You die at every instant, without being aware of it. Who is it that dies? Rebirth is a fact. There is no doubt about it. When a cataract in oneβs eyes is removed in an operation, oneβs eyesight is restored. Likewise, by deep concentration on the divine, when the veil that obscures our vision is removed, and the mind purified and focused on the self, the significance of mantras, and of the dieties, of which they are the sound-forms, dawns on us.
And the impressions of previous births flash upon our consciousness. Just as you can have a mental picture of what you have seen in a particular place, so also can you project or perceive a more graphic image of your past lives on your present mental screen.
When I see you, I can get a vision of a series of pictures of your past births.
Whatever you do, consciously or unconsciously, leaves an impression on your mind, whether you are aware of it, or not. This is called Samskara.
One who has the capacity to see, will be able to discern that these imprints, or samskaras, pertain to previous births. A yogi can perceive the impressions of a great number of past lives. One may see the events of thousands of oneβs former births. But when the realization has come of what creation in reality is, what will one say then? They will see, and also not see. And netiher will they not see, nor see.
On the level where everything is contained within you, and you are present in everything, there is only the One, and that alone.
If you recollect the history of your former births, it means that you know only the course of your own individual lives, in their own particular times and places. But you are not aware of your various movements and static states in the whole universe. You see the many, how will you go beyond this multiplicity? By finding yourself in the many.
So long as the Self has not been revealed, you are imprisoned within the boundary. Boundary means ignorance. And having worked through layers and layers of ignorance, you discover: I am in fact the whole. I am. This is why there are trees and plants and everything that exists, however manifold.
Every single form is in fact βI.β They exist within me, in ways of infinite diversity. And yet, I myself am all of these. How can the one be distinct from the infinite multiplicity? The many exist in the One, and the One in the many.
From the highest perspective of the absolute, there is no such thing as rebirth. At some stage the memory of previous lives will most certainly occur. But what is the significance of before and after? Since I exist throughout eternity.
When established in the Self, there are no others. None is separate.
Regard whomsoever you serve as the Supreme Being.