श्रीभगवानुवाच |
बहूनि मे व्यतीतानि जन्मानि तव चार्जुन |
तान्यहं वेद सर्वाणि न त्वं वेत्थ परन्तप || 5||*
śhrī bhagavān uvācha
bahūni me vyatītāni janmāni tava chārjuna
tānyahaṁ veda sarvāṇi na tvaṁ vettha parantapa
śhrī-bhagavān uvācha—the Supreme Lord said; bahūni—many; me—of mine; vyatītāni—have passed; janmāni—births; tava—of yours; cha—and; arjuna—Arjun; tāni—them; aham—I; veda—know; sarvāṇi—all; na—not; tvam—you; vettha—know; parantapa—Arjun, the scorcher of foes
Translation:
The Lord said: O Arjuna! Many births of Mine have passed as well as yours. I know them all but you know them not.
Commentary:
Iswara, the Lord and Jiva, the personalised man are both of the same substance – the Supreme Brahman. Iswara is the Lord of Maya; and Jiva is subject to Maya. Iswara incarnates himself by controlling Maya, for the purpose of establishing Dharma in the world. But the Jiva is born again and again to work out his own karma, under the power and control of Maya. Since the Lord is the Lord of Maya, He knows all His incarnations from the beginning of creation, whereas the Jiva forgets them by the deluding power of Maya.
On account of Avidya, man’s knowledge is confined to the present life only. In truth, every man has passed through myriads of births. He had parents, wives and children, friends and enemies, wealth and prosperity, good and bad, during thousands of former births. But he has no knowledge of them now. If man fails to cut the bonds of karma by knowledge of Atma, he has still to pass through innumerable births. By virtue of the ‘good that he has done, he has now acquired the human birth, endowed with reason and discrimination, and not the birth of a worm or reptile, bird or beast. Having this great good fortune if still he indulges in sense pleasures and gets lost in the meshes of karma, he is indeed an unfortunate being.
When the embryo in the mother’s womb attains the seventh month, he gets the vision of his past births for a brief time and then, he vows to the Lord that he would strive to dedicate his present birth to Self-realisation. But as soon as he comes out of the mother’s womb, he forgets all and is lost in the pleasures and pains of earthly existence. Such is the power of Maya.
Let people not forget that they have had the same pleasures and pains during myriads of births, and when they realise this, they lose all taste and resort for worldly attachments and pleasures. Then comes true renunciation, and the march to their original state of perfection begins. So the Lord tells Arjuna that he (Arjuna) had several births in the past, though he is not able to recollect them on account of his mortal nature.
One day the Mother visited Sarnath. When she saw some foreigners observing with evident astonishment the Buddhist ruins there, she said, “These are the very people who built these things in their previous birth. Now they have come again, and are amazed at their own doings!”
(Source: Gospel of The Holy Mother)
—-
When Holy Mother visited Rameshwaram temple, Tamil Nadu in 1910, she was directly taken to the sanctum sanctorum and was allowed to worship Lord Shiva in the form of uncovered Shivalingam. The Mother offered 108 golden leaves shaped like the real leaves of the bel (vilva) tree. She stayed in that small town for three days and every morning and evening she would visit the temple and perform worship with flowers, chandan (sandal) and vilva leaves. The Holy Mother observed all customary traditions of the temple.
It is said that Brahmachari Krishnalal who was an attendant to Holy Mother heard Mother uttering in a mood unaware of the external world: ‘It is just as I had left.’ After a few weeks in Kolkata when once Kedar babu enquired of Mother about her visit to Rameshwaram, she uttered once again, ‘He is just as I had left Him, my son!’
Swami Vivekananda Says —
“Both you and I have passed through many births; you know them not, I know them all.”[Source]
Sri Ramakrishna Says —
A boy named Vishnu, living in Ariadaha, had recently committed suicide by cutting his throat with a razor. The talk turned to him.
MASTER: “I felt very badly when I heard of the boy’s passing away. He was a pupil in a school and he used to come here. He would often say to me that he couldn’t enjoy worldly life. He had lived with some relatives in the western provinces and at that time used to meditate in solitude, in the meadows, hills, and forests. He told me he had visions of many divine forms.
“Perhaps this was his last birth. He must have finished most of his duties in his previous birth. The little that had been left undone was perhaps finished in this one. (BG 7.19)
“One must admit the existence of tendencies inherited from previous births. There is a story about a man who practised the sava-sadhana. (A religious practice prescribed by the Tantra, in which the aspirant uses a sava, or corpse, as his seat for meditation.) He worshipped the Divine Mother in a deep forest. First he saw many terrible visions. Finally a tiger attacked and killed him. Another man, happening to pass and seeing the approach of the tiger, had climbed a tree. Afterwards he got down and found all the arrangements for worship at hand. He performed some purifying ceremonies and seated himself on the corpse. No sooner had he done a little japa than the Divine Mother appeared before him and said: ‘My child, I am very much pleased with you. Accept a boon from Me.’ He bowed low at the Lotus Feet of the Goddess and said: ‘May I ask You one question, Mother? I am speechless with amazement at Your action. The other man worked so hard to get the ingredients for Your worship and tried to propitiate You for such a long time, but You didn’t condescend to show him Your favour. And I, who don’t know anything of worship, who have done nothing, who have neither devotion nor knowledge nor love, and who haven’t practised any austerities, am receiving so much of Your grace.’ The Divine Mother said with a laugh; ‘My child, you don’t remember your previous births. For many births you tried to propitiate Me through austerities. As a result of those austerities all these things have come to hand, and you have been blessed with My vision. Now ask Me your boon.'”
A DEVOTEE: “I am frightened to hear of the suicide.”
MASTER: “Suicide is a heinous sin, undoubtedly. A man who kills himself must return again and again to this world and suffer its agony.
“But I don’t call it suicide if a person leaves his body after having the vision of God. There is no harm in giving up one’s body that way. After attaining Knowledge some people give up their bodies. After the gold image has been cast in the clay mould, you may either preserve the mould or break it. (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
* With this verse Swami Vivekananda opened his writing on “Reincarnation”, contributed to the Metaphysical Magazine, New York (March 1895).
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 4 
(42 Verses)
