From Death to Birth: Understanding Karma and Reincarnation

by Rajmani Tigunait

What happens when we die? How does our present life shape our future? What part of us survives death? From Death to Birth takes us on a vivid tour of the soul's journey from one lifetime to another, revealing little known or understood aspects of spiritual life along the way. Through a series of lively stories drawn from the ancient scriptures and his own experience, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait reveals the truth about karma, how we create it, why it becomes our destiny, and how we can use it to shape the future of our dreams.

Genres: Spirituality, Death, Religion

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 25, 1997

Reviews

[Brian Stoltz · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are sincere in wanting to study the philosophy of karma, and in understanding the process of reincarnation, this is "the book" for you. If you just have a mild curiosity, or you're just looking for a quick-read on the subject, you may want choose something else. This book will only frustrate you. This is the real deal!
If you are a beginner to this subject but are truly interested and prepared to study, gather your patience, proceed slowly and plan on spending time contemplating the many facets of this vast subject. If you consider yourself an expert on the topic prepare to be shocked. At some point in the book you will probably realize that you are not. While there are many authorities qualified to teach and write on the subject of karma and reincarnation, author, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, is one of a very small handful of highly-advanced masters who hold the keys to unlocking the mysteries of the death process, rebirth, and what lies between.

[Rishma Rampersad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great understanding of karma and reincarnation. It was easy to read as I felt it was a validation to what I thought karma and reincarnation are. Glad to have found this book in my local puja store. This book is easy to read but a second read to highlighted points is recommended to absorb it fully.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to general yogic philosophy. Panditji connects personal experience, pieces of the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras, and other stories from the Upanishads and Vedas to explain the general idea of how Karma works.

[Katie Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a great book on the ideologies of yoga, karma, and reincarnation. Gives a different point of view of the world to someone living in a western society. It lost me a few times when discussing scripture or stories, but the topics on eastern religion were interesting and understandable

[Maerin Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written primer for a Western audience.

[K ubuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good read

Well thought out. The main ideas are presented with a mixture of fundamental truths and effective anecdotes from the Puranas.

[Rishabh Surana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly insightful with some amazing stories

[Heather Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful

[Jyoti · Rating 3 out of 5]

My old and new learnings from this read:

The theory of Karma is the defining principle of life. We're in a state of happiness or misery or poverty or riches because of our past karma. We must create positive karma for a better life and a happier place after this life. Our good and bad karma decide our place after death. To reap benefits of good karma, we go to heaven--or realms of awareness--where we can feel pleasure and pain much like we do as mortal beings. As our good karmas deplete, our time in these pleasurable realms ends and we go to hell to pay off our bad karma. We follow it all by taking birth to earn good or bad karma. It's all mathematics or meticulous book-keeping.

The state of one's mind and thoughts as one is nearing death decides the next birth. The mind at that time is full of confusion as one's consciousness is slipping away so only a consistent and regular practice would keep the mind attuned to God.

The strong advice from scriptures and the learned souls is to detach yourself from your actions, do what is good and work towards an exit from the cycle of life and birth. Which is possible through sadhna, meditation and connecting with the God within. As also from complete awareness that we're not interested in pleasures of the body and senses as they will keep us involved in the cycle of birth and death forever.

The book has repetitions and would do well with focussed editing. I remain unclear if the author gave any advice of his own or simply related what he had gathered from puranas, Gita and other scriptures. It offered a simple language but still took me long to complete as I wanted to be sure to not miss anything. Will be re-reading the highlighted sections to internalise the message of detachment and sadhna.

[Sarasvatī · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're really serious about your spiritual path, don't postpone this teaching. It's amazing...

If you're a student of Vedānta, it will put the pieces of the puzzle together in a beautiful, lucid way.

Don't read it just once. Make these teachings yours by committing them to your heart...

And practice. Practice, practice, practice or you won't make them your own...

This book has a very special meaning because it arrived at a very special time. I found myself treading some paths described here, and it was comforting to have this teaching to fall back on when, without it, I would have been completely lost. This doesn't mean that I have mastered what needed mastery. Rather, that I got to witness countless emotions, along with empathy and compassion. For this gift, for this time, for this circumstance: I'm truly grateful.

Now, I'm about to start to read it a second time, in order to absorb its essence. This means studying it, rather than just reading it. I advise to memorize one of its teachings, then put it into practice as you review that same teaching repeatedly throughout your day. "Make it yours," as Śrī Yukteswar once said.

May you find comfort in these teachings
May they find you when you need them most
May their radiance illumine your heart and guide you to Union with the Divine

ॐ नमः शिवाय

_/|\_

[Mamta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought provoking, to say the very least. Definitely inspires me to venture a bit further into the world of ancient spiritual texts. Will probably mean very different things to different people. Read it to find out what it means to you.

[Morgan Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent overview of the nature of karma with some information that is surprisingly practical. A good primer.

[Kristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book beautifully tells the story of how karma works as though it were a force of nature. I find that very intriguing and fantastic. Have read it more than once :)

[John Deltuvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aside from covering the stated topic, also addresses in a concise yet understandable way the different types of karmas and yogas. Well-written for a Western audience.