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Anie’s mother was narrating to me some kind of history with the help of a photo book. As she turned the next page of this book, I felt something unnerving running down my spine. What could it be? I came a little closer to the page that I have recently flipped into. Yes, now I could sense something eerie about the picture in front of me. It was an image of an ancient Hindu temple. No, I couldn’t get a glimpse of the full view of the temple. Rather, it was like a thumbnail of the temple’s Gopuram. At first the picture appeared in the black and white form. But as I leaned closer, the monumental tower started blazing in golden yellow. And all of a sudden, in a jolt, I was there! There, right in front of the temple that I had seen in the book.
It’s a stretch of barren land on all sides. Probably the main temple is somewhere close-by. What was to my front is only one of the smaller shrines that belonged to the same temple. I looked around. The place seemed devoid of life, even plants. The sweat drops rolling down my face reminded how hot the day was. It was then that my eyes fell on the goriest creature that I have ever seen. It was sitting quietly inside the small altar. With a deeper peek, I could make out it was only a human. Yes, I meant it was! I knew that this lady had lived in the past. Her figure was just a collection of ashes. She was sitting upright with one of her legs folded at the knees and the other stretched out. Though unpleasant, I was not scared or shocked about what I was seeing until my eyes caught that unburnt part of her legs that was stretched out. Sheesh! What creepy thing!
But what caused that bloodcurdling in me?
Because there came about two revelations. One that I knew that this lady had lived in the past and when she was burnt alive, a small area on her leg did not get burnt or decayed, though it should have been several years since this incident must have happened. That meant some part of her is STILL ALIVE! The second revelation was yet more alarming – that the lady I am talking about all these while was ME!
It was getting bloody frightening and I wanted to run and run and run till I can forget what had happened just awhile before. But I was standing there, at the same place, as though hooked onto the ground. It took sometime before I could console myself of being left alone in this unknown land with such ghastly sights. Slowly, it felt I should explore where I have landed upon, who this lady could be and why I sync her with my being. But as I said before, there was no life to be seen around. Yet, I thought I should move out of the temple to know more.
For the first time since I’ve thumped on this land, my feet moved and I reached the entrance of the temple, facing the long road ahead of me. Still there wasn’t anyone visible till the farthest that my eye could see. But I knew, by some way, that the spot where I was standing right now was the exact place where I was burnt alive. The fury of the incident seemed like deepening within me. I didn’t feel the pain or the burns, just the impression of the scene.
A few minutes passed.
Now I began walking through the road. It was a dusty street; people walking to and fro the temple, a lot were women and children. My instinct wanted to stop-by and talk to people about the lady in the temple. But I realized they couldn’t visualize me as I did. It hit me! Perhaps, I am doing a time travel. I am back several hundred years before and all these people I can see had lived before like the lady but no more available to converse with me now. What do I do now? How do I show myself to these people? None seemed to notice me. It felt disappointing.
I was quietly observing the bullock carts, the busy men and women. All men worked hard, carrying loads of trading stuff. They looked hurrying here and there as if it’s getting late to get back home. From distance, I spotted a woman carrying her child on her waist. As they paced near me, I made a fond gesture towards the child and Aw! To my surprise, the infant smiled at me. I sprang to my feet at once and tried stopping the lady. She gave me an annoying look and walked past me. Well, that means, I am visible now! I thanked whatsoever brought this change and tried my luck to talk to people. A few good souls responded though I am not going to write here the whole conversations I had, in order to maintain at least some brevity 😉
However, in a jist, this is what I understood from the villagers as I strolled through the streets. It was a beautiful village filled with wonderful hearts except a few who did that cruel act to my family. We were a small happy family adorning a simple life. For no fault of our’s my husband was killed by the dons of the village. I was dragged to the temple entrance and was set ablaze. And our poor little daughter was left alone!
Something in me became restful. Perhaps, the purpose of my exploration got fulfilled. However, the injustice done to the lady made me so furious and at the same time my heart felt heavy with sadness for the lady and her little girl. I would have loved to explore this scenic village more if not for my weariness of having walked long.
And I woke up.
Though an indiblogger contest triggered me to write this post, this is my real life experience of a spontaneous past-life recall in a dream. Yes, I was narrating a dream of 2005 all along. The fear and confusion of having stranded alone in an unknown place, the scary revelations of creepy things where in fact I had been involved, and then a strong compulsion to explore the whereabouts of the place and incidents, meeting the then villagers – a powerful dream, indeed!
Well, you saw your past life. So what now? How can you be sure it’s your past life? First of all, why do you want to get into the past?
Read my answers here.
Photo Courtesy
Photo Book – http://www.panoramio.com/photo/2338543 and www.wcu.com
The Road Ahead – http://4.bp.blogspot.com
Woman With Child – http://fineartamerica.com/featured/mother-and-child-2-salomi-prakash.html
Nandu, what a scary write-up! How did you know that it was you? Another big question, did you dream in colour? I have to say I have had similar experiences that I have never shared earlier. Mine was way long back and in my dream I was Mary Magdalene the follower of Jesus and I was sitting underneath the cross he was nailed into and crying aloud with 2 more females near me, consoling me. I was 12 years old when I had this dream I can remember the details till now, gloomy day with storm clouds at the distance, we on top of a hill and was very windy as well, but humid not cool! This is when I think that our brain makes memories but it is our souls that store them 🙂 and who know may be souls do get recycled!
Looks like we have to catch up via chat soon 🙂
‘How did you know that it was you?’
I just knew! Thats the only answer I have 🙂 But I guess,this kind of understandings are common in dreams, the only place where our logics wont sell.
‘Did you dream in colour?’
Yes, the golden hue of the Gopuram.
That was a captivating dream! Seems quite vivid that you can describe the weather that you saw so many years before. Sure, its time we need a chat now 🙂
Thanks Cathy.
Does each person live many times in the same or different form?
Firstly, the Bible says, “It is appointed for men once to die, and after this comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). The Scripture pictures death as a separation of the soul from the world. When a saint of God dies, rather than merely being promoted to a higher status for another lifetime, he enters his eternal state, secured for him by God’s grace. The divinely inspired apostle exclaimed, “We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8).
The idea of the souls of dead humans communicating with living people or the rememberance of the past is well explained in the story of the rich man and Lazarus (luke 16 ) and by the extreme surprise of the witch of Endor when she saw Samuel who was dead (1 Sam. 27:8). She claimed to be a medium or one who contacts the dead when Saul requested but as soon as she contact Samuel when God brought him forth, it startled her and brought great fear. This appeared to be her first experience with the real thing, i.e., with seeing the dead because this is normally not possible. When people do experience such experiences or contact, what they are seeing or experiencing is better identified as demonic.
Secondly, it is also contradicted by psychology and common sense, for its view of souls as imprisoned in alien bodies denies the natural psychosomatic unity.
Thirdly, the existence of another idea , that we are reincarnated in order to learn lessons that we failed to learn or to teach lessons for those who harmed us in past earthly life is contrary to both common sense and basic educational psychology. I cannot learn or teach someone if there is no continuity of memory. I can learn from my mistakes only if I remember them and teach if the persons are available in this age.
Fourth, if we say that our bodies are illusions of individuality, the pantheistic One becoming many in human consciousness, no reason can possibly be given for this. Indeed, Hinduism calls it simply lila, divine play. Why should God play such a game! If Oneness is perfection, why would perfection play the game of imperfection? All the world’s sins and sufferings are reduced to a meaningless, inexplicable game.
Thanks for dropping by here and for your time to post your opinion.
Firstly, I know very little of Bible. And definitely I am not wise enough to discuss something as high as the Bible. But I believe that the Biblical verses have in depth interpretation and not necessarily mean literally how it reads.
‘She claimed to be a medium or one who contacts the dead’
Past lives are entirely different from seeing dead people. Seeing dead people is encountering another entity which is not present in the physical plane. But past life is just a memory that our subconsciousness has stored, it is well within our own being.
I respect all the perspectives you have detailed here. And I believe this is purely a subjective topic. Nobody has an authority on such paranormal phenomena. If I hadn’t got such dreams, I too might not have gained an inclination to this subject. The part II post might include answers to your other questions.
Hey Nandini, I liked reading this post… good stuff. I understand when you say powerful dreams, I have had them atleast once in the past.
Good to have you here, Varun. Thanks!
Engrossing writing skills. Truly got carried with the story. Very impressive take and great pictorials aswelll. Kudos.
Thanks a ton for your comment here. Welcome to pages from serendipity, please keep visiting often.