One of the earliest and best-known documented cases of children who claim to recall a past life, that of Shanti Devi (studied by K.S. Rawat), also includes statements about her experiences after death and before her reincarnation. A few more recent cases are discussed, including cases published by Dr. Ian Stevenson and several Dutch cases (studied by Titus Rivas). The available literature seems to suggest that Near-Death Experiences could in more than one respect be confirmed by memories of an intermission period between two incarnations, and also by prebirth memories in general. The evidence in the field of survival studies appears to be convergent. For this reason, the authors stress the need for further research into possible memories of an afterlife among young children.
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The Life Beyond:
Through the eyes of Children
who Claim to Remember Previous Lives
by Dr. Kirti Swaroop Rawat and Titus Rivas
Kirti Swaroop Rawat, PhD (phil.), MA (sociol.)
INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR REINCARNATION AND
SURVIVAL RESEARCHES
69 A/2 Goyal Nagar Indore 452001
INDIA
ksrawat!@hotmail.com
Titus Rivas, MA (phil.), MSc (psych.)
Athanasia Foundation
Darrenhof 9
6533 RT Nijmegen
The Netherlands
titusrivas@hotmail.com
Reprint requests to Titus Rivas, titusrivas@hotmail.com
THE LIFE BEYOND: Through the eyes of Children who
claim to remember previous lives
by Kirti Swaroop Rawat and Titus Rivas
Abstract
One of the earliest and best-known documented cases of children
who claim to recall a past life, that of Shanti Devi (studied by K.S.
Rawat), also includes statements about her experiences after death
and before her reincarnation. A few more recent cases are
discussed, including cases published by Dr. Ian Stevenson and
several Dutch cases (studied by Titus Rivas).
The available literature seems to suggest that Near-Death
Experiences could in more than one respect be confirmed by
memories of an intermission period between two incarnations, and
also by prebirth memories in general. The evidence in the field of
survival studies appears to be convergent. For this reason, the
authors stress the need for further research into possible memories
of an afterlife among young children.
Key words: Near-Death Experiences, reincarnation, memories of
an intermission period, prebirth, children
Introduction
There have been various and varied approaches towards
understanding life beyond death. These include intuitive or
religious insights, logical or philosophical exercises and empirical
or scientific studies (Ducasse, 1974; LeShan, 1974; Vivekananda,
1935). Parapsychologists or noetic scientists have tried to assess
mediumistic communications, Death-Bed Visions and Near Death
Experiences (NDEs) (Gauld, 1983; Barrett, 1926; Osis &
Haraldsson, 1977; Moody, 1977a, 1977b; Holck, 1978; Sabom &
Kreutziger, 1977a, 1977b; Sabom, 1971, 1982, 1998; Greyson, B.
& Stevenson, I., 1980; Noyes, 1972, 1979; Ring, 1980; Lommel et
al, 2001; Rivas, 2003b). In the present exploratory paper we
attempt to put forward yet another approach, i.e. understanding
life between death and reincarnation from the perspective of cases
suggestive of reincarnation. Some children claim to have
memories of an intermediate state between death and rebirth that
appear to resemble Near-Death Experiences and it is our primary
aim to draw more scholarly attention to this interesting assertion.
We will also point to the existence of prebirth memories without
conscious recollection of a previous life on earth.
Shanti Devi
In the 1930s when the idea of successive lives was not shared by
the educated elite, the case of a 9-year-old girl Shanti Devi of
Delhi attracted much public attention throughout India and soon
its reports travelled far and wide in the entire world (Rawat,
1997). For the first time in history, a committee of fifteen persons,
including journalists, was constituted to investigate the veracity of
the statements made by the girl, claiming to be a Chouban
(member of the Choubey family) of Mathura in her past life.
Mathura, a town 145 kilometers from Delhi, never visited by the
girl or her parents. Spiritualists and rationalists, scientists and
laymen visited Delhi and Mathura either to investigate
dispassionately or to support their religious beliefs or to entirely
expose what they saw as a hoax. One such critic, Sture
Lönnerstrand, came all the way down from Sweden to expose the
'fake' case. After completing his investigations he issued the
statement: 'This is the only fully explained and proven case of
reincarnation there has ever been.' (Hunt, 1971.)
Shanti Devi was born in a middle class family of Delhi on
December 11, 1926. She was just like any other ordinary girl,
excepting that till the age of four she did not speak much. From
the age of four, when she started speaking, she ceased to be an
ordinary girl and her behaviour changed a lot. She started talking
about her 'husband' and 'children'. She would repeatedly describe
her home and her husband's shop at Mathura. She said she was a
Chouban (member of the Choubey family) of Mathura and her
name was Lugdi. She would talk of the food and clothing she
enjoyed in a former life. Her parents ignored her, but she
persisted. Her parents got puzzled but she insisted on a visit to
Mathura. For five years her parents tried to distract her mind but
to no avail. At last, a sympathetic granduncle came to her aid. He
asked her to give him the name and address of her 'husband' at
Mathura. A friend, Lala Kishan Chand, wrote a letter to the
address given by the girl. Soon a reply came, attesting that the
statements of the girl were substantially correct. It was suggested
that a relation of Choube Kedar Nath, Pt. (Pundit) Kanji Mal of
Delhi might be allowed to interview the girl. An interview was
accordingly arranged. Shanti Devi is reported to have correctly
recognized Pt. Kanji Mal as the younger cousin of her alleged
husband. She gave convincing answers to the questions put to her
by Pt. Kanji Mal. 'After this conversation', he wrote, 'I was
convinced that the girl was really my own relation, now
personating in another body.' On November 13, 1935, Kedar Nath
Choubey, along with his third wife (he had one prior to Lugdi)
went to Shanti Devi's house in Delhi. Shanti Devi recognized her
husband and expressed motherly affection towards her son Nitlal
who was now her elder. She burst into tears and sobbed for about
an hour. Late at night Kedar Nath Choubey took Shanti Devi in a
separate room, and put her some intimate questions. He was
satisfied by her answers and moved to tears.
Shanti Devi continued insisting on a visit to Mathura. She added
many more details about her house and other events related to her
former life. On November 24, 1935, she was taken to Mathura by
the committee of fifteen eminent persons appointed on the advice
of Mahatma Gandhi to investigate the veracity of the claim made
by the girl. She was: 'kept under close observation and all her
movements and remarks were carefully noted' by the committee.
Shanti Devi is reported to have recognized a number of persons,
answered all the queries put to her and spotted out the significant
places connected with her past life.
In February 1936, Shri Bal Chand Nahata, a rationalist and
staunch disbeliever, interrogated Shanti Devi and some related
persons. He published his report in the form of a small booklet in
Hindi entitled Punarjanma Ki Parayyalochana. He concludes his
brief study by saying: 'Whatever material that has come before us,
does not warrant us to conclude that Shanti Devi has 'former life
recollections or that this cases proves reincarnation.' (Nahata,
undated). Dr. Indra Sen (1938), an eminent philosopher, soon
wrote a complete article in response to this book. In this, he wrote,
'It is strange to note that on such small material thus gathered he
has confidently written the report and drawn the conclusion and
published them in the form of a book.' Dr. Indra Sen had also
made a close study of the case. He took Shanti Devi to Mathura
and Brindaban and 'tested her memories on new points.' In April
1939 he secured the cooperation of a hypnotist and, 'attempted to
get her recollection of her former life in a hypnotic state.' Dr. Sen
wrote, 'I am confident that Shanti has certain memories which are
not of 'here and now'.'
In July 1939 Mr. Sushil Bose interrogated Shanti Devi and her
father in Delhi and Kedarnath Choube at Mathura. He has reported
the interviews in complete details, but has not expressed his own
opinion or comments about the case. Bose also interrogated Shanti
about her experiences between her death in her former life and her
reincarnation into the present one (Bose, 1952). We shall be
coming to that soon.
In 1961 Dr. Ian Stevenson (1974a, 1974b, 1977, 1978, 1983,
1987) also studied the sources for this case. He writes that 'the
accounts available to me indicate that Shanti Devi made at least 24
statements of her memories which matched the verified facts.' One
of us, Dr. K.S.Rawat, interviewed Shanti Devi on February 3,
1986, and October 30, 1987. He had recorded his first interview
with Shanti Devi on an audiocassette and the second and third
meeting was recorded on a videocassette.
Shanti Devi about the Life Beyond
Shanti Devi's case is significant on various counts. But in the
present context its importance lies in the fact that Shanti Devi
narrated considerable details about the interval between the
moment of Lugdi's death and her subsequent rebirth. Scores of
articles, monographs and books relate these details, but we shall
present them only from the sources we consider authentic. These
are:
Mr. B.C Nahata's booklet. The report of the hypnotic test.A
monograph by Sushil Bose.
Audio recording of the interview with Shanti Devi. Video recorded
interview with Shanti Devi.
Mr. Nahata interrogated Shanti Devi on February 22, 1936. The
relevant portions (translated from Hindi) are as follows:
Question: Tell us: what did you experience at the time of death?
Answer: Smoke. Three men wearing yellow clothes. I went with
them till the Third plane. To the fourth I went alone.
Q: What did you see there?
A: There are saints (Sadhus) at all the three places.
Q: What did you see on the fourth place?
A: Krishanaji was sitting on a throne. (The suffix 'ji expresses
veneration.)
Q: What else was there?
A: In front, there was a saint.
Q: Did he have any beard or long plaits of hair?
A: He had a white beard. There were many saints.
Q: What else were there?
A: Krishana ji had a paper in his hand and was reading from it.
Q: What was he reading?
A: I don't know about other thing, but I know he read out ' House
Number 565
(The Number of the house Shanti Devi is residing these days is
565)
Q: What happened then?
A: I returned to a black cell.
Q: Were those three persons with you while returning?
A: No.
Q: What was there on your way?
A: Staircases of Gold and silver.
Q: Did you remain hungry in the dark cell?
A: No, I didn't feel any hunger or thirst.
A hypnotic test was conducted on April 13 1936. The hypnotist
was Mr. Jagdish Mitra. Dr. Indra Sen was present during the
sitting. Prof. Begg took notes. The relevant portions from prof.
Begg's report are as follows:
Girl: Lugdi is dead. Now Lugdi is getting up from her bed.
Hypnotist: Whether Lugdi is getting up or her soul? The body is
already dead.
Girl: Yes, the body is on the bed. Her soul is getting up. Four men
wearing yellow underwear are standing. They have thrones also.
And there are three saints in blue, black and white clothes. (I must
admit that this position of what Lugdi said was not clearly audible
to me).
Girl: Now Lugdi has reached God. She had a chit [official
document of an agreement] in hand. She is showing the chit to
God. Bad people are crying' Hypnotist: What is Lugdi doing now?
Girl: Now Lugdi is coming down stairs of gold and silver now.
Mr. Sushil Bose interrogated Shanti Devi on July 25 and 26 1936.
His monograph, entitled:A case of Reincarnation, was published
in 1952 and is in English. Mr. Sushil Bose does not mention the
language in which the interview was originally taken (presumably
it was in Hindi, because Shanti Devi, whose mother tongue was
Hindi, could not converse in any other language) nor do we know
the manner in which Mr. Bose took notes of the interviews. The
relevant portions from his monograph are as follows:
Question: Do you remember how you felt at the time of death?
Answer: Yes, Just before death I felt a profound darkness and after
death I saw a dazzling light. Then and there I knew I had come out
of my body in a vaporous form and that I was moving upwards'. I
saw that four men in saffron robes had come to me' All the four
seemed to be in their teens and their appearance and dress were
very bright' They put me in a cup and carried me'. It was about
nine or ten inches abroad and rectangular in shape'
Q: Did you not ask them any thing about the river?
A: When asked they said that those who aspired for a higher life
sincerely, but who had committed fleshly wrong in this life, were
dipped in the river before moving any higher. They took me' to the
fourth place.
Q: Is there any place to live there at night?
A: No, there are no houses or dwelling places. All is open space.
'Arriving on the fourth place I saw that there are still more saints,
brighter in appearance then those on the third plane. And in the
midst of them, seated on a huge dazzling throne was lord Krishna
[one of most popular Hindu gods]. He was showing each person a
record of his activities on earth, good and bad, and accordingly
what would be his condition in the future.
Q: What happened then?
A: Then those persons, who had carried me, took me to a place
like a staircase where it was very bright. I was seated there.
Q: Is there any thing like darkness or light there?
A: No, nothing like light or darkness. It was all full of light. It was
all day and light, very mild, and smoothing and enlivening light.
Q: Did you have a sense of time? Can you say how long you
stayed there?
A: No, I can't say how long I remained there. I had no feeling of
time.
Q: Did you feel there was any higher plane above the one where
you were?
A: Yes, I observed and felt there was a higher place but I can't say
thing about it.
I ' in the fourth plane, near the throne of Lord Krishna, I saw one
with a long beard.
Q: What finally happened?
A: After remaining on the staircase for a long time I was taken to a
dark room, from all sides of which a very bad smell was coming
out. I was made to lie down in a clean place there.
Q: Did you feel any pain at the time of death? Did you see any
thing at that time?
A: I did not feel any pain. I simply passed into a state of
unconsciousness, and at that very moment I saw very brilliant
light.
Along with Dr. Stevenson and Dr. Pasricha, Dr. Rawat
interrogated Shanti Devi at her residence in Delhi on February 3,
1986. The interview was in English. The relevant portions are as
follows:
Shanti Devi: Before my death, I saw dazzling light. '. Very
dazzling. Four persons, very handsome boys, with large yellow
garments. They came with a square shaped vessel and sort of
roomal [handkerchief] or whatever you call it. All of a sudden,
light came out from the body that I was and they put this light into
that vessel and took me up, up and up'
Then again these four persons came and put me in the vessel.
Then they descended me a very bright staircase and then I came in
a cell-dark cell.
Dr. Rawat: Who was looking to your action in this life as Lugdi
Lord Krishna or Chitragupta? ([In Hindu belief, the recorder of the
vices and the virtues of men. Chitragupta is the judge who sends
men to heaven or hell.]
Shanti Devi: Chitragupta.
Later, on October 30, 1987, when Dr.Rawat again interviewed
Shanti Devi (this time, alone), she mentioned a river and the
appearances of the souls present on the fourth plane, in addition to
the various details she had given previously. This interview was
recorded on a videocassette:
Shanti Devi: They took me up. There was a river. It was quite
clean and pure like milk.
About the appearance of the souls she said: 'they were like flames
in lamps.'
From the accounts given above, some salient features emerge:
No pain at the time of death.
Experience of profound darkness at the time of death.
Seeing a dazzling light.
Coming out of the (physical) body in vaporous form.
Coming of three or four young persons wearing saffron or yellow
robbes.
Put in a square or rectangular vessel.
Feeling of going up and up.
Seeing an extremely beautiful garden on the way up.
Coming across a river.
Passing through three planes, ultimately taken to the fourth.
Absence of an open space on the fourth plane.
Absence of any sense of time at the fourth plane.
Presence of Saints on all the four planes.
Presence of a bright (Godly) entity on the fourth plane.
Reading of a review of the actions performed in earthy on the
fourth plane.
Reading of a review of the actions performed in earthy life by this
godly entity.
Put on a staircase of silver (and gold), which was very bright, for
descending back, by the same persons who took her up.
Coming down to a dark cell
No feeling of hunger or thirst in the black cell.
Although in recent years a new wave of near death experiences
has been stimulated by the publication of Dr. Raymond A Moody's
books Life After Life and Reflections on Life after Life in 1977,
persons in many cultures have related similar experiences over the
centuries. Frederick H. Holck (1978) has found numerous
examples of experiences similar to NDEs in religion and folklore.
He discovered four similarities between the new wave of NDEs
and previous reports:
The experience of leaving one's body accompanied by the sense of
having a 'spiritual ' body.
A meeting or reunion with departed friends and ancestors.
An experience with a light of dazzling brightness.
Discovering a dividing line or border between both worlds of
experience.
In the reports of Shanti Devi's narration we do not find any
mention of a 'meeting or reunion with departed friends and
ancestors', but we do come across her experience of leaving her
body in a vaporous form, and of crossing 'this' world and
ascending to the world 'beyond'. The experience of a 'light of
dazzling brightness' has been stressed unambiguously. Her
experience of 'Darkness' immediately after death may be
compared with the experience of a 'dark tunnel' narrated by some
subject having a close brush with death. Similarly, the return to the
'dark cell' before birth may signify entering the womb or the
mother.
Unfortunately, very little, if any, additional information is found in
the 561 cases suggestive of reincarnation in the files of Dr. Rawat,
for wider exposure and comparison. Perhaps we need to be more
vigilant when investigating cases suggestive of reincarnation.
Cases studied by Dr. Ian Stevenson
Dr. Ian Stevenson has found more recent cases of memories of an
intermediate state or intermission period between lives, which
include memories of an afterlife. In his Children who remember
previous lives(1987) he says about these: 'The recall of
intermediate terrestrial events occurs sporadically in the cases of
all cultures,' p. 172. And 'Memories of this type are extremely rare
in the cases of most cultures but frequently occur among the cases
of Birma and Thailand,' p. 286.
About the content of these memories he states: 'The event of
which the subject claims later to have knowledge is often the
funeral or some features of the burial of the deceased person
whose life he remembers,' p. 172. Some children claim that they
stayed close to the place where they died and mention trees in
which they would have dwelled. Some of them say they observed
relatives or friends of the former life during their earthly affairs or
followed their future mother to her house. In some of Stevenson's
cases, such as that of Veer Singh (Stevenson, 1974b), there is even
evidence of some type of communication after death with
members of the previous or future family through announcing and
departure dreams or apparitions, and even psychokinetic
interactions with the physical world reminiscent of certain
poltergeist accounts.
Here are a few examples of cases studied by Ian Stevenson that
remind us of NDEs:
A Thai boy, Chanai Choomalaiwong (Stevenson, 1997, p. 313),
recalled: 'I don't know who shot me, because he shot me from the
back. I was not conscious when I died. Afterwards though, I felt
my soul leaving the body. I could see myself lying on the ground.
My legs were still twitching. My blood was running on the road.'
An Indian girl, Sunita Khandelwal (Stevenson, 1997, p. 484),
stated: 'I went up. There was a baba (holy man) with a long beard.
They checked my record and said: 'Send her back.' There are some
rooms there. I have seen God's house. It's very nice. You do not
know everything that is there.' On another occasion Sunita
remarked: 'When I fell from a small height, I got a mark, but when
I was thrown down from the great height [meaning from God's
house] I got no mark.'
Another Indian girl, Santosh Sukla (Stevenson, 1997, p. 556), said
that after dying she was taken by four persons to a river and was
immersed in it. She cried, and then she was taken to a village
where there were many fruit trees and gardens. There was a person
there in yellow clothes sitting on a wooden bed. She sat down,
against a pillar and remained [for some time]. There were many
persons there, and they used to pick the fruit and eat them; but she
just watched these persons. Then she was asked if she would eat;
she accepted and they gave her some fruit. She remained there for
a year and was reborn.
A Turkish boy, Celal Kapan, described events immediately after
his death in the previous life, such as the transport of his body in
an ambulance and a doctor pronouncing him dead. He also
mentioned the washing of his dead body and its funeral.
(Stevenson, 1997, p. 1703).
Ma Par, a Burmese girl, claimed to recall a life as a British airman
whose plane crashed. She said that she had been buried together
with the pilot of the crashed airplane. After her death she thought
of her family in England and went to them. However, the 'King of
Death' did not permit her to stay there and she returned to the
country where she was killed, Burma. She went a second time to
England, but was again pulled back to Burma and 'ordered to be
reborn' (Stevenson, 1997, 1812).
Western cases
Stevenson has found relatively few Indian cases with memories of
an intermission period, and, as we mentioned above, this has also
been the experience of Dr. Rawat. However, in Western countries
such as Europe and the United States, cases might be more
common (Rivas, 2003a, 2003c).
Peter and Mary Harrison mention several cases in their book
Children that time forgot about British Cases of the Reincarnation
Type. For instance, Nicola Wheater recalled that she fell asleep
and died. After that, she saw God in Heaven. She described him as
being very beautiful though she did not recall the clothes he was
wearing. She added that he was much nicer than you can see on
religious pictures.
Dutch theologian Joanne Klink (1994, 2004) describes similar
cases in the Netherlands.
One example concerns an adopted 5-year-old Dutch girl who
claims she used to live in France. She told her grandmother: 'I was
with the angels in the sky and I looked down upon the earth. I saw
you in the garden and have chosen you as my grandmother. I flew
to the earth, walked into a house and looked around, ' pp.72-73.
One of us, Titus Rivas, also studied Dutch cases with intermission
memories (Rivas, 2000, 2003a, 2003c, 2004). Here are a few
examples.
Sietske, a Dutch girl, told her mother crying that she had dreamed
that she had sat at the back of a motorcycle and was run over by a
truck. She was put in a "bag" in the back of the car, and afterwards
she was put in a "box.' Finally she was buried in the "garden.'
Kees (pseudonym), a Dutch boy who was already studied by Dr.
Klink (1994, 2004), explained to his mother that when you die, an
angel comes to take you to God, who was pure 'goodness', the 'Big
Light' and 'humour.' It was very difficult to describe the other
world. It did not fit on any slide and could not be drawn with
crayons. He added that he had had his own spot near a beautiful
blue waterfall, which streamed over and under a flower-bed, and
there were wonderful fruits hanging from the trees nearby, which
tasted better than all the mars bars and candy of the world taken
together. Kees had not felt like reincarnating and resisted the
angels who tried to convince him that it would be for his own
good. They practically pushed him ' though they did so lovingly -
back to earth, as it was time for him to get to work again. The
angels told him: 'You know, when you go to earth, you will be
accompanied by assistants.' He would be protected after he
returned. The 'Big Light' told him: 'To make a good life is your
own responsibility.' (Rivas, 1998, 2000, 2003a).
Christina (pseudonym), a Dutch girl, recalled a life that ended in a
fire (Rivas, 2000, 2004). A lady in white told her that she had died
and took her through the burning house. Christina was shown
several possible mothers and asked to pick one of them. She chose
a woman with blond hair who was typing at an office. The lady
told her that in that case she had to wait a bit longer. The woman's
appearance corresponded to that of her mother years before she
got pregnant with Christina.
Pre-existence
Recently, Western researchers like Sarah Hinze and Elisabeth
Hallett and webmasters such as Michael and Toni Maguire have
realized that memories of an intermediate state may also occur
without conscious recollections of a previous life. Usually, such
memories are termed 'Prebirth Experiences' or 'memories of a
spiritual pre-existence.' Although some may question the value of
popular sources outside the peer-reviewed scholarly literature, we
should not overlook their heuristic value.
For instance, Toni Maguire claims that as an infant she recalled
'buildings and fields. I remembered guides and angels. I would lie
around and think about what had been arranged for my life and
what I had to do. I specifically recalled standing in front of a huge,
white book in heaven. The book was very thick with pages and all
the pages had gold trim around the edges. The book sat on a white,
marble bookstand or maybe I could describe it as a church pulpit.
Light shined out of the book and pulpit the same as it did out of
everything else I remembered seeing in heaven. The book lay
open as I approached and stood directly in front of it. I noticed the
pages were blank. I was taken to it by a guide who stood to my
left and gave me some directions about how to proceed. "Look
into the pages." my guide instructed. I then looked down at the
pages and the blank sheets began to display parts of my future life
on earth. I watched as if it was a movie being played for me. As
another life change was about to occur the page would turn again
and begin the next part of my life in movie form on that page. I
saw a little accident at my grandparents barn where I took a fall
and many other things.' (Spiritual Pre-Existence,
www.prebirthexperience.com).
Titus Rivas (2003c) and his colleague Anny Dirven found several
Dutch cases of a spiritual pre-existence. In the summer of 2003,
they were approached by Mrs. Henny van Sleeuwen from
Rosmalen with claimed prebirth memories as a child, which she
would still retain as an adult:
'I was in a big white room with a white bed. I was lying in the bed
and was very ill. I don't know what was wrong with me. I couldn't
move any part of my body except for my eyes. Next to my bed
there was a nun watching over me. She wore white clothing and a
nun's hood. Like the ones nuns used to wear. Everything was
white and bright. On the other side of my bed there was a door.
The door opened and a young woman or girl, about 18 years old,
looked inside and entered the room for a little while. She was
about 1,60 m tall and slim and she had dark blond curly hair, a
brown coat with large buttons and a small pair of spectacles. The
nun lifted up my head, so that I could look better at the woman,
and after doing so, I said: 'Yes, this is the woman I want to have
for my mum'.
Suddenly I was waiting somewhere and it took quite a long time
before I heard or saw anything. There was some kind of long
cylinder in front of me. I was ready to go to a new life, but I had to
wait to get permission, probably from God, though I'm not sure.
There was an all-embracing, invisible voice that could be felt as
some sort of energy. This voice was the 'boss'. It said: 'Are you
sure you can deal with it?' 'Yes, I can', and I nodded my head
confidently. Once more, the Voice asked me: 'Are you completely
certain?' Yes, I said, and nodded again. Nothing happened yet. A
few moments later, the Voice said: 'Are you absolutely sure that
you can deal with that?' I probably thought about what they
showed me of the life I'm having now, though I can't remember
what exactly I was shown. Again, I told him: 'Yes, I'm certain, I
can handle it'. I suppose that I knew what I had to face in this life,
though as a child I had already forgotten.
In this life, when I was about 7 years I told all this to my mother
and she said: 'I really had such a coat, camel-coloured with very
large buttons and long curly dark blond hair, and a pair of small
spectacles, when I was about 18.' So she recognized everything
and I normally couldn't have known any of this.'
Henny also told that her life has been very tough, especially
because of a handicapped father whose condition has been
deteriorating over the years and also because she lost her mother
at an early age.
Concluding remarks
One of the main trumps of survival research is that its data clearly
seem to be convergent (Stevenson (1987, 1997). Dr. Joanne Klink
(2004) formulates this as follows: 'It is very remarkable, that these
messages from children correspond with messages from persons
who had Near-Death Experiences, and were clinically dead,' p.30.
Along with investigations of deathbed visions, mediumistic
communications, and NDEs, the study of cases suggestive of
reincarnation and of .prebirth memories in general may also be
fruitful in understanding the life beyond. Therefore, we think it
will be worthwile to further develop investigations of memories of
an afterlife or pre-existence in young children.
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Acknowledgements
We wish to thank Esteban Rivas, Anny Dirven and Bruce Greyson
for their comments on the manuscript of this paper. We also thank
Don Morse for its publication.
... In fact, no délok account contains all elements of the dying process and the afterlife experience (2008); Epstein (1982Epstein ( , 1989 3 reports of near-death experiencers: Crookall (1960Crookall ( , 1970Crookall ( , 1978; Holden, Greyson, & James (2009); Moody (1975); Ring (1980); van Lommel (2010) 4 reports from allegedly deceased persons describing the dying and afterlife experiences through mediums: Bozzano (1930); Crookall (1974Crookall ( , 1978; Cummins (1965Cummins ( , 1967 reports of children who claim to remember having died in a previous life and having lived in a discarnate state between the previous and the present life. Examples can be found in Bowman (2003), Haraldsson (2000), Harrison & Harrison (1991), Playfair (2006); Rawat & Rivas (2005), Sharma & Tucker (2004), Stevenson (1975Stevenson ( , 1977Stevenson ( , 1983Stevenson ( , 1997, and Tucker (2006). For a brief overview not covering all of the details presented in Table 1, see Stevenson (2001, pp. ...
... Although one cannot claim that these observations conclusively prove human survival of bodily death, it is remarkable that all available data that point towards this direction do not support the literal 49-days interpretation. The observations made in context of survival research relate to apparitions and hauntings (Arcangel, 2005;Barrett, 1926;Flammarion, 1923;Fontana, 2004;Guggenheim & Guggenheim, 1995;Lambert, 1923;Mattiesen, 1936Mattiesen, -1939Osis & Haraldsson, 1997;Sidgwick, Johnson, Myers, Podmore, & Sidgwick, 1894;Wright, 2002), alleged communications of the deceased through mediums (Crookall, 1974(Crookall, , 1978Cummins, 1965Cummins, , 1967Fontana, 2004;Gauld, 1968;Mattiesen, 1936Mattiesen, -1939Roy, 2008), examinations of cases of the reincarnation type (Rawat & Rivas, 2005;Sharma & Tucker, 2004;Stevenson, 1974Stevenson, , 1997Stevenson, , 2001Tucker, 2006), and investigations of cases of the possession type (Crabtree, 1997;Rogo, 1987;Stevenson, Pasricha, & McClean-Rice, 1989). ...
... Others have reported entering a transcendental afterlife realm after having left their physical bodies. This realm contains several features likewise familiar from NDE accounts, such as meeting deceased friends, relatives, superior mystical beings, and, occasionally, experiencing a life review, and even passing through a tunnel into a light (Hassler, 2011, Playfair, 2006, Rawat & Rivas, 2005, Stevenson, 2001. For example, Shanti Devi, an Indian girl born in Delhi in 1926, talked of experiencing a "profound darkness" when she died in her purported previous life, followed by a dazzling light, entering a beautiful garden, meeting men in robes, and experiencing a life review (Rawat & Rivas, 2005). ...
... This realm contains several features likewise familiar from NDE accounts, such as meeting deceased friends, relatives, superior mystical beings, and, occasionally, experiencing a life review, and even passing through a tunnel into a light (Hassler, 2011, Playfair, 2006, Rawat & Rivas, 2005, Stevenson, 2001. For example, Shanti Devi, an Indian girl born in Delhi in 1926, talked of experiencing a "profound darkness" when she died in her purported previous life, followed by a dazzling light, entering a beautiful garden, meeting men in robes, and experiencing a life review (Rawat & Rivas, 2005). In general, the accounts of intermission periods in CORTs seem to follow the different cultural patterns (Hassler, 2011, Sharma & Tucker, 2004) also reported from NDEs (Kellehear, 2009). ...
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![Michael Nahm]()
Near-death experiences (NDEs) constitute a particular type of experience that occurs in near-death states and is familiar to many. Yet, there are other kinds of lesser-known experiences reported from near-death states that appear to form an interconnected continuum with NDEs. Because the relations between these different experiences have not received much attention in the more recent literature, this paper presents an introductory overview on them. The topics discussed include cases of unexplained body changes during near-death states, reciprocally confirmed out-of-body experiences and crisis apparitions, deathbed visions, (shared) NDEs and (shared) dreams, correspondences between the contents of NDEs, cases of the reincarnation type, and communications received via mediums; mists or shapes leaving the body of the dying, unexplained music heard at deathbeds, the re-emergence of mental clarity shortly before death in persons with mental disorders, and unusual memories of little children. Keywords: Near-death experiences (NDEs)—deathbed visions (DBVs)—cases of the reincarnation type (CORTs)—apparitions—terminal lucidity—mediumship
... Conscious experiences are often characterised as qualia, i.e. as entities that are irreducibly qualitative and subjective (Beloff, 1962;Popper & Eccles, 1977;Rivas, 2003a). This is relevant for the status of consciousness within the philosophy of mind. ...
... Regardless of the exact role of the brain in memory processes, it cannot be the location where metasubjective memories are stored. Also, as conceptual and episodical memories about conscious experiences are not located in the brain, brain death certainly does not automatically imply destruction of these memories (Rivas, 1999a(Rivas, , 2000(Rivas, , 2003dVan Lommel et al., 2001;Parnia et al., 2001;Stevenson, 1987Stevenson, , 1997Rawat & Rivas, 2005). Storage of metasubjective memory outside the brain during physical life implies that memories can be preserved without a specific physical pattern or 'substrate' to account for this. ...
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![Titus PM Rivas]()
Consciousness has irreducible qualitative and subjective aspects that cannot be represented in a physical, purely quantitative system. This implies that an exhaustive conceptual 'metasubjective' representation (i.e. a representation of the defining properties of conscious experiences) in the brain as an exclusively physical system is impossible. Similarly, individual memories of conscious experiences must contain information about qualitative and subjective aspects as well, since concepts of consciousness ultimately derive from such information abstracted from episodic memories. Therefore, the stored bases from which such individual memories of conscious experiences are reconstructed must also contain elements that cannot be represented in the brain. Both metasubjective concepts and bases of our individual memories of subjective experiences can only be stored in a personal non-physical memory linked to consciousness. There must be a personal mind or psyche that embraces consciousness, metasubjective concepts and bases of episodical memories of one's subjective experiences.
... It was recently also discussed by Braude (2003) with regard to CORTs. This approach implies judging the best CORTs taken together, as well as considering the best examples of other sources that point toward the possibility that consciousness can exist independently of the human brain or toward survival, such as NDEs (van Lommel, 2010), correspondences between NDEs and CORT intermission descriptions (Rawat & Rivas, 2005, Sharma & Tucker, 2004, cases of the possession type, hypnotic past-life regressions, hauntings and apparitions, mediumistic communications, and so forth (Braude, 2003, Griffi n, 1997, Mattiesen, 1936-1939, Roy, 1996. ...
Last year, this Journal (JSE 24(1), Spring 2010) contained a Commentary in which Jürgen Keil proposed an explanatory model for cases of the reincarnation type (CORTs), suggesting that most and perhaps all CORTs can better be fi tted into a framework of psi without the reincarnation or survival hypothesis. We present several features that should be considered in more detail before the pretension to explain all CORTs with the hypothesis outlined by Keil can be regarded as justifi ed. Among others, such features include possible modes of how memories of a previous life might be selected and dramatized into ostensible personal memories of children, departure dreams, CORTs announced via mediumistic communications, cases of the possession type, ostensible memories of intermission periods between the two lives in question, CORTs which involve twins, maternal impressions, crisis apparitions, and the argument of cumulative force. Furthermore, we add comments on possible relations of CORTs with the Lamarckian theory of evolution.
... It would seem far-fetched to believe they are correct about the accuracy of their imaged memories and at the same time radically misinterpret their origin. Similarly, memories of an intermission period between two incarnations suggest that there is a continuity of individual consciousness ranging from one physical life to another (Rawat & Rivas, 2005). However, empirical findings should primarily be interpreted within an ontological context rather than the other way around, because the categories used in our empirical theories ultimately depend on a more general, metaphysical analysis, which precedes empirical research. ...
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![Titus PM Rivas]()
Some Westerners associate the concept of reincarnation with the loss of personal identity. This is an oversimplification resulting from a strong influence of the Buddhist anatta-doctrine on contemporary Western spirituality. The notion of reincarnation can indeed be reconciled with a personalist philosophy. Spiritual personalists may benefit a lot from reincarnation research. Rather than giving up on their personalism, they could extend it to the notion of a truly personal evolution over several lives on earth.
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