According to Buddha, there are three factors created life: in addition to the female having the ripened egg, that ripened egg meet up with the sperm from the male world which is conception – conception is the making of physical body. Buddha pointed out to us there is this third factor – the rebirth consciousness entering the womb. The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Teaching to Venerable Nanda on Entry into the Womb” ( Āyuṣmannandagarbhāvakrāntinirdeśa ) has revealed to us that Buddha was able to describe vividly the whole process of pregnancy to baby delivery in great detail some two thousands years ago without the aid of any modern equipment. Buddha told us that our physical body is only the holder of our true self – mind. And essence of mind is consciousness.
Basically while a man and a woman are having sexual activity, up there somewhere a lot of rebirth consciousness are out there in the open air ready to step into the womb of a mother, wanting to reincarnate. The energy attraction is based on their previous life affinity, related somehow together either positively or negatively connected to the father and mother. Buddha’s teaching validated Freud’s theory about mother complex and father complex.
Most people got no memory whatsoever about our previous life, but there are some extreme cases. Christian Sundberg, a case in point, had pre-birth experience and incarnation memory. He has presented at over 80 public speaking events to remind others in at least a small part of who we all really are beneath the human “play”.
Also there are tons of evidences of people who remember their past life. Ian Stevenson, a Professor of Psychiatry from University of Virginia, who was initially skeptical about the whole idea and later turn into an advocate after 40 years of near-death experience researches. Today, his successor Bruce Grayson, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia, is one of the world’s leading experts on the science. Grayson had spoke about how the brain does not equal the mind, and how near death experiences can contribute to knowledge about the mind-body connection.
So this body of ours is the servant to the mind. What is the relationship of mind and Consciousness? Indian Hindu sage Ramana Maharshi put it succinctly: “Mind is consciousness which has put on limitations. You are originally unlimited and perfect. Later you take on limitations and become the mind.” What exactly is consciousness? Consciousness has no religion, no belief or ideology, no gender, no sexuality, no race, no age and no nationality. More exactly, Swami Sarvapriyananda at IIT Kanpur beautifully explained it from Hinduism perspective. He also explained about how consciousness relate to Moksha as taught by the Veda. Another … to be continued