212. Rules of Rebirth

 

Krishna gave a blueprint of life when he said that a part of Him manifests as an embodied soul and experiences the objects of sensory world which are a part of prakriti (nature). This indicates that desires attract senses. For example, the desire to see or hear led to the evolution of the sense organs of the eye or ear respectively.

He further explains about the process of the embodied soul leaving the body and entering a new body. Krishna says, “As the air carries fragrance from place to place, so does the embodied soul carry the mind and senses with it, when it leaves an old body and enters a new one (15.8). The deluded do not perceive the soul residing or departing or experiencing the world of the gunas. Those with the eye of wisdom see (15.10). The yogis striving for liberation see Him existing in themselves; but those who are unpurified and undisciplined are unable to perceive Him even when they struggle to do so” (15.11). Purity is nothing but the balance between pleasure-pain; profit-loss; and victory-defeat (2.38).

This is the continuation of Krishna’s earlier assurance to Arjuna that when someone dies on the path to eternal state through practice (abhyaas) of vairagya (dispassion) with shraddha (trust), he will start at the same point in his next birth where he left in the previous life (6.37-6.45). This implies that the experience of handling the axe of non-attachment gets carried to the next birth.

Krishna clarifies that efforts are a must but not sufficient as we need to have purity of mind and heart to attain liberation (eternal state). It’s like the efforts creating a nuclear weapon, but a lack of purity of heart could result in destruction. That’s why many cultures and traditions emphasize inner purity before introducing spiritual techniques such as meditation.