Reincarnation

Father: Son, aren't you going to sleep tonight? Everyone is sleeping, won't you?
Son: I'm drawing pictures.
Father: Ok, but draw them in the morning, you'll catch cold at night.
Son: I'm drawing a peacock.
Son: I have seen a peacock before.
Son: This is a camel. We used to have camels at our house.
Son: This is my house. I am standing in front of my house.
Son: This is a picture of a war. I have seen that war. And this is the golden fort.
Son: SONAR KELLA

The above conversation is taken from a famous Bengali film “Sonar Kella” a detective fiction [the case was investgated by a private investigator Feluda] by Satyajit Ray. Mukul dhar, a youngest son of father having a book store at College Street, Kolkata, is said to be able to remember his pas life. He started drawing pictures of his past life events like house, war that he has seen, peacock, even at the middle of the night. The house that he claims to be his house is in the Rajasthan, is more than thousands kilometers far.

The fact is called Reincarnation. The rebirth of a soul in another body, transmigration of the soul.

There are thousands of events, spreaded all over the world. This is a religious belief that after biological death, one can rebirth with new flesh. This is common belief of very old and modern religions, especially in Indian religions. Though, the definition of reincarnation is different in different religion belief.

In Hinduism, reincarnation is known as Punarjanma, which is generally accepted by. A soul reincarnates again and again on earth until it becomes perfect and reunites with its “Universal Soul”. They believe Jiva or Atma is eternal, pure, do not die, do not destroy. Death only destroys physical bodies, the attachment. It goes through transmigration in the cycle of births and deaths. It takes another body with respect to its result of karmas in his past lives. Therefore this is form of cause and effect.

In Islam, clearly rejects the concept of reincarnation. As soon as human dies barrier [Barzakh] is immediately in place, which prevents his/her soul from returning to earth. This ends the first and only life of earth. Explanation of having past life and place, is unseen contact with bad jinn who could be transferring such vision.

Dr. Ian Stevenson, famous Psychiatrist from University of Virginia, investigated on this subject for about 40 years and presented 3000 cases. He chose to collect the cases who spontaneously remember past life instead of going through hypnosis. In 1966, he published his book Buy Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation which became best seller at that time. He tried to prove that in some cases, the orthodox theory of genetic material inherited from his ancestors through his parent and postnatal environments, does not satisfactorily explain the early childhood phobias, supernatural abilities, congenital deformities.

According to Ian Stevenson, reincarnation occurs most where people already believe in reincarnation. There are some cases of children or adults who have been able to speak a tongue which they never been learned. This is called xenoglossy.

Some of the conversation is quoted from Omni Magazine interview with Dr. Ian Stevenson.

Once Ian Stevenson asked the question: Do you see in reincarnation a glimpse of a larger purpose?
Stevenson: Well, yes, I do. My idea of God is that He is evolving. I don't believe in the watchmaker God, the original creator who built the watch and then lets it tick. I believe in a "Self-maker God" who is evolving and experimenting; so are we as parts of Him. Bodies wear out; souls may need periods for rest and reflection. Afterward one may start again with a new body.

Girls remember boys' lives than the reverse, ratio is 2:1.May be because culturally accepted to say that you, as a girl were once a boy than the reverse.

Omni: Why do American children have so many less concrete and verifiable memories than Asian children do?

Stevenson: I have speculations and conjectures. First, Americans are nomadic. A fifth of all Americans move from one community to another each year, and a quarter move within the community, changing their neighborhood and environment. Some of the Asian children's memories are stimulated by their noticing slight environmental differences. If the difference is great, that stimulus may be missing.

Turning the question the other way around, why do certain Asian cultures have so many cases? To begin with, these cultures remember their dead more than we do and see them as still being actively involved in life; they also have stronger family ties. To them there is no such thing as random fate. Everything happens for a reason, and that reason often has to do with someone who wishes them well or ill. They also believe, much more than we do in the West, in telepathy. the paranormal, and that dreams foretell the future. They are not clock-watchers as we are; they have time to reflect on their lives. All these factors may have some bearing on this question and perhaps put them in closer touch with their past lives.

One most exciting and sweet case, extracted from Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation , is story of Swarnalata. A young girl, Swarnalata, was of 3, gave enough information to locate the family of the deceased person she remembered. She gave more than 50 facts that were verified. She said her name was Biya Pathak, and that she had two sons. She gave details of the house: it was white with black doors fitted with iron bars; four rooms were stuccoed, but other parts were less finished; the front floor was of stone slabs. Swarnlata said Biya died of a "pain in her throat", and was treated by Dr. S. C. Bhabrat in Jabalpur. She also remembered an incident at a wedding when she and a friend had difficulty finding a latrine. In the summer of 1959, Biya's husband, son, and eldest brother journeyed to the town of Chhatarpur, the town where Swarnlata now lived, to test Swarnlata's memory. They did not reveal their identities or purpose to others in the town. Swarnlata immediately recognized her brother and called him "Babu", Biya's pet name for him. For full story you can buy this book.