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Book-Summary - Five Lectures On Reincarnation

In this book, Swami Abhedhanada explains about the concept of reincarnation, compares it with concepts prevelant in other religions and also compares it with scientific theories and laws. One important caveat is, this book is written around 1900. The clarity of thought shown by the author is amazing. Reincarnation is the concept of Atma (~soul) taking birth in a new body once its old body dies. Is it really possible? Well, Atma is nothing but an energy and energy cannot be created or destroyed rather it can only be transformed from one way to another. So when the body is destroyed, Atma will move on to the next ideal body. Now why should that take the next body or rebirth? The law of karma comes into affect here. For any action/cause there has to be a corresponding effect due to that. Every desire we have will have an impression on the atma, which it needs to fulfil, so desire forms the cause and action is the effect. To support the law of Karma, Abhedhananda uses the physical law of “for every effect there should be a cause”. Now, Why do we have desires? To evolve. It is a continuous process of evolution till you reach the Brahman. To support this, Abhedananda uses evolution. Author do not agree with the theory - there is nothing called as rebirths or mind is just a matter which comes into existence during birth and stops at the death. If this is the cause, then there is no evolution concept here or rather there is no urge to change. Abhedhananda also do not agree on Resurrection - Judgement day concept. If the soul is added to the body as the first act by god after the birth, it is like creation of an energy which is against the physical law. Similarly there are many instances where a child at a very young age has mastered the concepts even though it is not exposed to that earlier. This according to Vedanta is something transferred via Atma from the previous birth. This cannot be explained by other theories. Also major question asked is why is all powerful God created Satan? It seems soul do not have the freedom to evolve but its fate is sealed from the begin. Author also do not agree on the transmigration theory. There is one important question on memory of past births - why cant a person remember about past births or how does the past memory transmit to the next birth? Author says it is present as latent memory and transmitted via germ of life. This part is lacking I felt. Overall its a great book to understand the different concepts of Reincarnation how it fits with scientific theories and laws. It also gives good explanation on other concepts like resurrection, judgement day and transmigration.