product arises from all of
+them. In other words, the hypothesis explains heredity as part of the
+underlying problems of assimilation and of the causes which act
+directly during ontogeny. (Vol. I, p. 170.)
+
+According to Weismann, all the peculiarities which we find in an
+organism are not inherited by the organism from that of the parents,
+but he says: "Nothing can arise in an organism unless the
+predisposition to it is pre-existent, for every acquired character is
+simply the reaction of the organism upon a certain stimulus." (Vol. I,
+p. 172.) Therefore the germ-cells do not inherit all the peculiarities
+of the parents, but possess the predisposition or a potentiality of
+the tendencies which gradually develop into individual characters.
+
+We will be able to understand his theory better from the following
+quotations, which give his own words. He says: "I have called this
+substance 'germ-plasm,' and have assumed that it possesses a highly
+complex structure, conferring upon it the power of developing into a
+complex organism."  ("Heredity," Vol. I, p. 170.) Again he says:
+"There is, therefore, continuity of the germ-plasm from one generation
+to another. One might represent the germ-plasm by the metaphor of a
+long, creeping rootstock from which plants arise at intervals, these
+latter representing the individuals of successive generations. Hence
+it follows that the transmission of acquired characters is an
+impossibility, for if the germ-plasm is not formed anew in each
+individual, but is derived from that which preceded it, its structure,
+and, above all, its molecular constitution, cannot depend upon the
+individual in which it happens to occur, but such an individual only
+forms, as it were, the nutritive soil at the expense of which the
+germ-plasm grows, while the latter possessed its characteristic
+structure from the beginning, viz., before the commencement of growth.
+But the tendencies of heredity, of which the germ-plasm is the bearer,
+depend upon this very molecular structure, and hence only those
+characters can be transmitted through successive generations which
+have been previously inherited, viz., those characters which were
+potentially contained in the structure of the germ-plasm. It also
+follows that those other characters which have been acquired by the
+influence of special external conditions, during the lifetime of the
+parent, cannot be transmitted at all."  (Vol. I, p. 273.) In
+conclusion, Weismann writes: "But at all events we have gained this
+much, that the only facts which appear to directly prove a
+transmission of acquired characters have been refuted, and that the
+only firm foundation on which this hypothesis has been hitherto based
+has been destroyed."(Vol. I, p. 461.)
+
+Thus we see how far the theory of heredity has been pushed by the
+great scientific investigators of the present age. We have no longer
+any right to believe in the old oft-refuted hypothesis which assumes
+that each individual organism produces germ-cells afresh again and
+again and transmits all its powers developed and acquired by the
+parents; but, on the contrary, we have come to know to-day that
+parents are nothing but mere channels through which these germ-plasms
+or germ-cells manifest their peculiar tendencies and powers which
+existed in them from the very beginning. The main point is that the
+germs are not created by the parents, but that they existed in
+previous generations.
+
+Now, what are those germs like? Wherefrom do they acquire these
+tendencies, these peculiarities?  That is another very difficult
+problem. Dr. Weismann and his followers say that these peculiarities
+are gained or inherited "from the common stock," but what that common
+stock is they do not explain.  Where is that common stock and why will
+certain germs acquire certain tendencies and other germs retain other
+peculiarities? What regulates them? These questions are not solved. So
+far we have gathered from Dr. Weismann's explanation that the parents
+are not the creators of the germs but, on the contrary, that the germs
+existed before the birth of the body, before the growth of the body,
+in previous generations, or in the common stock of the universe. The
+previous generations are dead and gone, so we may say that they
+existed in the universe. We cannot now believe the old, crude,
+often-refuted idea that God creates the germ at the time of birth and
+puts into it all the powers and peculiarities of the parents. This
+theory makes God unjust and partial, so it does not appeal to us any
+more. We need better and more rational explanations. The one-birth
+theory, which has been preached by Christian ministers and other
+religionists for so many years, does not remove the difficulties, does
+not explain the cause of the inequalities and diversities, does not
+answer the question whether we acquire all the tendencies and
+peculiarities of the parents or whether acquired characters cannot be
+transmitted. We have already seen that these questions are left
+unsolved by the one-birth theory of Christianity and of Judaism. But
+this theory of "continuity of the germ-plasm" pushes the question of
+heredity to the door of Reincarnation. If modern science can explain
+what that common stock is and why and how these germs retain those
+peculiarities and tendencies, then the answer will be complete and not
+until then. The Vedanta philosophy, however, has already explained the
+cause of the potentiality in the germ of life or "germ-plasm" or
+germ-cell.
+
+Vedanta solves this difficulty by saying that each of these
+germ-plasms or germ-cells is nothing but the subtle form of a
+reincarnating individual, containing potentially all the experiences,
+characters, tendencies, and desires which one had in one's previous
+life. It existed before the birth of the body and it will continue
+after the death of the body. This germ or subtle body is not the same
+as the astral body of the Theosophists, or the double of the
+metaphysical thinkers or the disembodied spirit of the Spiritualists;
+but it is an ethereal center of activity-physical, mental and
+organic. It is a center which possesses the tendency to manifest these
+powers on different planes of existence. It contains the minute
+particles of matter or ethereal substance and the life principle or
+vital energy by which we live and move. It also possesses the mental
+powers and sense powers; but all these remain latent, just as in a
+seed we see that the powers of growth, of assimilation and of
+producing flowers and fruits are latent.
+
+At the time of death the individual soul contracts and remains in the
+form of a germ of life. It is for this reason, Vedanta teaches, that
+it is neither the will of God nor the fault of the parents that forms
+the characters of children, but each child is responsible for its
+tendencies, capacities, powers and character. It is its own "Karma" or
+past actions that make a child a murderer or a saint, virtuous or
+sinful. The stored-up potentialities in a subtle body manifest in the
+character of an individual.
+
+The argument advanced by the supporters of the theory of hereditary
+transmission does not furnish a satisfactory explanation of the cause
+of the inequalities and diversities of the universe. Why is it that
+the children of the same parents show a marked dissimilarity to their
+parents and to each other?
+
+Why do twins develop into dissimilar characters and possess opposite
+qualities, although they are born of the same parents at the same time
+and brought up under similar conditions and environments? How can
+heredity explain such cases? Suppose a man has five children; one is
+honest and saintly, another is an idiot, the third becomes a murderer,
+the fourth a genius or prodigy, and the fifth a cripple and
+diseased. Who made these dissimilarities? They cannot be
+accidents. There is no such thing as an accident. Every event of the
+universe is bound by the law of cause and effect. There must be some
+cause of these inequalities. Who made one honest and saintly, another
+an idiot, and so forth? Parents? That cannot be. They never dreamed
+that they would beget a murderer or a villain or an idiot. On the
+contrary, all parents wish their children to be the best and
+happiest. But in spite of such desires they get such children. Why?
+What is the cause? Does the theory of heredity explain it? No, not at
+all. Suppose a man, twenty-four years old, who has certain traits,
+like musical or artistic talents, such as painting and so on, has a
+crooked nose and other peculiarities, like cross-eyes, which resemble
+those of his grandfather. Suppose his grandfather died six years
+before he was born. Now, those who believe in the theory of heredity
+will say that this young man inherited all these peculiarities from
+his grandfather. When did he inherit? His grandfather had died six
+years before he was born. He inherited, of course, in the form of that
+germ. What is that germ like? A minute protoplasm, a jelly-like
+substance, and if you examine it with a powerful microscope you will
+hardly find any difference between it and the proto-plasmic germ of a
+dog, or of a cat, or of a tree. It is smaller than a pin's head. And
+in that state this young man inherited all these peculiarities from
+his grandfather; or, in other words, before he had a nose, he got a
+crooked nose; before he had eyes, he inherited cross-eyes, and before
+he had any brain, he inherited all the wonderful powers-his musical
+and artistic talents. Does it not seem absurd to you? Even if we admit
+this theory of heredity, then what do we understand? That the whole of
+this young man existed in the form of a protoplasm before he was
+born. His cross-eyes, his crooked nose, his artistic talents--all
+these pre-existed in the form of a protoplasmic cell. This leads up to
+the same thing which is taught by the theory of Reincarnation, or, in
+other words, if it be possible for this young man to remain in the
+form of a protoplasm and inherit all these things before his birth,
+why cannot we believe that the soul or the subtle body of this young
+man possessed them from the very beginning? According to Vedanta this
+young man was not the creature of his grandfather, but he had his own
+independent existence; only by coming through the channel of his
+parents he had received certain characteristic impressions, just as a
+tree in its process of growth will receive from the environments
+certain peculiarities when it assimilates those properties.
+
+The doctrine of Reincarnation alone can explain satisfactorily and
+rationally the diversities among children and the reason of the many
+instances of uncommon powers and genius displayed in childhood. The
+theory of heredity has up to this time failed to give any good reason
+for them. Why is it that Pascal, when twelve years old, succeeded in
+discovering for himself the greater part of plane geometry. How could
+the shepherd Mangiamelo, when five years old, calculate like an
+arithmetical machine. Think of the child Zerah Colburn: when he was
+under eight years of age he could solve the most tremendous
+mathematical problems instantly and without using any figures. "In one
+instance he took the number 8 and raised it up progressively to the
+sixteenth power and instantly mentioned the result which contained 15
+figures--28l,474,976,710,656." Of course he was right in every
+figure. When asked the square root of numbers consisting of six
+figures, he would state the result instantly with perfect accuracy. He
+used to give the cube root of numbers in the hundreds of millions the
+very moment when it was asked. Somebody asked him once how many
+minutes there were in 48 years, he answered, 25,288,800.
+
+Mozart, the great musician, wrote a sonata when he was four years old
+and an opera in his eighth year. Theresa Milanolla played the violin
+with such skill that many people thought that she must have played
+before her birth. There are many such instances of wonderful powers
+exhibited by artists and painters when they were quite young.
+Sankaracharya, the great commentator of the Vedanta philosophy,
+finished his commentary when he was twelve years old. How can such
+cases be explained by the theory of hereditary transmission? Many of
+you have heard of the wonderful musical talents of Blind Tom. This
+blind negro slave was born on his master's plantation and was brought
+up as a typical negro.  He received no training in music or in any
+other line. One day when his master's family were at dinner he
+happened to come into his master's parlor and displayed his marvelous
+musical power for the first time by playing on his master's
+piano. Afterwards he was exhibited in different states of this
+country. Physically he was nothing but a typical negro. His intellect
+was very poor, but in music he was a master. His musical talents were
+so great that he composed music for himself and played his own
+compositions. Sometimes after hearing a new piece of rapid music once,
+he could reproduce it note for note. Where did he get all these
+powers? From whom did he inherit them? His parents perhaps never heard
+of a piano. He never had a lesson in his life, and he could not have
+understood even if he had had any. Not long ago I saw a girl of about
+six years, who played the piano most beautifully and who could
+reproduce the most difficult music after hearing it once. It seems to
+me that she must have played the piano in her previous incarnation.
+This is the only explanation that we can give.
+
+Does heredity explain such cases? No. These illustrations are
+sufficient to disprove the theory of "cumulative heredity".
+"Cumulative" means gradualness.  The believers in this theory say that
+a genius is the result of cumulative heredity, that is, it presents
+itself by degrees from less genius to greater and still greater and so
+on. In the whole history of the genealogy of geniuses, like Homer,
+Plato, Shakespeare, Goethe, Raphael, there never was in their families
+almost Plato, almost Shakespeare, or almost Goethe. Neither is it
+possible to trace the extraordinary powers of any of these back to any
+member of their ancestral line. Therefore we can say that no other
+theory than that of Reincarnation can explain satisfactorily the
+causes which produce geniuses and prodigies in this world.
+
+Those who accept the truth of Reincarnation do not blame their parents
+for their poor talents, or for not possessing extraordinary powers,
+but they remain content with their own lot, knowing that they have
+made themselves as they are to-day by their own thoughts and deeds in
+their previous incarnations. They understand the meaning of the saying
+"what thou sowest thou must reap," and always endeavor to mould their
+future by better thoughts and better deeds. They explain all the
+inequalities and diversities of life and character by the law of
+"Karma," which governs the process of Reincarnation as well as the
+gradual evolution of the germs of life from lower to higher stages of
+existence.
+
+
+
+III. EVOLUTION AND REINCARNATION.
+
+
+The amazing achievements of modern science have been opening every day
+new gates of wisdom and slowly bringing human minds nearer and nearer
+to the ultimate reality of the universe. The fire of knowledge kindled
+by science has already burnt down many dogmas and beliefs, held sacred
+by the superstition of the past, which stood in the way of
+truth-seeking minds. In the first place science has disproved the
+theory of the creation of the universe out of nothing by the action of
+some supernatural power. It has shown that the universe did not appear
+in its present form or come into existence all of a sudden only a few
+thousand years ago, but that it has taken ages to pass through
+different stages before it could reach its present condition.  Each of
+these stages was directly related to a previous stage by the law of
+causation, which always operates in accordance with definite
+rules. The phenomena of the universe, according to science, are
+subject to evolution, or gradual change and progressive development
+from a relatively uniform condition to a relative complexity. From the
+greatest solar system down to the smallest blade of grass, everything
+in the universe has taken its present shape and form through this
+cosmic process of evolution. Our planet earth has gradually evolved,
+perhaps out of a nebulous mass which existed at first in a gaseous
+state. The sun, moon, stars, satellites and other planets have come
+into existence by going through innumerable changes produced by the
+evolutionary process of the Cosmos. Through the same process plants,
+insects, fishes, reptiles, birds, animals, man, and all living matter
+that inhabit this earth have evolved from minute germs of life into
+their present forms. The theory of Evolution says that man did not
+come into existence all of a sudden, but is related to lower animals
+and to plants, either directly or indirectly. The germ of life had
+passed through various stages of physical form before it could appear
+as a man. That branch of science which is called Embryology has proved
+the fact that "man is the epitome of the whole creation." It tells
+that the human body before its birth passes through all the different
+stages of the animal kingdom--such as the polyp, fish, reptile, dog,
+ape, and at last, man. If we remember that nature is always
+consistent, that her laws are uniform and that whatever exists in the
+microcosm exists also in the macrocosm, and then study nature, we
+shall find that all the germs of life which exist in the universe are
+bound to pass through stages resembling the embryonic types before
+they can appear in the form of man.
+
+In explaining the theory of Evolution, science says that there are two
+principal factors in the process of evolution; the first is the
+tendency to vary, which exists in all living forms whether vegetable
+or animal; the second is the tendency of environment to influence that
+variation, either favorably or unfavorably. Without the first,
+evolution of any kind would be absolutely impossible. But the cause of
+that innate tendency to vary is still unknown to science. Upon the
+second depends the law of natural selection. The variation must be
+adapted to favorable conditions of life; consequently either the germ
+of life will select suitable environments or vary itself in order to
+suit the surrounding conditions, if they are unfavorable. But the
+agent of this selective process is the struggle for existence, which
+is a no less important factor. Thus Evolution depends on these three
+laws: Tendency to vary, or variation, natural selection, and struggle
+for existence. Science tries to explain through these three laws the
+physical, mental, intellectual, moral and spiritual evolution of
+mankind. But the theory of Evolution will remain unintelligible until
+science can trace the cause of that innate "tendency to vary" which
+exists in every stage of all living forms.
+
+If we study closely we find that man's "self" consists of two natures,
+one animal and the other moral or spiritual. Animal nature includes
+all the animal propensities, desire for sense enjoyments, love of
+self, fear of death and struggle for existence. Each of these is to be
+found in lower animals as well as in human beings, the difference
+being only in degree and not in kind. In a savage tribe the expression
+of this animal nature is simple and natural, while in a highly
+civilized nation it is expressed not in a simple and straightforward
+manner, but in an artful and refined way. In a civilized community the
+same nature working through varied device, policy and plan brings the
+same results in a more polished form. In the struggle for existence
+amongst lower animals and savage tribes, those who are physically
+strong survive and gain advantage over those who are physically weak;
+while in the civilized world the same result is obtained, not by
+displaying physical force, but by art, diplomacy, policy, strategy and
+skill. Various kinds of defensive and offensive weapons have been
+invented to conquer those who are less skillful in using them,
+although they may be physically stronger. The simple expression of
+animal nature which we notice in savages and lower animals, by the
+natural process of evolution has gradually become more and more
+complex, as we find in the civilized nations of the world. The energy
+of the lower human nature is spent chiefly in the struggle for
+material existence.
+
+But there is another nature in man which is higher than this. It
+expresses itself in various ways, but on a higher plane. Love of
+truth, mastery over passion, control of the senses, disinterested
+self-sacrifice, mercy and kindness to all creatures, desire to help
+the distressed, forgiveness, faith in a Supreme Being and devotion;
+all these are the expressions of that higher moral and spiritual
+nature. They cannot be explained as developed from animal nature by
+means of the struggle for material existence. For these qualities are
+not to be found in lower animals, although the struggle for existence
+is there. The moral and spiritual nature of human beings cannot be
+traced as the outgrowth or gradual development of the animal
+nature. There is a dispute among the Evolutionists as to the method of
+explaining their cause. Some say that these higher faculties have
+evolved out of the lower ones and have developed by variation and
+natural selection; while others hold that some other higher influence,
+law or agency is required to account for them.
+
+Professor Huxley says: "As I have already urged, the practice of that
+which is ethically best--what we call goodness or virtue--involves a
+course of conduct which in all respects is opposed to that which leads
+to success in the cosmic struggle for existence. In place of ruthless
+self-assertion, it demands self-restraint; in place of thrusting aside
+or treading down all competitors, it requires that the individual
+shall not merely respect, but shall help his fellows; its influence is
+directed not so much to the survival of the fittest as to the fitting
+of as many as possible to survive. It repudiates the gladiatorial
+theory of existence. It demands that each man who enters into the
+enjoyment of the advantages of a polity shall be mindful of his debt
+to those who have laboriously constructed it, and shall take heed that
+no act of his weakens the fabric in which he has been permitted to
+live. Laws and moral precepts are directed to the end of curbing the
+cosmic process, and reminding the individual of his duty to the
+community, to the protection and influence of which he owes, if not
+existence itself, at least the life of something better than a brutal
+savage." ("Evolution and Ethics," pp. 81-82.)
+
+Prof. Calderwood says: "So far as human organism is concerned, there
+seem no overwhelming obstacles to be encountered by an evolution
+theory, but it seems impossible under such a theory to account for the
+appearance of the thinking, self-regulating life distinctly human."
+Thus, according to some of the best thinkers, the explanation of the
+moral and spiritual nature of man as a development of the animal
+nature, is quite insufficient and unsatisfactory.  The theory of
+natural selection in the struggle for existence cannot explain the
+cause of the higher nature of man. We cannot say that a theory is
+complete because it explains many facts.  On the contrary, if it fails
+to explain a single fact, then it is proved to be incomplete. As such,
+the theory that cannot explain satisfactorily the cause of the moral
+and spiritual nature of man cannot be accepted as a complete
+theory. That explanation will be considered as complete which will
+explain most satisfactorily all the various manifestations of the
+animal, moral and spiritual nature.  Moreover, supposing the "tendency
+to vary" has evolved into the moral and spiritual nature of man,
+science does not explain the cause of that tendency to vary, nor how
+animal nature can be transformed into moral and spiritual nature. Is
+that "tendency to vary" indefinite, or is it limited by any definite
+law? Science does not say anything about it.
+
+The explanation of the theologians, that the spiritual nature has been
+superadded to the animal nature by some extra-cosmic spiritual agency
+is not scientific, nor does it appeal to our reason. Now let us see
+what Vedanta has to say on this point. Vedanta accepts evolution and
+admits the laws of variation and natural selection, but goes a step
+beyond modern science by explaining the cause of that "tendency to
+vary." It says, "there is nothing in the end which was not also in the
+beginning." It is a law which governs the process of evolution as well
+as the law of causation. If we admit this grand truth of nature, then
+it will not be difficult to explain by the theory of Evolution the
+gradual manifestation of the higher nature of man.  The tendency of
+scientific monism is towards that end.
+
+Some of the modern scientists who hold the monistic position have
+found out the same truth which was discovered long ago by the Vedantic
+philosophers in India. J. Arthur Thomson, an eminent English scientist
+of the present day, in his book on "The Study of Animal Life," says:
+"The world is one, not two-fold-, the spiritual influx is the primal
+reality and there is nothing in the end which was not also in the
+beginning." But the evolutionists do not accept this truth. Let us
+understand it clearly. It means that that which existed potentially at
+the time of the beginning of evolution has gradually manifested in the
+various stages and grades of evolution. If we admit that a unicellular
+germ of life or a bioplasm, after passing through various stages of
+evolution, has ultimately manifested in the form of a highly developed
+human being, then we shall have to admit the potentiality of all the
+manifested powers in that germ or bioplasm, because the law is "that
+which exists in the end existed also in the beginning."  The animal
+nature, higher nature, mind, intellect, spirit, all these exist
+potentially in the germ of life.  If we do not admit this law then the
+problem will arise: How can non-existence become existent?  How can
+something come out of nothing? How can that come into existence which
+did not exist before? Each germ of life, according to Vedanta,
+possesses infinite potentialities and infinite possibilities.  The
+powers that remain latent have the natural tendency to manifest
+perfectly and to become actual. In their attempt they vary according
+to the surrounding environments, selecting suitable conditions or
+remaining latent as long as circumstances do not favor them. Therefore
+variation, according to Vedanta, is caused by this attempt of the
+potential powers to become actual. When life and mind began to evolve,
+the possibilities of action and reaction hitherto latent in the germ
+of life became real and all things became, in a sense, new. Nobody can
+imagine the amount of latent power which a minute germ of life
+possesses until it expresses in gross form on the physical plane. By
+seeing the seed of a Banyan tree, one who has never seen the tree
+cannot imagine what powers lie dormant in it. When a baby is born we
+cannot tell whether he will be a great saint, or a wonderful artist,
+or a philosopher, or an idiot, or a villain of the worst type. Parents
+know nothing about his future. Along with his growth certain latent
+powers gradually begin to manifest. Those which are the strongest and
+most powerful will overcome others and check their course for some
+time; but when the powers that remain subdued by stronger ones get
+favorable conditions they will appear in manifested forms. As, for
+instance, chemical forces may slumber in matter for a thousand years,
+but when the contact with the re-agents sets them free, they appear
+again and produce certain results. For thousands of years galvanism
+slumbered in copper and zinc, which lay quietly beside silver. As soon
+as all three are brought together under the required conditions silver
+is consumed in flame. A dry seed of a plant may preserve the
+slumbering power of growth through two or three thousand years and
+then reappear under favorable conditions. Sir G. Wilkinson, the great
+archaeologist, found some grains of wheat in a hermetically sealed
+vase in a grave at Thebes, which must have lain there for three
+thousand years. When Mr. Pettigrew sowed them they grew into plants.
+Some vegetable roots found in the hands of an Egyptian mummy, which
+must have been at least two thousand years old, were planted in a
+flower-pot, and they grew and flourished. Thus, whenever the latent
+powers get favorable conditions, they manifest according to their
+nature, even after thousands of years.
+
+Similarly, there are many instances of slumbering mental powers. After
+remaining dormant for a long period in our normal condition, they may,
+in certain abnormal states--such as madness, delirium, catalepsy,
+hypnotic sleep and so forth-flash out into luminous consciousness and
+throw into absolute oblivion the powers that are manifesting in the
+normal state. Talents for eloquence, music, painting, and uncommon
+ingenuity in several mechanical arts, traces of which were never found
+in the ordinary normal condition, are often evolved in the state of
+madness. Somnambulists in deep sleep have solved most difficult
+mathematical problems and performed various acts with results which
+have surprised them in their normal waking states. Thus we can
+understand that each individual mind is the storehouse of many powers,
+various impressions and ideas, some of which manifest in our normal
+state, while others remain latent. Our present condition of mind and
+body is nothing but the manifested form of certain dormant powers that
+exist in ourselves. If new powers are roused up and begin to manifest
+the whole nature will be changed into a new form. The manifestation of
+latent powers is at the bottom of the evolution of one species into
+another. This idea has been expressed in a few words by Patanjali, the
+great Hindu evolutionist who lived long before the Christian
+era. [Footnote: The reader ought to know that the doctrine of
+Evolution was known in India long before the Christian era. About the
+seventh century, B. C., Kapila, the father of Hindu Evolutionists,
+explained this theory for the first time through logic and
+science. Sir Monier Monier Williams says: "Indeed if I may be allowed
+the anachronism, the Hindus were Spinozites more than 2,000 years
+before the existence of Spinoza; and Darwinians many centuries before
+Darwin; and Evolutionists many centuries before the doctrine of
+Evolution had been accepted by the scientists of our time and before
+any word like Evolution existed in any language of the world." (P. 12,
+"Hinduism and Brahminism.") Prof. Huxley says: "To say nothing of
+Indian Sages to whom Evolution was a familiar notion ages before Paul
+of Tarsus was born." (P. 150, "Science and Hebrew Tradition.")] In the
+second aphorism of the fourth chapter (see "Raja Yoga," by Swami
+Vivekananda, p. 210) it is said, "The Evolution into another species
+is caused by the in-filling of nature."  The nature is filled not from
+without but from within.  Nothing is superadded to the individual soul
+from outside. The germs are already there, but their development
+depends upon their coming in contact with the necessary conditions
+requisite for proper manifestation. We sometimes see a wicked man
+suddenly become saintlike. There are instances of murderers and
+robbers becoming saints. A religionist will explain the cause of their
+sudden change, by saying that the grace of the Almighty has fallen
+upon them and transformed their whole nature.  But Vedanta says that
+the moral and spiritual powers that remained latent in them have been
+roused up, and the result is the sudden transformation. None can tell
+when or how the slumbering powers will wake up and begin to
+manifest. The germ of life, or the individual soul as it is ordinarily
+called, possesses infinite possibilities. Each germ of life is
+studying, as it were, the book of its own nature by unfolding one page
+after another. When it has gone through all the pages, or, in other
+words, all the stages of evolution, perfect knowledge is acquired, and
+its course is finished. We have read our lower nature by turning each
+page, or, in other words, by passing through each stage of animal life
+from the minutest bioplasm up to the present stage of existence. Now
+we are studying the pages which deal with moral and spiritual laws. If
+any one wants to read any page over again he will do it. Just as in
+reading a book, if anybody feels particularly interested in any page
+or chapter he will read it over and over again and will not open a new
+page or a new chapter until he is perfectly satisfied with
+it. Similarly, in reading the book of life, if the individual soul
+likes any particular stage, he will stay there until he is perfectly
+satisfied with it; after that he will go forward and study other
+pages. One may read very slowly, and another very fast; but whether we
+read slowly or rapidly each one of us is bound to read the whole book
+of nature and attain to perfection sooner or later.
+
+According to Vedanta, the end and aim of Evolution is the attainment
+of perfection. Physical evolution of animal life reached its
+perfection in human form. There cannot be any other form higher than
+human on this earth under present conditions. It is the perfection of
+animal form. From this we can infer that the tendency of the law of
+Evolution is to reach perfection. When it is attained to, the whole
+purpose is served. Do we see in nature any other higher form evolved
+out of the human body? No.  Shall we not be justified if we say that
+the end of physical evolution is the attainment of the perfection of
+animal form? Again as the purpose and method of natural laws are
+uniform throughout the universe, the end of intellectual, moral and
+spiritual evolution will be attained when intellectual, moral and
+spiritual perfection are acquired. Intellectual perfection means
+perfection of intellect; and intellect is perfect when we understand
+the true nature of things and never mistake the unreal for the real,
+matter for spirit, non-eternal for eternal, or _vice versa_. Moral
+perfection consists in the destruction of selfishness; and spiritual
+perfection is the manifestation of the true nature of spirit which is
+immortal, free, divine and one with the Universal Spirit or
+God. Evolution attains to the highest fulfilment of its purpose when
+the spirit manifests perfectly.  The tendency of nature is to have
+perfect manifestation of all her powers. When certain powers
+predominate they manifest first while the others remain dormant. As we
+find in the process of evolution, when animal nature manifests
+perfectly the moral and spiritual nature remain latent. Again when
+moral and spiritual nature manifest fully, the animal is in
+abeyance. It is for this reason we do not find expressions of moral
+and spiritual nature in lower animals or in those human beings who
+live like them. Man is the only animal in whom such perfect
+expressions of moral and spiritual nature are possible.  When the
+individual soul begins to study its spiritual nature, its lower or
+animal nature is gradually eclipsed. As the higher nature becomes
+powerful the lower nature dwindles into insignificance; its energy is
+transformed into that of the higher nature, and ultimately it
+disappears altogether and rises no more. Then the soul becomes free
+from the lower or animal nature. There are many stages in the higher
+nature, as well as in the lower. Each of these stages binds the
+individual soul so long as it stays there. As it rises on a higher
+plane the lower stages disappear and cease to bind. But the moment
+that any individual, after passing through all the stages of the
+spiritual nature, reaches the ultimate point of perfection, he
+realizes his true nature which is immortal and divine. Then his true
+individuality manifests. For lack of true knowledge, he identified
+himself with each stage successively and thought that his
+individuality was one with the powers which were manifested in each
+stage. Consequently he thought by mistake that he was affected by the
+changes of each stage. But now he realizes that his real individuality
+always remained unaffected.  He sees that his true individuality
+shines always in the same manner, although the limiting adjuncts may
+vary. As the light of a lamp appears of different colors, if it passes
+through glasses of different colors, so the light of the true
+individual appears as animal or human when it passes through the
+animal or human nature of the subtle body. The subtle body of an
+individual changes from animal nature through moral and spiritual into
+divine. As this gradual growth cannot be expected in one life we shall
+have to admit the truth of Reincarnation, which teaches gradual
+evolution of the germ of life or the individual soul through many
+lives and various forms. Otherwise the theory of Evolution will remain
+imperfect, incomplete and purposeless. The doctrine of Reincarnation
+differs from the accepted theory of Evolution in admitting a gradual
+but continuous evolution of the subtle body through many gross
+forms. The gross body may appear or disappear, but the subtle body
+continues to exist even after the dissolution of the gross body and
+re-manifests itself in some other form.
+
+The theory of Reincarnation when properly understood will appear as a
+supplement to the theory of Evolution. Without this most important
+supplement the Evolution theory will never be complete and
+perfect. Evolution explains the process of life, while Reincarnation
+explains the purpose of life. Therefore, both must go hand in hand to
+make the explanation satisfactory in every respect.
+
+James Freeman Clarke says: "That man has come up to his present state
+of development by passing through lower forms, is the popular doctrine
+of science to-day. What is called Evolution teaches that we have
+reached our present state by a very long and gradual ascent from the
+lowest animal organizations. It is true that the Darwinian theory
+takes no notice of the evolution of the soul, but only of the
+body. But it appears to me that a combination of the two views would
+remove many difficulties which still attach to the theory of natural
+selection and the survival of the fittest. If we are to believe in
+Evolution let us have the assistance of the soul itself in this
+development of new species. Thus science and philosophy will
+co-operate, nor will poetry hesitate to lend her aid." (P. 190, "Ten
+Great Religions," II.) Evolution of the body depends upon the
+evolution of the germ of life or the individual soul. When these two
+are combined the explanation becomes perfect.
+
+The theory of Reincarnation is a logical necessity for the completion
+of the theory of Evolution. If we admit a continuous evolution of a
+unit of the germ of life through many gross manifestations then we
+unconsciously accept the teachings of the doctrine of Reincarnation.
+In passing through different forms and manifestations the unit of life
+does not lose its identity or individuality. As an atom does not lose
+its identity or individuality (if you allow me to suppose an atom has
+a kind of individuality) although it passes from the mineral, through
+the vegetable, into the animal, so the germ of life always preserves
+its identity or individuality although it passes through the different
+stages of evolution.
+
+Therefore it is said in the "Bhagavad Gita," as in our ordinary life
+the individual soul passes from a baby body to a young one and from a
+young to an old, and carries with it all the impressions, ideas and
+experience that it has gathered in its former stage of existence and
+reproduces them in proper time, so when a man dies the individual soul
+passes from an old body into a new one, and takes with it the subtle
+body wherein are stored up all that it experienced and gathered during
+its past incarnations. Knowing this, wise men are never afraid of
+death. They know that death is nothing but a mere change from one body
+into another. Therefore, if any one does not succeed in conquering the
+lower nature by the higher, he will try again in his next incarnation,
+after starting from the point which he reached in his past life. He
+will not begin again from the very beginning, but from the last stage
+at which he arrived. Thus we see that Reincarnation is the logical
+sequence of evolution. It completes and makes perfect that theory and
+explains the cause of the moral and spiritual nature of man.
+
+
+
+IV. WHICH IS SCIENTIFIC--RESURRECTION OR REINCARNATION?
+
+
+The students of history are interested to know where the idea of
+resurrection first arose and how it was adopted by other nations. If
+we read carefully the writings ascribed to Moses and other writers of
+the Old Testament we find that the ancient Israelites did not believe
+in the Christian heaven or hell, nor in reward or punishment after
+death. It is doubtful whether they had any clear conception of the
+existence of soul after the dissolution of the human body. They had no
+definite idea of the hereafter.  They did not believe in the
+resurrection either of the soul or body. Job longed for death thinking
+that it would end his mental agony. In Psalms we read, "Wilt Thou shew
+wonders to the dead?  Shall the dead arise and praise Thee?"
+(Ps. lxxxviii, 10.) "In death there is no remembrance of Thee; in the
+grave who shall give Thee thanks?" (Ps. vi, 5.) Again (Ps. cxlvi, 4)
+it is said about princes and the son of man,--"His breath goeth forth,
+he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish." "The
+dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence."
+(Ps. cxv, 17.)  Solomon speaks boldly: "All things come alike to all;
+there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and
+to the clean and to the unclean... as is the good, so is the sinner."
+(Eccl. ix, 2.) "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine
+with a merry heart....  Live joyfully with thy wife... for there is no
+work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou
+goest." (Eccl. ix, 7, 9, 10.)  Again in verse 5 it is said: "The dead
+know not anything, neither have they anymore a reward, for the memory
+of them is forgotten." Solomon says: "For that which befalleth the
+sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them; as the
+one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath, so that
+a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast." "All go into one place; all
+are of the dust and all turn to dust again." "Who knoweth the spirit
+of man that goeth upward and the spirit of the beast that goeth
+downward to the earth?" (Eccl.  iii, 19-21.) There are many such
+passages which show clearly that before the Babylonian captivity the
+Israelites had no belief in reward or punishment, neither in heaven
+nor hell nor in the resurrection of the soul. Some say that they had a
+belief in a sheol or pit where departed souls remained after death,
+but were never resurrected. But when the ancient Jews were conquered
+by the Persians, 536 B.C., they came in contact with a nation which
+had developed a belief in one God, in a heaven and a hell, in the
+resurrection of the dead, in reward and punishment after death, and in
+the last day of judgment. Under the dominion of Persia, whose rule
+began with the capture of Babylon and lasted from 536-333 B.C., the
+Jews were greatly influenced by the Persian religion.  They gave up
+their idolatry, gradually developed social organization and had
+considerable liberty.  About that time the Jews were divided into two
+classes, the Pharisees and Sadducees. Those who adopted the religious
+ideas of the Parsees were called Pharisees (according to some
+authorities the word Pharisee was the Hebrew form of Parsee), and
+those who followed strictly the Jewish ideas, ceremonies, rituals and
+beliefs were called Sadducees. The former were sharply opposed to the
+latter in their doctrinal beliefs. They believed in angels and
+spirits, they expected the resurrection of the dead and believed in
+future reward and punishment and also in Divine pre-ordination. The
+Sadducees did not step beyond the bounds of ancient Judaism.  They
+were Orthodox and very conservative in their views. They denied the
+existence of angels and spirits, the resurrection of the dead, and
+reward and punishment after death. In Matt, xxii, 23, we read, "The
+same day came to him the Sadducees which say that there is no
+resurrection." The Sadducees were fewer in number than the
+Pharisees. Gradually the latter grew very powerful and after the death
+of Jesus their doctrines of the resurrection of the dead, and of
+reward and punishment after death, and the belief in angels and
+spirits, became the cardinal principles of the new Christian sect.
+Thus we see that the idea of resurrection first arose in Persia and
+afterwards took a prominent place in the writings of the New
+Testament, and since then it has been largely accepted by the
+Christians of the Western countries. The Zoroastrians believed that
+the soul of the dead hovers about the body for three nights and does
+not depart for the other world until the dawn after the third night.
+Then the righteous go to heaven and the wicked to hell. There the
+wicked remain until the time of renovation of the universe, that is,
+the judgment day. After the renovation, when Ahriman or Satan is
+killed, the souls of the wicked will be purified and have everlasting
+progress. [Footnote: "Sacred Books of the East," Vol. xvii, pp. 27,
+34, 46.] The question was asked, "How shall they produce
+resurrection?" Ahura Mazda says: "The reply is this, that the
+preparation and production of the resurrection are an achievement
+connected with miracle, a sublimity, and afterwards also a wondrous
+appearance unto the creatures uninformed. The secrets and affairs of
+the persistent Creator are like every mystery and secret." [Footnote:
+_Ibid_., p. 80.]
+
+The Zoroastrians believed in the resurrection, not of the physical
+body, but of the soul, and that it was an act of miracle. Similarly
+miraculous was the resurrection of Jesus. Although Jesus Himself never
+mentioned what kind of resurrection, whether of body or of soul that
+He meant and believed in, the interpretation of the writers of the
+Gospels shows that His disciples understood Him to mean bodily
+resurrection and the re-appearance of His physical form. The three
+days remained, just as the Zoroastrians believed. The miraculous and
+wondrous appearance of Jesus before His disciples was preached most
+vigorously by Paul. In his Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul declares
+emphatically that the whole of the Christian religion depends upon the
+miraculous resurrection and re-appearance of Jesus.  Although Paul
+said the spiritual body of the risen dead is not the same as flesh and
+blood body (I Cor., XV), still that important point is generally
+overlooked, and the result is the belief which we find amongst some of
+the Christian sects; that at the call of the angels, the body will
+rise from the grave and the mouldering dust of bones and flesh will be
+put together by the miraculous power of the Almighty God. Paul says:
+"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of
+them that slept" (I Cor., XV, 20). He preached that Christ was the
+first born from the dead, that those who believe in Christ would rise
+as He did and that those who would not believe in Him or in His
+resurrection should not rise.
+
+We have already noticed that the Parsees believed in a miraculous
+resurrection; that the same miracle became more definite in the case
+of Jesus; and that the Christian faith was afterwards founded upon
+that miraculous event. Both the Parsees and the followers of Christ
+did not mean by resurrection any universal law, but a miracle done by
+certain supernatural powers. They did not give any scientific reasons
+for such a miracle.
+
+But modern science denies miracles. It teaches that this universe is
+guided, not by miracles as the old thinkers used to believe, but by
+definite laws which are always consistent and universal. There cannot
+be any exception to those laws which are uniform throughout. If
+resurrection be one of those laws, then it must have existed before
+the birth of Jesus; as such, how could He be the first born from the
+dead, as described by Paul. Conversely, if Jesus was the first who
+rose from the dead, then resurrection cannot be a universal
+law. Scientists would not believe in anything which is not based upon
+universal laws. Some of the agnostics and materialists have gone so
+far as to say that Jesus did not die on the cross, but his animation
+was suspended when his body was taken down from the cross by Joseph of
+Arimathsea. When Joseph went to Pilate and craved the body of Jesus,
+Pilate marvelled if He were dead (Mark XV, 44), because it was only
+six hours after the crucifixion. Some of the modern physiologists are
+of opinion that temperate and strong men might live for several days
+on the cross. These heretical agnostics and skeptical scientists say
+that the body of Jesus revived after a few hours in the cool, rock-cut
+tomb, that he walked out of the tomb, went to Galilee and appeared
+before his disciples. [Footnote: Vide "Science and Christian
+Tradition," by Prof. Huxley, pp.  279-280.] Whatever the facts may be
+(nobody can now tell exactly what actually happened), it is clear that
+the scientists are not ready to take anything upon authority. They do
+not care to believe in anything because it is written in this book or
+that. They must have convincing proofs and a rational explanation of
+every phenomenon of nature. They want to penetrate into miracles in
+order to discover the universal laws that govern them. If they do not
+find any such laws, they will surely reject every event that is
+supposed to be caused by miraculous or supernatural powers.
+
+The theory of a miraculous resurrection is attended with the belief
+that the individual soul does not exist before birth. The supporters
+of this theory hold that at the time of birth, the individual, being
+created out of nothing, comes fresh into existence. But science tells
+us that sudden creation out of nothing and a total destruction of
+anything are both impossible. Matter and force are indestructible.
+Science teaches evolution and not creation, and denies the
+intervention of any supernatural being as the cause of phenomenal
+changes. The theory of Resurrection ignores all these ultimate
+conclusions of modern science. On the contrary, the doctrine of
+Reincarnation, after accepting all the truths and laws of nature that
+have been discovered by modern science, carries them to their proper
+logical conclusions.  Reincarnation is based upon evolution.  It means
+a continuous evolution of an individual germ of life, and a gradual
+re-manifestation of all the powers and forces that exist in it
+potentially. Moreover, the doctrine of Reincarnation is founded on the
+law of cause and effect. It teaches that the cause is not outside of
+the effect, but lies in the effect. The cause is the potential or
+unmanifested state of the effect, and effect is the actual or
+manifested cause.  There is one current of infinite force or power
+constantly flowing in the ocean of reality of the universe, and
+appearing in the innumerable forms of waves. We call one set of waves
+the cause of another set, but in fact that which is the cause is the
+potentiality of the future effect and the actuality of a previous
+potential cause. The underlying current is one and the same
+throughout. Reincarnation denies the idea that the soul has come into
+existence all of a sudden or has been created for the first time, but
+it holds that it has been existing from the beginningless past, and
+will exist all through eternity.  The individual soul enjoys or
+suffers according to the acts it performs. All enjoyment and suffering
+are but the reactions of our actions. Actions are the causes and the
+reactions are the results. Our present life is the result of our past
+actions, and our future will be the result of the present. The actions
+which we are now doing will not be lost. Do you think that the
+thought-forces of one life-time will end suddenly after death?
+No. They will be conserved and remain potentially in the center and
+re-manifest under suitable conditions. Each human soul is nothing but
+a center of thought-force. This center is called in Sanskrit
+_Sukshma Sarira_ or the subtle body of an individual. The subtle
+germ of life or, in other words, the invisible center of
+thought-forces, will manufacture a physical vehicle for expressing the
+latent powers that are ready for manifestation.  This process will
+continue until the germ can express most perfectly all the powers that
+are coiled up in its invisible form. As the doctrine of Reincarnation
+is in agreement with all the physical laws, so it is based upon
+psychical, moral and ethical laws. As on the objective plane the law
+of action and reaction governs the objective phenomena, so on the
+subjective plane of consciousness, if the mental action or thought be
+good, the reaction will be good, and the reaction will be evil if the
+mental action be evil, because every action produces a similar
+reaction, A good reaction is one which makes us happy and brings
+pleasant sensations or peace of mind, while an evil reaction brings
+suffering, unpleasant sensations, and makes one miserable. Thus
+Reincarnation makes us free agents for action, as well as for reaping
+the results or reactions of those actions. In fact, we mould our own
+nature, according to our desires, tendencies and works.
+
+The theory of Resurrection, as commonly understood, does not explain
+why one man is born with a sinful nature and another with a virtuous
+one. It contents itself with saying as Luther said: "Man is a beast of
+burden who only moves as his rider orders; sometimes God rides him and
+sometimes Satan."  But why God should allow Satan to ride His own
+creature nobody can tell. At any rate, man must suffer eternally for
+the crimes which he is forced by Satan to commit. Moreover this theory
+pre-supposes predestination and that the individual soul is
+fore-doomed to go either to heaven or to hell. St.  Augustine first
+started this doctrine of Predestination and Grace to explain why one
+is born sinful and another sinless. According to this theory, God, the
+merciful, favors somebody with His grace at the time of his birth and
+then he comes into this world ready to be saved, but the mass of
+humanity is born sinful and destined for eternal damnation. Very few
+indeed receive the gift of grace and are predestined to be
+saved. Moreover, this doctrine tells us that God creates man out of
+nothing, forbids him something, but at the same time He does not give
+him the power to obey His commands. Ultimately God punishes him with
+eternal torture on account of his weakness. The body and soul will not
+be separated.  He will not be set free from his body, because, if it
+be so, there will be the end of his suffering, which God does not
+like. All these sufferings and punishments are predestined before his
+birth. Thus, St.  Augustine's dogma of Predestination and Grace
+instead of explaining the difficulty satisfactorily brings horror and
+dread to human minds, while the doctrine of Reincarnation teaches
+gradual progress from lower to higher, through ages until the
+individual reaches perfection. It holds that each individual will
+become perfect like Jesus or Buddha or like the Father in heaven and
+manifest divinity either in this life or in some other. One span of
+life is too short for developing one's powers to perfection.  If you
+should try to train an idiot to become a great artist or a
+philosopher, would you ever succeed in your attempt to make him so
+during his lifetime?  No. And will you punish him because he cannot
+become so? Can a man who possesses the slightest common sense be so
+unreasonable? Similarly what would you think if God punishes a man
+because he cannot become perfect within a lifetime? It is a poor
+argument to say that God has given us free-will to choose between
+right and wrong, and we are responsible for our choice; if we choose
+wrongly we must be punished. The advocates of such an argument forget
+that at the same time God has let loose His powerful Satan to corrupt
+His creatures.
+
+It reminds me of an old story. Once on a time at a certain place a
+prisoner was released and set free through the kindness of a
+tyrant. The tyrant said to the prisoner "Look here, wicked man, I give
+you freedom, you can go to any place; but there is one condition; if
+you are attacked by any wild animal you will be put in the dungeon and
+there will be no end to your torture." So saying he gave him freedom,
+but at the same time ordered his servants to let loose a hungry wolf
+to chase the man. You can imagine what became of the prisoner. Can we
+call this an act of mercy!
+
+The doctrine of Reincarnation says that each individual soul is
+potentially perfect and is gradually unfolding its powers and making
+them actual through the process of Evolution. At every step of that
+process it is gaining different experiences which last only for a
+time. Therefore neither God nor Satan is responsible for our good or
+evil actions.  Good and evil are like the up and down or the crest and
+hollow of a wave in the sea. A wave cannot rise without making a
+hollow somewhere in the sea.  So in the infinite ocean of reality
+innumerable waves are constantly rising. The summit of each wave is
+called good, while the hollow beside it is evil or misery and the
+current of each individual life is constantly flowing towards the
+ultimate destination which we call perfection. Who can tell how long
+it will take to reach that goal? If anybody can attain to perfection
+in this life, he is no longer bound to reincarnate. If he fails he
+will continue to progress by taking some other body. Reincarnation
+does not teach, as many people think, that in the next incarnation one
+will begin from the very beginning, but it says that one will start
+from that point which one reaches before death and will keep the
+thread of progress unbroken. It does not teach that we go back to
+animal bodies after death, but that we get our bodies according to our
+desires, tendencies and powers. If any person has no desire to come
+back to this world or to any other and does not want to enjoy any
+particular object of pleasure, and if he is perfectly free from
+selfishness that person will not have to come back. The theory of
+Reincarnation is logical and satisfactory. While the theory of
+Resurrection is neither based on scientific truths nor can it
+logically explain the cause of life and death, Reincarnation solves
+all the problems of life and explains scientifically all the questions
+and doubts that arise in the human mind.
+
+"Reincarnation is not easily understood by a thoughtless child deluded
+by the delusion of wealth, name or fame. Everything ends with death,
+he thinks, and thus falls again and again under the sway of death."
+
+
+
+V. THEORY OF TRANSMIGRATION.
+
+
+The theory of transmigration is one of the oldest theories accepted by
+the people of the Orient to solve the problems concerning life and
+death as well as to explain the continuity of existence after death.
+This theory presupposes the existence of the soul as an entity which
+can live even when the gross material body is dead or dissolved into
+its elements.  Those who deny the existence of the soul, of the
+self-conscious thinker and actor, as an entity distinct from the gross
+material body, necessarily deny this theory of transmigration. The
+materialistic thinkers of all ages have refused to accept this theory,
+because they do not admit the existence of a soul or a self-conscious
+thinker and actor as an entity, separate from the gross material
+body. Consequently they do not ask or discuss whether the soul will
+exist after death or not, whether it will continue to live or not.
+Such materialists are not the creatures of the twentieth century, but
+they have lived in all ages, in all countries. In India and in other
+civilized countries of ancient times you will find that materialistic
+thinkers prevailed and they gave the same arguments which we hear now
+from the agnostics and scientists of to-day. Their arguments are
+generally one-sided and unsatisfactory. They try to deduce the soul or
+self-conscious entity from the combination of matter or material
+forces, but they have not succeeded in giving a scientific proof of
+it. No arguments in favor of the existence of a soul as an entity will
+convince them, because they deny the existence of anything that cannot
+be perceived by sense powers.  If we could bring the soul down on the
+sense plane and make it visible to these materialistic thinkers, and
+if they could make experiments upon it, then perhaps they would be
+convinced to a certain extent, but not until then. But how can we
+bring the soul down on the sense plane when it is ethereal and finer
+than anything that we can perceive with our senses?
+
+Those who try to explain the cause of our earthly life by the theory
+of heredity do not believe in the truth of transmigration. The modern
+scientists, agnostics and materialists generally accept the theory of
+heredity and endeavor to explain everything by it; but if we examine
+their arguments for the theory of heredity, we shall find that the
+theory of transmigration is much more satisfactory, much more rational
+than that of heredity.
+
+Among the followers of the great religions of the world, the majority
+of Christians, Jews, Mohammedans and Parsees deny the truth of
+transmigration.  Of course, there was a time when the Christians
+believed in this transmigration theory. Origen and other Church
+Fathers accepted it until the time of Justinian, who anathematized all
+those who believed in Reincarnation or the pre-existence of the soul.
+Among the Jews we find that in the Cabala this idea of transmigration
+plays the most important part.  In fact the Cabalists accepted this
+theory to explain all the difficulties that could not be explained by
+any other theory. But those Jews, Christians, Mohammedans and Parsees
+who do not believe in the theory of transmigration accept the
+one-birth theory; that is, that God creates the souls at the time of
+birth out of nothing, and these souls, having come into existence out
+of nothing, continue to live forever; that this is our first and last
+birth that we receive; we did not exist before, we are suddenly
+created by God, and after death each one of us will continue to live
+either in heaven or hell to enjoy or to suffer throughout
+eternity. Among the modern Spiritualists we find that those who are
+born and brought up with this idea of one birth do not accept the
+theory of transmigration. Still there are millions and millions of
+people all over the world who do believe in transmigration and who
+have found comfort and consolation in their lives as well as a
+satisfactory solution of the problems of life and death.
+
+The theory of Transmigration, or Metempsychosis, as it has been called
+by many philosophers, originally meant the passing of a soul from one
+body after death into another; or, in other words, it meant that the
+soul after dwelling in one particular body for a certain length of
+time leaves it at the time of death, and in order to gain experience
+enters into some other body, either human, animal or angelic, which is
+ready to receive it. It may migrate from the human body to an angelic
+body and then come down on the human plane, or to the animal plane and
+be born again as an animal. So the original meaning of transmigration
+or metempsychosis was the revolution of the soul from body to body
+whether animal, human, angelic or of the gods. The migrating substance
+being a fixed quantity, with fixed qualities, chooses its form
+according to its taste, desire and bent of character. This idea
+prevailed among the ancient Egyptians, according to whom the soul,
+after leaving the dead body, would travel from one body to another for
+thousands and thousands of years in order to gain experiences in each
+of the different stages of life.
+
+Among the Greek philosophers we find that Pythagoras, Plato and their
+followers believed in this theory of Metempsychosis or Transmigration
+of souls.  Pythagoras says: "After death the rational mind, having
+been freed from the chains of the body, assumes an ethereal vehicle
+and passes into the region of the dead where it remains till it is
+sent back to this world to inhabit some other body human or
+animal. After undergoing successive purgations, when it is
+sufficiently purified, it is received among the gods and returns to
+the eternal source from which it first proceeded." Plato also believed
+in this theory. Of course we cannot tell exactly from whence
+Pythagoras and Plato got these ideas.  Some say that they learned
+these doctrines from Egypt; others believed that, either directly or
+indirectly, they learned the theory of transmigration from
+India. Plato describes in "Phaedrus," in mythological language, why
+and how the souls take their birth upon this plane, either as human or
+animal.  He says: "In the heaven Zeus, the Father and Lord of all
+creatures, drives his winged car, ordering all things and
+superintending them. A host of deities and spirits follow him, each
+fulfilling his own function.  Whoever will and can follows them. After
+taking this round, they advance by a steep course along the inner
+circumference of the heavenly vault and proceed to a banquet. The
+chariots of the gods, being well balanced and well driven, advance
+easily; others with difficulty; for the vicious horse, unless the
+charioteer has thoroughly broken him, weighs down the car by his
+proclivity towards the earth, whereupon the soul is put to the
+extremity of toil and effort. The souls of gods reach the summit, go
+outside and stand upon the surface of heaven, and enjoy celestial
+bliss. Such is the life of the gods; other souls which follow God best
+and are likest to Him succeed in seeing the vision of truth and in
+entering into the outer world with great difficulty.  The rest of the
+souls longing after the upper world all follow; but not being strong
+enough, they are carried round in the deep below, plunging, treading
+on one another, striving to be first, and there, in confusion and
+extremity of effort, many of them are lamed and have their wings
+broken. Thus when the soul is unable to follow and fails to behold the
+vision of Truth, sinks beneath the double load of forgetfulness and
+vice, her feathers fall from her and she drops to earth and is born
+again and again as human beings or as animals." Plato says: "Ten
+thousand years must elapse before the soul can return to the place
+from whence she came, for she cannot grow her wings in less." "At the
+end of the first thousand years, the souls of the good and of the evil
+kind come together to draw lots, and choose their bodies according to
+their tendencies and the bent of their characters. They may take any
+they like.  Instead of receiving the natural consequences of their
+deeds and misdeeds of their previous lives they are allowed to choose
+their own lot, according to their experience and bent of
+character. Some, being disgusted with mankind, prefer to be born as
+animals, such as lions and eagles or some other animals. Others
+delight in trying their luck as human beings." From this mythological
+description we gather what Plato meant by transmigration.
+
+This Platonic idea of transmigration or of successive lives of those
+who inhabit this earth has been criticized by various thinkers of
+modern times; and referring to this idea the late Doctor Myers, of the
+Psychical Research Society of London, writes in his second volume of
+"Human Personality": "The simple fact that such was probably the
+opinion of both Plato and Virgil shows that there is nothing here
+which is alien to the best reason or to the highest instincts of
+men. Nor, indeed, is it easy to realize any theory of the _direct
+creation_ of spirits at such different stages of advancement as
+those which enter upon the earth in the guise of mortal man. There
+_must_, one feels, be some kind of continuity--some form of
+spiritual past." (P. 134.)  Why does He not create all souls equal?
+Why will one soul be highly advanced spiritually while another is
+entirely ignorant and idiotic? This question cannot be answered, this
+problem cannot be solved by the special creation theory, and therefore
+Doctor Myers says that there is no doubt that there was some previous
+continuity or spiritual past of each individual soul, and therefore he
+tacitly admits the theory of Transmigration. Although from a
+scientific viewpoint he could not give any direct proof regarding this
+idea of a pre-existence of the soul, still he could not deny it
+entirely when he said: "The shaping forces which have made our bodies
+and our minds what they are may always have been psychical
+forces--from the first living slime-speck to the complex intelligences
+of to-day." "The old transmigrationist's view would thus possess a
+share of truth and the actual man would be the resultant not only of
+intermingling heredities on father's and mother's sides, but of
+intermingling heredities, one of planetary and one of cosmic scope."
+("Human Personality," Vol. II, p. 267.)
+
+But this theory of Transmigration, as described by Plato, is a little
+different from a similar theory which existed in India before his
+time. In the Platonic idea of transmigration, as we have already seen,
+the souls were allowed to choose their own lot according to their
+experience or bent of character, but not to receive the natural
+consequence of their deeds and misdeeds. Plato did not say anything
+about the law which governs souls; but in ancient India the great
+thinkers and philosophers explained that each individual soul is bound
+by the inexorable law of nature to receive its body as a natural
+consequence of its former deeds and misdeeds, and not to have free
+choice of its lot according to its bent of character. The great
+thinkers and philosophers of ancient India discovered the universal
+law of cause and effect, of action and reaction, and called it by the
+Sanskrit term "Karma," which means the law of cause and sequence; that
+every cause must be followed by an effect of a similar nature, that
+every action must produce similar reaction, and conversely every
+reaction or effect is the result of an action or cause of a similar
+character. Thus there is always a balance and harmony between cause
+and effect, between action and reaction. This law of Karma has now
+become a fundamental verity of modern science. It is called by
+different names: the scientists call it the law of causation, the law
+of compensation, the law of retribution, the law of action and
+reaction, but they all refer to the same idea,--that every cause must
+produce a similar result and every action must produce a similar
+reaction.
+
+Now these ancient thinkers of India applied this law of Karma to
+explain the destiny of human souls, and it was upon this law they
+based the theory of Transmigration. They maintained that human souls
+are bound by this irresistible law and cannot get out of it; their
+thoughts and deeds are the causes which produce results of similar
+nature. So their future birth does not depend upon their whimsical,
+free choice, but it is limited by the thoughts and deeds or misdeeds
+of their previous lives. In the Platonic idea we find that the souls
+go according to their choice. They may not take a human form if they
+prefer an animal form, but in the Hindu idea of transmigration we find
+that it is not a result of free choice, but, if our thoughts and deeds
+force us to take a particular form, then we are subject to the law of
+Karma, which governs our future birth and the evolution of our
+souls. Consequently the Hindu theory of Transmigration differs
+fundamentally from the Platonic as well as from the Egyptian idea of
+Transmigration. In the Platonic and Egyptian theories we see that the
+souls, after leaving the body, enter into another body which is
+waiting to receive the migrating soul, but in the Hindu theory of
+Transmigration the body is not waiting to receive the migrating soul,
+but on the contrary the soul, being subject to the laws of evolution,
+manufactures the gross material body according to its desires and
+tendencies. Just as a germ of life will develop a grosser form by
+cellular subdivision, by growth, and by assimilation of the
+environmental conditions, so the germ of the human soul will
+manufacture the body by obeying the laws which govern the physical
+plane.  Parents are nothing but the channels through which the
+migrating souls receive their material forms.  Parents do not create
+the souls; they have no power to create. They can only give the
+suitable environments necessary for manufacturing a gross physical
+body. The souls come with their tendencies, with their desires, and
+they remain as germs of life.
+
+Now these germs of life contain vital forces, sense powers, psychic
+powers, and ethereal particles of matter. At the time of death the
+soul contracts and withdraws all its powers from the sense organs to
+its innermost center, and in that contracted state it leaves the
+body. But these powers do not leave the soul. By the law of
+persistence of force and conservation of energy they remain latent in
+that center until environmental conditions become favorable for their
+remanifestation. Rebirth means the manifestation of the latent powers
+which exist in the germ of life or in the individual soul. These germs
+of life are called by different names. Leibnitz called them monads and
+modern scientists call them bioplasms or some such name, but the
+Vedanta philosophers describe them as subtle bodies. These germs or
+subtle bodies are subject to evolution and growth; they arise from
+lower to higher stages of development, from the mineral through the
+vegetable to the animal kingdom and eventually they become human
+beings and then they go on progressing.
+
+In the Platonic theory the idea of progress, growth or gradual
+evolution of the soul from the lower to higher stages of existence is
+entirely excluded, because, as I have already said, the migrating
+substance is of a fixed quantity with fixed qualities, that is, these
+qualities do not change and are not affected by either growth or
+evolution. They are constant quantities.  In order to differentiate
+these two ideas we should call the Hindu theory of Transmigration by
+the term "Reincarnation." The Hindu or Vedantic theory of
+Reincarnation, however, is not the same as the Buddhistic theory of
+Rebirth, for the Buddhists do not believe in the permanence of the
+soul entity.  There is another point where the Reincarnation theory
+differs from Platonic transmigration. According to this theory of
+Reincarnation there is growth and evolution of each individual soul
+from the lower to higher stages of development. The soul or germ of
+life, after passing through the lower stages, comes to the human plane
+and gains experience and knowledge; and after coming to the human
+plane, it does not retrograde to animal bodies. The Platonic theory
+teaches that human souls migrate into animal bodies or angelic bodies
+and return from the angelic to the human or the animal, and that some
+of them prefer to become animals; while the theory of Reincarnation,
+taking its stand upon the scientific truth of gradual evolution,
+teaches that the human souls have already passed through different
+grades of the animal, nay, of the vegetable kingdom, by the natural
+process of evolution. After having once received the human organism,
+why should a soul choose to go back to the lesser and more imperfect
+organism of an animal? How is it possible for a lesser manifestation
+to hold a greater one? Why should a greater manifestation choose more
+limited forms in preference to those of others? This question arises
+in the Platonic theory of Transmigration. Therefore, the Reincarnation
+theory, or the theory of Transmigration according to the Hindus,
+rejects this idea of the going back of human souls to animal forms.
+We have already passed in the evolutionary process through the lower
+grade of animal organisms. Now that we have outgrown them why should
+we go back to them?
+
+It is true, however, that in India there are many uneducated people
+among the Hindus who believe that human souls do migrate into animal
+bodies after death to gain experience and reap the results of their
+wicked deeds, being bound by the law of Karma; but in the Platonic
+theory the law of Karma plays no part in the transmigration of
+souls. The educated and thoughtful minds of India, however, accept the
+more rational and scientific theory of Reincarnation. Although there
+are passages in the scriptural writings of the Hindus which apparently
+refer to the retrogression of the human soul into animal nature, still
+such passages do not necessarily mean that the souls will be obliged
+to take animal bodies. They may live like animals even when they have
+human bodies, as we may find among us many people like cats and dogs
+and snakes in human form and they are often more vicious than natural
+cats, dogs or snakes. They are reaping their own Karma and manifesting
+their animal nature, though physically they look like human
+beings. This kind of retrogression is possible for one who after
+reaching the human plane goes backward on account of wicked thoughts
+and deeds on the animal plane. Such a temporary retrogression brings
+knowledge and helps it in its onward progress toward the manifestation
+of higher powers on the higher plane of consciousness.  All the wicked
+thoughts and wicked deeds are nothing but the results of our own
+mistakes. What is sin?  Sin is nothing but a mistake and it proceeds
+from ignorance. For instance, if I do not know that fire burns, I may
+put my finger into it and get burned.  The result of this mistake is
+the burning of the finger and this has taught me once for all that
+fire burns; I shall never again put my finger into fire.  So every
+mistake is a great teacher in the long run.  No one is born so high
+and perfect as not to commit any mistake or any sin. Every mistake
+like this opens our eyes to the laws of the universe by bringing to us
+such results as we do not desire. As one life is not enough to gain
+experience in all the stages of evolution, we must have to admit the
+doctrine of the Reincarnation of the soul for the fulfillment of the
+ultimate purpose of earthly life. Professor Huxley says: "None but
+hasty thinkers will reject it on the ground of inherent absurdity.
+Like the doctrine of evolution itself that of transmigration has its
+roots in the world of reality."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Reincarnation, by Swami Abhedananda
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
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+Title: Reincarnation
+
+Author: Swami Abhedananda
+
+Release Date: January, 2005 [EBook #7377]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on April 22, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REINCARNATION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Dave Maddock, Charles Franks and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY
+
+FIVE LECTURES ON REINCARNATION
+
+BY
+
+SWAMI ABHEDANANDA
+
+_Author of "India and her People", "Self-Knowledge", "How to be a
+Yogi", "Divine Heritage of Man", etc._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  I.--REINCARNATION
+
+ II.--HEREDITY AND REINCARNATION
+
+III.--EVOLUTION AND REINCARNATION
+
+ IV.--WHICH IS SCIENTIFIC, RESURRECTION OR REINCARNATION?
+
+  V.--THEORY OF TRANSMIGRATION
+
+
+
+
+I. REINCARNATION
+
+
+The visible phenomena of the universe are bound by the universal law
+of cause and effect. The effect is visible or perceptible, while the
+cause is invisible or imperceptible. The falling of an apple from a
+tree is the effect of a certain invisible force called gravitation.
+Although the force cannot be perceived by the senses, its expression
+is visible. All perceptible phenomena are but the various expressions
+of different forces which act as invisible agents upon the subtle and
+imperceptible forms of matter. These invisible agents or forces
+together with the imperceptible particles of matter make up the subtle
+states of the phenomenal universe. When a subtle force becomes
+objectified, it appears as a gross object.  Therefore, we can say,
+that every gross form is an expression of some subtle force acting
+upon the subtle particles of matter. The minute particles of hydrogen
+and oxygen when combined by chemical force, appear in the gross form
+of water. Water can never be separated from hydrogen and oxygen, which
+are its subtle component parts. Its existence depends upon that of its
+component parts, or in other words, upon its subtle form. If the
+subtle state changes, the gross manifestation will also change. The
+peculiarity in the gross form of a plant depends upon the peculiar
+nature of its subtle form, the seed. The peculiar nature of the gross
+forms in the animal kingdom depends upon the subtle forms which
+manifest variously in each of the intermediate stages between the
+microscopic unit of living matter and the highest man. The gross human
+body is closely related to its subtle body.  Not only this, but every
+movement or change in the physical form is caused by the activity and
+change of the subtle body. If the subtle body be affected or changed a
+little, the gross body will also be affected similarly. The material
+body being the expression of the subtle body, its birth, growth, decay
+and death depend upon the changes of the subtle body.  As long as the
+subtle body remains, it will continue to express itself in a
+corresponding gross form.
+
+Now let us understand clearly what we mean by a subtle body. It is
+nothing but a minute germ of a living substance. It contains the
+invisible particles of matter which are held together by vital force,
+and it also possesses mind or thought-force in a potential state, just
+as the seed of a plant contains in it the life force and the power of
+growth. According to Vedanta, the subtle body consists of
+_Antahkaranam_, that is, the internal organ or the mind substance
+with its various modifications, mind, intellect, egoism, memory, the
+five instruments of perception: the powers of seeing, hearing,
+smelling, tasting and touching; the five instruments of action, such
+as the powers of seizing, moving, speaking, evacuating, and
+generating, and the five _Pranas. Prana_ is a Sanskrit word which
+means vital energy or the life-sustaining power in us. Although
+_Prana_ is one, it takes five different names on account of the
+five different functions it performs. This word _Prana_ includes
+the five manifestations of the vital force: First, that power which
+moves the lungs and draws the atmospheric air from outside into the
+system. This is also called _Prana_. Second, that power which
+throws out of the system such things as are not wanted. It is called
+in Sanskrit _Apana_. Third, it takes the name of _Samana_,
+as performing digestive functions and carrying the extract of food to
+every part of the body. It is called _Udana_ when it is the cause
+of bringing down food from the mouth through the alimentary canal to
+the stomach, and also when it is the cause of the power of speech. The
+fifth power of _Prana_ is that which works in every part of the
+nervous system from head to foot, through every canal, which keeps the
+shape of the body, preserves it from putrefaction, and gives health
+and life to every cell and organ. These are the various manifestations
+of the vital force or _Prana_. These subtle powers together with
+the non-composite elements of the gross body, or the ethereal
+particles of subtle matter, and also with the potentialities of all
+the impressions, ideas and tendencies which each individual gathers in
+one life, make up his subtle body.  As a resultant of all the
+different actions of mind and body which an individual performs in his
+present life, will be the tendencies and desires in his future life;
+nothing will be lost.
+
+Every action of body or mind which we do, every thought which we
+think, becomes fine, and is stored up in the form of a _Samskara_
+or impression in our minds. It remains latent for some time, and then
+it rises up in the form of a mental wave and produces new
+desires. These desires are called in Vedanta, _Vasanas_. Vasanas
+or strong desires are the manufacturers of new bodies. If Vasana or
+longing for worldly pleasures and objects remains in anybody, even
+after hundreds of births, that person will be born again. Nothing can
+prevent the course of strong desires. Desires must be fulfilled sooner
+or later.
+
+Every voluntary or involuntary action of the body, sense or mind must
+correspond to the dormant impressions stored up in the subtle
+body. Although growth, the process of nourishment and all the changes
+of the gross physical body take place according to the necessarily
+acting causes, yet the whole series of actions, and consequently every
+individual act, the condition of the body which accomplishes it, nay,
+the whole process in and through which the body exists, are nothing
+but the outward expressions of the latent impressions stored up in the
+subtle body. Upon these rests the perfect suitableness of the animal
+or human body to the animal or human nature of one's impressions. The
+organs of the senses must therefore completely correspond to the
+principal desires which are the strongest and most ready to
+manifest. They are the visible expressions of these desires. If there
+be no hunger or desire to eat, teeth, throat and bowels will be of no
+use. If there be no desire for grasping and moving, hands and legs
+will be useless. Similarly it can be shown that the desire for seeing,
+hearing, etc., has produced the eye, ear, etc. If I have no desire to
+use my hand, and if I do not use it at all, within a few months it
+will wither away and die. In India there are some religious fanatics
+who hold up their arms and do not use them at all; after a few months
+their arms wither and become stiff and dead. A person who lies on his
+back for six months loses the power of walking. There are many such
+instances which prove the injurious effects of the disuse of our limbs
+and organs.
+
+As the human form, generally, corresponds to the human will,
+generally, so the individual bodily structure corresponds to the
+character, desires, will and thought of the individual. Therefore the
+outer nature is nothing but the expression of the inner nature. This
+inner nature of each individual is what re-incarnates or expresses
+itself successively in various forms, one after another. When a man
+dies the individual ego or _Jiva_ (as it is called in Sanskrit),
+which means the germ of life or the living soul of man, is not
+destroyed, but it continues to exist in an invisible form. It remains
+like a permanent thread stringing together the separate lives by the
+law of cause and effect. The subtle body is like a water-globule which
+sprang in the beginningless past from the eternal ocean of Reality;
+and it contains the reflection of the unchangeable light of
+Intelligence.  As a water-globule remains sometimes in an invisible
+vapory state in a cloud, then in rain or snow or ice, and again as
+steam or in mud, but is never destroyed, so the subtle body sometimes
+remains unmanifested and sometimes expresses itself in gross forms of
+animal or human beings, according to the desires and tendencies that
+are ready to manifest. It may go to heaven, that is, to some other
+planet, or it may be born again on this earth. It depends on the
+nature and strength of one's life-long tendency and bent of mind. This
+idea is clearly expressed in Vedanta. "The thought, will or desire
+which is extremely strong during lifetime, will become predominant at
+the time of death and will mould the inner nature of the dying
+person. The newly moulded inner nature will express in a new form."
+(Bhagavad Gita.) The thought, will or desire which moulds the inner
+nature has the power of selecting or attracting such conditions or
+environments as will help it in its way of manifestation. This process
+corresponds in some respects to the law of "natural selection."
+
+We shall be better able to understand that process by studying how the
+seeds of different trees select from the common environments different
+materials, and absorb and assimilate different quantities of
+elements. Suppose two seeds, one of an oak and the other of a
+chestnut, are planted in a pot. The power of growth in both the seeds
+is of the same nature. The environments, earth, water, heat and light
+are the same. But still there is some peculiarity in each of the
+seeds, which will absorb from the common environments different
+quantities of elements and other properties which are fit to help the
+growth of the peculiar nature and form of the fruit, flower, leaves of
+each tree. Suppose the chestnut is a horse-chestnut. If, under
+different conditions, the peculiar nature of the horse-chestnut
+changes into that of a sweet chestnut, then, along with the changes in
+the seed, the whole nature of the tree, leaves, fruits will also be
+changed. It will no more attract, absorb or assimilate those
+substances and qualities of the environments which it did when it was
+a horse-chestnut. Similarly, through the law of "natural selection"
+the newly moulded thought-body of the dying person will choose and
+attract such parts from the common environments as are helpful to its
+proper expression or manifestation. Parents are nothing but the
+principal parts of the environment of the re-incarnating
+individual. The newly moulded inner nature or subtle body of the
+individual will by the law of "natural selection" involuntarily
+choose, or be unconsciously drawn to, as it were, its suitable parents
+and will be born of them. As, for instance, if I have a strong desire
+to become an artist, and if after a life-long struggle I do not
+succeed in being the greatest, after the death of the body I will be
+born of such parents and with such environments as will help me to
+become the best artist.
+
+The whole process is expressed in Eastern philosophy by the doctrine
+of the Reincarnation of the individual soul.  Although this doctrine
+is commonly rejected in the West, it is unreservedly accepted by the
+vast majority of mankind of the present day, as it was in past
+centuries. The scientific explanation of this theory we find nowhere
+except in the writings of the Hindus; still we know that from very
+ancient times it was believed by the philosophers, sages and prophets
+of different countries. The ancient civilization of Egypt was built
+upon a crude form of the doctrine of Reincarnation. Herodotus says:
+"The Egyptians propounded the theory that the human soul is
+imperishable, and that where the body of any one dies it enters into
+some other creature that may be ready to receive it." Pythagoras and
+his disciples spread it through Greece and Italy. Pythagoras says:
+"All has soul; all is soul wandering in the organic world, and obeying
+eternal will or law."
+
+In Dryden's Ovid we read:--
+
+  "Death has no power the immortal soul to slay,
+  That, when its present body turns to clay,
+  Seeks a fresh home, and with unlessened might
+  Inspires another frame with life and light."
+
+It was the keynote of Plato's philosophy.  Plato says: "Soul is older
+than body. Souls are continually born over again into this life." The
+idea of Reincarnation was spread widely in Greece and Italy by
+Pythagoras, Empedocles, Plato, Virgil and Ovid.  It was known to the
+Neo-Platonists, Plotinus and Proclus. Plotinus says: "The soul leaving
+the body becomes that power which it has most developed.  Let us fly
+then from here below and rise to the intellectual world, that we may
+not fall into a purely sensible life by allowing ourselves to follow
+sensible images...." It was the fundamental principle of the religion
+of the Persian Magi. Alexander the Great accepted this idea after
+coming in contact with the Hindu philosophers. Julius Caesar found
+that the Gauls had some belief regarding the pre-existence of the
+human soul. The Druids of old Gaul believed that the souls of men
+transmigrate into those bodies whose habits and characters they most
+resemble. Celts and Britons were impressed with this idea. It was a
+favorite theme of the Arab philosophers and many Mahomedan Sufis. The
+Jews adopted it after the Babylonian captivity.  Philo of Alexandria,
+who was a contemporary of Christ, preached amongst the Hebrews the
+Platonic idea of the pre-existence and rebirth of human souls.  Philo
+says: "The company of disembodied souls is distributed in various
+orders. The law of some of them is to enter mortal bodies, and after
+certain prescribed periods be again set free." John the Baptist was
+according to the Jews a second Elijah; Jesus was believed by many to
+be the re-appearance of some other prophet. (See Matt, xvi, 14, also
+xvii, 12.) Solomon says in his Book of Wisdom: "I was a child of good
+nature and a good soul came to me, or rather because I was good I came
+into an undefiled body."
+
+The Talmud and Cabala teach the same thing.  In the Talmud it is said
+that Abel's soul passed into the body of Seth, and then into that of
+Moses.  Along with the spread of the Cabala this doctrine (which was
+known as Transmigration and Metempsychosis) "began to take root in
+Judaism and then it gained believers even among men who were little
+inclined towards Mysticism. Juda ben Asher (Asheri) for instance,
+discussing this doctrine in a letter to his father endeavored to place
+it upon a philosophical basis." (Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol.  XII,
+p. 232.) We also read, "The Cabalists eagerly adopted the doctrine on
+account of the vast field it offered to mystic speculations. Moreover
+it was almost a necessary corollary of their psychological system. The
+absolute condition of the soul is, according to them, its return,
+after developing all those perfections, the germs of which are
+eternally implanted in it, to the Infinite Source from which it
+emanated. Another term of life must therefore be vouchsafed to those
+souls which have not fulfilled their destiny here below, and have not
+been sufficiently purified for the state of union with the Primordial
+Cause. Hence if the soul, on its first assumption of a human body and
+sojourn on earth, fails to acquire that experience for which it
+descended from heaven and becomes contaminated by that which is
+polluting, it must reinhabit a body till it is able to ascend in a
+purified state through repeated trials."  This is the theory of the
+Zohar, which says: "All souls are subject to transmigration; and men
+do not know the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He!  They do not know
+that they are brought before the tribunal both before they enter into
+this world and after they leave it; they are ignorant of the many
+transmigrations and secret probations which they have to undergo, and
+of the number of souls and spirits which enter into this world and
+which do not return to the palace of the Heavenly King. Men do not
+know how the souls revolve like a stone which is thrown from a
+sling. But the time is at hand when these mysteries will be
+disclosed." (Zohar, II, 99 _b_.)
+
+Like many of the Church Fathers the Cabalists used as their main
+argument in favor of the doctrine of metempsychosis the justice of
+God. But for the belief in metempsychosis, they maintained, the
+question why God often permits the wicked to lead a happy life while
+many righteous are miserable would be unanswerable. Then too the
+infliction of pain upon children would be an act of cruelty unless it
+is imposed in punishment of sin committed by the soul in a previous
+state. Isaac Abravanel sees in the commandment of the Levirate a proof
+of the doctrine of metempsychosis for which he gives the following
+reasons: (1) God in His mercy willed that another trial should be
+given to the soul, which having yielded to the sanguine temperament of
+the body had committed a capital sin, such as murder, adultery, etc.;
+(2) it is only just that when a man dies young a chance should be
+given to his soul to execute in another body the good deeds which it
+had not time to perform in the first body; (3) the soul of the wicked
+sometimes passes into another body in order to receive its deserved
+punishment here below instead of in the other world where it would be
+much more severe. (Commentary on Deuteronomy, XXV, 5.)
+
+Christianity is not exempt from this idea. Origen and other Church
+Fathers believed in it. Origen says: "For God, justly disposing of his
+creatures according to their desert, united the diversities of minds
+in one congruous world, that he might, as it were, adorn his mansion
+(in which ought to be not only vases of gold and silver, but of wood
+also and clay, and some to honor and some to dishonor) with these
+diverse vases, minds or souls. To these causes the world owes its
+diversity, while Divine Providence disposes each according to his
+tendency, mind and disposition." He also says: "I think this is a
+question how it happens that the human mind is influenced now by the
+good, now by the evil. The causes of this I suspect to be more ancient
+than this corporeal birth." The idea of Reincarnation spread so fast
+amongst the early Christians that Justinian was obliged to suppress it
+by passing a law in the Council of Constantinople in 538 A.D. The law
+was this: "Whoever shall support the mythical presentation of the
+pre-existence of the soul, and the consequently wonderful opinion of
+its return, let him be Anathema." The Gnostics and Manichaeans
+propagated the tenets of Reincarnation amongst the mediaeval sects
+such as the Bogomiles and Paulicians. Some of the followers of this
+so-called erroneous belief were cruelly persecuted in 385 A.D.
+
+In the seventeenth century some of the Cambridge Platonists, as
+Dr. Henry More and others, accepted the idea of rebirth. Most of the
+German philosophers of the middle ages and of recent days have
+advocated and upheld this doctrine. Many quotations can be given from
+the writings of great thinkers, like Kant, Scotus, Schelling, Fichte,
+Leibnitz, Schopenhauer, Giardano Bruno, Goethe, Lessing, Herder and a
+host of others. The great skeptic Hume says in his posthumous essay on
+"The Immortality of the Soul," "The metempsychosis is therefore the
+only system of this kind that philosophy can hearken to." Scientists
+like Flammarion and Huxley have supported this doctrine of
+Reincarnation. Professor Huxley says: "None but hasty thinkers will
+reject it on the ground of inherent absurdity. Like the doctrine of
+evolution itself, that of transmigration has its roots in the world of
+reality." ("Evolution and Ethics," p. 61.)
+
+Some of the theological leaders have preached it. The eminent German
+theologian Dr. Julius Muller supports this theory in his work on "The
+Christian Doctrine of Sin." Prominent theologians, such as Dr. Dorner,
+Ernesti, Ruckert, Edward Beecher, Henry Ward Beecher, Phillips Brooks,
+preached many a time touching the question of the pre-existence and
+rebirth of the individual soul. Swedenborg and Emerson maintained
+it. Emerson says in his essay on Experience, "We wake and find
+ourselves on a stair. There are stairs below us which we seem to have
+ascended; there are stairs above us, many a one, which go upward and
+out of sight."
+
+Almost all of the poets, ancient or modern, profess it. William
+Wordsworth says in "Intimations of Immortality:"--
+
+  "The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
+    Hath had elsewhere its setting,
+  And cometh from afar."
+
+Tennyson writes in the "Two Voices;"
+
+  "Or, if through lower lives I came--
+  Tho' all experience past became,
+  Consolidate in mind and frame--
+  I might forget my weaker lot;
+  For is not our first year forgot?
+  The haunts of memory echo not."
+
+Walt Whitman says in "Leaves of Grass:"
+
+  "As to you, Life, I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths,
+  No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before."
+
+Similar passages can be quoted from almost all the poets of different
+countries. Even amongst the aboriginal tribes of Africa, Asia, North
+and South America, traces of this belief in the rebirth of souls is to
+be found. Nearly three-fourths of the population of Asia believe in
+the doctrine of Reincarnation, and through it they find a satisfactory
+explanation of the problem of life. There is no religion which denies
+the continuity of the individual soul after death.
+
+Those who do not believe in Reincarnation try to explain the world of
+inequalities and diversities either by the one-birth theory or by the
+theory of hereditary transmission. Neither of these theories, however,
+is sufficient to explain the inequalities that we meet with in our
+everyday life. Those who believe in the one-birth theory, that we have
+come here for the first and last time, do not understand that the
+acquirement of wisdom and experience is the purpose of human life; nor
+can they explain why children who die young should come into existence
+and pass away without getting the opportunity to learn anything or
+what purpose is served by their coming thus for a few days, remaining
+in utter ignorance and then passing away without gaining anything
+whatever. The Christian dogma, based on the one-birth theory, tells us
+that the child which dies soon after its birth is sure to be saved and
+will enjoy eternal life and everlasting happiness in heaven. The
+Christians who really believe in this dogma ought to pray to their
+heavenly Father for the death of their children immediately after
+their birth and ought to thank the merciful Father when the grave
+closes over their little forms. Thus the one-birth theory of Christian
+theology does not remove any difficulty.
+
+Two great religions, Judaism with its two offspring--Christianity and
+Mahomedanism--and Zoroastrianism, still uphold the one-birth theory.
+
+The followers of these, shutting their eyes to the absurdity and
+unreasonableness of such a theory, believe that human souls are
+created out of nothing at the time of the birth of their bodies and
+that they continue to exist throughout eternity either to suffer or to
+enjoy because of the deeds performed during the short period of their
+earthly existence. Here the question arises why should a man be held
+responsible throughout eternity for the works which he was forced or
+predestined to perform by the will of the Lord of the universe? The
+theory of predestination and grace, instead of explaining the
+difficulty, makes God partial and unjust. If the omnipotent personal
+God created human souls out of nothing, could He not make all souls
+equally good and happy? Why does He make one to enjoy all the
+blessings of life and another to suffer all miseries throughout
+eternity? Why is one born with good tendencies and another with evil
+ones? Why is one man virtuous throughout his life and another bestial?
+Why is one born intelligent and another idiotic? If God out of His own
+will made all these inequalities, or, in other words, if God created
+one man to suffer and another to enjoy, then how partial and unjust
+must He be! He must be worse than a tyrant. How can we worship Him,
+how call Him just and merciful?
+
+Some people try to save God from this charge of partiality and
+injustice by saying that all good things of this universe are the work
+of God, and all evil things are the work of a demon or Satan. God
+created everything good, but it was Satan who brought evil into this
+world and made everything bad. Now let us see how far such a statement
+is logically correct. Good and evil are two relative terms; the
+existence of one depends upon that of the other. Good cannot exist
+without evil, and evil cannot exist without being related to
+good. When God created what we call good, He must have created evil at
+the same time, otherwise He could not create good alone. If the
+creator of evil, call him by whatever name you like, had brought evil
+into this world, he must have created it simultaneously with God;
+otherwise it would have been impossible for God to create good, which
+can exist only as related to evil. As such they will have to admit
+that the Creators of good and evil sat together at the same time to
+create this world, which is a mixture of good and evil. Consequently,
+both of them are equally powerful, and limited by each other.
+Therefore neither of them is infinite in powers or omnipotent. So we
+cannot say that the Almighty God of the universe created good alone
+and not the evil.
+
+Another argument which the Vedantists advance in support of the theory
+of Reincarnation is that "Nothing is destroyed in the universe."
+Destruction in the sense of the annihilation of a thing is unknown to
+the Vedantic philosophers, just as it is unknown to the modern
+scientists. They say "non-existence can never become existence and
+existence can never become non-existence;" or, in other words, that
+which did not exist can never exist, and conversely that which exists
+in any form can never become non-existent. This is the law of
+nature. As such, the impressions or ideas which we now have, together
+with the powers which we possess, will not be destroyed but will
+remain with us in some form or other. Our bodies may change, but the
+powers, Karma, Samskaras or impressions and the materials which
+manufactured our bodies must remain in us in an unmanifested
+form. They will never be destroyed. Again science tells us that that
+which remains in an unmanifested or potential state must at some time
+or other be manifested in a kinetic or actual form. Therefore we shall
+get other bodies, sooner or later. It is for this reason said in the
+"Bhagavad Gita": "Birth must be followed by death and death must be
+followed by birth." Such a continuously recurring series of births and
+deaths each germ of life must go through. Another consideration is
+that the beginning, ending and continuing are conceptions of the human
+mind; their significance depends entirely upon our conception of
+time. But we all know that time has no absolute existence. It is
+merely a form of our knowledge of our own existence in relation to
+that of nature.  The conception of time vanishes at the sleep of
+death, just as it does every night when we are in sound sleep. Death
+resembles the state of our sound sleep. The soul wakes up from the
+sleep of death just in the same manner as the insects awake in spring
+after sleeping the long and rigid winter-sleep, as a chrysalis in the
+bed of a cocoon spun by itself in autumn. Nature teaches us the great
+lesson of rebirth and the similarity between sleep and death by the
+rejuvenation of the chrysalis in the spring. After death the soul
+wakes up and puts on or manufactures the garment of a new body, just
+in the same manner as we put on new clothes after throwing away the
+old and worn-out ones. Thus the soul continues to manifest itself over
+and over again either on the human or any other plane of existence,
+being bound by the Law of Karma or of Cause and Sequence.
+
+  "Death, so called, is but older matter dressed
+  In some new form. And in a varied vest,
+  From tenement to tenement though tossed,
+  The soul is still the same, the figure only lost."
+
+  _Poem on Pythagoras, Dryden's Ovid._
+
+Here it may be asked, if we existed before our birth why do we not
+remember? This is one of the strongest objections often raised against
+the belief in pre-existence. Some people deny the existence of the
+soul in the past simply because they cannot remember the events of
+their past. Others, again, who hold memory as the standard of
+existence, say, if our memory of the present ceases to exist at the
+time of death, with it we shall also cease to be; we cannot be
+immortal; because they hold that memory is the standard of life, and
+if we do not remember then we are not the same beings.
+
+Vedanta answers these questions by saying that it is possible for us
+to remember our previous existences.  Those who have read "Raja Yoga"
+will recall that in the 18th aphorism of the third chapter it is said:
+"By perceiving the Samskaras one acquires the knowledge of past
+lives." Here the Samskaras mean the impressions of the past experience
+which lie dormant in our subliminal self, and are never lost. Memory
+is nothing but the awakening and rising of latent impressions above
+the threshold of consciousness. A Raja Yogi, through powerful
+concentration upon these dormant impressions of the subconscious mind,
+can remember all the events of his past lives. There have been many
+instances in India of Yogis who could know not only their own past
+lives but correctly tell those of others. It is said that Buddha
+remembered five hundred of his previous births.
+
+Our subliminal self, or the subconscious mind, is the storehouse of
+all the impressions that we gather through our experiences during our
+lifetime. They are stored up, pigeon-holed there, in the _Chitta, as
+it is called in Vedanta. "Chitta" means the same subconscious mind or
+subliminal self which is the storehouse of all impressions and
+experiences. And these impressions remain latent until favorable
+conditions rouse them and bring them out on the plane of
+consciousness. Here let us take an illustration: In a dark room
+pictures are thrown on a screen by lantern-slides. The room is
+absolutely dark. We are looking at the pictures. Suppose we open a
+window and allow the rays of the midday sun to fall upon the
+screen. Would we be able to see those pictures? No. Why? Because the
+more powerful flood of light will subdue the light of the lantern and
+the pictures. But although they are invisible to our eyes we cannot
+deny their existence on the screen. Similarly, the pictures of the
+events of our previous lives upon the screen of the subliminal self
+may be invisible to us at present, but they exist there. Why are they
+invisible to us now? Because the more powerful light of
+sense-consciousness has subdued them. If we close the windows and
+doors of our senses from outside contact and darken the inner chamber
+of our self, then by focusing the light of consciousness and
+concentrating the mental rays we shall be able to know and remember
+our past lives, and all the events and experiences thereof. Those who
+wish therefore to develop their memory and remember their past should
+practice Raja Yoga and learn the method of acquiring the power of
+concentration by shutting the doors and windows of their senses. And
+that power of concentration must be helped by the power of
+self-control. That is, by controlling the doors and windows of our own
+senses.
+
+These dormant impressions, whether we remember them or not, are the
+chief factors in moulding our individual characters with which we are
+born, and they are the causes of the inequalities and diversities
+which we find around us. When we study the characters and powers of
+geniuses and prodigies we cannot deny the pre-existence of the
+soul. Whatever the soul has mastered in a previous life manifests in
+the present. The memory of particular events is not so important. If
+we possess the wisdom and knowledge which we gathered in our previous
+lives, then it matters very little whether or not we remember the
+particular events, or the struggles which we went through in order to
+gain that knowledge. Those particular things may not come to us in our
+memory, but we have not lost the wisdom. Now, study your own present
+life and you will see that in this life you have gained some
+experience. The particular events and the struggles which you went
+through are passing out of your memory, but the experience, the
+knowledge which you have gained through that experience, has moulded
+your character, has shaped you in a different manner. You will not
+have to go through those different events again to remember; how you
+acquired that experience is not necessary; the wisdom gained is quite
+enough.
+
+Then, again, we find among ourselves persons who are born with some
+wonderful powers. Take, for instance, the power of self-control. One
+is born with the power of self-control highly developed, and that
+self-control may not be acquired by another after years of hard
+struggle. Why is there this difference? Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna was
+born with God-consciousness, and he went into the highest state of
+Samadhi when he was four years old; but this state is very difficult
+for other Yogis to acquire. There was a Yogi who came to see
+Ramakrishna. He was an old man and possessed wonderful powers, and he
+said: "I have struggled for forty years to acquire that state which is
+natural with you." There are many such instances which show that
+pre-existence is a fact, and that these latent or dormant impressions
+of previous lives are the chief factors in moulding the individual
+character without depending upon the memory of the past. Because we
+cannot remember our past, because of the loss of memory of the
+particular events, the soul's progress is not arrested. The soul will
+continue to progress further and further, even though the memory may
+be weak.
+
+Each individual soul possesses this storehouse of previous experiences
+in the background, in the subconscious mind. Take the instance of two
+lovers. What is love? It is the attraction between two souls. This
+love does not die with the death of the body. True love survives death
+and continues to grow, to become stronger and stronger. Eventually it
+brings the two souls together and makes them one. The theory of
+pre-existence alone can explain why two souls at first sight know each
+other and become attached to each other by the tie of friendship. This
+mutual love will continue to grow and will become stronger, and in the
+end will bring these lovers together, no matter where they
+go. Therefore, Vedanta does not say that the death of the body will
+end the attraction or the attachment of two souls; but as the souls
+are immortal so their relation will continue forever.
+
+The Yogis know how to develop memory and how to read past lives. They
+say, time and space exist in relation to our present mental condition;
+if we can rise above this plane, our higher mind sees the past and
+future just as we see things before our eyes. Those who wish to
+satisfy the idle curiosity of their minds may spend their energy by
+trying to recollect their past lives. But I think it will be much more
+helpful to us if we devote our time and energy in moulding our future
+and in trying to be better than we are now, because the recollection
+of our former condition would only force us to make a bad use of the
+present. How unhappy he must be who knows that the wicked deeds of his
+past life will surely react on him and will bring distress, misery,
+unhappiness or suffering within a few days or a few months. Such a man
+would be so restless and unhappy that he would not be able to do any
+work properly; he would constantly think in what form misery would
+appear to him. He would not be able to eat or even sleep. He would be
+most miserable. Therefore we ought to regard it as a great blessing
+that we do not recollect our past lives and past deeds. Vedanta says,
+do not waste your valuable time in thinking of your past lives, do not
+look backward during the tiresome journey through the different stages
+of evolution, always look forward and try first to attain to the
+highest point of spiritual development; then if you want to know your
+past lives you will recollect them all. Nothing will remain unknown to
+you, the Knower of the universe. When the all-knowing Divine Self will
+manifest through you, time and space will vanish and past and future
+will be changed into the eternal present. Then you will say as Sri
+Krishna said to Arjuna, in the "Bhagavad Gita:" "Both you and I have
+passed through many lives; you do not recollect any, but I know them
+all." (Ch. iv., 5.)
+
+
+
+II. HEREDITY AND REINCARNATION.
+
+
+Those who accept the theory of heredity deny the existence of the
+human soul as an entity separable from the gross physical
+organism. Consequently they do not discuss the question whether the
+individual soul existed in the past or will continue to exist after
+the death of the body. This kind of question does not disturb their
+minds. They generally maintain that the individual soul is inseparable
+from the body or the brain or nervous system; consequently what we
+call soul or the conscious entity or the thinker is produced along
+with the birth of the organism or brain, lasts as long as the body
+lasts and dies when the organism is dissolved into its elements.  But
+those, on the other hand, who accept the theory of Reincarnation admit
+the existence of soul as a conscious entity which is independent of
+the physical organism, that it continues to live after death and that
+it existed before the birth of the body. The theory of heredity has
+always been supported by the materialistic scientists, atheists and
+agnostics of all ages and also by those who believe in the special
+creation of the first man and woman at a certain definite time and
+that their qualities, character, life and soul have been transmitted
+to all humanity through successive generations. The commonly accepted
+meaning of the theory of heredity is that all the well-marked
+peculiarities, both physical and mental, in the parents are handed on
+to the children; or, in other words, heredity is that property of an
+organism by which its peculiar nature is transmitted to its
+descendants.
+
+In the whole history of humanity there has never been a time when this
+question of heredity has been discussed so minutely and in so many
+different ways as it has been in the present century. Although this
+theory was known in the East by the ancient Vedanta philosophers, by
+the Buddhists of the pre-Christian era and by the Greek philosophers
+in the West, still it has received a new impetus and has grown with
+new strength since the introduction of the Darwinian theory of the
+evolution of species.  Along with the latest discoveries in
+physiology, biology, embryology and other branches of modern science,
+the popular simple meaning of heredity--that the offspring not only
+resemble their parents among animals as well as among men, but inherit
+all the individual peculiarities, life and character of their
+parents--has taken the shape of the most complicated and difficult
+problem which it is almost impossible to solve. Our minds are no
+longer satisfied with Haeckel's definition that heredity is simply an
+overgrowth of the individual, a simple continuity of growth; but we
+want to know the particular method by which hereditary transmission
+takes place.  We ask, how can a single cell reproduce the whole body
+of the offspring, its mind, character and all the peculiarities of an
+organism? Out of the myriads of cells of which a body is composed,
+what kind of cell is that which possesses the power of reproducing the
+peculiarities, both mental and physical, which are to be found in the
+form of the new-born babe?  This is the most puzzling of all the
+problems which the scientific mind has ever encountered. The
+fundamental question connected with the theory of heredity is: How can
+a single cell of the body contain within itself all the hereditary
+tendencies of the hypothesis of the continuity of the germ-plasm gives
+an identical starting-point to each successive generation, and thus
+explains how it is that an identical product arises from all of
+them. In other words, the hypothesis explains heredity as part of the
+underlying problems of assimilation and of the causes which act
+directly during ontogeny. (Vol. I, p. 170.)
+
+According to Weismann, all the peculiarities which we find in an
+organism are not inherited by the organism from that of the parents,
+but he says: "Nothing can arise in an organism unless the
+predisposition to it is pre-existent, for every acquired character is
+simply the reaction of the organism upon a certain stimulus." (Vol. I,
+p. 172.) Therefore the germ-cells do not inherit all the peculiarities
+of the parents, but possess the predisposition or a potentiality of
+the tendencies which gradually develop into individual characters.
+
+We will be able to understand his theory better from the following
+quotations, which give his own words. He says: "I have called this
+substance 'germ-plasm,' and have assumed that it possesses a highly
+complex structure, conferring upon it the power of developing into a
+complex organism."  ("Heredity," Vol. I, p. 170.) Again he says:
+"There is, therefore, continuity of the germ-plasm from one generation
+to another. One might represent the germ-plasm by the metaphor of a
+long, creeping rootstock from which plants arise at intervals, these
+latter representing the individuals of successive generations. Hence
+it follows that the transmission of acquired characters is an
+impossibility, for if the germ-plasm is not formed anew in each
+individual, but is derived from that which preceded it, its structure,
+and, above all, its molecular constitution, cannot depend upon the
+individual in which it happens to occur, but such an individual only
+forms, as it were, the nutritive soil at the expense of which the
+germ-plasm grows, while the latter possessed its characteristic
+structure from the beginning, viz., before the commencement of growth.
+But the tendencies of heredity, of which the germ-plasm is the bearer,
+depend upon this very molecular structure, and hence only those
+characters can be transmitted through successive generations which
+have been previously inherited, viz., those characters which were
+potentially contained in the structure of the germ-plasm. It also
+follows that those other characters which have been acquired by the
+influence of special external conditions, during the lifetime of the
+parent, cannot be transmitted at all."  (Vol. I, p. 273.) In
+conclusion, Weismann writes: "But at all events we have gained this
+much, that the only facts which appear to directly prove a
+transmission of acquired characters have been refuted, and that the
+only firm foundation on which this hypothesis has been hitherto based
+has been destroyed."(Vol. I, p. 461.)
+
+Thus we see how far the theory of heredity has been pushed by the
+great scientific investigators of the present age. We have no longer
+any right to believe in the old oft-refuted hypothesis which assumes
+that each individual organism produces germ-cells afresh again and
+again and transmits all its powers developed and acquired by the
+parents; but, on the contrary, we have come to know to-day that
+parents are nothing but mere channels through which these germ-plasms
+or germ-cells manifest their peculiar tendencies and powers which
+existed in them from the very beginning. The main point is that the
+germs are not created by the parents, but that they existed in
+previous generations.
+
+Now, what are those germs like? Wherefrom do they acquire these
+tendencies, these peculiarities?  That is another very difficult
+problem. Dr. Weismann and his followers say that these peculiarities
+are gained or inherited "from the common stock," but what that common
+stock is they do not explain.  Where is that common stock and why will
+certain germs acquire certain tendencies and other germs retain other
+peculiarities? What regulates them? These questions are not solved. So
+far we have gathered from Dr. Weismann's explanation that the parents
+are not the creators of the germs but, on the contrary, that the germs
+existed before the birth of the body, before the growth of the body,
+in previous generations, or in the common stock of the universe. The
+previous generations are dead and gone, so we may say that they
+existed in the universe. We cannot now believe the old, crude,
+often-refuted idea that God creates the germ at the time of birth and
+puts into it all the powers and peculiarities of the parents. This
+theory makes God unjust and partial, so it does not appeal to us any
+more. We need better and more rational explanations. The one-birth
+theory, which has been preached by Christian ministers and other
+religionists for so many years, does not remove the difficulties, does
+not explain the cause of the inequalities and diversities, does not
+answer the question whether we acquire all the tendencies and
+peculiarities of the parents or whether acquired characters cannot be
+transmitted. We have already seen that these questions are left
+unsolved by the one-birth theory of Christianity and of Judaism. But
+this theory of "continuity of the germ-plasm" pushes the question of
+heredity to the door of Reincarnation. If modern science can explain
+what that common stock is and why and how these germs retain those
+peculiarities and tendencies, then the answer will be complete and not
+until then. The Vedanta philosophy, however, has already explained the
+cause of the potentiality in the germ of life or "germ-plasm" or
+germ-cell.
+
+Vedanta solves this difficulty by saying that each of these
+germ-plasms or germ-cells is nothing but the subtle form of a
+reincarnating individual, containing potentially all the experiences,
+characters, tendencies, and desires which one had in one's previous
+life. It existed before the birth of the body and it will continue
+after the death of the body. This germ or subtle body is not the same
+as the astral body of the Theosophists, or the double of the
+metaphysical thinkers or the disembodied spirit of the Spiritualists;
+but it is an ethereal center of activity-physical, mental and
+organic. It is a center which possesses the tendency to manifest these
+powers on different planes of existence. It contains the minute
+particles of matter or ethereal substance and the life principle or
+vital energy by which we live and move. It also possesses the mental
+powers and sense powers; but all these remain latent, just as in a
+seed we see that the powers of growth, of assimilation and of
+producing flowers and fruits are latent.
+
+At the time of death the individual soul contracts and remains in the
+form of a germ of life. It is for this reason, Vedanta teaches, that
+it is neither the will of God nor the fault of the parents that forms
+the characters of children, but each child is responsible for its
+tendencies, capacities, powers and character. It is its own "Karma" or
+past actions that make a child a murderer or a saint, virtuous or
+sinful. The stored-up potentialities in a subtle body manifest in the
+character of an individual.
+
+The argument advanced by the supporters of the theory of hereditary
+transmission does not furnish a satisfactory explanation of the cause
+of the inequalities and diversities of the universe. Why is it that
+the children of the same parents show a marked dissimilarity to their
+parents and to each other?
+
+Why do twins develop into dissimilar characters and possess opposite
+qualities, although they are born of the same parents at the same time
+and brought up under similar conditions and environments? How can
+heredity explain such cases? Suppose a man has five children; one is
+honest and saintly, another is an idiot, the third becomes a murderer,
+the fourth a genius or prodigy, and the fifth a cripple and
+diseased. Who made these dissimilarities? They cannot be
+accidents. There is no such thing as an accident. Every event of the
+universe is bound by the law of cause and effect. There must be some
+cause of these inequalities. Who made one honest and saintly, another
+an idiot, and so forth? Parents? That cannot be. They never dreamed
+that they would beget a murderer or a villain or an idiot. On the
+contrary, all parents wish their children to be the best and
+happiest. But in spite of such desires they get such children. Why?
+What is the cause? Does the theory of heredity explain it? No, not at
+all. Suppose a man, twenty-four years old, who has certain traits,
+like musical or artistic talents, such as painting and so on, has a
+crooked nose and other peculiarities, like cross-eyes, which resemble
+those of his grandfather. Suppose his grandfather died six years
+before he was born. Now, those who believe in the theory of heredity
+will say that this young man inherited all these peculiarities from
+his grandfather. When did he inherit? His grandfather had died six
+years before he was born. He inherited, of course, in the form of that
+germ. What is that germ like? A minute protoplasm, a jelly-like
+substance, and if you examine it with a powerful microscope you will
+hardly find any difference between it and the proto-plasmic germ of a
+dog, or of a cat, or of a tree. It is smaller than a pin's head. And
+in that state this young man inherited all these peculiarities from
+his grandfather; or, in other words, before he had a nose, he got a
+crooked nose; before he had eyes, he inherited cross-eyes, and before
+he had any brain, he inherited all the wonderful powers-his musical
+and artistic talents. Does it not seem absurd to you? Even if we admit
+this theory of heredity, then what do we understand? That the whole of
+this young man existed in the form of a protoplasm before he was
+born. His cross-eyes, his crooked nose, his artistic talents--all
+these pre-existed in the form of a protoplasmic cell. This leads up to
+the same thing which is taught by the theory of Reincarnation, or, in
+other words, if it be possible for this young man to remain in the
+form of a protoplasm and inherit all these things before his birth,
+why cannot we believe that the soul or the subtle body of this young
+man possessed them from the very beginning? According to Vedanta this
+young man was not the creature of his grandfather, but he had his own
+independent existence; only by coming through the channel of his
+parents he had received certain characteristic impressions, just as a
+tree in its process of growth will receive from the environments
+certain peculiarities when it assimilates those properties.
+
+The doctrine of Reincarnation alone can explain satisfactorily and
+rationally the diversities among children and the reason of the many
+instances of uncommon powers and genius displayed in childhood. The
+theory of heredity has up to this time failed to give any good reason
+for them. Why is it that Pascal, when twelve years old, succeeded in
+discovering for himself the greater part of plane geometry. How could
+the shepherd Mangiamelo, when five years old, calculate like an
+arithmetical machine. Think of the child Zerah Colburn: when he was
+under eight years of age he could solve the most tremendous
+mathematical problems instantly and without using any figures. "In one
+instance he took the number 8 and raised it up progressively to the
+sixteenth power and instantly mentioned the result which contained 15
+figures--28l,474,976,710,656." Of course he was right in every
+figure. When asked the square root of numbers consisting of six
+figures, he would state the result instantly with perfect accuracy. He
+used to give the cube root of numbers in the hundreds of millions the
+very moment when it was asked. Somebody asked him once how many
+minutes there were in 48 years, he answered, 25,288,800.
+
+Mozart, the great musician, wrote a sonata when he was four years old
+and an opera in his eighth year. Theresa Milanolla played the violin
+with such skill that many people thought that she must have played
+before her birth. There are many such instances of wonderful powers
+exhibited by artists and painters when they were quite young.
+Sankaracharya, the great commentator of the Vedanta philosophy,
+finished his commentary when he was twelve years old. How can such
+cases be explained by the theory of hereditary transmission? Many of
+you have heard of the wonderful musical talents of Blind Tom. This
+blind negro slave was born on his master's plantation and was brought
+up as a typical negro.  He received no training in music or in any
+other line. One day when his master's family were at dinner he
+happened to come into his master's parlor and displayed his marvelous
+musical power for the first time by playing on his master's
+piano. Afterwards he was exhibited in different states of this
+country. Physically he was nothing but a typical negro. His intellect
+was very poor, but in music he was a master. His musical talents were
+so great that he composed music for himself and played his own
+compositions. Sometimes after hearing a new piece of rapid music once,
+he could reproduce it note for note. Where did he get all these
+powers? From whom did he inherit them? His parents perhaps never heard
+of a piano. He never had a lesson in his life, and he could not have
+understood even if he had had any. Not long ago I saw a girl of about
+six years, who played the piano most beautifully and who could
+reproduce the most difficult music after hearing it once. It seems to
+me that she must have played the piano in her previous incarnation.
+This is the only explanation that we can give.
+
+Does heredity explain such cases? No. These illustrations are
+sufficient to disprove the theory of "cumulative heredity".
+"Cumulative" means gradualness.  The believers in this theory say that
+a genius is the result of cumulative heredity, that is, it presents
+itself by degrees from less genius to greater and still greater and so
+on. In the whole history of the genealogy of geniuses, like Homer,
+Plato, Shakespeare, Goethe, Raphael, there never was in their families
+almost Plato, almost Shakespeare, or almost Goethe. Neither is it
+possible to trace the extraordinary powers of any of these back to any
+member of their ancestral line. Therefore we can say that no other
+theory than that of Reincarnation can explain satisfactorily the
+causes which produce geniuses and prodigies in this world.
+
+Those who accept the truth of Reincarnation do not blame their parents
+for their poor talents, or for not possessing extraordinary powers,
+but they remain content with their own lot, knowing that they have
+made themselves as they are to-day by their own thoughts and deeds in
+their previous incarnations. They understand the meaning of the saying
+"what thou sowest thou must reap," and always endeavor to mould their
+future by better thoughts and better deeds. They explain all the
+inequalities and diversities of life and character by the law of
+"Karma," which governs the process of Reincarnation as well as the
+gradual evolution of the germs of life from lower to higher stages of
+existence.
+
+
+
+III. EVOLUTION AND REINCARNATION.
+
+
+The amazing achievements of modern science have been opening every day
+new gates of wisdom and slowly bringing human minds nearer and nearer
+to the ultimate reality of the universe. The fire of knowledge kindled
+by science has already burnt down many dogmas and beliefs, held sacred
+by the superstition of the past, which stood in the way of
+truth-seeking minds. In the first place science has disproved the
+theory of the creation of the universe out of nothing by the action of
+some supernatural power. It has shown that the universe did not appear
+in its present form or come into existence all of a sudden only a few
+thousand years ago, but that it has taken ages to pass through
+different stages before it could reach its present condition.  Each of
+these stages was directly related to a previous stage by the law of
+causation, which always operates in accordance with definite
+rules. The phenomena of the universe, according to science, are
+subject to evolution, or gradual change and progressive development
+from a relatively uniform condition to a relative complexity. From the
+greatest solar system down to the smallest blade of grass, everything
+in the universe has taken its present shape and form through this
+cosmic process of evolution. Our planet earth has gradually evolved,
+perhaps out of a nebulous mass which existed at first in a gaseous
+state. The sun, moon, stars, satellites and other planets have come
+into existence by going through innumerable changes produced by the
+evolutionary process of the Cosmos. Through the same process plants,
+insects, fishes, reptiles, birds, animals, man, and all living matter
+that inhabit this earth have evolved from minute germs of life into
+their present forms. The theory of Evolution says that man did not
+come into existence all of a sudden, but is related to lower animals
+and to plants, either directly or indirectly. The germ of life had
+passed through various stages of physical form before it could appear
+as a man. That branch of science which is called Embryology has proved
+the fact that "man is the epitome of the whole creation." It tells
+that the human body before its birth passes through all the different
+stages of the animal kingdom--such as the polyp, fish, reptile, dog,
+ape, and at last, man. If we remember that nature is always
+consistent, that her laws are uniform and that whatever exists in the
+microcosm exists also in the macrocosm, and then study nature, we
+shall find that all the germs of life which exist in the universe are
+bound to pass through stages resembling the embryonic types before
+they can appear in the form of man.
+
+In explaining the theory of Evolution, science says that there are two
+principal factors in the process of evolution; the first is the
+tendency to vary, which exists in all living forms whether vegetable
+or animal; the second is the tendency of environment to influence that
+variation, either favorably or unfavorably. Without the first,
+evolution of any kind would be absolutely impossible. But the cause of
+that innate tendency to vary is still unknown to science. Upon the
+second depends the law of natural selection. The variation must be
+adapted to favorable conditions of life; consequently either the germ
+of life will select suitable environments or vary itself in order to
+suit the surrounding conditions, if they are unfavorable. But the
+agent of this selective process is the struggle for existence, which
+is a no less important factor. Thus Evolution depends on these three
+laws: Tendency to vary, or variation, natural selection, and struggle
+for existence. Science tries to explain through these three laws the
+physical, mental, intellectual, moral and spiritual evolution of
+mankind. But the theory of Evolution will remain unintelligible until
+science can trace the cause of that innate "tendency to vary" which
+exists in every stage of all living forms.
+
+If we study closely we find that man's "self" consists of two natures,
+one animal and the other moral or spiritual. Animal nature includes
+all the animal propensities, desire for sense enjoyments, love of
+self, fear of death and struggle for existence. Each of these is to be
+found in lower animals as well as in human beings, the difference
+being only in degree and not in kind. In a savage tribe the expression
+of this animal nature is simple and natural, while in a highly
+civilized nation it is expressed not in a simple and straightforward
+manner, but in an artful and refined way. In a civilized community the
+same nature working through varied device, policy and plan brings the
+same results in a more polished form. In the struggle for existence
+amongst lower animals and savage tribes, those who are physically
+strong survive and gain advantage over those who are physically weak;
+while in the civilized world the same result is obtained, not by
+displaying physical force, but by art, diplomacy, policy, strategy and
+skill. Various kinds of defensive and offensive weapons have been
+invented to conquer those who are less skillful in using them,
+although they may be physically stronger. The simple expression of
+animal nature which we notice in savages and lower animals, by the
+natural process of evolution has gradually become more and more
+complex, as we find in the civilized nations of the world. The energy
+of the lower human nature is spent chiefly in the struggle for
+material existence.
+
+But there is another nature in man which is higher than this. It
+expresses itself in various ways, but on a higher plane. Love of
+truth, mastery over passion, control of the senses, disinterested
+self-sacrifice, mercy and kindness to all creatures, desire to help
+the distressed, forgiveness, faith in a Supreme Being and devotion;
+all these are the expressions of that higher moral and spiritual
+nature. They cannot be explained as developed from animal nature by
+means of the struggle for material existence. For these qualities are
+not to be found in lower animals, although the struggle for existence
+is there. The moral and spiritual nature of human beings cannot be
+traced as the outgrowth or gradual development of the animal
+nature. There is a dispute among the Evolutionists as to the method of
+explaining their cause. Some say that these higher faculties have
+evolved out of the lower ones and have developed by variation and
+natural selection; while others hold that some other higher influence,
+law or agency is required to account for them.
+
+Professor Huxley says: "As I have already urged, the practice of that
+which is ethically best--what we call goodness or virtue--involves a
+course of conduct which in all respects is opposed to that which leads
+to success in the cosmic struggle for existence. In place of ruthless
+self-assertion, it demands self-restraint; in place of thrusting aside
+or treading down all competitors, it requires that the individual
+shall not merely respect, but shall help his fellows; its influence is
+directed not so much to the survival of the fittest as to the fitting
+of as many as possible to survive. It repudiates the gladiatorial
+theory of existence. It demands that each man who enters into the
+enjoyment of the advantages of a polity shall be mindful of his debt
+to those who have laboriously constructed it, and shall take heed that
+no act of his weakens the fabric in which he has been permitted to
+live. Laws and moral precepts are directed to the end of curbing the
+cosmic process, and reminding the individual of his duty to the
+community, to the protection and influence of which he owes, if not
+existence itself, at least the life of something better than a brutal
+savage." ("Evolution and Ethics," pp. 81-82.)
+
+Prof. Calderwood says: "So far as human organism is concerned, there
+seem no overwhelming obstacles to be encountered by an evolution
+theory, but it seems impossible under such a theory to account for the
+appearance of the thinking, self-regulating life distinctly human."
+Thus, according to some of the best thinkers, the explanation of the
+moral and spiritual nature of man as a development of the animal
+nature, is quite insufficient and unsatisfactory.  The theory of
+natural selection in the struggle for existence cannot explain the
+cause of the higher nature of man. We cannot say that a theory is
+complete because it explains many facts.  On the contrary, if it fails
+to explain a single fact, then it is proved to be incomplete. As such,
+the theory that cannot explain satisfactorily the cause of the moral
+and spiritual nature of man cannot be accepted as a complete
+theory. That explanation will be considered as complete which will
+explain most satisfactorily all the various manifestations of the
+animal, moral and spiritual nature.  Moreover, supposing the "tendency
+to vary" has evolved into the moral and spiritual nature of man,
+science does not explain the cause of that tendency to vary, nor how
+animal nature can be transformed into moral and spiritual nature. Is
+that "tendency to vary" indefinite, or is it limited by any definite
+law? Science does not say anything about it.
+
+The explanation of the theologians, that the spiritual nature has been
+superadded to the animal nature by some extra-cosmic spiritual agency
+is not scientific, nor does it appeal to our reason. Now let us see
+what Vedanta has to say on this point. Vedanta accepts evolution and
+admits the laws of variation and natural selection, but goes a step
+beyond modern science by explaining the cause of that "tendency to
+vary." It says, "there is nothing in the end which was not also in the
+beginning." It is a law which governs the process of evolution as well
+as the law of causation. If we admit this grand truth of nature, then
+it will not be difficult to explain by the theory of Evolution the
+gradual manifestation of the higher nature of man.  The tendency of
+scientific monism is towards that end.
+
+Some of the modern scientists who hold the monistic position have
+found out the same truth which was discovered long ago by the Vedantic
+philosophers in India. J. Arthur Thomson, an eminent English scientist
+of the present day, in his book on "The Study of Animal Life," says:
+"The world is one, not two-fold-, the spiritual influx is the primal
+reality and there is nothing in the end which was not also in the
+beginning." But the evolutionists do not accept this truth. Let us
+understand it clearly. It means that that which existed potentially at
+the time of the beginning of evolution has gradually manifested in the
+various stages and grades of evolution. If we admit that a unicellular
+germ of life or a bioplasm, after passing through various stages of
+evolution, has ultimately manifested in the form of a highly developed
+human being, then we shall have to admit the potentiality of all the
+manifested powers in that germ or bioplasm, because the law is "that
+which exists in the end existed also in the beginning."  The animal
+nature, higher nature, mind, intellect, spirit, all these exist
+potentially in the germ of life.  If we do not admit this law then the
+problem will arise: How can non-existence become existent?  How can
+something come out of nothing? How can that come into existence which
+did not exist before? Each germ of life, according to Vedanta,
+possesses infinite potentialities and infinite possibilities.  The
+powers that remain latent have the natural tendency to manifest
+perfectly and to become actual. In their attempt they vary according
+to the surrounding environments, selecting suitable conditions or
+remaining latent as long as circumstances do not favor them. Therefore
+variation, according to Vedanta, is caused by this attempt of the
+potential powers to become actual. When life and mind began to evolve,
+the possibilities of action and reaction hitherto latent in the germ
+of life became real and all things became, in a sense, new. Nobody can
+imagine the amount of latent power which a minute germ of life
+possesses until it expresses in gross form on the physical plane. By
+seeing the seed of a Banyan tree, one who has never seen the tree
+cannot imagine what powers lie dormant in it. When a baby is born we
+cannot tell whether he will be a great saint, or a wonderful artist,
+or a philosopher, or an idiot, or a villain of the worst type. Parents
+know nothing about his future. Along with his growth certain latent
+powers gradually begin to manifest. Those which are the strongest and
+most powerful will overcome others and check their course for some
+time; but when the powers that remain subdued by stronger ones get
+favorable conditions they will appear in manifested forms. As, for
+instance, chemical forces may slumber in matter for a thousand years,
+but when the contact with the re-agents sets them free, they appear
+again and produce certain results. For thousands of years galvanism
+slumbered in copper and zinc, which lay quietly beside silver. As soon
+as all three are brought together under the required conditions silver
+is consumed in flame. A dry seed of a plant may preserve the
+slumbering power of growth through two or three thousand years and
+then reappear under favorable conditions. Sir G. Wilkinson, the great
+archaeologist, found some grains of wheat in a hermetically sealed
+vase in a grave at Thebes, which must have lain there for three
+thousand years. When Mr. Pettigrew sowed them they grew into plants.
+Some vegetable roots found in the hands of an Egyptian mummy, which
+must have been at least two thousand years old, were planted in a
+flower-pot, and they grew and flourished. Thus, whenever the latent
+powers get favorable conditions, they manifest according to their
+nature, even after thousands of years.
+
+Similarly, there are many instances of slumbering mental powers. After
+remaining dormant for a long period in our normal condition, they may,
+in certain abnormal states--such as madness, delirium, catalepsy,
+hypnotic sleep and so forth-flash out into luminous consciousness and
+throw into absolute oblivion the powers that are manifesting in the
+normal state. Talents for eloquence, music, painting, and uncommon
+ingenuity in several mechanical arts, traces of which were never found
+in the ordinary normal condition, are often evolved in the state of
+madness. Somnambulists in deep sleep have solved most difficult
+mathematical problems and performed various acts with results which
+have surprised them in their normal waking states. Thus we can
+understand that each individual mind is the storehouse of many powers,
+various impressions and ideas, some of which manifest in our normal
+state, while others remain latent. Our present condition of mind and
+body is nothing but the manifested form of certain dormant powers that
+exist in ourselves. If new powers are roused up and begin to manifest
+the whole nature will be changed into a new form. The manifestation of
+latent powers is at the bottom of the evolution of one species into
+another. This idea has been expressed in a few words by Patanjali, the
+great Hindu evolutionist who lived long before the Christian
+era. [Footnote: The reader ought to know that the doctrine of
+Evolution was known in India long before the Christian era. About the
+seventh century, B. C., Kapila, the father of Hindu Evolutionists,
+explained this theory for the first time through logic and
+science. Sir Monier Monier Williams says: "Indeed if I may be allowed
+the anachronism, the Hindus were Spinozites more than 2,000 years
+before the existence of Spinoza; and Darwinians many centuries before
+Darwin; and Evolutionists many centuries before the doctrine of
+Evolution had been accepted by the scientists of our time and before
+any word like Evolution existed in any language of the world." (P. 12,
+"Hinduism and Brahminism.") Prof. Huxley says: "To say nothing of
+Indian Sages to whom Evolution was a familiar notion ages before Paul
+of Tarsus was born." (P. 150, "Science and Hebrew Tradition.")] In the
+second aphorism of the fourth chapter (see "Raja Yoga," by Swami
+Vivekananda, p. 210) it is said, "The Evolution into another species
+is caused by the in-filling of nature."  The nature is filled not from
+without but from within.  Nothing is superadded to the individual soul
+from outside. The germs are already there, but their development
+depends upon their coming in contact with the necessary conditions
+requisite for proper manifestation. We sometimes see a wicked man
+suddenly become saintlike. There are instances of murderers and
+robbers becoming saints. A religionist will explain the cause of their
+sudden change, by saying that the grace of the Almighty has fallen
+upon them and transformed their whole nature.  But Vedanta says that
+the moral and spiritual powers that remained latent in them have been
+roused up, and the result is the sudden transformation. None can tell
+when or how the slumbering powers will wake up and begin to
+manifest. The germ of life, or the individual soul as it is ordinarily
+called, possesses infinite possibilities. Each germ of life is
+studying, as it were, the book of its own nature by unfolding one page
+after another. When it has gone through all the pages, or, in other
+words, all the stages of evolution, perfect knowledge is acquired, and
+its course is finished. We have read our lower nature by turning each
+page, or, in other words, by passing through each stage of animal life
+from the minutest bioplasm up to the present stage of existence. Now
+we are studying the pages which deal with moral and spiritual laws. If
+any one wants to read any page over again he will do it. Just as in
+reading a book, if anybody feels particularly interested in any page
+or chapter he will read it over and over again and will not open a new
+page or a new chapter until he is perfectly satisfied with
+it. Similarly, in reading the book of life, if the individual soul
+likes any particular stage, he will stay there until he is perfectly
+satisfied with it; after that he will go forward and study other
+pages. One may read very slowly, and another very fast; but whether we
+read slowly or rapidly each one of us is bound to read the whole book
+of nature and attain to perfection sooner or later.
+
+According to Vedanta, the end and aim of Evolution is the attainment
+of perfection. Physical evolution of animal life reached its
+perfection in human form. There cannot be any other form higher than
+human on this earth under present conditions. It is the perfection of
+animal form. From this we can infer that the tendency of the law of
+Evolution is to reach perfection. When it is attained to, the whole
+purpose is served. Do we see in nature any other higher form evolved
+out of the human body? No.  Shall we not be justified if we say that
+the end of physical evolution is the attainment of the perfection of
+animal form? Again as the purpose and method of natural laws are
+uniform throughout the universe, the end of intellectual, moral and
+spiritual evolution will be attained when intellectual, moral and
+spiritual perfection are acquired. Intellectual perfection means
+perfection of intellect; and intellect is perfect when we understand
+the true nature of things and never mistake the unreal for the real,
+matter for spirit, non-eternal for eternal, or _vice versa_. Moral
+perfection consists in the destruction of selfishness; and spiritual
+perfection is the manifestation of the true nature of spirit which is
+immortal, free, divine and one with the Universal Spirit or
+God. Evolution attains to the highest fulfilment of its purpose when
+the spirit manifests perfectly.  The tendency of nature is to have
+perfect manifestation of all her powers. When certain powers
+predominate they manifest first while the others remain dormant. As we
+find in the process of evolution, when animal nature manifests
+perfectly the moral and spiritual nature remain latent. Again when
+moral and spiritual nature manifest fully, the animal is in
+abeyance. It is for this reason we do not find expressions of moral
+and spiritual nature in lower animals or in those human beings who
+live like them. Man is the only animal in whom such perfect
+expressions of moral and spiritual nature are possible.  When the
+individual soul begins to study its spiritual nature, its lower or
+animal nature is gradually eclipsed. As the higher nature becomes
+powerful the lower nature dwindles into insignificance; its energy is
+transformed into that of the higher nature, and ultimately it
+disappears altogether and rises no more. Then the soul becomes free
+from the lower or animal nature. There are many stages in the higher
+nature, as well as in the lower. Each of these stages binds the
+individual soul so long as it stays there. As it rises on a higher
+plane the lower stages disappear and cease to bind. But the moment
+that any individual, after passing through all the stages of the
+spiritual nature, reaches the ultimate point of perfection, he
+realizes his true nature which is immortal and divine. Then his true
+individuality manifests. For lack of true knowledge, he identified
+himself with each stage successively and thought that his
+individuality was one with the powers which were manifested in each
+stage. Consequently he thought by mistake that he was affected by the
+changes of each stage. But now he realizes that his real individuality
+always remained unaffected.  He sees that his true individuality
+shines always in the same manner, although the limiting adjuncts may
+vary. As the light of a lamp appears of different colors, if it passes
+through glasses of different colors, so the light of the true
+individual appears as animal or human when it passes through the
+animal or human nature of the subtle body. The subtle body of an
+individual changes from animal nature through moral and spiritual into
+divine. As this gradual growth cannot be expected in one life we shall
+have to admit the truth of Reincarnation, which teaches gradual
+evolution of the germ of life or the individual soul through many
+lives and various forms. Otherwise the theory of Evolution will remain
+imperfect, incomplete and purposeless. The doctrine of Reincarnation
+differs from the accepted theory of Evolution in admitting a gradual
+but continuous evolution of the subtle body through many gross
+forms. The gross body may appear or disappear, but the subtle body
+continues to exist even after the dissolution of the gross body and
+re-manifests itself in some other form.
+
+The theory of Reincarnation when properly understood will appear as a
+supplement to the theory of Evolution. Without this most important
+supplement the Evolution theory will never be complete and
+perfect. Evolution explains the process of life, while Reincarnation
+explains the purpose of life. Therefore, both must go hand in hand to
+make the explanation satisfactory in every respect.
+
+James Freeman Clarke says: "That man has come up to his present state
+of development by passing through lower forms, is the popular doctrine
+of science to-day. What is called Evolution teaches that we have
+reached our present state by a very long and gradual ascent from the
+lowest animal organizations. It is true that the Darwinian theory
+takes no notice of the evolution of the soul, but only of the
+body. But it appears to me that a combination of the two views would
+remove many difficulties which still attach to the theory of natural
+selection and the survival of the fittest. If we are to believe in
+Evolution let us have the assistance of the soul itself in this
+development of new species. Thus science and philosophy will
+co-operate, nor will poetry hesitate to lend her aid." (P. 190, "Ten
+Great Religions," II.) Evolution of the body depends upon the
+evolution of the germ of life or the individual soul. When these two
+are combined the explanation becomes perfect.
+
+The theory of Reincarnation is a logical necessity for the completion
+of the theory of Evolution. If we admit a continuous evolution of a
+unit of the germ of life through many gross manifestations then we
+unconsciously accept the teachings of the doctrine of Reincarnation.
+In passing through different forms and manifestations the unit of life
+does not lose its identity or individuality. As an atom does not lose
+its identity or individuality (if you allow me to suppose an atom has
+a kind of individuality) although it passes from the mineral, through
+the vegetable, into the animal, so the germ of life always preserves
+its identity or individuality although it passes through the different
+stages of evolution.
+
+Therefore it is said in the "Bhagavad Gita," as in our ordinary life
+the individual soul passes from a baby body to a young one and from a
+young to an old, and carries with it all the impressions, ideas and
+experience that it has gathered in its former stage of existence and
+reproduces them in proper time, so when a man dies the individual soul
+passes from an old body into a new one, and takes with it the subtle
+body wherein are stored up all that it experienced and gathered during
+its past incarnations. Knowing this, wise men are never afraid of
+death. They know that death is nothing but a mere change from one body
+into another. Therefore, if any one does not succeed in conquering the
+lower nature by the higher, he will try again in his next incarnation,
+after starting from the point which he reached in his past life. He
+will not begin again from the very beginning, but from the last stage
+at which he arrived. Thus we see that Reincarnation is the logical
+sequence of evolution. It completes and makes perfect that theory and
+explains the cause of the moral and spiritual nature of man.
+
+
+
+IV. WHICH IS SCIENTIFIC--RESURRECTION OR REINCARNATION?
+
+
+The students of history are interested to know where the idea of
+resurrection first arose and how it was adopted by other nations. If
+we read carefully the writings ascribed to Moses and other writers of
+the Old Testament we find that the ancient Israelites did not believe
+in the Christian heaven or hell, nor in reward or punishment after
+death. It is doubtful whether they had any clear conception of the
+existence of soul after the dissolution of the human body. They had no
+definite idea of the hereafter.  They did not believe in the
+resurrection either of the soul or body. Job longed for death thinking
+that it would end his mental agony. In Psalms we read, "Wilt Thou shew
+wonders to the dead?  Shall the dead arise and praise Thee?"
+(Ps. lxxxviii, 10.) "In death there is no remembrance of Thee; in the
+grave who shall give Thee thanks?" (Ps. vi, 5.) Again (Ps. cxlvi, 4)
+it is said about princes and the son of man,--"His breath goeth forth,
+he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish." "The
+dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence."
+(Ps. cxv, 17.)  Solomon speaks boldly: "All things come alike to all;
+there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and
+to the clean and to the unclean... as is the good, so is the sinner."
+(Eccl. ix, 2.) "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine
+with a merry heart....  Live joyfully with thy wife... for there is no
+work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou
+goest." (Eccl. ix, 7, 9, 10.)  Again in verse 5 it is said: "The dead
+know not anything, neither have they anymore a reward, for the memory
+of them is forgotten." Solomon says: "For that which befalleth the
+sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them; as the
+one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath, so that
+a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast." "All go into one place; all
+are of the dust and all turn to dust again." "Who knoweth the spirit
+of man that goeth upward and the spirit of the beast that goeth
+downward to the earth?" (Eccl.  iii, 19-21.) There are many such
+passages which show clearly that before the Babylonian captivity the
+Israelites had no belief in reward or punishment, neither in heaven
+nor hell nor in the resurrection of the soul. Some say that they had a
+belief in a sheol or pit where departed souls remained after death,
+but were never resurrected. But when the ancient Jews were conquered
+by the Persians, 536 B.C., they came in contact with a nation which
+had developed a belief in one God, in a heaven and a hell, in the
+resurrection of the dead, in reward and punishment after death, and in
+the last day of judgment. Under the dominion of Persia, whose rule
+began with the capture of Babylon and lasted from 536-333 B.C., the
+Jews were greatly influenced by the Persian religion.  They gave up
+their idolatry, gradually developed social organization and had
+considerable liberty.  About that time the Jews were divided into two
+classes, the Pharisees and Sadducees. Those who adopted the religious
+ideas of the Parsees were called Pharisees (according to some
+authorities the word Pharisee was the Hebrew form of Parsee), and
+those who followed strictly the Jewish ideas, ceremonies, rituals and
+beliefs were called Sadducees. The former were sharply opposed to the
+latter in their doctrinal beliefs. They believed in angels and
+spirits, they expected the resurrection of the dead and believed in
+future reward and punishment and also in Divine pre-ordination. The
+Sadducees did not step beyond the bounds of ancient Judaism.  They
+were Orthodox and very conservative in their views. They denied the
+existence of angels and spirits, the resurrection of the dead, and
+reward and punishment after death. In Matt, xxii, 23, we read, "The
+same day came to him the Sadducees which say that there is no
+resurrection." The Sadducees were fewer in number than the
+Pharisees. Gradually the latter grew very powerful and after the death
+of Jesus their doctrines of the resurrection of the dead, and of
+reward and punishment after death, and the belief in angels and
+spirits, became the cardinal principles of the new Christian sect.
+Thus we see that the idea of resurrection first arose in Persia and
+afterwards took a prominent place in the writings of the New
+Testament, and since then it has been largely accepted by the
+Christians of the Western countries. The Zoroastrians believed that
+the soul of the dead hovers about the body for three nights and does
+not depart for the other world until the dawn after the third night.
+Then the righteous go to heaven and the wicked to hell. There the
+wicked remain until the time of renovation of the universe, that is,
+the judgment day. After the renovation, when Ahriman or Satan is
+killed, the souls of the wicked will be purified and have everlasting
+progress. [Footnote: "Sacred Books of the East," Vol. xvii, pp. 27,
+34, 46.] The question was asked, "How shall they produce
+resurrection?" Ahura Mazda says: "The reply is this, that the
+preparation and production of the resurrection are an achievement
+connected with miracle, a sublimity, and afterwards also a wondrous
+appearance unto the creatures uninformed. The secrets and affairs of
+the persistent Creator are like every mystery and secret." [Footnote:
+_Ibid_., p. 80.]
+
+The Zoroastrians believed in the resurrection, not of the physical
+body, but of the soul, and that it was an act of miracle. Similarly
+miraculous was the resurrection of Jesus. Although Jesus Himself never
+mentioned what kind of resurrection, whether of body or of soul that
+He meant and believed in, the interpretation of the writers of the
+Gospels shows that His disciples understood Him to mean bodily
+resurrection and the re-appearance of His physical form. The three
+days remained, just as the Zoroastrians believed. The miraculous and
+wondrous appearance of Jesus before His disciples was preached most
+vigorously by Paul. In his Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul declares
+emphatically that the whole of the Christian religion depends upon the
+miraculous resurrection and re-appearance of Jesus.  Although Paul
+said the spiritual body of the risen dead is not the same as flesh and
+blood body (I Cor., XV), still that important point is generally
+overlooked, and the result is the belief which we find amongst some of
+the Christian sects; that at the call of the angels, the body will
+rise from the grave and the mouldering dust of bones and flesh will be
+put together by the miraculous power of the Almighty God. Paul says:
+"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of
+them that slept" (I Cor., XV, 20). He preached that Christ was the
+first born from the dead, that those who believe in Christ would rise
+as He did and that those who would not believe in Him or in His
+resurrection should not rise.
+
+We have already noticed that the Parsees believed in a miraculous
+resurrection; that the same miracle became more definite in the case
+of Jesus; and that the Christian faith was afterwards founded upon
+that miraculous event. Both the Parsees and the followers of Christ
+did not mean by resurrection any universal law, but a miracle done by
+certain supernatural powers. They did not give any scientific reasons
+for such a miracle.
+
+But modern science denies miracles. It teaches that this universe is
+guided, not by miracles as the old thinkers used to believe, but by
+definite laws which are always consistent and universal. There cannot
+be any exception to those laws which are uniform throughout. If
+resurrection be one of those laws, then it must have existed before
+the birth of Jesus; as such, how could He be the first born from the
+dead, as described by Paul. Conversely, if Jesus was the first who
+rose from the dead, then resurrection cannot be a universal
+law. Scientists would not believe in anything which is not based upon
+universal laws. Some of the agnostics and materialists have gone so
+far as to say that Jesus did not die on the cross, but his animation
+was suspended when his body was taken down from the cross by Joseph of
+Arimathsea. When Joseph went to Pilate and craved the body of Jesus,
+Pilate marvelled if He were dead (Mark XV, 44), because it was only
+six hours after the crucifixion. Some of the modern physiologists are
+of opinion that temperate and strong men might live for several days
+on the cross. These heretical agnostics and skeptical scientists say
+that the body of Jesus revived after a few hours in the cool, rock-cut
+tomb, that he walked out of the tomb, went to Galilee and appeared
+before his disciples. [Footnote: Vide "Science and Christian
+Tradition," by Prof. Huxley, pp.  279-280.] Whatever the facts may be
+(nobody can now tell exactly what actually happened), it is clear that
+the scientists are not ready to take anything upon authority. They do
+not care to believe in anything because it is written in this book or
+that. They must have convincing proofs and a rational explanation of
+every phenomenon of nature. They want to penetrate into miracles in
+order to discover the universal laws that govern them. If they do not
+find any such laws, they will surely reject every event that is
+supposed to be caused by miraculous or supernatural powers.
+
+The theory of a miraculous resurrection is attended with the belief
+that the individual soul does not exist before birth. The supporters
+of this theory hold that at the time of birth, the individual, being
+created out of nothing, comes fresh into existence. But science tells
+us that sudden creation out of nothing and a total destruction of
+anything are both impossible. Matter and force are indestructible.
+Science teaches evolution and not creation, and denies the
+intervention of any supernatural being as the cause of phenomenal
+changes. The theory of Resurrection ignores all these ultimate
+conclusions of modern science. On the contrary, the doctrine of
+Reincarnation, after accepting all the truths and laws of nature that
+have been discovered by modern science, carries them to their proper
+logical conclusions.  Reincarnation is based upon evolution.  It means
+a continuous evolution of an individual germ of life, and a gradual
+re-manifestation of all the powers and forces that exist in it
+potentially. Moreover, the doctrine of Reincarnation is founded on the
+law of cause and effect. It teaches that the cause is not outside of
+the effect, but lies in the effect. The cause is the potential or
+unmanifested state of the effect, and effect is the actual or
+manifested cause.  There is one current of infinite force or power
+constantly flowing in the ocean of reality of the universe, and
+appearing in the innumerable forms of waves. We call one set of waves
+the cause of another set, but in fact that which is the cause is the
+potentiality of the future effect and the actuality of a previous
+potential cause. The underlying current is one and the same
+throughout. Reincarnation denies the idea that the soul has come into
+existence all of a sudden or has been created for the first time, but
+it holds that it has been existing from the beginningless past, and
+will exist all through eternity.  The individual soul enjoys or
+suffers according to the acts it performs. All enjoyment and suffering
+are but the reactions of our actions. Actions are the causes and the
+reactions are the results. Our present life is the result of our past
+actions, and our future will be the result of the present. The actions
+which we are now doing will not be lost. Do you think that the
+thought-forces of one life-time will end suddenly after death?
+No. They will be conserved and remain potentially in the center and
+re-manifest under suitable conditions. Each human soul is nothing but
+a center of thought-force. This center is called in Sanskrit
+_Sukshma Sarira_ or the subtle body of an individual. The subtle
+germ of life or, in other words, the invisible center of
+thought-forces, will manufacture a physical vehicle for expressing the
+latent powers that are ready for manifestation.  This process will
+continue until the germ can express most perfectly all the powers that
+are coiled up in its invisible form. As the doctrine of Reincarnation
+is in agreement with all the physical laws, so it is based upon
+psychical, moral and ethical laws. As on the objective plane the law
+of action and reaction governs the objective phenomena, so on the
+subjective plane of consciousness, if the mental action or thought be
+good, the reaction will be good, and the reaction will be evil if the
+mental action be evil, because every action produces a similar
+reaction, A good reaction is one which makes us happy and brings
+pleasant sensations or peace of mind, while an evil reaction brings
+suffering, unpleasant sensations, and makes one miserable. Thus
+Reincarnation makes us free agents for action, as well as for reaping
+the results or reactions of those actions. In fact, we mould our own
+nature, according to our desires, tendencies and works.
+
+The theory of Resurrection, as commonly understood, does not explain
+why one man is born with a sinful nature and another with a virtuous
+one. It contents itself with saying as Luther said: "Man is a beast of
+burden who only moves as his rider orders; sometimes God rides him and
+sometimes Satan."  But why God should allow Satan to ride His own
+creature nobody can tell. At any rate, man must suffer eternally for
+the crimes which he is forced by Satan to commit. Moreover this theory
+pre-supposes predestination and that the individual soul is
+fore-doomed to go either to heaven or to hell. St.  Augustine first
+started this doctrine of Predestination and Grace to explain why one
+is born sinful and another sinless. According to this theory, God, the
+merciful, favors somebody with His grace at the time of his birth and
+then he comes into this world ready to be saved, but the mass of
+humanity is born sinful and destined for eternal damnation. Very few
+indeed receive the gift of grace and are predestined to be
+saved. Moreover, this doctrine tells us that God creates man out of
+nothing, forbids him something, but at the same time He does not give
+him the power to obey His commands. Ultimately God punishes him with
+eternal torture on account of his weakness. The body and soul will not
+be separated.  He will not be set free from his body, because, if it
+be so, there will be the end of his suffering, which God does not
+like. All these sufferings and punishments are predestined before his
+birth. Thus, St.  Augustine's dogma of Predestination and Grace
+instead of explaining the difficulty satisfactorily brings horror and
+dread to human minds, while the doctrine of Reincarnation teaches
+gradual progress from lower to higher, through ages until the
+individual reaches perfection. It holds that each individual will
+become perfect like Jesus or Buddha or like the Father in heaven and
+manifest divinity either in this life or in some other. One span of
+life is too short for developing one's powers to perfection.  If you
+should try to train an idiot to become a great artist or a
+philosopher, would you ever succeed in your attempt to make him so
+during his lifetime?  No. And will you punish him because he cannot
+become so? Can a man who possesses the slightest common sense be so
+unreasonable? Similarly what would you think if God punishes a man
+because he cannot become perfect within a lifetime? It is a poor
+argument to say that God has given us free-will to choose between
+right and wrong, and we are responsible for our choice; if we choose
+wrongly we must be punished. The advocates of such an argument forget
+that at the same time God has let loose His powerful Satan to corrupt
+His creatures.
+
+It reminds me of an old story. Once on a time at a certain place a
+prisoner was released and set free through the kindness of a
+tyrant. The tyrant said to the prisoner "Look here, wicked man, I give
+you freedom, you can go to any place; but there is one condition; if
+you are attacked by any wild animal you will be put in the dungeon and
+there will be no end to your torture." So saying he gave him freedom,
+but at the same time ordered his servants to let loose a hungry wolf
+to chase the man. You can imagine what became of the prisoner. Can we
+call this an act of mercy!
+
+The doctrine of Reincarnation says that each individual soul is
+potentially perfect and is gradually unfolding its powers and making
+them actual through the process of Evolution. At every step of that
+process it is gaining different experiences which last only for a
+time. Therefore neither God nor Satan is responsible for our good or
+evil actions.  Good and evil are like the up and down or the crest and
+hollow of a wave in the sea. A wave cannot rise without making a
+hollow somewhere in the sea.  So in the infinite ocean of reality
+innumerable waves are constantly rising. The summit of each wave is
+called good, while the hollow beside it is evil or misery and the
+current of each individual life is constantly flowing towards the
+ultimate destination which we call perfection. Who can tell how long
+it will take to reach that goal? If anybody can attain to perfection
+in this life, he is no longer bound to reincarnate. If he fails he
+will continue to progress by taking some other body. Reincarnation
+does not teach, as many people think, that in the next incarnation one
+will begin from the very beginning, but it says that one will start
+from that point which one reaches before death and will keep the
+thread of progress unbroken. It does not teach that we go back to
+animal bodies after death, but that we get our bodies according to our
+desires, tendencies and powers. If any person has no desire to come
+back to this world or to any other and does not want to enjoy any
+particular object of pleasure, and if he is perfectly free from
+selfishness that person will not have to come back. The theory of
+Reincarnation is logical and satisfactory. While the theory of
+Resurrection is neither based on scientific truths nor can it
+logically explain the cause of life and death, Reincarnation solves
+all the problems of life and explains scientifically all the questions
+and doubts that arise in the human mind.
+
+"Reincarnation is not easily understood by a thoughtless child deluded
+by the delusion of wealth, name or fame. Everything ends with death,
+he thinks, and thus falls again and again under the sway of death."
+
+
+
+V. THEORY OF TRANSMIGRATION.
+
+
+The theory of transmigration is one of the oldest theories accepted by
+the people of the Orient to solve the problems concerning life and
+death as well as to explain the continuity of existence after death.
+This theory presupposes the existence of the soul as an entity which
+can live even when the gross material body is dead or dissolved into
+its elements.  Those who deny the existence of the soul, of the
+self-conscious thinker and actor, as an entity distinct from the gross
+material body, necessarily deny this theory of transmigration. The
+materialistic thinkers of all ages have refused to accept this theory,
+because they do not admit the existence of a soul or a self-conscious
+thinker and actor as an entity, separate from the gross material
+body. Consequently they do not ask or discuss whether the soul will
+exist after death or not, whether it will continue to live or not.
+Such materialists are not the creatures of the twentieth century, but
+they have lived in all ages, in all countries. In India and in other
+civilized countries of ancient times you will find that materialistic
+thinkers prevailed and they gave the same arguments which we hear now
+from the agnostics and scientists of to-day. Their arguments are
+generally one-sided and unsatisfactory. They try to deduce the soul or
+self-conscious entity from the combination of matter or material
+forces, but they have not succeeded in giving a scientific proof of
+it. No arguments in favor of the existence of a soul as an entity will
+convince them, because they deny the existence of anything that cannot
+be perceived by sense powers.  If we could bring the soul down on the
+sense plane and make it visible to these materialistic thinkers, and
+if they could make experiments upon it, then perhaps they would be
+convinced to a certain extent, but not until then. But how can we
+bring the soul down on the sense plane when it is ethereal and finer
+than anything that we can perceive with our senses?
+
+Those who try to explain the cause of our earthly life by the theory
+of heredity do not believe in the truth of transmigration. The modern
+scientists, agnostics and materialists generally accept the theory of
+heredity and endeavor to explain everything by it; but if we examine
+their arguments for the theory of heredity, we shall find that the
+theory of transmigration is much more satisfactory, much more rational
+than that of heredity.
+
+Among the followers of the great religions of the world, the majority
+of Christians, Jews, Mohammedans and Parsees deny the truth of
+transmigration.  Of course, there was a time when the Christians
+believed in this transmigration theory. Origen and other Church
+Fathers accepted it until the time of Justinian, who anathematized all
+those who believed in Reincarnation or the pre-existence of the soul.
+Among the Jews we find that in the Cabala this idea of transmigration
+plays the most important part.  In fact the Cabalists accepted this
+theory to explain all the difficulties that could not be explained by
+any other theory. But those Jews, Christians, Mohammedans and Parsees
+who do not believe in the theory of transmigration accept the
+one-birth theory; that is, that God creates the souls at the time of
+birth out of nothing, and these souls, having come into existence out
+of nothing, continue to live forever; that this is our first and last
+birth that we receive; we did not exist before, we are suddenly
+created by God, and after death each one of us will continue to live
+either in heaven or hell to enjoy or to suffer throughout
+eternity. Among the modern Spiritualists we find that those who are
+born and brought up with this idea of one birth do not accept the
+theory of transmigration. Still there are millions and millions of
+people all over the world who do believe in transmigration and who
+have found comfort and consolation in their lives as well as a
+satisfactory solution of the problems of life and death.
+
+The theory of Transmigration, or Metempsychosis, as it has been called
+by many philosophers, originally meant the passing of a soul from one
+body after death into another; or, in other words, it meant that the
+soul after dwelling in one particular body for a certain length of
+time leaves it at the time of death, and in order to gain experience
+enters into some other body, either human, animal or angelic, which is
+ready to receive it. It may migrate from the human body to an angelic
+body and then come down on the human plane, or to the animal plane and
+be born again as an animal. So the original meaning of transmigration
+or metempsychosis was the revolution of the soul from body to body
+whether animal, human, angelic or of the gods. The migrating substance
+being a fixed quantity, with fixed qualities, chooses its form
+according to its taste, desire and bent of character. This idea
+prevailed among the ancient Egyptians, according to whom the soul,
+after leaving the dead body, would travel from one body to another for
+thousands and thousands of years in order to gain experiences in each
+of the different stages of life.
+
+Among the Greek philosophers we find that Pythagoras, Plato and their
+followers believed in this theory of Metempsychosis or Transmigration
+of souls.  Pythagoras says: "After death the rational mind, having
+been freed from the chains of the body, assumes an ethereal vehicle
+and passes into the region of the dead where it remains till it is
+sent back to this world to inhabit some other body human or
+animal. After undergoing successive purgations, when it is
+sufficiently purified, it is received among the gods and returns to
+the eternal source from which it first proceeded." Plato also believed
+in this theory. Of course we cannot tell exactly from whence
+Pythagoras and Plato got these ideas.  Some say that they learned
+these doctrines from Egypt; others believed that, either directly or
+indirectly, they learned the theory of transmigration from
+India. Plato describes in "Phaedrus," in mythological language, why
+and how the souls take their birth upon this plane, either as human or
+animal.  He says: "In the heaven Zeus, the Father and Lord of all
+creatures, drives his winged car, ordering all things and
+superintending them. A host of deities and spirits follow him, each
+fulfilling his own function.  Whoever will and can follows them. After
+taking this round, they advance by a steep course along the inner
+circumference of the heavenly vault and proceed to a banquet. The
+chariots of the gods, being well balanced and well driven, advance
+easily; others with difficulty; for the vicious horse, unless the
+charioteer has thoroughly broken him, weighs down the car by his
+proclivity towards the earth, whereupon the soul is put to the
+extremity of toil and effort. The souls of gods reach the summit, go
+outside and stand upon the surface of heaven, and enjoy celestial
+bliss. Such is the life of the gods; other souls which follow God best
+and are likest to Him succeed in seeing the vision of truth and in
+entering into the outer world with great difficulty.  The rest of the
+souls longing after the upper world all follow; but not being strong
+enough, they are carried round in the deep below, plunging, treading
+on one another, striving to be first, and there, in confusion and
+extremity of effort, many of them are lamed and have their wings
+broken. Thus when the soul is unable to follow and fails to behold the
+vision of Truth, sinks beneath the double load of forgetfulness and
+vice, her feathers fall from her and she drops to earth and is born
+again and again as human beings or as animals." Plato says: "Ten
+thousand years must elapse before the soul can return to the place
+from whence she came, for she cannot grow her wings in less." "At the
+end of the first thousand years, the souls of the good and of the evil
+kind come together to draw lots, and choose their bodies according to
+their tendencies and the bent of their characters. They may take any
+they like.  Instead of receiving the natural consequences of their
+deeds and misdeeds of their previous lives they are allowed to choose
+their own lot, according to their experience and bent of
+character. Some, being disgusted with mankind, prefer to be born as
+animals, such as lions and eagles or some other animals. Others
+delight in trying their luck as human beings." From this mythological
+description we gather what Plato meant by transmigration.
+
+This Platonic idea of transmigration or of successive lives of those
+who inhabit this earth has been criticized by various thinkers of
+modern times; and referring to this idea the late Doctor Myers, of the
+Psychical Research Society of London, writes in his second volume of
+"Human Personality": "The simple fact that such was probably the
+opinion of both Plato and Virgil shows that there is nothing here
+which is alien to the best reason or to the highest instincts of
+men. Nor, indeed, is it easy to realize any theory of the _direct
+creation_ of spirits at such different stages of advancement as
+those which enter upon the earth in the guise of mortal man. There
+_must_, one feels, be some kind of continuity--some form of
+spiritual past." (P. 134.)  Why does He not create all souls equal?
+Why will one soul be highly advanced spiritually while another is
+entirely ignorant and idiotic? This question cannot be answered, this
+problem cannot be solved by the special creation theory, and therefore
+Doctor Myers says that there is no doubt that there was some previous
+continuity or spiritual past of each individual soul, and therefore he
+tacitly admits the theory of Transmigration. Although from a
+scientific viewpoint he could not give any direct proof regarding this
+idea of a pre-existence of the soul, still he could not deny it
+entirely when he said: "The shaping forces which have made our bodies
+and our minds what they are may always have been psychical
+forces--from the first living slime-speck to the complex intelligences
+of to-day." "The old transmigrationist's view would thus possess a
+share of truth and the actual man would be the resultant not only of
+intermingling heredities on father's and mother's sides, but of
+intermingling heredities, one of planetary and one of cosmic scope."
+("Human Personality," Vol. II, p. 267.)
+
+But this theory of Transmigration, as described by Plato, is a little
+different from a similar theory which existed in India before his
+time. In the Platonic idea of transmigration, as we have already seen,
+the souls were allowed to choose their own lot according to their
+experience or bent of character, but not to receive the natural
+consequence of their deeds and misdeeds. Plato did not say anything
+about the law which governs souls; but in ancient India the great
+thinkers and philosophers explained that each individual soul is bound
+by the inexorable law of nature to receive its body as a natural
+consequence of its former deeds and misdeeds, and not to have free
+choice of its lot according to its bent of character. The great
+thinkers and philosophers of ancient India discovered the universal
+law of cause and effect, of action and reaction, and called it by the
+Sanskrit term "Karma," which means the law of cause and sequence; that
+every cause must be followed by an effect of a similar nature, that
+every action must produce similar reaction, and conversely every
+reaction or effect is the result of an action or cause of a similar
+character. Thus there is always a balance and harmony between cause
+and effect, between action and reaction. This law of Karma has now
+become a fundamental verity of modern science. It is called by
+different names: the scientists call it the law of causation, the law
+of compensation, the law of retribution, the law of action and
+reaction, but they all refer to the same idea,--that every cause must
+produce a similar result and every action must produce a similar
+reaction.
+
+Now these ancient thinkers of India applied this law of Karma to
+explain the destiny of human souls, and it was upon this law they
+based the theory of Transmigration. They maintained that human souls
+are bound by this irresistible law and cannot get out of it; their
+thoughts and deeds are the causes which produce results of similar
+nature. So their future birth does not depend upon their whimsical,
+free choice, but it is limited by the thoughts and deeds or misdeeds
+of their previous lives. In the Platonic idea we find that the souls
+go according to their choice. They may not take a human form if they
+prefer an animal form, but in the Hindu idea of transmigration we find
+that it is not a result of free choice, but, if our thoughts and deeds
+force us to take a particular form, then we are subject to the law of
+Karma, which governs our future birth and the evolution of our
+souls. Consequently the Hindu theory of Transmigration differs
+fundamentally from the Platonic as well as from the Egyptian idea of
+Transmigration. In the Platonic and Egyptian theories we see that the
+souls, after leaving the body, enter into another body which is
+waiting to receive the migrating soul, but in the Hindu theory of
+Transmigration the body is not waiting to receive the migrating soul,
+but on the contrary the soul, being subject to the laws of evolution,
+manufactures the gross material body according to its desires and
+tendencies. Just as a germ of life will develop a grosser form by
+cellular subdivision, by growth, and by assimilation of the
+environmental conditions, so the germ of the human soul will
+manufacture the body by obeying the laws which govern the physical
+plane.  Parents are nothing but the channels through which the
+migrating souls receive their material forms.  Parents do not create
+the souls; they have no power to create. They can only give the
+suitable environments necessary for manufacturing a gross physical
+body. The souls come with their tendencies, with their desires, and
+they remain as germs of life.
+
+Now these germs of life contain vital forces, sense powers, psychic
+powers, and ethereal particles of matter. At the time of death the
+soul contracts and withdraws all its powers from the sense organs to
+its innermost center, and in that contracted state it leaves the
+body. But these powers do not leave the soul. By the law of
+persistence of force and conservation of energy they remain latent in
+that center until environmental conditions become favorable for their
+remanifestation. Rebirth means the manifestation of the latent powers
+which exist in the germ of life or in the individual soul. These germs
+of life are called by different names. Leibnitz called them monads and
+modern scientists call them bioplasms or some such name, but the
+Vedanta philosophers describe them as subtle bodies. These germs or
+subtle bodies are subject to evolution and growth; they arise from
+lower to higher stages of development, from the mineral through the
+vegetable to the animal kingdom and eventually they become human
+beings and then they go on progressing.
+
+In the Platonic theory the idea of progress, growth or gradual
+evolution of the soul from the lower to higher stages of existence is
+entirely excluded, because, as I have already said, the migrating
+substance is of a fixed quantity with fixed qualities, that is, these
+qualities do not change and are not affected by either growth or
+evolution. They are constant quantities.  In order to differentiate
+these two ideas we should call the Hindu theory of Transmigration by
+the term "Reincarnation." The Hindu or Vedantic theory of
+Reincarnation, however, is not the same as the Buddhistic theory of
+Rebirth, for the Buddhists do not believe in the permanence of the
+soul entity.  There is another point where the Reincarnation theory
+differs from Platonic transmigration. According to this theory of
+Reincarnation there is growth and evolution of each individual soul
+from the lower to higher stages of development. The soul or germ of
+life, after passing through the lower stages, comes to the human plane
+and gains experience and knowledge; and after coming to the human
+plane, it does not retrograde to animal bodies. The Platonic theory
+teaches that human souls migrate into animal bodies or angelic bodies
+and return from the angelic to the human or the animal, and that some
+of them prefer to become animals; while the theory of Reincarnation,
+taking its stand upon the scientific truth of gradual evolution,
+teaches that the human souls have already passed through different
+grades of the animal, nay, of the vegetable kingdom, by the natural
+process of evolution. After having once received the human organism,
+why should a soul choose to go back to the lesser and more imperfect
+organism of an animal? How is it possible for a lesser manifestation
+to hold a greater one? Why should a greater manifestation choose more
+limited forms in preference to those of others? This question arises
+in the Platonic theory of Transmigration. Therefore, the Reincarnation
+theory, or the theory of Transmigration according to the Hindus,
+rejects this idea of the going back of human souls to animal forms.
+We have already passed in the evolutionary process through the lower
+grade of animal organisms. Now that we have outgrown them why should
+we go back to them?
+
+It is true, however, that in India there are many uneducated people
+among the Hindus who believe that human souls do migrate into animal
+bodies after death to gain experience and reap the results of their
+wicked deeds, being bound by the law of Karma; but in the Platonic
+theory the law of Karma plays no part in the transmigration of
+souls. The educated and thoughtful minds of India, however, accept the
+more rational and scientific theory of Reincarnation. Although there
+are passages in the scriptural writings of the Hindus which apparently
+refer to the retrogression of the human soul into animal nature, still
+such passages do not necessarily mean that the souls will be obliged
+to take animal bodies. They may live like animals even when they have
+human bodies, as we may find among us many people like cats and dogs
+and snakes in human form and they are often more vicious than natural
+cats, dogs or snakes. They are reaping their own Karma and manifesting
+their animal nature, though physically they look like human
+beings. This kind of retrogression is possible for one who after
+reaching the human plane goes backward on account of wicked thoughts
+and deeds on the animal plane. Such a temporary retrogression brings
+knowledge and helps it in its onward progress toward the manifestation
+of higher powers on the higher plane of consciousness.  All the wicked
+thoughts and wicked deeds are nothing but the results of our own
+mistakes. What is sin?  Sin is nothing but a mistake and it proceeds
+from ignorance. For instance, if I do not know that fire burns, I may
+put my finger into it and get burned.  The result of this mistake is
+the burning of the finger and this has taught me once for all that
+fire burns; I shall never again put my finger into fire.  So every
+mistake is a great teacher in the long run.  No one is born so high
+and perfect as not to commit any mistake or any sin. Every mistake
+like this opens our eyes to the laws of the universe by bringing to us
+such results as we do not desire. As one life is not enough to gain
+experience in all the stages of evolution, we must have to admit the
+doctrine of the Reincarnation of the soul for the fulfillment of the
+ultimate purpose of earthly life. Professor Huxley says: "None but
+hasty thinkers will reject it on the ground of inherent absurdity.
+Like the doctrine of evolution itself that of transmigration has its
+roots in the world of reality."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Reincarnation, by Swami Abhedananda
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Reincarnation, by Swami Abhedananda
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+Title: Reincarnation
+
+Author: Swami Abhedananda
+
+Release Date: January, 2005 [EBook #7377]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on April 22, 2003]
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+Language: English
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REINCARNATION ***
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+Produced by Dave Maddock, Charles Franks and the
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+
+
+VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY
+
+FIVE LECTURES ON REINCARNATION
+
+BY
+
+SWAMI ABHEDANANDA
+
+_Author of "India and her People", "Self-Knowledge", "How to be a
+Yogi", "Divine Heritage of Man", etc._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  I.--REINCARNATION
+
+ II.--HEREDITY AND REINCARNATION
+
+III.--EVOLUTION AND REINCARNATION
+
+ IV.--WHICH IS SCIENTIFIC, RESURRECTION OR REINCARNATION?
+
+  V.--THEORY OF TRANSMIGRATION
+
+
+
+
+I. REINCARNATION
+
+
+The visible phenomena of the universe are bound by the universal law
+of cause and effect. The effect is visible or perceptible, while the
+cause is invisible or imperceptible. The falling of an apple from a
+tree is the effect of a certain invisible force called gravitation.
+Although the force cannot be perceived by the senses, its expression
+is visible. All perceptible phenomena are but the various expressions
+of different forces which act as invisible agents upon the subtle and
+imperceptible forms of matter. These invisible agents or forces
+together with the imperceptible particles of matter make up the subtle
+states of the phenomenal universe. When a subtle force becomes
+objectified, it appears as a gross object.  Therefore, we can say,
+that every gross form is an expression of some subtle force acting
+upon the subtle particles of matter. The minute particles of hydrogen
+and oxygen when combined by chemical force, appear in the gross form
+of water. Water can never be separated from hydrogen and oxygen, which
+are its subtle component parts. Its existence depends upon that of its
+component parts, or in other words, upon its subtle form. If the
+subtle state changes, the gross manifestation will also change. The
+peculiarity in the gross form of a plant depends upon the peculiar
+nature of its subtle form, the seed. The peculiar nature of the gross
+forms in the animal kingdom depends upon the subtle forms which
+manifest variously in each of the intermediate stages between the
+microscopic unit of living matter and the highest man. The gross human
+body is closely related to its subtle body.  Not only this, but every
+movement or change in the physical form is caused by the activity and
+change of the subtle body. If the subtle body be affected or changed a
+little, the gross body will also be affected similarly. The material
+body being the expression of the subtle body, its birth, growth, decay
+and death depend upon the changes of the subtle body.  As long as the
+subtle body remains, it will continue to express itself in a
+corresponding gross form.
+
+Now let us understand clearly what we mean by a subtle body. It is
+nothing but a minute germ of a living substance. It contains the
+invisible particles of matter which are held together by vital force,
+and it also possesses mind or thought-force in a potential state, just
+as the seed of a plant contains in it the life force and the power of
+growth. According to Vedanta, the subtle body consists of
+_Antahkaranam_, that is, the internal organ or the mind substance
+with its various modifications, mind, intellect, egoism, memory, the
+five instruments of perception: the powers of seeing, hearing,
+smelling, tasting and touching; the five instruments of action, such
+as the powers of seizing, moving, speaking, evacuating, and
+generating, and the five _Prānas. Prāna_ is a Sanskrit word which
+means vital energy or the life-sustaining power in us. Although
+_Prāna_ is one, it takes five different names on account of the
+five different functions it performs. This word _Prāna_ includes
+the five manifestations of the vital force: First, that power which
+moves the lungs and draws the atmospheric air from outside into the
+system. This is also called _Prāna_. Second, that power which
+throws out of the system such things as are not wanted. It is called
+in Sanskrit _Apāna_. Third, it takes the name of _Samāna_,
+as performing digestive functions and carrying the extract of food to
+every part of the body. It is called _Udāna_ when it is the cause
+of bringing down food from the mouth through the alimentary canal to
+the stomach, and also when it is the cause of the power of speech. The
+fifth power of _Prāna_ is that which works in every part of the
+nervous system from head to foot, through every canal, which keeps the
+shape of the body, preserves it from putrefaction, and gives health
+and life to every cell and organ. These are the various manifestations
+of the vital force or _Prāna_. These subtle powers together with
+the non-composite elements of the gross body, or the ethereal
+particles of subtle matter, and also with the potentialities of all
+the impressions, ideas and tendencies which each individual gathers in
+one life, make up his subtle body.  As a resultant of all the
+different actions of mind and body which an individual performs in his
+present life, will be the tendencies and desires in his future life;
+nothing will be lost.
+
+Every action of body or mind which we do, every thought which we
+think, becomes fine, and is stored up in the form of a _Samskāra_
+or impression in our minds. It remains latent for some time, and then
+it rises up in the form of a mental wave and produces new
+desires. These desires are called in Vedanta, _Vāsanās_. Vāsanās
+or strong desires are the manufacturers of new bodies. If Vāsanā or
+longing for worldly pleasures and objects remains in anybody, even
+after hundreds of births, that person will be born again. Nothing can
+prevent the course of strong desires. Desires must be fulfilled sooner
+or later.
+
+Every voluntary or involuntary action of the body, sense or mind must
+correspond to the dormant impressions stored up in the subtle
+body. Although growth, the process of nourishment and all the changes
+of the gross physical body take place according to the necessarily
+acting causes, yet the whole series of actions, and consequently every
+individual act, the condition of the body which accomplishes it, nay,
+the whole process in and through which the body exists, are nothing
+but the outward expressions of the latent impressions stored up in the
+subtle body. Upon these rests the perfect suitableness of the animal
+or human body to the animal or human nature of one's impressions. The
+organs of the senses must therefore completely correspond to the
+principal desires which are the strongest and most ready to
+manifest. They are the visible expressions of these desires. If there
+be no hunger or desire to eat, teeth, throat and bowels will be of no
+use. If there be no desire for grasping and moving, hands and legs
+will be useless. Similarly it can be shown that the desire for seeing,
+hearing, etc., has produced the eye, ear, etc. If I have no desire to
+use my hand, and if I do not use it at all, within a few months it
+will wither away and die. In India there are some religious fanatics
+who hold up their arms and do not use them at all; after a few months
+their arms wither and become stiff and dead. A person who lies on his
+back for six months loses the power of walking. There are many such
+instances which prove the injurious effects of the disuse of our limbs
+and organs.
+
+As the human form, generally, corresponds to the human will,
+generally, so the individual bodily structure corresponds to the
+character, desires, will and thought of the individual. Therefore the
+outer nature is nothing but the expression of the inner nature. This
+inner nature of each individual is what re-incarnates or expresses
+itself successively in various forms, one after another. When a man
+dies the individual ego or _Jīva_ (as it is called in Sanskrit),
+which means the germ of life or the living soul of man, is not
+destroyed, but it continues to exist in an invisible form. It remains
+like a permanent thread stringing together the separate lives by the
+law of cause and effect. The subtle body is like a water-globule which
+sprang in the beginningless past from the eternal ocean of Reality;
+and it contains the reflection of the unchangeable light of
+Intelligence.  As a water-globule remains sometimes in an invisible
+vapory state in a cloud, then in rain or snow or ice, and again as
+steam or in mud, but is never destroyed, so the subtle body sometimes
+remains unmanifested and sometimes expresses itself in gross forms of
+animal or human beings, according to the desires and tendencies that
+are ready to manifest. It may go to heaven, that is, to some other
+planet, or it may be born again on this earth. It depends on the
+nature and strength of one's life-long tendency and bent of mind. This
+idea is clearly expressed in Vedanta. "The thought, will or desire
+which is extremely strong during lifetime, will become predominant at
+the time of death and will mould the inner nature of the dying
+person. The newly moulded inner nature will express in a new form."
+(Bhagavad Gītā.) The thought, will or desire which moulds the inner
+nature has the power of selecting or attracting such conditions or
+environments as will help it in its way of manifestation. This process
+corresponds in some respects to the law of "natural selection."
+
+We shall be better able to understand that process by studying how the
+seeds of different trees select from the common environments different
+materials, and absorb and assimilate different quantities of
+elements. Suppose two seeds, one of an oak and the other of a
+chestnut, are planted in a pot. The power of growth in both the seeds
+is of the same nature. The environments, earth, water, heat and light
+are the same. But still there is some peculiarity in each of the
+seeds, which will absorb from the common environments different
+quantities of elements and other properties which are fit to help the
+growth of the peculiar nature and form of the fruit, flower, leaves of
+each tree. Suppose the chestnut is a horse-chestnut. If, under
+different conditions, the peculiar nature of the horse-chestnut
+changes into that of a sweet chestnut, then, along with the changes in
+the seed, the whole nature of the tree, leaves, fruits will also be
+changed. It will no more attract, absorb or assimilate those
+substances and qualities of the environments which it did when it was
+a horse-chestnut. Similarly, through the law of "natural selection"
+the newly moulded thought-body of the dying person will choose and
+attract such parts from the common environments as are helpful to its
+proper expression or manifestation. Parents are nothing but the
+principal parts of the environment of the re-incarnating
+individual. The newly moulded inner nature or subtle body of the
+individual will by the law of "natural selection" involuntarily
+choose, or be unconsciously drawn to, as it were, its suitable parents
+and will be born of them. As, for instance, if I have a strong desire
+to become an artist, and if after a life-long struggle I do not
+succeed in being the greatest, after the death of the body I will be
+born of such parents and with such environments as will help me to
+become the best artist.
+
+The whole process is expressed in Eastern philosophy by the doctrine
+of the Reincarnation of the individual soul.  Although this doctrine
+is commonly rejected in the West, it is unreservedly accepted by the
+vast majority of mankind of the present day, as it was in past
+centuries. The scientific explanation of this theory we find nowhere
+except in the writings of the Hindus; still we know that from very
+ancient times it was believed by the philosophers, sages and prophets
+of different countries. The ancient civilization of Egypt was built
+upon a crude form of the doctrine of Reincarnation. Herodotus says:
+"The Egyptians propounded the theory that the human soul is
+imperishable, and that where the body of any one dies it enters into
+some other creature that may be ready to receive it." Pythagoras and
+his disciples spread it through Greece and Italy. Pythagoras says:
+"All has soul; all is soul wandering in the organic world, and obeying
+eternal will or law."
+
+In Dryden's Ovid we read:--
+
+  "Death has no power the immortal soul to slay,
+  That, when its present body turns to clay,
+  Seeks a fresh home, and with unlessened might
+  Inspires another frame with life and light."
+
+It was the keynote of Plato's philosophy.  Plato says: "Soul is older
+than body. Souls are continually born over again into this life." The
+idea of Reincarnation was spread widely in Greece and Italy by
+Pythagoras, Empedocles, Plato, Virgil and Ovid.  It was known to the
+Neo-Platonists, Plotinus and Proclus. Plotinus says: "The soul leaving
+the body becomes that power which it has most developed.  Let us fly
+then from here below and rise to the intellectual world, that we may
+not fall into a purely sensible life by allowing ourselves to follow
+sensible images...." It was the fundamental principle of the religion
+of the Persian Magi. Alexander the Great accepted this idea after
+coming in contact with the Hindu philosophers. Julius Caesar found
+that the Gauls had some belief regarding the pre-existence of the
+human soul. The Druids of old Gaul believed that the souls of men
+transmigrate into those bodies whose habits and characters they most
+resemble. Celts and Britons were impressed with this idea. It was a
+favorite theme of the Arab philosophers and many Mahomedan Sufis. The
+Jews adopted it after the Babylonian captivity.  Philo of Alexandria,
+who was a contemporary of Christ, preached amongst the Hebrews the
+Platonic idea of the pre-existence and rebirth of human souls.  Philo
+says: "The company of disembodied souls is distributed in various
+orders. The law of some of them is to enter mortal bodies, and after
+certain prescribed periods be again set free." John the Baptist was
+according to the Jews a second Elijah; Jesus was believed by many to
+be the re-appearance of some other prophet. (See Matt, xvi, 14, also
+xvii, 12.) Solomon says in his Book of Wisdom: "I was a child of good
+nature and a good soul came to me, or rather because I was good I came
+into an undefiled body."
+
+The Talmud and Cabala teach the same thing.  In the Talmud it is said
+that Abel's soul passed into the body of Seth, and then into that of
+Moses.  Along with the spread of the Cabala this doctrine (which was
+known as Transmigration and Metempsychosis) "began to take root in
+Judaism and then it gained believers even among men who were little
+inclined towards Mysticism. Juda ben Asher (Asheri) for instance,
+discussing this doctrine in a letter to his father endeavored to place
+it upon a philosophical basis." (Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol.  XII,
+p. 232.) We also read, "The Cabalists eagerly adopted the doctrine on
+account of the vast field it offered to mystic speculations. Moreover
+it was almost a necessary corollary of their psychological system. The
+absolute condition of the soul is, according to them, its return,
+after developing all those perfections, the germs of which are
+eternally implanted in it, to the Infinite Source from which it
+emanated. Another term of life must therefore be vouchsafed to those
+souls which have not fulfilled their destiny here below, and have not
+been sufficiently purified for the state of union with the Primordial
+Cause. Hence if the soul, on its first assumption of a human body and
+sojourn on earth, fails to acquire that experience for which it
+descended from heaven and becomes contaminated by that which is
+polluting, it must reinhabit a body till it is able to ascend in a
+purified state through repeated trials."  This is the theory of the
+Zohar, which says: "All souls are subject to transmigration; and men
+do not know the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He!  They do not know
+that they are brought before the tribunal both before they enter into
+this world and after they leave it; they are ignorant of the many
+transmigrations and secret probations which they have to undergo, and
+of the number of souls and spirits which enter into this world and
+which do not return to the palace of the Heavenly King. Men do not
+know how the souls revolve like a stone which is thrown from a
+sling. But the time is at hand when these mysteries will be
+disclosed." (Zohar, II, 99 _b_.)
+
+Like many of the Church Fathers the Cabalists used as their main
+argument in favor of the doctrine of metempsychosis the justice of
+God. But for the belief in metempsychosis, they maintained, the
+question why God often permits the wicked to lead a happy life while
+many righteous are miserable would be unanswerable. Then too the
+infliction of pain upon children would be an act of cruelty unless it
+is imposed in punishment of sin committed by the soul in a previous
+state. Isaac Abravanel sees in the commandment of the Levirate a proof
+of the doctrine of metempsychosis for which he gives the following
+reasons: (1) God in His mercy willed that another trial should be
+given to the soul, which having yielded to the sanguine temperament of
+the body had committed a capital sin, such as murder, adultery, etc.;
+(2) it is only just that when a man dies young a chance should be
+given to his soul to execute in another body the good deeds which it
+had not time to perform in the first body; (3) the soul of the wicked
+sometimes passes into another body in order to receive its deserved
+punishment here below instead of in the other world where it would be
+much more severe. (Commentary on Deuteronomy, XXV, 5.)
+
+Christianity is not exempt from this idea. Origen and other Church
+Fathers believed in it. Origen says: "For God, justly disposing of his
+creatures according to their desert, united the diversities of minds
+in one congruous world, that he might, as it were, adorn his mansion
+(in which ought to be not only vases of gold and silver, but of wood
+also and clay, and some to honor and some to dishonor) with these
+diverse vases, minds or souls. To these causes the world owes its
+diversity, while Divine Providence disposes each according to his
+tendency, mind and disposition." He also says: "I think this is a
+question how it happens that the human mind is influenced now by the
+good, now by the evil. The causes of this I suspect to be more ancient
+than this corporeal birth." The idea of Reincarnation spread so fast
+amongst the early Christians that Justinian was obliged to suppress it
+by passing a law in the Council of Constantinople in 538 A.D. The law
+was this: "Whoever shall support the mythical presentation of the
+pre-existence of the soul, and the consequently wonderful opinion of
+its return, let him be Anathema." The Gnostics and Manichaeans
+propagated the tenets of Reincarnation amongst the mediaeval sects
+such as the Bogomiles and Paulicians. Some of the followers of this
+so-called erroneous belief were cruelly persecuted in 385 A.D.
+
+In the seventeenth century some of the Cambridge Platonists, as
+Dr. Henry More and others, accepted the idea of rebirth. Most of the
+German philosophers of the middle ages and of recent days have
+advocated and upheld this doctrine. Many quotations can be given from
+the writings of great thinkers, like Kant, Scotus, Schelling, Fichte,
+Leibnitz, Schopenhauer, Giardano Bruno, Goethe, Lessing, Herder and a
+host of others. The great skeptic Hume says in his posthumous essay on
+"The Immortality of the Soul," "The metempsychosis is therefore the
+only system of this kind that philosophy can hearken to." Scientists
+like Flammarion and Huxley have supported this doctrine of
+Reincarnation. Professor Huxley says: "None but hasty thinkers will
+reject it on the ground of inherent absurdity. Like the doctrine of
+evolution itself, that of transmigration has its roots in the world of
+reality." ("Evolution and Ethics," p. 61.)
+
+Some of the theological leaders have preached it. The eminent German
+theologian Dr. Julius Müller supports this theory in his work on "The
+Christian Doctrine of Sin." Prominent theologians, such as Dr. Dorner,
+Ernesti, Rückert, Edward Beecher, Henry Ward Beecher, Phillips Brooks,
+preached many a time touching the question of the pre-existence and
+rebirth of the individual soul. Swedenborg and Emerson maintained
+it. Emerson says in his essay on Experience, "We wake and find
+ourselves on a stair. There are stairs below us which we seem to have
+ascended; there are stairs above us, many a one, which go upward and
+out of sight."
+
+Almost all of the poets, ancient or modern, profess it. William
+Wordsworth says in "Intimations of Immortality:"--
+
+  "The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
+    Hath had elsewhere its setting,
+  And cometh from afar."
+
+Tennyson writes in the "Two Voices;"
+
+  "Or, if through lower lives I came--
+  Tho' all experience past became,
+  Consolidate in mind and frame--
+  I might forget my weaker lot;
+  For is not our first year forgot?
+  The haunts of memory echo not."
+
+Walt Whitman says in "Leaves of Grass:"
+
+  "As to you, Life, I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths,
+  No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before."
+
+Similar passages can be quoted from almost all the poets of different
+countries. Even amongst the aboriginal tribes of Africa, Asia, North
+and South America, traces of this belief in the rebirth of souls is to
+be found. Nearly three-fourths of the population of Asia believe in
+the doctrine of Reincarnation, and through it they find a satisfactory
+explanation of the problem of life. There is no religion which denies
+the continuity of the individual soul after death.
+
+Those who do not believe in Reincarnation try to explain the world of
+inequalities and diversities either by the one-birth theory or by the
+theory of hereditary transmission. Neither of these theories, however,
+is sufficient to explain the inequalities that we meet with in our
+everyday life. Those who believe in the one-birth theory, that we have
+come here for the first and last time, do not understand that the
+acquirement of wisdom and experience is the purpose of human life; nor
+can they explain why children who die young should come into existence
+and pass away without getting the opportunity to learn anything or
+what purpose is served by their coming thus for a few days, remaining
+in utter ignorance and then passing away without gaining anything
+whatever. The Christian dogma, based on the one-birth theory, tells us
+that the child which dies soon after its birth is sure to be saved and
+will enjoy eternal life and everlasting happiness in heaven. The
+Christians who really believe in this dogma ought to pray to their
+heavenly Father for the death of their children immediately after
+their birth and ought to thank the merciful Father when the grave
+closes over their little forms. Thus the one-birth theory of Christian
+theology does not remove any difficulty.
+
+Two great religions, Judaism with its two offspring--Christianity and
+Mahomedanism--and Zoroastrianism, still uphold the one-birth theory.
+
+The followers of these, shutting their eyes to the absurdity and
+unreasonableness of such a theory, believe that human souls are
+created out of nothing at the time of the birth of their bodies and
+that they continue to exist throughout eternity either to suffer or to
+enjoy because of the deeds performed during the short period of their
+earthly existence. Here the question arises why should a man be held
+responsible throughout eternity for the works which he was forced or
+predestined to perform by the will of the Lord of the universe? The
+theory of predestination and grace, instead of explaining the
+difficulty, makes God partial and unjust. If the omnipotent personal
+God created human souls out of nothing, could He not make all souls
+equally good and happy? Why does He make one to enjoy all the
+blessings of life and another to suffer all miseries throughout
+eternity? Why is one born with good tendencies and another with evil
+ones? Why is one man virtuous throughout his life and another bestial?
+Why is one born intelligent and another idiotic? If God out of His own
+will made all these inequalities, or, in other words, if God created
+one man to suffer and another to enjoy, then how partial and unjust
+must He be! He must be worse than a tyrant. How can we worship Him,
+how call Him just and merciful?
+
+Some people try to save God from this charge of partiality and
+injustice by saying that all good things of this universe are the work
+of God, and all evil things are the work of a demon or Satan. God
+created everything good, but it was Satan who brought evil into this
+world and made everything bad. Now let us see how far such a statement
+is logically correct. Good and evil are two relative terms; the
+existence of one depends upon that of the other. Good cannot exist
+without evil, and evil cannot exist without being related to
+good. When God created what we call good, He must have created evil at
+the same time, otherwise He could not create good alone. If the
+creator of evil, call him by whatever name you like, had brought evil
+into this world, he must have created it simultaneously with God;
+otherwise it would have been impossible for God to create good, which
+can exist only as related to evil. As such they will have to admit
+that the Creators of good and evil sat together at the same time to
+create this world, which is a mixture of good and evil. Consequently,
+both of them are equally powerful, and limited by each other.
+Therefore neither of them is infinite in powers or omnipotent. So we
+cannot say that the Almighty God of the universe created good alone
+and not the evil.
+
+Another argument which the Vedantists advance in support of the theory
+of Reincarnation is that "Nothing is destroyed in the universe."
+Destruction in the sense of the annihilation of a thing is unknown to
+the Vedantic philosophers, just as it is unknown to the modern
+scientists. They say "non-existence can never become existence and
+existence can never become non-existence;" or, in other words, that
+which did not exist can never exist, and conversely that which exists
+in any form can never become non-existent. This is the law of
+nature. As such, the impressions or ideas which we now have, together
+with the powers which we possess, will not be destroyed but will
+remain with us in some form or other. Our bodies may change, but the
+powers, Karma, Samskaras or impressions and the materials which
+manufactured our bodies must remain in us in an unmanifested
+form. They will never be destroyed. Again science tells us that that
+which remains in an unmanifested or potential state must at some time
+or other be manifested in a kinetic or actual form. Therefore we shall
+get other bodies, sooner or later. It is for this reason said in the
+"Bhagavad Gītā": "Birth must be followed by death and death must be
+followed by birth." Such a continuously recurring series of births and
+deaths each germ of life must go through. Another consideration is
+that the beginning, ending and continuing are conceptions of the human
+mind; their significance depends entirely upon our conception of
+time. But we all know that time has no absolute existence. It is
+merely a form of our knowledge of our own existence in relation to
+that of nature.  The conception of time vanishes at the sleep of
+death, just as it does every night when we are in sound sleep. Death
+resembles the state of our sound sleep. The soul wakes up from the
+sleep of death just in the same manner as the insects awake in spring
+after sleeping the long and rigid winter-sleep, as a chrysalis in the
+bed of a cocoon spun by itself in autumn. Nature teaches us the great
+lesson of rebirth and the similarity between sleep and death by the
+rejuvenation of the chrysalis in the spring. After death the soul
+wakes up and puts on or manufactures the garment of a new body, just
+in the same manner as we put on new clothes after throwing away the
+old and worn-out ones. Thus the soul continues to manifest itself over
+and over again either on the human or any other plane of existence,
+being bound by the Law of Karma or of Cause and Sequence.
+
+  "Death, so called, is but older matter dressed
+  In some new form. And in a varied vest,
+  From tenement to tenement though tossed,
+  The soul is still the same, the figure only lost."
+
+  _Poem on Pythagoras, Dryden's Ovid._
+
+Here it may be asked, if we existed before our birth why do we not
+remember? This is one of the strongest objections often raised against
+the belief in pre-existence. Some people deny the existence of the
+soul in the past simply because they cannot remember the events of
+their past. Others, again, who hold memory as the standard of
+existence, say, if our memory of the present ceases to exist at the
+time of death, with it we shall also cease to be; we cannot be
+immortal; because they hold that memory is the standard of life, and
+if we do not remember then we are not the same beings.
+
+Vedanta answers these questions by saying that it is possible for us
+to remember our previous existences.  Those who have read "Raja Yoga"
+will recall that in the 18th aphorism of the third chapter it is said:
+"By perceiving the Samskāras one acquires the knowledge of past
+lives." Here the Samskāras mean the impressions of the past experience
+which lie dormant in our subliminal self, and are never lost. Memory
+is nothing but the awakening and rising of latent impressions above
+the threshold of consciousness. A Raja Yogi, through powerful
+concentration upon these dormant impressions of the subconscious mind,
+can remember all the events of his past lives. There have been many
+instances in India of Yogis who could know not only their own past
+lives but correctly tell those of others. It is said that Buddha
+remembered five hundred of his previous births.
+
+Our subliminal self, or the subconscious mind, is the storehouse of
+all the impressions that we gather through our experiences during our
+lifetime. They are stored up, pigeon-holed there, in the _Chitta, as
+it is called in Vedanta. "Chitta" means the same subconscious mind or
+subliminal self which is the storehouse of all impressions and
+experiences. And these impressions remain latent until favorable
+conditions rouse them and bring them out on the plane of
+consciousness. Here let us take an illustration: In a dark room
+pictures are thrown on a screen by lantern-slides. The room is
+absolutely dark. We are looking at the pictures. Suppose we open a
+window and allow the rays of the midday sun to fall upon the
+screen. Would we be able to see those pictures? No. Why? Because the
+more powerful flood of light will subdue the light of the lantern and
+the pictures. But although they are invisible to our eyes we cannot
+deny their existence on the screen. Similarly, the pictures of the
+events of our previous lives upon the screen of the subliminal self
+may be invisible to us at present, but they exist there. Why are they
+invisible to us now? Because the more powerful light of
+sense-consciousness has subdued them. If we close the windows and
+doors of our senses from outside contact and darken the inner chamber
+of our self, then by focusing the light of consciousness and
+concentrating the mental rays we shall be able to know and remember
+our past lives, and all the events and experiences thereof. Those who
+wish therefore to develop their memory and remember their past should
+practice Raja Yoga and learn the method of acquiring the power of
+concentration by shutting the doors and windows of their senses. And
+that power of concentration must be helped by the power of
+self-control. That is, by controlling the doors and windows of our own
+senses.
+
+These dormant impressions, whether we remember them or not, are the
+chief factors in moulding our individual characters with which we are
+born, and they are the causes of the inequalities and diversities
+which we find around us. When we study the characters and powers of
+geniuses and prodigies we cannot deny the pre-existence of the
+soul. Whatever the soul has mastered in a previous life manifests in
+the present. The memory of particular events is not so important. If
+we possess the wisdom and knowledge which we gathered in our previous
+lives, then it matters very little whether or not we remember the
+particular events, or the struggles which we went through in order to
+gain that knowledge. Those particular things may not come to us in our
+memory, but we have not lost the wisdom. Now, study your own present
+life and you will see that in this life you have gained some
+experience. The particular events and the struggles which you went
+through are passing out of your memory, but the experience, the
+knowledge which you have gained through that experience, has moulded
+your character, has shaped you in a different manner. You will not
+have to go through those different events again to remember; how you
+acquired that experience is not necessary; the wisdom gained is quite
+enough.
+
+Then, again, we find among ourselves persons who are born with some
+wonderful powers. Take, for instance, the power of self-control. One
+is born with the power of self-control highly developed, and that
+self-control may not be acquired by another after years of hard
+struggle. Why is there this difference? Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna was
+born with God-consciousness, and he went into the highest state of
+Samādhi when he was four years old; but this state is very difficult
+for other Yogis to acquire. There was a Yogi who came to see
+Ramakrishna. He was an old man and possessed wonderful powers, and he
+said: "I have struggled for forty years to acquire that state which is
+natural with you." There are many such instances which show that
+pre-existence is a fact, and that these latent or dormant impressions
+of previous lives are the chief factors in moulding the individual
+character without depending upon the memory of the past. Because we
+cannot remember our past, because of the loss of memory of the
+particular events, the soul's progress is not arrested. The soul will
+continue to progress further and further, even though the memory may
+be weak.
+
+Each individual soul possesses this storehouse of previous experiences
+in the background, in the subconscious mind. Take the instance of two
+lovers. What is love? It is the attraction between two souls. This
+love does not die with the death of the body. True love survives death
+and continues to grow, to become stronger and stronger. Eventually it
+brings the two souls together and makes them one. The theory of
+pre-existence alone can explain why two souls at first sight know each
+other and become attached to each other by the tie of friendship. This
+mutual love will continue to grow and will become stronger, and in the
+end will bring these lovers together, no matter where they
+go. Therefore, Vedanta does not say that the death of the body will
+end the attraction or the attachment of two souls; but as the souls
+are immortal so their relation will continue forever.
+
+The Yogis know how to develop memory and how to read past lives. They
+say, time and space exist in relation to our present mental condition;
+if we can rise above this plane, our higher mind sees the past and
+future just as we see things before our eyes. Those who wish to
+satisfy the idle curiosity of their minds may spend their energy by
+trying to recollect their past lives. But I think it will be much more
+helpful to us if we devote our time and energy in moulding our future
+and in trying to be better than we are now, because the recollection
+of our former condition would only force us to make a bad use of the
+present. How unhappy he must be who knows that the wicked deeds of his
+past life will surely react on him and will bring distress, misery,
+unhappiness or suffering within a few days or a few months. Such a man
+would be so restless and unhappy that he would not be able to do any
+work properly; he would constantly think in what form misery would
+appear to him. He would not be able to eat or even sleep. He would be
+most miserable. Therefore we ought to regard it as a great blessing
+that we do not recollect our past lives and past deeds. Vedanta says,
+do not waste your valuable time in thinking of your past lives, do not
+look backward during the tiresome journey through the different stages
+of evolution, always look forward and try first to attain to the
+highest point of spiritual development; then if you want to know your
+past lives you will recollect them all. Nothing will remain unknown to
+you, the Knower of the universe. When the all-knowing Divine Self will
+manifest through you, time and space will vanish and past and future
+will be changed into the eternal present. Then you will say as Sri
+Krishna said to Arjuna, in the "Bhagavad Gita:" "Both you and I have
+passed through many lives; you do not recollect any, but I know them
+all." (Ch. iv., 5.)
+
+
+
+II. HEREDITY AND REINCARNATION.
+
+
+Those who accept the theory of heredity deny the existence of the
+human soul as an entity separable from the gross physical
+organism. Consequently they do not discuss the question whether the
+individual soul existed in the past or will continue to exist after
+the death of the body. This kind of question does not disturb their
+minds. They generally maintain that the individual soul is inseparable
+from the body or the brain or nervous system; consequently what we
+call soul or the conscious entity or the thinker is produced along
+with the birth of the organism or brain, lasts as long as the body
+lasts and dies when the organism is dissolved into its elements.  But
+those, on the other hand, who accept the theory of Reincarnation admit
+the existence of soul as a conscious entity which is independent of
+the physical organism, that it continues to live after death and that
+it existed before the birth of the body. The theory of heredity has
+always been supported by the materialistic scientists, atheists and
+agnostics of all ages and also by those who believe in the special
+creation of the first man and woman at a certain definite time and
+that their qualities, character, life and soul have been transmitted
+to all humanity through successive generations. The commonly accepted
+meaning of the theory of heredity is that all the well-marked
+peculiarities, both physical and mental, in the parents are handed on
+to the children; or, in other words, heredity is that property of an
+organism by which its peculiar nature is transmitted to its
+descendants.
+
+In the whole history of humanity there has never been a time when this
+question of heredity has been discussed so minutely and in so many
+different ways as it has been in the present century. Although this
+theory was known in the East by the ancient Vedanta philosophers, by
+the Buddhists of the pre-Christian era and by the Greek philosophers
+in the West, still it has received a new impetus and has grown with
+new strength since the introduction of the Darwinian theory of the
+evolution of species.  Along with the latest discoveries in
+physiology, biology, embryology and other branches of modern science,
+the popular simple meaning of heredity--that the offspring not only
+resemble their parents among animals as well as among men, but inherit
+all the individual peculiarities, life and character of their
+parents--has taken the shape of the most complicated and difficult
+problem which it is almost impossible to solve. Our minds are no
+longer satisfied with Haeckel's definition that heredity is simply an
+overgrowth of the individual, a simple continuity of growth; but we
+want to know the particular method by which hereditary transmission
+takes place.  We ask, how can a single cell reproduce the whole body
+of the offspring, its mind, character and all the peculiarities of an
+organism? Out of the myriads of cells of which a body is composed,
+what kind of cell is that which possesses the power of reproducing the
+peculiarities, both mental and physical, which are to be found in the
+form of the new-born babe?  This is the most puzzling of all the
+problems which the scientific mind has ever encountered. The
+fundamental question connected with the theory of heredity is: How can
+a single cell of the body contain within itself all the hereditary
+tendencies of the hypothesis of the continuity of the germ-plasm gives
+an identical starting-point to each successive generation, and thus
+explains how it is that an identical product arises from all of
+them. In other words, the hypothesis explains heredity as part of the
+underlying problems of assimilation and of the causes which act
+directly during ontogeny. (Vol. I, p. 170.)
+
+According to Weismann, all the peculiarities which we find in an
+organism are not inherited by the organism from that of the parents,
+but he says: "Nothing can arise in an organism unless the
+predisposition to it is pre-existent, for every acquired character is
+simply the reaction of the organism upon a certain stimulus." (Vol. I,
+p. 172.) Therefore the germ-cells do not inherit all the peculiarities
+of the parents, but possess the predisposition or a potentiality of
+the tendencies which gradually develop into individual characters.
+
+We will be able to understand his theory better from the following
+quotations, which give his own words. He says: "I have called this
+substance 'germ-plasm,' and have assumed that it possesses a highly
+complex structure, conferring upon it the power of developing into a
+complex organism."  ("Heredity," Vol. I, p. 170.) Again he says:
+"There is, therefore, continuity of the germ-plasm from one generation
+to another. One might represent the germ-plasm by the metaphor of a
+long, creeping rootstock from which plants arise at intervals, these
+latter representing the individuals of successive generations. Hence
+it follows that the transmission of acquired characters is an
+impossibility, for if the germ-plasm is not formed anew in each
+individual, but is derived from that which preceded it, its structure,
+and, above all, its molecular constitution, cannot depend upon the
+individual in which it happens to occur, but such an individual only
+forms, as it were, the nutritive soil at the expense of which the
+germ-plasm grows, while the latter possessed its characteristic
+structure from the beginning, viz., before the commencement of growth.
+But the tendencies of heredity, of which the germ-plasm is the bearer,
+depend upon this very molecular structure, and hence only those
+characters can be transmitted through successive generations which
+have been previously inherited, viz., those characters which were
+potentially contained in the structure of the germ-plasm. It also
+follows that those other characters which have been acquired by the
+influence of special external conditions, during the lifetime of the
+parent, cannot be transmitted at all."  (Vol. I, p. 273.) In
+conclusion, Weismann writes: "But at all events we have gained this
+much, that the only facts which appear to directly prove a
+transmission of acquired characters have been refuted, and that the
+only firm foundation on which this hypothesis has been hitherto based
+has been destroyed."(Vol. I, p. 461.)
+
+Thus we see how far the theory of heredity has been pushed by the
+great scientific investigators of the present age. We have no longer
+any right to believe in the old oft-refuted hypothesis which assumes
+that each individual organism produces germ-cells afresh again and
+again and transmits all its powers developed and acquired by the
+parents; but, on the contrary, we have come to know to-day that
+parents are nothing but mere channels through which these germ-plasms
+or germ-cells manifest their peculiar tendencies and powers which
+existed in them from the very beginning. The main point is that the
+germs are not created by the parents, but that they existed in
+previous generations.
+
+Now, what are those germs like? Wherefrom do they acquire these
+tendencies, these peculiarities?  That is another very difficult
+problem. Dr. Weismann and his followers say that these peculiarities
+are gained or inherited "from the common stock," but what that common
+stock is they do not explain.  Where is that common stock and why will
+certain germs acquire certain tendencies and other germs retain other
+peculiarities? What regulates them? These questions are not solved. So
+far we have gathered from Dr. Weismann's explanation that the parents
+are not the creators of the germs but, on the contrary, that the germs
+existed before the birth of the body, before the growth of the body,
+in previous generations, or in the common stock of the universe. The
+previous generations are dead and gone, so we may say that they
+existed in the universe. We cannot now believe the old, crude,
+often-refuted idea that God creates the germ at the time of birth and
+puts into it all the powers and peculiarities of the parents. This
+theory makes God unjust and partial, so it does not appeal to us any
+more. We need better and more rational explanations. The one-birth
+theory, which has been preached by Christian ministers and other
+religionists for so many years, does not remove the difficulties, does
+not explain the cause of the inequalities and diversities, does not
+answer the question whether we acquire all the tendencies and
+peculiarities of the parents or whether acquired characters cannot be
+transmitted. We have already seen that these questions are left
+unsolved by the one-birth theory of Christianity and of Judaism. But
+this theory of "continuity of the germ-plasm" pushes the question of
+heredity to the door of Reincarnation. If modern science can explain
+what that common stock is and why and how these germs retain those
+peculiarities and tendencies, then the answer will be complete and not
+until then. The Vedanta philosophy, however, has already explained the
+cause of the potentiality in the germ of life or "germ-plasm" or
+germ-cell.
+
+Vedanta solves this difficulty by saying that each of these
+germ-plasms or germ-cells is nothing but the subtle form of a
+reincarnating individual, containing potentially all the experiences,
+characters, tendencies, and desires which one had in one's previous
+life. It existed before the birth of the body and it will continue
+after the death of the body. This germ or subtle body is not the same
+as the astral body of the Theosophists, or the double of the
+metaphysical thinkers or the disembodied spirit of the Spiritualists;
+but it is an ethereal center of activity-physical, mental and
+organic. It is a center which possesses the tendency to manifest these
+powers on different planes of existence. It contains the minute
+particles of matter or ethereal substance and the life principle or
+vital energy by which we live and move. It also possesses the mental
+powers and sense powers; but all these remain latent, just as in a
+seed we see that the powers of growth, of assimilation and of
+producing flowers and fruits are latent.
+
+At the time of death the individual soul contracts and remains in the
+form of a germ of life. It is for this reason, Vedanta teaches, that
+it is neither the will of God nor the fault of the parents that forms
+the characters of children, but each child is responsible for its
+tendencies, capacities, powers and character. It is its own "Karma" or
+past actions that make a child a murderer or a saint, virtuous or
+sinful. The stored-up potentialities in a subtle body manifest in the
+character of an individual.
+
+The argument advanced by the supporters of the theory of hereditary
+transmission does not furnish a satisfactory explanation of the cause
+of the inequalities and diversities of the universe. Why is it that
+the children of the same parents show a marked dissimilarity to their
+parents and to each other?
+
+Why do twins develop into dissimilar characters and possess opposite
+qualities, although they are born of the same parents at the same time
+and brought up under similar conditions and environments? How can
+heredity explain such cases? Suppose a man has five children; one is
+honest and saintly, another is an idiot, the third becomes a murderer,
+the fourth a genius or prodigy, and the fifth a cripple and
+diseased. Who made these dissimilarities? They cannot be
+accidents. There is no such thing as an accident. Every event of the
+universe is bound by the law of cause and effect. There must be some
+cause of these inequalities. Who made one honest and saintly, another
+an idiot, and so forth? Parents? That cannot be. They never dreamed
+that they would beget a murderer or a villain or an idiot. On the
+contrary, all parents wish their children to be the best and
+happiest. But in spite of such desires they get such children. Why?
+What is the cause? Does the theory of heredity explain it? No, not at
+all. Suppose a man, twenty-four years old, who has certain traits,
+like musical or artistic talents, such as painting and so on, has a
+crooked nose and other peculiarities, like cross-eyes, which resemble
+those of his grandfather. Suppose his grandfather died six years
+before he was born. Now, those who believe in the theory of heredity
+will say that this young man inherited all these peculiarities from
+his grandfather. When did he inherit? His grandfather had died six
+years before he was born. He inherited, of course, in the form of that
+germ. What is that germ like? A minute protoplasm, a jelly-like
+substance, and if you examine it with a powerful microscope you will
+hardly find any difference between it and the proto-plasmic germ of a
+dog, or of a cat, or of a tree. It is smaller than a pin's head. And
+in that state this young man inherited all these peculiarities from
+his grandfather; or, in other words, before he had a nose, he got a
+crooked nose; before he had eyes, he inherited cross-eyes, and before
+he had any brain, he inherited all the wonderful powers-his musical
+and artistic talents. Does it not seem absurd to you? Even if we admit
+this theory of heredity, then what do we understand? That the whole of
+this young man existed in the form of a protoplasm before he was
+born. His cross-eyes, his crooked nose, his artistic talents--all
+these pre-existed in the form of a protoplasmic cell. This leads up to
+the same thing which is taught by the theory of Reincarnation, or, in
+other words, if it be possible for this young man to remain in the
+form of a protoplasm and inherit all these things before his birth,
+why cannot we believe that the soul or the subtle body of this young
+man possessed them from the very beginning? According to Vedanta this
+young man was not the creature of his grandfather, but he had his own
+independent existence; only by coming through the channel of his
+parents he had received certain characteristic impressions, just as a
+tree in its process of growth will receive from the environments
+certain peculiarities when it assimilates those properties.
+
+The doctrine of Reincarnation alone can explain satisfactorily and
+rationally the diversities among children and the reason of the many
+instances of uncommon powers and genius displayed in childhood. The
+theory of heredity has up to this time failed to give any good reason
+for them. Why is it that Pascal, when twelve years old, succeeded in
+discovering for himself the greater part of plane geometry. How could
+the shepherd Mangiamelo, when five years old, calculate like an
+arithmetical machine. Think of the child Zerah Colburn: when he was
+under eight years of age he could solve the most tremendous
+mathematical problems instantly and without using any figures. "In one
+instance he took the number 8 and raised it up progressively to the
+sixteenth power and instantly mentioned the result which contained 15
+figures--28l,474,976,710,656." Of course he was right in every
+figure. When asked the square root of numbers consisting of six
+figures, he would state the result instantly with perfect accuracy. He
+used to give the cube root of numbers in the hundreds of millions the
+very moment when it was asked. Somebody asked him once how many
+minutes there were in 48 years, he answered, 25,288,800.
+
+Mozart, the great musician, wrote a sonata when he was four years old
+and an opera in his eighth year. Theresa Milanolla played the violin
+with such skill that many people thought that she must have played
+before her birth. There are many such instances of wonderful powers
+exhibited by artists and painters when they were quite young.
+Sankarācharya, the great commentator of the Vedanta philosophy,
+finished his commentary when he was twelve years old. How can such
+cases be explained by the theory of hereditary transmission? Many of
+you have heard of the wonderful musical talents of Blind Tom. This
+blind negro slave was born on his master's plantation and was brought
+up as a typical negro.  He received no training in music or in any
+other line. One day when his master's family were at dinner he
+happened to come into his master's parlor and displayed his marvelous
+musical power for the first time by playing on his master's
+piano. Afterwards he was exhibited in different states of this
+country. Physically he was nothing but a typical negro. His intellect
+was very poor, but in music he was a master. His musical talents were
+so great that he composed music for himself and played his own
+compositions. Sometimes after hearing a new piece of rapid music once,
+he could reproduce it note for note. Where did he get all these
+powers? From whom did he inherit them? His parents perhaps never heard
+of a piano. He never had a lesson in his life, and he could not have
+understood even if he had had any. Not long ago I saw a girl of about
+six years, who played the piano most beautifully and who could
+reproduce the most difficult music after hearing it once. It seems to
+me that she must have played the piano in her previous incarnation.
+This is the only explanation that we can give.
+
+Does heredity explain such cases? No. These illustrations are
+sufficient to disprove the theory of "cumulative heredity".
+"Cumulative" means gradualness.  The believers in this theory say that
+a genius is the result of cumulative heredity, that is, it presents
+itself by degrees from less genius to greater and still greater and so
+on. In the whole history of the genealogy of geniuses, like Homer,
+Plato, Shakespeare, Goethe, Raphael, there never was in their families
+almost Plato, almost Shakespeare, or almost Goethe. Neither is it
+possible to trace the extraordinary powers of any of these back to any
+member of their ancestral line. Therefore we can say that no other
+theory than that of Reincarnation can explain satisfactorily the
+causes which produce geniuses and prodigies in this world.
+
+Those who accept the truth of Reincarnation do not blame their parents
+for their poor talents, or for not possessing extraordinary powers,
+but they remain content with their own lot, knowing that they have
+made themselves as they are to-day by their own thoughts and deeds in
+their previous incarnations. They understand the meaning of the saying
+"what thou sowest thou must reap," and always endeavor to mould their
+future by better thoughts and better deeds. They explain all the
+inequalities and diversities of life and character by the law of
+"Karma," which governs the process of Reincarnation as well as the
+gradual evolution of the germs of life from lower to higher stages of
+existence.
+
+
+
+III. EVOLUTION AND REINCARNATION.
+
+
+The amazing achievements of modern science have been opening every day
+new gates of wisdom and slowly bringing human minds nearer and nearer
+to the ultimate reality of the universe. The fire of knowledge kindled
+by science has already burnt down many dogmas and beliefs, held sacred
+by the superstition of the past, which stood in the way of
+truth-seeking minds. In the first place science has disproved the
+theory of the creation of the universe out of nothing by the action of
+some supernatural power. It has shown that the universe did not appear
+in its present form or come into existence all of a sudden only a few
+thousand years ago, but that it has taken ages to pass through
+different stages before it could reach its present condition.  Each of
+these stages was directly related to a previous stage by the law of
+causation, which always operates in accordance with definite
+rules. The phenomena of the universe, according to science, are
+subject to evolution, or gradual change and progressive development
+from a relatively uniform condition to a relative complexity. From the
+greatest solar system down to the smallest blade of grass, everything
+in the universe has taken its present shape and form through this
+cosmic process of evolution. Our planet earth has gradually evolved,
+perhaps out of a nebulous mass which existed at first in a gaseous
+state. The sun, moon, stars, satellites and other planets have come
+into existence by going through innumerable changes produced by the
+evolutionary process of the Cosmos. Through the same process plants,
+insects, fishes, reptiles, birds, animals, man, and all living matter
+that inhabit this earth have evolved from minute germs of life into
+their present forms. The theory of Evolution says that man did not
+come into existence all of a sudden, but is related to lower animals
+and to plants, either directly or indirectly. The germ of life had
+passed through various stages of physical form before it could appear
+as a man. That branch of science which is called Embryology has proved
+the fact that "man is the epitome of the whole creation." It tells
+that the human body before its birth passes through all the different
+stages of the animal kingdom--such as the polyp, fish, reptile, dog,
+ape, and at last, man. If we remember that nature is always
+consistent, that her laws are uniform and that whatever exists in the
+microcosm exists also in the macrocosm, and then study nature, we
+shall find that all the germs of life which exist in the universe are
+bound to pass through stages resembling the embryonic types before
+they can appear in the form of man.
+
+In explaining the theory of Evolution, science says that there are two
+principal factors in the process of evolution; the first is the
+tendency to vary, which exists in all living forms whether vegetable
+or animal; the second is the tendency of environment to influence that
+variation, either favorably or unfavorably. Without the first,
+evolution of any kind would be absolutely impossible. But the cause of
+that innate tendency to vary is still unknown to science. Upon the
+second depends the law of natural selection. The variation must be
+adapted to favorable conditions of life; consequently either the germ
+of life will select suitable environments or vary itself in order to
+suit the surrounding conditions, if they are unfavorable. But the
+agent of this selective process is the struggle for existence, which
+is a no less important factor. Thus Evolution depends on these three
+laws: Tendency to vary, or variation, natural selection, and struggle
+for existence. Science tries to explain through these three laws the
+physical, mental, intellectual, moral and spiritual evolution of
+mankind. But the theory of Evolution will remain unintelligible until
+science can trace the cause of that innate "tendency to vary" which
+exists in every stage of all living forms.
+
+If we study closely we find that man's "self" consists of two natures,
+one animal and the other moral or spiritual. Animal nature includes
+all the animal propensities, desire for sense enjoyments, love of
+self, fear of death and struggle for existence. Each of these is to be
+found in lower animals as well as in human beings, the difference
+being only in degree and not in kind. In a savage tribe the expression
+of this animal nature is simple and natural, while in a highly
+civilized nation it is expressed not in a simple and straightforward
+manner, but in an artful and refined way. In a civilized community the
+same nature working through varied device, policy and plan brings the
+same results in a more polished form. In the struggle for existence
+amongst lower animals and savage tribes, those who are physically
+strong survive and gain advantage over those who are physically weak;
+while in the civilized world the same result is obtained, not by
+displaying physical force, but by art, diplomacy, policy, strategy and
+skill. Various kinds of defensive and offensive weapons have been
+invented to conquer those who are less skillful in using them,
+although they may be physically stronger. The simple expression of
+animal nature which we notice in savages and lower animals, by the
+natural process of evolution has gradually become more and more
+complex, as we find in the civilized nations of the world. The energy
+of the lower human nature is spent chiefly in the struggle for
+material existence.
+
+But there is another nature in man which is higher than this. It
+expresses itself in various ways, but on a higher plane. Love of
+truth, mastery over passion, control of the senses, disinterested
+self-sacrifice, mercy and kindness to all creatures, desire to help
+the distressed, forgiveness, faith in a Supreme Being and devotion;
+all these are the expressions of that higher moral and spiritual
+nature. They cannot be explained as developed from animal nature by
+means of the struggle for material existence. For these qualities are
+not to be found in lower animals, although the struggle for existence
+is there. The moral and spiritual nature of human beings cannot be
+traced as the outgrowth or gradual development of the animal
+nature. There is a dispute among the Evolutionists as to the method of
+explaining their cause. Some say that these higher faculties have
+evolved out of the lower ones and have developed by variation and
+natural selection; while others hold that some other higher influence,
+law or agency is required to account for them.
+
+Professor Huxley says: "As I have already urged, the practice of that
+which is ethically best--what we call goodness or virtue--involves a
+course of conduct which in all respects is opposed to that which leads
+to success in the cosmic struggle for existence. In place of ruthless
+self-assertion, it demands self-restraint; in place of thrusting aside
+or treading down all competitors, it requires that the individual
+shall not merely respect, but shall help his fellows; its influence is
+directed not so much to the survival of the fittest as to the fitting
+of as many as possible to survive. It repudiates the gladiatorial
+theory of existence. It demands that each man who enters into the
+enjoyment of the advantages of a polity shall be mindful of his debt
+to those who have laboriously constructed it, and shall take heed that
+no act of his weakens the fabric in which he has been permitted to
+live. Laws and moral precepts are directed to the end of curbing the
+cosmic process, and reminding the individual of his duty to the
+community, to the protection and influence of which he owes, if not
+existence itself, at least the life of something better than a brutal
+savage." ("Evolution and Ethics," pp. 81-82.)
+
+Prof. Calderwood says: "So far as human organism is concerned, there
+seem no overwhelming obstacles to be encountered by an evolution
+theory, but it seems impossible under such a theory to account for the
+appearance of the thinking, self-regulating life distinctly human."
+Thus, according to some of the best thinkers, the explanation of the
+moral and spiritual nature of man as a development of the animal
+nature, is quite insufficient and unsatisfactory.  The theory of
+natural selection in the struggle for existence cannot explain the
+cause of the higher nature of man. We cannot say that a theory is
+complete because it explains many facts.  On the contrary, if it fails
+to explain a single fact, then it is proved to be incomplete. As such,
+the theory that cannot explain satisfactorily the cause of the moral
+and spiritual nature of man cannot be accepted as a complete
+theory. That explanation will be considered as complete which will
+explain most satisfactorily all the various manifestations of the
+animal, moral and spiritual nature.  Moreover, supposing the "tendency
+to vary" has evolved into the moral and spiritual nature of man,
+science does not explain the cause of that tendency to vary, nor how
+animal nature can be transformed into moral and spiritual nature. Is
+that "tendency to vary" indefinite, or is it limited by any definite
+law? Science does not say anything about it.
+
+The explanation of the theologians, that the spiritual nature has been
+superadded to the animal nature by some extra-cosmic spiritual agency
+is not scientific, nor does it appeal to our reason. Now let us see
+what Vedanta has to say on this point. Vedanta accepts evolution and
+admits the laws of variation and natural selection, but goes a step
+beyond modern science by explaining the cause of that "tendency to
+vary." It says, "there is nothing in the end which was not also in the
+beginning." It is a law which governs the process of evolution as well
+as the law of causation. If we admit this grand truth of nature, then
+it will not be difficult to explain by the theory of Evolution the
+gradual manifestation of the higher nature of man.  The tendency of
+scientific monism is towards that end.
+
+Some of the modern scientists who hold the monistic position have
+found out the same truth which was discovered long ago by the Vedantic
+philosophers in India. J. Arthur Thomson, an eminent English scientist
+of the present day, in his book on "The Study of Animal Life," says:
+"The world is one, not two-fold-, the spiritual influx is the primal
+reality and there is nothing in the end which was not also in the
+beginning." But the evolutionists do not accept this truth. Let us
+understand it clearly. It means that that which existed potentially at
+the time of the beginning of evolution has gradually manifested in the
+various stages and grades of evolution. If we admit that a unicellular
+germ of life or a bioplasm, after passing through various stages of
+evolution, has ultimately manifested in the form of a highly developed
+human being, then we shall have to admit the potentiality of all the
+manifested powers in that germ or bioplasm, because the law is "that
+which exists in the end existed also in the beginning."  The animal
+nature, higher nature, mind, intellect, spirit, all these exist
+potentially in the germ of life.  If we do not admit this law then the
+problem will arise: How can non-existence become existent?  How can
+something come out of nothing? How can that come into existence which
+did not exist before? Each germ of life, according to Vedanta,
+possesses infinite potentialities and infinite possibilities.  The
+powers that remain latent have the natural tendency to manifest
+perfectly and to become actual. In their attempt they vary according
+to the surrounding environments, selecting suitable conditions or
+remaining latent as long as circumstances do not favor them. Therefore
+variation, according to Vedanta, is caused by this attempt of the
+potential powers to become actual. When life and mind began to evolve,
+the possibilities of action and reaction hitherto latent in the germ
+of life became real and all things became, in a sense, new. Nobody can
+imagine the amount of latent power which a minute germ of life
+possesses until it expresses in gross form on the physical plane. By
+seeing the seed of a Banyan tree, one who has never seen the tree
+cannot imagine what powers lie dormant in it. When a baby is born we
+cannot tell whether he will be a great saint, or a wonderful artist,
+or a philosopher, or an idiot, or a villain of the worst type. Parents
+know nothing about his future. Along with his growth certain latent
+powers gradually begin to manifest. Those which are the strongest and
+most powerful will overcome others and check their course for some
+time; but when the powers that remain subdued by stronger ones get
+favorable conditions they will appear in manifested forms. As, for
+instance, chemical forces may slumber in matter for a thousand years,
+but when the contact with the re-agents sets them free, they appear
+again and produce certain results. For thousands of years galvanism
+slumbered in copper and zinc, which lay quietly beside silver. As soon
+as all three are brought together under the required conditions silver
+is consumed in flame. A dry seed of a plant may preserve the
+slumbering power of growth through two or three thousand years and
+then reappear under favorable conditions. Sir G. Wilkinson, the great
+archaeologist, found some grains of wheat in a hermetically sealed
+vase in a grave at Thebes, which must have lain there for three
+thousand years. When Mr. Pettigrew sowed them they grew into plants.
+Some vegetable roots found in the hands of an Egyptian mummy, which
+must have been at least two thousand years old, were planted in a
+flower-pot, and they grew and flourished. Thus, whenever the latent
+powers get favorable conditions, they manifest according to their
+nature, even after thousands of years.
+
+Similarly, there are many instances of slumbering mental powers. After
+remaining dormant for a long period in our normal condition, they may,
+in certain abnormal states--such as madness, delirium, catalepsy,
+hypnotic sleep and so forth-flash out into luminous consciousness and
+throw into absolute oblivion the powers that are manifesting in the
+normal state. Talents for eloquence, music, painting, and uncommon
+ingenuity in several mechanical arts, traces of which were never found
+in the ordinary normal condition, are often evolved in the state of
+madness. Somnambulists in deep sleep have solved most difficult
+mathematical problems and performed various acts with results which
+have surprised them in their normal waking states. Thus we can
+understand that each individual mind is the storehouse of many powers,
+various impressions and ideas, some of which manifest in our normal
+state, while others remain latent. Our present condition of mind and
+body is nothing but the manifested form of certain dormant powers that
+exist in ourselves. If new powers are roused up and begin to manifest
+the whole nature will be changed into a new form. The manifestation of
+latent powers is at the bottom of the evolution of one species into
+another. This idea has been expressed in a few words by Patanjali, the
+great Hindu evolutionist who lived long before the Christian
+era. [Footnote: The reader ought to know that the doctrine of
+Evolution was known in India long before the Christian era. About the
+seventh century, B. C., Kapila, the father of Hindu Evolutionists,
+explained this theory for the first time through logic and
+science. Sir Monier Monier Williams says: "Indeed if I may be allowed
+the anachronism, the Hindus were Spinozites more than 2,000 years
+before the existence of Spinoza; and Darwinians many centuries before
+Darwin; and Evolutionists many centuries before the doctrine of
+Evolution had been accepted by the scientists of our time and before
+any word like Evolution existed in any language of the world." (P. 12,
+"Hinduism and Brahminism.") Prof. Huxley says: "To say nothing of
+Indian Sages to whom Evolution was a familiar notion ages before Paul
+of Tarsus was born." (P. 150, "Science and Hebrew Tradition.")] In the
+second aphorism of the fourth chapter (see "Raja Yoga," by Swami
+Vivekananda, p. 210) it is said, "The Evolution into another species
+is caused by the in-filling of nature."  The nature is filled not from
+without but from within.  Nothing is superadded to the individual soul
+from outside. The germs are already there, but their development
+depends upon their coming in contact with the necessary conditions
+requisite for proper manifestation. We sometimes see a wicked man
+suddenly become saintlike. There are instances of murderers and
+robbers becoming saints. A religionist will explain the cause of their
+sudden change, by saying that the grace of the Almighty has fallen
+upon them and transformed their whole nature.  But Vedanta says that
+the moral and spiritual powers that remained latent in them have been
+roused up, and the result is the sudden transformation. None can tell
+when or how the slumbering powers will wake up and begin to
+manifest. The germ of life, or the individual soul as it is ordinarily
+called, possesses infinite possibilities. Each germ of life is
+studying, as it were, the book of its own nature by unfolding one page
+after another. When it has gone through all the pages, or, in other
+words, all the stages of evolution, perfect knowledge is acquired, and
+its course is finished. We have read our lower nature by turning each
+page, or, in other words, by passing through each stage of animal life
+from the minutest bioplasm up to the present stage of existence. Now
+we are studying the pages which deal with moral and spiritual laws. If
+any one wants to read any page over again he will do it. Just as in
+reading a book, if anybody feels particularly interested in any page
+or chapter he will read it over and over again and will not open a new
+page or a new chapter until he is perfectly satisfied with
+it. Similarly, in reading the book of life, if the individual soul
+likes any particular stage, he will stay there until he is perfectly
+satisfied with it; after that he will go forward and study other
+pages. One may read very slowly, and another very fast; but whether we
+read slowly or rapidly each one of us is bound to read the whole book
+of nature and attain to perfection sooner or later.
+
+According to Vedanta, the end and aim of Evolution is the attainment
+of perfection. Physical evolution of animal life reached its
+perfection in human form. There cannot be any other form higher than
+human on this earth under present conditions. It is the perfection of
+animal form. From this we can infer that the tendency of the law of
+Evolution is to reach perfection. When it is attained to, the whole
+purpose is served. Do we see in nature any other higher form evolved
+out of the human body? No.  Shall we not be justified if we say that
+the end of physical evolution is the attainment of the perfection of
+animal form? Again as the purpose and method of natural laws are
+uniform throughout the universe, the end of intellectual, moral and
+spiritual evolution will be attained when intellectual, moral and
+spiritual perfection are acquired. Intellectual perfection means
+perfection of intellect; and intellect is perfect when we understand
+the true nature of things and never mistake the unreal for the real,
+matter for spirit, non-eternal for eternal, or _vice versa_. Moral
+perfection consists in the destruction of selfishness; and spiritual
+perfection is the manifestation of the true nature of spirit which is
+immortal, free, divine and one with the Universal Spirit or
+God. Evolution attains to the highest fulfilment of its purpose when
+the spirit manifests perfectly.  The tendency of nature is to have
+perfect manifestation of all her powers. When certain powers
+predominate they manifest first while the others remain dormant. As we
+find in the process of evolution, when animal nature manifests
+perfectly the moral and spiritual nature remain latent. Again when
+moral and spiritual nature manifest fully, the animal is in
+abeyance. It is for this reason we do not find expressions of moral
+and spiritual nature in lower animals or in those human beings who
+live like them. Man is the only animal in whom such perfect
+expressions of moral and spiritual nature are possible.  When the
+individual soul begins to study its spiritual nature, its lower or
+animal nature is gradually eclipsed. As the higher nature becomes
+powerful the lower nature dwindles into insignificance; its energy is
+transformed into that of the higher nature, and ultimately it
+disappears altogether and rises no more. Then the soul becomes free
+from the lower or animal nature. There are many stages in the higher
+nature, as well as in the lower. Each of these stages binds the
+individual soul so long as it stays there. As it rises on a higher
+plane the lower stages disappear and cease to bind. But the moment
+that any individual, after passing through all the stages of the
+spiritual nature, reaches the ultimate point of perfection, he
+realizes his true nature which is immortal and divine. Then his true
+individuality manifests. For lack of true knowledge, he identified
+himself with each stage successively and thought that his
+individuality was one with the powers which were manifested in each
+stage. Consequently he thought by mistake that he was affected by the
+changes of each stage. But now he realizes that his real individuality
+always remained unaffected.  He sees that his true individuality
+shines always in the same manner, although the limiting adjuncts may
+vary. As the light of a lamp appears of different colors, if it passes
+through glasses of different colors, so the light of the true
+individual appears as animal or human when it passes through the
+animal or human nature of the subtle body. The subtle body of an
+individual changes from animal nature through moral and spiritual into
+divine. As this gradual growth cannot be expected in one life we shall
+have to admit the truth of Reincarnation, which teaches gradual
+evolution of the germ of life or the individual soul through many
+lives and various forms. Otherwise the theory of Evolution will remain
+imperfect, incomplete and purposeless. The doctrine of Reincarnation
+differs from the accepted theory of Evolution in admitting a gradual
+but continuous evolution of the subtle body through many gross
+forms. The gross body may appear or disappear, but the subtle body
+continues to exist even after the dissolution of the gross body and
+re-manifests itself in some other form.
+
+The theory of Reincarnation when properly understood will appear as a
+supplement to the theory of Evolution. Without this most important
+supplement the Evolution theory will never be complete and
+perfect. Evolution explains the process of life, while Reincarnation
+explains the purpose of life. Therefore, both must go hand in hand to
+make the explanation satisfactory in every respect.
+
+James Freeman Clarke says: "That man has come up to his present state
+of development by passing through lower forms, is the popular doctrine
+of science to-day. What is called Evolution teaches that we have
+reached our present state by a very long and gradual ascent from the
+lowest animal organizations. It is true that the Darwinian theory
+takes no notice of the evolution of the soul, but only of the
+body. But it appears to me that a combination of the two views would
+remove many difficulties which still attach to the theory of natural
+selection and the survival of the fittest. If we are to believe in
+Evolution let us have the assistance of the soul itself in this
+development of new species. Thus science and philosophy will
+co-operate, nor will poetry hesitate to lend her aid." (P. 190, "Ten
+Great Religions," II.) Evolution of the body depends upon the
+evolution of the germ of life or the individual soul. When these two
+are combined the explanation becomes perfect.
+
+The theory of Reincarnation is a logical necessity for the completion
+of the theory of Evolution. If we admit a continuous evolution of a
+unit of the germ of life through many gross manifestations then we
+unconsciously accept the teachings of the doctrine of Reincarnation.
+In passing through different forms and manifestations the unit of life
+does not lose its identity or individuality. As an atom does not lose
+its identity or individuality (if you allow me to suppose an atom has
+a kind of individuality) although it passes from the mineral, through
+the vegetable, into the animal, so the germ of life always preserves
+its identity or individuality although it passes through the different
+stages of evolution.
+
+Therefore it is said in the "Bhagavad Gītā," as in our ordinary life
+the individual soul passes from a baby body to a young one and from a
+young to an old, and carries with it all the impressions, ideas and
+experience that it has gathered in its former stage of existence and
+reproduces them in proper time, so when a man dies the individual soul
+passes from an old body into a new one, and takes with it the subtle
+body wherein are stored up all that it experienced and gathered during
+its past incarnations. Knowing this, wise men are never afraid of
+death. They know that death is nothing but a mere change from one body
+into another. Therefore, if any one does not succeed in conquering the
+lower nature by the higher, he will try again in his next incarnation,
+after starting from the point which he reached in his past life. He
+will not begin again from the very beginning, but from the last stage
+at which he arrived. Thus we see that Reincarnation is the logical
+sequence of evolution. It completes and makes perfect that theory and
+explains the cause of the moral and spiritual nature of man.
+
+
+
+IV. WHICH IS SCIENTIFIC--RESURRECTION OR REINCARNATION?
+
+
+The students of history are interested to know where the idea of
+resurrection first arose and how it was adopted by other nations. If
+we read carefully the writings ascribed to Moses and other writers of
+the Old Testament we find that the ancient Israelites did not believe
+in the Christian heaven or hell, nor in reward or punishment after
+death. It is doubtful whether they had any clear conception of the
+existence of soul after the dissolution of the human body. They had no
+definite idea of the hereafter.  They did not believe in the
+resurrection either of the soul or body. Job longed for death thinking
+that it would end his mental agony. In Psalms we read, "Wilt Thou shew
+wonders to the dead?  Shall the dead arise and praise Thee?"
+(Ps. lxxxviii, 10.) "In death there is no remembrance of Thee; in the
+grave who shall give Thee thanks?" (Ps. vi, 5.) Again (Ps. cxlvi, 4)
+it is said about princes and the son of man,--"His breath goeth forth,
+he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish." "The
+dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence."
+(Ps. cxv, 17.)  Solomon speaks boldly: "All things come alike to all;
+there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and
+to the clean and to the unclean... as is the good, so is the sinner."
+(Eccl. ix, 2.) "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine
+with a merry heart....  Live joyfully with thy wife... for there is no
+work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou
+goest." (Eccl. ix, 7, 9, 10.)  Again in verse 5 it is said: "The dead
+know not anything, neither have they anymore a reward, for the memory
+of them is forgotten." Solomon says: "For that which befalleth the
+sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them; as the
+one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath, so that
+a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast." "All go into one place; all
+are of the dust and all turn to dust again." "Who knoweth the spirit
+of man that goeth upward and the spirit of the beast that goeth
+downward to the earth?" (Eccl.  iii, 19-21.) There are many such
+passages which show clearly that before the Babylonian captivity the
+Israelites had no belief in reward or punishment, neither in heaven
+nor hell nor in the resurrection of the soul. Some say that they had a
+belief in a sheol or pit where departed souls remained after death,
+but were never resurrected. But when the ancient Jews were conquered
+by the Persians, 536 B.C., they came in contact with a nation which
+had developed a belief in one God, in a heaven and a hell, in the
+resurrection of the dead, in reward and punishment after death, and in
+the last day of judgment. Under the dominion of Persia, whose rule
+began with the capture of Babylon and lasted from 536-333 B.C., the
+Jews were greatly influenced by the Persian religion.  They gave up
+their idolatry, gradually developed social organization and had
+considerable liberty.  About that time the Jews were divided into two
+classes, the Pharisees and Sadducees. Those who adopted the religious
+ideas of the Parsees were called Pharisees (according to some
+authorities the word Pharisee was the Hebrew form of Parsee), and
+those who followed strictly the Jewish ideas, ceremonies, rituals and
+beliefs were called Sadducees. The former were sharply opposed to the
+latter in their doctrinal beliefs. They believed in angels and
+spirits, they expected the resurrection of the dead and believed in
+future reward and punishment and also in Divine pre-ordination. The
+Sadducees did not step beyond the bounds of ancient Judaism.  They
+were Orthodox and very conservative in their views. They denied the
+existence of angels and spirits, the resurrection of the dead, and
+reward and punishment after death. In Matt, xxii, 23, we read, "The
+same day came to him the Sadducees which say that there is no
+resurrection." The Sadducees were fewer in number than the
+Pharisees. Gradually the latter grew very powerful and after the death
+of Jesus their doctrines of the resurrection of the dead, and of
+reward and punishment after death, and the belief in angels and
+spirits, became the cardinal principles of the new Christian sect.
+Thus we see that the idea of resurrection first arose in Persia and
+afterwards took a prominent place in the writings of the New
+Testament, and since then it has been largely accepted by the
+Christians of the Western countries. The Zoroastrians believed that
+the soul of the dead hovers about the body for three nights and does
+not depart for the other world until the dawn after the third night.
+Then the righteous go to heaven and the wicked to hell. There the
+wicked remain until the time of renovation of the universe, that is,
+the judgment day. After the renovation, when Ahriman or Satan is
+killed, the souls of the wicked will be purified and have everlasting
+progress. [Footnote: "Sacred Books of the East," Vol. xvii, pp. 27,
+34, 46.] The question was asked, "How shall they produce
+resurrection?" Ahura Mazda says: "The reply is this, that the
+preparation and production of the resurrection are an achievement
+connected with miracle, a sublimity, and afterwards also a wondrous
+appearance unto the creatures uninformed. The secrets and affairs of
+the persistent Creator are like every mystery and secret." [Footnote:
+_Ibid_., p. 80.]
+
+The Zoroastrians believed in the resurrection, not of the physical
+body, but of the soul, and that it was an act of miracle. Similarly
+miraculous was the resurrection of Jesus. Although Jesus Himself never
+mentioned what kind of resurrection, whether of body or of soul that
+He meant and believed in, the interpretation of the writers of the
+Gospels shows that His disciples understood Him to mean bodily
+resurrection and the re-appearance of His physical form. The three
+days remained, just as the Zoroastrians believed. The miraculous and
+wondrous appearance of Jesus before His disciples was preached most
+vigorously by Paul. In his Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul declares
+emphatically that the whole of the Christian religion depends upon the
+miraculous resurrection and re-appearance of Jesus.  Although Paul
+said the spiritual body of the risen dead is not the same as flesh and
+blood body (I Cor., XV), still that important point is generally
+overlooked, and the result is the belief which we find amongst some of
+the Christian sects; that at the call of the angels, the body will
+rise from the grave and the mouldering dust of bones and flesh will be
+put together by the miraculous power of the Almighty God. Paul says:
+"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of
+them that slept" (I Cor., XV, 20). He preached that Christ was the
+first born from the dead, that those who believe in Christ would rise
+as He did and that those who would not believe in Him or in His
+resurrection should not rise.
+
+We have already noticed that the Parsees believed in a miraculous
+resurrection; that the same miracle became more definite in the case
+of Jesus; and that the Christian faith was afterwards founded upon
+that miraculous event. Both the Parsees and the followers of Christ
+did not mean by resurrection any universal law, but a miracle done by
+certain supernatural powers. They did not give any scientific reasons
+for such a miracle.
+
+But modern science denies miracles. It teaches that this universe is
+guided, not by miracles as the old thinkers used to believe, but by
+definite laws which are always consistent and universal. There cannot
+be any exception to those laws which are uniform throughout. If
+resurrection be one of those laws, then it must have existed before
+the birth of Jesus; as such, how could He be the first born from the
+dead, as described by Paul. Conversely, if Jesus was the first who
+rose from the dead, then resurrection cannot be a universal
+law. Scientists would not believe in anything which is not based upon
+universal laws. Some of the agnostics and materialists have gone so
+far as to say that Jesus did not die on the cross, but his animation
+was suspended when his body was taken down from the cross by Joseph of
+Arimathsea. When Joseph went to Pilate and craved the body of Jesus,
+Pilate marvelled if He were dead (Mark XV, 44), because it was only
+six hours after the crucifixion. Some of the modern physiologists are
+of opinion that temperate and strong men might live for several days
+on the cross. These heretical agnostics and skeptical scientists say
+that the body of Jesus revived after a few hours in the cool, rock-cut
+tomb, that he walked out of the tomb, went to Galilee and appeared
+before his disciples. [Footnote: Vide "Science and Christian
+Tradition," by Prof. Huxley, pp.  279-280.] Whatever the facts may be
+(nobody can now tell exactly what actually happened), it is clear that
+the scientists are not ready to take anything upon authority. They do
+not care to believe in anything because it is written in this book or
+that. They must have convincing proofs and a rational explanation of
+every phenomenon of nature. They want to penetrate into miracles in
+order to discover the universal laws that govern them. If they do not
+find any such laws, they will surely reject every event that is
+supposed to be caused by miraculous or supernatural powers.
+
+The theory of a miraculous resurrection is attended with the belief
+that the individual soul does not exist before birth. The supporters
+of this theory hold that at the time of birth, the individual, being
+created out of nothing, comes fresh into existence. But science tells
+us that sudden creation out of nothing and a total destruction of
+anything are both impossible. Matter and force are indestructible.
+Science teaches evolution and not creation, and denies the
+intervention of any supernatural being as the cause of phenomenal
+changes. The theory of Resurrection ignores all these ultimate
+conclusions of modern science. On the contrary, the doctrine of
+Reincarnation, after accepting all the truths and laws of nature that
+have been discovered by modern science, carries them to their proper
+logical conclusions.  Reincarnation is based upon evolution.  It means
+a continuous evolution of an individual germ of life, and a gradual
+re-manifestation of all the powers and forces that exist in it
+potentially. Moreover, the doctrine of Reincarnation is founded on the
+law of cause and effect. It teaches that the cause is not outside of
+the effect, but lies in the effect. The cause is the potential or
+unmanifested state of the effect, and effect is the actual or
+manifested cause.  There is one current of infinite force or power
+constantly flowing in the ocean of reality of the universe, and
+appearing in the innumerable forms of waves. We call one set of waves
+the cause of another set, but in fact that which is the cause is the
+potentiality of the future effect and the actuality of a previous
+potential cause. The underlying current is one and the same
+throughout. Reincarnation denies the idea that the soul has come into
+existence all of a sudden or has been created for the first time, but
+it holds that it has been existing from the beginningless past, and
+will exist all through eternity.  The individual soul enjoys or
+suffers according to the acts it performs. All enjoyment and suffering
+are but the reactions of our actions. Actions are the causes and the
+reactions are the results. Our present life is the result of our past
+actions, and our future will be the result of the present. The actions
+which we are now doing will not be lost. Do you think that the
+thought-forces of one life-time will end suddenly after death?
+No. They will be conserved and remain potentially in the center and
+re-manifest under suitable conditions. Each human soul is nothing but
+a center of thought-force. This center is called in Sanskrit
+_Sūkshma Sarīra_ or the subtle body of an individual. The subtle
+germ of life or, in other words, the invisible center of
+thought-forces, will manufacture a physical vehicle for expressing the
+latent powers that are ready for manifestation.  This process will
+continue until the germ can express most perfectly all the powers that
+are coiled up in its invisible form. As the doctrine of Reincarnation
+is in agreement with all the physical laws, so it is based upon
+psychical, moral and ethical laws. As on the objective plane the law
+of action and reaction governs the objective phenomena, so on the
+subjective plane of consciousness, if the mental action or thought be
+good, the reaction will be good, and the reaction will be evil if the
+mental action be evil, because every action produces a similar
+reaction, A good reaction is one which makes us happy and brings
+pleasant sensations or peace of mind, while an evil reaction brings
+suffering, unpleasant sensations, and makes one miserable. Thus
+Reincarnation makes us free agents for action, as well as for reaping
+the results or reactions of those actions. In fact, we mould our own
+nature, according to our desires, tendencies and works.
+
+The theory of Resurrection, as commonly understood, does not explain
+why one man is born with a sinful nature and another with a virtuous
+one. It contents itself with saying as Luther said: "Man is a beast of
+burden who only moves as his rider orders; sometimes God rides him and
+sometimes Satan."  But why God should allow Satan to ride His own
+creature nobody can tell. At any rate, man must suffer eternally for
+the crimes which he is forced by Satan to commit. Moreover this theory
+pre-supposes predestination and that the individual soul is
+fore-doomed to go either to heaven or to hell. St.  Augustine first
+started this doctrine of Predestination and Grace to explain why one
+is born sinful and another sinless. According to this theory, God, the
+merciful, favors somebody with His grace at the time of his birth and
+then he comes into this world ready to be saved, but the mass of
+humanity is born sinful and destined for eternal damnation. Very few
+indeed receive the gift of grace and are predestined to be
+saved. Moreover, this doctrine tells us that God creates man out of
+nothing, forbids him something, but at the same time He does not give
+him the power to obey His commands. Ultimately God punishes him with
+eternal torture on account of his weakness. The body and soul will not
+be separated.  He will not be set free from his body, because, if it
+be so, there will be the end of his suffering, which God does not
+like. All these sufferings and punishments are predestined before his
+birth. Thus, St.  Augustine's dogma of Predestination and Grace
+instead of explaining the difficulty satisfactorily brings horror and
+dread to human minds, while the doctrine of Reincarnation teaches
+gradual progress from lower to higher, through ages until the
+individual reaches perfection. It holds that each individual will
+become perfect like Jesus or Buddha or like the Father in heaven and
+manifest divinity either in this life or in some other. One span of
+life is too short for developing one's powers to perfection.  If you
+should try to train an idiot to become a great artist or a
+philosopher, would you ever succeed in your attempt to make him so
+during his lifetime?  No. And will you punish him because he cannot
+become so? Can a man who possesses the slightest common sense be so
+unreasonable? Similarly what would you think if God punishes a man
+because he cannot become perfect within a lifetime? It is a poor
+argument to say that God has given us free-will to choose between
+right and wrong, and we are responsible for our choice; if we choose
+wrongly we must be punished. The advocates of such an argument forget
+that at the same time God has let loose His powerful Satan to corrupt
+His creatures.
+
+It reminds me of an old story. Once on a time at a certain place a
+prisoner was released and set free through the kindness of a
+tyrant. The tyrant said to the prisoner "Look here, wicked man, I give
+you freedom, you can go to any place; but there is one condition; if
+you are attacked by any wild animal you will be put in the dungeon and
+there will be no end to your torture." So saying he gave him freedom,
+but at the same time ordered his servants to let loose a hungry wolf
+to chase the man. You can imagine what became of the prisoner. Can we
+call this an act of mercy!
+
+The doctrine of Reincarnation says that each individual soul is
+potentially perfect and is gradually unfolding its powers and making
+them actual through the process of Evolution. At every step of that
+process it is gaining different experiences which last only for a
+time. Therefore neither God nor Satan is responsible for our good or
+evil actions.  Good and evil are like the up and down or the crest and
+hollow of a wave in the sea. A wave cannot rise without making a
+hollow somewhere in the sea.  So in the infinite ocean of reality
+innumerable waves are constantly rising. The summit of each wave is
+called good, while the hollow beside it is evil or misery and the
+current of each individual life is constantly flowing towards the
+ultimate destination which we call perfection. Who can tell how long
+it will take to reach that goal? If anybody can attain to perfection
+in this life, he is no longer bound to reincarnate. If he fails he
+will continue to progress by taking some other body. Reincarnation
+does not teach, as many people think, that in the next incarnation one
+will begin from the very beginning, but it says that one will start
+from that point which one reaches before death and will keep the
+thread of progress unbroken. It does not teach that we go back to
+animal bodies after death, but that we get our bodies according to our
+desires, tendencies and powers. If any person has no desire to come
+back to this world or to any other and does not want to enjoy any
+particular object of pleasure, and if he is perfectly free from
+selfishness that person will not have to come back. The theory of
+Reincarnation is logical and satisfactory. While the theory of
+Resurrection is neither based on scientific truths nor can it
+logically explain the cause of life and death, Reincarnation solves
+all the problems of life and explains scientifically all the questions
+and doubts that arise in the human mind.
+
+"Reincarnation is not easily understood by a thoughtless child deluded
+by the delusion of wealth, name or fame. Everything ends with death,
+he thinks, and thus falls again and again under the sway of death."
+
+
+
+V. THEORY OF TRANSMIGRATION.
+
+
+The theory of transmigration is one of the oldest theories accepted by
+the people of the Orient to solve the problems concerning life and
+death as well as to explain the continuity of existence after death.
+This theory presupposes the existence of the soul as an entity which
+can live even when the gross material body is dead or dissolved into
+its elements.  Those who deny the existence of the soul, of the
+self-conscious thinker and actor, as an entity distinct from the gross
+material body, necessarily deny this theory of transmigration. The
+materialistic thinkers of all ages have refused to accept this theory,
+because they do not admit the existence of a soul or a self-conscious
+thinker and actor as an entity, separate from the gross material
+body. Consequently they do not ask or discuss whether the soul will
+exist after death or not, whether it will continue to live or not.
+Such materialists are not the creatures of the twentieth century, but
+they have lived in all ages, in all countries. In India and in other
+civilized countries of ancient times you will find that materialistic
+thinkers prevailed and they gave the same arguments which we hear now
+from the agnostics and scientists of to-day. Their arguments are
+generally one-sided and unsatisfactory. They try to deduce the soul or
+self-conscious entity from the combination of matter or material
+forces, but they have not succeeded in giving a scientific proof of
+it. No arguments in favor of the existence of a soul as an entity will
+convince them, because they deny the existence of anything that cannot
+be perceived by sense powers.  If we could bring the soul down on the
+sense plane and make it visible to these materialistic thinkers, and
+if they could make experiments upon it, then perhaps they would be
+convinced to a certain extent, but not until then. But how can we
+bring the soul down on the sense plane when it is ethereal and finer
+than anything that we can perceive with our senses?
+
+Those who try to explain the cause of our earthly life by the theory
+of heredity do not believe in the truth of transmigration. The modern
+scientists, agnostics and materialists generally accept the theory of
+heredity and endeavor to explain everything by it; but if we examine
+their arguments for the theory of heredity, we shall find that the
+theory of transmigration is much more satisfactory, much more rational
+than that of heredity.
+
+Among the followers of the great religions of the world, the majority
+of Christians, Jews, Mohammedans and Parsees deny the truth of
+transmigration.  Of course, there was a time when the Christians
+believed in this transmigration theory. Origen and other Church
+Fathers accepted it until the time of Justinian, who anathematized all
+those who believed in Reincarnation or the pre-existence of the soul.
+Among the Jews we find that in the Cabala this idea of transmigration
+plays the most important part.  In fact the Cabalists accepted this
+theory to explain all the difficulties that could not be explained by
+any other theory. But those Jews, Christians, Mohammedans and Parsees
+who do not believe in the theory of transmigration accept the
+one-birth theory; that is, that God creates the souls at the time of
+birth out of nothing, and these souls, having come into existence out
+of nothing, continue to live forever; that this is our first and last
+birth that we receive; we did not exist before, we are suddenly
+created by God, and after death each one of us will continue to live
+either in heaven or hell to enjoy or to suffer throughout
+eternity. Among the modern Spiritualists we find that those who are
+born and brought up with this idea of one birth do not accept the
+theory of transmigration. Still there are millions and millions of
+people all over the world who do believe in transmigration and who
+have found comfort and consolation in their lives as well as a
+satisfactory solution of the problems of life and death.
+
+The theory of Transmigration, or Metempsychosis, as it has been called
+by many philosophers, originally meant the passing of a soul from one
+body after death into another; or, in other words, it meant that the
+soul after dwelling in one particular body for a certain length of
+time leaves it at the time of death, and in order to gain experience
+enters into some other body, either human, animal or angelic, which is
+ready to receive it. It may migrate from the human body to an angelic
+body and then come down on the human plane, or to the animal plane and
+be born again as an animal. So the original meaning of transmigration
+or metempsychosis was the revolution of the soul from body to body
+whether animal, human, angelic or of the gods. The migrating substance
+being a fixed quantity, with fixed qualities, chooses its form
+according to its taste, desire and bent of character. This idea
+prevailed among the ancient Egyptians, according to whom the soul,
+after leaving the dead body, would travel from one body to another for
+thousands and thousands of years in order to gain experiences in each
+of the different stages of life.
+
+Among the Greek philosophers we find that Pythagoras, Plato and their
+followers believed in this theory of Metempsychosis or Transmigration
+of souls.  Pythagoras says: "After death the rational mind, having
+been freed from the chains of the body, assumes an ethereal vehicle
+and passes into the region of the dead where it remains till it is
+sent back to this world to inhabit some other body human or
+animal. After undergoing successive purgations, when it is
+sufficiently purified, it is received among the gods and returns to
+the eternal source from which it first proceeded." Plato also believed
+in this theory. Of course we cannot tell exactly from whence
+Pythagoras and Plato got these ideas.  Some say that they learned
+these doctrines from Egypt; others believed that, either directly or
+indirectly, they learned the theory of transmigration from
+India. Plato describes in "Phaedrus," in mythological language, why
+and how the souls take their birth upon this plane, either as human or
+animal.  He says: "In the heaven Zeus, the Father and Lord of all
+creatures, drives his winged car, ordering all things and
+superintending them. A host of deities and spirits follow him, each
+fulfilling his own function.  Whoever will and can follows them. After
+taking this round, they advance by a steep course along the inner
+circumference of the heavenly vault and proceed to a banquet. The
+chariots of the gods, being well balanced and well driven, advance
+easily; others with difficulty; for the vicious horse, unless the
+charioteer has thoroughly broken him, weighs down the car by his
+proclivity towards the earth, whereupon the soul is put to the
+extremity of toil and effort. The souls of gods reach the summit, go
+outside and stand upon the surface of heaven, and enjoy celestial
+bliss. Such is the life of the gods; other souls which follow God best
+and are likest to Him succeed in seeing the vision of truth and in
+entering into the outer world with great difficulty.  The rest of the
+souls longing after the upper world all follow; but not being strong
+enough, they are carried round in the deep below, plunging, treading
+on one another, striving to be first, and there, in confusion and
+extremity of effort, many of them are lamed and have their wings
+broken. Thus when the soul is unable to follow and fails to behold the
+vision of Truth, sinks beneath the double load of forgetfulness and
+vice, her feathers fall from her and she drops to earth and is born
+again and again as human beings or as animals." Plato says: "Ten
+thousand years must elapse before the soul can return to the place
+from whence she came, for she cannot grow her wings in less." "At the
+end of the first thousand years, the souls of the good and of the evil
+kind come together to draw lots, and choose their bodies according to
+their tendencies and the bent of their characters. They may take any
+they like.  Instead of receiving the natural consequences of their
+deeds and misdeeds of their previous lives they are allowed to choose
+their own lot, according to their experience and bent of
+character. Some, being disgusted with mankind, prefer to be born as
+animals, such as lions and eagles or some other animals. Others
+delight in trying their luck as human beings." From this mythological
+description we gather what Plato meant by transmigration.
+
+This Platonic idea of transmigration or of successive lives of those
+who inhabit this earth has been criticized by various thinkers of
+modern times; and referring to this idea the late Doctor Myers, of the
+Psychical Research Society of London, writes in his second volume of
+"Human Personality": "The simple fact that such was probably the
+opinion of both Plato and Virgil shows that there is nothing here
+which is alien to the best reason or to the highest instincts of
+men. Nor, indeed, is it easy to realize any theory of the _direct
+creation_ of spirits at such different stages of advancement as
+those which enter upon the earth in the guise of mortal man. There
+_must_, one feels, be some kind of continuity--some form of
+spiritual past." (P. 134.)  Why does He not create all souls equal?
+Why will one soul be highly advanced spiritually while another is
+entirely ignorant and idiotic? This question cannot be answered, this
+problem cannot be solved by the special creation theory, and therefore
+Doctor Myers says that there is no doubt that there was some previous
+continuity or spiritual past of each individual soul, and therefore he
+tacitly admits the theory of Transmigration. Although from a
+scientific viewpoint he could not give any direct proof regarding this
+idea of a pre-existence of the soul, still he could not deny it
+entirely when he said: "The shaping forces which have made our bodies
+and our minds what they are may always have been psychical
+forces--from the first living slime-speck to the complex intelligences
+of to-day." "The old transmigrationist's view would thus possess a
+share of truth and the actual man would be the resultant not only of
+intermingling heredities on father's and mother's sides, but of
+intermingling heredities, one of planetary and one of cosmic scope."
+("Human Personality," Vol. II, p. 267.)
+
+But this theory of Transmigration, as described by Plato, is a little
+different from a similar theory which existed in India before his
+time. In the Platonic idea of transmigration, as we have already seen,
+the souls were allowed to choose their own lot according to their
+experience or bent of character, but not to receive the natural
+consequence of their deeds and misdeeds. Plato did not say anything
+about the law which governs souls; but in ancient India the great
+thinkers and philosophers explained that each individual soul is bound
+by the inexorable law of nature to receive its body as a natural
+consequence of its former deeds and misdeeds, and not to have free
+choice of its lot according to its bent of character. The great
+thinkers and philosophers of ancient India discovered the universal
+law of cause and effect, of action and reaction, and called it by the
+Sanskrit term "Karma," which means the law of cause and sequence; that
+every cause must be followed by an effect of a similar nature, that
+every action must produce similar reaction, and conversely every
+reaction or effect is the result of an action or cause of a similar
+character. Thus there is always a balance and harmony between cause
+and effect, between action and reaction. This law of Karma has now
+become a fundamental verity of modern science. It is called by
+different names: the scientists call it the law of causation, the law
+of compensation, the law of retribution, the law of action and
+reaction, but they all refer to the same idea,--that every cause must
+produce a similar result and every action must produce a similar
+reaction.
+
+Now these ancient thinkers of India applied this law of Karma to
+explain the destiny of human souls, and it was upon this law they
+based the theory of Transmigration. They maintained that human souls
+are bound by this irresistible law and cannot get out of it; their
+thoughts and deeds are the causes which produce results of similar
+nature. So their future birth does not depend upon their whimsical,
+free choice, but it is limited by the thoughts and deeds or misdeeds
+of their previous lives. In the Platonic idea we find that the souls
+go according to their choice. They may not take a human form if they
+prefer an animal form, but in the Hindu idea of transmigration we find
+that it is not a result of free choice, but, if our thoughts and deeds
+force us to take a particular form, then we are subject to the law of
+Karma, which governs our future birth and the evolution of our
+souls. Consequently the Hindu theory of Transmigration differs
+fundamentally from the Platonic as well as from the Egyptian idea of
+Transmigration. In the Platonic and Egyptian theories we see that the
+souls, after leaving the body, enter into another body which is
+waiting to receive the migrating soul, but in the Hindu theory of
+Transmigration the body is not waiting to receive the migrating soul,
+but on the contrary the soul, being subject to the laws of evolution,
+manufactures the gross material body according to its desires and
+tendencies. Just as a germ of life will develop a grosser form by
+cellular subdivision, by growth, and by assimilation of the
+environmental conditions, so the germ of the human soul will
+manufacture the body by obeying the laws which govern the physical
+plane.  Parents are nothing but the channels through which the
+migrating souls receive their material forms.  Parents do not create
+the souls; they have no power to create. They can only give the
+suitable environments necessary for manufacturing a gross physical
+body. The souls come with their tendencies, with their desires, and
+they remain as germs of life.
+
+Now these germs of life contain vital forces, sense powers, psychic
+powers, and ethereal particles of matter. At the time of death the
+soul contracts and withdraws all its powers from the sense organs to
+its innermost center, and in that contracted state it leaves the
+body. But these powers do not leave the soul. By the law of
+persistence of force and conservation of energy they remain latent in
+that center until environmental conditions become favorable for their
+remanifestation. Rebirth means the manifestation of the latent powers
+which exist in the germ of life or in the individual soul. These germs
+of life are called by different names. Leibnitz called them monads and
+modern scientists call them bioplasms or some such name, but the
+Vedanta philosophers describe them as subtle bodies. These germs or
+subtle bodies are subject to evolution and growth; they arise from
+lower to higher stages of development, from the mineral through the
+vegetable to the animal kingdom and eventually they become human
+beings and then they go on progressing.
+
+In the Platonic theory the idea of progress, growth or gradual
+evolution of the soul from the lower to higher stages of existence is
+entirely excluded, because, as I have already said, the migrating
+substance is of a fixed quantity with fixed qualities, that is, these
+qualities do not change and are not affected by either growth or
+evolution. They are constant quantities.  In order to differentiate
+these two ideas we should call the Hindu theory of Transmigration by
+the term "Reincarnation." The Hindu or Vedantic theory of
+Reincarnation, however, is not the same as the Buddhistic theory of
+Rebirth, for the Buddhists do not believe in the permanence of the
+soul entity.  There is another point where the Reincarnation theory
+differs from Platonic transmigration. According to this theory of
+Reincarnation there is growth and evolution of each individual soul
+from the lower to higher stages of development. The soul or germ of
+life, after passing through the lower stages, comes to the human plane
+and gains experience and knowledge; and after coming to the human
+plane, it does not retrograde to animal bodies. The Platonic theory
+teaches that human souls migrate into animal bodies or angelic bodies
+and return from the angelic to the human or the animal, and that some
+of them prefer to become animals; while the theory of Reincarnation,
+taking its stand upon the scientific truth of gradual evolution,
+teaches that the human souls have already passed through different
+grades of the animal, nay, of the vegetable kingdom, by the natural
+process of evolution. After having once received the human organism,
+why should a soul choose to go back to the lesser and more imperfect
+organism of an animal? How is it possible for a lesser manifestation
+to hold a greater one? Why should a greater manifestation choose more
+limited forms in preference to those of others? This question arises
+in the Platonic theory of Transmigration. Therefore, the Reincarnation
+theory, or the theory of Transmigration according to the Hindus,
+rejects this idea of the going back of human souls to animal forms.
+We have already passed in the evolutionary process through the lower
+grade of animal organisms. Now that we have outgrown them why should
+we go back to them?
+
+It is true, however, that in India there are many uneducated people
+among the Hindus who believe that human souls do migrate into animal
+bodies after death to gain experience and reap the results of their
+wicked deeds, being bound by the law of Karma; but in the Platonic
+theory the law of Karma plays no part in the transmigration of
+souls. The educated and thoughtful minds of India, however, accept the
+more rational and scientific theory of Reincarnation. Although there
+are passages in the scriptural writings of the Hindus which apparently
+refer to the retrogression of the human soul into animal nature, still
+such passages do not necessarily mean that the souls will be obliged
+to take animal bodies. They may live like animals even when they have
+human bodies, as we may find among us many people like cats and dogs
+and snakes in human form and they are often more vicious than natural
+cats, dogs or snakes. They are reaping their own Karma and manifesting
+their animal nature, though physically they look like human
+beings. This kind of retrogression is possible for one who after
+reaching the human plane goes backward on account of wicked thoughts
+and deeds on the animal plane. Such a temporary retrogression brings
+knowledge and helps it in its onward progress toward the manifestation
+of higher powers on the higher plane of consciousness.  All the wicked
+thoughts and wicked deeds are nothing but the results of our own
+mistakes. What is sin?  Sin is nothing but a mistake and it proceeds
+from ignorance. For instance, if I do not know that fire burns, I may
+put my finger into it and get burned.  The result of this mistake is
+the burning of the finger and this has taught me once for all that
+fire burns; I shall never again put my finger into fire.  So every
+mistake is a great teacher in the long run.  No one is born so high
+and perfect as not to commit any mistake or any sin. Every mistake
+like this opens our eyes to the laws of the universe by bringing to us
+such results as we do not desire. As one life is not enough to gain
+experience in all the stages of evolution, we must have to admit the
+doctrine of the Reincarnation of the soul for the fulfillment of the
+ultimate purpose of earthly life. Professor Huxley says: "None but
+hasty thinkers will reject it on the ground of inherent absurdity.
+Like the doctrine of evolution itself that of transmigration has its
+roots in the world of reality."
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+Title: Reincarnation
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+
+<p align="center" class="header">Vedanta Philosophy</p>
+
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">Five Lectures on Reincarnation</p>
+
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">By</p>
+
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">Swami Abhedananda</p>
+
+<p align="center"><i>Author of "India and her People", "Self-Knowledge", "How to be a
+Yogi", "Divine Heritage of Man", etc.</i></p>
+
+<hr width="75%" size="1" />
+
+<p class="smallcaps">Contents</p>
+
+<p class="smallcaps"><a href="#I">I.&mdash;Reincarnation</a></p>
+
+<p class="smallcaps"><a href="#II">II.&mdash;Heredity and Reincarnation</a></p>
+
+<p class="smallcaps"><a href="#III">III.&mdash;Evolution and Reincarnation</a></p>
+
+<p class="smallcaps"><a href="#IV">IV.&mdash;Which is Scientific, Resurrection or Reincarnation?</a></p>
+
+<p class="smallcaps"><a href="#V">V.&mdash;Theory of Transmigration</a></p>
+
+<hr width="75%" size="1" />
+
+<a name="I"></a>
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">I. Reincarnation</p>
+
+<p>The visible phenomena of the universe are bound by the universal law
+of cause and effect. The effect is visible or perceptible, while the
+cause is invisible or imperceptible. The falling of an apple from a
+tree is the effect of a certain invisible force called gravitation.
+Although the force cannot be perceived by the senses, its expression
+is visible. All perceptible phenomena are but the various expressions
+of different forces which act as invisible agents upon the subtle and
+imperceptible forms of matter. These invisible agents or forces
+together with the imperceptible particles of matter make up the subtle
+states of the phenomenal universe. When a subtle force becomes
+objectified, it appears as a gross object.  Therefore, we can say,
+that every gross form is an expression of some subtle force acting
+upon the subtle particles of matter. The minute particles of hydrogen
+and oxygen when combined by chemical force, appear in the gross form
+of water. Water can never be separated from hydrogen and oxygen, which
+are its subtle component parts. Its existence depends upon that of its
+component parts, or in other words, upon its subtle form. If the
+subtle state changes, the gross manifestation will also change. The
+peculiarity in the gross form of a plant depends upon the peculiar
+nature of its subtle form, the seed. The peculiar nature of the gross
+forms in the animal kingdom depends upon the subtle forms which
+manifest variously in each of the intermediate stages between the
+microscopic unit of living matter and the highest man. The gross human
+body is closely related to its subtle body.  Not only this, but every
+movement or change in the physical form is caused by the activity and
+change of the subtle body. If the subtle body be affected or changed a
+little, the gross body will also be affected similarly. The material
+body being the expression of the subtle body, its birth, growth, decay
+and death depend upon the changes of the subtle body.  As long as the
+subtle body remains, it will continue to express itself in a
+corresponding gross form.</p>
+
+<p>Now let us understand clearly what we mean by a subtle body. It is
+nothing but a minute germ of a living substance. It contains the
+invisible particles of matter which are held together by vital force,
+and it also possesses mind or thought-force in a potential state, just
+as the seed of a plant contains in it the life force and the power of
+growth. According to Vedanta, the subtle body consists of
+<i>Antahkaranam</i>, that is, the internal organ or the mind substance
+with its various modifications, mind, intellect, egoism, memory, the
+five instruments of perception: the powers of seeing, hearing,
+smelling, tasting and touching; the five instruments of action, such
+as the powers of seizing, moving, speaking, evacuating, and
+generating, and the five <i>Pr&acirc;nas. Pr&acirc;na</i> is a Sanskrit word which
+means vital energy or the life-sustaining power in us. Although
+<i>Pr&acirc;na</i> is one, it takes five different names on account of the
+five different functions it performs. This word <i>Pr&acirc;na</i> includes
+the five manifestations of the vital force: First, that power which
+moves the lungs and draws the atmospheric air from outside into the
+system. This is also called <i>Pr&acirc;na</i>. Second, that power which
+throws out of the system such things as are not wanted. It is called
+in Sanskrit <i>Ap&acirc;na</i>. Third, it takes the name of <i>Sam&acirc;na</i>,
+as performing digestive functions and carrying the extract of food to
+every part of the body. It is called <i>Ud&acirc;na</i> when it is the cause
+of bringing down food from the mouth through the alimentary canal to
+the stomach, and also when it is the cause of the power of speech. The
+fifth power of <i>Pr&acirc;na</i> is that which works in every part of the
+nervous system from head to foot, through every canal, which keeps the
+shape of the body, preserves it from putrefaction, and gives health
+and life to every cell and organ. These are the various manifestations
+of the vital force or <i>Pr&acirc;na</i>. These subtle powers together with
+the non-composite elements of the gross body, or the ethereal
+particles of subtle matter, and also with the potentialities of all
+the impressions, ideas and tendencies which each individual gathers in
+one life, make up his subtle body.  As a resultant of all the
+different actions of mind and body which an individual performs in his
+present life, will be the tendencies and desires in his future life;
+nothing will be lost.</p>
+
+<p>Every action of body or mind which we do, every thought which we
+think, becomes fine, and is stored up in the form of a <i>Samsk&acirc;ra</i>
+or impression in our minds. It remains latent for some time, and then
+it rises up in the form of a mental wave and produces new
+desires. These desires are called in Vedanta, <i>V&acirc;san&acirc;s</i>. V&acirc;san&acirc;s
+or strong desires are the manufacturers of new bodies. If V&acirc;san&acirc; or
+longing for worldly pleasures and objects remains in anybody, even
+after hundreds of births, that person will be born again. Nothing can
+prevent the course of strong desires. Desires must be fulfilled sooner
+or later.</p>
+
+<p>Every voluntary or involuntary action of the body, sense or mind must
+correspond to the dormant impressions stored up in the subtle
+body. Although growth, the process of nourishment and all the changes
+of the gross physical body take place according to the necessarily
+acting causes, yet the whole series of actions, and consequently every
+individual act, the condition of the body which accomplishes it, nay,
+the whole process in and through which the body exists, are nothing
+but the outward expressions of the latent impressions stored up in the
+subtle body. Upon these rests the perfect suitableness of the animal
+or human body to the animal or human nature of one's impressions. The
+organs of the senses must therefore completely correspond to the
+principal desires which are the strongest and most ready to
+manifest. They are the visible expressions of these desires. If there
+be no hunger or desire to eat, teeth, throat and bowels will be of no
+use. If there be no desire for grasping and moving, hands and legs
+will be useless. Similarly it can be shown that the desire for seeing,
+hearing, etc., has produced the eye, ear, etc. If I have no desire to
+use my hand, and if I do not use it at all, within a few months it
+will wither away and die. In India there are some religious fanatics
+who hold up their arms and do not use them at all; after a few months
+their arms wither and become stiff and dead. A person who lies on his
+back for six months loses the power of walking. There are many such
+instances which prove the injurious effects of the disuse of our limbs
+and organs.</p>
+
+<p>As the human form, generally, corresponds to the human will,
+generally, so the individual bodily structure corresponds to the
+character, desires, will and thought of the individual. Therefore the
+outer nature is nothing but the expression of the inner nature. This
+inner nature of each individual is what re-incarnates or expresses
+itself successively in various forms, one after another. When a man
+dies the individual ego or <i>J&icirc;va</i> (as it is called in Sanskrit),
+which means the germ of life or the living soul of man, is not
+destroyed, but it continues to exist in an invisible form. It remains
+like a permanent thread stringing together the separate lives by the
+law of cause and effect. The subtle body is like a water-globule which
+sprang in the beginningless past from the eternal ocean of Reality;
+and it contains the reflection of the unchangeable light of
+Intelligence.  As a water-globule remains sometimes in an invisible
+vapory state in a cloud, then in rain or snow or ice, and again as
+steam or in mud, but is never destroyed, so the subtle body sometimes
+remains unmanifested and sometimes expresses itself in gross forms of
+animal or human beings, according to the desires and tendencies that
+are ready to manifest. It may go to heaven, that is, to some other
+planet, or it may be born again on this earth. It depends on the
+nature and strength of one's life-long tendency and bent of mind. This
+idea is clearly expressed in Vedanta. "The thought, will or desire
+which is extremely strong during lifetime, will become predominant at
+the time of death and will mould the inner nature of the dying
+person. The newly moulded inner nature will express in a new form."
+(Bhagavad G&icirc;t&acirc;.) The thought, will or desire which moulds the inner
+nature has the power of selecting or attracting such conditions or
+environments as will help it in its way of manifestation. This process
+corresponds in some respects to the law of "natural selection."</p>
+
+<p>We shall be better able to understand that process by studying how the
+seeds of different trees select from the common environments different
+materials, and absorb and assimilate different quantities of
+elements. Suppose two seeds, one of an oak and the other of a
+chestnut, are planted in a pot. The power of growth in both the seeds
+is of the same nature. The environments, earth, water, heat and light
+are the same. But still there is some peculiarity in each of the
+seeds, which will absorb from the common environments different
+quantities of elements and other properties which are fit to help the
+growth of the peculiar nature and form of the fruit, flower, leaves of
+each tree. Suppose the chestnut is a horse-chestnut. If, under
+different conditions, the peculiar nature of the horse-chestnut
+changes into that of a sweet chestnut, then, along with the changes in
+the seed, the whole nature of the tree, leaves, fruits will also be
+changed. It will no more attract, absorb or assimilate those
+substances and qualities of the environments which it did when it was
+a horse-chestnut. Similarly, through the law of "natural selection"
+the newly moulded thought-body of the dying person will choose and
+attract such parts from the common environments as are helpful to its
+proper expression or manifestation. Parents are nothing but the
+principal parts of the environment of the re-incarnating
+individual. The newly moulded inner nature or subtle body of the
+individual will by the law of "natural selection" involuntarily
+choose, or be unconsciously drawn to, as it were, its suitable parents
+and will be born of them. As, for instance, if I have a strong desire
+to become an artist, and if after a life-long struggle I do not
+succeed in being the greatest, after the death of the body I will be
+born of such parents and with such environments as will help me to
+become the best artist.</p>
+
+<p>The whole process is expressed in Eastern philosophy by the doctrine
+of the Reincarnation of the individual soul.  Although this doctrine
+is commonly rejected in the West, it is unreservedly accepted by the
+vast majority of mankind of the present day, as it was in past
+centuries. The scientific explanation of this theory we find nowhere
+except in the writings of the Hindus; still we know that from very
+ancient times it was believed by the philosophers, sages and prophets
+of different countries. The ancient civilization of Egypt was built
+upon a crude form of the doctrine of Reincarnation. Herodotus says:
+"The Egyptians propounded the theory that the human soul is
+imperishable, and that where the body of any one dies it enters into
+some other creature that may be ready to receive it." Pythagoras and
+his disciples spread it through Greece and Italy. Pythagoras says:
+"All has soul; all is soul wandering in the organic world, and obeying
+eternal will or law."</p>
+
+<p>In Dryden's Ovid we read:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>"Death has no power the immortal soul to slay,<br />
+That, when its present body turns to clay,<br />
+Seeks a fresh home, and with unlessened might<br />
+Inspires another frame with life and light."</blockquote>
+
+<p>It was the keynote of Plato's philosophy.  Plato says: "Soul is older
+than body. Souls are continually born over again into this life." The
+idea of Reincarnation was spread widely in Greece and Italy by
+Pythagoras, Empedocles, Plato, Virgil and Ovid.  It was known to the
+Neo-Platonists, Plotinus and Proclus. Plotinus says: "The soul leaving
+the body becomes that power which it has most developed.  Let us fly
+then from here below and rise to the intellectual world, that we may
+not fall into a purely sensible life by allowing ourselves to follow
+sensible images...." It was the fundamental principle of the religion
+of the Persian Magi. Alexander the Great accepted this idea after
+coming in contact with the Hindu philosophers. Julius Caesar found
+that the Gauls had some belief regarding the pre-existence of the
+human soul. The Druids of old Gaul believed that the souls of men
+transmigrate into those bodies whose habits and characters they most
+resemble. Celts and Britons were impressed with this idea. It was a
+favorite theme of the Arab philosophers and many Mahomedan Sufis. The
+Jews adopted it after the Babylonian captivity.  Philo of Alexandria,
+who was a contemporary of Christ, preached amongst the Hebrews the
+Platonic idea of the pre-existence and rebirth of human souls.  Philo
+says: "The company of disembodied souls is distributed in various
+orders. The law of some of them is to enter mortal bodies, and after
+certain prescribed periods be again set free." John the Baptist was
+according to the Jews a second Elijah; Jesus was believed by many to
+be the re-appearance of some other prophet. (See Matt, xvi, 14, also
+xvii, 12.) Solomon says in his Book of Wisdom: "I was a child of good
+nature and a good soul came to me, or rather because I was good I came
+into an undefiled body."</p>
+
+<p>The Talmud and Cabala teach the same thing.  In the Talmud it is said
+that Abel's soul passed into the body of Seth, and then into that of
+Moses.  Along with the spread of the Cabala this doctrine (which was
+known as Transmigration and Metempsychosis) "began to take root in
+Judaism and then it gained believers even among men who were little
+inclined towards Mysticism. Juda ben Asher (Asheri) for instance,
+discussing this doctrine in a letter to his father endeavored to place
+it upon a philosophical basis." (Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol.  XII,
+p. 232.) We also read, "The Cabalists eagerly adopted the doctrine on
+account of the vast field it offered to mystic speculations. Moreover
+it was almost a necessary corollary of their psychological system. The
+absolute condition of the soul is, according to them, its return,
+after developing all those perfections, the germs of which are
+eternally implanted in it, to the Infinite Source from which it
+emanated. Another term of life must therefore be vouchsafed to those
+souls which have not fulfilled their destiny here below, and have not
+been sufficiently purified for the state of union with the Primordial
+Cause. Hence if the soul, on its first assumption of a human body and
+sojourn on earth, fails to acquire that experience for which it
+descended from heaven and becomes contaminated by that which is
+polluting, it must reinhabit a body till it is able to ascend in a
+purified state through repeated trials."  This is the theory of the
+Zohar, which says: "All souls are subject to transmigration; and men
+do not know the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He!  They do not know
+that they are brought before the tribunal both before they enter into
+this world and after they leave it; they are ignorant of the many
+transmigrations and secret probations which they have to undergo, and
+of the number of souls and spirits which enter into this world and
+which do not return to the palace of the Heavenly King. Men do not
+know how the souls revolve like a stone which is thrown from a
+sling. But the time is at hand when these mysteries will be
+disclosed." (Zohar, II, 99 <i>b</i>.)</p>
+
+<p>Like many of the Church Fathers the Cabalists used as their main
+argument in favor of the doctrine of metempsychosis the justice of
+God. But for the belief in metempsychosis, they maintained, the
+question why God often permits the wicked to lead a happy life while
+many righteous are miserable would be unanswerable. Then too the
+infliction of pain upon children would be an act of cruelty unless it
+is imposed in punishment of sin committed by the soul in a previous
+state. Isaac Abravanel sees in the commandment of the Levirate a proof
+of the doctrine of metempsychosis for which he gives the following
+reasons: (1) God in His mercy willed that another trial should be
+given to the soul, which having yielded to the sanguine temperament of
+the body had committed a capital sin, such as murder, adultery, etc.;
+(2) it is only just that when a man dies young a chance should be
+given to his soul to execute in another body the good deeds which it
+had not time to perform in the first body; (3) the soul of the wicked
+sometimes passes into another body in order to receive its deserved
+punishment here below instead of in the other world where it would be
+much more severe. (Commentary on Deuteronomy, XXV, 5.)</p>
+
+<p>Christianity is not exempt from this idea. Origen and other Church
+Fathers believed in it. Origen says: "For God, justly disposing of his
+creatures according to their desert, united the diversities of minds
+in one congruous world, that he might, as it were, adorn his mansion
+(in which ought to be not only vases of gold and silver, but of wood
+also and clay, and some to honor and some to dishonor) with these
+diverse vases, minds or souls. To these causes the world owes its
+diversity, while Divine Providence disposes each according to his
+tendency, mind and disposition." He also says: "I think this is a
+question how it happens that the human mind is influenced now by the
+good, now by the evil. The causes of this I suspect to be more ancient
+than this corporeal birth." The idea of Reincarnation spread so fast
+amongst the early Christians that Justinian was obliged to suppress it
+by passing a law in the Council of Constantinople in 538 A.D. The law
+was this: "Whoever shall support the mythical presentation of the
+pre-existence of the soul, and the consequently wonderful opinion of
+its return, let him be Anathema." The Gnostics and Manichaeans
+propagated the tenets of Reincarnation amongst the mediaeval sects
+such as the Bogomiles and Paulicians. Some of the followers of this
+so-called erroneous belief were cruelly persecuted in 385 A.D.</p>
+
+<p>In the seventeenth century some of the Cambridge Platonists, as
+Dr. Henry More and others, accepted the idea of rebirth. Most of the
+German philosophers of the middle ages and of recent days have
+advocated and upheld this doctrine. Many quotations can be given from
+the writings of great thinkers, like Kant, Scotus, Schelling, Fichte,
+Leibnitz, Schopenhauer, Giardano Bruno, Goethe, Lessing, Herder and a
+host of others. The great skeptic Hume says in his posthumous essay on
+"The Immortality of the Soul," "The metempsychosis is therefore the
+only system of this kind that philosophy can hearken to." Scientists
+like Flammarion and Huxley have supported this doctrine of
+Reincarnation. Professor Huxley says: "None but hasty thinkers will
+reject it on the ground of inherent absurdity. Like the doctrine of
+evolution itself, that of transmigration has its roots in the world of
+reality." ("Evolution and Ethics," p. 61.)</p>
+
+<p>Some of the theological leaders have preached it. The eminent German
+theologian Dr. Julius M&uuml;ller supports this theory in his work on "The
+Christian Doctrine of Sin." Prominent theologians, such as Dr. Dorner,
+Ernesti, R&uuml;ckert, Edward Beecher, Henry Ward Beecher, Phillips Brooks,
+preached many a time touching the question of the pre-existence and
+rebirth of the individual soul. Swedenborg and Emerson maintained
+it. Emerson says in his essay on Experience, "We wake and find
+ourselves on a stair. There are stairs below us which we seem to have
+ascended; there are stairs above us, many a one, which go upward and
+out of sight."</p>
+
+<p>Almost all of the poets, ancient or modern, profess it. William
+Wordsworth says in "Intimations of Immortality:"&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>"The soul that rises with us, our life's star,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Hath had elsewhere its setting,<br />
+And cometh from afar."</blockquote>
+
+<p>Tennyson writes in the "Two Voices;"</p>
+
+<blockquote>"Or, if through lower lives I came&mdash;<br />
+Tho' all experience past became,<br />
+Consolidate in mind and frame&mdash;<br />
+I might forget my weaker lot;<br />
+For is not our first year forgot?<br />
+The haunts of memory echo not."</blockquote>
+
+<p>Walt Whitman says in "Leaves of Grass:"</p>
+
+<blockquote>"As to you, Life, I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths,<br />
+No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before."</blockquote>
+
+<p>Similar passages can be quoted from almost all the poets of different
+countries. Even amongst the aboriginal tribes of Africa, Asia, North
+and South America, traces of this belief in the rebirth of souls is to
+be found. Nearly three-fourths of the population of Asia believe in
+the doctrine of Reincarnation, and through it they find a satisfactory
+explanation of the problem of life. There is no religion which denies
+the continuity of the individual soul after death.</p>
+
+<p>Those who do not believe in Reincarnation try to explain the world of
+inequalities and diversities either by the one-birth theory or by the
+theory of hereditary transmission. Neither of these theories, however,
+is sufficient to explain the inequalities that we meet with in our
+everyday life. Those who believe in the one-birth theory, that we have
+come here for the first and last time, do not understand that the
+acquirement of wisdom and experience is the purpose of human life; nor
+can they explain why children who die young should come into existence
+and pass away without getting the opportunity to learn anything or
+what purpose is served by their coming thus for a few days, remaining
+in utter ignorance and then passing away without gaining anything
+whatever. The Christian dogma, based on the one-birth theory, tells us
+that the child which dies soon after its birth is sure to be saved and
+will enjoy eternal life and everlasting happiness in heaven. The
+Christians who really believe in this dogma ought to pray to their
+heavenly Father for the death of their children immediately after
+their birth and ought to thank the merciful Father when the grave
+closes over their little forms. Thus the one-birth theory of Christian
+theology does not remove any difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>Two great religions, Judaism with its two offspring&mdash;Christianity and
+Mahomedanism&mdash;and Zoroastrianism, still uphold the one-birth theory.</p>
+
+<p>The followers of these, shutting their eyes to the absurdity and
+unreasonableness of such a theory, believe that human souls are
+created out of nothing at the time of the birth of their bodies and
+that they continue to exist throughout eternity either to suffer or to
+enjoy because of the deeds performed during the short period of their
+earthly existence. Here the question arises why should a man be held
+responsible throughout eternity for the works which he was forced or
+predestined to perform by the will of the Lord of the universe? The
+theory of predestination and grace, instead of explaining the
+difficulty, makes God partial and unjust. If the omnipotent personal
+God created human souls out of nothing, could He not make all souls
+equally good and happy? Why does He make one to enjoy all the
+blessings of life and another to suffer all miseries throughout
+eternity? Why is one born with good tendencies and another with evil
+ones? Why is one man virtuous throughout his life and another bestial?
+Why is one born intelligent and another idiotic? If God out of His own
+will made all these inequalities, or, in other words, if God created
+one man to suffer and another to enjoy, then how partial and unjust
+must He be! He must be worse than a tyrant. How can we worship Him,
+how call Him just and merciful?</p>
+
+<p>Some people try to save God from this charge of partiality and
+injustice by saying that all good things of this universe are the work
+of God, and all evil things are the work of a demon or Satan. God
+created everything good, but it was Satan who brought evil into this
+world and made everything bad. Now let us see how far such a statement
+is logically correct. Good and evil are two relative terms; the
+existence of one depends upon that of the other. Good cannot exist
+without evil, and evil cannot exist without being related to
+good. When God created what we call good, He must have created evil at
+the same time, otherwise He could not create good alone. If the
+creator of evil, call him by whatever name you like, had brought evil
+into this world, he must have created it simultaneously with God;
+otherwise it would have been impossible for God to create good, which
+can exist only as related to evil. As such they will have to admit
+that the Creators of good and evil sat together at the same time to
+create this world, which is a mixture of good and evil. Consequently,
+both of them are equally powerful, and limited by each other.
+Therefore neither of them is infinite in powers or omnipotent. So we
+cannot say that the Almighty God of the universe created good alone
+and not the evil.</p>
+
+<p>Another argument which the Vedantists advance in support of the theory
+of Reincarnation is that "Nothing is destroyed in the universe."
+Destruction in the sense of the annihilation of a thing is unknown to
+the Vedantic philosophers, just as it is unknown to the modern
+scientists. They say "non-existence can never become existence and
+existence can never become non-existence;" or, in other words, that
+which did not exist can never exist, and conversely that which exists
+in any form can never become non-existent. This is the law of
+nature. As such, the impressions or ideas which we now have, together
+with the powers which we possess, will not be destroyed but will
+remain with us in some form or other. Our bodies may change, but the
+powers, Karma, Samskaras or impressions and the materials which
+manufactured our bodies must remain in us in an unmanifested
+form. They will never be destroyed. Again science tells us that that
+which remains in an unmanifested or potential state must at some time
+or other be manifested in a kinetic or actual form. Therefore we shall
+get other bodies, sooner or later. It is for this reason said in the
+"Bhagavad G&icirc;t&acirc;": "Birth must be followed by death and death must be
+followed by birth." Such a continuously recurring series of births and
+deaths each germ of life must go through. Another consideration is
+that the beginning, ending and continuing are conceptions of the human
+mind; their significance depends entirely upon our conception of
+time. But we all know that time has no absolute existence. It is
+merely a form of our knowledge of our own existence in relation to
+that of nature.  The conception of time vanishes at the sleep of
+death, just as it does every night when we are in sound sleep. Death
+resembles the state of our sound sleep. The soul wakes up from the
+sleep of death just in the same manner as the insects awake in spring
+after sleeping the long and rigid winter-sleep, as a chrysalis in the
+bed of a cocoon spun by itself in autumn. Nature teaches us the great
+lesson of rebirth and the similarity between sleep and death by the
+rejuvenation of the chrysalis in the spring. After death the soul
+wakes up and puts on or manufactures the garment of a new body, just
+in the same manner as we put on new clothes after throwing away the
+old and worn-out ones. Thus the soul continues to manifest itself over
+and over again either on the human or any other plane of existence,
+being bound by the Law of Karma or of Cause and Sequence.</p>
+
+<blockquote>"Death, so called, is but older matter dressed<br />
+In some new form. And in a varied vest,<br />
+From tenement to tenement though tossed,<br />
+The soul is still the same, the figure only lost."</blockquote>
+
+<blockquote><i>Poem on Pythagoras, Dryden's Ovid.</i></blockquote>
+
+<p>Here it may be asked, if we existed before our birth why do we not
+remember? This is one of the strongest objections often raised against
+the belief in pre-existence. Some people deny the existence of the
+soul in the past simply because they cannot remember the events of
+their past. Others, again, who hold memory as the standard of
+existence, say, if our memory of the present ceases to exist at the
+time of death, with it we shall also cease to be; we cannot be
+immortal; because they hold that memory is the standard of life, and
+if we do not remember then we are not the same beings.</p>
+
+<p>Vedanta answers these questions by saying that it is possible for us
+to remember our previous existences.  Those who have read "Raja Yoga"
+will recall that in the 18th aphorism of the third chapter it is said:
+"By perceiving the Samsk&acirc;ras one acquires the knowledge of past
+lives." Here the Samsk&acirc;ras mean the impressions of the past experience
+which lie dormant in our subliminal self, and are never lost. Memory
+is nothing but the awakening and rising of latent impressions above
+the threshold of consciousness. A Raja Yogi, through powerful
+concentration upon these dormant impressions of the subconscious mind,
+can remember all the events of his past lives. There have been many
+instances in India of Yogis who could know not only their own past
+lives but correctly tell those of others. It is said that Buddha
+remembered five hundred of his previous births.</p>
+
+<p>Our subliminal self, or the subconscious mind, is the storehouse of
+all the impressions that we gather through our experiences during our
+lifetime. They are stored up, pigeon-holed there, in the <i>Chitta</i>, as
+it is called in Vedanta. "Chitta" means the same subconscious mind or
+subliminal self which is the storehouse of all impressions and
+experiences. And these impressions remain latent until favorable
+conditions rouse them and bring them out on the plane of
+consciousness. Here let us take an illustration: In a dark room
+pictures are thrown on a screen by lantern-slides. The room is
+absolutely dark. We are looking at the pictures. Suppose we open a
+window and allow the rays of the midday sun to fall upon the
+screen. Would we be able to see those pictures? No. Why? Because the
+more powerful flood of light will subdue the light of the lantern and
+the pictures. But although they are invisible to our eyes we cannot
+deny their existence on the screen. Similarly, the pictures of the
+events of our previous lives upon the screen of the subliminal self
+may be invisible to us at present, but they exist there. Why are they
+invisible to us now? Because the more powerful light of
+sense-consciousness has subdued them. If we close the windows and
+doors of our senses from outside contact and darken the inner chamber
+of our self, then by focusing the light of consciousness and
+concentrating the mental rays we shall be able to know and remember
+our past lives, and all the events and experiences thereof. Those who
+wish therefore to develop their memory and remember their past should
+practice Raja Yoga and learn the method of acquiring the power of
+concentration by shutting the doors and windows of their senses. And
+that power of concentration must be helped by the power of
+self-control. That is, by controlling the doors and windows of our own
+senses.</p>
+
+<p>These dormant impressions, whether we remember them or not, are the
+chief factors in moulding our individual characters with which we are
+born, and they are the causes of the inequalities and diversities
+which we find around us. When we study the characters and powers of
+geniuses and prodigies we cannot deny the pre-existence of the
+soul. Whatever the soul has mastered in a previous life manifests in
+the present. The memory of particular events is not so important. If
+we possess the wisdom and knowledge which we gathered in our previous
+lives, then it matters very little whether or not we remember the
+particular events, or the struggles which we went through in order to
+gain that knowledge. Those particular things may not come to us in our
+memory, but we have not lost the wisdom. Now, study your own present
+life and you will see that in this life you have gained some
+experience. The particular events and the struggles which you went
+through are passing out of your memory, but the experience, the
+knowledge which you have gained through that experience, has moulded
+your character, has shaped you in a different manner. You will not
+have to go through those different events again to remember; how you
+acquired that experience is not necessary; the wisdom gained is quite
+enough.</p>
+
+<p>Then, again, we find among ourselves persons who are born with some
+wonderful powers. Take, for instance, the power of self-control. One
+is born with the power of self-control highly developed, and that
+self-control may not be acquired by another after years of hard
+struggle. Why is there this difference? Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna was
+born with God-consciousness, and he went into the highest state of
+Sam&acirc;dhi when he was four years old; but this state is very difficult
+for other Yogis to acquire. There was a Yogi who came to see
+Ramakrishna. He was an old man and possessed wonderful powers, and he
+said: "I have struggled for forty years to acquire that state which is
+natural with you." There are many such instances which show that
+pre-existence is a fact, and that these latent or dormant impressions
+of previous lives are the chief factors in moulding the individual
+character without depending upon the memory of the past. Because we
+cannot remember our past, because of the loss of memory of the
+particular events, the soul's progress is not arrested. The soul will
+continue to progress further and further, even though the memory may
+be weak.</p>
+
+<p>Each individual soul possesses this storehouse of previous experiences
+in the background, in the subconscious mind. Take the instance of two
+lovers. What is love? It is the attraction between two souls. This
+love does not die with the death of the body. True love survives death
+and continues to grow, to become stronger and stronger. Eventually it
+brings the two souls together and makes them one. The theory of
+pre-existence alone can explain why two souls at first sight know each
+other and become attached to each other by the tie of friendship. This
+mutual love will continue to grow and will become stronger, and in the
+end will bring these lovers together, no matter where they
+go. Therefore, Vedanta does not say that the death of the body will
+end the attraction or the attachment of two souls; but as the souls
+are immortal so their relation will continue forever.</p>
+
+<p>The Yogis know how to develop memory and how to read past lives. They
+say, time and space exist in relation to our present mental condition;
+if we can rise above this plane, our higher mind sees the past and
+future just as we see things before our eyes. Those who wish to
+satisfy the idle curiosity of their minds may spend their energy by
+trying to recollect their past lives. But I think it will be much more
+helpful to us if we devote our time and energy in moulding our future
+and in trying to be better than we are now, because the recollection
+of our former condition would only force us to make a bad use of the
+present. How unhappy he must be who knows that the wicked deeds of his
+past life will surely react on him and will bring distress, misery,
+unhappiness or suffering within a few days or a few months. Such a man
+would be so restless and unhappy that he would not be able to do any
+work properly; he would constantly think in what form misery would
+appear to him. He would not be able to eat or even sleep. He would be
+most miserable. Therefore we ought to regard it as a great blessing
+that we do not recollect our past lives and past deeds. Vedanta says,
+do not waste your valuable time in thinking of your past lives, do not
+look backward during the tiresome journey through the different stages
+of evolution, always look forward and try first to attain to the
+highest point of spiritual development; then if you want to know your
+past lives you will recollect them all. Nothing will remain unknown to
+you, the Knower of the universe. When the all-knowing Divine Self will
+manifest through you, time and space will vanish and past and future
+will be changed into the eternal present. Then you will say as Sri
+Krishna said to Arjuna, in the "Bhagavad Gita:" "Both you and I have
+passed through many lives; you do not recollect any, but I know them
+all." (Ch. iv., 5.)</p>
+
+<a name="II"></a>
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">II. Heredity and Reincarnation.</p>
+
+<p>Those who accept the theory of heredity deny the existence of the
+human soul as an entity separable from the gross physical
+organism. Consequently they do not discuss the question whether the
+individual soul existed in the past or will continue to exist after
+the death of the body. This kind of question does not disturb their
+minds. They generally maintain that the individual soul is inseparable
+from the body or the brain or nervous system; consequently what we
+call soul or the conscious entity or the thinker is produced along
+with the birth of the organism or brain, lasts as long as the body
+lasts and dies when the organism is dissolved into its elements.  But
+those, on the other hand, who accept the theory of Reincarnation admit
+the existence of soul as a conscious entity which is independent of
+the physical organism, that it continues to live after death and that
+it existed before the birth of the body. The theory of heredity has
+always been supported by the materialistic scientists, atheists and
+agnostics of all ages and also by those who believe in the special
+creation of the first man and woman at a certain definite time and
+that their qualities, character, life and soul have been transmitted
+to all humanity through successive generations. The commonly accepted
+meaning of the theory of heredity is that all the well-marked
+peculiarities, both physical and mental, in the parents are handed on
+to the children; or, in other words, heredity is that property of an
+organism by which its peculiar nature is transmitted to its
+descendants.</p>
+
+<p>In the whole history of humanity there has never been a time when this
+question of heredity has been discussed so minutely and in so many
+different ways as it has been in the present century. Although this
+theory was known in the East by the ancient Vedanta philosophers, by
+the Buddhists of the pre-Christian era and by the Greek philosophers
+in the West, still it has received a new impetus and has grown with
+new strength since the introduction of the Darwinian theory of the
+evolution of species.  Along with the latest discoveries in
+physiology, biology, embryology and other branches of modern science,
+the popular simple meaning of heredity&mdash;that the offspring not only
+resemble their parents among animals as well as among men, but inherit
+all the individual peculiarities, life and character of their
+parents&mdash;has taken the shape of the most complicated and difficult
+problem which it is almost impossible to solve. Our minds are no
+longer satisfied with Haeckel's definition that heredity is simply an
+overgrowth of the individual, a simple continuity of growth; but we
+want to know the particular method by which hereditary transmission
+takes place.  We ask, how can a single cell reproduce the whole body
+of the offspring, its mind, character and all the peculiarities of an
+organism? Out of the myriads of cells of which a body is composed,
+what kind of cell is that which possesses the power of reproducing the
+peculiarities, both mental and physical, which are to be found in the
+form of the new-born babe?  This is the most puzzling of all the
+problems which the scientific mind has ever encountered. The
+fundamental question connected with the theory of heredity is: How can
+a single cell of the body contain within itself all the hereditary
+tendencies of the hypothesis of the continuity of the germ-plasm gives
+an identical starting-point to each successive generation, and thus
+explains how it is that an identical product arises from all of
+them. In other words, the hypothesis explains heredity as part of the
+underlying problems of assimilation and of the causes which act
+directly during ontogeny. (Vol. I, p. 170.)</p>
+
+<p>According to Weismann, all the peculiarities which we find in an
+organism are not inherited by the organism from that of the parents,
+but he says: "Nothing can arise in an organism unless the
+predisposition to it is pre-existent, for every acquired character is
+simply the reaction of the organism upon a certain stimulus." (Vol. I,
+p. 172.) Therefore the germ-cells do not inherit all the peculiarities
+of the parents, but possess the predisposition or a potentiality of
+the tendencies which gradually develop into individual characters.</p>
+
+<p>We will be able to understand his theory better from the following
+quotations, which give his own words. He says: "I have called this
+substance 'germ-plasm,' and have assumed that it possesses a highly
+complex structure, conferring upon it the power of developing into a
+complex organism."  ("Heredity," Vol. I, p. 170.) Again he says:
+"There is, therefore, continuity of the germ-plasm from one generation
+to another. One might represent the germ-plasm by the metaphor of a
+long, creeping rootstock from which plants arise at intervals, these
+latter representing the individuals of successive generations. Hence
+it follows that the transmission of acquired characters is an
+impossibility, for if the germ-plasm is not formed anew in each
+individual, but is derived from that which preceded it, its structure,
+and, above all, its molecular constitution, cannot depend upon the
+individual in which it happens to occur, but such an individual only
+forms, as it were, the nutritive soil at the expense of which the
+germ-plasm grows, while the latter possessed its characteristic
+structure from the beginning, viz., before the commencement of growth.
+But the tendencies of heredity, of which the germ-plasm is the bearer,
+depend upon this very molecular structure, and hence only those
+characters can be transmitted through successive generations which
+have been previously inherited, viz., those characters which were
+potentially contained in the structure of the germ-plasm. It also
+follows that those other characters which have been acquired by the
+influence of special external conditions, during the lifetime of the
+parent, cannot be transmitted at all."  (Vol. I, p. 273.) In
+conclusion, Weismann writes: "But at all events we have gained this
+much, that the only facts which appear to directly prove a
+transmission of acquired characters have been refuted, and that the
+only firm foundation on which this hypothesis has been hitherto based
+has been destroyed."(Vol. I, p. 461.)</p>
+
+<p>Thus we see how far the theory of heredity has been pushed by the
+great scientific investigators of the present age. We have no longer
+any right to believe in the old oft-refuted hypothesis which assumes
+that each individual organism produces germ-cells afresh again and
+again and transmits all its powers developed and acquired by the
+parents; but, on the contrary, we have come to know to-day that
+parents are nothing but mere channels through which these germ-plasms
+or germ-cells manifest their peculiar tendencies and powers which
+existed in them from the very beginning. The main point is that the
+germs are not created by the parents, but that they existed in
+previous generations.</p>
+
+<p>Now, what are those germs like? Wherefrom do they acquire these
+tendencies, these peculiarities?  That is another very difficult
+problem. Dr. Weismann and his followers say that these peculiarities
+are gained or inherited "from the common stock," but what that common
+stock is they do not explain.  Where is that common stock and why will
+certain germs acquire certain tendencies and other germs retain other
+peculiarities? What regulates them? These questions are not solved. So
+far we have gathered from Dr. Weismann's explanation that the parents
+are not the creators of the germs but, on the contrary, that the germs
+existed before the birth of the body, before the growth of the body,
+in previous generations, or in the common stock of the universe. The
+previous generations are dead and gone, so we may say that they
+existed in the universe. We cannot now believe the old, crude,
+often-refuted idea that God creates the germ at the time of birth and
+puts into it all the powers and peculiarities of the parents. This
+theory makes God unjust and partial, so it does not appeal to us any
+more. We need better and more rational explanations. The one-birth
+theory, which has been preached by Christian ministers and other
+religionists for so many years, does not remove the difficulties, does
+not explain the cause of the inequalities and diversities, does not
+answer the question whether we acquire all the tendencies and
+peculiarities of the parents or whether acquired characters cannot be
+transmitted. We have already seen that these questions are left
+unsolved by the one-birth theory of Christianity and of Judaism. But
+this theory of "continuity of the germ-plasm" pushes the question of
+heredity to the door of Reincarnation. If modern science can explain
+what that common stock is and why and how these germs retain those
+peculiarities and tendencies, then the answer will be complete and not
+until then. The Vedanta philosophy, however, has already explained the
+cause of the potentiality in the germ of life or "germ-plasm" or
+germ-cell.</p>
+
+<p>Vedanta solves this difficulty by saying that each of these
+germ-plasms or germ-cells is nothing but the subtle form of a
+reincarnating individual, containing potentially all the experiences,
+characters, tendencies, and desires which one had in one's previous
+life. It existed before the birth of the body and it will continue
+after the death of the body. This germ or subtle body is not the same
+as the astral body of the Theosophists, or the double of the
+metaphysical thinkers or the disembodied spirit of the Spiritualists;
+but it is an ethereal center of activity-physical, mental and
+organic. It is a center which possesses the tendency to manifest these
+powers on different planes of existence. It contains the minute
+particles of matter or ethereal substance and the life principle or
+vital energy by which we live and move. It also possesses the mental
+powers and sense powers; but all these remain latent, just as in a
+seed we see that the powers of growth, of assimilation and of
+producing flowers and fruits are latent.</p>
+
+<p>At the time of death the individual soul contracts and remains in the
+form of a germ of life. It is for this reason, Vedanta teaches, that
+it is neither the will of God nor the fault of the parents that forms
+the characters of children, but each child is responsible for its
+tendencies, capacities, powers and character. It is its own "Karma" or
+past actions that make a child a murderer or a saint, virtuous or
+sinful. The stored-up potentialities in a subtle body manifest in the
+character of an individual.</p>
+
+<p>The argument advanced by the supporters of the theory of hereditary
+transmission does not furnish a satisfactory explanation of the cause
+of the inequalities and diversities of the universe. Why is it that
+the children of the same parents show a marked dissimilarity to their
+parents and to each other?</p>
+
+<p>Why do twins develop into dissimilar characters and possess opposite
+qualities, although they are born of the same parents at the same time
+and brought up under similar conditions and environments? How can
+heredity explain such cases? Suppose a man has five children; one is
+honest and saintly, another is an idiot, the third becomes a murderer,
+the fourth a genius or prodigy, and the fifth a cripple and
+diseased. Who made these dissimilarities? They cannot be
+accidents. There is no such thing as an accident. Every event of the
+universe is bound by the law of cause and effect. There must be some
+cause of these inequalities. Who made one honest and saintly, another
+an idiot, and so forth? Parents? That cannot be. They never dreamed
+that they would beget a murderer or a villain or an idiot. On the
+contrary, all parents wish their children to be the best and
+happiest. But in spite of such desires they get such children. Why?
+What is the cause? Does the theory of heredity explain it? No, not at
+all. Suppose a man, twenty-four years old, who has certain traits,
+like musical or artistic talents, such as painting and so on, has a
+crooked nose and other peculiarities, like cross-eyes, which resemble
+those of his grandfather. Suppose his grandfather died six years
+before he was born. Now, those who believe in the theory of heredity
+will say that this young man inherited all these peculiarities from
+his grandfather. When did he inherit? His grandfather had died six
+years before he was born. He inherited, of course, in the form of that
+germ. What is that germ like? A minute protoplasm, a jelly-like
+substance, and if you examine it with a powerful microscope you will
+hardly find any difference between it and the proto-plasmic germ of a
+dog, or of a cat, or of a tree. It is smaller than a pin's head. And
+in that state this young man inherited all these peculiarities from
+his grandfather; or, in other words, before he had a nose, he got a
+crooked nose; before he had eyes, he inherited cross-eyes, and before
+he had any brain, he inherited all the wonderful powers-his musical
+and artistic talents. Does it not seem absurd to you? Even if we admit
+this theory of heredity, then what do we understand? That the whole of
+this young man existed in the form of a protoplasm before he was
+born. His cross-eyes, his crooked nose, his artistic talents&mdash;all
+these pre-existed in the form of a protoplasmic cell. This leads up to
+the same thing which is taught by the theory of Reincarnation, or, in
+other words, if it be possible for this young man to remain in the
+form of a protoplasm and inherit all these things before his birth,
+why cannot we believe that the soul or the subtle body of this young
+man possessed them from the very beginning? According to Vedanta this
+young man was not the creature of his grandfather, but he had his own
+independent existence; only by coming through the channel of his
+parents he had received certain characteristic impressions, just as a
+tree in its process of growth will receive from the environments
+certain peculiarities when it assimilates those properties.</p>
+
+<p>The doctrine of Reincarnation alone can explain satisfactorily and
+rationally the diversities among children and the reason of the many
+instances of uncommon powers and genius displayed in childhood. The
+theory of heredity has up to this time failed to give any good reason
+for them. Why is it that Pascal, when twelve years old, succeeded in
+discovering for himself the greater part of plane geometry. How could
+the shepherd Mangiamelo, when five years old, calculate like an
+arithmetical machine. Think of the child Zerah Colburn: when he was
+under eight years of age he could solve the most tremendous
+mathematical problems instantly and without using any figures. "In one
+instance he took the number 8 and raised it up progressively to the
+sixteenth power and instantly mentioned the result which contained 15
+figures&mdash;28l,474,976,710,656." Of course he was right in every
+figure. When asked the square root of numbers consisting of six
+figures, he would state the result instantly with perfect accuracy. He
+used to give the cube root of numbers in the hundreds of millions the
+very moment when it was asked. Somebody asked him once how many
+minutes there were in 48 years, he answered, 25,288,800.</p>
+
+<p>Mozart, the great musician, wrote a sonata when he was four years old
+and an opera in his eighth year. Theresa Milanolla played the violin
+with such skill that many people thought that she must have played
+before her birth. There are many such instances of wonderful powers
+exhibited by artists and painters when they were quite young.
+Sankar&acirc;charya, the great commentator of the Vedanta philosophy,
+finished his commentary when he was twelve years old. How can such
+cases be explained by the theory of hereditary transmission? Many of
+you have heard of the wonderful musical talents of Blind Tom. This
+blind negro slave was born on his master's plantation and was brought
+up as a typical negro.  He received no training in music or in any
+other line. One day when his master's family were at dinner he
+happened to come into his master's parlor and displayed his marvelous
+musical power for the first time by playing on his master's
+piano. Afterwards he was exhibited in different states of this
+country. Physically he was nothing but a typical negro. His intellect
+was very poor, but in music he was a master. His musical talents were
+so great that he composed music for himself and played his own
+compositions. Sometimes after hearing a new piece of rapid music once,
+he could reproduce it note for note. Where did he get all these
+powers? From whom did he inherit them? His parents perhaps never heard
+of a piano. He never had a lesson in his life, and he could not have
+understood even if he had had any. Not long ago I saw a girl of about
+six years, who played the piano most beautifully and who could
+reproduce the most difficult music after hearing it once. It seems to
+me that she must have played the piano in her previous incarnation.
+This is the only explanation that we can give.</p>
+
+<p>Does heredity explain such cases? No. These illustrations are
+sufficient to disprove the theory of "cumulative heredity".
+"Cumulative" means gradualness.  The believers in this theory say that
+a genius is the result of cumulative heredity, that is, it presents
+itself by degrees from less genius to greater and still greater and so
+on. In the whole history of the genealogy of geniuses, like Homer,
+Plato, Shakespeare, Goethe, Raphael, there never was in their families
+almost Plato, almost Shakespeare, or almost Goethe. Neither is it
+possible to trace the extraordinary powers of any of these back to any
+member of their ancestral line. Therefore we can say that no other
+theory than that of Reincarnation can explain satisfactorily the
+causes which produce geniuses and prodigies in this world.</p>
+
+<p>Those who accept the truth of Reincarnation do not blame their parents
+for their poor talents, or for not possessing extraordinary powers,
+but they remain content with their own lot, knowing that they have
+made themselves as they are to-day by their own thoughts and deeds in
+their previous incarnations. They understand the meaning of the saying
+"what thou sowest thou must reap," and always endeavor to mould their
+future by better thoughts and better deeds. They explain all the
+inequalities and diversities of life and character by the law of
+"Karma," which governs the process of Reincarnation as well as the
+gradual evolution of the germs of life from lower to higher stages of
+existence.</p>
+
+<a name="III"></a>
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">III. Evolution and Reincarnation.</p>
+
+<p>The amazing achievements of modern science have been opening every day
+new gates of wisdom and slowly bringing human minds nearer and nearer
+to the ultimate reality of the universe. The fire of knowledge kindled
+by science has already burnt down many dogmas and beliefs, held sacred
+by the superstition of the past, which stood in the way of
+truth-seeking minds. In the first place science has disproved the
+theory of the creation of the universe out of nothing by the action of
+some supernatural power. It has shown that the universe did not appear
+in its present form or come into existence all of a sudden only a few
+thousand years ago, but that it has taken ages to pass through
+different stages before it could reach its present condition.  Each of
+these stages was directly related to a previous stage by the law of
+causation, which always operates in accordance with definite
+rules. The phenomena of the universe, according to science, are
+subject to evolution, or gradual change and progressive development
+from a relatively uniform condition to a relative complexity. From the
+greatest solar system down to the smallest blade of grass, everything
+in the universe has taken its present shape and form through this
+cosmic process of evolution. Our planet earth has gradually evolved,
+perhaps out of a nebulous mass which existed at first in a gaseous
+state. The sun, moon, stars, satellites and other planets have come
+into existence by going through innumerable changes produced by the
+evolutionary process of the Cosmos. Through the same process plants,
+insects, fishes, reptiles, birds, animals, man, and all living matter
+that inhabit this earth have evolved from minute germs of life into
+their present forms. The theory of Evolution says that man did not
+come into existence all of a sudden, but is related to lower animals
+and to plants, either directly or indirectly. The germ of life had
+passed through various stages of physical form before it could appear
+as a man. That branch of science which is called Embryology has proved
+the fact that "man is the epitome of the whole creation." It tells
+that the human body before its birth passes through all the different
+stages of the animal kingdom&mdash;such as the polyp, fish, reptile, dog,
+ape, and at last, man. If we remember that nature is always
+consistent, that her laws are uniform and that whatever exists in the
+microcosm exists also in the macrocosm, and then study nature, we
+shall find that all the germs of life which exist in the universe are
+bound to pass through stages resembling the embryonic types before
+they can appear in the form of man.</p>
+
+<p>In explaining the theory of Evolution, science says that there are two
+principal factors in the process of evolution; the first is the
+tendency to vary, which exists in all living forms whether vegetable
+or animal; the second is the tendency of environment to influence that
+variation, either favorably or unfavorably. Without the first,
+evolution of any kind would be absolutely impossible. But the cause of
+that innate tendency to vary is still unknown to science. Upon the
+second depends the law of natural selection. The variation must be
+adapted to favorable conditions of life; consequently either the germ
+of life will select suitable environments or vary itself in order to
+suit the surrounding conditions, if they are unfavorable. But the
+agent of this selective process is the struggle for existence, which
+is a no less important factor. Thus Evolution depends on these three
+laws: Tendency to vary, or variation, natural selection, and struggle
+for existence. Science tries to explain through these three laws the
+physical, mental, intellectual, moral and spiritual evolution of
+mankind. But the theory of Evolution will remain unintelligible until
+science can trace the cause of that innate "tendency to vary" which
+exists in every stage of all living forms.</p>
+
+<p>If we study closely we find that man's "self" consists of two natures,
+one animal and the other moral or spiritual. Animal nature includes
+all the animal propensities, desire for sense enjoyments, love of
+self, fear of death and struggle for existence. Each of these is to be
+found in lower animals as well as in human beings, the difference
+being only in degree and not in kind. In a savage tribe the expression
+of this animal nature is simple and natural, while in a highly
+civilized nation it is expressed not in a simple and straightforward
+manner, but in an artful and refined way. In a civilized community the
+same nature working through varied device, policy and plan brings the
+same results in a more polished form. In the struggle for existence
+amongst lower animals and savage tribes, those who are physically
+strong survive and gain advantage over those who are physically weak;
+while in the civilized world the same result is obtained, not by
+displaying physical force, but by art, diplomacy, policy, strategy and
+skill. Various kinds of defensive and offensive weapons have been
+invented to conquer those who are less skillful in using them,
+although they may be physically stronger. The simple expression of
+animal nature which we notice in savages and lower animals, by the
+natural process of evolution has gradually become more and more
+complex, as we find in the civilized nations of the world. The energy
+of the lower human nature is spent chiefly in the struggle for
+material existence.</p>
+
+<p>But there is another nature in man which is higher than this. It
+expresses itself in various ways, but on a higher plane. Love of
+truth, mastery over passion, control of the senses, disinterested
+self-sacrifice, mercy and kindness to all creatures, desire to help
+the distressed, forgiveness, faith in a Supreme Being and devotion;
+all these are the expressions of that higher moral and spiritual
+nature. They cannot be explained as developed from animal nature by
+means of the struggle for material existence. For these qualities are
+not to be found in lower animals, although the struggle for existence
+is there. The moral and spiritual nature of human beings cannot be
+traced as the outgrowth or gradual development of the animal
+nature. There is a dispute among the Evolutionists as to the method of
+explaining their cause. Some say that these higher faculties have
+evolved out of the lower ones and have developed by variation and
+natural selection; while others hold that some other higher influence,
+law or agency is required to account for them.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Huxley says: "As I have already urged, the practice of that
+which is ethically best&mdash;what we call goodness or virtue&mdash;involves a
+course of conduct which in all respects is opposed to that which leads
+to success in the cosmic struggle for existence. In place of ruthless
+self-assertion, it demands self-restraint; in place of thrusting aside
+or treading down all competitors, it requires that the individual
+shall not merely respect, but shall help his fellows; its influence is
+directed not so much to the survival of the fittest as to the fitting
+of as many as possible to survive. It repudiates the gladiatorial
+theory of existence. It demands that each man who enters into the
+enjoyment of the advantages of a polity shall be mindful of his debt
+to those who have laboriously constructed it, and shall take heed that
+no act of his weakens the fabric in which he has been permitted to
+live. Laws and moral precepts are directed to the end of curbing the
+cosmic process, and reminding the individual of his duty to the
+community, to the protection and influence of which he owes, if not
+existence itself, at least the life of something better than a brutal
+savage." ("Evolution and Ethics," pp. 81-82.)</p>
+
+<p>Prof. Calderwood says: "So far as human organism is concerned, there
+seem no overwhelming obstacles to be encountered by an evolution
+theory, but it seems impossible under such a theory to account for the
+appearance of the thinking, self-regulating life distinctly human."
+Thus, according to some of the best thinkers, the explanation of the
+moral and spiritual nature of man as a development of the animal
+nature, is quite insufficient and unsatisfactory.  The theory of
+natural selection in the struggle for existence cannot explain the
+cause of the higher nature of man. We cannot say that a theory is
+complete because it explains many facts.  On the contrary, if it fails
+to explain a single fact, then it is proved to be incomplete. As such,
+the theory that cannot explain satisfactorily the cause of the moral
+and spiritual nature of man cannot be accepted as a complete
+theory. That explanation will be considered as complete which will
+explain most satisfactorily all the various manifestations of the
+animal, moral and spiritual nature.  Moreover, supposing the "tendency
+to vary" has evolved into the moral and spiritual nature of man,
+science does not explain the cause of that tendency to vary, nor how
+animal nature can be transformed into moral and spiritual nature. Is
+that "tendency to vary" indefinite, or is it limited by any definite
+law? Science does not say anything about it.</p>
+
+<p>The explanation of the theologians, that the spiritual nature has been
+superadded to the animal nature by some extra-cosmic spiritual agency
+is not scientific, nor does it appeal to our reason. Now let us see
+what Vedanta has to say on this point. Vedanta accepts evolution and
+admits the laws of variation and natural selection, but goes a step
+beyond modern science by explaining the cause of that "tendency to
+vary." It says, "there is nothing in the end which was not also in the
+beginning." It is a law which governs the process of evolution as well
+as the law of causation. If we admit this grand truth of nature, then
+it will not be difficult to explain by the theory of Evolution the
+gradual manifestation of the higher nature of man.  The tendency of
+scientific monism is towards that end.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the modern scientists who hold the monistic position have
+found out the same truth which was discovered long ago by the Vedantic
+philosophers in India. J. Arthur Thomson, an eminent English scientist
+of the present day, in his book on "The Study of Animal Life," says:
+"The world is one, not two-fold-, the spiritual influx is the primal
+reality and there is nothing in the end which was not also in the
+beginning." But the evolutionists do not accept this truth. Let us
+understand it clearly. It means that that which existed potentially at
+the time of the beginning of evolution has gradually manifested in the
+various stages and grades of evolution. If we admit that a unicellular
+germ of life or a bioplasm, after passing through various stages of
+evolution, has ultimately manifested in the form of a highly developed
+human being, then we shall have to admit the potentiality of all the
+manifested powers in that germ or bioplasm, because the law is "that
+which exists in the end existed also in the beginning."  The animal
+nature, higher nature, mind, intellect, spirit, all these exist
+potentially in the germ of life.  If we do not admit this law then the
+problem will arise: How can non-existence become existent?  How can
+something come out of nothing? How can that come into existence which
+did not exist before? Each germ of life, according to Vedanta,
+possesses infinite potentialities and infinite possibilities.  The
+powers that remain latent have the natural tendency to manifest
+perfectly and to become actual. In their attempt they vary according
+to the surrounding environments, selecting suitable conditions or
+remaining latent as long as circumstances do not favor them. Therefore
+variation, according to Vedanta, is caused by this attempt of the
+potential powers to become actual. When life and mind began to evolve,
+the possibilities of action and reaction hitherto latent in the germ
+of life became real and all things became, in a sense, new. Nobody can
+imagine the amount of latent power which a minute germ of life
+possesses until it expresses in gross form on the physical plane. By
+seeing the seed of a Banyan tree, one who has never seen the tree
+cannot imagine what powers lie dormant in it. When a baby is born we
+cannot tell whether he will be a great saint, or a wonderful artist,
+or a philosopher, or an idiot, or a villain of the worst type. Parents
+know nothing about his future. Along with his growth certain latent
+powers gradually begin to manifest. Those which are the strongest and
+most powerful will overcome others and check their course for some
+time; but when the powers that remain subdued by stronger ones get
+favorable conditions they will appear in manifested forms. As, for
+instance, chemical forces may slumber in matter for a thousand years,
+but when the contact with the re-agents sets them free, they appear
+again and produce certain results. For thousands of years galvanism
+slumbered in copper and zinc, which lay quietly beside silver. As soon
+as all three are brought together under the required conditions silver
+is consumed in flame. A dry seed of a plant may preserve the
+slumbering power of growth through two or three thousand years and
+then reappear under favorable conditions. Sir G. Wilkinson, the great
+archaeologist, found some grains of wheat in a hermetically sealed
+vase in a grave at Thebes, which must have lain there for three
+thousand years. When Mr. Pettigrew sowed them they grew into plants.
+Some vegetable roots found in the hands of an Egyptian mummy, which
+must have been at least two thousand years old, were planted in a
+flower-pot, and they grew and flourished. Thus, whenever the latent
+powers get favorable conditions, they manifest according to their
+nature, even after thousands of years.</p>
+
+<p>Similarly, there are many instances of slumbering mental powers. After
+remaining dormant for a long period in our normal condition, they may,
+in certain abnormal states&mdash;such as madness, delirium, catalepsy,
+hypnotic sleep and so forth-flash out into luminous consciousness and
+throw into absolute oblivion the powers that are manifesting in the
+normal state. Talents for eloquence, music, painting, and uncommon
+ingenuity in several mechanical arts, traces of which were never found
+in the ordinary normal condition, are often evolved in the state of
+madness. Somnambulists in deep sleep have solved most difficult
+mathematical problems and performed various acts with results which
+have surprised them in their normal waking states. Thus we can
+understand that each individual mind is the storehouse of many powers,
+various impressions and ideas, some of which manifest in our normal
+state, while others remain latent. Our present condition of mind and
+body is nothing but the manifested form of certain dormant powers that
+exist in ourselves. If new powers are roused up and begin to manifest
+the whole nature will be changed into a new form. The manifestation of
+latent powers is at the bottom of the evolution of one species into
+another. This idea has been expressed in a few words by Patanjali, the
+great Hindu evolutionist who lived long before the Christian
+era. [Footnote: The reader ought to know that the doctrine of
+Evolution was known in India long before the Christian era. About the
+seventh century, B. C., Kapila, the father of Hindu Evolutionists,
+explained this theory for the first time through logic and
+science. Sir Monier Monier Williams says: "Indeed if I may be allowed
+the anachronism, the Hindus were Spinozites more than 2,000 years
+before the existence of Spinoza; and Darwinians many centuries before
+Darwin; and Evolutionists many centuries before the doctrine of
+Evolution had been accepted by the scientists of our time and before
+any word like Evolution existed in any language of the world." (P. 12,
+"Hinduism and Brahminism.") Prof. Huxley says: "To say nothing of
+Indian Sages to whom Evolution was a familiar notion ages before Paul
+of Tarsus was born." (P. 150, "Science and Hebrew Tradition.")] In the
+second aphorism of the fourth chapter (see "Raja Yoga," by Swami
+Vivekananda, p. 210) it is said, "The Evolution into another species
+is caused by the in-filling of nature."  The nature is filled not from
+without but from within.  Nothing is superadded to the individual soul
+from outside. The germs are already there, but their development
+depends upon their coming in contact with the necessary conditions
+requisite for proper manifestation. We sometimes see a wicked man
+suddenly become saintlike. There are instances of murderers and
+robbers becoming saints. A religionist will explain the cause of their
+sudden change, by saying that the grace of the Almighty has fallen
+upon them and transformed their whole nature.  But Vedanta says that
+the moral and spiritual powers that remained latent in them have been
+roused up, and the result is the sudden transformation. None can tell
+when or how the slumbering powers will wake up and begin to
+manifest. The germ of life, or the individual soul as it is ordinarily
+called, possesses infinite possibilities. Each germ of life is
+studying, as it were, the book of its own nature by unfolding one page
+after another. When it has gone through all the pages, or, in other
+words, all the stages of evolution, perfect knowledge is acquired, and
+its course is finished. We have read our lower nature by turning each
+page, or, in other words, by passing through each stage of animal life
+from the minutest bioplasm up to the present stage of existence. Now
+we are studying the pages which deal with moral and spiritual laws. If
+any one wants to read any page over again he will do it. Just as in
+reading a book, if anybody feels particularly interested in any page
+or chapter he will read it over and over again and will not open a new
+page or a new chapter until he is perfectly satisfied with
+it. Similarly, in reading the book of life, if the individual soul
+likes any particular stage, he will stay there until he is perfectly
+satisfied with it; after that he will go forward and study other
+pages. One may read very slowly, and another very fast; but whether we
+read slowly or rapidly each one of us is bound to read the whole book
+of nature and attain to perfection sooner or later.</p>
+
+<p>According to Vedanta, the end and aim of Evolution is the attainment
+of perfection. Physical evolution of animal life reached its
+perfection in human form. There cannot be any other form higher than
+human on this earth under present conditions. It is the perfection of
+animal form. From this we can infer that the tendency of the law of
+Evolution is to reach perfection. When it is attained to, the whole
+purpose is served. Do we see in nature any other higher form evolved
+out of the human body? No.  Shall we not be justified if we say that
+the end of physical evolution is the attainment of the perfection of
+animal form? Again as the purpose and method of natural laws are
+uniform throughout the universe, the end of intellectual, moral and
+spiritual evolution will be attained when intellectual, moral and
+spiritual perfection are acquired. Intellectual perfection means
+perfection of intellect; and intellect is perfect when we understand
+the true nature of things and never mistake the unreal for the real,
+matter for spirit, non-eternal for eternal, or <i>vice versa</i>. Moral
+perfection consists in the destruction of selfishness; and spiritual
+perfection is the manifestation of the true nature of spirit which is
+immortal, free, divine and one with the Universal Spirit or
+God. Evolution attains to the highest fulfilment of its purpose when
+the spirit manifests perfectly.  The tendency of nature is to have
+perfect manifestation of all her powers. When certain powers
+predominate they manifest first while the others remain dormant. As we
+find in the process of evolution, when animal nature manifests
+perfectly the moral and spiritual nature remain latent. Again when
+moral and spiritual nature manifest fully, the animal is in
+abeyance. It is for this reason we do not find expressions of moral
+and spiritual nature in lower animals or in those human beings who
+live like them. Man is the only animal in whom such perfect
+expressions of moral and spiritual nature are possible.  When the
+individual soul begins to study its spiritual nature, its lower or
+animal nature is gradually eclipsed. As the higher nature becomes
+powerful the lower nature dwindles into insignificance; its energy is
+transformed into that of the higher nature, and ultimately it
+disappears altogether and rises no more. Then the soul becomes free
+from the lower or animal nature. There are many stages in the higher
+nature, as well as in the lower. Each of these stages binds the
+individual soul so long as it stays there. As it rises on a higher
+plane the lower stages disappear and cease to bind. But the moment
+that any individual, after passing through all the stages of the
+spiritual nature, reaches the ultimate point of perfection, he
+realizes his true nature which is immortal and divine. Then his true
+individuality manifests. For lack of true knowledge, he identified
+himself with each stage successively and thought that his
+individuality was one with the powers which were manifested in each
+stage. Consequently he thought by mistake that he was affected by the
+changes of each stage. But now he realizes that his real individuality
+always remained unaffected.  He sees that his true individuality
+shines always in the same manner, although the limiting adjuncts may
+vary. As the light of a lamp appears of different colors, if it passes
+through glasses of different colors, so the light of the true
+individual appears as animal or human when it passes through the
+animal or human nature of the subtle body. The subtle body of an
+individual changes from animal nature through moral and spiritual into
+divine. As this gradual growth cannot be expected in one life we shall
+have to admit the truth of Reincarnation, which teaches gradual
+evolution of the germ of life or the individual soul through many
+lives and various forms. Otherwise the theory of Evolution will remain
+imperfect, incomplete and purposeless. The doctrine of Reincarnation
+differs from the accepted theory of Evolution in admitting a gradual
+but continuous evolution of the subtle body through many gross
+forms. The gross body may appear or disappear, but the subtle body
+continues to exist even after the dissolution of the gross body and
+re-manifests itself in some other form.</p>
+
+<p>The theory of Reincarnation when properly understood will appear as a
+supplement to the theory of Evolution. Without this most important
+supplement the Evolution theory will never be complete and
+perfect. Evolution explains the process of life, while Reincarnation
+explains the purpose of life. Therefore, both must go hand in hand to
+make the explanation satisfactory in every respect.</p>
+
+<p>James Freeman Clarke says: "That man has come up to his present state
+of development by passing through lower forms, is the popular doctrine
+of science to-day. What is called Evolution teaches that we have
+reached our present state by a very long and gradual ascent from the
+lowest animal organizations. It is true that the Darwinian theory
+takes no notice of the evolution of the soul, but only of the
+body. But it appears to me that a combination of the two views would
+remove many difficulties which still attach to the theory of natural
+selection and the survival of the fittest. If we are to believe in
+Evolution let us have the assistance of the soul itself in this
+development of new species. Thus science and philosophy will
+co-operate, nor will poetry hesitate to lend her aid." (P. 190, "Ten
+Great Religions," II.) Evolution of the body depends upon the
+evolution of the germ of life or the individual soul. When these two
+are combined the explanation becomes perfect.</p>
+
+<p>The theory of Reincarnation is a logical necessity for the completion
+of the theory of Evolution. If we admit a continuous evolution of a
+unit of the germ of life through many gross manifestations then we
+unconsciously accept the teachings of the doctrine of Reincarnation.
+In passing through different forms and manifestations the unit of life
+does not lose its identity or individuality. As an atom does not lose
+its identity or individuality (if you allow me to suppose an atom has
+a kind of individuality) although it passes from the mineral, through
+the vegetable, into the animal, so the germ of life always preserves
+its identity or individuality although it passes through the different
+stages of evolution.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore it is said in the "Bhagavad G&icirc;t&acirc;," as in our ordinary life
+the individual soul passes from a baby body to a young one and from a
+young to an old, and carries with it all the impressions, ideas and
+experience that it has gathered in its former stage of existence and
+reproduces them in proper time, so when a man dies the individual soul
+passes from an old body into a new one, and takes with it the subtle
+body wherein are stored up all that it experienced and gathered during
+its past incarnations. Knowing this, wise men are never afraid of
+death. They know that death is nothing but a mere change from one body
+into another. Therefore, if any one does not succeed in conquering the
+lower nature by the higher, he will try again in his next incarnation,
+after starting from the point which he reached in his past life. He
+will not begin again from the very beginning, but from the last stage
+at which he arrived. Thus we see that Reincarnation is the logical
+sequence of evolution. It completes and makes perfect that theory and
+explains the cause of the moral and spiritual nature of man.</p>
+
+<a name="IV"></a>
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">IV. Which is Scientific&mdash;Resurrection or Reincarnation?</p>
+
+<p>The students of history are interested to know where the idea of
+resurrection first arose and how it was adopted by other nations. If
+we read carefully the writings ascribed to Moses and other writers of
+the Old Testament we find that the ancient Israelites did not believe
+in the Christian heaven or hell, nor in reward or punishment after
+death. It is doubtful whether they had any clear conception of the
+existence of soul after the dissolution of the human body. They had no
+definite idea of the hereafter.  They did not believe in the
+resurrection either of the soul or body. Job longed for death thinking
+that it would end his mental agony. In Psalms we read, "Wilt Thou shew
+wonders to the dead?  Shall the dead arise and praise Thee?"
+(Ps. lxxxviii, 10.) "In death there is no remembrance of Thee; in the
+grave who shall give Thee thanks?" (Ps. vi, 5.) Again (Ps. cxlvi, 4)
+it is said about princes and the son of man,&mdash;"His breath goeth forth,
+he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish." "The
+dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence."
+(Ps. cxv, 17.)  Solomon speaks boldly: "All things come alike to all;
+there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and
+to the clean and to the unclean... as is the good, so is the sinner."
+(Eccl. ix, 2.) "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine
+with a merry heart....  Live joyfully with thy wife... for there is no
+work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou
+goest." (Eccl. ix, 7, 9, 10.)  Again in verse 5 it is said: "The dead
+know not anything, neither have they anymore a reward, for the memory
+of them is forgotten." Solomon says: "For that which befalleth the
+sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them; as the
+one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath, so that
+a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast." "All go into one place; all
+are of the dust and all turn to dust again." "Who knoweth the spirit
+of man that goeth upward and the spirit of the beast that goeth
+downward to the earth?" (Eccl.  iii, 19-21.) There are many such
+passages which show clearly that before the Babylonian captivity the
+Israelites had no belief in reward or punishment, neither in heaven
+nor hell nor in the resurrection of the soul. Some say that they had a
+belief in a sheol or pit where departed souls remained after death,
+but were never resurrected. But when the ancient Jews were conquered
+by the Persians, 536 B.C., they came in contact with a nation which
+had developed a belief in one God, in a heaven and a hell, in the
+resurrection of the dead, in reward and punishment after death, and in
+the last day of judgment. Under the dominion of Persia, whose rule
+began with the capture of Babylon and lasted from 536-333 B.C., the
+Jews were greatly influenced by the Persian religion.  They gave up
+their idolatry, gradually developed social organization and had
+considerable liberty.  About that time the Jews were divided into two
+classes, the Pharisees and Sadducees. Those who adopted the religious
+ideas of the Parsees were called Pharisees (according to some
+authorities the word Pharisee was the Hebrew form of Parsee), and
+those who followed strictly the Jewish ideas, ceremonies, rituals and
+beliefs were called Sadducees. The former were sharply opposed to the
+latter in their doctrinal beliefs. They believed in angels and
+spirits, they expected the resurrection of the dead and believed in
+future reward and punishment and also in Divine pre-ordination. The
+Sadducees did not step beyond the bounds of ancient Judaism.  They
+were Orthodox and very conservative in their views. They denied the
+existence of angels and spirits, the resurrection of the dead, and
+reward and punishment after death. In Matt, xxii, 23, we read, "The
+same day came to him the Sadducees which say that there is no
+resurrection." The Sadducees were fewer in number than the
+Pharisees. Gradually the latter grew very powerful and after the death
+of Jesus their doctrines of the resurrection of the dead, and of
+reward and punishment after death, and the belief in angels and
+spirits, became the cardinal principles of the new Christian sect.
+Thus we see that the idea of resurrection first arose in Persia and
+afterwards took a prominent place in the writings of the New
+Testament, and since then it has been largely accepted by the
+Christians of the Western countries. The Zoroastrians believed that
+the soul of the dead hovers about the body for three nights and does
+not depart for the other world until the dawn after the third night.
+Then the righteous go to heaven and the wicked to hell. There the
+wicked remain until the time of renovation of the universe, that is,
+the judgment day. After the renovation, when Ahriman or Satan is
+killed, the souls of the wicked will be purified and have everlasting
+progress. [Footnote: "Sacred Books of the East," Vol. xvii, pp. 27,
+34, 46.] The question was asked, "How shall they produce
+resurrection?" Ahura Mazda says: "The reply is this, that the
+preparation and production of the resurrection are an achievement
+connected with miracle, a sublimity, and afterwards also a wondrous
+appearance unto the creatures uninformed. The secrets and affairs of
+the persistent Creator are like every mystery and secret." [Footnote:
+<i>Ibid</i>., p. 80.]</p>
+
+<p>The Zoroastrians believed in the resurrection, not of the physical
+body, but of the soul, and that it was an act of miracle. Similarly
+miraculous was the resurrection of Jesus. Although Jesus Himself never
+mentioned what kind of resurrection, whether of body or of soul that
+He meant and believed in, the interpretation of the writers of the
+Gospels shows that His disciples understood Him to mean bodily
+resurrection and the re-appearance of His physical form. The three
+days remained, just as the Zoroastrians believed. The miraculous and
+wondrous appearance of Jesus before His disciples was preached most
+vigorously by Paul. In his Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul declares
+emphatically that the whole of the Christian religion depends upon the
+miraculous resurrection and re-appearance of Jesus.  Although Paul
+said the spiritual body of the risen dead is not the same as flesh and
+blood body (I Cor., XV), still that important point is generally
+overlooked, and the result is the belief which we find amongst some of
+the Christian sects; that at the call of the angels, the body will
+rise from the grave and the mouldering dust of bones and flesh will be
+put together by the miraculous power of the Almighty God. Paul says:
+"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of
+them that slept" (I Cor., XV, 20). He preached that Christ was the
+first born from the dead, that those who believe in Christ would rise
+as He did and that those who would not believe in Him or in His
+resurrection should not rise.</p>
+
+<p>We have already noticed that the Parsees believed in a miraculous
+resurrection; that the same miracle became more definite in the case
+of Jesus; and that the Christian faith was afterwards founded upon
+that miraculous event. Both the Parsees and the followers of Christ
+did not mean by resurrection any universal law, but a miracle done by
+certain supernatural powers. They did not give any scientific reasons
+for such a miracle.</p>
+
+<p>But modern science denies miracles. It teaches that this universe is
+guided, not by miracles as the old thinkers used to believe, but by
+definite laws which are always consistent and universal. There cannot
+be any exception to those laws which are uniform throughout. If
+resurrection be one of those laws, then it must have existed before
+the birth of Jesus; as such, how could He be the first born from the
+dead, as described by Paul. Conversely, if Jesus was the first who
+rose from the dead, then resurrection cannot be a universal
+law. Scientists would not believe in anything which is not based upon
+universal laws. Some of the agnostics and materialists have gone so
+far as to say that Jesus did not die on the cross, but his animation
+was suspended when his body was taken down from the cross by Joseph of
+Arimathsea. When Joseph went to Pilate and craved the body of Jesus,
+Pilate marvelled if He were dead (Mark XV, 44), because it was only
+six hours after the crucifixion. Some of the modern physiologists are
+of opinion that temperate and strong men might live for several days
+on the cross. These heretical agnostics and skeptical scientists say
+that the body of Jesus revived after a few hours in the cool, rock-cut
+tomb, that he walked out of the tomb, went to Galilee and appeared
+before his disciples. [Footnote: Vide "Science and Christian
+Tradition," by Prof. Huxley, pp.  279-280.] Whatever the facts may be
+(nobody can now tell exactly what actually happened), it is clear that
+the scientists are not ready to take anything upon authority. They do
+not care to believe in anything because it is written in this book or
+that. They must have convincing proofs and a rational explanation of
+every phenomenon of nature. They want to penetrate into miracles in
+order to discover the universal laws that govern them. If they do not
+find any such laws, they will surely reject every event that is
+supposed to be caused by miraculous or supernatural powers.</p>
+
+<p>The theory of a miraculous resurrection is attended with the belief
+that the individual soul does not exist before birth. The supporters
+of this theory hold that at the time of birth, the individual, being
+created out of nothing, comes fresh into existence. But science tells
+us that sudden creation out of nothing and a total destruction of
+anything are both impossible. Matter and force are indestructible.
+Science teaches evolution and not creation, and denies the
+intervention of any supernatural being as the cause of phenomenal
+changes. The theory of Resurrection ignores all these ultimate
+conclusions of modern science. On the contrary, the doctrine of
+Reincarnation, after accepting all the truths and laws of nature that
+have been discovered by modern science, carries them to their proper
+logical conclusions.  Reincarnation is based upon evolution.  It means
+a continuous evolution of an individual germ of life, and a gradual
+re-manifestation of all the powers and forces that exist in it
+potentially. Moreover, the doctrine of Reincarnation is founded on the
+law of cause and effect. It teaches that the cause is not outside of
+the effect, but lies in the effect. The cause is the potential or
+unmanifested state of the effect, and effect is the actual or
+manifested cause.  There is one current of infinite force or power
+constantly flowing in the ocean of reality of the universe, and
+appearing in the innumerable forms of waves. We call one set of waves
+the cause of another set, but in fact that which is the cause is the
+potentiality of the future effect and the actuality of a previous
+potential cause. The underlying current is one and the same
+throughout. Reincarnation denies the idea that the soul has come into
+existence all of a sudden or has been created for the first time, but
+it holds that it has been existing from the beginningless past, and
+will exist all through eternity.  The individual soul enjoys or
+suffers according to the acts it performs. All enjoyment and suffering
+are but the reactions of our actions. Actions are the causes and the
+reactions are the results. Our present life is the result of our past
+actions, and our future will be the result of the present. The actions
+which we are now doing will not be lost. Do you think that the
+thought-forces of one life-time will end suddenly after death?
+No. They will be conserved and remain potentially in the center and
+re-manifest under suitable conditions. Each human soul is nothing but
+a center of thought-force. This center is called in Sanskrit
+<i>S&ucirc;kshma Sar&icirc;ra</i> or the subtle body of an individual. The subtle
+germ of life or, in other words, the invisible center of
+thought-forces, will manufacture a physical vehicle for expressing the
+latent powers that are ready for manifestation.  This process will
+continue until the germ can express most perfectly all the powers that
+are coiled up in its invisible form. As the doctrine of Reincarnation
+is in agreement with all the physical laws, so it is based upon
+psychical, moral and ethical laws. As on the objective plane the law
+of action and reaction governs the objective phenomena, so on the
+subjective plane of consciousness, if the mental action or thought be
+good, the reaction will be good, and the reaction will be evil if the
+mental action be evil, because every action produces a similar
+reaction, A good reaction is one which makes us happy and brings
+pleasant sensations or peace of mind, while an evil reaction brings
+suffering, unpleasant sensations, and makes one miserable. Thus
+Reincarnation makes us free agents for action, as well as for reaping
+the results or reactions of those actions. In fact, we mould our own
+nature, according to our desires, tendencies and works.</p>
+
+<p>The theory of Resurrection, as commonly understood, does not explain
+why one man is born with a sinful nature and another with a virtuous
+one. It contents itself with saying as Luther said: "Man is a beast of
+burden who only moves as his rider orders; sometimes God rides him and
+sometimes Satan."  But why God should allow Satan to ride His own
+creature nobody can tell. At any rate, man must suffer eternally for
+the crimes which he is forced by Satan to commit. Moreover this theory
+pre-supposes predestination and that the individual soul is
+fore-doomed to go either to heaven or to hell. St.  Augustine first
+started this doctrine of Predestination and Grace to explain why one
+is born sinful and another sinless. According to this theory, God, the
+merciful, favors somebody with His grace at the time of his birth and
+then he comes into this world ready to be saved, but the mass of
+humanity is born sinful and destined for eternal damnation. Very few
+indeed receive the gift of grace and are predestined to be
+saved. Moreover, this doctrine tells us that God creates man out of
+nothing, forbids him something, but at the same time He does not give
+him the power to obey His commands. Ultimately God punishes him with
+eternal torture on account of his weakness. The body and soul will not
+be separated.  He will not be set free from his body, because, if it
+be so, there will be the end of his suffering, which God does not
+like. All these sufferings and punishments are predestined before his
+birth. Thus, St.  Augustine's dogma of Predestination and Grace
+instead of explaining the difficulty satisfactorily brings horror and
+dread to human minds, while the doctrine of Reincarnation teaches
+gradual progress from lower to higher, through ages until the
+individual reaches perfection. It holds that each individual will
+become perfect like Jesus or Buddha or like the Father in heaven and
+manifest divinity either in this life or in some other. One span of
+life is too short for developing one's powers to perfection.  If you
+should try to train an idiot to become a great artist or a
+philosopher, would you ever succeed in your attempt to make him so
+during his lifetime?  No. And will you punish him because he cannot
+become so? Can a man who possesses the slightest common sense be so
+unreasonable? Similarly what would you think if God punishes a man
+because he cannot become perfect within a lifetime? It is a poor
+argument to say that God has given us free-will to choose between
+right and wrong, and we are responsible for our choice; if we choose
+wrongly we must be punished. The advocates of such an argument forget
+that at the same time God has let loose His powerful Satan to corrupt
+His creatures.</p>
+
+<p>It reminds me of an old story. Once on a time at a certain place a
+prisoner was released and set free through the kindness of a
+tyrant. The tyrant said to the prisoner "Look here, wicked man, I give
+you freedom, you can go to any place; but there is one condition; if
+you are attacked by any wild animal you will be put in the dungeon and
+there will be no end to your torture." So saying he gave him freedom,
+but at the same time ordered his servants to let loose a hungry wolf
+to chase the man. You can imagine what became of the prisoner. Can we
+call this an act of mercy!</p>
+
+<p>The doctrine of Reincarnation says that each individual soul is
+potentially perfect and is gradually unfolding its powers and making
+them actual through the process of Evolution. At every step of that
+process it is gaining different experiences which last only for a
+time. Therefore neither God nor Satan is responsible for our good or
+evil actions.  Good and evil are like the up and down or the crest and
+hollow of a wave in the sea. A wave cannot rise without making a
+hollow somewhere in the sea.  So in the infinite ocean of reality
+innumerable waves are constantly rising. The summit of each wave is
+called good, while the hollow beside it is evil or misery and the
+current of each individual life is constantly flowing towards the
+ultimate destination which we call perfection. Who can tell how long
+it will take to reach that goal? If anybody can attain to perfection
+in this life, he is no longer bound to reincarnate. If he fails he
+will continue to progress by taking some other body. Reincarnation
+does not teach, as many people think, that in the next incarnation one
+will begin from the very beginning, but it says that one will start
+from that point which one reaches before death and will keep the
+thread of progress unbroken. It does not teach that we go back to
+animal bodies after death, but that we get our bodies according to our
+desires, tendencies and powers. If any person has no desire to come
+back to this world or to any other and does not want to enjoy any
+particular object of pleasure, and if he is perfectly free from
+selfishness that person will not have to come back. The theory of
+Reincarnation is logical and satisfactory. While the theory of
+Resurrection is neither based on scientific truths nor can it
+logically explain the cause of life and death, Reincarnation solves
+all the problems of life and explains scientifically all the questions
+and doubts that arise in the human mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Reincarnation is not easily understood by a thoughtless child deluded
+by the delusion of wealth, name or fame. Everything ends with death,
+he thinks, and thus falls again and again under the sway of death."</p>
+
+<a name="V"></a>
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">V. Theory of Transmigration.</p>
+
+<p>The theory of transmigration is one of the oldest theories accepted by
+the people of the Orient to solve the problems concerning life and
+death as well as to explain the continuity of existence after death.
+This theory presupposes the existence of the soul as an entity which
+can live even when the gross material body is dead or dissolved into
+its elements.  Those who deny the existence of the soul, of the
+self-conscious thinker and actor, as an entity distinct from the gross
+material body, necessarily deny this theory of transmigration. The
+materialistic thinkers of all ages have refused to accept this theory,
+because they do not admit the existence of a soul or a self-conscious
+thinker and actor as an entity, separate from the gross material
+body. Consequently they do not ask or discuss whether the soul will
+exist after death or not, whether it will continue to live or not.
+Such materialists are not the creatures of the twentieth century, but
+they have lived in all ages, in all countries. In India and in other
+civilized countries of ancient times you will find that materialistic
+thinkers prevailed and they gave the same arguments which we hear now
+from the agnostics and scientists of to-day. Their arguments are
+generally one-sided and unsatisfactory. They try to deduce the soul or
+self-conscious entity from the combination of matter or material
+forces, but they have not succeeded in giving a scientific proof of
+it. No arguments in favor of the existence of a soul as an entity will
+convince them, because they deny the existence of anything that cannot
+be perceived by sense powers.  If we could bring the soul down on the
+sense plane and make it visible to these materialistic thinkers, and
+if they could make experiments upon it, then perhaps they would be
+convinced to a certain extent, but not until then. But how can we
+bring the soul down on the sense plane when it is ethereal and finer
+than anything that we can perceive with our senses?</p>
+
+<p>Those who try to explain the cause of our earthly life by the theory
+of heredity do not believe in the truth of transmigration. The modern
+scientists, agnostics and materialists generally accept the theory of
+heredity and endeavor to explain everything by it; but if we examine
+their arguments for the theory of heredity, we shall find that the
+theory of transmigration is much more satisfactory, much more rational
+than that of heredity.</p>
+
+<p>Among the followers of the great religions of the world, the majority
+of Christians, Jews, Mohammedans and Parsees deny the truth of
+transmigration.  Of course, there was a time when the Christians
+believed in this transmigration theory. Origen and other Church
+Fathers accepted it until the time of Justinian, who anathematized all
+those who believed in Reincarnation or the pre-existence of the soul.
+Among the Jews we find that in the Cabala this idea of transmigration
+plays the most important part.  In fact the Cabalists accepted this
+theory to explain all the difficulties that could not be explained by
+any other theory. But those Jews, Christians, Mohammedans and Parsees
+who do not believe in the theory of transmigration accept the
+one-birth theory; that is, that God creates the souls at the time of
+birth out of nothing, and these souls, having come into existence out
+of nothing, continue to live forever; that this is our first and last
+birth that we receive; we did not exist before, we are suddenly
+created by God, and after death each one of us will continue to live
+either in heaven or hell to enjoy or to suffer throughout
+eternity. Among the modern Spiritualists we find that those who are
+born and brought up with this idea of one birth do not accept the
+theory of transmigration. Still there are millions and millions of
+people all over the world who do believe in transmigration and who
+have found comfort and consolation in their lives as well as a
+satisfactory solution of the problems of life and death.</p>
+
+<p>The theory of Transmigration, or Metempsychosis, as it has been called
+by many philosophers, originally meant the passing of a soul from one
+body after death into another; or, in other words, it meant that the
+soul after dwelling in one particular body for a certain length of
+time leaves it at the time of death, and in order to gain experience
+enters into some other body, either human, animal or angelic, which is
+ready to receive it. It may migrate from the human body to an angelic
+body and then come down on the human plane, or to the animal plane and
+be born again as an animal. So the original meaning of transmigration
+or metempsychosis was the revolution of the soul from body to body
+whether animal, human, angelic or of the gods. The migrating substance
+being a fixed quantity, with fixed qualities, chooses its form
+according to its taste, desire and bent of character. This idea
+prevailed among the ancient Egyptians, according to whom the soul,
+after leaving the dead body, would travel from one body to another for
+thousands and thousands of years in order to gain experiences in each
+of the different stages of life.</p>
+
+<p>Among the Greek philosophers we find that Pythagoras, Plato and their
+followers believed in this theory of Metempsychosis or Transmigration
+of souls.  Pythagoras says: "After death the rational mind, having
+been freed from the chains of the body, assumes an ethereal vehicle
+and passes into the region of the dead where it remains till it is
+sent back to this world to inhabit some other body human or
+animal. After undergoing successive purgations, when it is
+sufficiently purified, it is received among the gods and returns to
+the eternal source from which it first proceeded." Plato also believed
+in this theory. Of course we cannot tell exactly from whence
+Pythagoras and Plato got these ideas.  Some say that they learned
+these doctrines from Egypt; others believed that, either directly or
+indirectly, they learned the theory of transmigration from
+India. Plato describes in "Phaedrus," in mythological language, why
+and how the souls take their birth upon this plane, either as human or
+animal.  He says: "In the heaven Zeus, the Father and Lord of all
+creatures, drives his winged car, ordering all things and
+superintending them. A host of deities and spirits follow him, each
+fulfilling his own function.  Whoever will and can follows them. After
+taking this round, they advance by a steep course along the inner
+circumference of the heavenly vault and proceed to a banquet. The
+chariots of the gods, being well balanced and well driven, advance
+easily; others with difficulty; for the vicious horse, unless the
+charioteer has thoroughly broken him, weighs down the car by his
+proclivity towards the earth, whereupon the soul is put to the
+extremity of toil and effort. The souls of gods reach the summit, go
+outside and stand upon the surface of heaven, and enjoy celestial
+bliss. Such is the life of the gods; other souls which follow God best
+and are likest to Him succeed in seeing the vision of truth and in
+entering into the outer world with great difficulty.  The rest of the
+souls longing after the upper world all follow; but not being strong
+enough, they are carried round in the deep below, plunging, treading
+on one another, striving to be first, and there, in confusion and
+extremity of effort, many of them are lamed and have their wings
+broken. Thus when the soul is unable to follow and fails to behold the
+vision of Truth, sinks beneath the double load of forgetfulness and
+vice, her feathers fall from her and she drops to earth and is born
+again and again as human beings or as animals." Plato says: "Ten
+thousand years must elapse before the soul can return to the place
+from whence she came, for she cannot grow her wings in less." "At the
+end of the first thousand years, the souls of the good and of the evil
+kind come together to draw lots, and choose their bodies according to
+their tendencies and the bent of their characters. They may take any
+they like.  Instead of receiving the natural consequences of their
+deeds and misdeeds of their previous lives they are allowed to choose
+their own lot, according to their experience and bent of
+character. Some, being disgusted with mankind, prefer to be born as
+animals, such as lions and eagles or some other animals. Others
+delight in trying their luck as human beings." From this mythological
+description we gather what Plato meant by transmigration.</p>
+
+<p>This Platonic idea of transmigration or of successive lives of those
+who inhabit this earth has been criticized by various thinkers of
+modern times; and referring to this idea the late Doctor Myers, of the
+Psychical Research Society of London, writes in his second volume of
+"Human Personality": "The simple fact that such was probably the
+opinion of both Plato and Virgil shows that there is nothing here
+which is alien to the best reason or to the highest instincts of
+men. Nor, indeed, is it easy to realize any theory of the <i>direct
+creation</i> of spirits at such different stages of advancement as
+those which enter upon the earth in the guise of mortal man. There
+<i>must</i>, one feels, be some kind of continuity&mdash;some form of
+spiritual past." (P. 134.)  Why does He not create all souls equal?
+Why will one soul be highly advanced spiritually while another is
+entirely ignorant and idiotic? This question cannot be answered, this
+problem cannot be solved by the special creation theory, and therefore
+Doctor Myers says that there is no doubt that there was some previous
+continuity or spiritual past of each individual soul, and therefore he
+tacitly admits the theory of Transmigration. Although from a
+scientific viewpoint he could not give any direct proof regarding this
+idea of a pre-existence of the soul, still he could not deny it
+entirely when he said: "The shaping forces which have made our bodies
+and our minds what they are may always have been psychical
+forces&mdash;from the first living slime-speck to the complex intelligences
+of to-day." "The old transmigrationist's view would thus possess a
+share of truth and the actual man would be the resultant not only of
+intermingling heredities on father's and mother's sides, but of
+intermingling heredities, one of planetary and one of cosmic scope."
+("Human Personality," Vol. II, p. 267.)</p>
+
+<p>But this theory of Transmigration, as described by Plato, is a little
+different from a similar theory which existed in India before his
+time. In the Platonic idea of transmigration, as we have already seen,
+the souls were allowed to choose their own lot according to their
+experience or bent of character, but not to receive the natural
+consequence of their deeds and misdeeds. Plato did not say anything
+about the law which governs souls; but in ancient India the great
+thinkers and philosophers explained that each individual soul is bound
+by the inexorable law of nature to receive its body as a natural
+consequence of its former deeds and misdeeds, and not to have free
+choice of its lot according to its bent of character. The great
+thinkers and philosophers of ancient India discovered the universal
+law of cause and effect, of action and reaction, and called it by the
+Sanskrit term "Karma," which means the law of cause and sequence; that
+every cause must be followed by an effect of a similar nature, that
+every action must produce similar reaction, and conversely every
+reaction or effect is the result of an action or cause of a similar
+character. Thus there is always a balance and harmony between cause
+and effect, between action and reaction. This law of Karma has now
+become a fundamental verity of modern science. It is called by
+different names: the scientists call it the law of causation, the law
+of compensation, the law of retribution, the law of action and
+reaction, but they all refer to the same idea,&mdash;that every cause must
+produce a similar result and every action must produce a similar
+reaction.</p>
+
+<p>Now these ancient thinkers of India applied this law of Karma to
+explain the destiny of human souls, and it was upon this law they
+based the theory of Transmigration. They maintained that human souls
+are bound by this irresistible law and cannot get out of it; their
+thoughts and deeds are the causes which produce results of similar
+nature. So their future birth does not depend upon their whimsical,
+free choice, but it is limited by the thoughts and deeds or misdeeds
+of their previous lives. In the Platonic idea we find that the souls
+go according to their choice. They may not take a human form if they
+prefer an animal form, but in the Hindu idea of transmigration we find
+that it is not a result of free choice, but, if our thoughts and deeds
+force us to take a particular form, then we are subject to the law of
+Karma, which governs our future birth and the evolution of our
+souls. Consequently the Hindu theory of Transmigration differs
+fundamentally from the Platonic as well as from the Egyptian idea of
+Transmigration. In the Platonic and Egyptian theories we see that the
+souls, after leaving the body, enter into another body which is
+waiting to receive the migrating soul, but in the Hindu theory of
+Transmigration the body is not waiting to receive the migrating soul,
+but on the contrary the soul, being subject to the laws of evolution,
+manufactures the gross material body according to its desires and
+tendencies. Just as a germ of life will develop a grosser form by
+cellular subdivision, by growth, and by assimilation of the
+environmental conditions, so the germ of the human soul will
+manufacture the body by obeying the laws which govern the physical
+plane.  Parents are nothing but the channels through which the
+migrating souls receive their material forms.  Parents do not create
+the souls; they have no power to create. They can only give the
+suitable environments necessary for manufacturing a gross physical
+body. The souls come with their tendencies, with their desires, and
+they remain as germs of life.</p>
+
+<p>Now these germs of life contain vital forces, sense powers, psychic
+powers, and ethereal particles of matter. At the time of death the
+soul contracts and withdraws all its powers from the sense organs to
+its innermost center, and in that contracted state it leaves the
+body. But these powers do not leave the soul. By the law of
+persistence of force and conservation of energy they remain latent in
+that center until environmental conditions become favorable for their
+remanifestation. Rebirth means the manifestation of the latent powers
+which exist in the germ of life or in the individual soul. These germs
+of life are called by different names. Leibnitz called them monads and
+modern scientists call them bioplasms or some such name, but the
+Vedanta philosophers describe them as subtle bodies. These germs or
+subtle bodies are subject to evolution and growth; they arise from
+lower to higher stages of development, from the mineral through the
+vegetable to the animal kingdom and eventually they become human
+beings and then they go on progressing.</p>
+
+<p>In the Platonic theory the idea of progress, growth or gradual
+evolution of the soul from the lower to higher stages of existence is
+entirely excluded, because, as I have already said, the migrating
+substance is of a fixed quantity with fixed qualities, that is, these
+qualities do not change and are not affected by either growth or
+evolution. They are constant quantities.  In order to differentiate
+these two ideas we should call the Hindu theory of Transmigration by
+the term "Reincarnation." The Hindu or Vedantic theory of
+Reincarnation, however, is not the same as the Buddhistic theory of
+Rebirth, for the Buddhists do not believe in the permanence of the
+soul entity.  There is another point where the Reincarnation theory
+differs from Platonic transmigration. According to this theory of
+Reincarnation there is growth and evolution of each individual soul
+from the lower to higher stages of development. The soul or germ of
+life, after passing through the lower stages, comes to the human plane
+and gains experience and knowledge; and after coming to the human
+plane, it does not retrograde to animal bodies. The Platonic theory
+teaches that human souls migrate into animal bodies or angelic bodies
+and return from the angelic to the human or the animal, and that some
+of them prefer to become animals; while the theory of Reincarnation,
+taking its stand upon the scientific truth of gradual evolution,
+teaches that the human souls have already passed through different
+grades of the animal, nay, of the vegetable kingdom, by the natural
+process of evolution. After having once received the human organism,
+why should a soul choose to go back to the lesser and more imperfect
+organism of an animal? How is it possible for a lesser manifestation
+to hold a greater one? Why should a greater manifestation choose more
+limited forms in preference to those of others? This question arises
+in the Platonic theory of Transmigration. Therefore, the Reincarnation
+theory, or the theory of Transmigration according to the Hindus,
+rejects this idea of the going back of human souls to animal forms.
+We have already passed in the evolutionary process through the lower
+grade of animal organisms. Now that we have outgrown them why should
+we go back to them?</p>
+
+<p>It is true, however, that in India there are many uneducated people
+among the Hindus who believe that human souls do migrate into animal
+bodies after death to gain experience and reap the results of their
+wicked deeds, being bound by the law of Karma; but in the Platonic
+theory the law of Karma plays no part in the transmigration of
+souls. The educated and thoughtful minds of India, however, accept the
+more rational and scientific theory of Reincarnation. Although there
+are passages in the scriptural writings of the Hindus which apparently
+refer to the retrogression of the human soul into animal nature, still
+such passages do not necessarily mean that the souls will be obliged
+to take animal bodies. They may live like animals even when they have
+human bodies, as we may find among us many people like cats and dogs
+and snakes in human form and they are often more vicious than natural
+cats, dogs or snakes. They are reaping their own Karma and manifesting
+their animal nature, though physically they look like human
+beings. This kind of retrogression is possible for one who after
+reaching the human plane goes backward on account of wicked thoughts
+and deeds on the animal plane. Such a temporary retrogression brings
+knowledge and helps it in its onward progress toward the manifestation
+of higher powers on the higher plane of consciousness.  All the wicked
+thoughts and wicked deeds are nothing but the results of our own
+mistakes. What is sin?  Sin is nothing but a mistake and it proceeds
+from ignorance. For instance, if I do not know that fire burns, I may
+put my finger into it and get burned.  The result of this mistake is
+the burning of the finger and this has taught me once for all that
+fire burns; I shall never again put my finger into fire.  So every
+mistake is a great teacher in the long run.  No one is born so high
+and perfect as not to commit any mistake or any sin. Every mistake
+like this opens our eyes to the laws of the universe by bringing to us
+such results as we do not desire. As one life is not enough to gain
+experience in all the stages of evolution, we must have to admit the
+doctrine of the Reincarnation of the soul for the fulfillment of the
+ultimate purpose of earthly life. Professor Huxley says: "None but
+hasty thinkers will reject it on the ground of inherent absurdity.
+Like the doctrine of evolution itself that of transmigration has its
+roots in the world of reality."</p>
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Reincarnation, by Swami Abhedananda
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