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Past Lives Reincarnation - A New Understanding
Past lives reincarnation is a theory whereby the soul goes through reincarnation and other births; the Hindu religion dictates that this happens because of karma (the deeds one does during one's life) and the soul or athma. Hindu religious scriptures dictate that the soul does not die, and only changes from one form to the next, and just as one might change clothes that have worn out for newer ones.
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.
There are several Hindu scriptures that speak very much about past lives reincarnation. Notable among these is the Bhrigu Sanhita, which apparently had a complete accounting of both past and future births for all living souls. Unfortunately, this scripture has been lost over time.
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.
Dr. Stevenson didn't put his patients under trance or induce hypnosis, as many past life regression therapists now do. Instead, he simply talked to children who had spontaneous recollections of incidents that had happened in their past lives.
Among the most famous and puzzling of these cases was that of a small boy, six years old, who came from a small village in Punjab. The little boy claimed that he had been a man named Satnam Singh in a past life, and could even minutely described the man's village of of Chakkchela; that was true even though the child had never been there.
The boy's family tried to dissuade him from making such statements, but he continued to claim that his name was Satnam, even going so far as to reveal the name of the man's father. As Satnam, he said that he had been killed while coming home from school on his motorcycle. This claim was investigated and was indeed found to be true, that a man named Satnam Singh had indeed been killed thusly. The boy also revealed other intimate details about the man's family that checked out to be true. The final proof was when the man's handwriting was compared to the young boy's, and they proved 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 are filled with these cases, dozens of them. Stevenson also asserted that if a physical trauma has taken place in the last life, it can show up in the next as a birthmark. Indeed, one subject said that this had happened to him. He said he was his own deceased uncle, on his mother's side; the subject had a scar on his head that matched a knife wound his uncle had had in the same location, the wound his uncle had died from.
Another well-known case of Stevenson's was that of a boy who claimed to be a man called MahaRam in a past life. This man had been killed by close gunshots to the chest, and the boy carried similar scar-like birthmarks on his chest that looked like gunshot wounds.
The 'father' of modern past life regression, Dr. Brian Weiss, supports the concept of rebirth as a plausible one, and so do many other prominent authorities in the field of psychology and psychiatry. Even so, science itself remains very skeptical about the concept of past life rebirth. It's also true, however, that people who have past life regression therapy often suddenly are rid of phobias and fears they've had their entire lives.
Understanding Past Lives Reincarnation
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