Reincarnation

The Bhagavad-Gita, the holy book of Lord Krishna, says the following:

“He is not born nor does He ever die; after having been, He again ceases not to be. Unborn, eternal, changeless and ancient, He is not killed when the body is killed...” —2:20

Let our Gnostic readers now reflect upon the following contradictory and antithetical verse.

“Just as a man casts off worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, so also the embodied Self casts off worn-out bodies and enters others that are new.” —2:22

These are two opposing verses from the great Avatar Krishna. If we did not know the key, we would obviously be confused.

“Fire, light, daytime, the bright fortnight, the six months of the northern path of the sun (northern solstice)— [upon leaving the body] departing then (by these), men who know Brahman go to Brahman.

“[Upon death], attaining to the lunar light by smoke, night-time, the dark [lunar] fortnight [the astral world] or the six months of the southern path of the sun (the southern solstice), the Yogi returns [reembodies].

“The bright and the dark paths of the world are verily thought to be eternal; by the one (the bright path) a person goes not to return again, and by the other (the dark path) he returns.” —8:24-26

We declare that the Being, the Lord incarnated in some perfect creature, can return, reincarnate...

“When the Lord (the Being) obtains a body [he associates with the six senses], and when He leaves it He takes these and goes (with them) as the wind takes the scents from their seats (flowers, etc.).

“Presiding over the ear, the eye, touch, taste and smell, as well as the mind, he enjoys the objects of the senses.

“The deluded do not see Him who departs [the body], stays and enjoys [experiences associated with the gunas]; but they who possess the eye of knowledge behold Him.” —15:7-10

The following verse of Lord Krishna, as an extraordinary document on the doctrine of reincarnation, is worth meditating on.

“Oh, bharata! Every time that religion deteriorates and irreligion prevails, I incarnate anew [in other words I reincarnate] to protect the good, destroy evil and establish religion, I incarnate [or reincarnate] in different times.” —4:7-8

From all these verses of Lord Krishna, two conclusions can be logically drawn:

1. Those who know Brahma go to Brahma and can, if they so desire, return, embody, reincarnate, to carry out the great work of the Father.

2. Those who have not dissolved the ego (the self, the me, myself), go, after death, along “the path of smoke, of the dark lunar fortnight and the southern solstice,” reaching the lunar sphere and are then reborn, return, reembody in this painful vale of samsara.

The doctrine of the great Avatar Krishna teaches that only the gods, demigods, divine sovereigns, titans, and devas reincarnate.

To “return” is something very different: unquestionably, it is the return of the kalpas, yugas, mahamanvantaras, maha-pralayas, etc.

The law of eternal return of all things is always combined with the law of recurrence.

The egos incessantly return to repeat dramas, scenes, and events, here and now. The past is projected towards the future through the passage of the present.

The word reincarnation is most demanding; it must not be used carelessly: No one would be able to reincarnate without first having eliminated the ego, without truly possessing sacred individuality.

Incarnation is a very venerable word, signifying in fact the reembodiment of the divine in a person. Reincarnation is the repetition of that cosmic event, a new manifestation of the divine...

We are in no way exaggerating concepts by emphasizing the transcendental idea that reincarnation is only possible for “Golden Embryos,” which have achieved the glorious union with the super-soul in any cycle of manifestation.

It would be absurd to confuse reincarnation with return. We would be making the worst kind of mistake to attest that the ego, legion of dark, sinister, twisted “I’s,” can reincarnate.