There are people in this world who do not believe in rebirth. Their belief is that when they die it is the end of the story; there is no life after life and therefore they do not accept reincarnation.
There are others who, whether or not they understand reincarnation, they do believe in it. Even a little child of theirs will say that ‘if we do this, in the next life such and such thing will happen to us.’
Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan, the Enlightened being, says, “As a Soul (the real Self), one never dies, it is only the beliefs (eg. I am John (you may insert your name here), I am engineer, I am son, I am father, etc.) that die.”
The Soul is what we really are. It is a permanent element; hence the Soul does not take birth nor does it die.
However, birth and death do occur; there is no question about it. We all witness its occurrence. Death takes place when all the accounts of karma of a person’s life are finished. Whatever account he had bound for the current life, comes to an end and therefore death occurs.
What happens when people die?
The Soul leaves one body and enters another in no time. While it is leaving one body, it is simultaneously present in another womb, where one’s next reincarnation has to take place. This occurrence is in concurrence with the moment of the union of the sperm and the egg.
When the time comes for the Soul to depart from one body, simultaneously the circumstances of the event at the other end i.e. the place of the next reincarnation are also taking shape for the reception of the Soul. Therefore, the moment the body's death happens here, the Soul’s entry into another embryo happens there.
Thus, there is no need to worry about what will happen after you die. After death, another womb is acquired, and upon entering that womb, all of nourishment and everything necessary for one’s life is immediately provided for there.
A person’s rebirth is based on the desires and passions present within him at the time of his death. When people say that the person who died had such and such wishes, such last minute wishes cannot be created; they occur as a consequence of the entire balance sheet (an account of all the doings). What account is that? The karmic account! Just as the accounts in bookkeeping are settled every year after year, the accounts of karma are settled every life after life.
In the final moments, just before one’s death, it is the balance sheet of his entire life that comes forward, and it is this balance sheet that determines which life-form he will reincarnate into in the next life.
What gives rise to life after life?
This phenomenon of taking birth and dying is because of ego. Ego means wrong belief. The belief ‘I am this name, I am this body’ is called our ego, because in reality ‘I am Soul’.
We believe, ‘I really am John and I am the doer.’ For instance, we believe, ‘I am getting angry’. But it is actually an effect of the past life karma. It is not we who are doing it; it happens because of the force of the discharge of the karma that has been charged earlier. And owing to this wrong belief, the charging of new karma happens in ignorance.
So, ‘I am doing this’ is our wrong belief! And this wrong belief gives rise to the next life. So, no one takes a rebirth, it just happens. This whole world is “It happens”.
While this happens, the ego is in a constant hunt for happiness. It experiences happiness in various things, but is never completely satisfied with anything. It is because there is no permanent happiness in any worldly pleasures.
This cycle goes on life after life wherein one keeps taking different kinds of experiences, and keeps concluding that there is no real happiness in this, there is something beyond this experience. In the process, one is progressing on the path of development. And ultimately when he realizes the Self and experiences the Soul, he tastes the real happiness and settles there permanently.
So it is primarily, the ignorance of the Self that makes us reincarnate life after life. As long as ignorance of the Self prevails, there is a constant bondage of the karmic seeds of anger-pride-deceit-greed, which are continuously sown and reaped, sown and reaped in different situations, which causes reincarnation life after life.
When one realizes ‘Who am I?’ one gets onto the path of freedom!
To realize ‘who am I’, one does not have to become an ascetic and go to the Himalayas. One can eat, drink and enjoy life; and yet realize the Self at the same time.
Eat, drink and enjoy life; and realize the Self at the same time? Is that possible?
Birth and rebirth are because of ignorance of the Self. Akram Gnani, who is an Enlightened being, has the power to make us realize the Self within an hour through GnanVidhi, a scientific process wherein He graces us with the experiential knowledge of the Self i.e. our Soul.
To know more: https://www.dadabhagwan.org/path-to-happiness/spiritual-science/science-...
Ambalal M. Patel was a civil contractor by profession. In June 1958, spontaneous Self-Realization occurred within Ambalal M. Patel. From this point on, Ambalal became a Gnani Purush, and the Lord that manifest within him became known as Dada Bhagwan. A Gnani Purush is One who has realized the Self and is able help others do the same. Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan used to go from town to town and country-to-country to give satsang (spiritual discourse) and impart the knowledge of the Self, as well as knowledge of harmonious worldly interactions to everyone who came to meet him. This spiritual science, known as Akram Vignan, is the step-less path to Self-realization.