Are We Really Reborn? — Swami Bhaskarananda

Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on January 14, 2018.In this talk, Swami Bhaskarananda examines the question of rebirth and the continuity of existence beyond physical death from the perspective of Vedanta. Beginning with humanity’s ancient attempts to understand what happens after death, he discusses the gradual development of religious and philosophical knowledge and the methods used in Indian philosophy to distinguish truth from mistaken belief. He considers perception, inference, comparison, and reliable testimony, emphasizing the importance of testimony in understanding matters that lie beyond ordinary sense experience. Drawing on Hindu scriptures, Buddhist teachings, and references to reincarnation in other religious traditions, including early Christianity, he presents rebirth as a teaching that has appeared across different cultures and periods of history.Swami Bhaskarananda explains the Vedantic understanding of the subtle body, which survives the death of the physical body and carries the mind, intellect, and other subtle faculties into subsequent existence. He describes different planes of existence and the relationship between a person’s spiritual development and the conditions experienced after death. Through accounts of saints and individuals who reportedly remembered previous lives, he offers examples supporting the traditional belief in reincarnation. He concludes by explaining that, according to Vedanta, the cycle of birth and death continues until one attains knowledge of the Self and experiences one’s inherent divinity, thereby transcending rebirth and attaining lasting freedom and peace.