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Understanding Past Lives Reincarnation
One of the philosophies that believes in past lives reincarnation and other births for the soul is the Hindu philosophy. The Hindu philosophy also believes in athma (soul) and karma (deeds). Hindu religious scriptures say that the soul never dies but merely changes body or form, much as one might shed old clothes for new.
This is a very different philosophy than that of Christianity, which centers around Christ's resurrection. The Hindus state that the soul can take any form, man, woman or animal. The deeds or karma of a human being in the present, say the Hindus, will determine the life he or she will lead in the next life.
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.
Most compellingly, Dr. Ian Stevenson was a modern day believer in past lives reincarnation; he amassed a collection of data that is the most famous and well-documented data of its kind. It can't be said that it's the most respected source of scientific information on reincarnation theory, since modern science still discounts rebirth claims, but it is nonetheless so well known because Dr. Stevenson had a degree in medicine and was a psychiatrist.
Dr. Stevenson didn't put patients under trances or into hypnotic states, however, as many modern day past life regression therapists do. Instead, he simply interviewed children who spontaneously recalled things they had experienced in past lives.
Among the most well-known and puzzling cases was that of a child, a young boy, six years old, from a tiny village in Punjab. This child claimed that he had been Satnam Singh, a man from a village that the boy named as Chakkchela; the boy claimed to have lived there as Satnam Singh, even though he actually had not been there himself. Additionally, the boy could describe Chakkchela in minute detail.
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 files listed dozens of these types of cases. Further, Stevenson states that when injury happens in one life, it can manifest in the next as a birthmark in the same location as the injury. This was indeed borne out in one of his cases on a man from Thailand, who recalled that he was in fact his own deceased maternal uncle, reincarnated. This man had a scar on his head that matched the location where his maternal uncle had been wounded with a knife and had died as a result.
Another astonishing case was when a little boy claimed to remember a past life in which he had been a man named MahaRam, who had been shot and killed at close range in the chest. And indeed, this young boy had birthmarks on his chest that looked like scars from gunshot wounds.
Dr. Brian Weiss is considered to be the father of modern past life regression, and he and several other eminent authorities in the field of psychiatry and psychology consider that the concept of rebirth is in fact a plausible one. Nonetheless, science itself remains very skeptical about it. It's also worth noting here, however, that when people do undergo past life regression therapy, they often suddenly dispense with lifelong fears and phobias.
Lives;Past,Present And Future
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