How long does it take for souls to be reborn?

Q:—Can a departed soul take birth immediately?
Swami Sivananda: It can. But such instances are rare. If the soul has an intense desire to be reborn, it will take its birth immediately. The soul has to reap its fruits of Karmas in heaven or hell. If it takes rebirth immediately it can remember many of the events of its previous life.

Q:—How long does it take for souls to be reborn?
Swami Sivananda: This is also decided by the Lord. It is not for man to guess or know such truths. It is beyond his realm.

Q:—How long should the soul wait for getting a body?
Swami Sivananda: Nothing definite can be said on this point. Great souls will have to wait for a long time.

Q:—How long will the soul remain in heaven?
Swami Sivananda: It can remain for fifty years or five hundred years. It depends upon the nature and degree of meritorious actions done by the man on earth plane.


INTERVAL BETWEEN DEATH AND REBIRTH

Two Factors

People wish to know the exact period that elapses from the time of leaving the body and being born again. Does the soul take a new body in one year? Does it take ten years? How long does one live upon the subtler planes before reappearing on the earth-plane? These are some of the questions. Now, there is no definite period of time in this matter. In main two factors decide this issue viz., the nature of the individual Karma and the last impression before death. It may vary from hundreds of years to a few months even.

Considerable Time

Those that work out some of their Karmas in other planes in subtler regions, take a considerable time before entering a fresh body. The interval is very long, for a year of the earth period passes off as a single day on the celestial plane. There is an instance cited, where, seeing the amazement and admiration of foreign tourists at the imposing ruins of certain ancient monuments, a saint present in the vicinity remarked that some of these very people have fashioned these monuments centuries ago. Now they look in amazement upon their own handiwork.

Intense Attachment

A very sensual individual with strong craving or one with intense attachment sometimes is reborn quickly. Also in cases where life is cut short by a violent death or a sudden unexpected accident, the Jiva resumes the thread very soon. This was so in the case of the Amritsar girl, Mahindra Kumari. She was born within 7 months of her death in October, 1939. So strong was her desire to see her brother at the time of death. Usually in such cases of immediate rebirth, the Jiva often remembers many of the events of its previous life. It recognises its former relatives and friends and identifies old home and familiar objects. This sometimes leads to very queer developments.

There are some instances where a murdered person, being reborn, has declared the manner of death and revealed the identity of the killer in the recent past. Thus, for instance, Dharmarajya reported (23 Mar. 1936) that in a village in Gwalior, a village Patwari offended one Thakur Chotey Lal by making some false entries in the village-records prejudicial to the latter’s interest. To avenge the wrong the Thakur trapped the Patwari in an ambush, shot him in the chest and severed the fingers of his right hand. Some time later, a son was born to a person at a place 14 miles from the scene of murder. The child had a gun-shot-mark on his chest with the fingers of the right hand missing. When the child could speak, the father one day asked him if the Creator had forgotten to make the fingers. The child at once replied that Chotey Lal Thakur had shot him in the chest and severed the fingers and gave details of the incident, which were then verified.

A reincarnated individual had at times unerringly gone and uncovered the treasure that had been hidden away by him or her. In the vast majority this memory is not present. This is really a blessing conferred by the all-wise Being. Such recollection would greatly complicate our present lives. The past is veiled to you until such time as it is good and helpful to remember it. When you attain perfection and reach the end of a cycle, all will be revealed and you will see a whole rosary of lives threaded upon the one personality.

Considerable Period of Time

But such cases of immediate rebirth are not common. Generally for an average individual the interval between death and rebirth happens to be a considerable period measured in terms of earth time. Persons who have done much good Karmas spend a great deal of time in the celestial plane before being born again. Great souls, spiritually advanced persons, wait for a long time before reincarnating.

Can Materialise Here

In the intervening period between death and new birth the departed spirit, specially if the person is psychically and spiritually developed, can frequently materialise upon the earth-plane if necessity arises. It takes human form, talks, and can even make itself felt by tangible touch. It is possible to photograph such an apparition.

Such materialised form is different from the astral body. The latter is not visible to normal vision. It is an exact counterpart, a subtle ‘double’ to the physical body and forms the vehicle in which the departed soul journeys after death. But, however, astral consciousness cannot guarantee you freedom from birth and death. Occultism and spiritualism can never give ultimate emancipation nor reveal the full secret of the beyond. Spiritual realisation and knowledge of the Self alone will reveal the mystery of life and death, and the life beyond death.

Source: pgs. 73-74, 96-98, What Becomes of the Soul After Death by Swami Sivananda