Unconscious Rebirth to Conscious Rebirth

As we explore the realm of rebirth, and the role of the psychic being, it becomes quite evident that there is not a uniform ‘one size fits all’ explanaation of the various situations that have been investigated and verified. For most people, it appears the process is mostly an automatic one that follows, more or less, the descriptions found in The Tibetan Book of the Dead. The soul has very little direct control of the process until it has achieved a certain amount of developed maturity and conscious awareness. Otherwise, the disembodied being, which finds itself in uncertain and scary circumstances, confounded by lights and sounds, and moved by fear, and desire, simply is driven into its next birth through this combination of factors.

There are however other situations and circumstances which show something else can be at work for those who have consciously developed the focus, intensity and power of the soul’s aspiration to direct and guide the process to a specific rebirth. In some cases, these souls can bring with them formed elements from a past lifetime that will be useful as a contnuation of a process they have begun. They tend to choose births that will support that process and from a very early age they may exhibit a presence or certain advanced skills or understanding that far exceeds the normal state for a young person of their age. In other cases they may actually carry active memories of a past lifetime with them and recall them in detail, including a language that may be other than that they learn in the current lifetime, although in most cases these past life memories tend to fad as they grow and mature in the current lifetime.

Then there are the exceptional cases of highly developed beings who have taken on a very specific role and mission. The reincarnation of Tibetan Lamas, the rebirth of various Bodhisattvas, certainly speak to a type of conscious direction, to the extent that they can leave behind signs and directions for being identified in the next lifetime and brought back to their focus and mission at a very early age, regardless of where they have chosen to take that birth. They bring an unerring memory of specific items they utilized in the prior lifetime as evidence of their conscious return. There are clearly many more cases of individuals who do not have the visilbility and prominence of these Lamas, but who carry out a focused mission from one lifetie to the next, exchanging one body for another, one life circumstance for another, but continuing to build upon their focused aspiration and consecration to a higher ideal.

A disciple asks: “For past lives, are there any general rules, broad outlines, or is everything possible?”

The Mother responds: “All depends on the category to which one belongs, and the degree of the psychic being’s development. If the psychic being is in an advanced stage, near maturity, the choice before death… is quite real and this choice means that everything is possible; but in other cases, the rebirth takes place almost automatically. The will of the psychic being is not developed and it does not choose. Hence, there are no rules. It depends very much on circumstances, and especially on the line of formation which the psychic being will follow, and that depends on its origin. It is difficult to say. In the matter of sex, that may vary for a long time. As the consciousness grows and gains some unity of action, of consciousness, it can choose to follow one line to the exclusion of another, but before this choice, through innumerable creations you have been undoubtedly of different sexes. That is why perhaps some women have a masculine character, and vice versa, or have tendencies opposite to their sex. But at the time of the ‘choice’ one may decide to belong to the creatrix Consciousness or to the immobile Witness. That depends on the origin.”

reference: Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Psychic Being — Soul: Its Nature, Mission and Evolution, Section 4 The Afterlife and Rebirth, pp. 140-141