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sarva dharmAn parityajya mAm ekaM sharaNaM vraja
ahaM tvA sarva pApebhyo mokSayiSyAmi mA shuchaH
Give up all concern with laws and seek refuge in me alone.
I will deliver you from all evil; do not worry.
In Thoughts on Death, I said the following: I see death as dissolution or breakdown of part of personality
into its elements so that those parts are not identifiable anymore as unique. The part that does not so dissolve and break
down remains uniquely identifiable but is incomplete in the scheme of things. Birth or rebirth is driven by this incomplete
but unique part of personality in its desire to complete itself one more time. It does so by collecting basic elements again
and reconstituting them so as to complete its personality again. Further, in guNas, I explained what constitutes
these parts of our personalitiy where I said the following: When a person dies, some characteristics that define his
personality break down into guNas and lose identity. Those that do not breakdown form the seed that initiates rebirth.
This is the so-called unfinished business of life. Loose ends in our lives cannot be left hanging. They demand to be tied
up. Thus we keep coming back. And the wheel of saMsAra turns.
bhagavad gItA has this say about the process of rebirth.
vAsAMsi jirNAni yathA vihAya navAni gRNAti naroparAni
tathA sharirANi vihAya jirNAni anyAni saMyAti navAni dehI
As a man casts off his worn-out clothes and dons other new ones, so too does the embodied person casts
off his worn-out bodies and takes on other new ones.
What stands us in good stead during this journey through lives
is our good karma. That is why we should always be mindful of our karma. Needless to say, one's personality profile at death will have big impact on the next birth.
After all is said and done,
there is no denying that rebirth gives rise to sense of reincarnation. Reincarnation is how we ordinarily perceive rebirth.
Of course, that does not mean reincarnation is not real; it is as valid as all our usual perceptions. But we are all capable
of perceiving beyond what our ordinary senses inform us and some manage to do it. Those who have seen beyond the ordinary,
attribute the perception of reincarnation, to mAyA, which is ishvara's creative
power.
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