I really do not know whether to believe in reincarnation or not. I have heard both sides. There are people who absolutely believe in rebirth and there are others who are skeptical about it. What is reincarnation? According to Wikipedia "literally "to be made flesh again", is a doctrine or metaphysical belief that some essential part of a living being (in some variations only human beings) survives death to be reborn in a new body. This essential part is often referred to as the spirit or soul, the "higher" or "true" self, "divine spark", or "I". According to such beliefs, a new personality is developed during each life in the physical world, but some part of the self remains constant throughout the successive lives."
Before the 1960s, it was called "Transmigration of the Soul". This belief is rooted in Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. Many cultures have myths and legends telling about heroes or other characters who die and then come back to life. When they reappear, though, it is not as their former selves but as other people, as animals, or even as plants. The concept of reincarnation—a reappearance of a spirit or soul in earthly form—is based on the belief that a person's soul continues to exist after death and can transmigrate, or move, to another living thing.
However what does the Bible say? I have not read the bible fully, but when I browsed on the Internet, I came across few verses that state for and against reincarnation. For example, Hebrews 9:27 states "It is appointed unto man to die once, then judgment." Since the Bible is God's spoken word to man, then this verse should emphatically prove that reincarnation is a myth. What are some other Bible verses that plainly show "Reincarnation" to be a lie? How about Second Corinthians 5:8 which says 'We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.' What does this mean? That at death, believers in Christ are immediately in the presence of God..their bodies go to the grave but their spirit and soul go to God. Non-believers go to a place to await judgment.
Here is one which supports reincarnation. All the verses in which the Lord refers to John the Baptist as been Elijah. Also Bhagavat gita, the Hindu Bible strongly support reincarnation.
A Russian woman who claims to be able to speak 120 languages says many of them are from her previous lives.Linguists claim to have identified that she speaks 16th century English,Chinese, Persian, Egyptian, Mongolian, Vietnamese, Korean and Swahili, reports Komsomol'skaya Pravda.
There are many people who have claimed to have known their past lives and have reincarnated. But, it is upto us to believe or not. We can do many researches, read many books related to this topic and improve our knowledge. Unless we experience, we will still be skeptical.
I believe meditation is a means of realising oneself. Hoping that we can have even more clear picture when we realise ourselves, I strongly recommend all to practice some kind of meditation which might answer a lot of our unanswered queries.
If anyone had reincarnation experience/knowledge or who knows about their past lives please do leave a comment. I am very eager to learn more in this topic.
Information: Statistics world-wide are difficult to obtain, but in the US the Gallup Organization made a survey in October 2001 of Americans' belief in psychic and paranormal phenomena. For this survey, they asked adults 18 and over amongst other things if they believed in "Reincarnation, that is, the rebirth of the soul in a new body after death". In the results, 25% said they did believe in reincarnation, 20% didn't know, 54% didn't believe in it and 1% had no opinion. Belief was only slightly higher among males than females, while it varied significantly between age groups: belief amongst 28-29 year-olds was at 25%, 30-49 year-olds were at 22%, while people 50 and over were at 28%
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5 comments:
Here is one good speech from Swami Vivekananda:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_x9F1KPRr1I
I am equally interested in this subject and I would also be eager to know more abt this:) If you came across any other information in this area, do keep posting:)
sure roopa.I am very much interested in these topics too
Hey this blog is also too good dear...Something other than entertainment..n for for betterment of knowledge n soul..Really good
hello i've had a unique dream many times. this dream is not a dream but it feels more like a memory. i often think of this dream and can feel what i use to be like. my life on a farm was hard but i loved it. to this day i have a strange love for barns. a barn to me, feels like home. when i enter a barn it's a place i truely love being in. this feeling doesnt feel strange or scary, that's what makes it unique...
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