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Reincarnation
As in the case of flames the notion and the statement that this is that very lamp, or in the case of streams that this is that very water are false, so also are the notion and the statement that this is that very man which men of unreal life falsely hold in their mind and talk about. The particles of flame and water are continually changing. The flame is different at every moment. The stream brings different particles of water to a spot at every moment. The understanding and the words of ignorant men are all confounding because they speak and think believing that the same body continues.
Neither is this man born nor does he die by the seed of his own Karma. He is immortal. The notion of birth and death is itself a delusion with reference to Self. Through illusion even the unborn seems to be born, even the immortal seems to die like fire in a piece of wood though Agni continues to exist to the end of Kalpa. Conception, embryo state, birth, childhood, boyhood, youth, middle age, old age and death - these are the nine states of the body.
These imaginary states, high and low, relating to the body, some one thinks as his own through association with the Gunas and some one abandons them through the grace of the Lord and the practice of discrimination.
One’s own birth and death may be inferred from those of one’s son and father. The Atman who is the witness, who knows that the bodies only are subject to birth and death is not affected by either birth or death.
He who sees the origin of a tree from a seed and its destruction, is distinct from the tree. So also the seer or witness of the body is distinct from it.
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