Reincarnation Update - Family Return

[Guest guest]

When a beloved grandparent or uncle or brother

dies; when we lose a parent or a cherished child to death, the

loss feels so great, so sad, so final. We yearn to see them once

again, to hear their voice, to feel their presence. If only we could be

with them again. Some take comfort in

the belief that after we die we will be reunited with the souls of our

deceased loved ones in spirit, in heaven. But what if you knew it was

possible to be with them again in this lifetime, without having to die

first? What if I told you there is strong evidence that the

souls of our loved ones who die can return from heaven to be with us

again—not in a dream or vision, or through the aid of a medium or

psychic—but in reality, through reincarnation as a baby born into the

family?

 

For the first time anywhere, Carol Bowman, author of the

groundbreaking Children’s Past Lives, in her newest book Return

from Heaven reveals how common it is for relatives to

reincarnate into the same family—grandfathers return as their own

great-grandsons, uncles return as their own nieces, mothers switch

places with their daughters, and children who died tragically young

sometimes return to the same mother.

All the stories in this book center around very young children, some as

young as two years old, who begin talking of their past lives

spontaneously, with no prompting or hypnosis. The child’s family, in

most cases, is a typical American family who did not believe in

reincarnation before it happened to them. Yet the evidence they see

coming from their own child convinces them that a deceased relative has

been reborn into their family.

Typically, around the time the child begins to

talk in full sentences, he or she will begin to make shockingly accurate

statements about the life of the deceased relative—facts a toddler has

absolutely no way of knowing. Or the family recognizes specific

behaviors in the child that mirror the relative’s unique quirks and

personality. In some cases they see that the child’s body has birthmarks

that exactly match wounds or scars the deceased relative had on

his body at the time of death—marks that cannot be attributed to

heredity.

Carol Bowman

had been researching children’s past lives for more than a decade when

she first took notice of these special cases of family return. They

showed her something she hadn’t seen before. They demonstrate

dramatically how personal reincarnation can be, and how emotions and

relationship issues persist from one life to the next. Discovering

family return has deepened her understanding of reincarnation,

no less, and shifted the focus of her research.

 

Carol Bowman is recognized as a pioneer in

reincarnation studies. When she began investigating children’s past

lives in 1988, she came to it not as a researcher or even a

writer, but as a mother looking for answers for what happened

with her own children. It all began one afternoon as we were

sitting around the kitchen table. Her daughter was triggered to remember

dying long ago in a house fire, and her son gave a realistic description

of dying amid the horror and chaos of a Civil War battle. She was

astounded by what she heard, because at the time she had no idea

children could remember their past lives. Yet what her children

were saying was so realistic, so detailed, and the emotions so

appropriate, she knew it was nothing they had seen on TV or overheard

from adult conversation. She knew this as their mother. The clincher

came a few days later when she realized that both children had been

suddenly healed of chronic conditions as a result of remembering their

past lives.

This was so unexpected and amazing, it opened

her eyes to a whole new world of possibilities and filled her

with questions. She had to know more about what had happened to

her kids. And she wondered: if it could happen so naturally with them,

how many other children remember their past live too? She searched

bookstores and libraries for a book that could answer her questions and

tell her what to do next. In her search she discovered the work of Dr.

Ian Stevenson of the University of Virginia****, who has spent forty

years documenting and verifying thousands of cases of

children’s past life memories. His incredible research confirmed that

what had happened to her children was not that unusual; it is a natural

phenomenon that happens to children all over the world.

The idea of reincarnating into the same family

could be fascinating, but the real goal of understanding reincarnation

is to become free from the painful cycle of birth and death. This is

not a very good business--to die and take birth again. The

great sage Kapila Muni informs his mother about the true nature of the

death experience: "In that diseased condition, one's eyes bulge due

to the pressure of air from within, and his glands become congested

with mucus. He has difficulty breathing, and there is a rattling sound

within the throat. He dies most pathetically, in great pain and without

consciousness." - Srimad

Bhagavatam (3.30.16-18)

 

But taking

birth in the material world is no picnic either. "For months the human fetus lies

cramped within the darkness of the womb, suffering severely, scorched by

the mother's gastric fire, continually jolted by sudden movements, and

feeling constant pressure from being contained in the small amnion,

which surrounds the body in the womb. This tight, constricting pocket

forces the child's back to arch constantly like a bow. Further, the

unborn child is tormented by hunger and thirst and is bitten again and

again all over the body by the hungry worms in

the abdomen itself, the child suffers terrible agony because of his

tenderness. He thus becomes unconscious moment after moment because of

the terrible condition. Owing to the mother's eating bitter, pungent

foodstuffs, or food which is too salty or too sour, the body of the

child incessantly suffers pains which are almost intolerable." - (Srimad

Bhagavatam 3.31.6–10)

 

______________________

From the highest planet in the material

world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated

birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of

Kunti, never takes birth again --Lord Krsna [bg 8.16]

 

****Dr.

Stevenson is not as active as he once was and is sometimes

difficult to reach, but he will respond to cases that interest him. The best way to reach him is by email to the The Division of Personality Studies (DOPS) at the University of

Virginia. His email id: DOPS