Question 1: What is rebirth?
Answer by Romapada Swami: Spirit soul is eternal, and thus has no real business in this temporary atmosphere. If he manifests a desire apart from his spiritual nature, he obtains a material body suitable to accommodate that his material desire. At the termination of the particular body which the soul has been awarded, the soul quits that body and takes on another, according to the consciousness at the time of death. This is called rebirth or transmigration of the soul, and it continues on until one is free from all material desires, at which time the spirit soul can return back to the eternal spiritual world.
Question 2: If soul is constitutionally caitanya (conscious) and not influenced by karma, then how does karma influence its rebirth?
Answer by Romapada Swami: If someone lost their hard-earned money, the person himself is not hurt by the incident, but because they are attached to the money and identify it as their property, they have to suffer the consequence of the loss. Similarly, the soul mistakenly identifies himself with the material body, and thus becomes attached and ‘conditioned’ by the desire to enjoy the facilities of material existence. Therefore, he is forced to take another body to enjoy or suffer the consequences of past actions.
