“Life, death and rebirth are inevitable. ”

Para psychology
Parapsychology comes from the Greek word para, "alongside" + psychology. It is the study of ostensibly paranormal events including extrasensory, psychokinesis, and survival of consciousness after death.

Parapsychologists study a number of ostensible paranormal phenomena, including but not limited to:

·Telepathy: Transfer of information on thoughts or feelings between individuals by means other than the five classical senses.

·Precognition: Perception of information about future places or events before they occur.

·Clairvoyance: Obtaining information about places or events at remote locations, by means unknown to current science.

·Psychokinesis: The ability of the mind to influence matter, time, space, or energy by means unknown to current science.

·Reincarnation: The rebirth of a soul or other non-physical aspect of human consciousness in a new physical body after death.

·Hauntings: Phenomena often attributed to ghosts and encountered in places a deceased individual is thought to have frequented, or in association with the person's former belongings.

The definitions for the terms above may not reflect their mainstream usage, nor the opinions of all parapsychologists and their critics.

In this blog, I would particularly like to write on reincarnation as it has interested me from quite some time. The article is mainly based on the Hindu belief system as I am exposed more to Hinduism than to any other religious traditions.

Religious beliefs & Reincarnation

What do we mean by reincarnation?
Reincarnation, literally means "to be made flesh again". It is a doctrine or metaphysical belief that some essential part of a living being (in some variations only human beings) survives death to be reborn in a new body. This essential part is often referred to as the spirit or soul, the "higher" or "true" self, "divine spark", or "I". According to such beliefs, a new personality is developed during each life in the physical world, but some part of the self remains constant throughout the successive lives.

The belief in reincarnation is an old phenomenon. The concept of reincarnation can be seen in Indian religious traditions like Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism. Some Greek philosophies also speak of reincarnation. Very recently the belief is also seen among the West.


Hindu belief system:

The first conception of reincarnation ever recorded dates back to Upanishads period. According to Hindu Philosophy, Atman (Soul) and the body are two different things. When a person dies, it’s only the body which dies, Atman is immortal. This concept is linked strongly to the theory of Karma. Ones action or karma determines the person’s next reincarnation. One is reborn on account of desire: a person desires to be born because he or she wants to enjoy worldly pleasures, which can be enjoyed only through a body. After many births, every person eventually becomes dissatisfied with the limited happiness that worldly pleasures can bring. At this point, a person begins to seek higher forms of happiness, which can be attained only through spiritual experience. When, after much spiritual practice (sādhanā), a person finally realizes his or her own divine nature—ie., realizes that the true "self" is the immortal soul rather than the body or the ego—all desires for the pleasures of the world will vanish, since they will seem insipid compared to spiritual ānanda. When all desire has vanished, the person will not be reborn anymore. When the cycle of rebirth thus comes to an end, a person is said to have attained moksha, or salvation.

Psychology and reincarnation:

It is very difficult to get psychological evidence to the concept of rebirth because most of the occurances are spontaneous and becomes extremely difficult to be tested in the lab. One of the ways in which a person could get the information about the past life is by 'picking up' memories, which are still 'floating around’. Young children are somehow better able to 'pick up' these memories, it wouldn't account for the fact that young children are more likely to have past life memories. It should be expected that all age groups are equally as likely to have them. More often than not, children who do consciously recall their previous life tend to have had a traumatic death and have reincarnated very quickly and often to a location not too far away. It is as if the memory is 'fresher'. If reincarnation is what it appears to be, then the fact that the ability to recall past lives declines with age could be accounted for. The youngest children who can communicate verbally are the ones who are most likely to have this ability. This is because the brain shuts down the door on past lives, as we grow older.

Case study:
Taranjit Singh is a six-year-old boy who claimed that he remembers his past life. His present parents claim that the boy started talking about his past life when he was just 2 years old. Because of the child’s persistent talking about his past life, the present parents decided to visit the village and the school where the boy claimed to have studied in the past life. When they went there, they did find the evidence for the story, which the boy spoke about regarding his death. The boy said that he died to due to an accident sustaining head injuries. The parents saw the books that he used and the home where he lived in the past life. Indian forensic scientist Vikram Raj Singh Chauhan with a desire to find the evidence for this reincarnation episode, conducted research on the basis of the handwriting of the boy in the current and past life. As we all know, no two handwritings are the same. The experts can easily find out if the signature is forged. The research revealed that the two handwritings were of the same person!!!!! That was Taranjit’s handwriting. Taranjit in his current life is from a poor family and cannot afford to go to school. So, the child is not exposed to English or Punjabi writing. But, when the child was asked to write, he could write!!!!!!(Case study taken from the net)

How can you explain this?

We all carry memories from past lives into this life--unconscious memories that carry an energetic charge and continue to affect us. They can be things left undone, vows made, accomplishments, failures, mistakes, success, emotional debts, guilt, gratitude, traumatic and sudden deaths, wisdom, and love. These charges from the past set up patterns that are continually triggered and repeated in our present life. These patterns can be positive or negative. They can affect our relationships, behaviors, motivations, and even our physical bodies and health. Positive patterns can feed talents, bestow wisdom, influence tastes, and energize life purpose. Negative patterns fuel destructive, compulsive behavior, cloud judgment, cause injury, and block your way. A spiritual explanation for having these memories might be that they ease the transition into this new life and to instill in one that the life ahead of you to live has a purpose.The most convincing are: children's statements about a previous life; cases in and cases in which birthmarks match wounds shown in autopsy reports from a remembered past life of a person.

Some of the common evidence which psychologists use for reincarnation are:

1.Xenoglossia (Inexplicable Use of a Foreign Language): Speaking in a (known) language unknown by normal means to the speaker, is called "xenoglossy" and, especially in children, forms one of the strongest evidences for reincarnation. Even telepathy, which is an alternate explanation for most proofs of reincarnation, doesn't seem to fit here.

2.Hypnosis: Through hypnosis some people experience memories from their past lives which can be verified later by the facts through historical records.

3.Past life regression: "Past life regression therapy includes the mental act of going back, to a time prior to this life in order to retrieve memories that may still negatively influence a person's present life. They are probably the source of symptoms running the gamut from phobias to addictions," avers R.Chandran, a past life therapist.

4.Birth marks: One of the more interesting and, potentially, solid evidences suggestive of reincarnation, also came from Dr. Stevenson's research. During the course of his travels he noticed that occasionally some of the children he investigated revealed marks on their bodies that precisely corresponded with the fatal wounds they claim their previous personality had suffered at the time of their death.

5.Savants and Prodigies: Another phenomena which might be pointed to as possible evidence of reincarnation is that of savants and child prodigies, those rare individuals who possess some remarkable gift or ability far beyond what is either natural or explainable.

6.Déjà Vu: Have you ever had the strange feeling that you're repeating an experience you're certain you've never had before, or entered a building that seems strangely familiar to you, though you know for a fact you've never been there before? If so, you have experienced what is referred to as déjà vu—the phenomenon of repeating an event or having inexplicable knowledge of a place you've never previously visited. To some people, such experiences are considered evidence of a past life—an 'echo' or ill-defined memory.

In Many Lives, Many Masters, Dr. Weiss offers his first published accounts of reincarnation as he explores various states of past life regression with a patient he refers to as Catherine. She realized important circumstances throughout her life, which connected to a thread of previous life experiences!!!!!

There are many people who believe in rebirth and many who are critical of this belief. Each one of them has their own explanation. This was not written to justify anything but to share few of my views on this topic.