Talk:Past Life Regression and Yogic Perspectives

By Vishal Agarwal

The Yoga texts teach about meditation, during which the practitioner regulates his mental activities and eventually brings his mind into a state of non-activity and tranquility. In this deep state called Samādhi, the ātmā no longer experiences the world through the prism of the mind and instead exists as a pure, unconstrained conscious witness (Yoga Sūtras 1.2-3). This state enables the ātmā to take a more dispassionate and detached as well as a longer view of its existence-

“From the witness position, where you review your life from a detached perspective, you can move to a place of healing and understanding in the interlife by focusing on the lessons you learned in that lifetime. These lessons are extremely meaningful in your soul’s development and are necessary for you to understand and integrate into your current life.”

In several intermediate states of meditation, the outer layers of our mind first cease their activity and the mind then recedes into its inner or subconscious levels that store past life memories and their impressions. The Yogasūtras of Sage Patanjali describe how the witnessing ātmā then accesses these ancient memories and impressions dispassionately and clears them out of the system effectively. Long-time practitioners of Yoga frequently report being able to recall their previous lives. Likewise, the Buddhist tradition too acknowledges that prolonged practice of meditation can lead to past-life recollection-

“… According to early Buddhist doctrine residual memories from past lives, even though usually not remembered in the normal waking state, can be retrieved through the cultivation of deep states of meditation. One of the insights gained by the Buddha on the night of his awakening is such ability to recollect one's own past life. A case documenting such recall has been reported from Thailand by Ian Stevenson. A Buddhist nun of about twenty years of age while meditating unexpectedly experienced memories of two past lives as an infant. For the most recent of these two lives, she was able to give information about the names of the parents of the previous person and the location where they lived. She described that the father had a hole in one tooth and that he had regularly played a musical instrument to soothe the infant, and that the mother had a scar on her face and was holding the infant in her arms when it died, whereas the father at that time was out of the house trying to get medicine. According to Stevenson’s report, as far as he had been able to ascertain the nun had no prior contact with the family in question, yet all these details turned out to be correct.”

Parable: Sage Jaigishavya Recalls his Past Lives

Through intense meditation, Sage Jaigishavya came to see his past lives, across billions of years. He saw that in some lives, he was human, in others, he was animal, and yet in others, he lived in heaven. But, nothing seemed permanent. He discovered that he had lived in multiple universes had been born again, and had died millions of times. Sometimes, he had been happy, at other times, he was sad. But none of these states was permanent. However, his soul stayed the same in all these lives. Therefore, he realized that there was not much gain in getting excited over little things, or in getting upset over temporary setbacks. Instead, one must continue to make progress in their entire life despite temporary setbacks.

Another Sage named Avātya asked him, “So what will you consider the greatest source of happiness in all your lives?” Jaigishavya replied – “True happiness results not from indulging in all kinds of temporary pleasures, but by being a balanced person and being contented. And even greater happiness is being one with Brahman because that alone brings complete and eternal joy.”

The fact that meditation assists in past life recall is confirmed by modern studies as well- “In David’s clinical experience, those clients who have the easiest access to past life recall tend to be people who have a regular meditation practice. They have strengthened their mind and opened up the channels between their conscious mind and their inner selves.”