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Is Past Lives Reincarnation Something You Understand?
Past lives reincarnation theorizes that the soul goes through other lives and other births; Hinduism is one such philosophy focuses on past lives reincarnation, dictated by athma, the soul, and karma, or deeds. Hindu religious scriptures state that the soul cannot be destroyed, and therefore lives on, changing form from one body to the next just as we might shed old clothes for new once the old ones have worn out.
This is very different from Christianity's view of reincarnation, which focuses on Christ's resurrection. The Hindus state that the soul can inhabit any form, man, woman or animal. The deeds or karma of a human being in one life dictate what's going to be his or her life in the next.
Several scriptures in the Hindu religion talk about past lives reincarnation extensively. One of the most notable of these is the Bhrigu Sanhita. This scripture apparently had an accounting for everyone on earth, both for past and future births. However, this scripture has been lost to the ages.
In regard to modern-day reincarnation theory, Dr. Ian Stevenson has collected some compelling data. Even though modern science scoffs at the idea of past lives reincarnation, Dr. Stevenson believed in it. Therefore, although it can't be said that his data is the most respected scientific data on the theory, it's very famous and his cases are very well documented because Dr. Stevenson held a degree in medicine and was a psychiatrist.
Today, most therapists who use past life regression induce trances in subjects or use hypnosis to get them to recall past lives. Dr. Stevenson did not do that, however. He simply talked to children who could spontaneously recall events from their own past lives.
Most noted and perplexing among these cases was that of a small child, a boy, six years old, from a small village in Punjab. This child claimed that he had been a man named Satnam Singh; further, he could vividly describe the man's village of Chakkchela, even though the boy had never actually been there.
The family was nonplussed by this, and tried to dissuade the boy from saying such things, but the boy continued to insist that he was Satnam and even told people what the man's father's name had been. The boy described his death by saying that he had been killed in a motorcycle accident as he was coming home from school. The boy's story was investigated, and was found to be absolutely true; indeed, a man named Satnam Singh had been killed in a motorcycle accident on the way home from school. This little boy also revealed very personal details about the family, which also turned out to be true. Most amazingly, though, the handwriting of the young boy and Satnam Singh were compared, and found to be identical.
Another startling case from Stevenson's files involved that of a young girl, three years old, named Swarnalata. This child remembered that she had been a young woman named Biya Pathak, and could vividly described the house that she lived in. In fact, when she and her father were traveling one day, she led her father directly to the property and even said that she had lived in the area; further, she said that they could get a better cup of tea in that house than they could on the road. Her recollections were completely validated, however, when the little girl recognized the young woman's brother, and addressed him by a pet name the young woman had had for him, from a group of nine people.
Stevenson's files contain literally dozens of these cases. He also states that it can often happen that a trauma in the last birth can take form in the next life as a birthmark. One subject certainly had this happen to him. He recalled that he was his deceased maternal uncle, and a scar on his head proved to be a match to the knife wound his uncle had died from, also on his uncle's head in the same location.
Another case from Stevenson's files was very astonishing as well; with that, a little boy claimed that he was a man named MahaRam; MahaRam had been shot and killed at very close range, in the chest. What was amazing was that this young boy displayed birthmarks on his chest that looked like gunshot wound scars.
Many psychiatrists and other eminent authorities in psychology and psychiatry believe in rebirth as a legitimate concept, including Dr. Brian Weiss, who is considered to be the father of past life regression. However, science continues to be very skeptical about it. Nonetheless, it's also worth noting that when many people undergo a few sessions of past life regression therapy, they experience the sudden disappearance of phobias and fears they've had their entire lives.
Past Lives Reincarnation – Is Remembering Important?
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