What is reincarnation?
Reincarnation is the transmigration of the soul from one life into another.
Dadashri, the Gnani Purush meaning the Enlightened One, explains that upon death, as the soul departs from the body, there is synchronicity in the termination of one life cycle and the beginning of a new one.  The soul makes the journey to its new body along with the causal and the electrical body. The causal body can be compared to a ledger sheet with both credits and debits.  It is a log of karmic bondage that is it is an aggregate balance of one’s actions, the result of which will unfold in the subsequent life.  Results of good deeds (punya) will bring sweet rewards and bad deeds (paap) will bring bitter fruits.

Does a non-liberated soul return to life after death?
Those who do not believe in reincarnation believe that the soul does not return to life after death. Therefore according to many non-Hindus, it does not.  However in reality, the soul does return for another life, in fact all souls except for those destined for moksha, reincarnate. 

The body becomes lifeless upon death, and from that one can easily deduce that there was life within, which has now departed and gone elsewhere. Those who do not believe in reincarnation believe it was the very life force that was within the body that dies. We do not accept this. Our spiritual beliefs have developed to the point where we believe in reincarnation.  It is because of this that we understand the absolute science. This science states that it is because of reincarnation that we all come together. Such is our belief and it is on the strength of this belief that we believe in the Soul. How can reincarnation be supported without a belief in the soul?

The process of reincarnation

Who is it that reincarnates? It is because there is the Soul that there is reincarnation.  We witness the death of the body, and it is the body that is cremated. Therefore, only the soul can come and go into different forms.

When you understand the nature of the Soul, all puzzles and mysteries will be solved.  Otherwise it is hard to understand. That is why all the scriptures tell you to understand the Soul. Without acquiring this knowledge, everything done, is done in vain.  First realize the Soul, attain Self-realization and then all the puzzles will be solved. 

Who takes rebirth? Is it the Soul or the life force (jiva)?

No, nobody has to take birth, it just happens naturally. The entire universe functions automatically; everything just happens on its own.  The soul or the almighty God does not make anything happen.  Everything happens because of the mortal entity. This entity comprises of the Soul, the causal body and the electrical body. This entity that desires worldly happiness has the ‘right’ to enter the womb and when worldly happiness is not desired; it loses the right for a rebirth.  

Is each successive birth of a human linked to the previous birth?

Every birth is the result of the previous birth. Therefore, the link to every birth begins with the previous birth. This current birth is the result of the previous birth and the cause for the next one.  

Do occurrences in the previous life have a relationship with the current life?

A tremendous relationship! Seeds sown in the previous life will result as full-fledged fruit in this life. So is there not a connection between the seed and its fruit?  When we sow a seed of wheat, that is the ‘previous life’, and the plant, which grows from it, is the ‘current life’. Now from this plant, the seeds that are shed in the current life will grow as a plant and that is the equivalent of the coming life. 

Many people are walking on a path but a snake bites only one person. Is that the result from the past life?

Yes, that is precisely what reincarnation is.  And that is why the snake bites him.  If it were not for reincarnation, the snake would not have bitten him.  In essence, the man is being paid back from the account of his previous life, in the same way that a debt gets paid off.  Through spiritual development we can understand all these accounts and their repayments. This is why people in India believe in reincarnation, but they are not able to categorically state that indeed there is reincarnation. They cannot prove that it does in fact exist. But based on the experiences in their lives, their faith in reincarnation has strengthened.

A woman may ask why her friend is blessed with such a nice mother-in-law, whereas she is not so fortunate.  So there will be all kinds of circumstances one has to face, based on accounts of previous life.

Do only humans take birth as humans again?

Only a human can be born from a woman’s womb.  A donkey cannot take birth there.  However, one cannot automatically presume that when a human being dies, he will reincarnate as a human again. If his thinking is comparable to that of a donkey, how is he going to be born as a human again?  If a person has thoughts about depriving others or if he covets other people’s possessions, all such inner inclinations will lead him to a birth in a lower life form.

Is there a sequence to reincarnation such that once born into the human form, it takes one back to the human form or can it take one elsewhere?

Once born as a human being in Hindustan, one has to move around in the four different life forms: human, celestial, animal and hell. 

In reality and according to nature’s law, if you deprive others of things that you have no right to, then you will go into the animal form. But even that is not a permanent state.  At most, it will be a duration of two hundred years, or at least a rebirth of seven to eight lives before being born as a human again. Sometimes a birth in the animal form may be for even as little as five minutes before one returns to the human form.  There are some organisms that, in a span of one minute, will change seventeen life forms. Therefore not everyone will spend the maximum time of two hundred years in the animal form.

Is the cycle of reincarnation eternal or does it have an end?

The cycle of reincarnation comes to an end when one acquires Self-realization. Thereafter, all false identifications with the physical body come to an end and hence all worldly ties come to an end.  When one comes into his real self form as the Soul, he ceases to bind karmas.  Doership is not an attribute of the soul and since actions and deeds are the cause that creates karma bondage, the soul can never be subject to the laws of karma.  However all pending karma effects have to completely discharge. Once this is achieved, the soul ascends to the Siddha Kshetra, a special location at the crest of the universe, where along with countless other such liberated souls, it remains as its own separate entity and in its natural state of absolute omniscient bliss.  Contrary to many other beliefs, the soul is not a fraction of the Almighty One and it does not merge into the Almighty Supreme God upon attaining moksha or liberation.