Is it possible to re-enter the birth and death cycle of life after one has achieved Moksha/Nirvana ?
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3God says He incarnates age after age to restore Dharma isn't it. So after achieving Moksha definitely a soul can "take birth". However, the soul does not enter into the cycle of samsaar (rebirth), in the sense, the soul no longer associates itself with the body, it becomes One with all of creation and with God. Thus there is no rebirth for the 'soul' so to speak. All the best.– SaiOct 6, 2015 at 14:19
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2@Sai, can you elaborate more on how the terms "take birth" and "rebirth" are different (as both belong to Samsaar only)? Do you mean that after Moksha, the soul again takes its first birth? BTW, I had thought regarding your 1st sentence while answering. I guess, there might be some difference between supreme soul and the other (day to day) souls. God incarnates for establishing Dharma, but God doesn't get Moksha at the end of incarnation either, because being already in liberated state. I might be wrong in this case.– iammilindOct 7, 2015 at 5:49
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2@iammilind Let us say Jiva X attains Liberation. It becomes merged in Divinity. Therefore from X's point of view, there is no such thing as rebirth. This is because X no longer thinks He is X. He knows that he is God. However from another jiva Y's point of view, X may take birth again for the sake of establishing Dharma. Sri Krishna in reality is neither born nor dead, everyone knows that. Sri Krishna is eternal. From Sri Krishna's point of view, He is neither born nor dead. He is God, always present! However from our point of view, he takes birth, for our sake. Similar with the saints.– SaiOct 7, 2015 at 14:32
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@Sai completely agreed. So after liberation X = God or God = X or God + X = singularity. However Y will never encounter X's nature different than that of God.– iammilindOct 7, 2015 at 14:44
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@iammilind Y will believe X to be God incarnate (or a saint, depending on the mission of X)– SaiOct 7, 2015 at 14:45
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3 Answers
No. It's not possible.
After Moksha, a soul has become God by merging into the singularity of God. What God does, that soul does or what that soul does, the God does. Both are same.
The question rather should be,
Is it required to have a life after Moksha?
A soul with no desire left and who has conquered its Rajo-Guna (the mode of passion) will not have anything to do with the material world. Even that soul doesn't have to guide anyone, because tendency to guide or help is also a (selfless) desire.
All the entity come to manifested from unmanifested when the day of Brahma starts. Unmanifested is the actual nature of God, which is Nirguna (mode-less), Nirvikara (distorion-less) and Nirpeksha (non-relative). However with its own Yoga-maya, the unmanifested God can also take a manifested form of soul, superior than the others.
Presumably, your question is about the regular souls like us. When such soul realizes the God, it finally merges within the God's unmanifested form. It's like a water droplet merging into the ocean.
Can we say that when a new body is formed later, the same droplet is again attached? We can safely assume that it's gone for good!
But those who worship Me, giving up all their activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, having fixed their minds upon Me, O son of Pṛthā – for them I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.
One who understands this philosophy concerning material nature, the living entity and the interaction of the modes of nature is sure to attain liberation. He will not take birth here again, regardless of his present position.
The souls which are going to attain Moksha would enjoy within the present life as well:
When the embodied being is able to transcend these three modes associated with the material body, he can become free from birth, death, old age and their distresses and can enjoy nectar even in this life.
answered Oct 6, 2015 at 12:01
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3In those Gita verses, Krishna is just saying the soul will never be forced to take birth again once it attains Moksha. But it can still choose to take birth on Earth, just out of compassion for the souls who are still in the cycle of birth and death. Vyasa says in the Brahma Sutras "The released soul can animate different bodies like a lamp, for the scripture shows this to be so." advaita.it/library/brahmasutras2.htm Oct 6, 2015 at 14:31
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3Even the Brahma Sutras say "There is no return for the released souls on the strength of the Upanishadic declaration". Again, both Gita verse 13.24 and the Brahma Sutra statement are about forcible return - Krishna is basically saying "You're never going to find yourself being reborn all of a sudden." But you can still go into the world if you want to. The Brahma Sutras say that liberated souls have powers to do anything, except for interfering with the creation, preservation, and destruction of the Universe. Oct 6, 2015 at 14:50
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2I think Conclusion is there is no need to reborn after moksha , But if you want than cycle of death & life available for you after Moksha am I right ? @iammilind I think you should write this also in your answer– BhavinOct 7, 2015 at 4:29
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2"It's inherently involved in all activities where God is involved." Well, that's not quite true. The Brahma Sutras make clear that the liberated soul acquires all powers except for the creation, preservation, and destruction of the Universe. Oct 7, 2015 at 13:55
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2@iammilind No, the Brahma Sutras make clear that when it is said that the liberated soul becomes equal to Brahman, it is about equality of experience only, not equality of powers. Oct 7, 2015 at 14:22
yes, soul can always enter cycle of life-death even after achieving Moksha. Have you studied Advaita Vedanta and Shudhadvaita(non-dual reality)? Human souls are nothing but fragments of the divine God, and if maya or ignorance or the instinct of I is removed from soul, soul is equivalent to God. Than what the hell caused the maya in very first place to delude divine God himself and appear in the form of infinite souls. It is avidya, that is forgetting true self. Moksha simply means established in true self(the non-dual reality). And life simply means forgetting the true self and having desire of anything other than true self. Kindly study teachings of buddha.
2) Life is permeated through suffering caused by desire, 3) Eliminate desire and you eliminate suffering and attain moksha.
Also, study Samkhya laid out by Kapila muni, which revolves around Purush and Prakriti,
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samkhya
The idea of evolution in Samkhya revolves around the interaction of prakṛti and Purusha. prakṛti remains unmanifested as long as the three gunas are in equilibrium. This equilibrium of the gunas is disturbed when prakṛti comes into proximity with consciousness or Purusha. The disequilibrium of the gunas triggers an evolution that leads to the manifestation of the world from an unmanifested prakṛti. Purusha is pure consciousness absolute, eternal and subject to no change. It is neither a product of evolution, nor the cause of any evolute. It is what is called the soul of every one of us.
Samkhya considers ignorance (avidyā) is regarded as the root cause of this suffering and bondage (Samsara). Samkhya offers a way out of this suffering by means of discriminative knowledge (viveka). Such knowledge, that leads to mokṣa (liberation), involves the discrimination between prakṛti (avyakta-vyakta) and puruṣa (jña)
But if later purush again forgets to discriminate between prakriti and purush(himself) when prakṛti comes into proximity with him(purusha), he will again manifest or fall in cycle of life-birth. So, only method of liberation is to always remain in introversion, that is nirvikalp samadhi or see everything with indifference
No Soul after achieving Moksha will enter the cycle of birth and death because he is free from each and every imperfection.
But still they can come on earth to guide souls towards the kingdom of God. Just for the purpose of helping more souls realize the absolute truth, they come to earth. Though in this life they know for what purpose they are on earth, they have already risen above Maya and various imperfections. They are free.
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7Answers on this site should be with reliable sources, they shouldn't just be your personal opinion. So please find sources to back up your answer– BhavinOct 6, 2015 at 10:12