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REBIRTH
Sri Aurobindo says that some time after death the vital and mental sheaths dissolve, leaving the soul free to retire to the psychic world before it takes up new sheaths. What becomes of the Karma and of the impressions − Samskaras − on the old sheaths? Do they also dissolve without producing any result, good or bad, which they should according to the theory of Karma? Also, what becomes of the vital and mental beings after the dissolution of the vital and mental sheaths?
The outer form only dissolves, unless that too is made conscious and is organised round the divine centre. But the true mental, the true vital and even the true subtle physical persist: it is that which keeps all the impressions received in earthly life and builds the chain of Karma.
If we go a little way within ourselves, we shall discover that there is in each of us a consciousness that has been living throughout the ages and manifesting in a multitude of forms. 24 January 1935 Page − 134 In rebirth it is not the external being, that which is formed by parents, environment and circumstances − the mental, the vital and the physical − that is born again: it is only the psychic being that passes from body to body. Logically, then, neither the mental nor the vital being can remember past lives or recognise itself in the character or mode of life of this or that person. The psychic being alone can remember; and it is by becoming conscious of our psychic being that we can have at the same time exact impressions about our past lives. Besides, it is much more important for us to fix our attention upon what we want to become than upon what we have been. 2 April 1935 My dear child, The sudden departure of X is a painful loss for all here. He was perfect in consecration and honest in his work, a man on whom one could count, which is a truly exceptional quality. He has departed into a solar light and is enjoying the conscious rest which he truly deserved. 5 July 1965 In my dreams I see X very happy. One day I saw him leaning over my table and he said to me, “I had no opportunity to tell you anything while I was leaving, because Sri Aurobindo’s call made me hurry away immediately.” Is there any truth in this dream, Mother?
This dream is surely true because X went straight to join Sri Aurobindo.
Sweet Mother, I would like to know the answers to these questions, which often come to me since his departure. Page - 135 Is a soul which is conscious of You reborn immediately after its departure? Or does it have to wait long?
Every fully conscious and developed psychic being is free to choose what its next life will be and when that life will take place.
Does this soul come to the Ashram after its birth to accomplish Your divine mission?
That is its usual choice when it reincarnates immediately.
Is this soul capable of choosing its birth and enjoying the happiness of the Ashram life?
If it is fully
developed, it is capable of doing so.
What is the relation between the Supramental Light and the solar light?
The solar light is the symbol of the supramental light. Blessings. 2 July 1966 Sweet Mother, In the Bulletin You have said: “Psychic memories possess a very special character, they have a wonderful intensity...They are unforgettable moments of life when the consciousness is intense, luminous, strong, active, powerful, and sometimes turning-points in life that have changed the direction of one’s life. But you will never be able to say what dress you put on or the gentleman with whom you spoke or about Page - 136 your neighbours and the kind of field where you were.”¹ And about these memories of small details You said: “That is absolute childishness.”² But then how is it that in newspapers one quite often reads stories of small children who remember their past lives and that the details have been verified? And it is the study of such events that leads parapsychologists to assert the existence of reincarnation. So are they not on a completely wrong track? And how can reincarnation be demonstrated scientifically in any other way?
The memories you refer to, which are mentioned in newspapers, are memories of the vital being that, exceptionally, has gone out of one body in order to enter another. It is something that can happen, but it is not frequent. The memory that I refer to is that of the psychic being, and one is conscious of it only when one is in conscious relation with one’s psychic being. There is no contradiction between the two things. 29 November 1967 Is it necessary to know what I was in my previous life?
If it is necessary you will know it. 14 February 1973 Except for very rare cases, animals are not individualised and when they die they return to the spirit of the species.
¹ Bulletin, November 1967,
p. 41. Page - 137
Mother Divine, Something is going wrong with my brain. I often think of suicide. Please pardon me and give me Thy protection and blessings.
If you are sincere in your aspiration to see me, you must throw far away from you these morbid ideas of suicide which are quite contrary to any divine life. Be patient, firm and steady, face quietly the difficulties of life and still more quietly the difficulties of “sadhana” − then you will be sure of the final success. With blessings. 21 August 1964 I feel that I am your blank child born with blank fortune; such a child has no mission to fulfil in life. Isn’t it better to go away from the world?
It is in this world that you have to change and that the change is possible. If you run away from this world, you will have to come again probably in worse conditions and you will have to do everything all over again. It is much better not to be a coward, to face now the situation and to make the necessary effort to conquer. The help is always with you; you must learn to avail yourself of it. Love and blessings. 13 November 1967 Know for certain that to commit suicide is the most foolish action that a man can do; because the end of the body does not mean the end of the consciousness and what was troubling you while you were alive continues to trouble you when you are Page - 138 dead, without the possibility of diverting your mind which you can get when you are alive. 16 July 1969 I have received a rather pathetic letter from a reader of Mother India. He writes: “Though I am sincerely trying to follow the Mother’s instructions in my life, I have been very much surrounded by difficulties — to such an extent that suicide is the only solution. So I request you to be kind enough to see that my prayer reaches the Mother’s personal notice.” Mother, what should I reply?
Suicide, far from being a solution, is a stupid aggravation of the situation, that for perhaps centuries will make life intolerable. 12 June 1972 The Ramayana says that when Rama saw that his work on earth was finished, he entered the river Sarayu along with his companions. This looks like mass suicide and suicide is regarded as the greatest sin. How to understand this?
1. For the Supreme there is no sin. 2. For the devotee there is no greater sin than to be far from the Lord. 3. At the time when the Ramayana was conceived and written, the knowledge revealed by Sri Aurobindo that the earth will be transformed into a divine world and an abode of the Supreme was not known or accepted. If you consider these three points you will understand the legend. (Although it may be that the actual facts were not as they have been told.) Page - 139 |