Reincarnation is neither a dogma nor a doctrine nor a theory, but a Cosmic Law. Reincarnation is one of the most important and deepest philosophical propositions, and it forms the foundation of all true philosophical systems in ancient as well as in modern times, in all lands and in all civilizations. However, reincarnation today is one of the most controversial questions between philosophy, science and the Church.
A Cosmic Law is a certain procedure in Nature which all things and beings are bound to follow. Thus we have the law of gravity, the law of nutrition, the law of falling asleep for a certain period of time and being awake at another period each day in our life. All these are laws of Nature and man cannot go against them. He cannot escape nor change them. He must obey them and comply with their dictates whether he likes it or not, if it pleases him or not. In the same way Reincarnation is a Cosmic Law, which operates on all Cosmic planes, and thus through this basic law the continuation of life, creation and evolution are made possible.
REINCARNATION IN NATURE
When the plant of wheat dies in the summer and ceases to exist visibly as such, and after several months, or even years, a grain of this wheat is planted in the ground and it again dies in the earth and a new plant of wheat, with the same qualities as the sown grain, grows up, what else is this phenomenon in Nature, known to all, than the workings of the law of reincarnation as the grain of wheat is concerned? The same law applies to all plants, animals and men, and in this way life in Nature is sustained and evolution is made possible.
However, as from a grain of wheat always grows a plant of wheat and never a banana, or a pumpkin, in the same way from the seed of a dog, a dog will always be born and never a whale, or a frog, and from the seed of a man, only a man will always come into being, and never a horse, an elephant, or a bird. There is always a close relationship between the manifesting force, entity and soul and the physical forms through which they manifest. This is the law in Nature.
THE DENIAL OF A COSMIC LAW
The law of Reincarnation unfortunately is very little known among the masses; it is greatly misunderstood by many modern scientists and educated persons, and it is opposed by the Church as a dreadful and heretical theory. Man may become a mental giant by the accumulation of immense knowledge; however, a man grows to real knowledge always only by the expansion of the consciousness of his soul, and this Cosmic knowledge really counts. For this reason enlightenment is always found with the small minority. As the majority rules theirs is the general opinion and the minority is ridiculed. This happens with Reincarnation today.
This state of affairs is nothing new. Three hundred and twelve years ago the same thing happened to Galileo in Padua. Then, one of the most powerful Christian Churches, basing its great power and authority upon the dogma of infallibility, as well as the scientists of that day, taught that it was the sun and the stars that revolve around the earth. This was the prevailing knowledge of the time. Galileo, a renowned astronomer, physicist, and philosopher, dared to contradict them. For this crime, he was condemned to be burned at the stake as a heretic. Because he was a useful man to Society, the Church to save face, forced him to recant his theory. However, in spite of this denial and notwithstanding the application of all penalties, the existing Cosmic law of the revolution of the earth around the sun was not changed in the least. Fortunately, Cosmic Laws are beyond the reach of the ignorant and fanatical man, no matter how powerful he may be.
Time proved that that Church and those scientists were wrong. They just erred. This fact brings us to the logical conclusion that they may err again today where reincarnation is concerned, since they both erred many times in the past on many occasions.
They accuse us of teaching Transmigration of souls; the theory according to which a human soul incarnates in the physical body of an animal. There is no place in God's Universe for such a fantastic belief. The Cosmic law is that each soul always builds and animates a corresponding human physical form, according to the degree of its perfection. No human soul can ever incarnate in the physical body of an animal. The high mental vibrations of the human soul will break and destroy the animal form.
COSMIC LAW VERSUS MAN-MADE DOGMA
According to authentic historical sources, the law of Reincarnation was taught in the first Christian Churches to the inner circle of the brothers, since the first Christian communities were but an imitation of the ancient Pythagorean communities and schools and the continuation in a limited way of the ancient Greek, Egyptian and Mithraic mysteries. However, from the time the Christian Church under the Roman emperor Constantine decided to become a political organization, a drastic change should have been made and certain dogmas had to be formulated for the spiritual subjugation of the masses. These radical changes and dogmas were the following:
(1) The original sin. (2) Hell and paradise. (3) The forgiveness of individual sins by the clergy.
In order that these dogmas be established — which are in opposition to the Cosmic law of Reincarnation — the latter had to be thrown out of the teachings of the Bible and of the Church. In this way the new religion acquired numerous converts, but at the same time the darkness of ignorance, fear — the greatest enemy of man — superstition, religious fanaticism, the Roman Inquisition, and the black practices and events of the Middle Ages, until only a few decades ago, enshrouded the human mind, and civilization was moved back by two thousand years.
The elimination of the Cosmic Law of Reincarnation and the establishment of the new dogmas, brought up the following three great logical questions, which the Church was never able and will never be able to answer.
(1) THE INEQUALITY OF MAN
If God is just and the source of all love and harmony, why then, has he created every human being different from the other without any equality whatsoever? "How can one account for the fact that one man is born poor and in spite of heroic effort remains poor all his life, whereas, another man is born into a rich family and has all the good things of life without effort on his part? Is this divine justice? Can one conceive of a just God who sends one man into this world to be a pauper all his life, whereas another man enjoys all the luxuries and pleasures of the same life? Why does one man have to die very young, and another live to a ripe old age? None of these questions can be logically answered without the operation of a law of eternal Justice and of Necessity, the Universal Law of Metempsychosis, or Reincarnation." (See our recent book, Life's Riddle Solved, pages 69-70)
(2) HELL AND PARADISE
Is it just and in agreement with the divine law of justice and of harmony, that if a man, according to the standards of society — and we have countless such standards — lived a good life for a few years on earth, after his death, he is going straight to paradise to live there in a supreme bliss through eternity? Is this just and logical? Where are then the workings of the laws of evolution and of progress?
Is it just and logical, if another man lived a wicked life — which according to the standards of another society might be a good life — after his death, his soul will go straight to hell to be tormented and tortured there for ever? If this is true, who does the torturing? What does this hell and this paradise of the Biblical story look like and feel like? What does hell mean and what really takes place in the after-death existence of the human soul?
(3) THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS
No one can ever forgive the sins of another. This is against any law of Nature. It is the same thing as to satisfy one's hunger by having another person do the eating for him. In Nature everything works out its own salvation. The very moment some one else does things for us, our work, that very moment the basic law of evolution will come to an end, since evolution means and is the gradual progress of all things and of all beings in Nature through individual effort.
The Biblical passage in Matthew 18:18 "Whatever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven," which the Church uses to establish her authority for the forgiveness of sins, if this statement was really made by Jesus, which is very doubtful, it has entirely a different meaning and not that of giving authority to any one man to forgive the sins of another man, or to change an existing Cosmic Law, which as such is immutable. (See op. cit., page 118 for full explanation.)
"All these very important and serious questions have kept the human mind perplexed, guessing and in bondage to fear. These questions will continue to challenge his real knowledge and his wisdom until man is able to understand the Cosmic plan of Divinity which is carried out through the Cosmic laws of evolution and Reincarnation." (Op. cit., page 91.)
THE LAW OF COSMIC JUSTICE, HARMONY AND LOVE
The above serious questions were never and they will never be adequately answered. Because, when any man, or any institution, proclaims himself, or itself infallible and denies the operation of a Cosmic Law of God, of course, it will never have an answer to give, except to present a man-made dogma as a subterfuge in the place of the suppressed Truth.
Through the operation of the Cosmic Law of Reincarnation all these great questions are answered once and for all. The human soul is a spark of Divinity. The Ego leaves the bosom of Its heavenly Father-God having in itself all the Divine qualities and potentialities of God in a latent state. These the Ego transforms into individual consciousness by its pilgrimage through matter, in numerous incarnations, or rebirths in human bodies, through its own personal efforts and experiences. The total sum up of these conscious qualities, powers and capabilities of the Ego, constitutes the human soul. In each new incarnation the soul prepares a physical body in proportion to its strength, its perfection and the degree of its consciousness. This is justice, harmony and impersonal love of the Cosmic Law of equality for all. The soul in each of its many lives possesses and manifests through its physical body characteristics, qualities or faults, abilities or disabilities, weakness or strength, etc., according to its merits and demerits, no more no less.
After this long pilgrimage through matter, when the soul will have completely purified itself and its consciousness has become Divine, then, it will come back to the bosom of its Father-God as a real Son of God. Who that has ears to hear, let him hear and understand the workings of this basic Cosmic Law of Justice, of Harmony and of Love, the Law of Reincarnation.