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Conscious Rebirth by a Fully Developed Psychic Being, Part 1 · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  The Tibetan Book of the Dead describes the period from the
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  time of death to the adoption of a new body.
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  In a new birth the individual departs the physical body, which
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  begins to decompose. Next the vital sheath dissolves
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  and following that the mental formations.
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  All these external instruments are left behind in the general
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  case. The Buddhist teaching does not
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  identify a soul or psychic being.
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  Rather, it references the clear light of pure awareness and the
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  stream of awareness that carries out the cause and effect through
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  dependent origination based on the energy and trajectory of
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  past actions. However it is described, it is
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  clear that some form of consistent awareness traverses
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  the state following the death of an individual being in the
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  physical world and encounters experiences and opportunities
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  whereby the past stream of actions bring about the
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  conditions for assuming a new birth in a new body, life, mind
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  complex. Srioro Bindu and the Mother
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  recognized the existence of a psychic being, a soul entity
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  which carries the pure awareness beyond birth and death and
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  rebirth. The psychic being accumulates
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  experiences in each lifetime, and through that it grows and
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  matures in both its conscious awareness and its power to
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  effectuate its focus on the body, life force, and mind that
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  it assumes in each successive birth.
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  The esoteric question arises when we look at the stream of
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  consciousness that persists from life to life and then attribute
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  to it awareness and agency. We see that in the case of the
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  reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and other similar cases that it
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  is possible for the consciousness present in the
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  pure awareness or the psychic being to direct and specify
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  future incarnation conditions. How far can this ability go for
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  a fully awake and fully formed psychic being?
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  The mother clarifies that such a developed soul need not take
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  random births for further experience, but can choose to
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  return to carry out a consistent process and thereby carry with
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  it not just the essence of its experiences but actual mental,
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  vital, or physical capacities as well.
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  While such an instance may be extremely rare, it is useful to
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  understand this possibility, as it may help to explain phenomena
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  we find in certain children with special knowledge or capacities
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  that were clearly not developed and new in their short
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  lifetimes. A disciple asks mother, since in
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  each new life the mind and vital as well as the body are new, how
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  can the experiences of past lives be useful for them?
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  Do we have to go through all the experiences once again?
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  The mother responds quote That depends on people.
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  It is not the mind and vital which develop and progress from
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  life to life, except in all together exceptional cases and
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  at a very advanced stage of evolution.
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  It is the psychic. So this is what happens.
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  The psychic has alternate periods of activity and rest.
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  It has a life of progress resulting from experiences of
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  the physical life, of active life in a physical body, with
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  all the experiences of the body, the vital and the mind.
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  Then normally the psychic goes into a kind of rest for
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  assimilation, where the result of the progress accomplished
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  during its active existence is worked out.
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  And when this assimilation is finished, when it has absorbed
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  the progress it had prepared in its active life on Earth, it
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  comes down again in a new body, bringing with it the result of
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  all its progress. And at an advanced stage it even
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  chooses the environment and the kind of body and the kind of
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  life in which it will live to complete its experience
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  concerning one point or another. In some very advanced cases, the
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  psychic can, before leaving the body, decide what kind of life
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  it will have in its next incarnation.
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  When it has become an almost completely formed and already
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  very conscious being, it presides over the formation of
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  the new body, and usually through an inner influence, it
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  chooses the elements and the substance which will form its
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  body in such a way that the body is adapted to the needs of its
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  new experience. But this is at a rather advanced
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  stage. And later, when it is fully
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  formed and returns to earth with the idea of service, of
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  collective help and participation in the Divine
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  work, then it is able to bring to the body in formation certain
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  elements of the mind and vital from previous lives, which
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  having been organized and impregnated with psychic forces
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  in previous lives, could be preserved and consequently can
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  participate in the general progress.
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  But this is at a very, very advanced stage.
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  End Quote. Reference Srioro Vindo and the
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  Mother, the psychic being soul, its nature, Mission and
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  evolution. Section 3.
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  Growth and Development of the Psychic, pages 84 to 85.