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Reincarnation is a very old idea. Shaivism (worshipers of Shiva, one of the three main expressions of God - Brahman in Hinduism) is many thousands of years old. Perhaps as many as 8000 years old. Many other religions are practically new compared to Hinduism. Hindus have thought every idea through as far as religion is concerned. And they have developed powerful yogic methods and techniques for uniting Soul to God. Of course the separation of Soul and God is not real in Spirit. But it is real enough for those of us here on earth right now.

Reincarnation from one life to another is not something the soul is actually "doing." The soul is not really “moving.” Bodies associated with ego personalities are projected from the Soul again and again due to unfinished desires associated with the physical world. Until the wheels of desire finish spinning, and the energies are focused and concentrated on returning to God once again, by way of the chakra inner pathway, does the possibility of reincarnating over and over cease.

Do I remember my past lives? No, not really. I cannot tell you that I ate potatoes on 12 January 1066 and watched the Battle of Hastings from my hut. (Did that battle occur during the winter? I cannot quite seem to remember!)

How many of us remember what we were doing last Tuesday? Or three hours ago for that matter? Some of us do, but generally speaking, I think that most people would admit that memory is a wonderful, yet mysterious tool. If we cannot really remember all that clearly many of the events of this week, this month, this year, or this life - then how can we really say that we are certain that reincarnation is not possible, just because we do not remember?

I have had past life readings on two occasions. They did not reveal any famous past lives. I was not Julius Caesar or Queen Victoria's older brother (if she had one). So how can I answer this question seriously if I do not directly remember my past lives?

I feel confident in answering this question through the wisdom of those who have the yogic realization that reincarnation IS how reality operates. And because much of what I have been taught I have tested through the inner science methods of Kriya yoga. Once one's old reality models break, once the paradigm of the material world loses a piece here and piece there, the old paradigm is as good as dead. The world is a "whole" mental concept. If you lose just a few pieces, it is not really very useful anymore - the entire concept has begun to unravel. I call it taking an "existential pause." It is that feeling you get right when you know a paradigm has collapsed. Paradigm is a euphemism for "your world." What has collapses is your world view. But it has to happen before a new, more expansive, more attuned to Reality, brain map can be redrawn.

True, Buddhists and Hindu yogis do not always agree on the subject of reincarnation. Buddhists believe in rebirth - generally. There is not a "soul" involved. The "I" moving from one life to another is the collection of all the desires, mental concepts, and so forth. And once that is all seen through and understood, what is left is the state of no mind. It is not death like when your TV set is broken. It is the death of the limited ego consciousness. And that means, also, the end of the rebirths.

Hindus, on the other hand "generally" believe that a soul is involved. This is not really too easily described, since the soul is not a little character living inside your body. It is the Self, or Atman that is "projecting" into each incarnation in response to the unfulfilled desires, mental concepts, etc. It is far greater than our ego selves. (I beg the forgiveness of Hindus and Buddhists everywhere for these simplified explanations of reincarnation and rebirth.

Practicing yogic techniques such as Kriya yoga speed up the process of burning up old karmas, and evolving through various levels in spiritual growth. So, the process of ending the forced rebirths or reincarnated lives is ended sooner and the Soul is reunited with God in a few lives instead of taking thousands of lives to get past all the karmas, and get past all the desires, etc.

There are good reasons to want to speed up the process. For most people, past life experiences are blocked (to give each person a new, fresh start, (and not overwhelm them with the knowledge of all their past baggage left to deal with) but karmic seeds may be planted waiting for the correct time to sprout. It is not because God does not love us, it is because of laws set up in the universe. Much of our karma is lifted by higher beings. I think we all probably know that. We are not let off the hook for everything we do - but God is Merciful. And part of the mercy is that we usually do not know what happened before. Paramahansa Yogananda, and many other enlightened beings have said that if we want to know what our past was like, look at what our lives are like now. How we were determines how we are now. And if we want to know what our future will be like, look at how we are now.

This can be a rather scary thing to contemplate, so DO NOT do it! What we need to contemplate is not our past lives, generally speaking. And not our future lives, (except to practice positive affirmations in order to improve our karmic situation). Really we need to apply our dynamic will and attention to gain a profound understanding of: