The Secret of Rebirth - Revealing the Personality, Chapter 5 by Shri P. Rajagopalachari

THE SECRET OF REBIRTH

“Spirituality says, think of your life also as a vehicle. Between birth and what we call death is a transit through the physical world which must be treated as a school so that in this time that is allotted to you, or which you have chosen for yourself in the past, you are able to learn the lesson which, upon reaching your destination, you don’t have to come back again. It is not death. It is the completion of my journey.

But people are afraid of death, they are terribly afraid of death. Why? Because we are living life wrongly. Like a boy who has never studied for his exams. He is terrified of his exams. He gets nightmares. He doesn’t want to go to school. He doesn’t want to appear for his examinations. He prays that he may have fever or become sick so that he need not go. But Nature will not oblige so easily. So when that boy comes back to his same class the next year, can you say the school punished him? Or the system punished him? Or his teachers punished him? He was not fit for the next level, so he is retained at this level.

This law applies to our life too. Rebirth is nothing but my having to come back to learn lessons which I did not learn when I had the chance. So I come back and say, “Please, one more year. I have to learn this lesson because without doing it, I cannot go forward.” 

So please remember, rebirth is not a fact, it is not a punishment. There is no Satan, there is no God involved. It is we who are involved, each one of us for ourselves. Suppose I am going to Copenhagen by car, where I have a flight to catch in six hours. But on the way I find this very very nice ferry from Fyn to Sjaelland. It is beautiful. So I keep the ferry going up and down. I take tickets and stay in the restaurant drinking beer. My flight has gone. Whose fault is it? Can we blame the ferry? Can we blame the pilot of the aircraft who left? I have only to blame myself.”

— Taken from the book, "Revealing the Personality (2nd edition, 2009)", 

Chapter "Talk to New Abhyasis", pg. 38, by Shri. Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari

In his talk to new SRCM abhyasis, Chariji Maharaj reveals the profound secret of death and rebirth in such a simple manner. Most people, consciously or unconsciously, have a fear of death. Why? Because what lays beyond it is unknown. In fact, what exists before our birth on this world and after our death is a mystery that has captured the fascination of millions of people around the world.  

Sahaj Marg teaches us that existence of the soul is Eternal and a part of the journey that the soul goes through is embodied life in this world. In a more simpler way, Chariji calls life in this world as a school where we come to learn. Learn what? Learn to love and evolve our consciousness so that we can go up to the next level after death.

So death is nothing to be afraid of. It is just a pause, where the soul evaluates its next step. If it has passed this test of life and evolved, it is liberated from this mortal world and graduates to the next level of existence. If it has failed, then it comes back again to this world to take the test again.

So life (and rebirth) is an invaluable opportunity for evolution that, if utilized properly, can take us to the highest level of evolution possible. Babuji Maharaj describes liberation as just a toy and that the highest state that can be achieved in this mortal existence is much beyond it. The problem comes when we get distracted by what we deem as pleasures and waste our life seeking it. And like Chariji says, we miss the flight.

So Sahaj Marg lays a lot of emphasis on fixing our eyes on the goal of life and remaining steadfast in our efforts of reaching that. In fact, the third Maxim of Sahaj Marg says, “Fix your Goal which should be complete oneness with God. Rest not till the Ideal is achieved.”

Babuji Maharaj describes very beautifully in his book, Commentary on the Ten Maxims of Sahaj Marg, how when our eyes are fixed on the goal every moment, all the temptations and distractions wither away like unwatered weeds. Now the entire focus of our mind and heart is on one thing. Restlessness to reach the goal increases and the immense power of this, combined with our sincere practice of meditation and cleaning, pushes us forward towards the final goal of human life.