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Reincarnation, soul connections, astrology, intuition, past live regressions, reiki

Kavita Chhibber - June 25, 2006

Is it all mumbo jumbo?

I had my first encounter with reincarnation when I was 11. My dad was sent for a 2 month military course, along with several other officers from different parts of the country. The course coincided with our summer vacation; the place where it was held was very scenic, so while the dads were away training, the moms and kids, all of similar age groups bonded.

One day I over heard my friend Amrita(name changed) fighting with her younger brother Anuj(name changed) and she said at the end-“ Go back to your fruit selling, you fruit seller’s son..go push your cart and say-3 tomatoes for a buck.” Anuj went crying to his mom. He was about 6 then. The next time Amrita teased her brother, many other kids ganged up on him, along with her until Amrita’s mother overheard the commotion and called all of us to her house along with our moms. She said that after her son was born, he remembered his past life as a fruit seller’s son and that he had died young after being bitten by a snake. Every one indulged him thinking it to be the creative imagination of a young child, until he started insisting he wanted to see his parents and tell them he was okay, and gave the address. When finally they gave in and went to the address, they did find the fruit seller, and the story of his death was accurate. Many years later when I reconnected with my friend in college, I was told as Anuj grew older his past life memory became hazy and he forgot everything.

My closest friend’s brother died 11 years ago in an accident days before he graduated from medical school-his mother crazed with grief was told by her best friend that her son appeared to them in a dream and said-tell mom to stop crying, I’m coming back . He was very attached to this lady’s daughter-in law, and they thought she was going to have a baby..unknown a few days later, my friend ,his sister found her self pregnant with her third child. When her son was born, he looked and still looks a spitting image of her brother-and has similar habits. I saw her getting emotional one day because he had certain traits that were just so much her brother’s. The boy is almost 11 , has never mentioned anything about any past lives, but perhaps there is an underlying comfort for his grandmother who still isn’t over her grief that may be, just maybe her son did come back.

Many times when new born babies cry or smile , many grandmothers say..oh he /she is seeing flashes from their past life.

I come from a family of doctors, scientists and military men, and logic reigns supreme there-while no one believes in astrology, my mom and all her siblings have highly developed intuitive ability. In my case, I have had dreams that have come true: as a teenager I would pretend to read people’s palms. My predictions would come true-what no one knew was that I didn’t know how to read palms. I would blurt out specific things to people and they would happen. When I was about 18, mom’s long time friend said her brother in law, a banker was this great astrologer-people came from all over the country to get their charts done. So would she like to get their family’s charts done? My folks politely told her they don’t believe in astrology or “horrorscopes” as they called them-but just to have fun we furnished the details. He predicted a few things about me, one of my brothers and an aunt-everything he predicted came true. He said I had been given divya drishti-the divine sight and must study astrology. It all seemed mumbo jumbo, but since I was always curious and open to trying out anything, I went to him.

I learnt the rudiments of astrology from him, and made charts in a haphazard way, while on the run with many journalistic assignments, making many mistakes in calculations-but eerily again my predictions would come true. Today I have realized that what was at play was not bookish knowledge but some sort of intuition that I really didn’t know much about. Now when I make predictions it is after a day of meditation over the chart and the person whose chart it is-I see things in red letters-why red letters-I haven’t the foggiest idea. And most of it is not bookish.

How often do we say to our dear friends/ loved ones-you must be one of my good karma, you must have been my sister/brother/mother/best friend in a previous life time;.and to those who aggravate us we say-I must owe him/her something from the past life. Is it our soul reminding us of some past connection?

My introduction to past life regressions, was through my physician who is also a dear friend. A few years ago she went through a divorce. Her second husband had friends who were going in for a past life group regression session with Dr Brian Weiss. The guy a skeptic was dragged along-strangely in the first session he went under hypnosis and no one else did-he saw his future wife, and a sari she was wearing-it had a peculiar design and color combination that remained etched in his memory. He met my friend a few months later, and she pulled out the same sari he described from her closet, when he mentioned it a few weeks later. She wore it the day they got married.

I have heard and read a lot about reiki, and whether it is auto suggestion or more, many people swear by its’ healing effects. I have had only one experience, and I remember being tired and overworked when some kind souls on the blog told me they were sending me reiki so I sleep well..and strangely I did and felt better-coincidence? I don’t know.

Another strange thing that happens in our family is that my grandmother appears in the dreams of her kids scattered in different cities at every significant family event- births, deaths, her own annual ceremony where she appears a couple of weeks before the date to remind her kids to make sure it is done on time. She was always the bossy one!

More than any of this, what continues to fascinate me is the subject of past life connections-good or bad. Even if we forget about everything else, and not give it the technical term of past life connections, why is it that when we meet people there are some we feel a deep, almost telepathic connection with, and they may be total strangers-and then there are family members who have lived with us forever and we feel nothing for them. I have always believed that nothing in life happens by accident. Every single person with whom I have had a connection, has been in my life to either teach me a lesson, show me the mirror, or be the positive, encouraging force that made me blossom. I think I have had more guardian angels in my life than I can count, who have smoothened the path, healed my spirit, or my hurts with a soothing balm of love and egged me on.

I have had vivid dreams that come true..I have a premonition something will happen and it does-I’ve been to places and felt I’ve been there before..

What is the scientific explanation for these things? I want very much to believe that we live many lives and that our loved ones wait for us for a reunion on the other side. For me the biggest shock of my life was the death of my maternal grandmother who was really my mother in more ways than one. She died relatively young .Many years have passed and I sense her presence in my life intuitively, but I always wished there was some ways we could communicate with our departed loved ones, and know they are in a good place so we could stop crying and hurting so badly.

A very famous singer who I interviewed, had lost his only son in a freak car accident. His wife and he were so devastated that she lost her voice, and he went into deep depression. They turned to mediums and his wife actually trained to become a psychic healer. He says communicating with his son whose voice he still hears after more than a decade since he died, has pulled them from the brink of self destruction.

In my personal experience whenever I have let my heart and my intuition guide me, I have always made the right decision. Whenever I have complicated my life by using my brain, I have messed up. But what is this part of me that works-heart, intuition, gut feel?

What about you? I’d love to hear personal stories of how you relate to all of the things I’ve mentioned above.
And if you don’t, why not? Why does it seem mumbo jumbo to you?

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Posted by Kavita Chhibber at June 25, 2006 02:17 PM

Comments

There is a scientist called Dr Ian Stevenson has done a lot of research on children who remember past lives. Over the course of 40 years he's collected over 2,500 cases. Some of the cases which are extraordinarily strong, when the young child has made 20 or more correct statements about the past life they claim to remember which is then 'matched'.

http://www.childpastlives.org/stevenson.htm

There are some extraordinary cases, and they have been very very well documented. Although there are still some aspects which don't quite fit, like the fact that the children rarely, if ever, remeber lives from very different countries and cultures. Stevenson himself says it isn't yet enough to prove reincarnation... but there is definately something going on.

A good book on the subject is called Old Souls, by the journalist Tom Shroder who accompanied him on some research trips. Also Stevenson's books, 20 Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation and Children Who Remeber Past Lives are recommended.

Well worth investigating.

Dear Kavita

I just remembered a couple of things that have had a lot of meaning for me, but I'm not sure how to interpret my sense of them. One is a strong feeling I've always had that the baby boom generation is filled with those who were killed during WWII. Another is a very vivid dream I had about struggling with a Nazi. In the dream I was a man, and so was the Nazi. The Nazi killed me in the dream. The Nazi in my dream was like a person I really knew who was my enemy in life. He tried to kill my career in real life, and came very close to doing it. The dream helped me understand his nature and protect myself. But it was so vivid, it was as if i was living it at that moment. Also, in the dream he was a German Nazi, while in real life he was Jewish and tried to hide it, going to the extremes of changing his surname, and dying his hair, eyebrows and eyelashes blond.

I've had lots of precognitive and synchronous experiences, and dreams that have made me believe I lived in Asia thousands of years ago, as a horse nomad woman, possibly a warrior.

I find this subject so interesting that it's hard to stop writing this comment, even though I wrote somethng about this several months ago, and I don't like to repeat myself on IB.

My most intriguing current bit of synchronicty is knowing what's up in a friend's life before being told. I also dream about what will happen each day, the night before. The dreams are so accurate that I've stopped resisting what they tell me. And now I'll stop ;).

love, Heather

Hi Kavita,

To me that "connection" is strong within when using intuition and gut feeling....It is a mind-body-soul thing...I think...

When my best friend died at a young age of 45 I just decided that I wanted to try a past life regression....now I think maybe to try and find the strength to deal with the whole loss...

All I know is WOW! Long story short, I was a dying Indian chief by the name of Oughwa. The whole leadership thing along with the dying part was surreel. The psychologist sitting next to me on the floor made it very secure. When I died I felt this unbelievable magnetisn pulling me toward a white light to the right as my head was left....I can still feel it as I think about it.

I wonder if it is just people who are more intuned to their bodies, self, soul and just more "in-touch" that are able to describe these things that go on with out being freaked out. It all used to scare me until I made a conscience decision to accept it and now...I welcome it.

Love, Joanie

I don't know the experiences, of past lives, you and I shared, Kavita, ;) but..;),
if this rock, we, live on, now,
is all, then I'm sueing God,
in the void, between atoms,or the discontiuity,
no way I would lose, that case,
but then again,
so would everybody,
for some unjustice or another,
and that makes you wonder, about, the intelligence, that must run, that 'intelligence',
in my little lifespan so far, that was a civil war, one or another, and my innerchild looking, amased, triggered, facinated, (good karma, n worries ;)God? if it hadn't been for deepak, and his lectures, I would only believe in Esoterics, because God, ..can be a sadistic SOB!,
the law of non judging, is a usefull tool, but somebody has, to, well, in criminal dutch law they call, him the intellectual perpetrator,
religions, use a different term,
anyway,
New Age, ah, is there anybody who felt worse after a Reiki healing? chakras, and all that other feel good vibrations?

I don't use the 'people on the other side'
metaphore, anymore, that just doesn't make sense,
like, in what stage of their lives or state, of emotions, would you 'encounter' them?

Coming back to spirituality,
vedanta, synchrodestiny, intuition and such..,

ah, heck,
have a beer,
Love, Passion!


Kavita:
Its nice that u brought out this topic for discussion. There are some questions that I have always tried to seek an answer for. Perhaps someone can address them for me here:

-Do two different people born at the same time and at the same place have the same (similar)destiny? Will they, if given the same start in life, enjoy the same degree of success in life?

- What exactly are Rahu & Ketu? I know that they r not planets or stars, so what exactly are they? Do they influence a person's nature, destiny, etc. ?

- Is it true that the lines on one's palms are constantly changing? If so, then how does the prediction made at one time hold good several years later?

- Is blackmagic like voodoo & the tantrik-mantrik stuff from India true?

There r many more questions haunting me. Perhaps they will all be answered now! :)

Thanks, Kavita

Love & warm regards!

Hi,

I have done past life regressions and excperienced memories and so on. But nothing that conclusively proves anything.

I was warned when I first visited India that I would have severe culture shock and the water would make me sick. Well I didn't and it didn't. I felt very much at home starting right when I got off the plane. I had never been to India before, didn't speak any of the languages.

When I visit other countries, they seem bizarre. And India is a very unique, different kind of place in this world. But no feeling od bizarreness arises.

It's evocative, but I'd have to say the jury's still out for me. I definitely believethere are realities beyond what our egos can grasp. It doesn't make sense that our animal brains can comprehend everything about our existence. A cat or dog can understand things according to their cat or dog nature, with all relevant limitations. We humans also have relevant limitations and can understand only according to our natures.

Who knows - maybe God lives acts and breathes through my body. Nevertheless, my mind can't grasp the reality of that kind of existence, even though perhaps I am being it.

Maybe we are re-incarnated, but the biological change of bodies soon overpowers our memories from previous lives.

And when someone accurately predicts what will be found across a distance of time/space, it is very evocative, but in truth we don't know why it happens.

So the jury's out for me.

I try to be open. One time I cancelled a trip to a nearby town because I was having visions of being in an auto accident. I just called the person and cancelled the appointment. I told him why. I have no idea what he thought about that. I sure felt better for not going, and the visions and anxiety subsided.

Now it doesn't prove anything, but both my behavior and my perceptions were way outof the envelope of what is normal for me. I drive all over the place all the time and Inever get worried about it. Never did before or after that episode either.

Maybe we don't have to understand it to use it. If you have an intuition, act on it.

It's aquestion for academics and researchers to worry about. I'd love it if we had "proof beyond a reasonable doubt." But we don't.

Even after decades of research by many different people all we have is a collection of anecdotes.

If science has taught us anything, it is to question our assumptions about the causes of effects we experience. Quite often the explanations turn out to be very different from what we were thinking when we first began our research.

Maybethere's some stuff about perception and the time/space fabric that we haven't unravelled yet that explains this stuff.

Meanwhile, if I have nightmares about aclose person getting hurt, I'm darn sure going to let them know about it. If I didn't, and something awful happened - I'd have to live with the knowing that I did not do what I could to help a loved one.

That alone is reason enough to act on our intuitions, even if we can't explain what caused them.

Nothing is real, and that about sums it up, everything else other than nothing is a fabrication.

It depends on the "state" of the universe you are in. In some states x is true and other's it is x is false. The state of the universe you are in can fluctuate from moment to moment.

Life itself is very bizzare.... who is it that spiders understand advanced geometry, and birds fly south?

Science doesn't understand as much as it pretends to.

As for Karma it depends on your State of Being, as for reincarnation, again it depends on your state of being. In one state yes, and another no.

There is a state of Being where one is everyone that has ever lived....

Kavita,

Great post! . . . I come from a traditional upbringing that values hard facts and science, but over the last 4 years, I have experienced some things that defy any logical explanation and to me, the only thing that matters is what I know to be true in my heart and what those experiences mean to me . . . It would be nice if science could validate mystical coincidences or intuitions or if I could convince others that those things were in alignment with some spiritual source, but what I try to focus on is what the experience means to me. . .
My only experience with past life regression is as followed. . . A couple years ago a friend paid for me to speak with a spiritual intuitive as a gift. I approached it somewhat skeptical, but was open to the experience. The intuitive told me that I had spent a past life with Jesus and even told me that I had witnessed his death. Again, I remained somewhat unconvinced. But, later that day I was watching a tribute to the late Johnny Cash and the first song I heard was Willie Nelson singing an old religious folk ballad covered by Johnny Cash . . . with the chorus "Were you there when they crucified my Lord." I tried to download the entire song from the Internet. But, after downloading two diffferent versions of the song, the only part of the song that I was able to successfully download and listen to on my computer was the chorus, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord," repeating over and over again. So, take away from that story whatever you want, but I thought you would at least enjoy it.
Blessings,
Matt

Hey Kavita,

I just want to tell one incident.
Once I was with my friends and one of my friend from "India" try to start this topic of reincarnation.topic was kinda weired for business management guys.Did I tell you the we did not even think about talking about it.

However.Just want to say that. I know most of racial stereotypes are not true.However,there must be reason behind steoreotypes about people who come from thirld world country.Nothing wrong about coming from third world country.
~~jD~~

Richard, that is an interesting point...how do spiders know how to weave such intricate webs....especially the really big ones!!!

Also, I have always been amazed at the "v" formation that birds fly in....

Any thoughts anyone?

Hi,
well this topic is really fascinating & i fully believe in this.I feel very strongly that each person we meet in our life has had some connection with us in our previous lives & comesin our present life to teach us certain lessons.Well! ain't life all about learning lessons in itself.I hv had many such experiences which confirm to my belief!

dear kavita,
the post was gr8 n i do believe in reincarnation & destiny though i haven't had any particular experience except for feeling this strong connection with a stranger, i have never spoken 2 him...just seen him a few times but have felt a completely different connection with him n i donno wat 2 make of it or how to explain it...sometimes i tend to feel stupid abt it coz ppl don't rly understand wat i mean n it does scare me a little as well...i donno if i've been readin 2 much in 2 it.
and i had a question i heard somewhere that when ppl are reincarnated physically everything changes except their eyes is that true??

This particular story hit me hard, and made me pause and wonder about the fact that in the three-odd months since I visited a couple of villages in Wardha and Yavatmal districts in Vidrabha trying to figure out why cotton farmers were killing themselves. I was terribly disturbed by what I saw and I wondered if India was seeing a wedge being driven through it - dividing it into the haves and have-nots. But because of the fact that I had gone of official work, I did not write about the cotton aspect - after all the blog doesn't pay me.
But since it has been three months, I just thought that I would write about what I feel is going wrong with India's cotton policy, a bit about Vidarbha and if there is any way we can salvage the situation. Almost 600 people have killed themselves and it seems that more and more farmers will continue to consume pesticide, if something is not not. Either that, or the government might as well admit that the life of a petty farmer in Vidarbha or Telengana really doesn't matter to them. And the mainstream English media should admit that the drug habits of the rich and famous make for better stories (and discuss hair straighteners at Press Conferences).
And I'm not bunging this line in to please my bosses, but one reason that I will stick with my current job is that they give me an opportunity to go visit parts of India that I would never have seen otherwise (for stories that most people would assume a publication such as ours would not do) and everytime I travel, this sickening feeling of helplessless hits me, and you realise that 60 years after independence our politicians haven't really done that much other than move to cities. OK, that was a very long sentence and would never get into print!
So what is happening in Vidarbha? The easy answer as the loony-lefties and environmentalists would say is that it is all Bt-Cotton's fault. Now, I won't get drawn into a discussion on Bt-Cotton and the fact that an American multinational is despoiling our environmental heritage by introducing genetically altered seeds. The fact of the matter is that in a time of immense population pressures - genetically modifying crops might be the only way forward. Loony environmentalists in Europe can argue otherwise, but they do not face the pressures that the land in India has to. I'm not advocating a free-for-all over here, no, thats just wrong! But, and no insult to anybody, basically its either genetically modified foods or forced sterilisation. Otherwise we'll hear of far more cases of malnutrition. And if you want your food prices to stay in check that is really a choice you have to make.
But that said - Monsanto in collaboration with a Maharashtra government PSU - Mahyco - sells Bt-Cotton in India. Now, one thing that did go disasterously wrong - as usual - was the rampant corruption in the organisation. Mansanto-Mahyco did not check the sale of illegitimate seeds across Vidarbha. Why did this happen? Two reasons. One, it is quite obvious that Monsanto charges a hand and a leg for its seeds - Rs 1300 per 450gram packet - they justified the price saying that it needs to be rewarded for its research yada, yada, but the fact is that they charge less for these seeds almost everywhere else in the world. Maybe what the company was trying to tell us is that it had to pay out a lot of money to politicians to get the seeds approved, so they need to make their money back - by the way the Union Agriculture Ministry did clear sales of the seeds. You need two-three packets of seeds per acre. Now to control rampant abuse, Monsanto sprayed Bt-Cotton seeds blue.
But really, what does to take to paint seeds blue. I can do that. So that is what unscrupulous characters in Vidarbha did (this did not happen across the border in Telengana - because seed right holders protected their investment). These folks obviously were local political leaders, or so I was told. Now the 'fake' un-altered seeds were sold for Rs 900 a pack, halfway between the price of altered seeds and actual Bt seeds. Farmers, who really didn't know better, and who though they could save a few bucks bought into it, but even 900 bucks is a lot of money. Especially when you consider that Bollworms went ahead and ate up their crop anyway!
Problem two comes from Monsanto-Mahyco. You see, while we sit here and complain about the misleading adverts placed by a certain dubious B-School, even the Ponytail would be put to shame by some of the advertising at district level newspapers. They promise the moon, and unlike cynicals f***** like some us, village people are rather trusting. Sadly. The promises included the fact that farmers would not need to use pesticide at all (and pesticide at Rs 5000 plus a litre is very expensive) and would get much increased yields of between 8-10 quinatls per acre instead of the 2-3 quintals they got from regular seeds. But the fine print, and there was fine print, said that they 'might' need to spray their crops and the increased yield yields would only happen if certain conditions were fulfilled - such as more intense watering.
Then, in Vidarbha, nature dealt a cruel blow, and this is important. There is a disease that afflicts cotton called lalya, which is a reddening of the leaves. This happens during unseasonal rain, which is what happened in late 2005. Now, since the fine print was in font-size one (a trick Monsanto-Mahyco picked up from Ponytail it seems) and warned famers to take special care of the crops in the event of unseasonal rain, our farmers who thought that Bt-Cotton was a superseed, it didn't need any special care. And the plants literally withered away and died.
So instead of getting double their yield, they got they got a similar yield if they actually used Bt-Cotton and worse if they used the fake seeds. Bt-Cotton actually did deliver increased yields in Telengana (where it must be pointed out the farmers were more literate) but then came another cruel blow. Cotton is priced according to the staple length, which the length of the raw cotton fibre. Bt-Cotton delivered a very poor length fibre (and we're talking a difference of millimeters, but it does count) which got a very poor price. So at the end of the day, farmers in Vidarbha actually lost money on the crop.
Of course, cloth procuders in India couldn't quite live with poor staple length cotton. So they imported bales and more bales of cotton. From the US. Where the US government pays their farmers nice subsidies (over and above everything else). Now, one can't force Indian cloth producers to buy inferior cotton, and the cloth industry is a major export revenue gererator so some farmers demand of increasing excise becomes a "Robbing Peter to Pay Paul" exercise - even though good ol' Chiddu is a master of that art.
So what is the solution? I don't know really. The land in Vidarbha is too poor to support too many other crops - not even maize grows here - but with a little more emphasis on irrigation that might be possible (as has happened in Telengana). Secondly, seed development by indigenous organisations should be encouraged, also there should be an organisaed crackdown on illegal seeds. And the third part - financing.
Now, this is tricky, while everybody blames money-lenders for being the worst part of the problem, not a single farmer actually cursed them. Why? Because banks don't give them any money. Once a farmer, or any member of a farming family defaults, no bank will give them loans, what do these guys do, they go to money-lenders. They also told me that money-lenders don't charge really usurious rates - because it is in their interest that the farmers stay afloat (barely). In fact the number I heard was bees-pachess takka (20-25%), that is better than those thieves running credit-card operations in India.
Also banks are not flexible with repayments - what do I mean here - farmers unlike salaried professionals do not have steady income, a point farmers told me, money-lenders understand. This means that some years they earn massive amounts of money, some years the monsoons fail and they get rogered. Now, I don't want to condone money-lenders, but when people say that they're nicer than the State Bank of India, there obviously is a problem. This can easily be addressed, the problem is that a lot of the red-tape around government-owned banks will need to go and I really feel that it will be a private bank that will address the issue first.
Solution, you can have flexi-payments (at higher interest rates) for middle-class people, why not for farmers? If you do that, they will not default in case the crops fail one year, banks should keep metereologists in their staff who should warn farmers of weather conditions (and keep the bank upto speed also) thus altering their lending and collection plans accordingly. If a bad monsoon is predicted, banks should go easy on loans and not start distributing motorcycle loans to every farmer who walks in with a '816' (the land record document - I think that is the number correct me if I'm wrong).
The solution is not to give one lakh rupees to farmers who kill themselves. The Indian Penal Code does not condone suicide, so why does the government of Maharashtra. The one lakh rupees that is given to the widow (and while I think it is charitable), give the money to the people who are living, not the people who die. Because if you give people a financial motive to kill themselves, after a few drinks, what are a couple of pegs of pesticide (and from what I saw, highly poisonous pesticides are just lying around in some of the huts). What you will create is a self-perpetuating culture of suicide. No wait, they already have.
Now, this is just the mad-cap suggestion of a 27-year old journalist, but one who has seen the utter devastation of the area. One who has seen how suicides of the primary earner can crush a family. Not much, just a few thousand bucks (ten thousand in some cases - sums that were petty cash for Rahul Mahajan), less than most of our monthly salaries, but enough for people to kill themselves.
Anyway, this has been a long rant, I'm not saying we can solve the problem overnight, but there has been no political will at all to resolve the problem (and I do feel that dividing Maharashtra will not work, it will create more bureaucracy). Our politicians are addicted to cities and their constituents illiteracy and lack of access to information. All they want is their white powder and their nice cars.
The picture is of a village called Bhadumri in Yavatmal district. Three farmers had committed suicide in this village to cover their losses (the biggest loss being Rs 35,000 - this while industrialists get away with hundreds of crores) and so that their families could get the one lakh compensation. The village had no primary health centre, but did have a primary school and it was around 150km south of Nagpur about 30km off NH-7. But, let me assure you of one thing it was desperately poor - not as bad as village in eastern UP or Bihar, but comparted to western Maharashtra (where Sharad Pawar, incidentally Union Agriculture Minister diverts his sugar money and Mumbai's taxes) this was pathetic. Oh, and those electricity lines barely carry any power, they only have power at best for six hours a day.

There are too many vivid documentations of all these being positive effects.

I remember as a teen, watching a movie called: The Reincarnation of Peter Proud. Based on facts. Technically, he died the same way each time-murdered by drowning.

What makes it intriguing though; is that he has pre-cognitions/memory-flashbacks. Of course, always too late to prevent his demise....

I read the book first, then the movie was released. The book is a bit better-I'd love to see a remake though. Michael Sarazin played Peter Proud.

I have had deeper dreams where I am in old England. I have had dreams of being in India, New York, as a servant, and also as reagal royal.

I often wondered if it were only fragments of stories I've watched on tv or read in a book?

I believe in reincarnation though.... I believe in people having the pre-cognitive ability to sense someone's impending death... to the day.

I believe reiki works!! Iv'e had too many blessings of reiki to ever doubt the power of the sender...

I often have intuitions so strong; they cannot be discounted.

Astrology is a great guide, to getting to know one's inner markings. How can we deny the knowledge of the ancient stars and moons?

I believe in the powerful force of soul-connecting. Some call it love/bonding. I see it more of finding the other significant half of ourSelve's.

North

Mumbo Jumbo...nah, whatever is needed to grow/learn/remember is experienced. Its all up to the creator. Mass consciousness is experienced all the time. It is what is needed until it is not.

Dear Kavita,
One thing I can say for sure is that it's not ALL mumbo-jumbo. Everyone who has ever lived on this planet must have experienced incidents involving pre-cognition, clairvoyance, telepathy, deja-vu, prophetic dreams, correct astro predictions etc. etc. at least at some point in their lives.

But my views on all these subjects specially re-incarnation, barring astrology, are quite similar to Yogi-one's. All we have are some anecdotes to go by and nothing which can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Until I experience something about re-incarnation myself, I will remain a skeptic. Although the theory of re-incarnation is the only answer that can be given to pacify people who have done no bad karma in this lifetime but are still hounded by bad luck. Or vice-versa, why we see so many people who might not have done a single good deed in this life, but still enjoy the comforts fit for kings/queens. They must be reaping the Karma of a previous lifetime. Sounds good in theory.....but it's only a theory.

I left out Astrology from the list of subjects mentioned here because I've experienced that myself. If one has studied it properly and has observed the co-relation between the movement of the celestial bodies and the fate of humans, then a good astrologer can pinpoint the cause and effect and use it effectively for making predictions.

Cheers!
Navin

Kavita, thank you for a nice blog post. I am a Reiki master, I love Reiki, use it in so many ways. Before I start cooking, I clean the kitchen well. Then I put Chokurei symbols in the air. Everything I cook, gets blessed by Reiki. When I am travelling, I bless the Aircraft with Reiki. I use a lot of Reiki and OM.

I am a believer in astrology. I love to read my chart, and see what predictions are manifesting.

I love psychics. I was listening to an audio tape of a session done in 1999, the other day,it predicted so many things that are happening as I write this.

I am 100% believer in reincarnation, past life regression etc.

Thank you Kavita. May I bless you?? Geeta.

Dearest Geeta,
I do believe we have met before!
I love you so much,
~ Kate

Kate, angel, where have you been? We have missed you. I am so glad to see you here on this thread. Do you think we have known each other in other life times? I have a feeling we all know each other well on the other side. What do you think? We are all like peas in a pod. Great seeing you here. Take care. God bless.

Thanks for your comments every one. Jay thank you for the book recommendations. I’ll pick up a copy and check out the website soon. It’s interesting that you mentioned that the children seldom remembered lives from other countries. My brother on the contrary was able to recollect several life times in various eras in various countries. It raises an interesting question, if the kids themselves indulged in selective remembrance, or whether their surroundings in a particular country made the memories more intense since the environment was culturally more conducive.

Heather and Joanie, very interesting memories. Heather will you please refresh my memory about what you shared on another post. I don’t think anyone would mind you repeating it..its just more time consuming to hunt that down.

Marek, interesting thoughts-indeed in what state would one encounter “ them”? It seems usually” they are happier on the other side. I also think that we try but very seldom can we be totally nonjudgmental. Eventually as Navin said, seeing is believing. My experience like Navin has been as an astrologer, and astrology can be a highly fine tuned tool for accuracy if the astrologer can combine learning with a good intuition. I have premonitions, and dreams that also come true. Thanks Navin.

My only experience with mediums has been with David Hall giving me an impromptu reading while doing his interview and he was eerily right on the money about some stuff. He has written a really interesting article on reincarnation on my site. I hope all of you will check it out. I keep an open mind about things other than astrology, and have only benefited from it. I think there is something in all of the elements that go under the umbrella of psychic phenomenon, but it eventually boils down to basing our faith on what we have experienced.
Swear aam not spiritual-Rahu and Ketu are the nodes of the Moon and called shadowy planets by some astrologers. There is a divided opinion about their influence, but most astrologers feel that they create the effects of the planets they are joined with. I can go into details about it but for most people who don’t understand the intricacies of astrology,it will be futile to understand what I’m writing, but let me just say that in layman’s term their influence good or bad is powerful enough for them to be given a planet’s status. A very powerful yoga called the Kalasarpa yoga is created by Rahu and Ketu, and can have huge influences on the person’s chart. India’s Prime Minister Nehru had it in his chart.

I have met only two palmists in my life who were worth anything. The one who astounded me said that the major lines remain the same but many subsidiary lines evolve. He had a pretty scientific way of analyzing the palm and split the lines by years. Pretty much everything he told me almost 4 years ago have happened down to the dates.

Tantra is very maligned in the west. Its an offshoot of Atharva veda and one of the most well known tantra experts I met in Atlanta said that its like a gun-in the right hands it protects, in the wrong hands it destroys. He actually cures different kind of ailments through tantric practices and mantras. I have asked him to do some features for my emag and so hopefully you will be reading about it soon. Many astrolgers say that people born in the same city, in the same year, day and month and the same time will have the same destiny, but a famous astrologer krishnamurthi, devised a very finely tuned way of interpreting charts and said that even identical twins 2 minutes apart cannot have the same destiny, though they may have some similar experiences. I have not met two people who had these stats so cant say for sure. I have seen however that often members of the same family have certain major planets and their times aligned, so they go through similar experiences at the same time, like death of a parent.

Thanks Yogi-one-your post made interesting reading.
Matt that was really intriguing, to be told you were there with Jesus when he died and then to be able to only download that part of the song. Richard, Fate and Radhika, thanks for your comments. Fate I don’t know about the eyes remaining the same..if I came back as a Chinese, I doubt my eyes would remain the same.

North there is a Bollywood movie called Karz which is also a remake of Peter Proud-you’ll have fun watching it if you can get ahold of it..since it has some rocking songs! Thanks Akasha and Geeta. Geeta you don’t have to ask me if you can bless me. I consider myself fortunate that I’m in a position to get the blessings of one of the sweetest people on intent. Hi Kate..your admirer Keith(now if I spoke your name Kate with a full mouth-it will sound like Keith..strange connectins at play here eh!) has been writing some stellar stuff in your honor! Past soul connections?!

What happened to Type-Key? Kidnapped? It was meant to be. Has it happened before? Something is rather strange.

"Isn't Life srange? A word we arrange with no thought or care, maker of despair.
Each breath that we breathe, with Love we conceive what makes us as One!" Moody Blues

Kavita, This is a topic one has to sink one's teeth into, then chew, chew, chew! Or grok, for Heinlein fans.

I've yet to swallow it, but it tastes very interesting. From the Big Bang point of view, of course, we've all come from the same place. Pantheists can rest assured "the goods" are in the bag.

Creationists are saying hold on...more "goods" are in store for The God In The Highest is not done creating matter from out of now-here! Why must we think he cannot produce more souls? Fresh and new baby souls, every day? Sorta where I Am right now?

Predictions? To Me2, it only seems "fair and just" that God, on His Heavenly Cloud, should have to ride by "the seat of his pants" like the rest of us, made in His image.

Except we are dragged whilst He floats along.

I've had to wonder, coming from the faith of my forefathers, if this anthropomorphological God
doesn't "make" this shit up as we go along. Seeins',"It's only make-believe if you can make them believe It."

I believe, I believe, I believe, God only works

in the NOW! It is heavenly to forgive, it is the

perogitive of The Divine to forget...right? If

He had a Plan, He could have forgotten it for "good reason".

Maybe He re-members It just in Time...

between every moment, Now! And tidy's up a bit,

then Time keeps on a-rollin' and on track.

.

Between moments, there is no Time to be bored!

Between moments, there is no Space to get tight.

Between moments, there is no Up to get Down off.

Between moments, there is no Low from which to get High.

Between moments, is when He tells me what to speak.

Thank God for Now, because this is over!

Kavita:

I was preparing for my MBA exams when my closest friend's father had a heart attack and was in the hospital. He was the lone guy along with his Mom, so I helped him out and would keep vigil at the hospital and take turns for that with him.

One day, I was tired and I had told him that I would not be able to come as I was to go to a common friend's house. Before I went I lied down on the bed - and was in the state of half awake-half asleep.

Years back I was watching an interview of the famous Hindi poet Neeraj. He said that once he had gone to a village and while he was walking around the curve of a house he banged into an old lady and she fell down. He picked her up, asked for forgiveness and touched her feet after which she blessed him and went on into a nearby house. As soon as she entered, cries started from that house. Intrigued he went into that house. He found that the man of the house had just died. He looked for the lady and asked people but could find no trace of her. He smiled in that interview and remarked "Maybe that day Death had blessed me!"

I had made an image of that "old lady" as I listened to that interview.. like all would.

So while in that state years later - no thought of that interview in mind - I saw the hospital room with my friend's father. And I saw that lady enter the house. I asked her "Is he going to go now". She said "No my son his breath will stop slowly and it will take at least half an hour.. then he will go".

Disturbed, I got up and rushed out of the house. It was around 10.30 am. I reached my friend's (common friend) house at 11 am. And I had been there 10-15 minutes and our friend called. His father was no more. He had breathing difficulty.. they gave him Oxygen.. and in half an hour he was gone.

I never told him this experience as somewhere I felt I was responsible for it all! It took me years to get over it. I still havent told him.

I am not sure what that was. But it was very disturbing!

I guess, its just that creation in its entirety exists at various levels of consciousness... some of us - like you - can function at different levels of consciousness at more times.

Cheers,
Desh
Drishtikone.com

Thanks Kavita... I'll keep my eyes open for that film.

North

Dear Kavita,

"I have had vivid dreams that come true..I have a premonition something will happen and it does-I’ve been to places and felt I’ve been there before.."

This happens with me too and i've never been able to explain it to anyone.I see dreams about places i've never been and then i visit that place.I saw a dream almost 2 years back and i recently visited India and i saw same people...same situation.I find that very strange.

There is a wonderful book written by two hospice nurses,that book deals with dying.What people see when they die.I forgot the exact name of the author and the book DUH!!!!I heard about the book in a hospice seminar.I'll find out about the book.It was "gifts of love" (my guess)

My uncle comitted suicide last year(5 may) My uncle's sister (my aunt) has a dream on the day my uncle died that my deceased aunt(uncle's wife who died on 15 april) is consoling everyone and my Uncle's dead body is wrapped in a shroud.

My bua saw another dream the day my one uncle ,2 aunts and 2 cousin died that she is in a forest and there are 5 butterflies and when she looked closer in her dream,she saw that butterflies has a face of all the people who died...

I don't know if the dream was a coincidence.
Astrology is a very deep science but as kavita has mentioned many people claim to be an astrologer but they don't have true knowledge.

I would be very afraid to know about my future.The only thing i ever wanted to know was how many children i'll have...

Dear Kavita,
It's true. Keith is a wonderful writer, he is so fun to read.
And yes,
I am
drawn to him
:)
Keith,
I am drawn to you.
Sketch me.
~ Kate

Dear Desh and Andaleeb,
Thank you for the sharing. I am very moved by both your stories.
With love,
~ Kate

p.s.
I have one to share about my grandmother.
Will write about this special moment of her appearing to me, soon.
For now,
sweet dreams!

Kavita, That was very kind of you. My stuff, lately...unlike Me2 alone, Now Me2 is Love
inspired! I do not want to lose this feeling,
ever again. I will care for it like a newborn babe.

For Now, Kate is the object of my affection.
I know her not. She seems to know me, as angels
are wont to do.

Kate says she can transform this surreal pull,
for me, as well as any man. It remains a dream.
The challenge is to manifest my Love's desire.
Flesh and blood in ex-change for misty visions.
But, The Lord is my shepard, I shall not want,
too badly. His/Her will, not mine. I do not know what I need or what is the best for me.
Does Kate? I wonder...

Please excuse me for moving away from the "subject".

Your predictions should be written down. Mail
them to yourself for future evidence of it's truth. How many will say, "K & K, an item!"?

See ya!

.

Kate, No time to speak. You are permitted to continue to pull my strings and push my buttons.
I'm lighting up, flashing everyone! Thru my clothes, of course.

Thank you, Princess! Whoever you are and wherever
you may be, I send my Love! Keith

Interesting.

I have no experience of reincarnation but to die and boomerang would be one heck of a boomerang.

Astrology is not really a documented science though I have come across very educated and well qualified people who believe in it. I neither disbelieve nor believe it. There was an article by India's topmost astrologers in a well known magazine just before Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. Since there was not even a hint of the impending doom in that article, astrology could be taken with a pinch of salt. Many traders do stock market transactions after looking at their horoscopes.

As for intution even Segmund Freud said that for major decisions of one's life, intution was way above intellect.

Thanks Kate,and one thing more my aunt was 42 yrs old and she was told by an astrologer that she will die young.So she would buy jewellery for her daughter so at the time of my cousin's wedding if my aunt is not there then at least she had bought jewellery for her.Well,my cousin and aunt died together in the crash.

Desh,
Your story is very unsettling.I'm sure you must've been disturbed about it.Well,all i can say it is not your fault...

Hi Kavita,

Fascinating blog and account.

As you know, Kristin and I have had our fair share of experiences with our youngest son Joshua, and Kristin has written about that pretty extensively.

However there were odd things with my other children as well. My oldest son feared water from birth. I always thought this odd, but from the first bath we gave him he screamed bloody murder...every bath until he was about 5 years old. He finally stopped being afraid of water when we were at a friends pool. My friend had had too much to drink and did not know that Scottie feared the water. He grabbed him and dove with him to the bottom of the pool. The kid shot to the surface as I raced to grab him and he almost ran across the water into my arms. He was terrified, but ever since that time he's been fine with water. Of course this could mean anything, but it is certainly interesting.

My youngest daughter Hannah when she first started to speak (she could talk very early), spoke with a German accent. She'd use 'v' sounds in place of 'w' and used "mein" in place of "my" when discussing ownership. This in and of itself was not that unusual considering she was so little. However, we live close to a small airport and anytime a prop-type plain passed over, she would run screaming into the bushes along the side of the yard.

Past lives, reincarnation, non-local communication...who knows? Could be all of those things or none of them. WHatever it is, it is valuable to keep an open mind as our senses and perceptions are so limited and the amount of information that they give us is so tiny, that literally anything and everything is possible.

Peace,
Scott.

Hi ,

I am very happy to find this blog , I feel I got some pointer to whatver is going on my head.
I get the dreams which happen , I visit places which already come to my dreams. Sometimes my eyes tell me whats going to happen.. this is all strange. There is no one in our home who is connected to astrologers or reincarniation or something ... I dont even share with anyone as am afraid they dont take it seriously.
I feel that there is another and deeper part of brain which is linked to immortal powers...and we human beings everythign relate to science.. There are many things in the world where science is failed to prove..
I really want to explore more in this area..if someone could suggest me ways where I can gain knowledge its great.

Dear Sam,
Awesome!!!
I suggest reading Zhuan Falun
which is considered a very high cultivation system for gaining knowledge of oneself and bringing one closer to ones own innate super"Natural" powers
For this very reason, the government of China is persecuting anybody who practices this in china , they are doing many bad things to these practitioners because simply, this method of practice is one of the highest for people living in ordinary society . In a nut shell, the practice directly targets ones Heart


Thanks for the awesome post Kavita!!

i believe the only way anything of what you mentioned could be called mumbo jumbo is if these matters are looked into with a closed mind

with an open mind, they each fit in perfectly with our nature :)

Deaer Kavita

Back in the 30 Nov 2005 Open Thread, I wrote to Mallika and Navin about my experiences in more detail. I'll paste part of it here:

Astrological prediction: I had a chart done by computer for my younger sister, when she was small. It predicted some disastrous things for her. My having read it had no effect on her life, directly or otherwise, because I was already out of the house, and interacted with her only at holiday times, etc. The things predicted for her when she was six years old did come to happen, starting when she was seventeen.

I've had several premonitions, ESP and dreams come true: Knowing something was incredibly wrong about my son when someone caring for my son lost him; knowing a fire would happen weeks before our apartment building went up in flames; dreams of startling intensity before the first shuttle disaster and 9/11. I often wake very early in the morning remembering dreams that prefigure the day. People trying to scam me, or others near me, are often surprised because I always see what they're up to, via a dream, and I'm able to thwarte them gently so that me and mine survive the attempt to hurt us.

I normally have completely negative "luck" where randomness exists, like in games of chance or gambling, but sometimes there are exceptions -- not regarding my winning anything material, but regarding chance itself. For a few years I predicted the winners of the Triple Crown horse races in the US, knowing nothing about the horses, just based on a sense of something about the horses' names. One summer my family and I were lying around on the grass, playing a dice game called Yahtzee, that involves predicting how a single die will roll. I was losing round after round. I had done a Zen retreat about a year prior, and had a notion that if I got into a meditative state, I might be able to sense how the die would roll, and do better in the game. So I went into a bit of a trance, and ended up winning with a perfect game -- 100% perfect predictions. I was totally excited, and tried again, and failed totally. I was able to see that I was distracted by the thought of gain -- winning the game -- which broke my meditation. So I tried a third time, and was pretty good but not perfect, as I was still too much in the world with thoughts of winning.

I had a school friend whose father was buried alive in a mass grave during the holocaust, managing to get out of the grave only after several days/nights. The strain of the experience changed his brain's capabilities so that he had an accurate gift of ESP. He was able to help support his family by giving demonstrations. He and his family were very ordinary otherwise, and lived in our community for decades.

I do about 30% of my work either sleeping or looking as if I'm doing something other than working, like replying to this thread now. My brain's capability to keep working in unconscious mode is my most consistent Creative Space, and problem-solving space, too. When I have a serious problem at work, I'll take papers associated with the issue home with me overnight, or over the weekend. When I return to work, I have a solution to the problem, though I usually don't even unpack the papers from my bag. Carrying the papers home and back seems to keep my brain connected with the issue very strongly, and it never fails that my brain produces a solution while I'm taking care of the personal side of my life, or sleeping. Sometimes, when the problem is very serious, I get very serious attacks of guilt at not looking at the stuff I've brought home and/or logging in to work from home. Yet I always resist, quite stubbornly, to look at the stuff or work on the issue. And always, always, when I return to work, a solution exists. It's creative and otherworldly. I can't claim it's anything special to me. I've learned to trust my mind.

About otherworldiness, creativity, meditation and prayer: I once did a 24-hour Zen retreat. My life was completely "in the zone" for the next six months (I felt as if I was walking on water). Prayer works the same way for me, for about a day per prayer session. In the session, I need to feel as if I've contacted what I think of as God in some way, and I need to give my will up to God. When I do this, my life tracks well for a day or so. When my Mom was approaching the end of her life, she lost someone very dear to her, and she stopped eating completely. I went to church in the middle of a business day, and prayed for her both in church and in the churchyard, for about an hour altogether. I called my Dad from the churchyard to let him know that I'd been thinking of him and her, and he told me she'd just started to eat. I experience the most difficulty trusting myself in prayer at those times when I'm praying for others, because I'm afraid of asking for something that won't be granted.

I believe, based on my own experiences, that we are connected with everything, but that our conscious selves put up barriers that prevent us from being aware of our interconnections most of the time, and that what we experience and label as otherworldiness and creativity are those times when the barriers are lowered in part, for a while.

Hello Kavita,
It is not all mumbo, jumbo but it is not real either. After all we are caught in the illusory world of this body/mind.

The great sage Ramana Maharshi had this to say:

"On whatever plane the mind happens to act, it creates a body for itself; in the physical world a physical body and in the dream world a dream body which becomes wet with dream rain and sick with dream disease. After death of the physical body, the mind remains inactive for some time, as in dreamless sleep when it remains worldless and therefore bodiless. But soon it becomes active again in a new world and a new body - the astral - till it assumes another body in what is called a 'rebirth', But the jnani, the Self-realised man, whose mind has already ceased to act, remains unaffected by death. The mind of the jnani has ceased to exist; it has dropped never to rise again to cause births and deaths. The chain of illusions has snapped forever for him.
It should now be clear that there is neither real birth, nor real death. It is the mind which creates and maintains the illusion of reality in this process, till it is destroyed by Self-realization."

So as interesting as this all is, I think Maharshi would implore us to the path of self-inquiry. To ask ourselves, "Who am I?", to break this chain of births and deaths.

Thanks for your comments every one. Keith I always enjoy reading your posts across the blog whenever I have extra time. To meet across cyber space and feel this connected to someone is the reason why certain things cannot be explained. I met my best friend online when I accidentally stumbled upon his website and signed his guestbook. He said he was about to pull the website down and got distracted by something else and did it two months later. I’m very sure I’ve known him and some of my other close friends in other lives…it’s a feeling of deep familiarity and how every thing fits like a glove, with all these close friends, how we read each other so well, even when we are not genetically related.
Kate is a lovely lady-generous, compassionate and very kind, not to say beautiful as well. I know she will only enhance your life with her presence in it-be it cyber or real space (eventually I hope!) All the best.

Andaleeb, Heather and Desh, your shared memories bring back so many of my own..looking at astronaut Kalpana Chawla’s face in a big article prior to the shuttle launch and a horrible sinking feeling as I blurted out to my friend-she isn’t coming back..of dreaming of every single major airline crash, for about 6 years, until one friend said exasperatedly-can’t you dream of lotto numbers or something nice? The dreams stopped occurring just as mysteriously as they began. Premonition my uncle who I adored was sick and dying when no one had told me and he was. Dreaming of the gender of all my close friend’s children, even when they would deliver and it coming true.

I too believe in the power of prayer and feel a connection that is very intense and deep when I find some quiet time to pray. Astrology is a pretty accurate tool in the right hands and I call it a science of tendencies which guides you to live your life to the best of your abilities, though sadly I haven’t been able to change certain negative things even after warning people several years in advance about something that was about to happen. The tantra expert who is also an astrologer insists that you cannot change your destiny, but through his tantric work, he can only help the person who is going through a bad cycle, bear the burden more comfortably, until his good cycle comes around.

Personally I feel, and this is after seeing the experiences of others around me and my own, that nothing happens as I said by accident and eventually we all end up where we are destined to be. Circumstances are created , doors open and shut accordingly. I had always wanted to be a physician, but my horoscope said I will be a writer…my grandmother had had it made at the time of my birth. Under strange circumstances, I ended taking liberal art courses, my brother who saw the potential pushed me towards writing and I realized that it was my true passion. Many years later after my grandmother had passed away, my sister and I were grown up, and I found the charts and saw what was written. It also said my sister would be an artist, and she too, at the last minute gave up her seat in a medical school to pursue a degree in commercial art in one of India’s IVY league schools and is a professional artist today.

Sam, I would recommend Dr Brian Weiss’s books where he has given you techniques to meditate, even to regress back and understand about your past lives. Thank you Apostles Torch, I’ll pick up the book you’ve recommended.
Scott, thanks for sharing the stories about your children-very fascinating indeed. Hiren I had read the prediction about Rajiv’s assassination in an astrology magazine that B.V. Raman’s daughter used to bring out. The prediction was made in April-saying that his horoscope ends in May and the country will be plunged in national mourning. It was eerie. I swear by B.V. Raman’s interpretations of charts. He was an engineer by profession but both his father Surya Rao and he were stellar astrologers and gave astrology the respectable status it enjoys today in the country.

A close friend who is an engineer became a top entrepreneur and millionaire at 23, decided to do a PhD in astronomy, and one day he said to me “Engineers are always talking about how to get from here to there in a methodical way, but in science you are encouraged to think completely outside the box and be spontaneous and more imaginative. It will be interesting to see how I will make that transition.

It astonishes me to see so many astronomers who do not believe in God. I would think that if you were an astronomer you would believe more in God because there are so many things out there that you just cannot explain. Organized religion has a lot of baggage with it, but the concept of God is absolutely essential because it helps us grow into an evolved society and makes us moral and civilized.” I wonder if the same applies to astrology, and all that we intuitively sense is out there. Bob indeed it is all an illusion, or Maya, and yet its really fascinating what all we discover along the way, about ourselves, and others on this journey that passes us by, it seems in a blink of the eye!

Thanks for letting me know about the other magazine, Kavita. There are so many educated people beleiving in astrology that I would rather flow with the tide.

I have even started looking upon the law of Karma favorably though in younger days, I used to almost scoff at it. Age is the dawn of wisdom as they say.

Organized religion is a vested interest to some, implies division of mankind to many and has caused a lot of violence in history. That will always be a subject of debate.

You are bang on target on God though. "Believe in god, not in religion" as the saying goes though one does wonder why outstanding mystics and intellectuals refer to him as one's self projection. Both Christ and Buddha have said that he lies within you though how to gain access to him is again a matter of debate.

As for "Thinking out of the box", here is the link to my published article on the subject in case anybody is interested:-
http://www.lifepositive.com/Mind/personal-growth/personal-growth/lateral.asp

Kavita:
I appreciate your courtesy to respond to the posts here despite your busy schedules.

Many thanks for discussing Rahu & Ketu. Though I haven't understood these fully (due to my lack of exposure & understanding of this field), I am glad I had a good start. :)

Kavita, There is an astrologer in my town in India who predicted some 5 years ago that one of my cousins will get engaged in a week's time and will be married within two months. (There were no such indications.) This cousin's hand was actually asked for in marriage by her would be at a social event exactly at the specified time! We were all surprised and happy with the happenings. Some others had similar successful experiences. But the same astrologer made several, innumerable, multiple & drastic mistakes in certain other cases. Kavita, would you know why & how the astrologers are accurate in some cases and not in others?
Thanks.

Dear Swear aam not spiritual-the problem that most astrologers face is when the time of birth given to them is not accurate. If the date, time and place of birth are furnished inaccurately, the chart drawn too is inaccurate and the predictions will be inaccurate as well. In fact there is also a debate among many astrologers as to what constitutes the correct time of birth-when the baby's head emerges or when the entire baby is out..at times there is a lapse of time between the two, for whatever reasons and complications. My friend chose a c-section after consulting with her astrologer which day was the best for her daughter to be born..and proceeded to have her then. That is how modern technology interferes these days.

So if the information furnished to the man was incorrect, his predictions would be off. I have been able to pinpoint if the info given is wrong but its a very time consuming effort, and most astrologers wont bother with that.
As far as Rahu and Ketu are concerned, dont worry your head too much-its enough for you to know that like other planets they affect your chart, the only difference is that they take on the characterisitics of whichever planet they are joined with, if that happens in the chart.

Kavita:
Thanks so much for the answers. :)

So, the time of birth is the pivotal aspect in astrological calculations & predictions. I would like to believe that a baby's time of birth is that moment when the baby has emerged totally. Why only head...? Babies often times have their feet emerging before the rest of their bodies, so the time of birth would be affected again (if emergence of head is to be given consideration as head is often considered the most important part of the body).

Moreover, the instant when the foetus first breathes in its mother's womb or when the baby was first conceived could also be considered, right?

Kavita, you may find my thoughts weird & laughable but... :)

Kavita, what according to you should be considered as the time of birth? I would love to hear your take on this. :)

Dear Swear,
According to me, the time of birth should be taken when the full body of the baby is out. You are right about the time of conception being very important as well. And that is why, in Astrology, there is not just one Kundli which is considered while making predictions. If one has to study an individual's chart in depth then one has to study not just the Lagna Kundli but many other Kundlis like the Chandra Kundli, the Navansh Kundli, the Chalit Kundli etc. etc.

Since the exact time of conception can never be known, it can only be worked out in hindsight. For this purpose, many ancient astrologers used to take the Chandra Kundli as the Kundli for the time of conception.

Cheers!
Navin

Hi Swear,
Navin is correct about different charts being used to interpret horoscopes. However again in the interpretation of those charts we have to see if the Moon chart is more or less powerful than the birth chart and I have noticed sometimes things balancing out, at others accentuated..The 9th division or navamsha chart is looked at as are several others:it is too complicated to go into here.The degrees of planets are studied-at times planets may be strong by degree but weak by their placement in a particular house in the chart. Then we have transits of planets as planets move through the main charts at birth and they can have certain effects.
Regarding the correct time of birth, I try to see what ascendant it is..I have done charts of twins where within a gap of 15 minutes when they were delivered their entire chart changed with the change in ascendants, and so the horoscopes werent the same..
I usually study the chart then go backwards year by year asking the person if certain incidents happened in their lives as I see them. It helps me pinpoint their time of birth to the closest accuracy, but as I said it is fairly time consuming to do that and most astrologers wont bother, but then I have an almost 98 percent accuracy in prediction because of that, and there is always a long waiting list. I also think intuition or certain things I blurt out have nothing to do with my interpretation of charts. I met a lady a few years ago in Canada..I didnt know who she was and just went up to her and said you'll have a boy next June..she was having a lot of gynecological problems and was going into early menopause..I still told her I'm not sure where that came from but that is what I felt..she did have that son in June..at 40. Then I told her on seeing the son's chart she would have another boy-she did the following November..she still laughs when she remembers her reaction of No way! on hearing about the second kid-and again when after her second son was born,she had said to me on the phone-I'm not sending you his details-if you say another kid-I'll be dead!
All of us have that intuition..in some its more developed in others it is less. I'm sure you too have had hunches that may have come true.

testing testing...
2 of my posts got eaten up by the universe... grrrr....!

Hey Kavita:
I wrote 2 comments & they disappeared. Hope this one goes through at least (like the silly one that just got posted!) :)

The previous comments were meant to thank Navin for his valuable insight and to inform u of my discovery that babies don't breathe when in their mothers' wombs! So, the question of considering the moment when the baby first breathes in the womb (for astrological purposes) is ruled out. :) Anyway.

Kavita, u explain very beautifully. I could understand what u r saying here. Thanks for the kindness. :)

Astrology has always fascinated me. But the fact that almost none of the predictions have come true in my case turns me off. :(

Kavita, is there a book that I could procure to start my journey on this path?
Thanks in anticipation.
Love & best regards!

& just for laughs, a side story...

some years back I heard a skeptic say that since mankind has landed on moon & thus conquered it, the moon cannot be still claimed to have any effects on our lives in anyway!??? :)

To this I think that for a layman the play as the sea waves rise and fall is just what meets the eyes but it takes an expert to know the real puller behind the scene - the moon! Similarly, for an amateur the moon is just a beautiful celestial body that glorifies the night skies but for an enthusiastic connoisseur of astrology it is much more than that.... :) anyway.

I enjoyed the discussion, Kavita & Navin. Thanks so much. :)

dear kavita,
thanks for answering my question & i really appreciate the fact that you take the time to respond to everyone's queries
take care:)
luvs
fate

Dear Swear aam not Spiritual, thnks for that story on the Moon. Do you know that its a well established fact that the moon affects our moods very powerfully. I remember reading an article some time back where it said that a huge number of crimes occurred when the Moon was full. A good friend of mine has seizures and when I looked at his chart, I told his wife, the exact days in the month that he would get the major seizures and he did.
There was also a study conducted where several heart patients who suffered from a specific kind of heart disease, had identical heart lines etched on their palms.
Regarding books, you will find astrology for beginners books in the new age section of all book stores. I dont see too many books on Vedic astrology here in the US, but you can order those online, I suppose.
Fate thanks!

Kavita(and/or Navin),

Seein's your so kind to answer questions,

how good is Astrology for matchmaking and

what has been your experience predicting

successful coupling?

Do you have any thoughts about the reality

of a specific soul-mate for each and all?

Have you heard the notion that a man's soul

is female and a women's male? Anima and animas?

Carl Jung brought up this really old notion

about the archtypes, including the "wise old man"

and his partner in crime,"blind, young girl".

He thought we shouldn't wonder what role we are

acting out or pretending "to be" in some fairy-tale.

The question rather, instead, could be which

archtype is animating me? I do feel possesed

a bit lately. I guess it could also be some

arrow shot thru my heart by that rascal, Cupid!

Maybe I'd better leave it there.

It fills an empty hole, nonetheless.

Good morning to ya'll! Well, it's morning here...

and mourning for Katie down there, bless her soul!

Thanks ahead of time! See ya, Keith

P.S. I Am the Aquarian conspiracy.

kavitha
really it is very interesting to read your words about reincarnation
bye
renu

everything in the universe is connected to everything else and really represents at various stages the whole game of life/evolution of only one spirit/soul/force/god and from itself to itself.

since nothing in it goes waste but only changes shape, so really everything in it is into re-incarnation all the time.

so are we human beings into it and not only after our so-called death but all the time, each hour, each day, each month, each year, each so-called life and so on based on our basic but always changing resultant memory at any given point of time, which is attached to our individualised same one spirit/soul/force/god. the former gives us our special individuality, the later is what is called god immanent in all of us, in all the entities in the universe.

thanks to the basic soul/spirit we always know everything from beginning to end though we may be able to become concious of only part of it depending upon our present evolutionary stag/status. in other words, it is the cause of our intuition, which obviously would be less or more for each individual depending upon his/her evolutionary status.

some like ramana could see the whole story from beginning to end, from itself to itself of the soul/spirit/god. others like kavita could see only parts of it and rightly know within the contraints of that part what is going to happen.

right-side part of our brain/minds is connected from end to end to this soul/spirit, to the (same)beginning and end of this soul/spirit and intuites things in parts depending upon how much of this connection it can invoke depending upon its evolutionary stag/status. the left-side then tries to understand it through reason. the same old story of spirituality intuiting and scinece/reason reaching. the first ultimately gives birth to religion the latter to science.

since every intuition ends in sort of an open end - is never absolutely clear or cosclusive,(since it digresses into soul/spirit, which means finally into the unknowable except through direct experience, finaly into sort of deep sleep state which can only be known through actual sleep, into sort of infinity which cannot be reached though reason or numbers) reason or science can never finally reach it. it can only end up in losing itelf in the process till the next intuion takes place and on it reason and science is born again at right times/ages.

but so the story of soul's journey, of game of life, of evolution goes on and on in cycles from itself to itself, from big bang to big crunch for the universal level and in comparatively concrete words.

what i have written above may not be very easy to undertand but then i have no better knolwedge and no better way to put it and at the same time i could not resist myself to respond to my dear kavita. i know my name must have been coming to her memory especially on this thread. so here goes kavita only for you, otherwise i am not very much into this knowledge thing anymore. perhaps have grown old lol.

Dear Keith,
Ref. you post #48:

Astrology is only as good as the Astrologer practicing it. The accuracy will depend upon the skill and knowledge of the exponent. You asked about matchmaking....yes, it can be pretty accurate if both parties' correct birth details are known. It would be irrelevant to ask about my (or Kavita's) success rate at predicting about "successful coupling" as you put it, becoz self praise is no praise. I am always wary of braggard astrologers, anyway.

Next you ask about my views on the concept of soulmates........If at all there is such a thing then it would also mean that the reincarnation of souls theory is valid. Since, I personally have not met my "soulmate" yet, I don't know if such a thing exists.

Quote you: "Have you heard the notion that a man's soul
is female and a women's male?" Unquote

As per me, the soul doesn't have a gender. Only the physical body does. But to look at your question from another angle, I have said this on this site many times now that since a person inherits genes from both the mother(female) and the father(male) in equal proportion he/she has to have qualities of both, irrespective of which physical gender that person gets (whether male or female).

If I'm not mistaken, then that "rascal", Cupid is taking you in Katie's direction? ;) If yes, then I would suggest you two exchange emails & pics and then take it further from there.

Cheers!
Navin

Dear Harb,
thank you for your thoughtfulness in taking the time to write your post. I enjoyed reading it very much and resonated with a lot of your thoughts. Right now I'm reading a lot of stuff by Amrita Pritam-didnt realize she had had so many mystical experiences. Its just a bit busy here as I have out of town guests and many friends getting together because of it being July 4th weekend and many people have taken a few days off. I'm headed out to a concert by Usha Uthup, the grande dame of pop music but just wanted to acknowledge your post as I havent been on the blog for some days.
Keith yes one can do compatibility charts. Navin is right that the predictions are only as good as the astrologer and also, as I said if the information provided is accurate at its best.
I personally also think there are more than one soul mates that one encounters in a life time. Its not just even in romantic love, but there are people with whom I vibe so well that I dont need to tell them what I'm thinking or vice versa, and we just know. One of my best friends is my soul mate..she and I just connect at a deep level..even her husband acknowledges that. I'm sure we were sisters in a previous birth..
The soul recognizes past connections. I firmly belive that.
More later, I wish you all every happiness. will try and read other blogs over the weekend..so far it has been just hectic with having fun, for a change..

I believe that it is totally mumbo-jumbo.

All of it. It is just a mind-moment or a compassion moment and nothing more. Even though I have practiced it in the past I have come not to believe in it. If you take the whole scope of the universe there is no way that any of it can be real. It is just impossible.

Navin and Kavita,

Thanks for the helping hands!

So far, this lovely lady we all know,

well...no disclosure about age or date and time.

Still, she has done me a favor in bringing out

a part of myself that I thought might be lost.

It could be an impersonal gesture, just a nice thing to do.

I'd thank her for that if I could find her.

I hadn't attempted to write any love poetry, per se.

I've had fun and I'm glad you think it worthwhile.

To feel like you're in the beginnings of romance

is a boost to every sensation and thought.

I would exchange information willingly with her.

I will not force anyone to expose their hand(cards).

She knows where she can find me and I await her

return in patient serenity.

Kate?

I love how interesting this chain is. Now, if only I understand the instructions on how to post a comment!

Fascinated by all of this and definitely don't consider it mumbo jumbo. I do however believe time in non-linear save for our perceptions in this incarnation but it's all happenin' at once. A few anecdotes:
two years ago I was having a difficult time and kept arguing with GodSource that I was done. For a year I made this argument. A year to the date a blown tire sent my car into a rollover on the freeway three times. In the slo'mo' as I rolled, I not only reviewed this lifetime but it was like I was at a multi-plex cinema and got to pick which story would continue but in a different screenplay with different essential themes. Like the struggles here didn't necessarily end, I could just pick which one I wanted to highlight or focus on through these different story threads. Bottom line I didn't die. In fact, somehow (and the cop plus my friends when they saw the car smashed on all sides couldn't believe it) I came out with nary a physical scratch. I had just bought a dozen eggs, however, and the worst thing that happened to me is that egg covered my entire face. Must be a metaphor for something! One more affirmation that God has a mighty sense of humor, some of it dark.

Another anecdote:
When I was a child my earliest memories were of being hyper sensitive to certain sounds. Especially sounds that were dual tones and went back and forth. Like the sounds swings make, or especially bells. Growing up in Mexico, the church bells usually go off every fifteen minutes and I felt tortured by this. I remember being two, three years old and throwing myself to the ground trying to block out the sounds because I felt the sound would "annhialate" me. Years later I went to a channel who was rumored to be adept at past lives regressions. When I arrived, he/she asked me if I wanted to remember past lives myself or have him/her tell me. I said remember, of course. So he/she helped me through the process of remembering what I came in to understand. Then my time was up and as I was getting ready to leave I said, "O btw, what's the deal with church bells?" And the channeled spirit seemed so surprised, then said, "Surely you remember that one no?" "I said, no and my time is up so please just tell me." Sprit said, "You were a powerful healer just before the Spanish Inquisition working with herbs. During the Inquisition you were considered to be a heretic and a witch so they locked you up into a bell tower until your ear drums burst and that's how you died." Since that time bells no longer bother me. In fact they're now soothing.

One last thing regarding astrology. There is another chart science called Human Design. They chart much more intricately, including the time of conception and when it is believed the soul enters the fetus. The multiple mathematical equations (isn't everything mathmatically based) is a system I don't understand but it correlates with the I-ching.
love and blessings to all
marisa

Wow Marisa.. that's extremely interesting!... i would like to do a past life recall sometime........

I am definitely going to lookup that Human Design astrology...
i've been fascinated with the I ching and Mayan calander,,!!


Kavita, have you by any chance had a chance to checkout Zhuan Falun, or a falun gong book ?

sorry havent had time to check this post too for days. marisa thanks for your interesting post and sharing your own experiences. I have dabbled in I-Ching and found the answers to be pretty accurate.
Pam can you tell me why you practised it in the past and have come not to believe in it. I would love to hear about the experiences that led you to this conclusion.
Apostles Torch, there is an excellent website called falundafa.org which I enjoy going back to time and time again. Falun dafa is another name for falun gong.I enjoy Tai Chi also though yoga is the only thing I practice regularly.

hi kavita.....great work ya....really like ur articles...writing u 4 the first time...plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz tell rahul to check his blog "blessed"....wish him a happy belated b'day and tell him to read the poem which i've posted 4 him on this blog of his,,,u can do this much atleast,,,thanks.....
lots of best wishes
sonam

Hi Sonam,
have passed on your message to Rahul. He said he will read the poem. You have asked so many times on different blogs about him.
Please send me your email address. You canwrite to me at kavita@kavitachhibber.com

I just had a brush with an intuition - I knew in my heart that it was happening as I and later I knew that it had happened. I also beleive in psychic connections, deja vu, gauradian angels that you talked about - I experinece them in every step of my life

Hi,

This is an interesting topic really.

I, though, wanted to post a comment on an earlier post "Divinity Sells" but was unable to do so. Can someone tell me how to do so?

Thanks

Hi,

This is an interesting topic really.

I, though, wanted to post a comment on an earlier thread- "Divinity Sells" but was unable to do so. Can someone tell me how to do so?

Thanks

Hi,

This is an interesting topic really.

I, though, wanted to post a comment on an earlier thread- "Divinity Sells" but was unable to do so. Can someone tell me how to do so?

Thanks

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