REINCARNATION
AND
RESURRECTION
CAN THEY CO-EXIST?
JOHN MARTIN SAHAJANANDA
SHANTIVANAM
Reincarnation is one of the fundamental beliefs of the Eastern religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the bodies after death is the one of the fundamental beliefs of Christianity. Very often these two beliefs are seen as opposites. If one believes in reincarnation, one cannot believe in resurrection; and if one believes in resurrection one cannot believe in reincarnation. In this article an attempt is made to reconcile these two positions.
This article would like to propose the following:
Reincarnation and resurrection need not oppose each other but they can co -exist! They belong to different levels of consciousness!For this we need to expand the concepts of reincarnation and resurrection in such a way that they can embrace each other!
Reincarnation, as a movement of continuity, exists. There are different types of reincarnations or continuities. The most obvious and powerful one is the reincarnation of belief systems! Just believing in reincarnation or not believing in reincarnation is not very helpful. If we blindly believe in reincarnation we are bound by it. If we blindly reject it we live in ignorance. Only by seeing it as a fact can make us free from it!
The Vedic Sages, the Buddha and the Mahavira did not believe in reincarnation but saw the fact of it and achieved freedom from it. Also they did not ask people just to believe in reincarnation blindly but to see the fact of it and be free from it! Resurrection is not just related to the physical body but it also can be understood as a state of Liberation, Moksa or Nirvana; and Samsara can also be understood as the movement of sin, the life outside the Garden of Eden!Jesus Christ does not deny the phenomenon of reincarnation as a movement of continuity from the past through the present into the future. But he sees it as a mechanical movement and invites people to transcend it and discover the creative life of eternity, the kingdom of God. He said, 'no one puts new wine into old wine skins lest the skins burst, but new wine goes into new wine skins. No one will patch up an old garment with a new one lest it tears the old.
REINCARNATION:
Reincarnation is the religious or philosophical concept that the soul or spirit, after biological death, begins a new life in a new body that may be human, animal or spiritual depending on the moral quality of the previous life's actions. This doctrine is a central tenet of the eastern or Indian religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. The Prophetic religions like Judaism, Christianity and Islam, in general, do not believe in reincarnation but believe in one life, in the resurrection of the bodies and final reward of either Hell or Heaven. Christians, in general, think that belief in reincarnation is incompatible with Christianity. Sometimes one hears the slogan like ‘Reincarnation or Resurrection’. The Eastern religions do not believe in the resurrection of the bodies. Today there are many Christians, particularly in the West, who believe in reincarnation and think that it is not incompatible with Christianity. They even argue that the early Christians believed in it and later the institutional Church suppressed it. I would like to propose in this article that reincarnation and resurrection need not oppose each other but can be reconciled. They can co-exist. For this we need to expand the concepts of reincarnation and resurrection in such a way that Christians can see the reality of reincarnation and the Eastern religions can accept the concept of resurrection.There are two fundamental concepts in Eastern religions: Samsara and Moksa or Nirvana. These religions understand life in this world as Samsara- a life of birth, death and rebirth. Freedom from Samsara is described as Moksa or Mukti or liberation and Nirvana. Even though the state of freedom from Samsara is described in different ways, the purpose of spiritual practice is to be free from samsara, the phenomenon of birth, death and rebirth. The purpose of life is to seek liberation, moksa or Nirvana. This liberation has to be realized in this life. If it is not realized in this life then a person needs to be born again and again until liberation is achieved. This is the process of reincarnation. This process is determined by one’s karma or action. The essence of reincarnation is continuity: the past entering into the present and going into the future.
Hinduism:
Reincarnation (known as Punarjanma) is one of the core beliefs of Hinduism. Samsara is the natural process of birth, death and rebirth. Reincarnation is part of this samsara. Hindus believe that the Jiva or Atman is intrinsically pure and eternal. However, because of its association with the body and mind (the layers of I-ness and My-ness), the Jiva goes through transmigration in the cycle of births and deaths. Death destroys the physical body, but not the Jiva. The Jiva is eternal. It takes on another body with respect to its karmas. Every karma or action produces a result which must be experienced either in this or some future life. As long as the Jiva is enveloped in ignorance, it remains attached to material desires and subject to the cycles of births and deaths. There is no permanent heaven or hell in Hinduism. After experiences in the afterlife, the Jiva enters again the karma and rebirth system, reborn as an animal, a human being or a divinity. This reincarnation continues until moksa, the final release, is gained. The experience of moksa depends on the philosophical system one believes in. In advaita system it is the experience of identity with Brahman. In the Visistaadvaita system it is the experience of bliss of Brahman and in dvaita it is to be in the joyful presence of God but to be distant from God.
Buddhism:
Buddhism does not believe in an eternal Atman. The so called ‘self’ does not have any substance. There is no permanent self that moves from one birth to another birth. It is anatta (without atman) and anicca (impermanent). The Buddha denied the existence of Atman, and so used the term anatman, or no-self. This is one of the basic principles of Buddhism. Nothing has a lasting self that endures. Everything is temporary and passes away. There is no eternal soul and there is no differentiated self. All compounded things are subject to dissolution, including all the components of the human person and personality. The ‘self’ is understood as a combination of desires (skandas or sheaths) and these desires take rebirth until this movement of desire is completely stopped. At the death of one personality, a new one comes into being, much as the flame of a dying candle can serve to light the flame of another. The consciousness in the new person is neither identical to nor entirely different from that in the deceased but these two form a causal continuum or stream. Buddhists prefer the word ‘rebirth’ to ‘reincarnation’ because the word reincarnation may imply a permanent entity entering into a body (re-in-carnare). Rebirth is the effect of karma or volitional action. The basic cause is the abiding of consciousness in ignorance. When ignorance is uprooted, rebirth ceases. Nirvana is the state of freedom from ignorance and desire which is the source of suffering.
The state of Nirvana is described in many ways. Most schools of Buddhism explain Nirvana as a state of bliss or peace, and this state may be experienced in life, or it may be entered into at death. His Holiness the Dalai Lama defined Nirvana as the "state beyond sorrows," or a "state of freedom from cyclic existence." In Theravada Buddhism, Nirvana is understood to be an "unbinding" of the mind from defilements, in particular the Three Poisons, and the mental "effluents" of sensuality, views, becoming, and ignorance. It is liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth and freedom from the effects of karma. In Mahayana Buddhism, Nirvana also is the extinguishing of dualities and a merging with Nirvana and Samsara into an absolute existence. The various schools of Buddhism have diverse teachings about whether Nirvana can be attained before death or only after death.
Jainism:
In Jainism, the soul and matter are considered eternal, uncreated and perpetual. There is a constant interplay between the two, resulting in bewildering cosmic manifestations in material, psychic and emotional spheres around us. Changes but not total annihilation of spirit and matter is the basic postulate of Jain philosophy. The life as we know it now, moves after death on to another form of life based on the merits and demerits it accumulated in its current life. The path to becoming a supreme soul or Paramatman is to practice non-violence and to be truthful. Jains believe that there are multiple eternal atmans (Hinduism believes only in one eternal Atman). Each individual has an eternal atman, which is pure. Each one has the potential to achieve God-consciousness or freedom. Karma forms a central and fundamental part of Jain faith. It is connected to the other concepts like reincarnation, liberation, non-violence and non-attachment, among others. Karma is the root of birth and death. The souls bound by karma go round and round in the cycle of existence.
There is no retribution, judgment or reward involved but natural consequences of the choices in life made either knowingly or unknowingly. Hence, whatever suffering or pleasure that a soul may be experiencing in its present life is on account of choices that it has made in the past. As a result of this doctrine, Jainism attributes supreme importance to pure thinking and moral behavior. Moksa means liberation, salvation or emancipation of soul. It is a blissful state of existence of a soul, completely free from the karmic bondage, free from samsara, the cycle of birth and death. A liberated soul is said to have attained its true and pristine nature of infinite bliss, infinite knowledge and infinite perception. Such a soul is called siddha or Paramatman and considered as supreme soul or God. In Jainism, it is the highest and the noblest objective that a soul should strive to achieve. In fact, it is the only objective that a person should have; other objectives are contrary to the true nature of soul. With right view, knowledge and efforts all souls can attain this state. That is why, Jainism is also known as moksa marga or the “path to liberation”. When an enlightened being, Arhat, extinguishes his remaining karmas and thus ends his worldly existence, it is called nirvana. Technically, the death of an Arhat is called nirvana of Arhat, as he has ended his worldly existence and attained liberation. Moksa, that is to say, liberation, follows nirvana. However, the terms moksa and nirvana are often used interchangeably in the Jain texts. An Arhat becomes a siddha, the liberated one, after attaining nirvana. Attaining Moksa requires annihilation of all karmas, good and bad, because if karma is left, it must bear fruit.
In the above three religions reincarnation is very much limited to the individual soul which goes through the process of birth, death and rebirth until it finds liberation. I would like to extend the concept of reincarnation into various levels including individual souls but not limited to them. The most important of all is ‘the reincarnation of belief systems’.
Different Types of Reincarnations
The essence of reincarnation is continuity from the past into the present and then into the future. There are different ways of continuity: continuity before physical death and continuity after physical death.
a. Reincarnation as repetition of the past experiences. Reincarnation does not only happen after death it also can happen before death. For example if someone has a wonderful experience and that person wants to repeat that experience in the future then we can say that that experience is the reincarnation of the past in the present. The present is used to reenact the past experience. It is a mechanical movement. The present is just a vehicle for the repetition of the past. In many cases we want to repeat the past experiences. So this type of reincarnation happens before physical death.
b. Physical continuity: the first type of continuity can be called physical continuity. Parents continue in and through their physical children. The genes of the parents are passed on to their children. We can call this process ‘physical reincarnation’. This is not something that happens after physical death but before. This also is not something we need to believe in because it is a fact.
c. Reincarnation of desire: Buddhism does not believe in a permanent soul. The so called soul consists of sheaths of desires. These desires are born of ignorance. These desires are reborn until the desire is completely stopped. When there is no desire there is nirvana, extinction of desire. Here it is ignorance and desire that take rebirth and not a permanent individual soul or Atman.
d. Reincarnation of Individual souls: Hinduism believes in an eternal soul, atman. The purpose of life is moksa or liberation which happens when Atman is united with Brahman or experiences oneness with Brahman. The experience of moksa depends on what type of Hindu System one believes in. For example there are three important philosophical systems in Hinduism: advaita, visistaadvaita and dvaita. The experience of liberation is different in each system. Until liberation takes place the Atman takes new bodies according to its previous karma or actions. This is the Hindu belief.
e. Reincarnation of lamas in Buddhism: Buddhism makes a subtle distinction between rebirth and reincarnation. Rebirth is something that happens mechanically according to the cause and effect, karma. Individuals have no choice. Reincarnation is a conscious choice one can make. For example the present Dalai Lama is the reincarnation of the previous Dalai Lama, because the previous Dalai Lama made a conscious choice to be born, refusing to enter into Nirvana, for the liberation of the sentient and non-sentient beings. If the present Dalai Lama makes the same choice then he will be born again in the future. Hence, according to Buddhism, rebirth is a mechanical movement and reincarnation is a conscious choice that one makes.
f. Reincarnation of Memories: Some propose that it is not the reincarnation of the individual souls but the reincarnation of memories. All our experiences from the beginning of human consciousness are stored in the akashic field or field of information, which is like a universal black box or like the google engine in which all the information is stored and people can download the information if they have a proper address. What we then call reincarnation experiences are nothing but individual consciousness, in a special conditions, coming into contact with the memories of the akashic field. This experience is a possibility but limited to very few individuals. It is not a common phenomenon. In this sense we cannot say that everyone born now is the reincarnation from the past. Some special people’s consciousness can come into contact with the past memories and they may think that they are the reincarnation of so and so from the past. It is not necessarily so.
g. Reincarnation of Belief Systems: many people think that they are individuals, but if we go very deep, we discover that they are not individuals but they structure their lives, their thinking and their way of acting according to a belief system. Reincarnation of belief systems means that belief systems which have their origin in the past enter into the present and go into the future. For example Hindu belief system has its origin thousands of years ago but that belief system is given continuity century after century. Individuals are born to give continuity to that belief system. In the same way Buddhism was born 2500 years ago but that belief system continuously reincarnates. Individuals are born to give continuity to that belief system. Judaism was born more than three thousand years ago and that belief system continuously reincarnates. Christianity was born 2000 years ago and that belief system continues century after century. The same applies to Islam, which was born 1500 years ago and that belief system continues. This phenomenon applies to all belief systems. Once a belief system is created it has its own identity and life and it seeks continuity. A belief system is like an unfulfilled desire that seeks realization or fulfillment in the future. It needs individuals for its realization.
Today there are six billion individuals in the world but at the level of belief systems we can count them on fingers: Hinduism takes more than a billion individuals, Judaism may take less than 100 million, Christianity may take around 2 billion, Islam may take around 1.3 billion and Buddhism may take 300 to 400 million. We can include other belief systems also. Even though there are 6 billions of individuals in the world, there are around 20 or so belief systems that are living in and through these six billion individuals. Individuals may die and disappear but belief systems will not die. They continue. These belief systems acquire a certain independent existence and seek continuity. This is what I call reincarnation of belief systems. Is it a belief or is it a fact? It is not a belief but it is a fact. One may believe in an individual reincarnation or may not believe in it since it cannot be proved, but the reincarnation of belief systems is a fact. It does not require a belief. When a person says ‘I am a Hindu’, that is the reincarnation of Hinduism. When a person says ‘I am Christian’ that is the reincarnation of Christianity. It is as simple as that.
Believing in Reincarnation or seeing it as a fact?
If we blindly believe in reincarnation without seeing it as a fact, then, we are conditioned by it and we are bound by it. The way we live our life depends on what we believe. In the same way, if we blindly reject reincarnation, then we do not see the reality of it. For example Christians may not believe in an individual reincarnation, but they are facilitating the reincarnation of their Christian belief system. Individual Christians may come and go but Christianity as a belief system continues. It reincarnates. It is only by seeing that the reincarnation of the belief system is a fact that we discover that the past is using the present in order to go to the future. The present is not free. It is almost a slave to the past. When the ‘present’ realizes that it is not free and wants to become free then it stops the ‘past’ in order to manifest eternity.
In Christianity we have the episode of the virgin birth. Spiritually a virgin is one who discontinues the past and gives birth to eternity. It is to see God of eternity in the present moment. It is to transform our life into the life of God and our actions into actions of God. Our life is no longer our life but God's life. We are free from our birth and death as our birth becomes the birth of God and our death becomes the death of God. This is moksa or liberation. Jesus Christ said, 'the actions that I do are not my own but the Father who dwells in me does his works’. It is the statement of someone who is free from reincarnation.
Samsara as the movement of Sin:
Is there Samsara in the Biblical tradition? We can say ‘yes’. Life in the Garden of Eden is the life of original freedom, original innocence and unconscious liberation or moksa. This original state is lost due to the desire of human beings to become like God. Human beings were already created like God, in the image and likeness of God. There was no need for them to become like God. But this image and likeness of God was in a state of unconsciousness. This unconscious state brought desire in them. That desire was a good desire. It was the desire to become conscious of what was unconscious. This desire disturbed the original harmony and made them to take the path of becoming, time and suffering. This was the path of Samsara. The Biblical tradition calls it the path of sin or forgetfulness. Hence we can say that the desire of Adam and Eve to become like God is the beginning of Samsara that makes them to come out of the Garden of Eden. It initiates the life of sin, of ignorance and of forgetfulness. This path of samaras is the necessary process of becoming conscious of our original freedom, original innocence and original liberation. This is called self-realization.
RESURRECTION:
It is a Christian belief that Jesus Christ, after his death on the cross and burial, appeared to his demoralized disciples. They realized that someone who was dead was alive. They could sit with him and eat with him. This phenomenon confirmed to them that there was life after death and their lives were completely transformed. They proclaimed the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Hence resurrection of Jesus became the central message of Christianity. Christians believe that their physical bodies also will rise on the day of the last Judgment. Hence they bury their dead and build tombs for them and wait for the Day of Judgment.
Salvation in Christianity:
Christians in general believe in Heaven and Hell. According to this belief, people, after physical death, go to either heaven or hell. Those who believe in Jesus Christ and live a moral life go to heaven and those who do not believe in Jesus Christ and do not live a moral life go to hell. Heaven and hell are considered to be permanent places. So there is eternal heaven and there is eternal hell. Heaven is a place where people have a continuous presence of God and have a beatific vision of God. Hell is a place of torment and punishment.
Expanding the Concept of Resurrection:
Just as we have tried to expand the concept of reincarnation to various levels so also we need to expand the concept of resurrection. I would like to divide resurrection into two aspects: resurrection before death and resurrection after death. Jesus Christ had the experience of resurrection, not only after death, but also before death. He called this experience the kingdom of God. Before his death Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection and life’. The resurrection after death was only the culmination or fulfillment of the resurrection before death.
Resurrection before Death:
The experience of the kingdom of God that Jesus had can be interpreted as the experience of resurrection before death. It is similar to moksa or liberation or Nirvana. There are different ways through which we can describe this experience of resurrection or the kingdom of God.
Resurrection is awakening to eternity. Resurrection can be described as awakening to eternity, timeless state. This happened to Jesus at the moment of his baptism. When Jesus was baptized the heavens were opened and the spirit of God descended upon him. It is an experience in which Jesus transcended psychological time and experienced eternity, timeless reality. Resurrection is freedom from the past and the future. It is an experience in which a person transcends the movement of continuity and enters into the realm of eternity. In this experience a person lives in the eternal present, no more in the past and no more in the future. A person says 'I am the way, the truth and the life'. Jesus said, 'I am the resurrection and the life’. Jesus was the way, the truth and the life. This is the statement of someone who is awakened to eternity. When Jesus began his ministry, the first statement (in Mark) he made was, ‘the time has come to an end; the kingdom of God is at hand’. The experience of the kingdom of God is the end of time and the beginning of eternity.
Resurrection is the Experience of Universal Consciousness: When Jesus had the experience of God at his baptism, he heard the words, ‘You are my beloved son’. This is the experience of Universal consciousness. Jesus realized himself as the Son of God or Son of Man. The Son of Man is one who is identified with the whole of humanity and of creation and stands before God representing them. At the descent of the spirit of God this Son of Man becomes the Son of God. The Son of God is one who speaks to humanity and creation in the name of God. The Universal consciousness is the mediator between creation and God and between God and creation. He or she has this dual role.
Resurrection is the experience of oneness with God: Resurrection is not only awakening to eternity and the experience of universal consciousness but also realizing oneness with God. Jesus said, ‘the Father and I are one’. This is the statement made by someone who has gone beyond time and space, beyond division and duality and realized oneness with God. This is similar to moksa or liberation according to the advaitic philosophy of Hinduism. Resurrection is the experience of oneness with God.
Resurrection is manifesting the divine light in the physical body: Resurrection is the transformation of one’s physical body. This happened to Jesus at the moment of his transfiguration. His disciples saw his body shining brilliantly. His entire being was filled with the light of God - it manifested even in his physical body. We can say that it is the foretaste of physical resurrection of Jesus.
Resurrection is the transformation of creation and human nature into divine manifestation: Jesus said that ‘the kingdom of God is like a woman who took yeast and put it in three measures of flour until it was leavened’. Yeast is the symbol of the divine and flour is the symbol of creation or human nature. When yeast enters into the flour, the flour is transformed. The human nature is divinized; the creation is transformed or divinized.
Resurrection is to see the truth of the kingdom in ordinary events of life: Jesus had the experience of the kingdom of God. After that whatever he saw, he saw only the kingdom of God. He saw a farmer sowing the seeds and he said: the kingdom of God is like that. He saw a man who found a treasure in the field and he said: the kingdom of God is like that. He saw a man searching for the precious pearls: he said that the kingdom of God was like that. All his parables were taken from the ordinary life. This is one aspect of resurrection before death. When a person is awakened to eternity, this person sees the awakening of creation. To that person creation becomes alive. It manifests the kingdom of God.
Resurrection is accepting every incident as the will of God: Resurrection is seeing the hand of God in every event of one’s life. Jesus said, ‘five sparrows are sold for two pennies but not even one of them falls to the ground without my father’s will’. For one penny one gets two sparrows. For two pennies one gets five sparrows. One sparrow is given extra. They are so cheap. But not even one falls to the ground without God’s will. It is really a mystery. Only a person who is awakened to the eternal will of God can say that.
Resurrection is to transform one’s life into God’s life and one’s actions into God’s actions: Jesus said, ‘the works which I do are not my own but the Father who dwells in me does his works’. It is dying to one’s ego in such way that a person becomes so empty that only God lives and acts in that person. This is the experience of resurrection. It is the end of all our actions (karmas) and initiating the action or karma of God. This is similar to the nirvana of Jainism. According to Jainism nirvana is the end of all karmas, both positive and negatives. It is going beyond good actions and bad actions. It is like going back to the Garden of Eden where there is no good and bad but only manifestation of absolute goodness of God. When a person is completely empty this person becomes a vehicle of God. All actions are God’s actions. So a person is not bound either by good actions or bad actions. Isa Upanishad says, ‘actions done in God do not bind the soul of a human being’.
Resurrection is transforming our ordinary life into extraordinary life: It is to see the infinite in the finite. It is to see the finite as the manifestation of God. It is changing bread and wine into body and blood of God. In Mahayana Buddhism they speak of samsara becoming nirvana and nirvana becoming samsara. Samsara is ordinary life and nirvana is life of freedom but ultimately samsara becomes the manifestation of nirvana. The ordinary life becomes an extraordinary life.
Resurrection is discontinuing the past and living in the eternal present. Jesus Christ said,' I am the way, the truth and the life'. This is the statement made by someone who is freed from the past and affirms the freedom of the present. This statement has two aspects: It is freedom from all the conditioning of the past and then it is also freedom from the future. It is giving freedom to the future so that the future will not be the continuity of the past but it will be completely free to say 'I am the way, the truth and the life'. This statement is a statement of greatness and also of humility. It is greatness to be free from the past. It is humility to give freedom to the future. In this experience ‘the present’ becomes original and creative. Jesus was able to do it because he saw the fact of the past entering into the present and going to the future. He saw how the past was using the present and killing it. He stopped this movement and gave freedom to the present. The first statement Jesus made (Mark) was 'the time has come to an end'. It was the end of the past, the present and the future and the arrival of the eternity in the present, the kingdom of God. In this experience there is no belief operating but a person says 'I am the way, the truth and the life'. It is freedom from all belief systems. This is the statement of an enlightened being. In this experience God's indwelling presence is experienced. This God is not the God of the past but the God of eternity, the God of now, ‘I am who I am’. Jesus said 'no one comes to the Father except through me'. No one can come to this experience of freedom except by doing what Jesus did: It is to stop the movement of the past. Jesus called this process repentance. The kingdom of God is at hand, repent.
Resurrection after Death:
When Christians speak of resurrection, generally they mean the resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion and burial. When his disciples went to the tomb where Jesus was buried, they found it empty. Jesus appeared to his disciples at various occasions which transformed their lives. He appeared to his disciples for forty days and ascended to heaven. Jesus’ disciples bore witness to that phenomenon even if it meant to accept persecution and death. Belief in the Resurrection of Jesus is the central belief of Christianity and Easter has been the first feast that Christians celebrated. Resurrection after death has its own significance: the physical body and material universe will ultimately have the gift of participating in the life of God. Matter is not destroyed but it is transformed. It is the culmination and the fulfillment of resurrection before death. Unfortunately Christian tradition has focused very much on the resurrection of Jesus after death and the resurrection of the bodies after death that it has completely forgotten the kingdom of God, the resurrection before death. I think it is very important that the Christian tradition recognizes this truth and comes back to it, without denying the physical resurrection of Jesus and the transformation of the bodies and the matter.
Moksa-Nirvana and Resurrection:
Moksa, Nirvana and Resurrection belong to the same level. It is freedom from Samsara, the movement of the past into the future. It is the discontinuity of the movement of ignorance and desire. It is a state of freedom from suffering. It is freedom from karma and its consequences. It is freedom from sin. It is awakening to the eternal present. Spiritual resurrection happens when a person is still alive. Spiritual resurrection is that in which a person transcends the movement of continuity (reincarnation) and enters into the realm of eternity. In the collective reincarnation (belief systems) a person says 'my religion is the way, the truth and the life'. It is not the individual but religion or a belief system that is living in that person. In the resurrection a person says 'I am the way, the truth and the life'. Jesus said, 'I am the resurrection and the life’. He said this before his physical resurrection. Jesus transcended the movement of reincarnation and entered into the realm of resurrection. He invited people to the life of resurrection by transcending the life of reincarnation. Jesus does not deny the phenomenon of reincarnation but he sees it as a mechanical or repetitive movement, which needs to be transcended. This mechanical movement kills the present and uses it for its continuity. Resurrection frees ‘the present’ from the power of the past and the future or reincarnation. We need to have the experience of resurrection before we die physically. We need to die before we die physically. It is by dying to our continuity that we enter into eternity. Reincarnation gives only an opportunity to die consciously before we die physically. Only when we experience resurrection before death we understand what means the resurrection after death.
It is my proposal that reincarnation and resurrection need not oppose each other but they can coexist. They belong to different levels. One may have difficulties to accept individual reincarnation but the reincarnation of the belief systems is the most powerful and evident form of reincarnation. Christians can identify the life outside the Garden of Eden as the life of samsara, life of forgetfulness, life of ignorance, life of desire and suffering. Resurrection is the discontinuity of this movement and giving birth to Eternity. In Christianity there are three archetypal experiences: Christmas, Easter and the Baptism of Jesus. Christmas is related to the virgin birth. Spiritually a virgin is one who discontinues the past in all its aspects, individual and collective, and gives birth to eternity. She gives birth to wisdom, to universal consciousness, the Son of God or the Son of Man. A spiritual virgin stops the movement of samsara, karma and time.
Jesus was killed and his body was put in a tomb. It is the symbol of human consciousness that has enclosed itself in the tomb of time, cause and effect, samsara and continuity. It is to move with the wheel of samsara. The experience of resurrection is breaking this wheel or this tomb of samsara and awakening to eternity. It is the birth of enlightened consciousness. It is the experience of moksa and nirvana.
The baptism experience of Jesus at the river Jordan is the third archetype. It is also birth of human consciousness into eternity. It is the birth of universal consciousness or the Son of God that can declare, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’. Hence the essential message of Christianity is an invitation to break the bondage of samsara and sin. It is an invitation to liberation, moksa or nirvana. The Eastern religions can accept samsara as the movement of sin or fragmented consciousness or mechanical continuity. They can also accept resurrection as awakening to freedom, Moksa or Nirvana.
The difference between Reincarnation and Resurrection:
We can now summarize the difference between reincarnation and resurrection:
Reincarnation is the movement from the past into the present and then into the future
Resurrection is the discontinuity of this past movement and manifesting eternity in the present.
In reincarnation the past uses the present to go into the future.
In resurrection the present is for the sake of the present or eternity.
Reincarnation is the movement of the ego, either individual or collective!
Resurrection is the life of the image and likeness of God!
Reincarnation is the movement of ignorance, desire and suffering!
Resurrection is the manifestation of light, truth and freedom!
Reincarnation is the movement of emptiness and un-fulfilment
Resurrection is the life that flows from inner fullness and inner fulfillment.
Reincarnation is the movement of becoming and acquiring!
Resurrection is the movement of unfolding!
From Reincarnation to Resurrection:
When Jesus said, ’I am the way, the truth and the life’, it is the statement of resurrection or incarnation.
If we say ‘Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life’ then it is the statement of reincarnation because we are giving continuity to the past, to a person or to a belief.
If we also say like Jesus ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’ then it is the statement of resurrection or incarnation.
By saying that ‘Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life’ Christians are perpetuating the movement of reincarnation. Christians need to move from reincarnation to resurrection.
Who Reincarnates?
The crucial question is: who reincarnates? Hinduism believes that there is an eternal Atman and it is that eternal Atman that takes new bodies, that reincarnates. But eternal Atman is pure and fullness. What is pure, eternal and fullness does not reincarnate but only incarnates. Incarnation is the manifestation of fullness, manifestation of eternity in time. It does not move in time. It manifests moment by moment. It is like the Sun that radiates its light. Reincarnation is the movement of incompleteness. It seeks future in order to fulfill itself. It moves through time. Hence the eternal Atman cannot reincarnate so there must be something other than the eternal Atman that reincarnates. Hinduism seems to affirm casually that eternal Atman reincarnates. This is something Hinduism needs to rethink.
Buddhism denies eternal Atman and believes that it is the ignorance that produces desire and it is this desire that reincarnates. If one asks: ignorance of what? It is said that it is the ignorance of Buddha nature. In this sense the Buddha nature must be independent of ignorance. The Buddha nature cannot reincarnate but it is only the ignorance of Buddha nature that creates desire and that desire creates an artificial identity that goes through the process of reincarnation. When this ignorance and desire come to an end, then reincarnation ends. Nirvana begins. One is in the Buddha nature. I think that the Buddha is right to say that the self with desire is not an eternal Atman. It is not permanent. It is just like a cloud, impermanent, that evaporates. Another important question is: did the Buddha deny Atman or Brahman as the ground of human consciousness and the universe? It seems to me that Buddhism, without the proposition of eternal Brahman or Atman is unsatisfactory.
Jainism believes in multiple atmans. The number of human souls is infinite. Every individual has an eternal soul. Jainism strongly asserts the independence, uniqueness and autonomy of the individual soul during its process of purification. Whereas Hinduism believes in one Atman and considers the individual soul and all matter as mere manifestation of this one reality, Jainism is a dualistic philosophy, declaring the reality of the individual atman and all matter. The atman itself is pure. Jainism thinks that it is the interaction between the atman and matter that goes through the process of reincarnation. But the proposition of multiple eternal atmans is not a satisfactory proposition. It is not possible to have multiple eternal realities. There can be only one eternal reality. Ekam sat vipra bahuthi vadanti, declared Rig Veda. It means that there is only one eternal reality, only one God, but wise people call it by many names.
According to the biblical tradition there is only one God, the creator of the universe. Human beings are created in the image and likeness of God. Their vocation is to walk with God and ‘to be fruitful and multiply’. It means to manifest the divine attributes of love and compassion in relationships. There is a state of original harmony, which is called Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were naked and they were not ashamed. It is a state without desire, without good and bad and without psychological time and becoming. Then arose desire to become like God. That desire created disharmony and initiated the path of time, becoming and suffering. That desire is generally understood as a sin of rebellion against God and the life outside the Garden of Eden is described as the fall of humanity. Human beings are affected by that original act of the first parents. The goal of life is to go back to the original harmony. It is to rediscover one’s image and likeness of God. But human beings cannot do it by themselves but need a saviour. Jesus Christ is seen as the incarnation of God who freed people from the consequences of sin and opened the door to the Garden of Eden. It is by accepting Jesus Christ as the Son of God and saviour that we attain salvation.
Considering the original desire of human beings as a sin of rebellion is not very satisfactory. The original desire has to be understood as the genuine longing of the human heart to become consciousness of its image and likeness of God and ultimately realize its oneness with God. Proposing Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation led to exclusivism. It seems to me that the views presented in the above belief systems are not satisfactory. We need to look for a comprehensive vision that can integrate the above views but also complements them. For this comprehensive vision I turn to the vision of the Upanishads and the vision of Christ.
A Comprehensive Vision
The Mandukya Upanishad and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad present the evolution of human consciousness into four layers: the waking consciousness, the dreaming consciousness, the deep sleep consciousness and the awakened consciousness of Atman and Brahman. The waking consciousness is the individual consciousness where there is a movement of identification with the physical body and with the individual desires and ambitions. The dreaming consciousness is the collective consciousness where there is a movement of ideals and ideal persons or belief systems. The deep sleep consciousness is the pure consciousness where the individual and collective movements come to an end and the Atman or Brahman reflects in its purity in the human consciousness. It also can be described as the universal consciousness. The fourth level is the realm of Atman and Brahman. We can describe this through an analogy of a tree: a tree has leaves, branches, a trunk and roots. Leaves represent the waking consciousness; branches represent the collective consciousness; the trunk represents deep sleep consciousness or universal consciousness and roots represent divine consciousness of Atman and Brahman.
The Hindu belief that there is one eternal Atman corresponds to the level of roots, the fourth level of consciousness. It means that there is only one God. This also goes very well with the belief in the Biblical tradition that there is only one God. This also may correspond very well to the Dharma Kaya in the Buddhist tradition. This one God or one eternal Atman or Dharma Kaya does not reincarnate but only incarnates.
The trunk of a tree represents universal consciousness or deep sleep consciousness. In Hinduism it is the consciousness of a sage. In Buddhism it is called the Samboghya Kaya. In Christianity it is referred to as the Son of Man or the Son of God. A sage is one whose consciousness has become one with all. He or she lives for the welfare of all or for the welfare of the whole of creation. The Samboghya Kaya is the universal body of Buddha. It is beyond time and space. The Samboghya Kaya lives for the welfare of all. He is the Bodhisattva. The Son of Man is one who is united with the whole of humanity and of creation and stands before God representing the whole of creation. The Son of God is one who speaks to humanity and to creation in the name of God. The expressions, ‘the Son of Man’ or ‘the Son of God’, are metaphorical. We can also say, ‘the Daughter of Humanity’ and ‘the Daughter of God’. They refer universal consciousness. He or she is the mediator between creation and God and God and creation. Just as a trunk is a mediator between the roots and the branches and the leaves, so also the universal consciousness mediates between God or ultimate reality and its manifestation. In Jainism it seems that there is no equivalent to it. The Arhat is an individual who has freed himself from all his or her karmas. He or she can only stand as an inspiration but cannot help others. Each one has to work out his or her salvation.
The branches of a tree represent the dreaming consciousness or the collective consciousness. They represent ideals, teachings and ideal persons. This is the field of information. There can be many branches, many ideals, many belief systems which seek their realization and fulfillment. They can do that only through individuals.
The leaves of a tree represent waking consciousness or individual consciousness. Each leaf is like a mirror in which the eternal Atman is reflecting. Each individual carries within himself or herself the reflection of the divine. It is like a turtle that comes out of the sea and lays eggs in the beach. When the eggs are hatched the baby turtles rush towards the sea for which they are destined. The belief of Jainism that that there is an infinite number of souls may refer to this level. Each leaf contains a reflection of the eternal Atman. The more leaves the more reflections will be. This reflection is in state of unconsciousness. This unconscious state creates a desire to become conscious of its true nature. Just like a baby turtle desires to go to the sea so also each human soul desires to go to its source, the eternal Atman. We can say all desires are ultimately desires for the eternal Atman. So the journey begins. Each leaf is unique and each leaf’s journey is unique. But it is possible that this way can be blocked or taken to the wrong direction.
Jesus Christ began as an individual and entered the collective consciousness of Judaism at the moment of his circumcision. At the moment of his baptism, he moved in to the third level of consciousness of the Son of God and finally realized his oneness with God. The crucial stage is transcending the second level and moving into the third level and the fourth level. Hence it seems to me that the four tier vision can be a comprehensive vision that can reconcile the contradictions among the above belief systems. The concept of human beings manifested in the image and likeness of is also very important contribution of the Biblical Tradition which we do not find in the Eastern religions.
The Phenomenon of Reincarnation
The three levels of consciousness (waking, dreaming and deep sleep) can be seen as three mirrors in which the one eternal Atman is reflecting. In each level the reflection is different. In the waking it is individual, in the dreaming it is collective and in the deep sleep it is universal. These reflections create an appearance of a separate entity which can be described as the ‘self’ of ignorance. The phenomenon of reincarnation or continuity belongs to the waking consciousness and dreaming consciousness, i.e. the individual consciousness and the collective consciousness. The unfulfilled individual desires and the ideals created by the human mind use the individuals for their fulfillment. It is a horizontal movement, from the past into the present and then into the future.
Resurrection Belongs to the Third and the Fourth Levels:
Resurrection belongs to the third and the fourth levels i.e. deep sleep and awakened consciousness, where the continuity of the individual desires and collective desires come to an end and eternity manifests. The third level is like the moon which receives only the light from the Sun, the eternal Atman. It has no contact with the past or the future. It receives light and gives light. The fourth level is like the Sun. It does not reincarnate but only incarnates or radiates light.
The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil:
In the book of Genesis we have two trees mentioned. One is the Tree of Life and the other is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Tree of Life is that in which there is harmony among leaves, branches, trunk and roots. The leaves recognize the need of the branches, the branches point towards the trunk and the trunk points towards the roots. There is only one tree, one way and one life. There is no good and evil. There is no movement of effort, becoming, struggle and suffering. It is the movement of unfolding.
The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is the fragmented tree, fragmented truth. Human consciousness lives either at the level of the leaves and at the level of branches. They are disconnected from the trunk and the roots. There is good and evil. There is desire, effort, struggle and suffering. This is the level of samsara or bondage. Reincarnation belongs to this level. The fall of humanity is from the tree of life to the Tree of knowledge of good and evil. It is eating the fruit from the tree of good and evil. Moksa is moving from the fragmented consciousness to the wholeness of consciousness, from the Tree of knowledge of good and evil to the Tree of Life. It is eating the fruit from the Tree of Life. In the Biblical Tradition Jesus Christ ate this fruit from the Tree of Life.
This helps us to make the following conclusions:
1. There is only one eternal Reality, Atman and Brahman or God. This reality only incarnates but does not reincarnate.
2. Whenever a new life appears the incarnation of God or the reflection of God is present there. In this sense every birth is the incarnation of God but it is in a state of unconsciousness.
3. There are an infinite number of souls. These souls are not independent but the reflections of Atman or God in the human consciousness. The Sun is one but as the mirrors increase the reflections also increase. The nature of the reflections of God is also to incarnate, to unfold life. Hence they also do not reincarnate.
4. Then the desire to become conscious of this reflection of God appears. Even though this desire is good it creates a separate self and takes the human consciousness in the wrong direction. This separate self can be called ego or the ignorant self or the self of desire. It does not have any substance (anatta) and it is not permanent (anicca). Its nature is like a cloud. When ignorance and desire are evaporated the cloud also disappears. One becomes conscious of the reflection of God or Atman.
5. Reincarnation belongs to the process of continuity from the past into the present and then into the future. Reincarnation does not happen only after death but also can happen before death. Reincarnation belongs to the waking consciousness and the dreaming consciousness which we have described above. The most powerful and obvious reincarnation is the reincarnation of belief systems. They use the individuals to continue. Physical bodies may die but desires and belief systems will not die. They look for the physical bodies for their fulfillment.
6. Samsara is the necessary process of human beings to become conscious of what is already unconscious. All desires are ultimately desires for our eternal Self, but projected in the wrong direction. We need to stop moving in that wrong direction and come back within us where we find our eternal self. This is the purpose of all our spiritual practices. Spiritually a virgin is one who stops this movement of samsara and gives birth to eternity. She stops reincarnation and initiates incarnation. When this happens then we celebrate Christmas: the incarnation of God or eternity.
7. Every human being is a unique manifestation of God. Every birth is an incarnation of God, a unique manifestation of God. To call a new human being as the reincarnation of the past is an insult to that person's dignity and uniqueness. It is an insult to the plan of God. God wants that we respect that child and help that child to realize its dignity and uniqueness. The past should not use this new life for its continuity. This past can be individual desires of the physical parents and collective desires of the belief systems. If the past wants to use this new life for its continuity then it becomes like Herod who wants children for the continuity of his power, position and dynasty. It means the past kills the present. It is for this reason Herod was called the murderer of innocent children. When the past is willing to die to its continuity then it gives life to the present. It is only by dying it gives life. It becomes a spiritual virgin. She chooses children for eternity, for God. She says to her children: you are not my child but God’s child. I am only a foster parent to God’s Children. Christians say that Christ by his death gave life to others. This death is not only external but also internal. It means that Jesus chose everyone for resurrection and not for his reincarnation or continuity. We need to do the same thing. We should chose children for resurrection and not for reincarnation. Reincarnation is being transformed from Herod to Virgin Mary. Reincarnation becomes like three wise men that chose the child for resurrection and offer the past as a gift to the present, to be used by the present. Thus resurrection embraces reincarnation and reincaranation recognizes resurrection and serves it.