Life is an unending journey. Death is merely a comma, not a full stop in life, just as a traveller stops for a rest when overcome by exhaustion.
“Punarapi jananam punarapi maranam, Punarapi janani jathare shayanam,
Iha sansāre khalu dustāre, Kripayapāre pāhi Murāre,
Bhaj Govindam, Bhaj Govindam, Govindam Bhaj Mūdhamate” – Adi Shankaracharya
He who takes birth dies and he who dies is reborn. That which is created is destroyed, and that which is destroyed is re-created in a different form. Thus the cycle of the universe continues.
The Bhagavad Gita 2:27 says, “Jātasya hi dhruvo mrityuh, dhruvam janma mritasya cha”
Just as people shed off their old clothes for new ones, the soul sheds its old and aged body and takes birth in a new body, in accordance with its deeds.
The scriptures say that we adorn three bodies:
- The gross body, which is made of the five fundamental elements – earth, water, fire, air and sky. This body is visible to the naked eye.
- The subtle body, which consists of mind and senses through which our consciousness meets the world.
- The causal body, consisting of subconscious and unconscious phenomena like lust, passion, ignorance, etc.
The soul will not attain liberation as long as it does not shed all three bodies. Liberation is only possible through true knowledge. The fire of true knowledge helps burn the three bodies, thus clearing the path of liberation. This burning of three bodies is not to be taken literally. At the time of death, the soul sheds only its gross body. It carries with it the subtle and causal bodies, because it’s desires and wishes remain unfulfilled.
In computer jargon, the hardware changes, but the software remains the same. The program is unchanged and therefore the new-born infant does not need to be taught to suck milk from its mother. Be it a child or the young one of an animal, it instinctively knows to feed itself as it has sucked the milk of so many mothers over its past births. Every soul fears death. Even a child, who knows nothing about death, suffers from fear. We can understand a man fearing snakes and scorpions if either a snake or a scorpion has bitten him previously. But why does one fear death while still alive? The answer to this question is that though one has not died in this birth, the experience of dying in previous births is present in the software of his psyche.
Hence, he fears death and runs away from it. After death, the soul leaves the body and finds a new body and is reborn. It leaves the new body when it dies either by its natural death or accidently, in accordance with its destiny. God also chooses to be reborn out of compassion for us, but ordinary souls have come to this world because of previous deeds. Ordinary souls are dependent on past deeds and have to accept whatever body and life comes to it because of previous deeds. God is independent while ordinary souls are dependant.
