Rebirth - YS I-19

Yoga Sutra I- 19 - BHAVAPRATYAYO VIDEHA PRAKRTILAYANAM - Those who merely leave their physical bodies and attain the state of celestial deities, or those who get merged in Nature, have rebirth.

Swami Satchidananda exlplains this sutra to us saying if we die after practicing a little samprajnata samadhi, Patanjali is telling us that we do not lose all the benefits of the practice. Wherever ever we have stopped, or gained mastery over nature, we will go on to become one of the controllers of nature. "Such people are called videhas." Videha in the glossary of "The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali" translated and commented by Swami Satchidananda is defined as "bodiless".

Examples of dying mastering:

• the gross elements (without going to the subtler ones) makes one the controller of the gross elements of nature.
• the very depth of nature makes one become the Master of Nature. " Such people are called the siddha purushas, or the gods who control the different phenomena - Indra, Varuna, Agni and so on, according to the Hindu names."

Whatever level, we have to come back and study further and get liberated. It's like going to a university. If you drop out temporarily, you don't get a degree. You have to go back to get the degree. You go to a certain point and get into a higher abode and control nature, but the seeds of desires and attachment are still there. "That is why even gods have to become human beings." It is only in the human being level that there is a possibility of liberation. Swami Satchidananda said that "The gods are just human beings who have evolved a little further and learned to control nature and , by that control, have earned the enjoyment of certain pleasures in the heavens. But, after that , they come back" . So the cycle of birth and death will continue until all the seeds of desire get burnt and they become completely liberated by knowing themselves.

This is definitely food for thought. Stay tuned.