Death and Re-birth Arthur Osborne

In nothing did Bhagavan show more clearly that theory has to be adapted to the understanding of the seeker than in the question of death and re-birth. For those who were capable of grasping pure, non-dual theory, he explained merely that the question does not arise, for if the ego has no real existence, now, it has none after death either.

D: Do a person’s actions in this life affect him in future births?

B: Are you born now? Why do you think of future births? The truth is that there is neither birth nor death. Let him who is born think of death and palliatives for it.

D: Is the Hindu doctrine of reincarnation right?

B: No definite answer is possible. Even the present incarnation is denied, for instance in the Bhagavad Gita.

D: Isn’t our personality beginningless?

B: Find out first whether it exists at all and after you have solved that problem, ask the question. Nammalwar says: "In ignorance, I took the ego to be the Self, but with right knowledge the ego is not and only you remain as the Self". Both the non-dualists and the dualists agree on the necessity for Self-realization. Attain that first and then raise other questions. Non-dualism or dualism cannot be decided on theoretical grounds alone. If the Self is realized, the question will not arise.

Whatever is born must die; whatever is acquired must be lost; but were you born? You are eternally existent. The Self can never be lost.

Bhagavan, indeed, discouraged preoccupation with such questions since they merely distract one from the real task of realizing the Self here and now.

D: They say that we have the choice of enjoying merit or demerit after our death, that it depends on our choice which comes. Is that so?

B: Why raise questions of what happens after death? Why ask whether you were born, whether you are reaping the fruits of your past karma, and so on? You will not raise such questions in a little while when you fall asleep. Why? Are you a different person now from the one you are when asleep? No, you are not. Find out why such questions do not occur to you when you are asleep.

On occasion, however, Bhagavan did admit of a lower, contingent point of view for those who could not hold to the doctrine of pure non-dualism.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna first says to Arjuna in Chapter II, that no one was born and then in Chapter IV, ‘there have been numerous incarnations both of you and me. I know them but you do not.’ Which of these two statements is true? The teaching varies according to the understanding of the listener.

When Arjuna said that he would not fight against his relatives and elders in order to kill them and gain the kingdom, Sri Krishna said: ‘Not that these, you or I, were not before, are not now, nor will be hereafter. None, was born, none has died, nor will it be so hereafter’. He further developed this theme, saying that he had given instructions to the Sun and through him to Ikshvaku; and Arjuna queried how that could be, since he had been born only a few years back, while they lived ages ago. Then Sri Krishna saw his point of view and said: ‘Yes, there have been many incarnations of me and you. I know them all but you do not.’

Such statements appear contradictory, but they are true according to the viewpoint of the questioner. Christ also said "Before Abraham was, I am."

Just as in dreams, you wake up after several new experiences, so after death another body is found.

Just as rivers lose their individuality when they discharge their waters into the ocean, and yet the waters evaporate and return as rain on the hills and back again through the rivers to the ocean, so also individuals lose their individuality when they go to sleep but return again according to their previous innate tendencies. Similarly, in death also, being is not lost.

D: How can that be?

B: See how a tree grows again when its branches are cut off. So long as the life source is not destroyed, it will grow. Similarly, latent potentialities withdraw into the heart at death but do not perish. That is how beings are re-born.

Nevertheless, from the higher viewpoint he would say:

In truth there is neither seed nor tree, there is only Being.

He would occasionally explain in more detail, but still with the reservation that in reality there is only the changeless Self.

D: How long is the interval between death and re-birth?.

B: It may be long or short, but a Realized Man undergoes no such change; he merges into the Infinite Being, as is said in the Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad. Some say that those who, after death, take the path of light are not re-born; whereas those who take the path of darkness are born after they have reaped their karma (self-made destiny) in their subtle bodies.

If a man’s merits and demerits are equal, he is re-born immediately on earth; if the merits outweigh the demerits, his subtle body goes first to heaven, while if the demerits outweigh the merits it goes first to hell. But in either case he is later re-born on earth. All this is described in the scriptures, but in fact there is neither birth nor death; one simply remains what one really is. That only is the truth.

Again, he would explain in terms of God’s mercy.

B: God in His mercy withholds this knowledge from people. If they knew that they had been virtuous they would grow proud, and in the other case they would be despondent. Both are bad. It is enough to know the Self.

He did, however, refer sometimes to a person’s preparedness or maturity as being due to the achievements of a previous incarnation.

A competent person who has already, perhaps in a previous incarnation, qualified himself realizes the truth and abides in peace as soon as he hears it told to him just once, whereas one who is not so qualified has to pass through the various stages before attaining samadhi (direct, pure consciousness of being).

That is to say that a lifetime may be regarded as a day’s journey upon the pilgrimage to Self-realization. How far from the goal one starts depends on the effort or lack of effort make on the previous days; how far forward one advances depends on the effort of today.

A Science lecturer from a university asked whether the intellect survives a man’s death and was told:

"Why think of death? Consider what happens in your sleep. What is your experience of that"?

D: But sleep is transient, whereas death is not.

B: Sleep is intermediate between two waking states, and in the same way death is intermediate between two births. Both are transient.

D: I mean when the spirit is disembodied, does it carry the intellect with it?

B: The spirit is not disembodied; the bodies differ. If not a gross body it will be a subtle one, as in sleep, dream or day-dream.

Bhagavan would never admit that differences in mode of expression or formulation of doctrine between the various religions signified real contradiction, since the Truth to which they point is One and Immutable.

D: Is the Buddhist view that there is no continuous entity answering to the idea of the individual soul right or not? Is this consistent with the Hindu doctrine of a reincarnating ego? Is the soul a continuous entity which reincarnates again and again, according to the Hindu doctrine, or is it a mere conglomeration of mental tendencies?

B: The real Self is continuous and unaffected. The reincarnating ego belongs to a lower plane, that of thought. It is transcended by Self-realization.

Reincarnations are due to a spurious offshoot of Being and are therefore denied by the Buddhists. The human state is due to a mingling of the sentient with the insentient.

Sometimes it was not a question of reincarnation but grieving over the death of a loved one. A lady who had come from North India asked Bhagavan whether it was possible to know the posthumous state of an individual.

B: It is possible, but why try. Such facts are only as real as the person who seeks them.

L: The birth of a person and his life and death are real to us.

B: Because you wrongly identify yourself with the body, you think of the other also as a body. Neither you nor he is the body.

L: But from my own level of understanding, I regard myself and my son as real.

B: The birth of the ‘I’ - thought is a person’s birth and its death is his death. After the ‘I’-thought has arisen, the wrong identification with the body arises. Identifying yourself with the body makes you falsely identify others also with their bodies. Just as your body was born and grows and will die, so you think the other also was born, grew and died. Did you think of your son before he was born? The thought came after his birth and continues even after his death. He is your son only insofar as you think of him. Where has he gone? To the source from which he sprang. So long as you continue to exist, he does too. But if you cease to identify yourself with the body and realize the true Self, this confusion will vanish. You are eternal and others also will be found to be eternal. Until this is realized there will always be grief due to false values which are caused by wrong knowledge and wrong identification.

On the death of King George V, two devotees were discussing the matter in the hall and seemed upset. Bhagavan said: What is it to you who dies or is lost? Die yourself and be lost, becoming one with the Self of all (on the ego’s extinction).

On the death of King George V, two devotees were discussing the matter in the hall and seemed upset. Bhagavan said: What is it to you who dies or is lost? Die yourself and be lost, becoming one with the Self of all (on the ego’s extinction).

And finally, about the importance of death. Religions stress the importance of the frame of mind in which a person dies and his last thoughts at death. But Bhagavan reminded people that it is necessary to be well prepared beforehand; if not, undesirable tendencies will rise up at death, too powerful to be controlled.

D: Even if I cannot realize in my lifetime, let me at least not forget on my death-bed. Let me have a glimpse of Reality at least at the moment of death, so that it may stand me in good stead in the future.

B: It is said in the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter VIII, that whatever is a person’s last thought at death determines his next birth. But it is necessary to experience Reality now, in this life, in order to experience it at death. Consider whether this present moment is any different from the last one at death and try to be in the desired state.

© `The Teachings of Bhagavan - Sri Ramana Maharshi In His Own Words’ edited by Arthur Osborne, published by Nagarjun Printers, # 2, 1st Street, Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar, Chennai 600 021. Reprinted with permission.

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