Reincarnation is a reality, as these words of God prove.

At the moment of death, the soul takes on a new body as naturally as it passed in the previous one from childhood to youth, then to old age. This change does not trouble those who are aware of their spiritual nature.

Everyone engages in various acts, whether or not they conform to the revealed scriptures. Now know this: it is enough for one to use the fruits of such acts to worship Me in Krishna consciousness (also called God consciousness) to be immediately blessed with a happiness that will continue in this life and the next, in this world as well as in the next. There is no doubt about that.

Death is certain for one who is born, and rebirth is certain for one who dies.

The Supreme Lord instructs an incarnate soul and comforts them.

Dear friend, although you cannot recognize Me immediately, do you not remember that you once had a most intimate friend?

But you have, alas, left Me to enjoy the pleasures of this material world. My dear and sweet friend, you and I are like two swans. We dwell together in the same heart, which is like Lake Manasa [a lake on heavenly planets, large, beautiful, peaceful, and deep]. Although we have lived together for several thousand years, we are nevertheless very far from our original residence [the spiritual world]. You are still the same friend to Me. Since you left me, you have become increasingly immersed in materialism, and, unable to see me, you have traveled in various [bodily] forms in this world, each of which was descended from some woman [the Lord here refers to the material nature].

In this city [the material body], there are five gardens, nine gates, a guardian [a protector], three dwellings, six families, five stores, five material elements, and a woman, who is the mistress of the household.

Dear friend, the five gardens represent the five objects of sense gratification [olfactory, auditory, tactile, visual, and gustatory], and the guardian is the vital breath, which circulates through the nine gates [the nine orifices of the body; two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, the mouth, the anus, and the genitals]. The three dwellings symbolize the essential elements: fire [heat], water, and earth. The six families are constituted by the combination of the mind and the five senses [sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing].

The five storehouses are the five organs of action [arms, legs, mouth, genitals, and anus], acting through the combined forces of the five elements [earth, water, fire, air, and ether], which are eternal. The soul stands behind this display of activity. In reality, it is a person, itself destined for pleasure. However, because it is now hidden in the city of the body, it is deprived of knowledge.

When you come to inhabit such a body, with the wife of material desires [For example, before being reborn in a woman's body, the soul was in a man's body, but due to certain sinful acts, it had to assume a woman's body in its next birth. The Lord clearly teaches that the female body is of an inferior nature. However, by taking refuge in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, even a low-born being can rise to the highest perfection. It is when one's spiritual intelligence is reduced that one must take a lower birth], material pleasure completely subjugates you and makes you forget your spiritual life. Because of your material conceptions, you are forced to endure all kinds of miserable conditions.

In truth, you are not Vidarbha's daughter, nor is this man, Malayadhvaja, your benevolent husband, just as you were not, in fact, Puranjani's husband in your previous birth. You are simply imprisoned in this body with nine gates. You sometimes believe yourself to be a man, other times a chaste woman, and still other times a eunuch. All this comes from the body created by illusory energy. Know, then, that this illusory energy is my power, and that in truth, you and I are pure spiritual entities. Only try to understand this truth, for I am striving to explain to you the true nature of both of us.