All World
Gayatri Pariwar

Re-incarnation!

The phenomenon of reincarnation (of the soul) is an irrefutable fact; and the law of cause and effect exists as an abstract fabric of it. A person obtains his new body or 'form' only matching to his previous deeds. It is believed that man's deeds create a conforming magnetic field that enforces the individual self to enter into most appropriate new form.

As a matter of fact, it is the physical body that undergoes the event of death but never "that" which dwells within it. The astral body within the physical or material body selects a new form for it in precise conformity with the enforcement of the gravity of his previous samskars (impressions of deeds). It is also, however, no less remarkable that in every new life, nature wraps up all the aggregation of previous memories and thus making the soul almost an oblivion and a clean slate, with reference to his previous life. Only in certain specific situations do the past memories spring up. There are, however, several occasional witnesses that prove the phenomenon of recollection of the events of the previous life. Such subjects would surprisingly narrate the anecdotes of their past-life history; and evidently such cases could be considered to reinforce the phenomenon of the chain of births of the individual.

Having once gained the flashes of its past life memories, a baby, now in its new and un-oblivion form, can watch its past events as if they didn't belong to its long past. In other words, the body, with its previous memories recharged, experiences its past as though it were a present. It is not a hearsay, nor should it be ignored at all, thinking it to be just an accidental happening. On the contrary, it is a truth easily comprehensible through enumerable witnesses.

Dr. Stevenson, an American scientist, continued his work for long to pick up and has mentioned some 600 cases all through the world, related to the evidence of the rebirth of the self. On the basis of his objective observations, he has made it clear that this esoteric phenomenon of rebirth is genuine and backed by staunch scientific theory, although hitherto not precisely explored and explained. Among the long scroll of witnesses some 170 cases were collected from India itself and, furthermore, a majority among them happened to be very young children. They were quite innocent and artless and their statements, when confirmed, proved to be strangely exact and scrupulous. Dr. Stevenson says “A nascent sensitive mind-stuff is frequently susceptible to capture the glimpses of its past more clearly, more sharply. But as a next general course, these glimpses are prone to fade out with the ageing. As exceptions, yogis are capable to retain them deliberately as per their will and can any time scan into the depths of the past-life of anybody else as well. We can attemptfully collect numerous cases regarding this fact from the vast global society."

Dr. Stevenson further expounds, “It is an established fact that those who had met with death in their exasperated state of mind usually retained their previous recollections in the maximum. Incidences like suicides, fatal accidents, revenges, undue infatuation and a state of exasperation caused deepest inscriptions on the slate of the consciousness of the individual. Eventually all of the perturbations at the death moments normally happen to emerge in the screen of the mind as fresh as they could be."

Likewise, undue affection and an intense malice also remain inscribed in the mind-book for ages. Probably such a category of thought-waves makes a sharp impression on the 'inner slate' of the subject and, therefore, those who happen to recall them at their will are able to visualize their past also as though it were obtained effortlessly.

We find a mention of a five-year old girl in the research record of Dr. Stevenson. The family, the girl belonged to, was a Hindi-speaking one but, surprisingly the girl could sing Bangla songs fluently and could also render dances in that particular rhythm. In her new birth the girl belonged to a family of Jabalpur city. However she, every now and then, identified herself with her past-life related to a Bengali family of Silhut. The incidents of her previous birth, as she used to disclose them, were found amazingly correct. Furthermore, she had astonished the researcher by opening one such staunchly concealed secret which only that couple (she and her husband in her previous life) knew about. When that disclosure was verified from now-grown-old-husband (of her previous life), and also by other family members, it was found to be exactly identical.

There was a girl in Copenhagen, Denmark called Leena Marconi; she was just seven when examined. She possessed a profound heap of recollections of a number of incidents of her previous birth. She would recognize herself as a girl/individual of eleven and often introduce herself as Maria Aspina. Her father of previous life was a Phillipino and was running a hotel in Philippines. The girl loved her father's hotel very much and passed maximum of her time there. Certain of the dishes especially allured her, and at the same time, she also remembered those people who appreciated the same dishes. Then she would frequently relish her favorite dishes with a great ardour. So when she met with her demise, and she was of course only eleven then, a mournful environ had spread all over there.

When that girl, Maria Aspina, re-incarnated as Leena Marconi in her next birth, was taken to that hotel for confirmation of her statements, she immediately recognized her previous father and dined with him in the same manner as she used to in her past life. Moreover, she still had in her present memory as to who ate what first then and left what on the dining table. All the servants and the members of the hotel were extremely cheerful to find their dearest Maria Aspina, though now in the form of Lina Marconi. Everyone present there was very much astounded, indeed.

In another similar instance, Holman Krane, a young but talented child from East Germany possessed a heap of tremendous recollections regarding his previous birth-events. He often used to proclaim that he was a scientist in his previous birth; and that he had died in the middle of his research. He was doing his research on the brain. Although normally quite firmly engrossed in his research work, it was not less frequent too that he used to be gripped by an apprehension of his untimely death, leaving his work in hand unconcluded. But at the same time he also often visualized the probabilities of the completion of that incomplete research in his next incarnation.

This chap of three, called Holman, used to elucidate complicated structural and physiological features of the brain in such a lucid way that most expert neurologists would get stunned. He would assist neurosurgeons in OT and effortlessly solve their intricate problems! In this way he had saved several moribund patients from death. He could study German books and could speak French fluently! Besides all that, he was equally talented in mathematics.

There is another such event that occurred in England and that convincingly proves the truth of the phenomenon of re-incarantion. A fatal road accident in North Borland, England, resulted in the death of two young girls; Jonah and Jaclyn. Jonah was eleven while Jaclyn was only six years old; and the two were very intimate. After sometime a lady named Pollack conceived and in due course of time gave birth to two twin daughters. One was named Gillian and the other Jennifer.

As these twins grew up and acquired precise memory, they began to display a peculiarity in their usual behaviour. Now, they would, very often, chat with each other till late at night; sometimes weep and sometimes laugh, at other times they would unexpectedly start shrieking woefully. The consultations and treatments of qualified psychiatrists also did not provide any clue to the causes of such abnormal psychic symptoms.

However, one day they themselves disclosed their hitherto concealed secret related to their earlier lives, when they had died as a result of a road accident. The story of their accident, as narrated by them, was confirmed by their previous- life-guardians! Their bodies in the present new physical attires possessed identical scars and marks as they had in their past life bodies; they also exhibited striking similarities in their habits.

Swami Vivekananda would very often tell about his previous –birth events. Once upon a time, when he was occupied in chatting with is con-disciple Shivananda, something abruptly sprang up into his mind and he burst out, "You see, when I was Buddha, you were Ananda!" And he further continued laughingly, “Then also you were the elder as you are now". Shivananda was elder to Swamiji and likewise Ananda was elder to Gautam, The Buddha. In this way Swamiji would very often tell the stories of his previous births. Again on another such occasion, when Swamiji was seated surrounded by his pupils and his gaze fixed on the void, a cow went past him. As soon as he caught sight of the animal, he spoke out, "Oh! It is my co-disciple. As a result of some misdeeds, he had to take birth in this cow-form."

Once, during his travels all over India, Swamiji was passing through a forest in the range of Bijapur, Maharashtra. As he was passing a cavern, he decided to take a brief halt, sat in the cavern and went into deep meditation. After coming out of his meditative state, Swamiji told his disciples that he was Shivaji in his previous incarnation and he was very intimately associated with that jungle and areas around it.

Shyamkumari has made a mention of numerous such events in her two volumes titled "Vignettes of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother ". She writes, " Maharshi Aurobindo was Napoleon in his previous incarnation and now he still represents Napoleon not as a person-conformity but as a 'storm of power'. Similarly, Maa (The Mother), the divine collaborator in Sri Aurobindo’s 'Supramental Yoga' was herself the Earth-Goddess, materialized now as Sri Maa. Only some competent yogis, well versed with intuitive faculty to be able to grasp the philosophy of yoga, could experience the fact that the requisite amount of endurance only the Earth-Goddess could afford and hence that sort of incarnation of Sri Maa”.

To conclude; there are a number of irrefutable evidences regarding the phenomenon of rebirth. All of them approve of the law of cause and effect. All the schedules of the next probable 'form' adumbrate corresponding astral profile as per cumulative impressions generated as a result of the deeds of a person's previous birth. That is, good deeds in the present, good birth in the future. Similarly, to a soul with an ideal aggregation of pious impressions there is a provision of an ideal family in his/her next birth. Speaking alternatively, the richer the balance of the punyas, the greater the likelihood for a soul to obtain ideally pious parents so as to be able to experience and enjoy his previous samskaras.

Whether or not a soul happens to recall past lives is a quite different matter. There is a mention in our scriptures of the mortality of the physical body and the eternity of the soul with a remarkable simultaneity of their occurrence. There is available a description, after the death of its body covering, is unerringly led to 'wear' a new physical garb in conformity with the accumulation of his previous samskaras. Therefore, we must remain ever vigilant to lead lives of righteous thoughts, emotions and deeds as to ensure our next birth with plentiful opportunities for unhindered soul growth and self-enlightenment.