"REBIRTH" REVISITED
Dr.Sreedhar Rao Sonti,
srsonti@gmail.com
Preamble
The signs were everywhere. A regent saw three Tibetan alphabets floating
in a turquoise lake; a small house with blue-tiled roof near a mountain
with a monastery on top appeared in the dreams of a senior abbot; a
huge star shaped fungus began to grow on a pillar in the eastern side
of the hall in the Potala Palace where the 13th Dalai Lama's embalmed
body was kept in lotus position; and one day the deceased monk's head
turned towards the east. All signs and dreams pointed towards a hamlet
in the east. Chasing the signs, cracking the dreams and rejecting potential
candidates, when a party of Tibetan monks and officials, travelling
in the disguise of traders, reached a door in a cluster of houses in
eastern Tibet, a toddler welcomed them with a warm smile, identified
the prayer beads, walking stick and reading glasses of the 13th, and
pleaded with the group to take him to his palace in Lhasa. The 14th
incarnation of Dalai Lama had been found, keeping the wheel of dharma
turning as it had been since 1391 when Gendun Drup became the first
Dalai Lama - believed to be an incarnation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion.
(Times of India).
The Dalai Lama on reincarnation," it is difficult for me to say
definitely. Unless I am engaged in a meditative effort, such as following
my life back, breath by breath, I couldn't say exactly. We believe that
there are four types of rebirth. One is the common type wherein, a being
is helpless to determine his or her rebirth, but only reincarnates in
dependence on the nature of past actions. The opposite is that of an
entirely enlightened Buddha, who simply manifests a physical form to
help others. In this case, it is clear that the person is Buddha. A
third is one who, due to past spiritual attainment, can choose, or at
least influence, the place and situation of rebirth. The fourth is called
a blessed manifestation. In this the person is blessed beyond his normal
capacity to perform helpful functions, such as teaching religion. For
this last type of birth, the person's wishes in previous lives to help
others must have been very strong. They obtain such empowerment. Though
some seem more likely than others, I cannot definitely say which I am".
What follows is the Buddhist perspective of Rebirth explained in terms
of manifestation of the universal energy, setting forth the process
of formation of a being. It gets modulated by the volitions and actions
of the evolving individual during his /her life time. When this psychophysical
organism ceases to exist, the psychic part, in the form of obliterated
energy, manifests as the karmic energy of the deceased, returns to the
energy field, and ignites another being to take form when the conditions
are favorable, as propounded by The Buddha. Thus the karmic personality
of the deceased takes Rebirth. This new scientific approach to the understanding
of Re-Birth/Incarnation could satisfactorily explain many of the observed
phenomena. Many different views of subjects like mind, consciousness,
soul, atma, karma and rebirth could be better understood in terms of
the manifestation of the universal energy.
Reincarnation does seem to offer an explanation for some strange phenomena
such as the ability of some people to regress to a past life. Also,
we might explain child prodigies some how gets a soul with great carryover
from a previous life, giving it a decided advantage over the rest of
us. Rebirth could explain why bad things happen to good people and why
good things happen to bad people: they are being rewarded or punished
for actions in past lives. Karma is sometimes referred to as a "moral
law of cause and effect." It is both an encouragement to do good
and to avoid evil, as well as an explanation for whatever good or evil
befalls a person. Work done by philosophers and psychologists based
on the assumption of a non-physical entity, such as the conceptual soul(?),
which somehow inhabits and interacts with the human body, has not furthered
our understanding of the working of the mind. More promising is the
work of those who see consciousness in terms of brain functioning.
Brain-The Mini-Cosmos
It provides us with sensation, it governs our thoughts, and it drives
us to explore our desires; it is the human brain. A convoluted mass
of nervous tissue, this organ is so simple and yet so complex, and at
the same time embodies an unsurpassed fragility. But most importantly,
the human brain has a unique desire to learn about itself and it endeavors
never to rest until the ultimate truth of its existence is revealed.
Every aspect of our being is interconnected by a communication system
compromised of neurons (nerve cells in our brains), which communicate
with each other via electrical impulses; all of the features observed
- short and long term memory, complex pattern recognition, logical reasoning,
emotion and consciousness, and even the lower level unconscious functions
such as those which regulate breathing and heart rate probably emerge
out of the mutual interaction of as many as 100 billion neurons, more
or less equal to the number of stars in our own Galaxy - The Milky Way,
organized into a very complicated intercommunicating network.
Typically each neuron is wired to tens of thousands of others, passing
electrical signals between each other. These connections are not merely
on or off - the connections have varying strength which allows the influence
of a given neuron on one of its neighbors to be either very strong,
very weak (perhaps even no influence) or anything in between. Furthermore,
many aspects of brain function, particularly the learning process, are
closely associated with the adjustment of these connection strengths.
Brain activity is then represented by particular patterns of firing
activity amongst this network of neurons. It is this simultaneous cooperative
behavior of very many simple processing units, which is at the root
of the enormous sophistication and computational power of the brain.
While we are born with a complete set of neurons, the connections between
them are determined in major part by a learning process; external stimuli
coming in the form of electrical currents from the sensory cells cause
patterns of nerve impulses to be set up. These impulses can alter the
strength of the coupling between different neurons. While the overall
program for determining which neurons should be connected together may
be under genetic control, it is the external stimuli which are crucially
important in determining what network connections are made. Indeed,
to some extent our brains are continually rewiring themselves to cope
with passing experience. This is particularly true for small children
who are born with a full complement of neurons but a relatively primitive
set of connections - a useful set of network connections must be learnt
during the early years.
Conditions for conception
Bhagwan Buddha propounds three necessary conditions for conception.
There has to be a union of the father and mother, the father to provide
the sperm, the mother to provide the egg. Second, it must be the mother's
proper season. If the mother isn't fertile, conception won't take place.
Third, there must be a stream of consciousness of the deceased person,
the flow of mind that is ready and prepared to take rebirth. This third
factor He calls it the 'gandhabba'. Unless all these conditions are
met, conception does not take place.
The 'Gandabba'
Essence of The Buddha's teaching of Dependent Arising, "Paticcasamupada"
First, in this life there is present in us the most basic root of all
becoming, namely ignorance. Due to ignorance we perceive things in a
distorted way. Due to these distortions or perversions things appear
to us to be permanent, pleasurable, attractive and as our self. Due
to these distortions there arises in us craving, craving for sense pleasures,
for existence, for sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touch sensations
and ideas. Basically there is craving for pleasant feeling. In order
to experience pleasant feeling we require agreeable objects such as
agreeable sights, smells etc. In order to obtain the pleasure these
objects can give, we have to make contact with these objects. To contact
these objects we need sense faculties that can receive the sense objects.
In other words, we need the six sense faculties, eg; the eye to receive
sight, the ear to receive sound, etc. In order for the sense faculties
to function we need the entire psychophysical organism, the mind-body
complex.
Thus on account of craving the mind holds on to this presently existing
organism so long as it lives. But when death occurs the present organism
can no longer provide the basis for obtaining pleasure through the sense
faculties. However, there is still the craving for the world of sights,
sounds, smells, tastes, touches and ideas. So due to this craving for
existence, consciousness lets go of this body and grasps hold of a new
body, a fertilized egg (Zygote). It lodges itself in that fertilized
egg, bringing a whole storage of accumulated impressions over with it
into the new psychophysical organism. Thus we say the new being is conceived.
Venerable Bikku Bodhi comments thus (in response to my query):
"The early Buddhist texts do not give a "visualized"
presentation of how consciousness descends into the zygote. They simply
use the expression "the descent of consciousness" into the
womb. Also, the early texts do not necessarily envisage a new rebirth
immediately following the death of a being. They contain a few references
to "beings seeking a new existence" ( sattaa sambhavesino),
or "beings that are going to take a new existence," and this
seems to imply that it is possible that beings remain in a kind of disembodied
state (or perhaps a state in which they subsist in a subtle body like
the astral body) before returning to embodied existence. This seems
convincing, for it would be astonishing if, whenever a being died, the
appropriate conditions for it to take rebirth would immediately become
available. It is also supported by some histories I have read of people
who recall their previous existence and the death experience. They report
that, immediately after their death, they found themselves in a replica
of their physical body, in which they floated around for an indeterminate
period of time, until they found a human woman to whom they felt attracted.
They attached themselves to her until she had sexual relations with
a man, at which point they lost consciousness, only resuming consciousness
when they were in the body of a new-born baby. Some stories of this
sort are in the BPS volume, "Rebirth as Doctrine and Experience"
by Francis Story".
According to Tibetan tradition, the term "bardo" may refer
to the state of existence intermediate between two lives on earth. After
death and before one's next birth, when one's consciousness is not connected
with a physical body, one experience a variety of phenomena. These usually
follow a particular sequence of degeneration, from the clearest experiences
of the reality, of which one is spiritually capable, to terrifying hallucinations
arising from the impulses of one's previous unskillful actions. For
the spiritually advanced the bardo offers a state of great opportunity
for liberation, since transcendental insight may arise with the direct
experience of reality, while for others it can become a place of danger
as the karmically created hallucinations can impel one into a less than
desirable rebirth.
Human Organism- The Beginning
The human organism, like every other living organism, begins its existence
as a single cell. As we have seen above, a sperm cell is not an organism.
Neither is an ovum. Yet, when the two unite, they form a zygote with
a complete - though not completed - living, organized, unique, individual
human life form with its own particular morphological and physiological
destiny. It contains DNA, the entire genetic code sequence of an individual
human being (with the informational equivalent of 1,000 volumes of the
Encyclopedia Britannica).
The programming in this genetic code will cause the zygote to divide
and differentiate, to form hormones and tissues. In the absence of disease,
accident, or incident, this single cell will, in the course of 36 to
39 weeks, become a newborn human. From the time it begins its existence
it is never anything but alive (living cells can come only from other
living cells) and never anything but human (only human cells come from
other human cells). The human zygote is therefore a living, human organism.
While the ovum guides the spermatozoa towards itself by its characteristic
olfactory chemoreception, the resulting zygote with its 46 chromosomes
requires a key to decode the DNA, initiating the process described above.
It has to be in the form of an energy force by means of which the DNA
blue print is executed meticulously all through the process of the formation
of the body. According to the Buddhist perception, it is the Karmic
energy, Mind or Conscious energy of a deceased person that comes into
act with the evolution of a new being right from its zygote stage to
the point of its cessation. This energy is crucial to the psychophysical
development of a new being. Its vibrations are imparted to every cell
that makes up the corporeal structure. How then the Zygote would absorb
this energy, soon after its formation, and what if the kammic energy
is not readily available due to any selection process mentioned by Venerable
Dalai Lama. If this stream of mind energy of a deceased is not available,
according to The Buddha, the conception will not take place.
The Human Zygote, from the moment of its formation, would have characteristic
vibrations inherited from its origin. In order to absorb the external
energy to decode the DNA, it has to assume the mechanism similar to
that of a radio receiver, in this case an organic receptor. The mother's
body acts as a sensitive antenna or a channeling devise. A vide range
of external energy quanta, with their own characteristic frequencies,
are thus readily available. A particular zygote resonates to a particular
frequency allowing the corresponding energy, karmic or gravitationally
modulated universal energy, to take charge of it and the process of
differentiation sets forth.
The Corporeal Energy - Origin
The corporeal energy is a derivative of the cosmic background energy,
remnant of the BIG BANG, a catastrophic beginning of the primordial
Universe. This relic energy (2.73 degree Kelvin) fabric stretches along
the horizons of the expanding universe across lumps of matter like stars,
galaxies and planets; all these were evolved over billions of years
from the non-homogeneities in this fabric(energy converted into matter
like hydrogen, helium gases and dark matter). Modern science has proved
that the whole existence is just a reverberation of this energy.
The stars thus formed, synthesize elements from primordial dust and
gas by violent reactions at very high temperatures present in their
cores. Due to gravitational instabilities these early stars exploded
violently (Nova) spewing out plasma, into the surroundings, rich in
elements which are the essential building blocks of the form and life
we are experiencing today. The second generation stars and their planets
born from this primordial soup of processed elements by the dead ones,
become the ultimate source of energy and life habitats. This process
of birth and death of stars proceed ad infinitum. We are indeed made
up of star stuff. Therefore, we are all one and the same, separated
only by space and time.
The Karmic Energy - its Nature
The Buddha says: "I declare, O Bhikkhus, that volition is Karma.
Having willed one acts by body, speech, and thought." (Anguttara
Nikaya).
The Karmic energy is the corporeally modulated universal energy through
electrical impulses generated by the sensations. Every cell that forms
the entire physical system, made up of billions of billions of those,
is thus energized and is constantly subjected to frequency modulation
by the electrical activity of the brain in response to innumerable and
ceaseless waves of thoughts generated by the sense argons; thus, this
triangular sensations-brain-energy system is interactive.
In other words, energy with a particular frequency or vibrations can
cause corresponding electrical firings between neurons of the brain,
which has the plasticity to continuously rewire itself, thus initiating
the thought process from which volition or will arises. This stimulates
(by the neurotransmitters) the sense organs into action, speech and
feelings; and the feelings generate sensations. These sensations generate
electrical activity in the brain which in turn generate frequency modulations
in the corporeal energy. Thus a cycle completes. In this continuous
cyclic process of pounding of the corporeal energy; the original nature
of it, at the moment of conception, is completely obliterated gaining
the characteristic frequencies arising due to sensations to which the
brain develops strong connections. Thus the corporeal energy transforms
into personalized or karmic energy from the universal energy.
Such connections gaining in strength could develop the craving for
a specific sensation by an auto learning mechanism in the brain which
experiences repeated firings between the same neurons by default. This
in turn generates commands to transform into action by the neurotransmitters.
This is akin to the oozing of saliva glands just by the thought of the
taste of a favorite dish, result of a very strong craving.
When the brain dies the physical being ceases to exist. The psychic
part or the modulated corporeal energy returns to the external quantum
energy field with its own characteristic frequency, distinctly different
from other frequencies of the external field. It is the product of the
actions by body, speech and thought generated by the volition of the
being, during its life time. This can be envisaged as the karmic energy
of the deceased, ready to be absorbed by a zygote in the quest of forming
a new being. And there are a large number of these of as many deceased,
with varying degrees of modulation depending upon the intensity of the
volitions and actions.
Karmic Destiny
Volition, or Will (tetana), is itself the doer, Feeling (vedana) is
itself the reaper of the fruits of actions. Apart from these pure mental
states (suddhadhamma) there is no one to sow and no one to reap. (Ven.
Mahasi Sayadaw). Intellect and emotion often come to expression in volition
and action.
We have seen that the quantum of the modified energy with an individual
specific signature or frequency, of the deceased, is now out into the
quantum field with many other discreet energy levels. Unlike radio and
TV energy waves which dissipate with increasing distance from the source,
the modified universal energy remains universal; retaining the strength
and the acquired characteristic frequency. Wherever and whenever the
conditions for conception are favorable, as propounded by The Buddha,
there the zygote will receive the karmic energy to commence the formation
of a new living being. The higher the frequency of this energy, an intense
karmic outcome of the deceased, the faster and earlier it is received
by the zygote; thus unfolding a whole new vistas of a vibrating life
form.
As described earlier, the karmic energy helps to execute the DNA code
embedded in the zygote which begins to differentiate and every cell
that forms carries the signature of this energy. The neurons or brain
cells begin to form within two or three weeks after conception. While
the brain grows at an amazing rate during its development; at times,
250,000 neurons are added every minute!! At birth, almost all the neurons
that the brain will ever have are present. Therefore, in less than a
month after conception, millions of neurons will begin to fire and make
preliminary connections, for the first time, in response to the vibrations
of the karmic energy. In other words the deceased person's volitions
and cravings transmigrate to form the first impressions of the new being.
We can see that the triangle of sensations-brain-energy system is now
complete as the fetus is capable of experiencing sensations, though
exceedingly rudimentary, a learning-related cognitive-like activity
is evident. In psycho-physical phenomenology, one argues that the fetus
is not a person until brain activity has begun with some electrical
connectivity between its neurons. This can be termed as Rebirth, entirely
of the karmic personality of the deceased, while the physical appearance,
essentially linked with the DNA, may be similar to that of the parents
or akin to the family trait.
The karmic personality is now firmly entrenched in its living abode;
it gets strengthened for the next 32 weeks since only rudimentary sensations
are recorded during this time when the fetus develops and takes birth
as a new being; it develops a new and nascent personality, the nature
of which grossly depends upon the parents, environment and the sensations
experienced, from milk sucking to audio-visual and touch sensations,
as it progresses, resulting in waves of new connections in the brain.
In effect, the new being has a duel personality; a karmic personality
and a nascent personality, the former with strong positive or negative
vibrations, ready to influence sensations, feelings and actions of the
later. When the nascent personality experiences a sensation, the neurons
in a particular region of the brain begin to fire and make new connections.
The neurotransmitters thus produced, generate suitable reactions as
bodily response, but not before the strong karmic vibrations influence
and alter the final outcome, negatively if the vibrations are negative,
positively if the vibrations are positive. Every individual experiences
this conflict between the duel personalities in the form of thoughts
and counter thoughts. So the karmic personality will be in the driving
seat and steer the nascent personality to its new karmic destiny.
The Karmic results
One develops a positive nascent personality being born and brought up
under favorable circumstances. A strong negative karmic personality
channels its negative vibrations resulting in craving for worldly things.
In case the nascent personality develops stronger than the negative
karmic personality, it over rides the negative influence of the later.
Strong positive karmic personality, on the other hand, reforms from
within a negative nascent personality.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1886) wrote a novel 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'.
The amicable and respectable doctor and the hideous, depraved Hyde are
two conflicting personalities of one being. Stevenson uses this marked
contrast to make his point: every human being contains opposite forces
within him or her, an alter ego that hides behind one's polite facade.
Jekyll attempts to keep his dark half, Edward Hyde, under control and
then to prevent himself from becoming Hyde permanently, which explains
the effect of karmic force. Professor Albert Einstein is a remarkable
scientist and a humanist but in the darker alleys of his mind he has
the weakness for women; courting, marrying and leaving several of them,
while ignoring their children. Emperor Ashoka, a bloodthirsty expansionist
ruler turned into a saint king, is an example of how a wicked nascent
personality is reformed by the positive karmic personality. Angulimala,
a killer turned Arahant, is another striking example. Karmic action
is nonsectarian.
Prodigious children
A scientist, a philosopher, a performing artist and many similarly skilled
people, all live with craving for more refinement leading to recognition
and laurels. After their death, any zygote that receives their karmic
energy will grow into a new being, with an early predominant exposition
of its karmic traits, would turn out to be a child prodigy well before
it learns in this life. This is possible only in children since their
nascent personality would be too weak to influence. Shakuntala Devi
is a calculating prodigy recognized at her age of 3. Song Yoo Geun was
a Physics prodigy at his age of 8 when he entered the University. Akrit
Jaswal is an youngest Indian University student and performing surgical
operations at his age of 7…. and many more. Can we trace back to
the originator, perhaps not! Can we trace this ability to the intelligence
level? Latest brain vs. intelligence studies indicate that we are all
born with more or less the same level of intelligence. The differences
arise apparently due to the learning process after birth. This depends,
besides sociological aspects and heredity, upon how efficiently the
brain neurons process the information responding to the corporeal sensations.
The study is, however, inconclusive. Therefore, we can safely attribute
prodigiousness of a child largely to its karmic personality than an
unlikely super intelligence, at the birth itself.
Regress to past life - who's past
The karmic personality of the deceased, subjected to a strong craving
for places visited and lived besides many other worldly attractions,
both positive and negative, firmly entrenched in another being at the
time of its conception, often reveals itself enabling the new being
to regress to its traits. This is frequently true for children to regress
to their past for the same reason mentioned earlier. In fact, they are
regressing actually to the past of the karmic personality. Many cases
have been studied in detail. However, only a few were found to be of
some credibility. The 14th incarnation of the Dalai Lama, cited in the
beginning, is the living example of the possibility of such a regression.
It is interesting to note that some grownups regress to the past of
their karmic personality, only under hypnotic trance. It is possible
because their karmic personality cannot easily come to the forefront
of the matured nascent personality unless the later is subdued under
hypnosis. Some people have been terribly frightened by their supposed
memories, and in other cases, even after coming out of hypnosis, the
karmic personality remained stay put for a long time. This might have
an adverse effect on the person and the family. A large section of people
studied, however, are totally unable to regress, probably due to the
merging of both the personalities over a period of time, losing the
personal identity at least to some extent, the stronger one influencing
the thoughts and actions of the individual.
The scientific analysis of these phenomena, by various workers so far,
has been limited to compiling the data of the young subjects who exhibited
retro-cognition but never really explained the phenomena itself.
The Karmic Cycle -The Beginning
The Buddha declares: "Without cognizable beginning is this samsara.
The earliest point of beings who, obstructed by ignorance and fettered
by craving, wander and fare on, is not to be perceived." (Samyutta
Nikaya).
Everyday, according to the latest estimates, about 200,000 humans are
added to the world population; at this rate it is going to cross 9 billion
from the present 6 .7 billion by 2042. In this context, it is difficult
to visualize a scenario wherein for every zygote a dead person's karmic
energy is readily available. In case these figures are balanced, the
human population would not have multiplied so drastically. Therefore,
it is necessary that many a zygote may also resonate to the omnipotent
and all pervading cosmic relic energy. In this case, the individual
experiences Nirvana during this life itself, by maintaining a positive
nascent personality thus keeping the corporeal energy unaffected. This
energy is associated with the evolution of life in the universe. It
remained mostly unaffected, in and out of all living organisms, till
the homo-sapiens with their evolving brain, widening the horizons of
their thought process, began to develop craving through body sensations.
The resultant brain activity has profound influence on the corporeal
energy which gets modulated and loses its original nature, as elucidated
earlier. This could be the beginning of the karmic cycle, and it is
difficult to envisage, as foretold by the Buddha.
The karmic action and the process of rebirth of the karmic trait, as
understood in terms of the manifestation of the Universal energy, presented
in the preceding text, explains convincingly many of the observed phenomenon
such as those noted below besides those cited above:
The differences in humankind; identical twins and children of the same
parents, attracting different karmic personalities, exhibit totally
different characteristics; account for the moral and intellectual differences
between parents and children; account for the arising of omniscient,
perfect spiritual teachers, like the Buddhas who possess incomparable
physical, mental and intellectual characteristics.
We can also explain the view in Hinduism which traces the origin of
life to a mystical Paramatma from which emanate all Atmas or souls that
transmigrate from existence to existence until they are finally reabsorbed
in Paramatma. The concept of Paramatma, a converging point of many a
religious philosophy, should be understood as the all pervading macrocosmic
relic energy while Atma is the microcosmic relic energy that ignites
a being into an individual. Thus as the corporeal energy, Atma gets
obliterated by the individual's volition and actions, manifesting as
the karmic energy, as described earlier. Depending upon the intensity
of the cravings, either a positive karmic energy or a negative karmic
energy emerges; if the former continues to be positive due to the individual's
positive efforts, it returns to merge with the macrocosmic relic energy
where as the later, if continues to be modulated from person to person,
would never be able to merge.
Finally, any individual by his or her own effort rids of all defilements
by treading the path of the Dharma, he or she would be relieving the
karmic energy from further transmigration as it attains its original
macrocosmic nature. Thus the individual's deconvoluted corporeal energy
gets connected with that of the Universal energy and the person experiences
Nirvana, the state of universal or cosmic awareness, transcending from
microcosm to macrocosm. This is synonym to Atma merging with Paramatma.
The only significant difference is that in Hinduism the psychophysical
organism ceases to exist as soon as the purified Atma leaves it to merge
with the Paramatma; while the Buddhists believe that one would experience
the blissful state of the transcending the Microcosm to Macrocosm and
continue to be in that state of connectivity with the cosmic energy
till the corporeal system ceases to exist. The Enlightenment of The
Buddha is the living example of such a state.
Conclusion
The proposed scientific reasoning of the functioning of the Karma in
propelling Rebirths has been found to be explaining satisfactorily most
of the observed phenomena. The idea of how the universal energy interacts
with the psychophysical system has furthered our understanding of the
conditioned birth and its cessation. However, it would be embarrassing
to learn that one is carrying forward the karmic burden created by an
unknown being and extending one's own to someone, in future.
Reincarnation is an issue of utmost importance, one that promises to
touch the ordinary man, woman and child in a profound and far reaching
way. Crime statistics show that convictions are much lower among those
who believe in reincarnation than among the others. If scientifically
accepted, reincarnation will have a stake in defining human identity
in the 21st century.
Austrian Scientist Rudolf Steiner says,
"Just as an age was once ready to receive the Copernican theory
of the universe, so is our age ready for the idea of reincarnation to
be brought into the general consciousness of humanity".
Acknowledgements:
I acknowledge with great reverence Ven. Bikku Bodhi's comments on Rebirth.
Credits
The Buddha and His Teachings: Narada.
The "Neuroscience in the News" archives at faculty.washington.edu/chudler/inthenews.html
and Wikipedia Science portal.
Ahwan: The Spiritual approach to Life : Sri Bimal Mohanty, Vol 61, March
2006.
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