Post by shui on Oct 14, 2013 3:50:07 GMT
Ian Stevenson during his lifetime studied thousands of cases of children who apparently remembered former lives. These cases were most frequently reported in cultures where reincarnation was widely believed in. The children were very young, the previous incarnations were either unverified or local, and at least one of the adults in the child’s life actively encouraged the child to talk about the previous life. In other words, most of these cases are exactly what you’d expect from adults using the pliable mind of a child to fool themselves and others into a stronger belief in what’s already local dogma.
There are also numerous instances of people discovering past lives through hypnosis, astral travel, or psychic consultation. However, since it has been demonstrated that false memories can be implanted without even using hypnosis, these are questionable at best.
There are, however, occasional cases that don’t fit the pattern.
Shanti Devi, born in Delhi in 1926, started talking at the age of four about her husband and home in Mathura, miles away. She said her name was Lugdi Devi, and she was a mother. Now her parents were believers in reincarnation, like most of India, but they encouraged her to forget about that life, telling her she was with them now. She was unswayed by their words, even trying to run away to Mathura at the age of six.
She was taunted at school for believing she was married. When a teacher questioned her about it, she told of how she died ten days after giving birth. Curious, her teacher and headmaster interviewed her. She spoke, as always, in the Mathura dialect and told them about her husband, a merchant named Kedarnath Chaub.
The headmaster located a merchant named Kedarnath Chaub living in Mathura and sent him a letter. When he replied, everything was confirmed: he did have a young wife named Lugdi Devi who had died some years before, only ten days after giving birth. Every detail which Shanti Devi had given about him was confirmed.
Kedarnath traveled to Delhi to meet Shanti Devi, posing as his own brother. Shanti Devi wasn’t fooled. She recognized him and his son. Speaking to her in private, Kedernath asked how Lugdi Devi had conceived a child when she couldn’t even stand. (Shanti Devi had already told of her knowledge of Lugdi Devi’s injury and arthritis.) Undaunted, Shanti Devi–a nine year old girl–described in detail the way they had had to have sex. Kedarnath was convinced.
Mahatma Gandhi heard about the case, and set up a committee of to check it out. They traveled with Shanti Devi to Mathura in 1935. She was able to lead the researchers to the house of Kedarnath on her own, told them what the house was like before refurbishing, identified his family members, and related secrets about them that no one outside the family should have known. When asked about the location of the well she had spoken of, she ran off in one direction, and then became very confused, saying that the well had been there. Kedarnath lifted a large stone cover where she was standing, and there underneath was the well.
There was one member of Kedarnath’s family who Shanti Devi did not recognize: his new wife. She accused him of neglecting to keep the promise not to remarry which he had made Lugdi Devi on her deathbead.
It's not absolute proof of reincarnation, but it's the most convincing story I've ever heard.
There are also numerous instances of people discovering past lives through hypnosis, astral travel, or psychic consultation. However, since it has been demonstrated that false memories can be implanted without even using hypnosis, these are questionable at best.
There are, however, occasional cases that don’t fit the pattern.
Shanti Devi, born in Delhi in 1926, started talking at the age of four about her husband and home in Mathura, miles away. She said her name was Lugdi Devi, and she was a mother. Now her parents were believers in reincarnation, like most of India, but they encouraged her to forget about that life, telling her she was with them now. She was unswayed by their words, even trying to run away to Mathura at the age of six.
She was taunted at school for believing she was married. When a teacher questioned her about it, she told of how she died ten days after giving birth. Curious, her teacher and headmaster interviewed her. She spoke, as always, in the Mathura dialect and told them about her husband, a merchant named Kedarnath Chaub.
The headmaster located a merchant named Kedarnath Chaub living in Mathura and sent him a letter. When he replied, everything was confirmed: he did have a young wife named Lugdi Devi who had died some years before, only ten days after giving birth. Every detail which Shanti Devi had given about him was confirmed.
Kedarnath traveled to Delhi to meet Shanti Devi, posing as his own brother. Shanti Devi wasn’t fooled. She recognized him and his son. Speaking to her in private, Kedernath asked how Lugdi Devi had conceived a child when she couldn’t even stand. (Shanti Devi had already told of her knowledge of Lugdi Devi’s injury and arthritis.) Undaunted, Shanti Devi–a nine year old girl–described in detail the way they had had to have sex. Kedarnath was convinced.
Mahatma Gandhi heard about the case, and set up a committee of to check it out. They traveled with Shanti Devi to Mathura in 1935. She was able to lead the researchers to the house of Kedarnath on her own, told them what the house was like before refurbishing, identified his family members, and related secrets about them that no one outside the family should have known. When asked about the location of the well she had spoken of, she ran off in one direction, and then became very confused, saying that the well had been there. Kedarnath lifted a large stone cover where she was standing, and there underneath was the well.
There was one member of Kedarnath’s family who Shanti Devi did not recognize: his new wife. She accused him of neglecting to keep the promise not to remarry which he had made Lugdi Devi on her deathbead.
It's not absolute proof of reincarnation, but it's the most convincing story I've ever heard.