Deepak's take

I love Deepak Chopra's writings. Here's his take on Enlightenment and Rebirth: 

Consciousness persists after the death of the physical body, but the experience of death does not awaken to our essential reality, that is it does not produce enlightenment. The main idea to bear in mind in all this is that the entire phenomenon of spiritual growth, life experiences, and rebirth is all driven by the force of evolution bringing about our enlightenment, the full awakening of consciousness to its own true nature. When one is enlightened there is no more need for rebirth. 

Don’t get too wrapped up in esoteric theories about astral planes and causal bodies. All these are just realms of experience that correspond to our state of consciousness. After death experiences, like embodied experiences, all take place within our consciousness. We mistakenly believe that all these experiences are externally based and are being imposed on us when in fact it is our own consciousness that is driving the process. The wheel of birth and death in Sanskrit is called samsara. It is the endless cycle of action and reaction. When we come to know our true self as non-local, pure consciousness, then we realize that we are that consciousness that pervades all existence, all creation. With enlightenment we get off the wheel of samsara by realizing that we are that wholeness of life that transcends it.