Talk:Aids in Recollecting Past Lives
The Purāṇas and other Hindu scriptures give numerous examples of individuals recollecting their past lives, and this ability is taken for granted by followers of the Dhārmic traditions. Numerous factors can help one unearth our past life memories. For example, in the Bhavishyottara Purāņa, several vratas (religious ceremonies) that can result in past life recollections are described. The Mahābhārata mentions several holy places by visiting which (or bathing in their holy water ponds or rivers) one comes to recall past lives. Below are some passages that enumerate the numerous aids for spontaneous past-life recollection-
Through constant study of the Vedas, purity of mind and body, austerity and total lack of enmity (or ill-will) towards other creatures, one acquires the ability to recollect his past lives. Manusmriti 4.148[1][2]
At the time of death, if a person who is imbued with a pure intellect steadies his mind in God alone and yet does not attain liberation, he nevertheless comes to remember his previous lives (which him closer to Moksha). Yājnavalkya Smriti 3.161
When the Yogi can focus on the reservoir of Saṃskāras (impressions of past Karmas stored in the mind) and see them, he obtains the knowledge of his past lives. Yoga Sūtra 3.18
When one does not keep running after material objects and his thoughts become steady (in spiritual matters), he comes to recall incidents from previous lives. Yoga Sūtra 2.39
Standing below the pārijāta tree aids in the recollection of past lives. Harivamsha Purāṇa 2.64.67
Performance of Shrāddha ceremonies result in recollection of past lives. Harivamsha Purāṇa 1.21.18
Studying the Purāṇas makes one recall his past lives. Brahma Purāṇa 245.32
Hearing the glories of teerthas (holy places) can result in past life recollection. Mahābhārata 3.85.103-104
Serving one’s elders and performing shrāddha ceremonies dutifully and correctly results in past life recollection. Padma Purāṇa, Srishti Khanda 47.213
Worshipping Brāhmaṇas (Mahābhārata 13.117.27-27) and atithis (ibid. 13.117.30) results in past life recollection.
Death is a traumatic process that first results in a life-recall stage, and then a receding of these memories into the deeper parts of our subconscious minds. This means, that when a person undergoes a sudden death (as in a violent incident), his memories do not have sufficient time to recede and are more easily recalled or accessed in the next life, as explained below-
“As the subtle body moves along with the soul after death to the next body, the memories of the previous life are hypothetically available for the soul to recall in the next life. Normally however, the trauma caused by the momentous transitions of death and birth buries these memories so deep within the mind that, for most of us, they don’t seem to exist at all… ….Nonetheless, some individuals can, under special circumstances, recollect some details of their previous lives. Often, the memories of the past lives occur among individuals who died in ways that were sudden, violent, or both. The abrupt nature of their death may not allow them to process the event of death properly; so when they acquire their next body the unprocessed memories of the event remain as a sort of hangover.”[3]
This explanation is supported by empirical evidence- “In fact, one of the most prominent features of Stevenson’s cases is the high incidence of violent death among the previous personalities. In 725 cases from six different cultures, Stevenson and his colleagues found that 61 percent of subjects remembered lives that ended violently. This incidence far exceeds the rate of violent death in the countries in which these cases occurred.”[4]
Not surprisingly, this phenomenon observed in modern scientific studies is referred to in ancient Hindu texts as well-
People who lost their lives unexpectedly and suddenly (as in an accident) are then reborn quickly. In their new life, they initially retain some impressions and memories of their past life. Therefore, such individuals tend to remember instances from their past lives in their childhood. But as they grow older, these memories of past life start disappearing, just as one tends to forget the details of dreams with time. Instances like these are sufficient to convince even fools of the existence of an afterlife (but the wise do not need proofs like these). Mahābhārata (Southern Recension), Anushāsana Parva, chapter 9
Another example from traditional Hindu lore connecting violent death to the concept of rebirth is that in Brihadāraṇyaka and Chhāndogya Upanishads, a Pānchāla Kshatriya chief Pravāhana Jaivali says to his Brahmana student that the doctrine of transmigration was kept a secret by the Kshastriyas and he was the first Brahmana to receive it. Could it be that the higher incidence of violent deaths among Kshatriyas also resulted in a greater chance that members of Kshatriya families had a past life recollection? This is of course pure speculation because one can find older references to rebirth in the non-Kshatriya origin portions of the Vedic literature.
References[edit]
- ↑ Poddar, Hanumandas, Chimmanlal Goswami, and M. A. Shastri. Bhakti Anka. *Kalyana*, 32nd year’s special issue, Gita Press, 1968, Gorakhpur, pp. 452-459.
- ↑ Skanda Purāṇa, Kāshīkhanda 38.89.
- ↑ Charan, Chaitanya. Demystifying Reincarnation. Prakash Books India Pvt. Ltd., 2017, New Delhi, pp. 158-159.
- ↑ Carter, Chris. Science and the Afterlife Experience. Inner Traditions, 2012a, Rochester, Vermont (USA), p. 38.