Near death experience

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In a message dated 10/22/1999 7:37:13 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

vivekananda writes:

 

<< Dear madam/sir

I am a sixth form student studying hinduism as part of my r.e A-level.

My current piece of course work is based on " near-death experiences in

hinduism " .

I would be greatful if you could send me any relevent information on this

subject.

Many thanks

Zara Parekh >>

 

Dear Zara,

 

This is a very interesting topic, and I do not have any ready answers, but I

may have some leads for you.

 

First, there is an article about the reincarnation studies of Dr. Satwant

Pasricha at http://www.the-week.com/99apr04/cover.htm#1. That article does

not seem to have contact information for her, but I think you can get it

through the Division of Personality Studies (headed by Dr. Ian Stevenson, a

colleague of Dr. Pasricha). Their e-mail is buu-dops, and the

URL is http://www.med.virginia.edu/personality-studies/contacting_us.html.

 

In Kenneth Ring's book " Heading Toward Omega " , he has done research on the

effects of near-death experiences on a person's life afterwards. He has also

compared the near-death experiences of people of various religious faiths.

He

does not focus specifically on Hinduism, but he does conclude, for example,

that " ...while all groups show a shift toward spiritual universalism, that

tendency is strongest for NDErs, especially for those who are not mainline

Christians. " (pg. 146).

 

Here is what he says about his organization, " IANDS " (I will give you the

link below), on page 47:

 

" Since most of the research published on NDE's has been carried out in the

United States, it is natural to wonder whether NDEs take the same form in

other countries, particularly in cultures very different from our own. What

do we know, then, concerning the universality of this phenomenon or--to put

it another way--the extent to which it is culture-bound?

 

" Unfortunately, not nearly enough. We have an international NDE file at

IANDS, but its contents are very slender. On this front most of our work

remains to be done, but I will summarize here what we do know.

 

" We already have enough information to assert that in England and in

continental Europe, NDEs take the same form as in the United States. This,

of course, is scarcely surprising, since we share a Judeo-Christian

heritage.

At IANDS we have a handful of cases from South America, India, and Japan and

some from the anthropological literature referring to apparent NDEs in

preliterate socieities. In general, these few cases show obvious parallels

to the classic pattern, but there is at least a suggestion that they may in

some ways deviate from that pattern, especially in the deeper stages of the

NDE,

where more archetypal imagery comes into play [note Zara-- " archetypal

imagery " means, mental pictures that represent basic, building-block ideas

like " the Mother " or " the hero " ]. Furthermore, I have heard informal and in

some cases secondhand references to preliminary findings of NDE research

projects in India and the Far East [Zara--if you could contact the author,

he might be able to tell you more!] that again suggest overall conformity to

the basic model with the possibility of some distinctive culturally

determined

features. At this point the prudent conclusion would have to be that,

excepting NDEs in Western cultures, our data are simply too fragmentary to

permit any firm judgment concerning the universality of the NDE model given

at the beginning of this chapter.

 

" There are enough relevant data, however, for me to hazard a guess about the

limits of that model. If we draw on the well-known cross-cultural work of

Osis and Haraldsson [K. Osis and E. Haraldsson, " At the Hour of Death " ] on

deathbed visions, which are certainly related to and partially overlap NDEs,

we have a solid basis for extrapolating to NDEs proper. In their work, Osis

and Haraldsson compared visions between Indians and Americans. Yet there

were clearly some culturally determined effects, such as the particular

personages who were perceived when their subjects were close to death. It

was as though the form of the visions was the same but the content varied

between

cultures.

 

My suspicion is that something similar may well be found for NDEs. The

feelings, OBE (out of body exprerience), the passage through an area of

darkness toward a brilliant light and the entry into a parallel realm are

likely, in my judgment, to be among the universal constants of the NDE. The

beings who appear to the NDEr as well as the particular environments

perceived can be expected to be more variable--but beings and environments

of some kind should be reported. "

 

 

In other words, Mr. Ring is suggesting that a Hindu might experience the

same kinds of things in his or her near-death experience as an American

Christian, except that whereas the Christian might meet Jesus, the Hindu

might meet

Rama or Krishna. The American might find himself in something resembling an

American environment, while the Hindu might find himself in something more

familiar to him.

 

IANDS (International Association for Near Death Studies) URL is:

http://www.iands.org.

 

You may also try writing directly to a Hindu yogi I met when I was a young

man, who lives and works in California, named Baba Hari Dass. He has direct

experience of such things and can give an authoritative answer--this man in

my opinion is a living saint (don't tell him I said that). Since direct

knowledge is the basis of Hinduism, getting input from such a person would

be appropriate. The URL for his organization is:

http://www.mountmadonna.org.

 

There is a passage, I believe, in the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna that is at

least partly relevant. I wish I knew the exact page, but someone more

familiar with the Gospel may know it. Sri Ramakrishna is attending the death

of a disciple, and expresses joy at seeing how man dies--like a sword that

was in the sheath, and now it is out of the sheath. Sri Ramakrishna was

God-Realized, and any words of his that you include in your report will

carry the vibration of his Realization.

 

Zara, this field of study appears to be wide-open, you have taken a

brand-new area. Depending upon your seriousness about it, I hope you create

a

thoughtful and thought-provoking paper. There is nothing wrong with saying

that this is an area that has not been studied yet.

 

Best regards and best of luck to you,

Steve Sakellarios

 

p.s. the reference for Mr. Ring's book is:

 

" Heading Toward Omega: In Search of the Meaning of the Near-Death

Experience " , Kenneth Ring, 1984, Quill Publishing, ISBN 0-688-06268-7.

 

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SSake <SSake

vivekananda <vivekananda

22 October 1999 14:59

Re: Near Death Experiences

 

 

p.s.

 

Zara,

 

One more thought. Near-death experiences are now much more common than they

were, because of modern medicine bringing people back from clinical death.

Therefore, if I was going to try to track down cases of near-death

experiences, I would contact cardiac surgeons in major hospitals, or else

nurses or other staff who work with cardiac patients at major hospitals. In

that way you may get some first-hand accounts.

 

Best wishes,

Steve S.