THE MYSTERY OF REBIRTH AND MODERN SCIENCE

Architha S N
M.A in Vedic Studies(student), Department of Sanskrit and Vedic Studies
Sri Sathya Sai University for Human Excellence, Karnataka
Email – snarchitha6@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The people of ancient times, believed in and had faith about concepts like rebirth* and reincarnation. In the present times, however, many dismiss such ideas as mere superstition or illusion which leads one nowhere. Yet, when we look at what we call “Modern Science,” we find that, most of its concepts trace back to ancient knowledge, of course, presented with new designs and techniques. Only difference is in the outcomes which may be different, and the methods adopted which are more complex; but, the underlying wisdom remains the same. That is why, it is often called a mystery rather than history. This journal helps us to explore this subject in detail and to understand it’s relevance to modern science.

Key words – Modern Science, Knowledge, superstition, Mystery, rebirth, reincarnations.

OBJECTIVES: to know,

How Modern Science is connected to Rebirth.
Why is it called Mystery and not History.
The reason behind rebirth and how long it continues.
The Knowledge, arrived at is same, only the paths adopted are different.

INTRODUCTION.

Some say that, the life continues beyond death of a person. That means, the journey of the soul continues, based on the way one has lead one’s life; needless to say, YOLO generation# won’t believe in it. People believe only in science because, according to them, it is practical and worth the time; but the fact is that, whatever we are using now, and whatever we believe to be new, have their origine in ancient wisdom. Let us have a glance at this fact by going through this journal in detail….

The Bhagavad Gita(Chapter 7, Verse 16) discusses about four types of students /seekers- Arta, Artharthi, Jijnasu, and Jnani+. They are categorized by their varying motivations for seeking divine knowledge.

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*Rebirth and reincarnation- – birth of soul again and again after death ; # YOLO-those who believe ‘You Only Live Once’, +Arta-seekers of relief from trouble, Artharthi- in quest of wealth, Jijnasu- inquisitive ones, seeking knowledge, and Jnani- realised one who experiences God everywhere in everything.

THE QUEST FOR KNOWLEDGE…

1. Arta (The Distressed) These seekers turn to spirituality out of sheer pain, suffering, or crisis. They seek immediate relief, protection, or a way out of their misery. Example; Markandeya

2. Artharthi (The Seeker of Wealth) These are the ones who are driven by specific desires for material gain, wealth, or power. They seek success, worldly possessions, and the means to enjoy a comfortable life. Example; Druva

3. Jijnasu (The Inquisitive)These are the ones who are motivated by a sincere urge to learn and understand the truth. They feel a void regarding the nature of the universe and are driven by deep curiosity, questioning, and intellectual exploration. Example; Nachiketha

4. Jnani (The Wise) These are the ones who have Self-knowledge. They seek nothing; having transcended material desires and personal suffering, their only motive is to be one with the Divine. Example: Prahlada

The story of Nachiketa* and Yama**, is a profound philosophical tale from the Katha Upanishad#. It explores the nature of life, death, and the immortal soul, focusing on a young boy who bravely seeks the ultimate truth instead of worldly pleasures The story begins with a sage named Vajashravas, who decided to perform a great Vedic sacrifice to attain heaven. As part of the ritual, he had to give away all his possessions.

However, Nachiketa, his young and pious son, noticed that his father was only donating frail, old, and barren cows. Deeply troubled by his father’s hypocrisy, Nachiketa decided to intervene to save his father and asked, “Father, to whom will you give me?” Irritated by the question, initially the father ignored him, but Nachiketa persisted three times. It was then, in a fit of rage, his father shouted, “I give you unto Death (Yama)!”

Taking his father’s angry words literally, Nachiketa journeyed to the realm of the dead. When he arrived at the ageless palace of Yama (the Lord of Death), Yama was away. Nachiketa patiently sat at the doorstep, waiting for three days and three nights without food or water. When Yama returned and found a young Brahmin boy waiting at his doorsteps, without food, he felt remorseful for having treated a guest poorly. To make amends, Yama offered to grant Nachiketa three boons.

The First Boon: As his first boon, Nachiketa asked for the pacification of his father’s anxiety and anger. He wished that when he returned, his father should recognize and welcome him with love. Yama immediately granted this. This boon prioritizes family harmony before spiritual pursuit.

The Second Boon: As his second boon, Nachiketa asked to be taught, the sacred Agni, a fire ritual, which leads the performer to heaven. Yama taught him about the ritual in detail. Impressed by the boy’s sharp intellect, Yama named this sacred fire the Naachiketaagni+.

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*Nachiketa-name of a deeply inquisitive brave boy of Upanishadic lore, it means not bound by restrictions; **Yama- Lord of Death ; #Katha Upanishad- one of the 10 well known Upanishads- sacred texts of Vedic lore; +Naachiketaagni- a sacred fire ritual that enables one to ascend to great heavens- named after Nachiketa the brave boy

The Third Boon-The Mystery of Death: For his epoch-making third boon, Nachiketa asked the ultimate philosophical question: “When a person dies, there is this doubt: some say, ‘the soul exists’ and others say, ‘it does not exist.’ What is the truth?” Please do explain to me…

Yama was completely taken aback by this profound question coming from a little boy. To test Nachiketa’s maturity to grasp the wisdom and the intensity of his yearning, Yama offered Nachiketa limitless temptations- sons and grandsons who would live a hundred years, vast expanses of land, chariots, elephants, gold, celestial nymphs, and an unimaginably long life with all sorts of worldly powers. However, Nachiketa was not swayed by them. He firmly rejected all the material pleasures, arguing that they are all ephemeral—they wear out the senses, are limited by inevitable death, and do not lead to eternal bliss or liberation. Delighted by the young seeker’s detachment (Vairagya) and spiritual clarity, Yama began to impart the highest spiritual wisdom to him.

Yama’s Teachings:

The Path of Good vs. The Path of Pleasure: Yama explained that there are two paths in life: Shreyas and Preyas. The wise choose Shreyas, while the ignorant ones choose Preyas.

The Immortality of the Soul (Atman): Yama revealed that the true Self (the Atman) is never born and never dies. It is eternal, pure, and untouched by the death of the physical body.

Chariot Analogy: To explain the relationship between the body, mind, and the soul, Yama used the analogy of a chariot:

The Body is the chariot.
The Soul is the master riding in it.
The Intellect is the charioteer (driver).
The Mind is the reins.
The Senses are the horses.

The soul achieves liberation only when the intellect uses the mind to control the senses (horses) properly

Realizing the Self: Yama taught that the ultimate realization is to understand that the deepest essence within oneself (Atman) is identical with the universal, supreme consciousness (Brahman). By detaching from worldly desires and realizing this eternal truth, one attains immortality and is freed from the cycle of birth and death.

Passing Yama’s test and absorbing the profound teachings, Nachiketa successfully went beyond mortality, realizing the ultimate truth of the cosmos.

This is the story from Katopanishad, articulated well in the ancient times. We have taken this as the proof to show that there is a reason for everything; like, whatever has been born and will be born. Karmas**, mind, senses are the main causes for punarjanma+

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*Shreyas & Preyas=Shreyas- the path of the Good; Preyas-the path of worldly Pleasure; Karmas**- the actions one performs; #Punarjanma- rebirth or going through another birth

This story is a profound philosophical lesson on Karma, the soul’s evolution, and spiritual purpose. It highlights the way external circumstances do not measure a soul’s inner richness.

Sri Kanchi Periyar* once told a wealthy devotee to conduct a social survey of children who were born on a same day. Actually, the devotee was made to go out into the world to note the stark inequalities of life. some were born into immense luxury and wealth, while others struggled in deep poverty, and some were born with severe physical handicaps or illnesses. The devotee returned to the Periyar with his observations report. He confirmed that the world was indeed filled with these apparent injustices.

The Master’s Question: Sri Periyar then presented a profound philosophical puzzle to this devotee: Even if we assume everyone is born at exactly the exact same time, why do you think, a few take births are in rich families, while others are in desperately poor families, and some are born handicapped or blind?

The Purpose and Meaning: The devotee likely would have pondered the question; but the story reveals Sri Periyar’s core teaching on the matter. He explained that these apparent inequalities are not random or unjust punishments by God, rather they are due to the unfolding of Karma.

According to Sri Periyar and broader Vedantic philosophy: Both wealth and poverty are temporary phases in a soul’s spiritual journey. Poverty and riches both teach us the valuable lessons life in entirely different ways. Often, a soul needs the lessons learnt from struggle to grow, just the same way as, another soul may be tested with of wealth.

Handicaps and Hardships: The varied conditions we are born into, are the exact environments our souls need, to exhaust the past Karma and evolve to the next stage of spiritual maturity.

The Real Measure: Sri Periyar taught that the material advantages (wealth, status, physical health) have nothing to do with a person’s inner divinity or spiritual worth. His words- ‘the breeze of God’s grace is blowing day and night over everyone, but one must raise their sail- are very famous.

He conveyed that the true purpose of human birth is not to measure oneself by secular standards of wealth or physical condition, but to realize God and awaken the divine love within. The conditions we are born into are merely the classrooms assigned to us by our own past actions.

Let us look at some instances for understanding this. In the book Many Lives, Many Masters written by Dr. Brian Weiss, most of the past-life memories belong to his patient, Catherine. Over 18 months of hypnotherapy, she recalled 86 distinct past lives. These memories directly cured her severe anxieties and phobias by revealing the root traumas from previous incarnations.

Here are a few notable incidents Catherine experienced while under hypnosis:

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*Sri Kanchi Periyar- The head of Kanchi Math – a sacred institution founded by Adi Shankaracharya; The word Periyar is a Tamil word that can be translated roughly as ‘revered one’

The Ancient Egypt Lifetime: Catherine was regressed to 1863 B.C. in Egypt, where she was a woman living under harsh, primitive conditions. This regression* to former life helped her confront her intense, inexplicable fear of water and suffocation in her current life.

The Biblical Era: She recalled a lifetime as a Jewish girl, living in a time of war. During this life, she was separated from her loved ones and experienced her throat being cut, which caused the severe throat issues she suffered from, in her current life.

The Spanish Inquisition Lifetime: Catherine remembered being a resident of Spain during the Inquisition. She was persecuted and faced intense feelings of suffocation and burning, which cleared up significant respiratory anxieties in her present life after she relived and released the trauma in regression therapy.

The Intermediary State (The Masters): Between her past lives, Catherine entered a highly spiritual state of consciousness. While in this trance, her voice would change, and she channelled profound messages and wisdom from highly evolved spirit entities known as “The Masters”. Through Catherine, the Masters gave Dr. Weiss spiritual lessons about the soul’s immortality and even revealed personal, validating details about Dr. Weiss’s deceased son.

Dr. Weiss explains how accessing these memories allows the soul to release deeply buried trauma, ultimately helping patients heal their present-day minds and bodies.

The other stories were

The Story of James Leininger: A toddler from Louisiana began having horrific nightmares of being shot down in a plane fire. He vividly described flying off the aircraft carrier Natoma Bay and named a real-World War II pilot, James Huston Jr. His parents verified these details. (You can read about his journey in the book Soul Survivor, outlined by University of Virginia researchers).

The Case of Shanti Devi: Born in Delhi in 1926, Shanti Devi claimed that she was a woman named Lugdi Devi, who died in Mathura years prior. She gave exact details of Lugdi’s married life and home, and when researchers and independent journalists brought her to Mathura, she successfully navigated through the town and correctly identified her family when she was Lugdi Devi.

The Story of Ryan Hammons: A young Oklahoma boy started pleading with his mother to return him to his “home” in Hollywood. He gave specific details about living in a big house with a pool and working with Hollywood stars. Researchers eventually traced his memories to an agent and actor named Marty Martyn. (You can read about his experiences in Dr. Jim Tucker’s book Return to Life, which is discussed on the University of Virginia archive).

The James Leininger Case (USA) – At the age of just 18 months, James began having violent nightmares about his plane being shot down and would scream about a burning cockpit. He recalled flying a “Corsair” off an aircraft carrier named “Natoma,” and stated that his name then was James Huston. His initially sceptical parents began researching for the name and the carrier. ________________________________________________________________________

*regression- a mode of Therapatic process that involves the patient’s travel back in time to earlier part of one’s life or to earlier births.

They verified that a pilot named James Huston died at Iwo Jima on a ship called the Natoma Bay. James even correctly pointed out the exact spot where his past-life plane had been hit. (You can explore the full account in the book Soul Survivor, detailed on Simon & Schuster).

The Pollock Twins (UK)- Gillian and Jennifer Pollock were born in 1958, years after their two older sisters tragically died in a car accident. As they grew up, the twins asked for toys that had belonged to the deceased sisters and began pointing out exact landmarks in their town that only the older girls would have known about. They also exhibited unusual behaviours, such as one twin comforting the other over a “head injury” directly corresponding to the fatal scar, their deceased sister had received, in the crash. Their case was studied intensively by University of Virginia researchers, who found them to be striking evidences. There are innumerable stories, both ancient and modern that confirm Rebirth of souls.

Eventually, now we are going to study about the baby in gynaecological department; in ancient times we had ‘garbhopanishad’* which has the data about growth of a baby in accordance with the nakshatra, jataka etc. Everything is based on ancient knowledge system; using them as the tools, we are just renovating and remodelling things, and not exactly creating anything anew.

The Garbhopanishad outlines embryology through a blend of physical and metaphysical growth. Instead of discarding this ancient wisdom for modern gynaecology, many contemporary experts are trying to integrate these concepts into Garbh Sanskar (prenatal care). This holistic approach will enrich modern practice by adding maternal, mental, acoustic, and spiritual well-being with standard physiological care.

The Ancient Embryological Timeline

The Garbhopanishad explains human baby’s growth stage-by-stage. Modern practitioners use this to guide maternal nutrition and environmental management during key developmental phases:

Month 1: The embryo is a mixed fluid and goes through cell consolidation (bubble and mass stages).
Month 2: The embryo hardens; the head and distinct shapes begin to emerge.
Month 3: Feet and major limbs (anga-pratyanga) take shape.
Month 4: Wrist, stomach, and hips form. The mind (manas) begins to evolve, the ancient texts link this to maternal mood and thought influence.
Month 5: The spinal column and adjoining bones take shape.
Month 6: The mouth, nose, eyes, and ears develop.
Month 7: The Jiva (conscious self/soul) is fully imbued, and consciousness arises.

In ancient traditions, a baby’s physiological and spiritual trajectory (Jataka) was deeply connected to cosmic rhythms, particularly the lunar mansions (Nakshatras**). Garbhadhana+: Conception (Ritu) was optimally planned around specific Nakshatras and cycles to ensure the best physical and mental progeny.

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*‘garbhopanishad’- An Upanishad explaining the process of conceiving and birth of a new born

** Nakshatra- the constellation of stars’ +garbhadana- ritual to help conception

Masanumasika Pathya (Monthly Diet & Care): For each month of the baby’s growth, traditional texts recommend specific diets that harmonize the mother’s body with the developmental stage of the foetus.
Acoustic Foetal Education: During the 6th and 7th months (when modern science proves that a foetus can hear), ancient traditions used chanting specific Mantras, and classical music (Garbha Samvad*) to stimulate brain development and calmness.
To successfully renovate your gynaecological study using ancient tools, the focus should be on blending modern neonatal medicine with Vedic lifestyle recommendations. Modern practices utilize ancient wisdom for prenatal education, stress-reduction (epigenetics), and maternal diet planning.
All this knowledge were there at ancient times, but it renovated again and given the title called genecology. Similarly, the Energy is called as atoms.

Ancient Knowledge as the Base to Know the Truth

Throughout human history, the pursuit of truth has bridged the gap between intuitive spiritual wisdom and modern empirical physics. Ancient sages and rishis mapped the cosmos with astonishing precision. They documented the Milky Way, unravelled the cyclical nature of time (Kala), and theorized that matter is comprised of indestructible atoms.

The Milky Way in Ancient Wisdom

Long before modern telescopes were invented, ancient civilizations recognized the glowing band of the Milky Way spanning the night sky. In Indian cosmology, it was revered as Paalkadal**. Rather than just a collection of stars, rishis understood this majestic spiral as the macrocosmic womb of creation—the source from which all stars and planets are born and into which they eventually dissolve. This metaphysical realization aligns conceptually with modern astrophysics, which views our galaxy as an immense stellar nursery and a dynamic gravitational system

Kala (Time) and the Age of the Universe

Vedic literature reveals a highly sophisticated understanding of time (Kala) as cyclical, hierarchical, and observer-dependent, rather than linear. The rishis divided the passage of cosmic history into four great epochs (Yugas)—Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali. These eras operate in recurring, fractal cycles (a Mahayuga lasts \ (4,320,000\) human years). Furthermore, they described different planes of existence (lokas) where time moves at vastly different rates. In modern times, Albert Einstein’s ‘General Theory of Relativity’ proved that time is not absolute but relative, dilating depending on gravity and speed. Just as time flows differently near massive celestial objects, the Vedic texts proposed that time moves at distinct paces across different planetary systems and cosmic dimensions.

*Garbha Samvad- Conversation with the foetus. **Paalkadal- Tamil /Maleyalam word for the Ocean of Milk

Yuga- a big span of time, Mahayuga- a cluster of 4 yugas.

The Universe as Energy and Atoms

The ancient Indian treatise Vaisheshika Sutra, compiled by the sage Acharya Kanada (around 600 BCE), established one of the earliest atomic the theories in human history. Kanada proposed that all physical reality is made of extremely small, indivisible particles called Anu** (later known as Paramanu). He deduced that, these particles could not be seen by the naked human eye and could combine to form bi-atomic and tri-atomic molecules. He also theorized that the way these particles united and reacted to heat was the root of all chemical and physical modifications.

It is noteworthy that, the modern Quantum Mechanics and Particle Physics closely mirrors this ancient Metaphysical model. Today, science confirms that the entire cosmos is entirely composed of fundamental subatomic particles (quarks and leptons) governed by energy.

Intuition and Observation

The ultimate philosophical premise of ancient knowledge is that the external universe is a mirror of the internal mind. The rishis relied on deep meditative consciousness (Tapasya** or Yoga) to experience the inner truths of the universe directly, a pursuit that works in parallel to the analytical and empirical processes of modern science. While science uses mathematics and telescopes to observe the universe from the outside, the ancients perceived the very same cosmic truths by looking deeply within. Ultimately, both methods converge on the same reality: a vast, cyclical, energetic universe governed by fundamental laws.

CONCLUSION

Just as in the case of a pot, the design and the designer (potter) may be new but not the substance called mud, almost all that we know or in the process of knowing anew day by day, are renovations of the ancient wisdom and not something completely newly brought into existence. This is what, this journal tells us about, the evolution of Modern Science and internal relatedness of everything, and majorly about the connection of rebirth/punarjanma to Modern Science and Technologies.

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*Vaisheshika Sutras- a collection formulas of Chemistry and Physics of ancient times formed by sage Kanaada.

**Anu- atom, Paramanu – nuclear, #Tapasya– austerity involving physical and spiritual coordination of an individual

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It was an enlightening experience to go through the journal where we learn about the role of karma and the concept of rebirth. A reader who goes through this will understand the Sanatana Dharma better and become a Sanatani in his lifestyle and practices.