REMEMBERING YOUR PAST LIVES

[Arvind Sivaraman]

REMEMBERING YOUR PAST LIVES


The Indian enlightened master, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (founder of the 'Art of Living' foundation) has created a technique called the 'Eternity Process' , a meditation technique through which one is able to remember the memories of one's past lives stored in the subconscious mind. Many of my friends and others have gone through this technique , and in the process , have realised the memories of their previous births.

The Indian religions believe in the theory of karma or 'cause and effect'. This theory finds ample expression in the fact that those who have gone through the 'Eternity Process ' found that their inborn ,innate talents can be traced back to training in a previous birth.

Another fascinating thing is that most of them found themselves to be born in other countries as well, and other races, religions and cultures.

This technique is getting increasingly popular, and according to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar , it is now being practiced in a few psychiatric clinics as well.

In order to do this technique , one ought to contact the nearest 'Art of Living ' centre and get in touch with an 'Art of Living ' teacher trained in this technique.One ought to be 21 years of age to do this technique.

All my friends , who have done this technique, found it to be very interesting and illuminating. I wish you the same.

Om Shirdi Sai Ram.
Namaste Yudhamanyu.

The following options can be taken into consideration for remembering one's past lives.
1) Implicit obedience towards your Guru.The Guru needs to be a self-realised soul.
2) Doing parayan of Age old scriptures like Sage Valmiki Ramayan and in particular Valmiki Sundarakandam.
3) Meditation.(As you have mentioned).

[sm78]

Namaskar SM,

You see a Rahu Grastha has a better chance of coming to believe the existence of the Self.

Om

Namaskaar Atanu,

Maybe I can rephrase the rahu grastha as one only affirming the body (in action) as opposed to one negating the self.

However who has better chance to realize the self is better left to the decision of those who have realized them, I trust their judgement. I believe speculation is not a liberating habit.

I know however Rahu Grastha people bring lot of dukkha to jagat, themselves and others.

[atanu]

Namaste atanu and all,

---Yet, even this very moment, is quickly turning into the past.

Namaste Kaos,

Yes. This a subtle point. For almost all people the moment quickly becomes the past, because of operation of the mind and issuing thoughts. However, not for the rare stithiprajna sages.

Mandukya Upanishad

1. All this is the letter Om. A vivid explanation of this (is begun). All that is past, present, and future is but Om. Whatever transcends the three divisions of time, too, is Om.

Regards

Om

[yajvan]

Hari Om
~~~~~~

Namaste Kaos,

Yes. This a subtle point. For almost all people the moment quickly becomes the past, because of operation of the mind and issuing thoughts. However, not for the rare stithiprajna sages.

Om

Namaste Kaos, atanu (et.al).
This is a very suble point here of a moment. In Patanajai's yoga sutras he calls out that there is a distinction between a moment and its sequence.

What does this have to do with the conversation? It is the smallest amount of time one can distinguish ( with out scientific equipment). This has much to do with parinamas ( types of change or modification).

So what is a moment - one muni suggests the following:
A minimal object is an atom. The time it takes an atom to move from one point to an adjacent point is a moment. The continuous flow of these moments is a sequence.

This sutra is a formula for honing one discriminative (viveka) abilities. This is core to discerning the difference between Purusa and Buddhi. What does that bring, this level of discrimination? Moksha.

Hence another approach to one with the real itch to know past lifes is to develop this ability, buy which all else is known.

And what are some of the times we are looking at?
1 truti = the ∞ smallest timeperiod known to the rishi
100 truti's = 1 tatpal
30 tatpal's = 1 nimesha
1 nimesha = 1 blink of the eye

...thought to connect the dots on this one.

pranams,

[carlosox]

I don't know if it is advisable to try and find out about your past lives before you are spiritually ready for such a revalation. Paramahansa Yogananda did not advise this. A person's past lives will be revealed by God to that person when he/she has progressed sufficiently in spirituality so that such a revalation will not upset that person. Usually, when a person's past lives are revealed to him/her before he/she is spiritually mature to accept such a revelation, one of several things might occur. That person might get unduly depressed or elated, or might become obsessed in trying to locate acquaintances of past lives in the present life. All this will severely curtail his/her spiritual growth. It is much better not to worry about one's past lives and concentrate on one's sadhana. Then when we have progressed sufficiently spiritually, God will Himself reveal what has been hidden to us. OM

[TatTvamAsi]

I don't know if it is advisable to try and find out about your past lives before you are spiritually ready for such a revalation. Paramahansa Yogananda did not advise this. A person's past lives will be revealed by God to that person when he/she has progressed sufficiently in spirituality so that such a revalation will not upset that person. Usually, when a person's past lives are revealed to him/her before he/she is spiritually mature to accept such a revelation, one of several things might occur. That person might get unduly depressed or elated, or might become obsessed in trying to locate acquaintances of past lives in the present life. All this will severely curtail his/her spiritual growth. It is much better not to worry about one's past lives and concentrate on one's sadhana. Then when we have progressed sufficiently spiritually, God will Himself reveal what has been hidden to us. OM

Excellently put!

I myself tried hypnotic regression once with the help of a medium and boy was it a traumatic experience! I was literally crying like a little girl after the session and overwhelmed with emotion. One has to really be prepared, mentally, emotionally, and psychologically, to undergo this 'exercise'. Furthermore, I would be wary of trying to tap into the subconscious by yourself without a help of a trained 'guru'.

Subham.

[yajvan]

Hari Om
~~~~~

I don't know if it is advisable to try and find out about your past lives before you are spiritually ready for such a revalation. Paramahansa Yogananda did not advise this.

Namaste carlosox,
I think this is a fair statement. If one is ready then, I think it is a position of maturity. For me that maturity is not being attached to the body ( so much), and to realize that one goes from birth to birth.
Now, one grounded in this knowledge may not (perhaps) be shaken by what went on in a past life.

From a Jyotish perspective one can 'see' a jiva's last station they resided in e.g. loka.

I have talked to two people who remembered their past lives, as I have mentioned this before on another post. I am not certain how it helped or hurt them... they were genuine about there experience , but it escaped me to ask that simple question - did you benefit from the experience of knowing your past?

I think for many ( that are ready for this) it would be more a curiosity then a driving need to know , don't you think?

Krishna said, both you and I have taken many births. I remember them all o Arjuna, but you know them not. (Bhagavad gita -chapt 4.05)


pranams

[soham3]

I had been told my earlier births. Remembering past lives is not a spiritual attainment.
I have met Sri Sri Ravi Shanker. He is hogging lime-light. He is not that enlightened or perfect.

[Nuno Matos]

Namaste Sarabhanga


" - Existem, na Quinta da Penha Verde, restos de um Templo dedicado � Lua onde duas l�pides, escritas em s�nscrito - idioma nunca falado na Europa - e trazidas de Somnath-Patane pelo Vice-Rei da �ndia D. Jo�o de Castro, contam a hist�ria da uni�o do Oriente com o Ocidente, verdadeiro tratado ensinando a viver-bem segundo as regras can�nicas do Esp�rito Santo, neste caso e a quem s�o dedicadas as l�pides, Shiva."

Transl.

There is, in Penha Verde, ruins of a temple shrine dedicated to the Mon were two mark stones, writen in sanskrit - language never spoked in europe - and brought from Somanath-Patane by the vice-roy of India D. Jo�o de Castro, in them the history of the union betewen the orient and the ocident, truly a work on the art of well living according to the canonical rules of the Holy Ghost, to whom are dedicated the stones, in this case to lord Shiva.

[yajvan]

Hari Om
~~~~~

Namaste,

I read this today and thought it would fit ( just fine) in this section.
I added a few things to the original document for clarity, but always kept the rehetoric point in tact.

Note point 4 below... beautiful! And why we come back to this good earth perhaps?

Rules for being human

1. Your will receive a body. You may like it, or hate it, but it's yours for the entire period this time around.

2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full time informal school called life. Each day in this school you have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or not, you may think they're irrelevant and stupid, but you be given the lessons just the same.

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. At times you will feel a mistake has been made, that is part of the lesson. Growth is a process of trial and error and experimentation. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately works (see?).

4. A lesson is repeated until learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go to the next lesson. Periodically, the lesson will be re-presented to see if you still remember it.

5. Learning lessons does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learnt. If no lessons is being presented, it is likely that you are no longer alive.

6. There is no better than 'here'. When your 'there' has become a 'here', you will simply acquire another 'there'. That will again look better than 'here'.

7. Others (people that is) are simply mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself. ( yajvan note: is this not brilliant! )

8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you make of them is up to you; the choice is yours.

9. Your answers lie inside you. The answers to life's questions lie inside you. All you have to do is look, listen and trust.

10. You will (most likely) forget all this. This fact in itself is a lesson.