|
|
Past Lives Reincarnation And Who You Really Are
For those who believe in past lives reincarnation, they believe that the soul goes through reincarnation and other births life after life. Among those who believe in this are those who practice the Hindu religion. The Hindu religion states that reincarnation happens because of the soul or athma, and because of karma, or the deeds one does during one's life. Hindu scriptures state that the soul doesn't die, and only can change from one form to the next; this is similar, for example, to the way one might simply shed old clothes for new.
This is very different than the Christian philosophy of reincarnation as it centers around Christ's resurrection. Hindus say that the soul can take any form, whether man, woman, or even animal. A human's deeds or karma in the present life determines what kind of life will happen next.
There are several Hindu scriptures that talk about past life reincarnations. Most notably is the Bhrigu Sanhita, a scripture that supposedly held an accounting of all future and past births for current souls living. Unfortunately, this scripture no longer exists, and has been lost to time.
Dr. Ian Stevenson has the most compelling modern day account of rebirth, as represented in the data he collected. Modern science still pooh-poohs rebirth as a legitimate claim, so it can't be stated that this is the most noted source of scientific information on past lives reincarnation as a theory. However, it's the most famous and is extremely well documented because Dr. Stevenson was a psychiatrist and had a degree in medicine.
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.
One of the most puzzling and well-known cases involved a young boy who was six years old, and who lived in a tiny village in Punjab. The boy claimed to have been Satnam Singh, and he claimed to have lived in a village named Chakkchela. This is of note because the young boy had never been to Chakkchela, yet could describe it with astonishing accuracy and clarity.
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 popular account from Stevenson's collection about past lives reincarnation came from a young girl named Swarnalata. This little girl was just three years old, but nonetheless, she could recall her life as a young woman named Biya Pathak very vividly. She described the house she had lived in, and in fact took her father there one day when they were traveling. The child even said that she'd lived there, and that they could get a better cup of tea in that house than they could have if they'd got it on the road. What sealed this case was that the little girl recognized Biya Pathak's brother, and called him by a pet name from among nine people.
Stevenson's work records dozens of incidents like these. Stevenson further states that if one is injured in a past life, the injury can manifest in the next life as a birthmark. This was indeed found to be true for one case that involved a man from Thailand; this man said that he was in fact his own now-dead uncle (his mother's brother) and had been reincarnated. The man bore a scar on his head that matched the location where his uncle had sustained a fatal wound from a knife.
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.
Many psychiatrists and psychologists, as well as of eminent authorities, believe that past life regression is indeed plausible. Among them, Dr. Brian Weiss is considered to be the father of past life regression. Even though science remains skeptical about it, it's also worth noting that many people experience a complete disappearance of fears and phobias they've carried their entire lives after they've undergone several sessions of past life regression therapy.
Past Lives Reincarnation – Finding Clues to Your Present in Your Past
|
