Liberation of the soul, from deeply-rooted mental-emotional mind states, some say, takes many lifetimes. When written or spoken about generally, the practicality pertaining to these words is never adequately qualified in any relatable way. Thus, through misinterpretation, the original intention attaching to ‘many lifetimes’ and ‘rebirth’, has been greatly misrepresented through misunderstanding.
This article sets about qualifying these terms by putting them into a practical, relatable setting.
The general understanding in this area of rebirth and many lifetimes is, that if a soul, during its earth lifetime, was non-compliant spiritually with the laws or rules of Nature — action and reaction – that this is deemed legitimate reason for that soul to rebirth back on earth thereby gain further purification toward the soul’s final liberation from repetitive rebirth.
We wanted to just “get away” from the negative COVID19 environment hovering over us with the hostility of riots, media lies; find the beauty and be grateful for living.
We got into the Big Blue Ram Truck not knowing where we were going. Driving up the mountainous winding road without a plan or destination we felt as though we were driving toward the heavens. This was a Freedom Day. A day to heal our mind.
Along the we way we passed beautiful picturesque mountains of purple, blue and hundreds of shades of green; God’s Beautiful Work of Art.
Having good emotional health doesn’t mean you’re always happy or free from negative emotions. It’s about having the skills and resources to manage the ups and downs of day-to-day life. It also implies that one can bounce back from setbacks and thrive despite problems.
Good emotional health offers certain benefits to lead an overall satisfied life. Some important ones are mentioned below:
It gives better immunity –
Researchers find that emotional distress makes you more vulnerable to physical illnesses by impacting your immune system. So, good emotional health strengthens immune system.
It fosters deeper relationships –
Good emotional health makes it easier for you to connect with others and show more empathy and compassion. You’re also better able to hold arguments and convey your feelings.
It gives higher self-esteem –
Our thoughts, feelings, and experiences influence the way we feel about ourselves. Good emotional health helps you see the best in yourself despite various challenges.
It gives resilience to stress –
Good emotional health helps you manage your various circumstances with efficiency. Thereby, it enhances your resilience to stress.
It gives more energy –
Having a positive outlook makes you feel more energized and helps you focus and think more clearly. On the contrary, poor emotional health diminishes your mental resources, leading to exhaustion.
So let us focus in on this last sentence and see what it reveals through the lens of the immortal Bhagavad-Gita.
Gita Chapter 6-45 states:
“But the yogi who strives with zeal, purified of all sin and perfected through many births, thereupon reaches the transcendent goal”.
When Bhagavad-Gita refers to many births, it is not referring to many lifetimes as in many more physical womb rebirths as such. Therefore, even though many womb lifetimes may in fact be required for an individual soul to gain final liberation, many womb rebirths are not numerically requisite in all situations – as we shall see.
The question arises, therefore: when IS it many lifetimes and many rebirths in one sense, and NOT many lifetimes and rebirths in another? In other words, notwithstanding that we’ve each clocked up many lifetimes, what criteria ultimately decides when ‘many lifetimes’ have been achieved and rebirth is no longer required?
For instance, if we had said or heard 100 or 1000 lifetimes, or more, ago, that soul liberation takes many, many lifetimes, one would assume by now to be spiritually awakened and liberated from repetitive rebirthing back on earth?
If we accept that it takes many, many lifetimes to gain final purification, then we must evaluate this acceptance against where exactly we are spiritually today, given all of our previous lifetime experiences. In other words, are we making any progress.
‘Many lifetimes’ and ‘rebirth’ thus have two simultaneous avenues of usage – literally and metaphysically — and knowing their esoteric difference is vital as we journey unto eternal unity with the Divine.
Gaining Pure Existence
Due to non-integrated emotional thought patterns within the deeper physiology, thus the principle of repetitive womb rebirth makes perfect sense. Conversely, many ‘ordinary’ people, in the everyday marketplace, have actually achieved integration, liberation, through the process of meditation, more specifically, transcendence meditation, the state of consciousness which nullifies and neutralizes residual karmic ‘sin’ patterns, causal of rebirth.
Due to cessation of individual ‘me’ ‘mine’ existence during transcendence, the understanding thus, regards many lifetimes, is that, each transcendence in meditation is equivalent to one lifetime, one rebirth; equivalent to being reborn anew, now, while sitting on the chair. So, in the context of liberation taking many lives, it simply means repeating many, many sessions of meditation, of gaining transcendence, thereby achieving pure Existence, meaning one conscious lifetime in this lifetime.