Reincarnation

Is there life after life?

Introduction: Reincarnation is basically a religious or philosophical concept that an aspect of a living being starts a new life in a different physical body or form after each biological death. It also has synonyms like rebirth and transmigration. The idea of reincarnation is found in many ancient cultures, and a belief in rebirth was held by such historic figures as Pythagoras, Plato and Socrates. 

Although the majority of denominations like the Judaism, Christianity and Islam do not believe in reincarnation. However rebirth is a key concept found in major Indian religions, popularly known as ‘punarjanam’.

Reincarnation is discussed in the ancient texts of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. They consider the release from the cycle of reincarnations as the ultimate spiritual goal, and call the liberation by terms such as moksha, nirvana, mukti and kaivalya. However the origins of the notion of reincarnation are obscure. It is only in these recent decades, that many Europeans and North Americans have developed an interest in reincarnation, and many contemporary works mention reincarnation.

REINCARNATIONAL RESEARCH

Psychiatrist Ian Stevenson, from the University of Virginia, conducted case studies on children who claimed to remember their past lives and on these basis published many books including, “Twenty cases of Suggestive Reincarnation”. Stevenson recorded the child’s statement and then identified the deceased person the child identified with. He also matched birthmarks and birth defects to wounds and scars on the deceased, further verified by autopsy.

In spite of all these research works Stevenson was criticized by many people. Objections to claims of reincarnation include the facts that the vast majority of people do not remember previous lives and there is no mechanism known to modern sciences that would enable a personality to survive death and travel to another body, barring the ideas of biocentrism.

One interesting case; 

Patricia Austrian’s four year old son Edward had a phobia of drizzly, grey days. Then he developed a problem with his throat and started to complain of severe pain. Whenever he had a sore throat, he said that his “shot was hurting”. Edward told his mother very detailed stories about his previous life in the trenches in what was apparently World War I. He told her that he had been shot in the throat and killed. At first doctors could not find a cause for his sore throat and removed his tonsils as a precautionary measure. A cyst developed in his throat and doctors did not know how to treat it. As soon a Edward was prompted to tell his parents and others more about his previous life and talk about how he was killed, the cyst disappeared. Edward’s doctors never found out why the cyst had vanished.

Mansi Dessai

FYBSc Maths

SU160185

F.C. English Div B