Past Life Regression and Bhagavad Gita

Past Life Regression Therapy is based on the principles of cause and effect also known as the law of Reincarnation / Karma. An action that has been set in motion at a specific time in the past resulting in a corresponding effect on a person’s present emotional, physical, mental or spiritual well being, at this moment. This cause may be a past desire, past promise, past talent, past thought, past feeling, past vow, past emotion, past decision, past evasion or past traumatic experience.

As very appropriately quoted in the Gita, the soul of a person is immortal and through the process of Past Life Regression one can tap into these memories of his/her soul’s experience in different lives before the present. As the present is the sum total of the past, the Law of Karma or Reincarnation allows you to re-live and release the issues by awareness and realization with the help of Past Life Regression.

Past live regression therapy also incorporates Age Regression which is a time travel technique that makes one travel backwards in time in the present lifetime to unravel hidden powers and uncover and release blockages created to embrace a fulfilling and beautiful life ahead.

In the Bhagavad Gita 4:5, Lord Krishna told Arjun “Many, many births both you and I have passed. I can remember all of them, but you cannot, O subduer of the enemy!”

This life is a University where we come to learn our lessons & evolve spiritually. Until and unless we evolve spiritually we can neither be happy nor can we transcend the cycle of birth & death.

The soul has lived many lives. This life is one page or one life of the endless life’s our soul has lived. Our real self is ‘Atman’, the supreme consciousness. Only when we know our true self, can we be free from this vicious circle of birth & death.

Each soul, by his own choice, passes through many earthly sojourns and is given a chance to develop spiritually. In the process, mistakes may also be made, and actions may be taken that move us farther away from God; but in each lifetime we are also free to act so as to make up for those errors.

It is through our actions that we create many of our own rewards and punishments. Of course, it is up to us to alter or redirect our lives at any time. It is through various experiences that we grow and develop. All experiences are for our good and sometimes it takes what we would consider a negative experience to help develop our spirits. We chose many of our weaknesses and difficult situations in our lives so that we could grow. We were very willing, even anxious, as spirits to accept all of our ailments, illness, and accidents on earth, to help better ourselves spiritually. Our most sever challenges will one day reveal themselves to be our greatest teachers. Grief is growth. Soul cleansing can come through illness. We should not consider ourselves to be the unfortunate victims of the circumstances we are in. Some of us have come to earth to unite in a cause to change certain things, some to strengthen a course already set and to pave the way for those who may follow. Some come to earth for a short time, living only hours or days after birth.

Each lifetime is another opportunity to move the transmigration of our soul forward through the accumulation of positive Karma. We must strive over onward through many cycles until we achieve sufficient perfection to rejoin God. It is the law, for no imperfect thing will ever have the opportunity to become a part of Godhead.

According to the Bhagavad-Gita, Lord Krishna said man's real self or soul is immortal and independent of the body, it neither kills nor is killed. It is indestructible, imperishable and inaccessible to the sufferings, which afflict the body. Eternal, omnipresent, fixed, immovable, everlasting is the human soul. “He is not slain when the body is slain”. Bhagavad Gita (2:20)

As laying aside worn-out garments, a man takes on other new ones, so laying aside worn out bodies, the embodied (soul) enters into other new ones. Rebirth is under the control of karma or "actions" and salvation is through ultimate release from the round of rebirths. All creatures are composed of two distinct elements, namely soul and body. The body including what are called "psychic" elements, is material; is subject to evolution, devolution and changes of all sorts; and consists of a blend of various elements or qualities. The material body, upon other material bodies or substances performs all action. The soul neither acts nor is affected by action. It has only contemplative powers.

Any action, good or bad, must normally have its effect in continued existence for the doer. According to the Bhagavad Gita, this is due not to the action as such, but due to desire underlying the action.

 

 

Journey of the soul to Moksha

Past life regression has its foundations in the belief of reincarnation, and consequently in the 'Law of Karma'. This is a theory which states that a soul is on a journey to merge with what is termed as  'Universal Consciousness' or 'Supreme Power'. On this journey, the soul takes on a physical form in a body, so that it can learn certain lessons along the way, and naturally, meets and encounters other souls on different stages of their cosmic journey. It interacts with these souls to create 'Karma'. This journey entangles the soul into the consequences of the actions and keeps bringing it back to interact with the same and different souls, again and again. Naturally, this means that the soul has to take on a physical form, again. Thus begins an unending cycle. The soul has to eventually understand that this cycle is endless, unless it breaks away totally and  merges into the Universe, never to be caught up in this cycle again. When this happens, the soul can then say to have attained 'Moksha' or 'Becomes Enlightened'. This theory also states that there are those evolved souls who choose once again to come back in a physical body so that they may guide others towards this knowledge. These bodies are termed as 'Enlightened Leaders' or 'Bodhisattvas'.

Reincarnation

The word "reincarnation" derives from Latin, literally meaning, "entering the flesh again". The Greek equivalent metempsychosis (μετεμψύχωσις) roughly corresponds to the common English phrase "transmigration of the soul" and also usually connotes reincarnation after death. Reincarnation may be said to be a repertoire of states of consciousness which guides our behaviour in productive adaptive ways.

Some southern European Christians believed in reincarnation until the Council of Nice banned such beliefs in 553 A.D. In The Republic, Plato described souls about to be reborn as choosing their future lives. Schopenhauer took it seriously, and Voltaire's observation that it is no more surprising to be born twice than once is well known. In Memories, Dreams, and Reflections, Carl Jung wrote that as a boy he remembered in great detail being a very old man in the eighteenth century. Yet most scientists nowadays do not believe in survival after death. Presumably Darwinian ideas contributed to a sort of dethroning of the soul.

However, more than half the world’s people believe in reincarnation. What is the basis of this belief? Is it rooted in delusions or wishful thinking? Or, is there a tangible basis for such ideas?

The philosopher David Hume said, in his essay ‘Of the immortality of the soul’  – Metempsychosis is …. The only system of this kind that philosophy can hearken to. Some philosophers, psychologists and thinkers admit that reincarnation is a very sensible idea, because it would answer so many questions and problems about human existence.

Charles Darwin had concluded that that human facilities are a result of their evolutionary history. Neurotheologists have further expanded on this, saying - If reincarnation is true and Darwin right, then isn’t reincarnation evolutionary adaptation that contributed to the survival of our species.

A human being has a bio-plasma body, which the evidence tells us must contain a structure of consciousness - the soul. The soul has structured the bio-plasma by recording the essence of a person’s life experience. Because bio-plasma is a property of living matter an unborn child would also have a bio-plasma, but would not yet have had any concrete experiences that would form a soul structure in the bio-plasma. At a certain stage the unborn human child, in short, does not yet have a soul. Therefore, when a person dies, their soul must be transmitted to an unborn child, which then structures the bio-plasma of the child with the bio-plasmic pattern of the dying person’s soul. The death and transfer are part of the method of the evolution of consciousness.

If child psychologists and psychiatrists, as well as paediatricians, family doctors, and parents, would listen to children and observe them with reincarnation in mind, they would make valuable discoveries. Children often seem to express memories of previous lives in their play and sometimes in their drawings.

Dr. Ian Stevenson, an academic psychiatrist, led the study of reincarnation in the United States until his death in 2007. The lab, which later became known as the Division of Perceptual Studies, focuses on examining children who remember former lives, near-death experiences, apparitions and after-death communications, out-of-body experiences and deathbed visions.

Dr. Stevenson, who often called reincarnation the "survival of personality after death," saw the existence of past lives as a potential explanation for the differences in human condition. He believed past experiences plus genetics and the environment could help elucidate gender dysphoria, phobias and other unexplained personality traits.

To sum it up, the question often asked is, if rebirth is possible, is there any scientific basis for believing in rebirth? Since time immemorial, man has been struggling to find a solution to this mystery but conclusive evidence has thus far eluded him. Can science uphold the belief in rebirth? It is beyond the current tools of science to definitively prove the general theory of reincarnation to a sceptical public. Likewise, it is also beyond the tools of modern science to disprove it.

Karma cont....

When people are happy and contented, they tend to take life for granted. It is when they suffer, when they find life difficult, that they begin to search for a reason and a way out of their difficulty. They may ask why some are born in poverty and suffering, while others are born in fortunate circumstances. Some people believe that it is due to fate, chance, or an invisible power beyond their control - Karma. In this world nothing happens to a person that he does not for some reason or other deserve. Usually, men of ordinary intellect cannot comprehend the actual reason or reasons. The definite invisible cause or causes of the visible effect is not necessarily confined to the present life, they may be traced to a proximate or remote past birth.

The Pali term Karma literally means action or doing. Any kind of intentional action whether mental, verbal, or physical, is regarded as Karma. It covers all that is included in the phrase "thought, word and deed". Buddhism teaches that one's present condition, whether of happiness or suffering, is the result of the accumulated force of all past actions or karma.

Karma is the law of moral causation. It is action and reaction in the ethical realm. It is natural law that every action produces a certain effect. So if one performs wholesome actions such as donating money to charitable organizations, happiness will ensue. On the other hand, if one performs unwholesome actions, such as killing a living being, the result will be suffering. This is the law of cause and effect at work. In this way, the effect of past karma determines the nature of one's present situation in life.

It is a concept in Hinduism which explains causality through a system where beneficial effects are derived from past beneficial actions and harmful effects from past harmful actions, creating a system of actions and reactions throughout a soul's reincarnated lives forming a cycle of rebirth. The causality is said to be applicable not only to the material world but also to our thoughts, words, actions and actions that others do under our instructions. When the cycle of rebirth comes to an end, a person is said to have attained moksha, or salvation.

 

The theory of karma harps on the Newtonian principle that every action produces an equal and opposite reaction. Every time we think or do something, we create a cause, which in time will bear its corresponding effects. And this cyclical cause and effect generates the concepts of samsara, birth and reincarnation. It is the personality of a human being - with its positive and negative actions - that causes karma.

According to Buddhism, rebirth takes place at the end of this life. Rebirth is regarded as a fact. There is evidence that each person has lived many lives in the past and will continue to live more in the future. Rebirth therefore for the Buddhist is a reality although one may not be aware of it. Those who have developed their minds through meditation have confirmed the existence of past lives. Meditators who have attained powers of concentration have been able to recall their previous lives in great detail. In the same trend, Buddhism teaches that birth, death and rebirth are part of the continuing process of change. This is similar to the continuous process of growth, decay and replacement of cells in one's body. According to medical experts, every seven years, all body cells are replaced.

At the moment of death, when this life is over, and the body can no longer survive, the mind is separated from the body. At that time, the craving for life causes one to seek a new existence, and the previous karma determines the place of one's rebirth.

Every person is responsible for his or her acts and thoughts, so each person's karma is entirely his or her own. Occidentals see the operation of karma as fatalistic. But that is far from true since it is in the hands of an individual to shape his own future by schooling his present. Hindu philosophy, which believes in the doctrine that if the life after death, holds karma of an individual is good enough, the next birth will be rewarding, and if not, the person may actually devolve and degenerate into a lower life form. Therefore in order to achieve good karma it is important to live life according to dharma or what is right.

We create our own Heaven. We create our own Hell. We are the architects of our own fate.

PLR and Karma cont.

There are many bodies that a soul can take after death, and the astral body is one such form. This is also referred to in the Hindu puranas as Sukshma sarira - the link between the nervous system and the cosmic reservoir, which is invisible to human eyes, but  can be sensed by animals. That’s why dogs bark sometimes without any reason 

However, the Bhagavad Gita says that the soul doesn’t carry any karma or doesn’t attach itself to anything. Then how is human karma carried from one life to other?

 During death, the mind merges all the sense into itself, storing all memories of that particular body, and gets itself attached to the soul, thus making it an aspect of the soul, in the sense of being both divine and immortal, linking human thinking with the un-changing ordering principle of the cosmos itself.

 The soul however, doesn’t want this burden with it and it tries to get rid of this karma carrying mind, and so looks for suitable conditions where it can reincarnate itself into a body where that existing karma can be balanced.

 It is these past life memories in the reincarnated body that Past Life Regression helps in unraveling to help solve current day issues.