Rishikesh, 1968

MAHARISHI:  ...senses of action and the prana,
ego, intellect, mind - all this constitutes the subtle
body. And the subtle body has to have the gross
body to work. Eye sight works through eyes.
Sense of hearing works through ears.

This goes out of the body (at the time of death).
And how it goes?  The example is of a bee hive,
when the bees leave the bee hive. The process is
that the queen bee flies first. (laughs) And then all
other bees follow the queen bee. And the bee hive
is left, finished.

The queen bee is the prana, and it comes out
and then it is followed by all these mind, intellect,
senses and all that. This is how the subtle body
leaves the gross body and goes to a field where
the last desire at the time of death will bemost
easily fulfilled. You follow the point?

Whatever is the last desire, it doesn't matter -
the last desire promotes theprana to come out.
And prana comes out, but it gets a direction
through that momentum of the desire.
This way and this way and this way. And it goes
and goes and goes.

Wherever the last desire is, for whatever thing,
that is the direction of the - we call it soul, not
that Being soul, but the subtle body. It goes
motivated by the last desire and goes to a field
where that desire will be most easily fulfilled.
This is the passage of rebirth. ...to that family,
to that mother. In the womb of that mother, like that.

In whatever family one is born, he is born
there just because that field is most conducive
to the last desire which carries with it the sum
total of the karma of the past life. Innumerable karmas
and all the bundle of karma. And all the bundle of
karma goes all around the central point of thelast desire.
Last desire takes him to that field.

Maybe someone is to be born in the ex-family,
mother. Now, whether he is to be born blind or
deaf or what, this will be brought about by the
total influence of the karma. All innumerable
karmas. And the collective influence of the karmas
will provide him with the machinery.

Whether one is born completely bright and
brilliant or dull or this, whatever, that is the
sum total of the karma, influence of all the
karma. But the birth is due to the last desire,see?

Someone who dies, thinking of his cat, dear cat -
he is going to be born as a cat. (laughter) Whether
he will be born as a cat on the street or as a cat in a
palace, that will be brought about by the influence
of the influence of the total karma. (laughs)

But cat he must become. Because the last desire was
"Now who will feed this dear cat. I am going now,
who will take care of it?" And that's it. That much
is enough to make him born as a cat. But what kind
of cat, where, how much happier or how much
miserable (laughs), that total karma will
decide about the kind of cat...