Death Before During and After

Author(s): Dada Bhagwan
Publisher: Dada Bhagwan Foundation

Page 22

During, Before and After Death
During, Before and After Death Who Reincarnates? Questioner: Who takes rebirth? Is it the Soul or the life force (jiva)?
Dadashri: No, nobody has to take it, it just happens. This whole universe functions automatically, everything just happens on its own.
Questioner: Yes, but who makes it happen? Is it done by the jiva (mortal entity) or the Soul?
Dadashri: No, the Soul has nothing to do with it. Everything happens because of the jiva. This 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.
Relationship Of One Birth To Another
Questioner: Is each successive birth of a human linked to the next birth?
Dadashri: Every birth is the result of previous birth. Therefore the link of every birth begins with the previous birth.
Questioner: But what is the relationship between this birth and the previous birth?
Dadashri: This current birth is the result of previous birth and the cause of the next birth.
Questioner: Yes, that is true but is there anything that occurs in the previous life that has any relationship to this life?
Dadashri: A tremendous relationship! Seeds sown in the previous life, result in a full-fledged fruit in this life. So is there not a difference 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 this life. Now from this plant, the seeds that are shed is the current life, will grow as a plant and that will be the new life and so on. Did you understand this or not?
Questioner: From many that are walking a snake bites only one person. Is that the result from a previous life?
Dadashri: Yes, that is precisely what I am trying to explain. That is reincarnation. 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 was blessed with such a nice mother-in-law, whereas she is not so fortunate. So there will be all kinds of circumstances based on accounts of previous life.
What Else Carries Forward?
Questioner: When life enters another body, do the five senses and the mind go with it?
Dadashri: No, nothing like that whatsoever. The senses become exhausted and die; the senses do not carry forward. Only the anger, pride, attachment and greed carry forward. Only the causal body, which is the subtle body and it includes anger, pride, attachment and greed, is carried forward. It remains with the soul wherever it is born, until final liberation is attained.