If reincarnation is false, doesn't that make the whole argument of Bhagavad Gita invalid?

Question

The way I understand Gita is that Krishna is basically telling Arjuna throughout the scripture to fight because it is futile to think about the dead and alive because we are all gonna be born again until moksha. He says that our souls change bodies like we change clothes and therefore fighting the war is OK and his duty. But...isn't this logic based upon the assumption that reincarnation is 100% true? If reincarnation is not true, then Arjuna was fighting and killing people who only had this one life (because of which we value life so much). Does that mean for people who don't believe in reincarnation, Gita holds no relevance at all?

Answer 1

There are several slokas in the Bhagavad Gita, which may be useful even for one who does not believe in reincarnation. The below slokas are some examples (a very small sample) that may be used for attaining peace of mind or as a guide for living.

duḥkhēṣvanudvignamanāḥ sukhēṣu vigataspṛhaḥ. vītarāgabhayakrōdhaḥ sthitadhīrmunirucyatē৷৷2.56৷৷

He whose mind is not perturbed in pain, who has no longing for pleasures, who is free from desire, fear and anger - he is called a sage of firm wisdom.

yaḥ sarvatrānabhisnēhastattatprāpya śubhāśubham. nābhinandati na dvēṣṭi tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā৷৷2.57৷৷

The wisdom of that person remains established who has not attachment for anything anywhere, who neither welcomes nor rejects anything whatever good or bad when he comes across it.

dhyāyatō viṣayānpuṅsaḥ saṅgastēṣūpajāyatē. saṅgāt saṅjāyatē kāmaḥ kāmātkrōdhō.bhijāyatē৷৷2.62৷৷ krōdhādbhavati saṅmōhaḥ saṅmōhātsmṛtivibhramaḥ. smṛtibhraṅśād buddhināśō buddhināśātpraṇaśyati৷৷2.63৷৷

In the case of a person who dwells on objects, there arises attachment for them. From attachment grows hankering, from hankering springs anger. From anger follows delusion; from delusion, failure of memory; from failure of memory, the loss of understanding; from the loss of understanding, he perishes.

samaḥ śatrau ca mitrē ca tathā mānāpamānayōḥ. śītōṣṇasukhaduḥkhēṣu samaḥ saṅgavivarjitaḥ৷৷12.18৷৷

He who is the same towards friend and foe, and so also in honour and dishonour; who is the same under cold, heat, happiness and sorrow, who is free from attachment to everything.

tulyanindāstutirmaunī santuṣṭō yēnakēnacit. anikētaḥ sthiramatirbhakitamānmē priyō naraḥ৷৷12.19৷৷

He who regards alike both blame and praise, who is silent and content with any lot, who has no home (no attachment to any place), who is firm of mind, and who is devoted to Me - dear to Me is such a man.

Many such slokas can be found throughout the Gita.

Answer 2

Reincarnation

Reincarnation is one of the most profound concepts of all Asian philosophies of religion - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, etc. It is roughly defined as passing out of the intrinsic nature of human nature from one body to another after the death of the former to the birth of the latter through a soul (a carrier of such from one body to another).

While you are interested in the physical proof of the existence of such phenomena, it can be shown that the existence of either anyone:

1. Soul
2. Re-incarnation

is sufficient to prove your point.

I'll use available references from scientific literature to establish both of them.

1. Reincarnation in scientific literature:

Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of Previous Lives is a 2005 book written by psychiatrist Jim B. Tucker, which presents an overview of more than 40 years of reincarnation research at the University of Virginia, into children's reports of past-life memories.[1][2] The book also discusses "birthmarks and birth defects that match those of a deceased person who is identified by the child".[3] The foreword to the book is written by Ian Stevenson.[4]: 256

This book claims that consciousness can be considered separately from the brain, which provides a basis for claims of reincarnation.[*]

Tucker, Jim B. Life before life: A scientific investigation of children's memories of previous lives. Macmillan, 2005.

[*] - The separation of consciousness from the physical aspect of the brain is the proposition of Advaita Vedanta. (Ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftn4zCnheBk)

2. Accessing memories of past lives: Certain Yoga siddhis (mystical powers) are associated with the ability to give a person the ability to access their past lives as well as the knowledge of the future (both future and past) called : trikālajñatvam.

Many traditional Mahayana, and modern Tibetan, Buddhist texts relate meditation attainment to psychic ability. This teaching served as the hypothesis—that more advanced meditators would choose a psi target correctly, significantly more often than beginners. A basic free-response design was used in which a computer programme (PreCOG) chose a target picture at random from a 4-picture set. There were 25 sets, all pictures of Tibet. PreCOG guided the participants through the procedure, in which they aimed to become aware of the target. 18 participants, Tibetan monks, nuns and Western Buddhist meditators, completed 8 sessions each. Half the sessions used a clairvoyance, and half a precognition, protocol. Age and years of meditation practice correlated significantly with the psi scores (Pearson r = 0.52, p , 0.05). This suggests that, as one practices meditation, psychic awareness begins to manifest more reliably. This result was confounded by a non-significant psi-missing trend. There was no significant difference between the clairvoyance and precognition trials (t-diff (142) = 0.800). There was, however, significant psi-missing from the group of Rinpoches (t ¼ 2.09, 2tail p , 0.05).The three participants who scored most strongly in the psi-missing direction all reported childhood memories of previous lives as monks in Tibet.

Pre-cognition: Ability to sense future events in advance.

• Roney-Dougal, S. M., J. Solfvin, and J. Fox. "An exploration of degree of meditation attainment in relation to psychic awareness with Tibetan Buddhists." Journal of Scientific Exploration 22.2 (2008): 161-78. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=6e029bb271047c0d559e251849ba46467fae2f7d

2. Evidence of soul: It has been proved via scientific experimentation that NDEs (Near-death Experience) leads to OBEs (Out-of-body experiences). Ref:

A near-death experience (NDE) is a profound personal experience associated with death or impending death which researchers describe as having similar characteristics. When positive, which the great majority are,1 such experiences may encompass a variety of sensations including detachment from the body, feelings of levitation, total serenity, security, warmth, joy, the experience of absolute dissolution, review of major life events, the presence of a light, and seeing dead relatives. When negative, such experiences may include sensations of anguish, distress, a void, devastation, vast emptiness, seeing hellish places and "the devil."

Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-death_experience

Further, through continuous Yoga, it is possible to acquire siddhis (some mystical powers) related to accessing the soul of the human body:

A three-year longitudinal study has revealed that some Buddhist meditation practitioners are able to willfully induce near-death experiences at a pre-planned point in time. Unlike traditional NDEs, participants were consciously aware of experiencing the meditation-induced NDE and retained control over its content and duration.[58] The Dalai Lama has also asserted that experienced meditators can deliberately induce the NDE state during meditation, being able to recognize and sustain it.

Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-death_experience#:~:text=A%20three%2Dyear,recognize%20and%20sustain

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A more comprehensive opinion-based answer (backed with citations) is given here: Do we meet all our dead relatives and ancestors after death?

Hence,

Of the transient there is no endurance, and of the eternal there is no cessation. This has verily been observed and concluded by the seers of the Truth, after studying the nature of both.

Bhagavad Gita: 2.16