1

REBIRTH
RATIONAL ANALYSIS BY
A DOCTOR

WRITTEN BY DR. SANAT TRIVEDI

Index
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Re-birth
RATIONAL ANALYSIS BY

A DOCTOR

Written By:
Dr. Sanat Trivedi
b/15 Pavan Apartment
Nr. Judges bunglow
Bodakdev
Ahmedabad
India
Email : [email protected]

Copyright:
All rights reserved with writer, including the right
of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

Dr. Sanat Trivedi

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Preface

It gives me a great pleasure to write the preface to the book Rebirth a

rational analysis by a doctor written by Dr Sanat Trivedi. Dr Sanat
Trivedi is a medical doctor by profession and has to his credit various
medical books on exercise, stress syndrome, health in your hands, etc.
Since last 15 years he has started to delve into the realm of spirituality
and has come up with various books such as Understanding the 16th
chapter of the Gita, the shiv katha, Pranayam, Meditation and man,
mind and happiness.
His style of analyzing the concept with a scientific and rational approach
is unique. He has once again come up with an interesting topic which
has intrigued mankind from the very beginning. Mankind has always
wondered as to what happens to him after death, why he feels deep
bonding with certain people and rejects or is neutral to others, why
certain places seem familiar to him though he is visiting it for the first
time in his lifetime. Also the incidences of child prodigies and
extraordinary personalities being born in ordinary homes has always
awed man. Man and all other creatures are governed by natural laws
and so there must be some law that governs our birth and death cycles.
By probing into the different aspects of the subject he has very well
covered the topic by giving us a deeper perspective of the subject.
This book is highly recommended for all those who have thought deeply
about their existence and where they come from and why each person is
so unique and different though from the same family and culture. The
book promises to give enough food for thought for those who would like
to further their understanding about the subject.

Dr Neha Pujara
Consultant in homoeopathy
Ahmedabad
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Index

Introduction:

Life cycle Birth - Growth - death

Master of the body

Who is the master in human body?

I-consciousness

Life and Vital energy

Philosophy of death

Philosophy of Re-birth

Conclusion

Logical theory for life after death

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Introduction

Eternal questions

Some questions are universal and eternal. These questions are as

old as the creation of mankind. The day man started logical
thinking, the question that first arose in his mind was, who
created this earth? He tried to answer this question, but he
could not find any satisfactory answer till date. He saw number
of animals dying every day, he saw death of his fellow men. Man
was intrigued by many such events but he could not understand
these phenomena. He could not understand that the living being,
which was able to carry on his daily task, suddenly becomes
motionless, and falls on the ground. His body gets deteriorated
within short time. He could not find the logical answer for this
phenomenon.

He also realized that there are certain events occurring in the

nature, which are beyond his capacity to understand. So he
realized that there is some power, existing in the nature, which is
very strong and very complex to understand. So he started
worshiping that power. That was the starting point for the belief
in the super power or God.

There are certain questions which are unique, universal and

eternal.

These questions are:

- Who created this universe?

- Whether God exists or not?

- What happens after death?

All the scientists, all the religious leaders, all the

philosophers, all the thinkers have tried to solve this mystery by
putting forward various theories; trying to explain complexities of
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these mysteries but none of the theories can satisfy sufficiently

the seekers of the truth.

The first two questions in the perspective of the creation of the

universe and the existence of God are more or less theoretical
and academic. These are the questions to satisfy the curiosity of
the scientists and philosophical thinkers. For the ordinary
person, it matters little, whether God exists or not, and who has
created this universe, as answers to these questions makes no
difference in their routine life.

But the last question is very significant and important, that is

what happens after death.

Any ordinary person, witnesses every day his relatives, friends,

and others dying. He is also aware that death is the ultimate end
of life. He perceives that the death is the end all his life
activities, end of his relations, end of his attachments and end of
his future. He perceives that it is the total annihilation of life.

He is afraid of death, because it is a journey towards the

unknown.

Death is the passage, through which the person enters in the

unknown area.
So he is inquisitive and eager to know what happens after
death.
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Life cycle Birth - Growth - death

What is death?

The word death is very simple for the common man. For him
death means an end of life. It is the cessation of life. When we
say it is the end of life, then we have to be very specific regarding
the word life.

What is life?

Life is the quality distinguishing non-living organisms from living

organisms. For the common man it is very simple to differentiate
between living and non-living. One can say that man, animals,
birds, insects etc are living and rocks, earth, mountains, chair,
table etc are non-living. But it will be difficult for the man to say
whether some micro-organisms like viruses are living or non-
living? Whether algae or fungi are living or non-living?

If you ask same question to the scientist, then he will say there
are four basic characters for the living. The objects which fulfill
these four characters, are living, and rest of the objects are non-
living.

These four characters are birth, growth, reproduction and death.

The living will have its birth, it will grow, it will reproduce its own
kind, and it will die. Those objects which fulfill all these four
characters are living, and those which does not fulfill these basic
characters, are non-living. Death is the fourth basic character
of living.

Only living can die.

The death is the last step of the life. It is the end of life. It is the
process of converting living into non-living. The dead body can
not grow, and can not reproduce. This is the scientific
explanation of death.
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Medically the person is declared dead when his heart stops

beating. Heart is the vital organ, when it stops beating it is the
sign of death. But it may happen in some rare cases that heart
may start beating again, after it has stopped beating. Does it
mean that the dead person revived his life? No, it is not the
revival of life. In fact the person was not dead, but his heart
stopped beating temporarily. His all other organs were normal,
and as soon as his heart re-started beating, all the other organs
again started functioning normally.

So ideally death means, the situation when all the vital organs of
living persons stops functioning permanently, it stops growing and
can not reproduce its own kind.

But again this is not the complete and ideal answer for the death.

To understand the process of death one has to understand the

process of birth and growth.

Birth:

Most of the people have witnessed the birth of new baby, but very
few have the exact knowledge of the process of birth, or
reproduction.
Most of the species are divided into two separate sexes, Male and
female. Female produces the egg, which in the medical
terminology known as ova, and the male produces spermatozoa.
Each ova and sperm contains half the number of chromosomes.
When both of them unite, it makes total chromosomes, required
to form the living cell. The union of the ova and sperm is called
fertilization. During copulation the sperm enters female uterus
and unites with the ova. Two half cells unite to form one living
cell. This is the first step in the process of birth. After
fertilization, the cell stars dividing itself. From one it becomes
two, then four, eight, sixteen and so on. This way from one single
cell, it forms the mass of multiple cells, which is known as
embryo. After some time, there is the formation of different
organs, and systems. The process of growth of the embryo
continues in the uterus of the mother. It takes nine months to
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complete the growth of all the body parts, organs, and various
systems. At the end of nine month, when the growth is
completed, and when the child is capable of living independently,
it comes out from the womb of the mother. This is the birth of
new baby.

Growth:

When the child is born, he is very small, his weight is around 3.5
kg, his all the systems are not fully developed. After birth the
child starts growing. Each individual cell of the childs body is
having its own life. Cell is born, it grows, it reaches to the
maturity, and it dies at the end. This is the continuous process
in the human body. During the growing state of the child, every
day more number of cells are born than number of cells dying.
With the effect there is the growth in the size and weight of the
childs body.

In the second stage, the new cells generated, equals the number
of cells dying. So now there is no further physical growth of the
child.

In the third stage, i.e. in old age, the process is reversed. In old
age more number of cells gets matured and dies, compared to
number of new cells born. With the effect the physical body
starts deteriorating.

Death:

Death is the cessation of life. It is also cessation of growth and

cessation of all the functions. It is the state of the body where all
the organs and systems of the body stop functioning. The person
who was walking, speaking, running, eating, reading, thinking,
making decisions and one who was protecting the body from out
side dangers, suddenly stops all the activities. Now he can not
eat, can not walk, can not run, cannot speak, can not think or
can not even protect himself from the out side dangers. The body
becomes inert, motionless, and lifeless. Its heart, lungs, liver,
stomach, brain, kidneys etc, suddenly stop functioning. His
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circulation, digestion, excretion, and respiration suddenly stop.

Not only that but all the cells of the body, gradually starts dying.
When the person was living, there was continuous process of
formation of new cells in each organ. There was continuous
process of birth of new cells, and death of old cells. After death
there is no activity of formation of new cells. After death the
existing cells of the body gradually starts dying. The process of
decomposition starts and within a short time the body gets
completely decomposed.

Modes of death:

There are two modes of deaths.

1) Sudden or premature death.

2) Gradual or matured death.

Premature death:

The average life of the human being is considered as 80 to 90

years. When the person dies at the age earlier than the average
life, it is known as premature death. Premature death can be by
accident or by fatal disease.

Accident: The person is completely healthy. He meets with fatal

accident. Accident may be motor-accident, plain accident, fall
from the height, severe burning, poisoning, suffocation or sudden
mental shock. In such cases all his organs and systems,
suddenly stop functioning, and the person is dead.

There is an inbuilt internal balance and coordination between all

the internal organs. Because of accident this internal balance
and coordination is lost, with the result, all the organs stops
functioning. For example in accident, there is heavy bleeding
from the wound, with the result there is no sufficient blood in the
body to supply enough oxygen and sugar to all the body organs,
with the result, there is disturbed internal balance, and death.
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There can be damage to the liver, brain, kidneys, or heart, and

there will be loss of internal balance, resulting in sudden death.
This internal imbalance or loss of internal coordination may be
due to accident, injury, or internal pathology of one specific
organ.

Matured death:

In this case the person reaches to the matured age of survival.

He is healthy. He does not have any specific internal pathology of
any organ. But there are internal degenerative changes. With the
result all his organs, start losing their efficiencies. All the organs
function at low level. At some point of time, his one of the organs
stops functioning, with the result there is loss of internal balance
and death.

Process of death:

What is described above is the first stage of death. It is not the

complete death. In this stage, all the organs some how stop
functioning either due to accident, due to injury, or due to some
unknown reason. However those organs are not dead. It is
observed so many times, that the attending doctor has declared
the person as dead person, the family members and friends have
started the process of cremation, and suddenly the dead person
regains his life. His all the organs some how starts functioning
again. And the person lives few years more. It means at that
point of time those organs were not dead, but they had just
stopped functioning.

There are lives within life. The human body behaves as single
living organism. But there are millions of living cells in the same
living organism, which have their own individual life, and have
their specific functions. Every day number of cells takes new
birth and number of cells dies.

Scientifically and theoretically, complete death means not only

cessation of functions of all the organs, but it is the situation
where there is not a single living cell in the body.
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It is the stage when all the cells of all the organs are dead.

The physical body passes through three main stages, before it

reaches to the stage of complete death. These three stages are
1) Stoppage of the functions of all the organs.
2) Gradual death of all the living cells in the body.
3) Total disintegration of all the elements of the body.

Let us examine the process of death in more detail.

1) Stoppage of the functions of all the organs.

Due to accident, or old age or severe mental shock, the organs of

the body suddenly stop functioning. Heart stops beating, process
of digestion stops, there is no excretion because kidneys stop
their work, there is no respiration, or there is no movements of
any parts of the body.

The body organs stop functioning but they are not dead. Each of
the organs of the physical body is made of thousands of live cells.
Those live cells have not died yet. When the person is living,
there is continuous process of formation of new cells, and
destruction of old cell. In a dead body those existing live cells
stop growing and multiplying. They stop reproducing new cells.
But they are still alive.

Organs of the body have stopped functioning, but those organs

are not dead. If those live organs are transplanted in other live
human body, they will again start functioning. In medical world
transplantation of the live organs of the dead body is very
common. When those live organs of dead body, are transplanted
in the living person, it again starts functioning. Heart, kidneys,
liver, eyes, and skin of the dead body can be removed and can be
again planted in to some live person. Then that organ will start
functioning, and can survive for many more years.

It means scientifically those organs were not dead at the time of

death.
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2) Gradual death of all the living cells of the body.

After the death of the person, or to be more specific, once the

organs of the body stop functioning, the cells of the organ will
start dying. This is very gradual process. It will take few days to
complete this process. Some of the cells will die within short
time, while some of the cells will take more time to die. This
whole process is known as decomposition of the dead body.

3) Total disintegration of all the elements of the body.

It is also proved by the scientific studies, that the human body,

more specifically human cells are made of several basic elements
(atoms). Those elements are mainly carbon, hydrogen, oxygen,
nitrogen and some trace elements like iron, calcium, iodine, etc.
Those elements combined together and form human cells. Once
the cell is dead, there will be disintegration of all the basic
elements. So in the third stage those basic elements will
disintegrate themselves from the dead cells. The dead cell will
break down and atoms of Carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen,
calcium, iron and other trace elements will be free to merge in
the existing environment. In the end all the atoms of the dead
body, will be disintegrated and will unite with their original
source.

This is the completion of whole life cycle.

It is believed that some unknown power creates the life from

existing elements of the universe, i.e. birth of the new life. And
when there is the end of life, all those elements disintegrate,
leave the body and again combine with their original source.

Life originates from environmental basic elements and finally

merges with the same basic elements.

This is the hard fact of the life. Death is the ultimate hard reality of
all the living organisms.
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Let us examine the subject with a different angle.

It is observed by the medical scientists, that the human body is

made up of millions and millions of small tiny cells. Each cell is
made up of its specific nucleus, protoplasm and cell wall. These
cells can be compared with the bricks of the big building. As the
building is made up of thousands of bricks, the human body is
made up of thousands of such cells. There are different types of
cells for different organs. There are specific cells for brain,
specific cells for heart, specific cells for liver and cells for muscles
and bones. These different types of cells are having different
functions. This individual cell has its own life. Individual cell
passes through its own life cycle. i.e. birth, growth and death.
The cell is born, then it grows, and after completion of the
growth, it dies. So scientifically each individual cell has its own
life. Every day in our body, thousands of new cells are born, and
thousands of old cells die.

So in fact there is life within the life.

So logically there are billions of small tiny lives, within one

human body.

It means birth and death is the continuous process in the human

body. In fact every day part of our physical body dies, and part
of our physical body takes new birth. It is estimated that our
whole body structure is totally replaced by new body structure
within seven years. So the person having seventy years of age
has already replaced his body seven times in his whole life.

In spite of that he does not have the filling of being dead any time
in his life.

Now when the person is dead, (dead in common sense) when he

is declared as dead person, almost all of his cells are not dead
but they are living. Almost all of his organs are healthy and
living. It is a common observation that, the human body starts
the process of putrefaction as soon as it is dead. Putrefaction is
the process in which, all the cells and organs of the body starts
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decomposing.
There are billions and billions of toxic micro- organisms in the
environment. They are capable of attacking and killing our living
cells.

But due to some unknown reason, they can not affect the living
cells of the live human body.

Some unknown force protects all the organs and live cells of the
live human body. But as soon as the person is dead, that
unknown protective force leaves the physical body, and all the
organs and the cells become vulnerable to the out side force of
those deadly micro-organisms.
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Master of the body

Human body is made up of multiple systems and several organs.

Each system and organs are destined to perform some specific
functions. E.g. function of gastro- intestinal system is to digest
the ingested food, and convert it to simple constituents, which
can be utilized for the production of energy. Same way heart and
various arteries and veins, carry the blood to the various organs,
muscles and bones to provide them the necessary glucose and
oxygen. Each system of the body functions in full collaboration
and co-ordination with all the other system to achieve the
ultimate goal of survival and reproduction.

These coordinated and controlled actions of all the organs and

systems can not be automatic. There should be some factor,
which is responsible for control, supervision and coordination of
all the organs and all the systems. There must be some
coordinator in the body. The function of this coordinator is to
coordinate the functions of all the systems in such a way that the
body remains healthy and survives for longer time. This
coordinator provides energy and nutrition to all the organs
through the medium of gastro- intestinal system. It regularly
excretes all the unwanted and toxic elements, with the help of
kidneys. The same coordinator receives the information from the
out side world, with the help of five sensory organs, and takes
necessary decisions, to protect the body from out-side danger.
When require, the same coordinator sends orders to various
muscles of the hands and legs, with the help of nerves, to
perform various actions.

This coordinator is the efficient manager of the human body.

The main functions of this manager are to regulate and

coordinate internal body systems, to keep the body healthy and
efficient, to search necessary food for the body and to protect the
body from out side dangers.

In the absence of this coordinator the body will not function

properly and will die.
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All the living cells of the body, though they are live in pure
medical terminology, are not capable of independent survival.
They require some factor to keep them alive.

Now let us examine the case of one unicellular organism called

amoeba. Amoeba is very small and unicellular. It means its body
is made up only one cell. This small live organism is capable of
independent survival. It is independently capable of finding its
own food, digesting the food, excreting the waste and protecting
the self from out side dangers. It can grow, can survive
independently and can reproduce new amoebas.

What is the difference between unicellular amoeba and individual

cell of our body?

Composition of the individual cell of human body and that of

amoeba is same. They are having nucleus, cytoplasm, and cell-
wall. Both of them can take birth, can grow, can survive and can
reproduce new cells. The process of growth, survival, and
reproduction is due to one factor, known as vital force. Amoeba
being independent and individual live organism is having its own
individual vital force. The body of amoeba is ruled, governed, and
controlled by its own vital force. So amoeba is independent,
individual and unique living organism.

The birth, growth, survival, and reproduction of individual cell of

the human body are also due to the influence of vital force. That
vital force provides vitality to the individual human cell. In the
absence of that vital force, the individual cell will lose its capacity
to grow and reproduce.

Unlike amoeba the cell of the human body is not having its own
vital force.
It receives its vital energy from the main body.

In human body there is one (only one) vital force, which rules,
governs, and controls all the cells of the human body. It means
both, the amoeba and the human body, are independent and
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unique living organisms. But the individual cell of the human

body is not independent and unique living organism like amoeba.

Unicellular amoeba can be compared with very small workshop

owned and run by single master (owner). The master is the
manager, who runs whole show. The master does all the work
himself. He purchases raw material. He does labor work. He
keeps the factory clean by throwing out all the waste. He himself
prepares new product. He maintains the account. He manages
the power. He goes in the market and sells the finished goods.
And he is the sole responsible person for the growth of that small
unit.

Human body is like a big corporate industry. In corporate

industry there are several departments like store, purchase
department, sanitary department, production department,
human resource department, account section, sales department
and special department for disposing the waste. There are
hundreds of workers working in the each department performing
one single specific task. As such each employee is assigned
specific task. Worker for the sanitation does only cleaning.
Purchase officer only purchases raw material. Electrician
maintains regular supply of power. Workers in the production
produce finished goods. The department of maintenance looks
after breakage and repair. Officers in sales department are
engaged in sales. Each worker is getting remuneration as per his
contribution to the industry. There will be constant turn over of
the workers. Every day some worker will leave the company, and
some new workers will be employed. But the number of workers
will remain constant.

The turn over of the worker will not affect the structure and life of
the company.

This industry is owned and run by one master.

He is responsible for distributing the work to each department,

coordinating inter-departmental functions, providing resources,
looking after their welfare, and giving them their pay. The
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ultimate aim of the industry is to survive and grow. If that master

leaves the industry, employees will not get proper instructions,
and coordination will be lost, they will not get their pay, and
industry will stop working. The employees have to either leave
the company or they will die without food and proper care.

Industry, whether small or big can not run, survive and grow
without master.

In the same way a living organism cannot survive, function and

grow without the master.

Main objective of this master is self satisfaction, enjoyment, and

evolution. The physical body is the instrument, through which,
the master desires to fulfill all his objectives.
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Who is the master in human body?

The master of the human body is invisible and imperceptible by

any senses. Neither he can be seen, nor he can be touched, and
nor can he be heard. His presence can be felt and can be
understood by logical reasoning.

He is the sole decision maker of all the activities and actions. He

is the coordinator of all the internal functions of the body. He is
the enjoyer of all the pleasures of life. He is the protector of the
living body, and he is the provider of vital-force for cellular life in
the body.

The main objective of this master is to maintain life and get

maximum happiness.

Decision maker:

This master is sole decision maker. The physical body is the

vehicle or the instrument. It can not run without the able
guidance of the master. The body is like most advanced
computer. Number of the activities in the body, are automatic
like any computer, but it can not run without the presence of
master.

Physical energy for all the actions is produced and supplied by

chemical combustion of glucose in the blood. This glucose is
produced by digestion of the food. So when there is need for more
glucose, the body requires more food. By sensation of hunger
body gives signals to the master for food. In ordinary
circumstances, the master makes arrangement of eating food.
But he may avoid eating the food, in some special circumstances.
He may be busy in office work, or he may like to avoid the food
for health purpose, or for religious reasons. At the end of the
days work, body requires rest. The master takes the decision of
going to sleep in ordinary circumstances, but if there is pending
office work, or if there is need for study for future exam, the
master may take the decision of avoiding the sleep.
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At each point of time or at each step of activity, some decision is

to be taken. This decision is taken by the master. The decision
may be as simple as choosing the food to eat or may be as
complicated as choosing the life partner.

All the decisions taken by this master is for the benefit of the
physical body as well as for getting maximum happiness in the
life.

When the physical body is sick, the master takes the decision of
going to the doctor, and getting appropriate treatment. He takes
the decision of watching the TV or cinema for the sake of getting
pleasure. He chooses the right book for reading, and he selects
the house for comfortable living.

So this master is the sole decision maker of all the activities and
actions of the life.

Coordinator:

He is the coordinator, for all the actions of all the organs of the
body. There are various systems in the body. These systems have
different functions and different role. E.g. cardio-vascular system
is responsible for easy and normal flow of the blood, so that vital
elements can be supplied to all the organs, as per their need.
Gastro-intestinal system is meant for ingestion and digestion of
the food. The main function of the Urinary system is to remove
waste products from the body. Function of the Nervous system is
to receive varied information through five sensory organs, and to
direct the muscles to act as per the need.

All the systems are functioning with the ultimate goal for survival
and maintenance of normal health. If there is no coordination
between various systems, there will be disorder and disharmony,
leading to internal imbalance, which can harm the normal
health, and may lead to death.

For example whenever there is danger to life, (like danger from

wild animal), the sensory organs like eye and ear, will convey
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that information to the brain. Now there are two possibilities.

Either one can fight with object of danger, or rapidly leave the
dangerous sight. For either of the purpose, one requires to use
the muscles of the legs and hands. Those muscles will require
extra energy. For that they require more blood. For supplying
more blood, heart has to pump more blood. That task can be
performed by enhancing the force and rate of the heart beat.
Same time the heart will require more oxygenated blood, to pump
in the various body parts. So the process of oxygenation of the
blood should be enhanced. This can be done by increasing the
capacity and efficiency of the lungs. Hence lungs have to work
fast. This can be achieved by increasing the respiration rate. So
for the task of facing the danger number of body organs and
parts have to work in full coordination. Master of the body is
responsible for maintaining internal coordination of all the
organs, to achieve ultimate goal of survival.

Protector

He is the protector of the physical body. The master protects the

body from all the possible attacks, external as well as internal
causing damage or injury to the body. Internal attacks are
created by internal imbalance, in-coordination, and internal
injury, Most of the time this leads to disease and internal
pathology. The master being efficient coordinator maintains fine
balance between different organs and prevents the diseases.

External attacks are mainly physical injury, ingestion of polluted

food, and attack by the micro-organisms like viruses and
bacteria. In case of physical danger, the master protects the
body either by fight or flight. If he is capable then he fights
otherwise he leaves the dangerous sight. This is known as fight
or flight reaction.

In the case of the polluted food, he directs the body for not eating
such food. His previous experiences give him the sense for the
selection of good, non-polluted and healthy food. If by mistake
some unhealthy food is ingested by the body, then food is
removed from the body, either by the way of vomiting or by
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diarrhea.

The micro-organisms are prevented to enter into the body by

intact skin. If by chance the micro-organisms enter the body
through broken skin, or with food or with air, then the master
takes necessary steps to remove them. He sends the team of
warriors to fight and kill them. These are special types of cells.
These are some specific kind of white cells, whose main function
is to kill bacteria, viruses or any types of enemies. They fight with
these enemies and kill them and save the body from their
harmful effects.

In case warriors fail to prevent the attack of bacteria and viruses,

then there will be disease, and damage to the body parts. In such
circumstances the master will take steps to control the damage
and will take damage control measures. The dead cells will be
removed from the body, and repair procedure will be started.
This procedure is known as healing.

So the master is not only protector of the body but he is the able
repairer.

Enjoyer:

He is the enjoyer of all the pleasures of life and he is the witness

of all the actions. He enjoys the music communicated to him by
both the ears. He is the enjoyer of all the scenes communicated
to him by his eyes. He enjoys the good taste of the food, and also
enjoys the good smell of the flower. Ears, eyes, nose, tongue and
skin, are the sensory organs. These sensory organs are the
instruments through which he receives the information of
outside world. He is the receiver of all the information. He
analyzes the information conveyed to him through sensory
organs, and then responds to it. He is the beholder of all the
feelings. He is observer of all the actions.
 24

Provider of vital-force:

As it is explained, there are millions of live cells in the body.

Different cells have different specific functions. Those cells have
their own individual life. Every day thousands of new cells are
generated, they grow, and at the end they die. The master is the
creator and originator of all those cells. The master is provider of
the vital- force, which is required for the birth, and growth of
those live cells. In the absence of the master the process of
generating new cells is stopped.

Who is this Master?

The master residing in the physical body and controlling all the
activities of the body is known as I. It is the I-ness or I-
consciousness or the subjective feeling of I.

In Latin language it is known as EGO. Ego means pure sense of

I. Each individual carries this sense of I. I is the subjective
feeling of self identity, which demarcates the self from the rest of
the world. For each individual there is only one I. The rest of
the world is divided into two specific divisions, i.e., my and
others. All the living organisms and non-living objects, which
are possessed by I, are considered as my. Rest of the world is
named as other. The individual says my family, my wife, my
friends, my relatives, my property, my prestige, my reputation,
my power, my knowledge and my body.

The physical body is the property of I. Imaster is the sole

owner of his body. This property-right is awarded to him by
supreme power. The property-right starts with the birth and lasts
till death. He can not sell this property nor can he mortgage it.

Physical body is his house as well as his tool. He resides in this

house and utilizes the same for performing all his activities, for
actualizing all his objectives and enjoying all the pleasures of life.

This gadget is highly sophisticated and capable of performing any

given task. So it is nearest and dearest to I-master,
 25

I-consciousness

This I-master is popularly known as I-consciousness, spirit

or Atman.

The body is mutable and perishable. In the beginning it is made

of one cell. Then the cell starts multiplying, and there is the
formation of multiple organs like heart, brain, kidneys, liver,
lungs, stomach, bones and muscles. Gradually it grows to full
size human body. At the time of birth it is weighing hardly 3.5
kg, and then it grows to full size human body weighing 70- 80 kg.
At the end it perishes and disintegrates.

I-master residing in this changeable and perishable body is

unchangeable and imperishable.

As per Hindu philosophy, I - master is unborn, unchangeable

and immortal.

Again who is this I-master?

Medical scientists, who know the anatomy of the human body,

are unable to find I-consciousness or Atman in the physical
body, either during operation or during dissection of the human
body. Atman is invisible, can not be seen by the eyes. It is
inaudible, cannot be heard by the ears, is untouchable, can not
be touched by the hands. In fact Atman is imperceptible by any
sense organs. In the book of Gita ( Hindu religious book) , it is
told that neither one can burn it, nor one can cut it, nor one can
dissolve it in water, nor one can dry it by air.

Modern scientists have concluded that all the elements of the

world are either in the form of matter or in the form of energy.
But Atman or I-consciousness is neither the matter not the
energy.

I-consciousness neither can be classified as matter nor can be

classified as energy.
 26

Then what is the constitution of I-consciousness?

Atman is pure consciousness. So it is also known as I-

consciousness. It is the awareness of the existence of the self. It
is the knowledge of self existence. This knowledge prevails in
all the living organisms like insects, fishes, birds, animals and
human beings.

It is the eternal truth that I exist. This I-consciousness is the centre

of total consciousness.

It persists throughout life. The same I-sense was there during

childhood, the same sense persists during adulthood, and same
I-sense will be there during old age. The physical body is
changing continuously. It grows from state of childhood to
adulthood and then to old age, but this I-sense, I-consciousness
remains same. There is no change in the deep rooted feeling of I.
There can be change in the shape, size, weight, and color of the
physical body, but there is no change in this sense of I or I-
consciousness.

The same I-sense persists when the person is awake and

performing all his activities, the same I-sense persists during the
sleep when person is resting, and same I-sense persists during
dreams when the person performs numerous activities without
his physical body. The physical body sleeps, but this I-master or
I-sense never sleeps. He creates his own dream world, and he
acts, moves, performs various activities, and witnesses various
events in the dream.

It means he is not the part of the physical body. He can act, can
move, can witness, and can enjoy in the absence of physical body.

He is the perceiver but he can not be perceived.

Is this I-sense a pure knowledge?

As per the opinion of medical experts, knowledge is classified as

 27

the memory. And all types of memory are stored in some part of
the brain. When brain is damaged during accident or due to
diseases, there is total memory loss. It is observed in several
cases of memory loss, that the patient forgets name and identity
of his wife, identity of his family members, of his relatives, of his
friends; he forgets his address, his residence. He forgets whether
he was doctor, or pleader, or government servant or business
man. He even forgets his own name and his personal identity.
His past is totally wiped out from his memory file.

But his sense of I remains intact. He very well knows that he

exists.

Whenever there is pain he complains to the doctor that I have

the pain so his I-sense is not lost even during total memory loss.

It proves that this sense of I-ness, the I-consciousness is not the

part of normal memory. That sense is not stored in the brain.

I-consciousness, source of vital energy:

This I-master is also the source of vital energy. Vital energy is the
type of energy, which is required for the survival, and growth of
all the cells in the body. It is also known as vital force.

Vital force as energy:

Vital force is one type of energy. It can be called as vital

energy. On earth there are number of energies like electrical
energy, mechanical energy, heat energy, atomic energy. As
such whatever exists on earth, are either in the form of matter
or in the form of energy. Physicists have recognized number of
energies and discovered rules governing those energies. But
science has remained silent as far as vital energy is concerned.
This is the energy which is responsible for the life on earth.
The basic characters of life are growth, survival, and
reproduction. These characters are seen in all the lives on
earth.
 28

A very complicated and complex instrument like the computer

can perform multiple tasks which any normal human being
can not perform. But yet the computer can not have those
characters of life i.e. growth, survival and reproduction. No
computer can grow by itself or can reproduce baby computers.
On the other hand the smallest organism like the amoeba can
grow, survive and can reproduce a baby amoeba. All species of
earth have existed for millions of years because of this ability
to reproduce. As far as life is concerned the smallest creature
like amoeba is far more superior to any highly complicated
machine produced by man.

Again it is observed, that the organisms having low vital

energy, are having limited functions and activities, While the
organisms having high vital energy are having better abilities,
and so they can perform multiple functions. Unicellular
organisms like amoeba have very limited functions of growth,
survival, and reproduction. While organisms like insects can
perform more functions as compared to amoeba. This is
because they possess higher vital energy as compared to
amoeba.

Man is gifted with the highest amount of vital energy and

hence he can perform multiple tasks as compared to other
animals.

The superiority of man over other animals is due to the higher

level of vital energy that he possessed

Basic elements found in almost all the living beings are,

carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and some trace elements
like calcium, phosphorus, copper and iron. These elements are
also found in abundance, in various places in the universe.
Water is the combination of hydrogen and oxygen. Natural air
contains nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen and carbon.

However the basic elements found in the living organisms are

not the same as they are in the air and water. Those basic
elements found out side living organisms are not capable of
 29

creating life, while those elements found in the living

organisms can create life.

Human body is made up of multiple cells. Each cell is having

nucleus, cytoplasm, and cell wall. Individual cell is capable of
reproduction, growth and survival. So what is the difference
between the basic elements found in the living organisms and
non-living organisms?

The atoms of the basic elements found in the living organisms

are charged with vital energy, while those found out side are
not charged with vital energy. The atoms charged with vital
energy can combine and can create the cell, while those atoms
not charged with vital energy can not create life. Any living
being on this earth, can not survive without vital energy.
 30

Life and Vital energy

The main characters of the live objects are growth, survival,

and reproduction. All these functions are due to the effect of
the vital energy. A dead body which has no vital energy, can
not grow, survive, or reproduce. All the body organs function
regularly and systematically due to vital energy.

Vital Energy and Body resistance

Human body is vulnerable to a number of diseases. The whole

atmosphere around us is full of different kinds of deadly
bacteria and viruses. These organisms are highly equipped to
attack the human body. Being pathogenic these organisms are
capable of producing diseases. But all of them can not
produce diseases because of the inbuilt immune mechanism of
the body. Human body is having a natural resistance power
which does not allow these organisms to produce any disease
in the body. When the degree of resistance deteriorates due to
some reason, the bacteria can attack the body and can
produce disease.

The power of this natural resistance is proportionate to the

amount of vital energy in the body.

In the dead body there is no vital energy with the effect the
dead body is devoid of natural resistance. A dead body can not
fight against the attack of various bacteria. So decomposition
process starts in the body immediately after death.

Pure I-consciousness :

Feeling of I, I-sense prevails in all the living being. This I-sense

is the identification of the self. It isolates the self from rest of
the world. Most of the time, this I-sense is not pure, and it is
covered and colored with number of layers and colors. There
are number of tags attached with this I-sense. There is the tag
of religion, like I am Hindu, or I am Christian, or I am Muslim.
There can be tag of nationality, like I am Indian, or I am
 31

American. There can be tag of qualifications, like I am a

commerce graduate, or I am a law graduate. There can be the
tag of status, like I am doctor, or I am politician, or I am C.E.O
of specific company. There can be tag of sex; like I am man or I
am woman. There can be tag of relations, like I am father, or I
am brother, or I am wife. Most closely attached tag is the
name, like I am Albert, or I am Smith or I am Ahmed. All these
are various tags attached with I-sense.

Pure I-sense is devoid of any tag. It is pure sense of simple I.

This pure sense of I combined with vital energy is Atman.

In support of the existence of the soul or Atman in the body,

Swami Abhedanandji in his book, life beyond death writes
that,

We see that there are two principal factors in the body, one is
the mind and other is the vibration of the prana, or the vibratory
state of the cell and tissues of the body. But the vibratory state
of the cells and the tissues are governed by mind. In the fact the
mind is the director of all the organic functions of the body. But
there is another principle which directs also the mind. And that
the director is the life-force, or the prana or the soul. It is the
individual self conscious life force, which is called the living
soul. The living soul means the self conscious individualized life-
force with the sense of I and the sense of I holds them
together. This sense of I holds all together, unifies them, and
makes the separate parts vibrate and produce perfect harmony.
And that harmony is life.

Pure I-consciousness combined with vital energy is known as

Atman.

Atman is pure I-consciousness fully charged with vital

energy.

At the time of death that I-consciousness along with vital

energy leaves the physical body.
 32

Basic characters of the Atman:

Being the energy, Atman is indestructible. It is eternal and

immortal. It lives in the physical body. Not only that but the
physical body is its tool through which it can function and
fulfill all its desires. The most powerful desire of the Atman is
to get happiness. Perception of the happiness varies from
person to person. Some perceive happiness in wealth and
luxuries of life, some perceives happiness in prestige and
power. Some perceive happiness in social status. Some
perceive happiness in humanitarian activities.

With the effect each individual Atman, writes its own specific
script of life to get its perceived happiness.

This I-consciousness, or I-sense or Atman leaves the

physical body at the time of death.
 33

Philosophy of death

There are two definite schools of thought, as far as death is

concerned.
1) Death is the complete annihilation of life. It is total end of
life.
2) Death means it is the death of physical body, but not the
death of spirit or Atman.

Death means annihilation of life.

The phenomenon of death is very apparent. The child is born,

it grows, it becomes old, and finally it dies. There is no
exception to this phenomenon. Those who are born are very
much certain to die. Death is certain but the time of death is
not certain. It is also certain that dead body is lifeless. It
cannot move, it cannot speak, cannot feel the pain or
pleasure, or cannot perceive the outside world. The dead body
is useless. So it is either cremated or buried. In course of time
the relatives and friends forget the person. The person, who
was alive at one time, is lost for ever. Nobody knows where he
has gone. The life has been lost forever.

Death means death of physical body

There are various views forwarded by different group of people

and different religions.
There are four main religions in the world. Islam and
Christianity, originated from the west, while Hinduism and
Buddhism are more prevalent in the east.

Philosophy of Islam and Christianity

Followers of both these religions believe in resurrection. The

death is the death of the human body. The Ruha or the spirit
does not die. There is only one birth. God or Allah gives
chance to the human being to go on earth, and enjoy the life.
During his life span, either he performs good and virtuous
 34

actions or bad and immoral actions. God keeps detailed

account of all his actions.

On the Day of Judgment, the God, takes accounts of all his

actions. And as per the qualities of his actions on earth, either
he is sent to heaven for enjoying the life, or to hell as
punishment. There is no re-birth or second life.

Philosophy of Hinduism and Buddhism

As per Hindu philosophy, the death means death of physical

body, but not the death of soul or Atman. The Atman is
immortal. At the time of death, the Atman leaves the physical
body, and enters into the new body, which is in the fetal stage
in the womb of the mother. The quality of new birth is
awarded to the atman, as per his Karmas (actions) in the
previous birth. The cycle of birth and death continues till, the
Atman reaches to the stage of perfection. When the atman
evolves to the highest stage, he gets free from the cycle of birth
and death, this known as liberation or Moksha.

Buddha philosophy also believes in re-birth. They do not

believe in the existence of Atman. They believe that it is the
consciousness which is passing from one birth to second
birth. It is like lightening the second candle with the help of
first candle. In that process, the same flame which was
lightening the first candle, now lights up the second one.
There is the change of the candle, but the flame is not
changed.

These are the prevailing beliefs in various religions. All those

beliefs are mostly based on scriptures of religious books.
Christian belief is based on the writings of the Bible, and
Islamic belief is based on the writings of Quran. Hindu beliefs
are based on the writings of the Bhagvad Gita and the Vedas
and Upanishads. Ancient thinkers and philosophers had
observed the phenomenon of death. Their perception and
concept were based on prevailing scientific knowledge. Their
theories were primarily based on those concepts. Those
 35

theories were represented in various religious books as

scriptures.

Followers of the various sects and faiths firmly believe in those

sayings and writings. They hardly have any doubt in those
religious theories.

In modern era when the scientific knowledge has opened

various gates of knowledge on various subjects, a group of
people have started doubting all those religious beliefs.

So it is very important to re-analyze the event of death and

rebirth in the light of modern scientific knowledge.
 36

Philosophy of Re-birth

Now the prime question is whether the death is the

annihilation of life, or is there the possibility of re-birth.

There is no apparent and direct proof for rebirth. So it is most

likely that the rational mind will be hesitant to believe in the
theory of rebirth.

When there is no direct proof, one should consider indirect

and supportive evidences to prove the theory. In most of the
cases people do not have the memory of their previous birth.
But there are few cases where the person had claimed to
recollect the memory of his previous life.

Cases of recollection of memories of pre-birth:

There are number of stories depicted in various religious

books regarding rebirth. Hindu religious books are full of such
stories. Such stories are also found in Buddhism. In Bible,
there is mention of reincarnation of Jesus Christ on the third
day of his crucification. We may believe or may not believe in
such religious stories.

However there are several cases reported from various

countries regarding revival of past life memories.
Psychiatrist Ian Stevenson, from the University of Virginia,
investigated many reports of young children who claimed to
remember a past life. He conducted more than 2,500 case
studies over a period of 40 years and published twelve books,
including Twenty Cases Suggestive of
Reincarnation and Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect.
He carefully and methodically investigated all such cases.
According to Stevenson, childhood memories ostensibly
related to reincarnation normally occur between the ages of
three and seven years and then fade shortly afterwards. He
compared the memories with reports of people known to the
 37

deceased, attempting to do so before any contact between the

child and the deceased's family had occurred.
Many of Stevenson's subjects displayed skills and interests
which seem to represent a continuation of skills and interests
developed in the claimed previous life. Stevenson found that
the vast majority of cases investigated involved people who
had met some sort of violent or untimely death.
In a fairly typical case, a boy in Beirut spoke of being a 25-
year-old mechanic, thrown to his death from a speeding car on
a beach road. According to multiple witnesses, the boy
provided the name of the driver, the exact location of the
crash, the names of the mechanic's sisters and parents and
cousins, and the people he went hunting with all of which
turned out to match the life of a man who had died several
years before the boy was born, and who had no apparent
connection to the boy's family.
Another case involved an Indian boy, Gopal, who at the age of
three started talking about his previous life in the city of
Mathura, 160 miles from his home in Delhi. He claimed that
he had owned a medical company called Sukh Shancharak,
lived in a large house with many servants, and that his
brother had shot him after a quarrel. Subsequent
investigations revealed that one of the owners of Sukh
Shancharak had shot his brother some eight years before
Gopal's birth. The deceased man was named Shaktipal Shara.
Gopal was subsequently invited to Mathura by Shaktipal's
family, where the young child recognized various people and
places known to Shaktipal. The family was particularly
impressed by Gopal's mention of Shaktipal's attempts to
borrow money, and how this had led to the shooting, the
information that was known only to the family.
In interviewing witnesses and reviewing documents, Ian
Stevenson searched for alternate ways to account for the
testimony: that the child came upon the information in some
 38

normal way, that the witnesses were engaged in fraud or self-

delusion, that the correlations were the result of coincidence
or misunderstanding. But in scores of cases, Stevenson
concluded that no normal explanation sufficed.
In short according to Stevenson
1) In most of the cases recollection of past life memory occurs
during the age of 3 to 7.
2) Investigated cases had no direct connection or any means to
fabricate the information, they were displaying regarding their
previous life.
3) In most of the cases there was history of sudden and
accidental death in previous life.

4) In some cases he could detect the birth marks, which were

suggestive of injury in the previous life.

When he published his first book Twenty Cases Suggestive of

Reincarnation, group of people criticized that all the cases he
reported were from Asian countries and belief of rebirth highly
prevalent in those countries. Henceforth it is most likely that
minds of those children telling their stories regarding their
previous life may be polluted and conditioned by their family
and religious culture.

To overcome such criticism he published another book of 40

such cases reported from European countries.

Discussion:

In the beginning of the era, when such cases were reported by

local media, most of the skeptics were of the opinion that the
reported cases were fake and fabricated. But after careful and
methodical research of Dr. Ivan Stevenson, one has to believe
in the authenticity of such cases. The only theory which can
explain the knowledge of life before the birth is

presence of some life before the person is born.

 39

It indirectly proves that there is the possibility of rebirth.

Near Death Experiences ( NDE)

Near death experience means, unusual and specific type of

experience, when the patient is very serious and he is nearing
to death.

NDE can be defined as the reported memory of the whole of

the impressions during a special state of consciousness,
including a number of special elements such as out-of-body
experience, pleasant feelings, seeing a tunnel, light, deceased
relatives, or whole life review. Several situation are described
during which NDE are reported. These situations are the state
of cardiac arrest, i.e. clinical death, shock after loss of blood,
brain injury, intra-cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral ischemia, or
asphyxia.

Such experiences are observed and documented in more than

5000 cases. Most of the time it happens when the person gets
severe heart attack or serious conditions, like respiratory
failure or brain death. Due to such serious condition the
person becomes unconscious, his heart stops beating for a
short time, or the heart beats very fast (ventricular fibrillation).
Such condition is known as clinical death. As the heart stops
functioning there is stoppage of blood supply to brain. Hence
the brain stops functioning. This can be shown by EEG i.e.
electro-encephalo gram. The EEG will be flat when brain stops
working. Such situation may last for 8-10 minutes, if right
and immediate treatment is given, then patient may revive
from the serious condition, otherwise the patient may die.
Most of the patients, who had revived from such serious
condition, were unable to tell or remember their experiences
during that short period of clinical death. But few of the
patients, who had some vivid and strange experience, could
remember and could narrate in detail their experiences.
 40

Those experiences during that short period of clinical death is

Near Death Experiences or NDE.

A group of doctors have carried out the research for

understanding and analyzing the episodes of NDE. The
investigators had individually approached the patients and
inquired in details regarding their impression of near death
experiences.

Most common findings of that investigation were,

1) Most of the patients have reported that they had a strange

feeling of being outside the physical body. They could clearly
see their own body lying motionless on the bed. Such feeling is
known as out of body experience or OBE.
2) Some of them described that they had the feeling of getting
free from the physical bondage. It was a feeling like getting
free from long imprisonment.
3) Most of the patients narrated that they saw different bright
colors, and they heard strange sounds.
4) Some of the patients described that as soon as they were
released from the body; they were flying with high speed, and
were passing from the narrow tunnel.
5) Few patients narrated that after speedy travel they reached
to strange and beautiful places.
6) Some of them told that on the way they met their relatives
who had died before several years.
7) Some of the patient had the experience of seeing their whole
past life, as if all the events of the life were shown on the
screen, like some movie. This is known as holographic life
review. During the life review the subject feels and renewed
experiences of not only every action, but also of every thought
from ones past life. Patients survey their whole life in one
glance; time and space do not seem to exist during such an
experience.
8) Some patients described that they return to their own body,
as it was not their time to die, or they still had some important
task to fulfill.
 41

9) Most of them described that their out of body experience

was very pleasant.
10) Above all most of the patients who had under gone near
death experience, told that they lose their fear of death. This is
due to the realization that there is a continuation of
consciousness, even when you have been declared dead by
doctors. As such they felt that they were separated from the
lifeless body, retaining the ability of perception.

Discussion:

All these NDEs, are unusual experiences by the patients.

When the patient is seriously ill, he comes across strange
experiences. It is the extraordinary perception of the patients,
who were seriously ill and were nearing to death.

This phenomenon apparently concludes that,

1) The physical body and consciousness are not the same or

physical body and I- consciousness is not the single unit, but
they are separate and unique entity.
2) The I-consciousness is capable of leaving the body, and can
move independently.
3) I-consciousness or Atman is capable of observing his own
physical body.
4) Atman can travel in the space without the aid of any
vehicle. The speed of the travel is very high, higher than the
speed of light. That travel crosses the limitations of space and
time.
5) Atman can perceive without the help of sensory organs,
specifically visual and auditory perceptions.

Considering these entire points one can conclude that the

Atman is a self-governing entity, and it does not die at the time

of death of physical body.

Counter arguments:
 42

1) Some of the doctors have argued that this phenomenon is

nothing but the disturbed function of the human brain.
2) It can be a hallucination.

Traditionally it has been argued that thoughts and

consciousness are produced by large group of neurons or
neuronal network.
As per the medical concept, it is not possible to experience
consciousness during cardiac arrest, when circulation and
breathing have ceased. This is because there is no blood
supply to the brain. This condition is known as total cerebral
ischemia. When there is no blood supply to the neurons, the
neurons stop functioning, and this is clearly shown in all
these cases, by flat EEG.
But in spite of clinical brain death, most of the patients
maintain their ability to perceive and feel. It shows that the
said phenomenon is not the function of human brain.

A hallucination is a perception of something that is not really

there. It can involve sight, hearing, taste, smell, and/or touch.
For example, you may hear voices that nobody else hears or
see something that nobody else sees.

Both these medical theories suggest that the NDE is not due to
independent activities of the I-consciousness but it is due to
malfunction of the brain.

When there is damage to the brain due to injury or underlying

pathology, or when there is the deviation of the brain
functions the brain behaves abnormally. It affects the
perceptive ability of the brain. It starts perceiving distorted
and strange experiences. It may happen that the thoughts,
feelings and imaginations, lying deep in the sub-conscious
mind, may reach to the surface and the person may feel and
perceive strange experiences. So the so called NDE may be the
result of malfunction of the brain.

Medical theories and concepts are totally based on facts and

factual observations. Thats why they do not believe in the
 43

presence of mind, because anatomically no organ like mind is

detected in the physical body. They do not believe in the
independent existence of Atman, for the same reason. They
could not find any substance like Atman while dissecting
human cadaver. Therefore it is most likely that a group of
medical personals will be reluctant to believe that I-
consciousness can leave the physical body and can travel in
space and can perceive anything.

Let us reexamine the instances of NDE in the light of existing

medical concepts.

As per the current medical concepts, it is not possible to

experience consciousness during cardiac arrest, when
circulation and breathing is stopped. Traditionally it has been
argued that thoughts and consciousness are produced by
large group of neurons, and neuronal network. So it is not
possible for the pure consciousness to think or perceive during
clinical death, when the brain stops functioning.

In all above instances of NDE, it was observed that there was

total stoppage of brain functions due to lack of blood supply to
the brain, cerebral ischemia. That was clearly shown by the
graph of EEG. EEG is the graph showing the electrical output
of the brain, when it functions normally. From the changes in
the EEG neurologists can diagnose various brain diseases.
When the brain stops functioning, it will not produce any
electricity. With the result the EEG will not show any electrical
activity, and the graph will be flat.

Now in all above cases of NDE, it was observed and recorded

that the EEG of the patients were flat. It means that the brain
had totally stopped functioning. When the brain had stopped
functioning totally, one can not theorize that NDEs were the
result of malfunctioning of the brain. Same way hallucination
is also the product of the brain. Therefore when the brain is
not functioning there is no chance of patient experiencing
hallucination.
 44

It proves that NDE is not due to malfunctioning of the brain, but

it is due to independent activities of I-consciousness.

Hereditary and family culture

As per existing medical concepts, physical and mental growth,

behavior and character of the child depend mainly upon
hereditary and family culture.
Human cell is made up of cell wall, cytoplasm, and nucleus.
Nucleus contains bundle of chromosomes. Human nucleus
contains 23 pairs of chromosomes. 23 chromosomes are
inherited from the father and 23 from the mother. Each
chromosome is made up of thousands of genes. Each gene
carries capability to produce specific character. Genetic
mapping is the base on which physical and mental
development of the child depends.
The genetic mapping is responsible for deciding the physical
characters like height, weight, color of the skin, color of the
eyes, and body structure. It is also responsible for ascertaining
probabilities of getting certain diseases like CHD, high blood
pressure, diabetes etc. It is also responsible for mental
characters like, intelligence, receptivity, memory,
aggressiveness, etc.

As per medical concept, children of the same parents will have

similar physical and mental development. It is our common
observation that the brothers and sisters look physically alike.
In the same way the degree of mental development is also
hereditary; with the effect the children of the same parents
exhibit more or less similar intelligence, receptivity and mental
development. The child is born with specific potential to
develop physically and mentally.

Thinking power, perception, and concept of life, is responsible

for the behavior of the child. These characters are mainly
affected by the environment of the growing child. Highly
effective environmental factors are family, society and religious
culture.
 45

Considering these entire facts one can normally presume that

the children of the same parent, grown in the same family and
having same religion, should have similar physical and mental
growth, and similar perception and concepts of life. With the
effect they should have similar path of life, leading to more or
less similar achievements in life.

But in real practice when we examine and analyze the

characters and aptitudes of the children of the same parent
(brothers and sisters), we find that in spite of having similar
physical and mental development, their basic characters,
aptitude and concepts of life are not at all similar, on the
contrary sometimes they are wide apart.

The basic characters are compassion, integrity and

independence. These characters are deeply rooted at the sub-
conscious level. These characters affect the aptitude of the
person. And aptitude is responsible for deciding the mode of
future life. A persons life-script is highly dependent on these
basic characters.

Our ancient philosophers have classified the human

characters in three groups. These are Satvic, Rajasic, and
Tamasic. Those who are satvic are highly creative,
humanitarian, pure, holy, inclined to get more knowledge, and
spiritual. Great scientists, teachers, religious leaders,
philosophers, artists, writers, and priests are mainly Satvic in
nature.
Those who are Rajasic are self- centered, very active in
acquiring material success, and enjoying the luxuries of life.
Businessman, industrialists, traders, doctors, pleaders and
farmers are mainly Rajasic in nature.
Those who are Tamasic are basically idle and not ambitious.
Lower cadre serviceman, clerks, servants and persons living
parasitic life are Tamasic in nature. Nobody is purely Satvic,
purely Rajasic or purely Tamasic. Each person carries varying
degree of each character in their nature.

These basic characters decide a persons aim of life.

 46

If we examine and thoroughly analyze the basic characters of

the brothers and sisters of the same family, we will be
surprised to know that the degree of basic characters
possessed by each of them are not similar but it differs widely.

As per existing medical concept, human behavior, thinking

process, and basic characters are the product of human brain.
And these characters are inherited and affected by the family
culture. In that case all the brothers and sisters of the same
family should possess same or similar characters. But in
reality it is not so.

So it logically proves that the basic characters are not the

product of the brain, but it is the character of the I-
consciousness. And I-consciousness is not affected by the
hereditary traits and family culture.

The child is born with specific colors of different basic

characters. It is the common observation that one child is very
selfish, while his brother is compassionate; one brother is
having character of leadership from the childhood, while
second brother is a born follower, one of the sisters might be
very aggressive while second sister may be docile. Most of the
parents are aware of this phenomenon. They very well know
that their children differ widely, as far as their basic
characters are concerned.

As per the opinion of the ancient philosophers, I-

consciousness or the human spirit is immortal. It is neither
created with the birth of the child, nor is it annihilated with
the death of the person. It does not die with the death of the
physical body. At the time of death it leaves the dead physical
body.

When it leaves the dead physical body, it carries with it, the
impression of all the basic characters.

The same basic characters are revealed during next birth.

 47

With the effect the child is born with I-consciousness, having

colors of the basic characters of the previous birth. This is
clearly indicated in our observations. When we examine the
basic characters of children of the same parents, we find that
they differ widely from each other, contrary to the existing
medical theory of hereditary and family culture.

Albert Einstein was a great scientist, who has given the new
theory of relativity to the world. His father was an ordinary
sales man, and mother was a house wife. He had one brother.
None of his family member had affinity for the scientific
research. He was a very ordinary student. But he had deep
rooted basic character of innovation and research, which was
responsible for his great success in the research field of the
nuclear science. Now this specific character was not inherited
from his parents. Probably his I-consciousness had carried
this basic character from previous life.

Leo Tolstoy was great writer. They were five brothers and
sisters. None of his brother had shown any ability for writing.

Ravindranath Tagore was youngest of 13 children of his

parent. He was great poet. He was awarded noble prize for his
creation. None of his brother or sister had any remarkable
ability for writing or for any other art work.

There are such several examples all over the world; one of the
children of the same parent had shown extra ordinary ability
in certain faculty, while all other children lead very ordinary
life. Some child shows strong aptitude for music, while some
child shows strong aptitude for mathematics.

It seems that this extra ordinary character possessed by the

individual is not the out come of hereditary.

It may be possible that the spirit of that individual might be

having knowledge, experience and strong aptitude from
previous life. And same is carried forward in the next birth.
 48

Strange and unexplained phenomena:

Child Prodigy:
A child prodigy is some one who, at an early age, masters one
or more skills far beyond their level of maturity. One criterion
for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically
younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a
highly trained adult in a very demanding field of endeavor. It is
observed that some children show unusual aptitude and
abilities for certain faculties of life. Such children show some
special talent for some subject from very childhood.
Before few months there was a show on one TV channel,
showing musical abilities of the young children. One of the
boys, aged 4-6 years, was showing his performance. He was a
good singer. Not only that but he had special gift of
recognizing the various notations of the song. As he would
listen to any song, within no time, he could narrate the
notations used in that song. He could recognize all the musical
notations used for composing that song. I personally know
that the task of recognizing musical notations is not easy. It
requires deep understanding of music and long practice to find
out musical notes of an unknown song. But that small boy
was in position to identify those notes precisely with very less
effort. His ability was cross checked by famous singers and
musicians. All of them were surprised to know his ability.

There is well known example in Indian history of Adi

Shankaracharya. Adi Shankaracharya was very brilliant from
his childhood. At the age of seven he left the house in search
of philosophical truth. By the age fourteen, he completed the
study of all the religious and philosophical books. By the age
seventeen, he wrote number of classical books, narrating and
discussing various intrinsic aspects and deeper meanings of
various view points of Hindu philosophy.

There are several such examples, where the child has shown
extra ordinary ability and aptitude for a certain subject. Some
 49

children born in very ordinary families have shown deep

likings for mathematics. Srinivas Ramanujan and John von
Neuman were born in ordinary families; they had shown extra
ordinary talents for mathematics. In the same way Mozart was
a great musician from very childhood, while none of his family
member had affinity or liking for music. Pablo Picasso was an
expert in art and Paul Morphy in chess.

Such extra ordinary mental capacity of those children can not

be explained by existing medical concepts. Medical researchers
have tried to explain such phenomena by various theories. But
none of those theories can perfectly explain this phenomenon.

This is not hereditary phenomena, as none of their parents or

brother/sister had either aptitude or capacity shown by those
gifted children. Not only had that but none of them been given
special training for those subjects.

Only probable explanation one can give is the theory of

carry forward of the knowledge and experience from previous

birth to next birth.

It is believed that the spirit, when it leaves the physical body

at the time of death, carries impression of the knowledge of the
subject learned and practiced during that life period. So the
person, who is musician in previous life, will have ability and
aptitude for music in next life.

It is also believed that the I-consciousness or Atman, is

permanently in stage of learning and evolution. It learns
through knowledge and experience during whole life. And
same is carried forward in the next life.

Dj vu :

Dj vu is a French word. Literal meaning of that word is

already seen.
 50

It is very common experience. The person goes to the strange

place first time in his life. The place is unknown to him. In
spite of that he feels that he has already visited the same
place. It is a very strange feeling. Intellectually he is certain
that he has never visited that place in past. But consciously
he feels that he has already visited and seen that place before.
Consciously he feels lots of familiarity with that place. There is
no scientific or logical explanation for such feelings.

Only possible explanation one can forward is the experience of

the past life. It may be possible that he might have visited that
place in his previous life. With the effect when he visits the
same place his conscious gives him strong feeling of familiarity
of the place.

Everlasting feeling of I-ness:

Sense of I-ness prevails during whole life. The same sense

prevails during childhood, adulthood, and old age. There is no
alteration of the feeling of I-ness with the alteration of the
physical body. The same sense of I-ness prevails during sleep,
and dream. The sense of pure I-ness is permanent and
everlasting.

It is also present during total memory loss. Most of the person

loses their memory during old age. Few of them suffer from
total memory loss. This is known as Alzheimers disease. In
the later stage of this disease the diseased person forgets
name of his relatives, his friends, his family members. Not only
has that but the person forgets his own address and his own
identity. He forgets his qualifications, his achievements, his
social status, his family status, and his own name. What
persists is the deep sense of I-ness. When he is hungry he
says that I am hungry, when he suffers he says I am
suffering. It means the sense of I persists despite the
memory loss.

Memory is one of the functions of the brain. Memory of all the

knowledge, events and experiences are stored in some part of
 51

the brain which is lost when the brain stops functioning. But
the sense of I or I-consciousness, persists even after, the
brain stops functioning.

It logically proves that the sense of I or I-consciousness is not

stored in the brain.

I-consciousness is not the function of the brain but it is

absolutely an independent entity. That I-sense is not in any
way connected with any part of the physical body nor is it
stored anywhere in the body. So that sense of I can persists
even in absence of physical body.
So logically one can say that I-consciousness or Atman survives
even after death.
 52

Conclusion

It is very difficult to come to a final conclusion in abstract and

subtle matters. Comparatively it is easier to deny the existence
of rebirth than to prove the existence of rebirth. There are
several collaborative evidences which indicate the possibility of
existence of rebirth. But before reaching to the final judgment,
one requires to thoughtfully and rationally examine and
analyze those evidences.

There are three methods to prove or disprove any matter.

1) Direct method
2) Indirect method
3) Logical assumption.

Direct method:

In this method we can perceive the situation with our own five
senses, that is, we can directly experience it. One can
definitely say that the sun rises every day in the morning,
because we all see sun rising in the morning. One can say that
death is certain and inevitable. This is because we see number
of people dying every day and there no exceptions to that fact.

Indirect Method:

We may not perceive certain matters with our own eyes, but
we may indirectly derive information regarding its existence
from other sources. For example, most of the past historical
events like Second World War, etc may not have been directly
witnessed by us. However we have derived the knowledge
related to it through books, photographs, paintings, etc.

Logical Assumption:

The subject which cannot be proved by direct or indirect

method has to be proved by logical assumptions. Assumption
 53

is the act of assuming some thing. When that assumption is

based on logical reasoning, it becomes theorem.

Logical conclusions are based on facts with reality. Its primary

purpose is the discovery and use of the truth. We may not
reason from hypothesis, nor jump to conclusion. We must
follow the course laid down. The road to the great unknown is
dark and full of pitfalls for the unwary, but electric lamp of
inductive logic lights the way safely from the known in to the
unknown.

Inductive logic requires

1) Exact observation
2) Correct interpretation of the observed facts with a view to
understand them in relation to each other
3) Rational explanation
4) Scientific conclusion.

The first data we have in the support of rebirth is scriptures of

various religious books. There are various theories extended
by thinkers, philosophers and religious leaders for the subject
of rebirth. Their theories are portrayed in various religious
books. Hindu belief of rebirth is based on scriptures of Gita.
Lord Buddhas belief of rebirth is based on writings depicting
the thoughts of Lord Buddha. It is presumed that ancient
thinkers and philosophers had formed the theory of rebirth,
after deep thinking and thorough analysis of their
observations. But those theories lack logical and rational
reasoning. With the effect most of the rational thinkers do not
believe in rebirth.

Now let us examine and analyze the subject of rebirth in the

light of existing collaborative evidences. Single collaborative
evidence can not form the theory which is absolutely full-
proof. But multiple collaborative evidences can be helpful to
form reasonably acceptable theory.
 54

Recollection of memory of past life:

There are several cases recorded and documented, of the

persons who had recollected the memory of their previous
lives. Those cases were in the position to tell their exact
identity, exact residential address of their previous life, names
of their family members and certain events of previous life. A
team of investigators has verified these cases. This team had
thoroughly interrogated the persons claiming recollection of
memory of past life. In a number of cases the mentioned facts
could not be satisfactorily verified. But in a few cases the
findings were surprisingly correct. Most of the cases who
recollected the previous birth memory were children in the age
group of 5 8 years. They were the children with average
intelligence, and were not capable of fabricating the story. In
some of the cases the team could find specific birth marks on
the body of the children, suggestive of the injury incurred
during previous life.

There is no logical explanation which can explain the

mechanism of such recollection of memory, except the existence
of previous life.

It logically proves that there exists previous life, and these

children are born again, and happened to recollect the
memory of their previous life.

Few of the skeptics have risen following points against the

theory of rebirth.

1) The whole episode could be a fabrication of the family

members for getting publicity.
2) Why there are very rare cases of recollection. Why all the
children are not capable of recollecting the memory of past
life?
 55

1) Possibility of fabrication:

When the investigating team, interrogated the cases, they had

thoroughly checked for the possibilities of fabrication. The
cases, where the team had slightest doubt regarding
fabrication, were dropped from the survey. Again the reported
cases were from very ordinary families. They were not capable
of fabricating the story which fits exactly in the existing
environment of two families (family of present life and family of
past life). Fabricating the story requires solid ground work and
intelligent planning. Probably those ordinary people were not
capable of doing that. In addition there was no apparent
material gain for fabricating such a story.

2) Why all the people are not capable of recollecting the

memory of past life?

There is no rational explanation for this point raised by

skeptics. It is the fact that there are very rare cases of
recollection of memory of past life comparison to the number
of new birth taking place every day all over the world.

Can rare incidences be a useful tool for proving the law?

When we observe and study the natures law, we realized that

there is no exception to the laws of nature. Natures laws are
perfect, flawless and without any exception. Take the example
of law of gravity. As per the law, any article falling from the
height will fall on the ground. There is not a single exception
to this law. All the articles, light weight or heavy weight will
definitely fall on the ground. Earth along with all other
planets, revolves around the sun with definite speed. There is
not a single exception to that law. Water at 100 degree
temperature will be transformed into vapor without a single
exception to that law.

Same logic applies to the law of rebirth. Henceforth either

there can be rebirth or no rebirth at all. There cannot be
rebirth in some cases and no rebirth in other cases.
 56

Henceforth logically, even one authenticated case of

recollection of memory of previous life, proves that the person
had life before present life.

The process of rebirth is governed by natures law. So it proves

that there is life after death.

Logical analysis of cases of Near Death Experiences:

When we logically analyzed all the cases of NDEs, we reached

to following logical conclusions:

1) I-consciousness and physical body are two entities, partly

dependent on each other and partly independent of each
other. Physical body can not survive without I-consciousness.
And I-consciousness can not fully function without the help of
physical body. In most of the observed cases I-consciousness
had left the physical body. It can see its own body lying on the
bed. It is like driver of the car coming out of the car and
observing his own car.

Such phenomenon is not possible if I-consciousness and

physical body are one single entity.

2) I-consciousness leaves the body in some special

conditions.

It is observed that it leaves the physical body during death or

death like conditions. Physical body is the useful equipment of
I-consciousness for observing, enjoying, and experiencing the
world. So when it feels that the equipment is of no use to him,
it leaves it. In all above cases the physical body, because of
some injury or pathology, had stop functioning. With the effect
I-consciousness had left the body. But the separation was not
complete. So when the physical body starts functioning again,
I-consciousness had returned to its original position.
 57

3) Death of the physical body does not signify death of the I-

consciousness. It was also observed that functions of I-
consciousness were not affected, even though the physical
body had temporarily stopped functioning.

4) Alternative logical explanation is hallucination.

Hallucination is a perception of something that is not really
there. It can involve either sense of vision, hearing, taste,
smell, or touch. For example, you may hear voices that nobody
else hears or see something that nobody else sees. As per
existing medical concept, hallucination is the creation of the
human brain. In all NDE cases it was confirmed by EEG of the
brain, that the brain was not functioning at that time. Hence
one can conclude that those experiences were not
hallucinations.

In addition there are several cases of dj vu, child prodigy,

and diverse basic characters among members of the same
family. All these incidences cannot be explained perfectly by
existing medical concepts.

When I examined and analyzed all the cases of recollection of

memory of past life, near death experiences, dj vu, child
prodigy, and diverse basic characters of the members of the
same family, I tried to form a common acceptable theory; I
came to the conclusion that only theory that mentions re-birth
of the I-consciousness can satisfactorily explain all the
episodes.

Theory of rebirth is not acceptable to many doctors and

rational thinkers, because their thinking process is within the
boundaries of existing medical beliefs. But medical beliefs are
not everlasting and permanent. They go on changing with time
and with new researches.

Study of the history of medical evolution, will reveal that most

of the medical concepts have changed dramatically during the
period of last 100 years. There was no concept of bacteria and
virus as the primary cause of infection before 1950. Once that
 58

concept was introduced, there was a radical change in the

treatment of a number of diseases. There was no concept of
treating certain diseases with the help of stem-cells. Now it is
proved that number of diseases, which were considered
incurable can be treated by stem-cells. Group of researchers
are busy, trying to find out genetic code of the human genome.
They are very much hopeful that change in the genetic code
can prevent a number of diseases.

Homeopathy is the medical science evolved during last

century. It has basically changed the concept of disease and
its treatment. Homeopaths believed that main cause in most of
the diseases is not some external factor, but it is due to
disturbance of the internal equilibrium. And main cause of
internal imbalance is mental disturbance. Homoeopathic
medicines are prepared by special methods. Process is known
as energizing the medicine. Those medicines are so many
times diluted that it hardly contains any element of said
medicine in that solution. As per existing medical concept,
such medicine (so much diluted) cannot be effective for
treating any disease. But we have observed dramatic cures of
the patients treated by such medicines.

It may be also possible that in future with the discovery of new

theories; scientist may change their present concept of death,
and begin believing in independent existence and everlasting
continuity of I-consciousness.
 59

Logical theory for life after death

Atman or popularly known as spirit, is the vital energy having

sense of self or I- consciousness. I-consciousness cannot be
categorized either as matter or as energy. It is the pure sense
of self, stored deeply in the human conscious. It is
imperishable and immortal. As per the scriptures of the Hindu
religious book, Bhagvad Gita, Atman cannot be cut by knife,
cannot be burnt by fire, cannot be dried by air, or cannot be
dissolved by water. It is unalterable in nature. It is the master
of the physical body. It utilizes the physical body as its
equipment to know, to experience and to enjoy life.

Knowledge is the data categorized as memory. However sense

of self can be broadly categorized as a sort of memory.
Normally all the memories are stored in the human brain. But
as ordinary memory, the knowledge or sense of self is not
stored in the brain. Factual and eventual memory is
ordinarily stored in the brain, which is known as cerebrum in
medical terminology. The name of the self, designation, status,
family relations, name of the friends, addresses, bank
accounts, details of the property held etc are components of
the factual memory of the brain. In the same way knowledge of
the past events, experiences and episodes are components of
the eventual memory of the brain. These memories being
stored in the brain, is lost when the brain stops functioning. It
happens during certain brain diseases.

After death, the eventual and factual memory is lost, because

brain along with other organs, stops functioning at the time of
death.

Human brain can be compared with a hard disk of the

computer. Hard disk is the store house for all the data of the
computer. With the result, all the data is lost when hard disc
is damaged.

Atman is like the man running the computer. Atman is the

master of the human computer. Different types of data are
 60

being fed to the computer, which is finally stored in the hard

disk. The person running the computer utilizes all the data
stored in the hard disk of the computer, whenever it is
required. The data which is repeatedly used and which is very
important is also automatically recorded on the mental screen
of the master of the computer.

In the event of damage to the hard disk, the data stored in the
hard disk is lost, but the important data recorded on the mental
screen of the master, is not lost.
That important data which is recorded on the mental screen of
the master can be utilized in future.

Now same theory can be applied to the I-consciousness and

physical body. I-consciousness is the master of the human
computer, i.e. the human brain. Most of the factual and
eventual data is stored in the brain. But certain important
data like character, integrity, creative ability and concept of
life is recorded with I-consciousness. So at the time of death,
when the brain stops functioning, all the factual and eventual
data stored in the brain is lost. But the important data which
are recorded with I-consciousness are not lost.

I-consciousness is the master, who utilizes the physical body

as a equipment for knowing, experiencing and enjoying life.
When that equipment becomes ineffective and incapable to
perform its required functions due to massive injury, disease
or old age degeneration, I-consciousness leaves that
equipment:

The phenomenon is known as death.

As such it is the death of physical body and not of I-

consciousness. Because of death, the hard disk of the physical
body, the brain stops functioning. With the effect all the
factual and eventual memory is lost.

What remains is I-consciousness with its basic characters,

creative ability and basic concepts of life.
 61

The basic characters are compassion, integrity and

independence. Degree of each character varies from person to
person. The person lacking compassion is highly selfish. In the
same way a person without integrity is a hypocrite. These
characters are responsible for deciding the concept of life.

The concept of life is the root cause for deciding the objective
of life. I-consciousness is born with precise map of concept of
life. His mode and objective of new life depends upon basic
concept formulated during the previous life.

Prime desire of the I-consciousness is to get maximum

happiness.

There are two main functions of I-consciousness.

1) To protect the physical body, which is his basic equipment;
to know, experience and enjoy life.
2) To get maximum happiness.

Perception of happiness varies with person to person, and is

based on his concept of life. There exist multiple concepts of
life, depending upon basic characters and perception of life. All
the concepts of life can be grouped in to three major groups.
1) Satvic
2) Rajasic
3) tamasic

Satvic:
When there is domination of Satvic character, the concepts of
happiness lies in getting more knowledge, humanitarian
activities, creative arts, and philosophical approach to the life.
These are the activities which gives internal peace and
happiness.

Rajasic:
If I-consciousness is dominated with Rajasic characters, its
concept of happiness lies in material gain and luxurious life.
 62

Its main objective of life will be to make money, and to earn

prestige, and power.

Tamasic:
I-consciousness dominated with Tamasic characters, are
leading ordinary life without any specific objective.

During entire course of life I-consciousness, travels from the

point of birth to the point of death. During this journey it
gains different types of knowledge and varied experiences of
life.

This added knowledge and experiences may further change its

perception and concept of happiness.

The person born with dominant Rajasic character may turn to

Satvic character at the end of life. There are a number of
examples where the person liking material gain and luxurious
life in the early period of life, have realized that the type of life
he was living was not worth for giving him lasting peace and
happiness with the effect he had change his path of life.

Physical body is the instrument or vehicle through which, I-

consciousness tries to fulfill its desires and objectives of life.
But when that physical body becomes ineffective or damaged
due to injury, diseases or old age degeneration, I-
consciousness leaves that physical body. Physical body cannot
survive in the absence of I-consciousness, this is known as
death. As such it is the death of physical body and not the
death of I-consciousness.

I-consciousness leaves the dead body, along with its shades of

characters and concepts of life.

If its desired objectives are not fulfilled during present life, it

searches for new equipment, i.e physical body, which can be
helpful to fulfill its objectives of life. This is known as second
birth.
 63

For I-consciousness, birth and death is the continuous process.

This cycle of birth and death repeats several times.

Feeling of incompleteness:
There is always feeling of incompleteness with I-
consciousness, because its desired objectives are not fulfilled.
It is said that I-consciousness or Atman, repeats the cycle of
birth and death, till it achieves its final goal of life. Once it
attains the final goal, its feeling of incompleteness disappears.
Now there is nothing left to be achieved. It is the stage of
desirelessness. At this stage there is no instinct for new birth
and new journey of life. Now there is no new birth.

I-consciousness or Atman, is released from the bondage of

birth and death.
This is known as Moksha, Nirvan or Liberation.