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Thread: Past Lives

  1. #1

    Question Past Lives

    Ive noticed several people discussing their past lives... While I consider myself to know a lot of the concepts of Sanatana Dharma, Im still very "ignorant" of a lot of things in it. When it comes to the Eternal Religion, I am like a sponge and try to soak up as much as possible, but it is limited when you are reading, rather than discussing it with people who know more... LOL THAT being said...
    My question is, how do you recall your past lives? I believe that this life is a direct result of things passed. I have extremely bad karma when it comes to ANY man in my life. As well as high anxieties about anything, really. I have a lot of trust issues as well because I have been stabbed in the back by virtually anyone Ive let "in". If anyone can give me some kind of insight of the things Ive mentioned, I WELCOME it all. Im very honest and I like things to be presented to me with no "sugar coat", as bluntly as possible even if it seems rude. I only wish to get an idea of what has went on, to basically help put my "demons" to rest with some clarity.

    Thank you in advance & Namaste!

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    Re: Past Lives

    Quote Originally Posted by amber219 View Post
    Ive noticed several people discussing their past lives... While I consider myself to know a lot of the concepts of Sanatana Dharma, Im still very "ignorant" of a lot of things in it. When it comes to the Eternal Religion, I am like a sponge and try to soak up as much as possible, but it is limited when you are reading, rather than discussing it with people who know more... LOL THAT being said...
    My question is, how do you recall your past lives? I believe that this life is a direct result of things passed. I have extremely bad karma when it comes to ANY man in my life. As well as high anxieties about anything, really. I have a lot of trust issues as well because I have been stabbed in the back by virtually anyone Ive let "in". If anyone can give me some kind of insight of the things Ive mentioned, I WELCOME it all. Im very honest and I like things to be presented to me with no "sugar coat", as bluntly as possible even if it seems rude. I only wish to get an idea of what has went on, to basically help put my "demons" to rest with some clarity.

    Thank you in advance & Namaste!
    Vannakkam: Normally Hindus don't go digging into past lives, but we accept it as part of our sojourn here. It normally wouldn't be seen as that useful, other than a satisfaction of some curiosity. You have to live this life now, so accepting things as your karma is a huge first step to understanding, and then as a result, not doing 'stupid' things to accrue more karma.

    Aum Namasivaya

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    Re: Past Lives

    Namasté,

    I agree with EM on his answer, and will try to add a few thoughts of my own.

    Very often, recurring patterns in this life are a direct result of our own patterns of behaviour rather than anything that has come before. You mention issues with trust due to past betrayals, for example. Consider that many personal issues can lead people to deliberately choose companions whom, deep down, they know are untrustworthy, or to trust people too soon before properly vetting their intentions.
    Just a few examples are: Low self-esteem, or a feeling of being unworthy for better friendships. A fear of solitude or desperation for companionship which makes you feel that anyone will do. A fear of success that leads you to sabotage yourself. A desire to believe in an ideal world where everyone, deep down, is kind and good. A wish to prop up your ego by "fixing" others. An attempt to avoid your own problems by miring yourself in the drama that untrustworthy people tend to create.

    Past lives are not an easily navigable roadmap, any more than your current life is. That is, your motivations and actions are not simple to summarise, and neither are anyone else's. Trying to get a glimpse of even a single person's existence is complicated and difficult, because you face differences of culture, religion, language, custom, etc., and of course, that person's life is interwoven with the lives of others whom you also don't know. The solution to your present fears and worries is never as clear as looking at some past personality and realising, "Well, 'I' broke a promise in the past, so therefore people hurt me now. I get it!"

    As EM says, it's not that useful to dig around in that mess, especially when it takes up time that could be more productively used for sādhanā and prayer - which create a clear, definite effect upon the worries that you have - as well as doing 'non-stupid' things that avoid accruing more karma.

    Finally, consider that most people dwell too much upon the past anyway; they focus upon things that can't be changed and thus treat (departed) yesterdays as more real, immediate, and important than the present. And this habit is often motivated by guilt and shame.

    Now, imagine that a past life of yours was spent committing horrific atrocities against other beings. Would you want to know this? Would it benefit your spiritual path at all? Or would it just cause you dwell even more on events that have already finished, and add to the burdens of guilt and shame which you should want lightened, not increased?

    You might argue, "But then I could atone for them, I could pray and do japa--" Except that there's nothing to stop you from doing prayer and japa right now, and from sincere devotion and joy in the Divine, rather than because you feel guilty and want the solace of feeling better.

    In short, if you look into your past lives for answers, you may well be trying to unravel the Gordian knot, to solve a problem that could be fixed more simply by untying your shoes - to use a peculiarly tangled analogy.
    "What was, what is, what will be: I am That." -from BÄá¹£kalamantra Upaniá¹£ad

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    Re: Past Lives

    Quote Originally Posted by amber219 View Post
    Ive noticed several people discussing their past lives... While I consider myself to know a lot of the concepts of Sanatana Dharma, Im still very "ignorant" of a lot of things in it. When it comes to the Eternal Religion, I am like a sponge and try to soak up as much as possible, but it is limited when you are reading, rather than discussing it with people who know more... LOL THAT being said...
    My question is, how do you recall your past lives? I believe that this life is a direct result of things passed. I have extremely bad karma when it comes to ANY man in my life. As well as high anxieties about anything, really. I have a lot of trust issues as well because I have been stabbed in the back by virtually anyone Ive let "in". If anyone can give me some kind of insight of the things Ive mentioned, I WELCOME it all. Im very honest and I like things to be presented to me with no "sugar coat", as bluntly as possible even if it seems rude. I only wish to get an idea of what has went on, to basically help put my "demons" to rest with some clarity.

    Thank you in advance & Namaste!
    If I want to remember my activities of 12th March some 47 years back (I am 51), what would be your answer ? It is ridiculus !!

    When I cannot remember the activities in my present life, then how come one can expect to remember the past life ?

    The whole system is designed to start afresh with the karmaphals of the past.

    The fact that what I am today is because of my past karma and what I will be tomorrow is because of the past and present karma - this leads to the logical conclusion that we all are out of past karmas. Some karmas we remember, some not. Otherwise it will be difficult to justify, why one guy is Einstein or Newton and one guy is dumb like me.
    Love and best wishes:hug:

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    Re: Past Lives

    Pranam

    Lord Krishna informs us in chapter 4 of Bhagvat Gita

    gahana karmano gatih
    The intricacies of action are very hard to understand

    What to speak of years I struggle to remember what happened yesterday.
    We are what we are as a result of what we did in the past, future is depended on us to a certain extent depending on what we do. Past is something I can not change but I how I react to it will determine what I do for future.

    I go by the principle what ever happens, happens for the best, I know easy said then done but what choice one has, accept what happens and move on and strive for the best.

    Jai Shree Krishna
    Rig Veda list only 33 devas, they are all propitiated, worthy off our worship, all other names of gods are derivative from this 33 originals,
    Bhagvat Gita; Shree Krishna says Chapter 3.11 devan bhavayatanena te deva bhavayantu vah parasparam bhavayantah sreyah param avapsyatha Chapter 17.4 yajante sattvika devan yaksa-raksamsi rajasah pretan bhuta-ganams canye yajante tamasa janah
    The world disappears in him. He is the peaceful, the good, the one without a second.

  6. #6

    Re: Past Lives

    I do indeed try digging to satisfy curiosity, I apologize. And I also do in fact live by accepting things as they are. Im sorry if I come across any certain way. Im 23, I was born and raised in the US and was only fortunate to come across the sweet religion of Sanatana Dharma at the age of 16. I haven't had ANYone to relate to and discuss certain things with regarding the many aspects of it. I am a full believer, but I have to admit Im very juvenile with a lot of things because I have only acquired knowledge of the things I do know solely on reading. I also have to say that I am completely guilty for over analyzing and trying to dig deeper and deeper as much as I can even if I know it's irrelevant.Thank you for your input, Ganeshprasad.
    Namaste

  7. #7

    Re: Past Lives

    Umm, I believe I addressed the wrong person in my first reply! Very new here, so please excuse my mistakes. @ EM, In your first set of probabilities of my trust issues, I would have to say Im definitely one to want to see good in everyone. Since I was little, Ive always been genuine and kind hearted, and Ive learned that it is hard for me to see the bad qualities one may have because I dont possess them. Naturally Im not deceitful, so I can't pin point it right away in someone else. And if I can, I suppose I do try to ignore it, or I can recall a time that I have in order to just have a "friendship" :/ I also try to relate to everyone and see everything as the same, even though that may be true to some extent, we are all very different.

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    Re: Past Lives

    There is a special type of astrological readings done in Hinduism - called 'Nadi leaf astrology' (nadi jyotidam). Long time ago, I have heard these offer the client insights into various aspects of his life, including past life.

    Interestingly, there was a program recently (until last year) in one of the Indian TV channels where a US trained psycho/hypnosis analyst probed into the subconscious minds of clients to draw out info regarding his/her past life through past-life regressions. The link for the program is at http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?ne...3E5F9FBB0D98A3, you need to have an youtube account and verify the age is above 18 -- I haven't tried to watch the episode via youtube, I have watched it before on TV last year. The show used to be revolutinary, had lot of supporters, but quite unbelievable too. The clients used to give little snippets of 'visions' they are able to see in a dreamy state, while the questioner probes further into the provided info to dig out more information. As the client gives some more information, the questioner kind of puts them together into one coherent piece of information. But this still seemed to be very unsatisfactory - for all the questioner probed out in the end was what seemed like an 'event' in the entire past life, not just the full past life. The show has been stopped now.
    jai hanuman gyan gun sagar jai kapis tihu lok ujagar

  9. #9

    Re: Past Lives

    Ram Ram Ji

    It is true, that how life manifests itself is a result of things that have passed.

    However, I do not think we need to look into our 'past' lives to solve the problems of our present life.

    If we consider the entirety of our present life, we can see various different stages of life, like childhood, youth, adulthood, old age, etc.

    Thus we advance through the different stages of life. As childhood dies, youth is born. As youth dies, adulthood is born and so on. The differences in us, in each of these different stages of life is because of the accumulation of mental impressions (vasanas) as a result of our actions, in the previous 'birth' is it not?

    We can only be free from it, when we are content within the Self.
    Last edited by reort; 15 March 2013 at 10:19 PM.

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    Re: Past Lives

    Namaste

    I never think much about past lives, though I have an odd sense of one of them being related to British Navy 1700 or 1800's, but who cares? Here I am now, for good or bad karma! I understand the curiosity, and I think this is more of a curious fascination with WESTERNERS who are Hindus, and much less so for native born Hindus from Indian. I think the reason for this, is that some Westerners want to (or hope to) make a connection with their current life somehow to India in a previous life. This is only natural, since they have admiration for India. But then, I am afraid to say, they start taking on imaginations that have no basis in fact or in past lives.

    I certainly would like to imagine I have some connection to India in a past life, but I have no true evidence of such. I am sure glad I found India and Hinduism at a young age, and so I continue on with that and live the best Hindu life I can.

    One day, I may see my past lives, maybe I was an evil Britisher in India in a Century past, and gathered both bad karma, but maybe some very blessed good karma from a temple, a Deva or Devi, I don't know. I would only be guessing. But today, I live as I do, that is what is important.

    Om Namah Sivaya

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