To navigate the sea in cloudy weather, the Vikings used polarized light. And exactly the same technique helps the bees navigate under the clouds, and sometimes even at dusk. Both of these assumptions were put forward by scientists a long time ago, but recently they received curious experimental reinforcements.

Various medieval sources mention the mysterious "sunstone" (sunstone), also known as the "Viking compass" (viking compass) as a navigational tool for sailors. Like, with its help you can determine the position of the Sun (and hence the cardinal points) even if it turned out to be hidden by a cloudy veil, fog (when it is low above the horizon) or snowfall.

Back in 1967, Danish archaeologist Thorkild Ramskou put forward an explanation for these legends. He suggested that the ancient texts referred to transparent minerals that polarized the light passing through them.

In 1969 and 1982, Ramscoe published books on the sun stone and Viking solar navigation (illustrations from nordskip.com).

Since light from the sky is also polarized according to the Rayleigh sky model, sailors could look up through the stone by slowly turning it in different directions.

The coincidence and non-coincidence of the polarization planes of the light scattered by the atmosphere and that of the crystal would be expressed in the form of a darkening and brightening of the sky as the stone and the observer turn around. A series of such successive "measurements" would help to find out with some decent accuracy where the Sun is.

Experts have put forward several candidates for the role of a sun stone - Icelandic spar (a transparent version of calcite), as well as tourmaline and iolite. It is difficult to say which mineral the Vikings used, all these stones were available to them.

Icelandic spar (left) and iolite (right, photographed from both sides to demonstrate strong pleochroism) have the right properties to try to learn how to navigate the hidden Sun.

True, so far no one has conducted a convincing experiment with the stones themselves in the boundless sea in order to finally confirm the beautiful version of the ingenious navigation among the ancient Scandinavians (photos ArniEin/wikipedia.org, Gerdus Bronn).

It is curious that in the twentieth century, iolite found its way into aviation as a polarizing filter in an instrument used to determine the position of the sun after sunset.

The fact is that even at twilight the glow of the sky is polarized, and therefore the exact direction to the hidden star can be easily recognized with "polaroid" vision. The reception will work even if the Sun has already dropped seven degrees below the horizon, that is, tens of minutes after sunset. By the way, bees are well aware of this fact, but we will return to them later.

In general terms, the principle of the Viking compass was clear for a long time, but the big question was the experimental verification of the idea. Gábor Horváth, a researcher from Otvos University in Budapest, has devoted the last few years to experiments and calculations in this direction.

In particular, together with colleagues from Spain, Sweden, Germany, Finland and Switzerland, he studied patterns of light polarization under cloudy skies (as well as in fog) in Tunisia, Hungary, Finland and within the Arctic Circle.

Gabor Horváth in the Arctic in 2005 (photo from elte.hu).

"Measurements were made using precise polarimeters," New Scientist informs. Now, Horvath et al. have summarized the results of the experiments.

In short: the original (from the so-called first-order scattering) polarization pattern in the sky is still detectable even under the clouds, although it is very weak, and the cloudiness itself (or a foggy veil) introduces “noise” into it.

In both situations, the coincidence of the polarization pattern with the ideal one (according to the Rayleigh model) was the better, the thinner the cover of clouds or fog and the more breaks in it, supplying at least a fraction of direct sunlight.

The Arctic sky (from left to right) is hazy, clear and cloudy. From top to bottom: color image of the "dome", differences in the degree of linear polarization throughout the sky (darker - more), the measured angle of polarization and the theoretical angle with respect to the meridian. The last two rows show a good match (illustrated by Gábor Horváth et al./Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B).

Gabor and his associates also simulated navigation in conditions of a cloudy sky completely shrouded in a veil. It turned out that in this case, too, the "imprint" of the polarization is preserved and, theoretically, it is possible to calculate the position of the Sun from it. But the degree of polarization of the light in this case turned out to be very low.

In practice, this means that armed not with polarimeters, but with sunstones, the Vikings could hardly notice slight fluctuations in the brightness of the sky when looking through the crystal. Navigation under a continuous cloud cover, if possible, turned out to be inaccurate, the scientists concluded.

However, the investigation undertaken by Horvath showed that the legends about the sun stone and Thorkild's explanation of its work are quite plausible and scientifically justified.

Scientists have found that both in a clear sky (columns on the left) and in a cloudy sky (on the right), the proportion of the total sky area in which Rayleigh polarization (shaded in gray) falls as the Sun rises (black dot) above the horizon (elevation angle indicated in brackets). This photo was taken in Tunisia.

This, by the way, means that the “polarization” navigation method is more profitable in high latitudes, where the Vikings honed their skills (illustrations by Gábor Horváth et al. / Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B).

By the way, about the legends. Horvath quotes a reference to "polarizing navigation" in a Scandinavian saga: "The weather was cloudy, it was snowing. Saint Olaf, the king, sent someone to look around, but there was no clear dot in the sky. Then he asked Sigurd to tell him where the Sun was.

Sigurd took the sunstone, looked up at the sky and saw where the light came from. So he found out the position of the invisible Sun. It turned out that Sigurd was right.”

Nowadays, scientists describe the principle of navigation through polarized light much more accurately than the ancient storytellers. First, the birefringent crystal (the same sun stone) had to be “calibrated”. Looking at the sky through it in clear weather, and away from the luminary, the Viking had to turn the stone, achieving the greatest brightness. Then the direction to the Sun had to be scrawled on the stone.

The next time, as soon as a small gap appeared in the clouds, the navigator could aim a stone at it and turn it to the maximum brightness of the sky. The line on the stone would point to the Sun. We have already talked about determining the coordinates of a day star without any gap.

Archaeologists find sunken Viking ships from time to time, modern enthusiasts build copies of them (the video below shows one of these replicas - the ship Gaia), but so far not all the secrets of skilled sailors of the past have been revealed (illustrations from marineinsight.com, waterwaysnews.com www.reefsafari.com.fj).

Well, it was easier to find out the direction to the geographical north by the position of the Sun. To do this, the Vikings had a specially marked sundial, on which the extreme trajectories of the shadow from the gnomon were shown by carvings (from dawn to sunset on the equinox and summer solstice).

If the Sun was present in the sky, the clock could be positioned in a certain way (so that the shadow fell on the desired band), and the cardinal directions could be determined from the marks on the disk.

This piece of a sundial (a) was found by archaeologists in Greenland (the missing part is marked in gray in diagram (b); c is the principle of determining the position of the shadow, d is the sky polarization pattern (arrows).

The accuracy of these compass watches was great, but, with a correction: quite correctly they showed the north only from May to August (just in the Viking sailing season) and only at a latitude of 61 degrees - just where the most frequent route of the Vikings passed through Atlantic – (illustrations by Gábor Horváth et al./Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B).

Opponents of the theory of "polarimetric navigation" often say that even in cloudy and foggy weather, as a rule, the position of the Sun can be estimated by eye - according to the general picture of illumination, rays breaking through irregularities in the shroud, reflections on the clouds. And because, allegedly, the Vikings did not need to invent a complex method with a sun stone.

Gabor decided to test this assumption as well. He photographed many full panoramas of the daytime sky with cloudiness of varying severity, as well as the evening sky at dusk (near the sea horizon) at several points in the world. Then these pictures were shown to a group of volunteers - on a monitor in a dark room. They were asked with a mouse to indicate the location of the Sun.

One of the shots used in the eyeball navigation test. The subjects' attempts are shown by small white dots, a large black dot with a white edging marks the "average" position of the luminary according to observers (illustration by Gábor Horváth et al./Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B).

Comparing the choice of subjects with the actual location of the luminary, the scientists found that as the density of clouds increases, the average discrepancy between the apparent and true position of the Sun increases markedly, so the Vikings may well have needed additional technology for orientation to the cardinal points.

And to this argument it is worth adding one more. A number of insects are sensitive to linear polarization of light and use this advantage for navigation (and other crustaceans even light with circular polarization). It is unlikely that evolution would have invented such a mechanism if the position of the Sun in the sky could always be seen with ordinary vision.

Biologists know that bees, with the help of polarized light, orient themselves in space - they look at the gaps in the clouds. By the way, Horvath also recalls this example when he talks about the prerequisites for unusual navigation among the Vikings.

There is even a species of bees ( Magaloptagenalis from the halictid family), whose representatives even fly to work an hour before sunrise (and manage to return home before it) and then after sunset. These bees orient themselves in the twilight according to the polarization pattern in the sky. It is created by the Sun, which is just about to rise or has recently set.

Mandyam Srinivasan of the University of Queensland and colleagues from other universities in Australia, as well as Sweden and Switzerland, conducted an experiment that Srinivashan calls "ultimate proof" that the theory of bees navigating through polarized light is correct.

Scientists have built a simple maze of a pair of intersecting corridors. This resulted in one entrance and three possible exits. The corridors were illuminated by polarized light that descended from a ceiling that mimicked the sky. The light could be polarized along the corridor axis or perpendicular to it.

Diagram of the Srinivashan experience (inset). The position of the feeder was changed in a series of experiments, so that the direct, right, and left paths could be correct (illustrations by P. Kraft, M. V. Srinivasan et al./Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, qbi.uq.edu.au).

Biologists trained 40 bees to determine the polarization in the entrance corridor when flying into the maze and choose a corridor with a similar polarization at the crossroads (the other two paths were illuminated with light of a different “direction”). Sugar was waiting for the insects at the end of their faithful journey.

After the wards of the researchers firmly associated top dressing with the correct polarization of light, the experimenters removed the sugar. 74 percent of the bees continued to turn to where the treat used to be.

Then the scientists switched the polarizing filters, first to the direct output instead of the true right, and then to the left. Most of the bees (56% and 51%) followed the new light indicators. The rest were distributed between two incorrect corridors.

The experiment was arranged in such a way that the striped subjects could not use other signs for orientation in space - odorous marks or simple light reflections. And the easiest way to reach the goal (follow the rule “fly to the intersection, then turn right”) did not necessarily work. It turned out that it was the polarization of the rays that told the insects where to fly for food.

The experience with bees, of course, will not tell us anything about the secret of the ancient navigators. But on the other hand, he reminds that people and animals often choose similar tactics to solve similar problems. The results of two new studies are published in the same issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: the "detectives" with the Vikings and with the bees successfully coincided in time.

The problem of scientific confirmation of the existence of reincarnation is of great importance. Generally, religious ideas and concepts cannot be defined or studied on a scientific basis, as religion and science are incommensurable. However, the idea of ​​reincarnation is of interest to various scientists and researchers. Reports of reincarnation are often subjected to various checks and are confirmed by facts. If the transmigration of the soul occurs, then it must have some kind of confirmation. A person who lived in another era can tell something about his experience and provide evidence of its existence.

For a long time, the Canadian-American psychiatrist Ian Stevenson has been actively involved in the study of cases of reincarnation. He carefully studied people's memories of their previous lives. His work spanned several decades and he collected data on over 2,000 people. These people directly said that they remember their previous life or showed abilities, had signs that can only be explained with the help of reincarnation. All known cases of reincarnation Stevenson carefully studied.

Stevenson found three objective signs that confirm the rebirth of the soul in a new body and are not related to a person's memories. The first sign is the ability of a person to speak a foreign language (foreign, ancient). Moreover, due to life circumstances, this person could not know or learn this language. The second sign is the presence of congenital marks on the human body (birthmarks, limb defects, moles, etc.). In some cases, the people studied spoke about the presence of a connection between these marks and a past life. For example, a person recalled that he died from a stab in the region of the heart, and in the present he has a birthmark in this place, resembling a scar. The third sign of the transmigration of the soul is the presence of historical evidence. However, well-known historical events are not taken into account. Reliable confirmation is considered only that historical event, which became known in the course of a long professional study, when inaccessible historical documents were used.

The third part of the people studied by J. Stevenson had various congenital marks and defects. For example, a boy with a scar-like growth in the back of his head remembered that in one of his past lives he died from an ax blow to the head. Stevenson tracked down a family in which one of the members had once been killed with an axe. The features of the wound of the murdered person correlated with the defect on the back of the boy's head. Another boy had limb defects - his fingers on his hand were as if chopped off. In his memoirs, he said that he was injured during agricultural work. Stevenson managed to find people who told about a man who died from blood loss after an injury - his hand fell into a thresher. In the third case, a girl who was born without a foot told about reincarnation. She recalled herself as a young woman who was hit by a train and subsequently had the amputation of her right foot. However, she failed to survive. Among the studies of J. Stevenson, there were many cases when memories of past lives were documented, and the protocols of forensic autopsies coincided with the marks on the body of people whose souls underwent reincarnation.

Stevenson attached great importance to the stories of children 2–5 years old about their past life. Often these stories coincided in detail with actual events. At the same time, the children could not learn from somewhere about the life of the person they were talking about. Usually, by the age of 6-8, children's memory of the past already disappears. Eastern sages say that the past is hidden from people out of mercy, because few people are able to endure many deaths or come to terms with the inevitability of an endless journey.

Ian Stevenson, while studying reincarnation, wrote the following works: "20 cases of reincarnation", "Children who remember previous lives: the search for reincarnations", "Reincarnation and biology", "European cases of reincarnation".

Our memory confirms the existence of reincarnation. Scientists recognize the existence of three types of memory about the past: deja vu, genetic memory and direct memories of past lives. Deja vu (fr. - “already seen”) is a mental phenomenon. It is about learning new things. For example, a person finds himself in a place for the first time, but it seems to him that he has already been here and everything seems familiar. However, in psychiatry, the frequent repetition of this phenomenon refers to pathology and accompanies some mental illnesses. Genetic memory gives a person deeper memories. It shows up unexpectedly. A person suddenly remembers some information about his distant ancestors. The well-known psychologist and psychiatrist Carl Jung (Switzerland) was engaged in the study of genetic memory. In his opinion, the experience of each person is not lost, it is inherited from generation to generation and lurks in the depths of the brain. What is deja vu, he experienced for himself. One day a picture of a French artist made a strong impression on him. It depicted a doctor in the clothes of ancient times. K. Jung recognized the doctor's shoes and called them his own. He had the feeling that he once wore them. In addition to this, he was convinced that he lived in the 18th century. Often his hand wrote the year of birth incorrectly - 1775 instead of 1875. Automatic writing can be explained by genetic memory. Jung studied the archives and found out that one of his grandparents was living in the province at that time and was a doctor.

Many of our famous contemporaries talk about genetic memory. For example, Sylvester Stallone is sure that one of his distant ancestors was a nomad and served as a sentinel. Keanu Reeves says that his great-great-great-grandfather was a dancer in one of the temples in Bangkok. When conducting hypnotic sessions, these people were sent into the past and they confirmed their memories.

Our consciousness suppresses genetic memory, since memories of the past and knowledge of who our ancestors were can lead to a split personality. Often genetic memory manifests itself in a dream, when a person is owned by the subconscious

Memories of previous lives are associated with reincarnation. They differ from genetic memory, as a person remembers the lives of different people, but inhabited by one soul - his soul. In accordance with Eastern teachings, each person lives 5-50 reincarnations. Memories of a past life arise in people by accident. This may be due to head trauma, mental illness, or trance. Scientists studying the issues of reincarnation confirm that everything that happened in past lives affects the health and behavior of a person in the present. For example, many people experience fear. At the same time, a person may be afraid of what he suffered from in a previous life.

Cases of reincarnation

The existence of reincarnation is confirmed by numerous cases occurring in different places on the globe. Many people consider such stories to be fictions, hallucinations that originated in the minds of people tired of a monotonous life or mentally unhealthy. But it is amazing that hallucinating people describe real events and places so accurately. It can be assumed that memories of a past life are actually information that is received from other people psychically. However, none of the participants in these stories had paranormal abilities. In addition, psychics usually receive fragmentary information that is not related to each other. People who have undergone reincarnation have extensive memories.

From them you can build the fate of a person whose existence is confirmed by various sources.

Story 1

J. Stevenson conducted the first study of reincarnation with six-year-old Imad Al-Awar. This boy was the very first to say the words “Jamili” and “Mahmud”, which surprised his parents and all relatives very much. Later, he often repeated the word "Khibri". When Imad was 2 years old, he saw a stranger on the road, ran towards him and hugged him.

The man was surprised and asked: “Do we know each other?” Imad replied that he knew him as a good neighbor. Then it turned out that the man lives in the village of Khibri, which is located behind the mountains, at a distance of 30 km. A few years later, the boy continued to tell various stories, but in a more coherent way. He told about how he lived in Khibri and that he always wants to return there. He spoke of the beautiful Jamila. He also remembered a close relative who was hit by a truck and his legs were crushed, which led to his death. Relatives listened with pleasure to these stories, with the exception of the father. He forbade his son to talk about his memories, he was uncomfortable with the idea that his child was reincarnated.

Stevenson was very interested in this story. He talked for a long time and repeatedly with Imad, his relatives, and then he himself went to Khibri. There he found confirmation of the story about Saida's relative who died under the wheels of a truck. I also found out that Saida had a cousin, Ibrahim, who was condemned by fellow villagers for having a mistress, Jamila. Both brothers belonged to the Bumghazi family. Ibrahim died at the age of 25 from tuberculosis. During the last 6 months of his life, he did not get out of bed, but Mahmud, his uncle, took care of him. The description of Ibrahim's house exactly matched the boy's stories. And Ibrahim's neighbor turned out to be the same stranger whom Imad hugged on the road.

According to J. Stevenson's research, there were 44 facts in Imad's stories that coincided with the facts from the life of Ibrahim Bumghazi.

Story 2

Patient Juan was admitted to one of the Mexican psychiatric hospitals. He complained that he was tormented by mysterious visions. Juan saw himself as a priest of a large temple located on a huge island. In his visions, he did the same thing every day - he laid out the mummies in large clay jars-sarcophagi and carried them to the altars, which were located in the numerous rooms of the temple. Haun described what was happening in great detail. He even saw that the priestesses serving him were dressed in blue dresses embroidered with blue roses. The walls of the rooms with altars were painted with birds, fish and dolphins, which were again blue. One day, in one of the scientific journals, Stevenson came across an article about a labyrinth known from myths on the island of Crete. It turned out that this labyrinth is not a palace, but a necropolis - a huge city of the dead. The rite of burial of the dead there fully corresponded to what Juan, who never knew about the island of Crete, told. Also, the patient did not know that the ancient Greeks considered blue and blue colors to be symbols of grief, and birds, fish and dolphins to accompany the souls of the dead to the afterlife.

Story 3

In Sri Lanka, there lived a boy named Sujit. When he was 2 years old, he told his mother that he was actually Sammy Fernando. Talking about himself as a different person, the boy said that his real home was located eight miles south, that he worked on the railroad. He further said that in a past life he was an alcoholic and died under the wheels of a truck. J. Stevenson conducted an investigation and found out that a man named Sammy Fernando really lived in the indicated place and he died as in the boy's story. When comparing the memories of the boy and the relatives of the deceased, 59 matches were found. With his memories, the boy amazed his parents up to 6 years. Then his memory of his past life calmed down.

Story 4

Many hypnotists believe that reincarnation can be studied through hypnosis and putting people into a deep trance. An experiment was conducted at the University of Munich in which several hundred people answered questions about the first three years of their lives while under hypnosis. The results of the experiment surprised scientists. About 35% of the participants in the experiment recalled events that had never happened to them in this life. Many of them suddenly began to speak in an unknown language. Psychologist Jan Courier's book No One Dies Forever tells the story of an American doctor in Philadelphia who did hypnosis with his wife. In a state of trance, she faded into the past and suddenly began to speak in a low male voice, and with a Scandinavian accent. The experts present at the hypnosis session came to the conclusion that the woman spoke in outdated Swedish. However, still not all hypnologists explain the oddities that happen to people in a state of trance by reincarnation.

Story 5

Tina lived in Sao Paulo. She worked in a law office and from an early age remembered the details of her past life. Then she had a different name - Alex. Her mother's name was Angela. They lived together in France. Tina still prefers everything French and hates the Germans. This is due to the fact that in a past life she was killed by a Nazi soldier. In support of this, there are marks on her body. She has strange birthmarks on her chest and back, reminiscent of old bullet wounds.

Story 6

Joan Grant was born in 1907 to an English family. As a child, she often reminisced about her past life in some distant country. She shared her memories with her parents, but they forbade her to speak on the subject. As an adult, Joan went to travel. Her target was Egypt. Once on the ancient land, she received vivid memories of those distant times when the pharaohs still lived. Joan decided to write down everything her memory told her. There were many memories, but all the stories were unfinished. However, with the help of her husband, a psychiatrist, Joan wrote a book based on them, The Winged Pharaoh, which was published in 1937. It described the life of Seketa, the daughter of the pharaoh. The events in the book took place 3000 years ago. The work of Joan Grant was highly appreciated by literary critics, scientists, including Egyptologists. They noted the deep knowledge of the writer in the field of culture and history of Ancient Egypt. They questioned only Joan's statement that Seketa is herself. Based on the materials of the memories of a past life, six more novels were written. Joan herself called them chronicles of past lives.

Story 7

Indian criminologist Vikram Rada Sing Chaohan from Pyatiyala studied the story of a child who was reincarnated. In the past, he lived in Jalandhar and was a different person. After some time, he was reborn in another place. A comparative analysis of the handwriting of two people was carried out and thus the existence of reincarnation was confirmed.

A boy from a poor peasant family named Taranjit Singh was 6 years old. He constantly told his family about his past life. Starting from the age of 2, the boy repeated to his parents that he was not their son and repeatedly tried to run away from home. He repeated that his name was Santam Singh and had previously lived in the village of Chakhela, that his real father's name was Jeet Singh. In a past life, he attended a school in the village of Nihalwal. On September 10, 1992, he, along with fellow Sakhwinder Singh, was riding a bicycle home from school and had an accident. He was hit by fellow countryman Yoga Singh on a motor scooter. Santam died as a result of his injuries.

Since Taranjit constantly repeated his memories, described events, mentioned names, his parents went to Chakchela to clarify everything. They could not find the boy's real parents there, but received information that a village called Chakchela still existed in Jalandhar. They set off again. There, the parents found an old teacher who remembered a student named Santam Singh and the cause of his death, as well as the name of his father - Jeet Singh.

After Santam's parents were found, Taranjit's other stories were confirmed. At the time when Santam had an accident, he had two books and 30 rupees with him. The books were soaked in the boy's blood. It turned out that the mother of the deceased still keeps this money and books as a memory of her son.

Soon Santam's parents came to see Taranjit. They brought with them a wedding photograph, which the boy immediately recognized - he had seen it many times in his former life.

The newspapers carried an article about this story. Vikram Chaohan also read it, but did not believe in reincarnation. However, curiosity made him investigate. He interviewed many people in both locations and found many similarities in their stories. The criminologist also learned that a few days before his death, Santam had bought a notepad for 3 rupees on credit from a shop. When the shopkeeper met with Taranjit, the boy immediately remembered the debt, but named another amount - 2 rupees.

For the final clarification of the truth, the forensic scientist found samples of Santam Singh's handwriting and compared them with Taranjit Singh's handwriting. The handwriting of each person is unique, it is associated with the character of a person, his mental characteristics. After research, Vikram Chaohan found that the handwriting of the two boys was nearly identical. The slight difference could be explained by the difference in age - Taranjit is only 6 years old and does not write very well yet.

There were too many coincidences between the two boys to reject the reincarnation that had taken place. In the future, the handwriting of the boys was compared by other specialists and also found them almost the same.

The criminalist decided to continue watching Taranjit, because he never ceased to amaze everyone. The boy lives in a poor family and does not attend school. However, he was able to complete the task and write the English alphabet, as well as all the letters in the Punjabi language.

Thus, the existence of reincarnation can be considered scientifically confirmed.

Story 8

Prakash Varshni was born in the Indian town of Chhata in 1951. Once, when he was already 4.5 years old, he woke up at night and screamed, made attempts to escape from the house. His behavior frightened his parents, who tried to calm him down. The boy began to say strange things.

The Celtic priests (druids) believed in the reincarnation of the soul. They considered souls to be immortal. After the death of a person, the soul, in their opinion, moves to another body.

Prakash suddenly began to say that his name was Nirmal. The boy called his father to him, but at the same time he called him by the name Bholant, unfamiliar to everyone. He confusedly talked about the nearby city of Kosi-Kalan, and repeated that he was born there. Soon the boy calmed down and even fell asleep, but the next night the same thing happened again. The nightmares continued for a whole month. In the daytime, Prakash also thought about his family from Kosi-Kalan. He told about his sister Tara, described the house where his supposedly real family lived. Prakash spoke about his father, a successful merchant who owns several shops. According to the boy, Bholanath had a steel safe in the house to store money. The boy himself (Nirmal) had a lockable box where he put his wealth and savings.

Prakash persistently talked about his memories and in the end his uncle decided to find out everything. They boarded a bus that was heading in the opposite direction to Kosi-Kalan. Prakash, who had never traveled anywhere, immediately burst into tears and began to ask to be taken home to Kosi Kalan, which is located in a completely different direction.

My uncle had to change buses with Prakash. Arriving at the desired location, they quickly found Bholant's store, but it turned out to be closed. Returning to Chhata, the boy cried very often. He stopped recognizing his mother and responding to his own name. The boy demanded that everyone call him Nirmal. One day he ran away from home and was found on the road to Kosi-Kalan. At the same time, Prakash had a large nail in his hands. The boy said they could open his real father's safe.

Varshni decided to punish the boy. He was put on a potter's wheel, beaten, but he did not stop remembering his past life. Bholant learned that a man and a boy calling himself Nirmal were looking for him. Bholanta had a son of that name, but he died a few years ago of smallpox. Other children remained, among whom there is a daughter, Tara.

Several years passed and in 1961 Bholant Jain went to Chhata to meet the boy who had the soul of his son. Prakash immediately recognized Bholant and was delighted with him. He asked questions about Tara, about his older brother.

After some time, the Jane family arrived in Chhata in full force. Prakash was very happy with his real mother, Tara, he also recognized his brother Devendra. The Janes invited Prakash to visit. When Prakash Varshni arrived at Kosi Kalan, he was immediately able to locate the Jains' home. This happened even though Tara tried to confuse Prakash and gave him the wrong way. The boy could not find the entrance to the house, as it was made elsewhere after Nirmal's death. However, in the house, he immediately indicated Nirmal's room and the one in which he lay before his death. He recognized some of the preserved toys that belonged to Nirmal, showed him the place where his father's safe was located.

Prakash recognized and called many relatives and neighbors by name. He addressed one of the neighbors simply with a greeting, as if he were an old acquaintance. It turned out to be Chiranji, who was the owner of a grocery store at the time Nirmal was alive. By the time he met Prakash, he had already sold his shop. The most surprising thing was that Prakash recognized his two aunts, who lived in their own half of the house and rarely left it. Even the neighbors did not know them by sight.

As a result of the meeting, the Jains were convinced that the soul of their dead son Nirmal was reborn in Prakash. The Varshni were very worried that the Janes would be able to take their son away from them. However, they were glad that Nirmala's soul was reborn and occasionally met with Prakash. Gradually, Prakash himself calmed down and his craving for the past life weakened.

Story 9

This story took place in 1977 in the town of Des Moines, Iowa. A daughter was born in the family of Barry and Bonnie Chris. The girl was named Romi. They were active and inquisitive. When Romi learned to speak, her parents, Catholics, were amazed. She chatted like all little children, and one day she started talking about her past life. She revealed that she was Joe Williams. Romy claimed she lived in a red brick house in Charles City. This town is 40 miles from Des Moines. The girl said that she had a wife, Sheila, and three children. According to Romy, Joe and Sheila were riding a motorcycle and died in an accident. The girl described these events in detail. At the same time, she said that these memories frighten her. Romy's stories were also about Joe's childhood. There was a fire in the house and his mother, fighting the flame, received a severe burn on her hand. She also said that Jo's mother had a pain in her right leg, and showed the sore spot. Romy really wanted to see her mother Louise and asked to take her to her.

Romy's parents did not know how to react to their daughter's words, they considered everything a fiction and tried to convince the girl of this. However, Romi told more and more details about Joe's life and the circumstances of his death. As a result, Romy's parents decided to turn to specialists, after which an experiment was conducted.

In 1981, investigator Henender Benerjee arrived in Des Moines with his wife and two journalists from the Swedish magazine Allers. They met with Romi and her parents. Then they all went together to Charles City to check on the girl's stories.

The girl was very excited all the way. She offered to buy mother Louise flowers and added that she liked blue ones. Driving up to the city, she said that they could not enter through the front door, that they should look around the corner for another door. On the outskirts of the city, near a white bungalow, they stopped. It wasn't a red brick house at all, but they saw a sign telling them to use the back door.

The door was opened by an old woman with crutches, she had a bandage on her right leg. It was Louise Williams. It turned out that she did indeed have a son named Joe. However, Louise was in a hurry to see a doctor and did not want to continue the conversation. Romy was upset by this refusal. An hour later, Louise returned and invited guests into the house. She was surprised by the blue flowers and remembered that the last time her son gave her just such a bouquet. Romy's father shared Romy's stories about Joe with Mrs. Williams. In response, the woman expressed great surprise at where such details about her and her son's life are known. She confirmed that she lived with her son in a red brick house, but it was destroyed by a tornado 10 years ago, at that time many houses were damaged in Charles City. After that, Joe helped her build this house, and they locked the front door for the winter.

The girl and Mrs. Williams liked each other very much. Romi tried to help the old woman in everything. Together they went to get photographs and returned holding hands. Romi recognized Joe and Sheila from the photographs. Many of Romy's stories were confirmed by facts - the existence of three children, Joe and Sheila, a fire, the names of relatives and much more. Mrs. Williams also corroborated the description of the accident that killed Joe. This happened 2 years before the birth of Romy. However, despite all the facts, Romy's parents and Joe's mother, who were convinced that the girl was not lying, found it difficult to believe that reincarnation had occurred.

Prakash Varshni was born in August 1951 in Chhat, India. He was no different from other children, except that he cried more often than children his age. One night (he was four and a half years old) he woke up and ran out of the house. When the parents found their son, he claimed that his name was Nirmal, that he was born in Kosi Kalana, a town located six miles away, and that his father's name was Bholanath.

For four or five days in a row, Prakash jumped up in the middle of the night and ran out into the street, then this became less frequent, but continued for about a month.

Prakash kept talking about "his family" in Kosi Kalan. He told that he had a sister named Tara, he called neighbors. The boy described "his" house built of brick, while in his real house in Chhat the walls were made of adobe. He also told that his father had four shops: he sold grain, clothes and shirts. The boy also told about his father's iron safe, in which he had his own box with a separate key.

Prakash's family could not understand why the child became so obsessed with his "other life", which he began to remember. He begged his parents to take him to Kosi-Kalan and exhausted himself so much that in the end Prakash's uncle promised to go there with him. True, he tried to deceive the boy and went with him on the bus in the opposite direction, but Prakash figured out the deception, after which his uncle gave up completely. In Kosi Kalana they did find a shop owned by a man named Bholanath Jain, but since the shop was closed, Prakash and his uncle returned to Chhata without meeting any of the Jain family.

Note: Prakash never left Chhata before his first trip to Kosi Kalan. Kosi Kalan (pop. 15,000) is the commercial center of the province, while Chhata (pop. 9,000) is the administrative center. They lie on the main road that connects Delhi and Mahura.

After returning, the boy continued to insist that he was Nirmal, and stopped responding to the name Prakash, told his mother that she was not his real mother and this poor house was not his either. The child, with tears in his eyes, begged to be taken back to Kosi-Kalan. One day he took and went there on foot, taking with him a large nail, which, as he said, was the key to his drawer in his father's safe. Before he was found and returned, Prakash managed to walk half a mile along the road leading to Kosi Kalan. The boy's parents were very upset by the sudden changes that occurred in their son. They wanted the old Prakash back, not suffering from these destructive memories, which they did not want to confirm at all. Eventually their patience ran out and they took matters into their own hands. Following an ancient folk custom, they twirled the boy for a long time on a potter's wheel, hoping that thanks to his dizziness, he would forget his past. And when the idea failed, they just beat him. It is not known whether these measures caused Prakash to forget his life as Nirmal or not, but in any case he stopped talking about it.

Meanwhile, in Kosi-Kalan, there really was a family that had lost a child - he died of smallpox sixteen months before the birth of Prakash. His name was Nirmal, the boy's father was Bholanath Jain, and his sister was Tara. Nirmal's father was a businessman who owned four stores: clothes, two grocers, and a general store that sold shirts, among other things. Jane's family lived in a comfortable brick house, where her father had a large iron safe. Each of the sons of Bholanath had his own box and his own key in this safe.

Note: Bholanath Jain became the owner of these stores during Nirmal's lifetime. When Prakash told his story, two of the four stores had already been sold. It is important to note that both in the previous and in this case, people were not aware of the changes that occurred after their death, which indicates reincarnation, and not psychic abilities.

Soon members of Jane's family learned that a child came to them, accompanied by an uncle, who claimed to be Nirmal, but for five years they did not even try to find out more about this. When Nirmala's father and daughter Memo were in Chhat on business in the early summer of 1961, they had the good fortune to meet Prakash and his family. Before these events brought them together, the two families did not know each other, but Prakash immediately recognized "his" father and was very glad to see him. He asked about Tara and older brother Jagdish. When the visit ended, Prakash escorted the guests to the bus station, tearfully begging them to take him with them. Prakash's behavior must have made a lasting impression on Bholanath Jane, because a few days later his wife, daughter Tara and son Devendra came to meet him. Prakash, seeing Nirmala's brother and sister, burst into tears and called them by their names; he was especially pleased with Tara. He also recognized Nirmala's mother. Sitting on Tara's lap, Prakash pointed to the woman and said, "This is my mother."

Note: Prakash mistook Memo for his sister Vilma. Memo was born after Nirmal's death, but when Prakash met Memo in 1961, she was the same age as Vilma when Nirmal died.

Varshni's family was unhappy with the events that had befallen her, Prakash's memories and the boy's sudden resurrection of an irresistible desire to communicate with his former relatives. Despite this, Prakash's parents were eventually persuaded to let him go to Kosi-Kalan once more. And in July 1961, a month before his tenth birthday, the boy went there for the second time. Alone, he found his way from the bus station to Bholanath Jain's house (which was half a mile and many turns), although Tara tried her best to mislead him into taking the wrong road. When Prakash finally approached the house, he stopped in confusion and indecision. It turned out that before the death of Nirmal, the entrance was in a different place. But in the house itself, Prakash unmistakably recognized the room where Nirmal slept, and the room in which he died (Nirmal was moved there shortly before his death). The boy found the family safe and recognized the small cart, one of Nirmal's toys.

Prakash recognized many people: "his brother" Jagdish and two aunts, numerous neighbors and family friends, calling them by name, describing or doing both. When Prakash was asked, for example, if he could identify who the man was, he correctly named him Ramesh. He was asked the following question: "Who is he?" The boy replied: “His shop is opposite ours, that little one over there,” which was completely true. Another person was identified by Prakash as "one of our shop neighbors" and correctly named the location of that neighbor's shop. Another man he greeted involuntarily, as if they were intimately acquainted. "You know me?" he asked him, and Prakash quite accurately answered: “You are Chiranji. And I am the son of Bholanath." After that, Chiranji asked Prakash how he recognized him, and the boy replied that he often bought sugar, flour and rice from him in the shop. These were Nirmal's usual purchases at Chiranji's grocery store, which he no longer owned by this time, as he sold it shortly after Nirmal's death.

Note: Two women recognized by Prakash lived separately, in their own half of the house. Women practicing this way of life hide from human eyes, and when they leave their half, they put on a veil. They are seen only by husbands, children, and closest female relatives, hence their appearance is unknown to outsiders. It is impossible to recognize these women for a person who is not part of the close circle of the family.

Eventually Prakash was recognized by Jane's family as the reincarnated Nirmala, and this further inflamed the tension in the Varshni family. During all this time, Prakash's loved ones resisted delving into his memories and did not want to admit them, but in the end they had to give up, because the evidence was overwhelming. Convinced that Prakash's connection to the Jane family was undeniable, they began to fear that the Janes would try to take him away from them and adopt him. They also began to become suspicious of those who studied this case, considering them (totally wrong) as secret agents of Jane's family. Prakash's grandmother went so far as to go so far as to goad the neighbors into beating up several explorers.

Over time, the tension between the two families subsided. The Jains made no plans to abduct Prakash secretly and were quite satisfied with the visits, which were finally allowed. The Varshni family's fears gradually subsided, as did Prakash's emotional connection to his past. When the scientists returned three years later to complete the study, they were greeted with great cordiality and a willingness to cooperate.

Note: This is typical for children: growing up, they stop remembering a previous life. As they sink into reality, the memories fade. See Stevenson's book Children Remembering Previous Lives.

In the late 1950s, psychiatrist Ian Stevenson (1918-2007) at the Medical College in Charlottesville, Virginia, began looking for answers to the question of the memory of past existences.

He began to study reports of reincarnation using a systematic scientific procedure.

Even his critics could not fail to recognize the thoroughness with which he controlled the methods he used, and realized that any criticism of his undisputed discoveries would have to follow no less rigorous method.

The results of Dr. Stevenson's initial research were published in 1960 in the United States and a year later in England. He carefully studied hundreds of cases that claimed to have memories of previous births. After testing these examples against his scientific criteria, he reduced the number of eligible cases to only twenty-eight.

But these cases had a number of common strengths: all subjects remembered that they were certain people and lived in certain places long before they were born. In addition, the facts they presented could be directly confirmed or refuted by an independent examination.

One of the cases he reported concerned a young Japanese boy who insisted from a very early age that he had formerly been a boy named Tozo, whose father, a farmer, lived in the village of Hodokubo.

The boy explained that in a previous life, when he - as Tozo - was still small, his father had died; shortly thereafter, his mother remarried. However, just a year after this wedding, Tozo also died - from smallpox. He was only six years old.

In addition to this information, the boy gave a detailed description of the house where Tozo lived, the appearance of his parents, and even his funeral. It seemed that it was about genuine memories from a past life.

To test his claims, the boy was brought to Hodokubo village. It turned out that his former parents and the other people mentioned had undoubtedly lived here in the past. In addition, the village, in which he had never been before, was clearly familiar to him.

Without any help, he brought his companions to his former home. Once there, he drew their attention to a shop that he said did not exist in his previous life. In like manner he pointed to a tree which was unfamiliar to him and which had evidently grown since then.

The investigation quickly confirmed that both these allegations were true. His testimonies before visiting Hodokubo amounted to a total of sixteen clear and specific statements that could be verified. When they were checked, they were all correct.

In his work, Dr. Stevenson especially emphasized his high confidence in the testimonies of children. He believed that not only were they much less subject to conscious or unconscious illusions, but they were also unlikely to be able to read or hear about the events in the past that they describe.

Stevenson continued his research and in 1966 published the first edition of his authoritative book, Twenty Cases That Evidence for Reincarnation. By this time, he had personally studied almost 600 cases that seemed best explained by reincarnation.

Eight years later he produced the second edition of this book; by that time, the total number of cases studied had doubled to about 1200. Among them, he found those that, in his opinion, “do not just inspire the idea of ​​​​reincarnation; they seem to give weighty evidence in her favour.”

Case of Imad Elawar

Dr. Stevenson heard of a case of past life memories in a boy, Imad Elawar, who lived in a small Lebanese village in the Druze settlement area (a religious sect in the mountains of Lebanon and Syria).

Although considered to be under Islamic influence, the Druze actually have a large number of very different beliefs, one of which is the belief in reincarnation. Perhaps as a result of this, numerous instances of memories of past existences are noted in the Druze community.

Before Imad reached the age of two, he had already started talking about a previous life he had spent in another village called Khribi, also a Druze settlement, where he claimed to have been a member of the Bukhamzi family. He often begged his parents to take him there. But his father refused and thought he was fantasizing. The boy soon learned to avoid talking on the subject in front of his father.

Imad made a number of statements about his past life. He mentioned a beautiful woman named Jamila whom he loved very much. He talked about his life in Khribi, about the pleasure he had in hunting with his dog, about his double-barreled shotgun and his rifle, which, since he had no right to keep them, he had to hide.

He described that he had a small yellow car and that he also used other cars that the family had. He also mentioned that he was an eyewitness to a traffic accident in which a truck ran over his cousin, injuring him so badly that he soon died.

When an investigation was eventually carried out, it turned out that all these claims were true.

In the spring of 1964, Dr. Stevenson made the first of several trips to this mountainous region to speak with young Imad, who was then five years old.

Before visiting his "native" village, Imad made a total of forty-seven clear and definite statements about his previous life. Dr. Stevenson wanted to personally verify the authenticity of each, and therefore decided to take Imad to the village of Khribi as soon as possible.

Within a few days this was possible; they set out together twenty miles to the village along a road that was rarely traveled and that kept winding through the mountains. As in much of Lebanon, both villages were well connected to the capital, Beirut, located on the coast, but there was no regular traffic between the villages themselves, due to the poor road that ran through rough terrain.

Arriving in the village, Imad made sixteen more statements on the spot: he spoke vaguely in one, was mistaken in another, but turned out to be right in the remaining fourteen. And of those fourteen statements, twelve dealt with very personal incidents or comments about his previous life. It is highly unlikely that this information could be obtained not from the family, but from some other source.

Despite the fact that Imad never gave the name that he bore in his previous life, the only figure in the Bukhamzi family to whom this information corresponded - and corresponded very accurately - was one of the sons, Ibrahim, who died of tuberculosis in September 1949 . He was a close friend of a cousin who died in a truck run over him in 1943. He also loved a beautiful woman, Jamila, who left the village after his death.

While in the village, Imad recalled some more details of his former life as a member of the Bukhamzi family, impressive both in their character and in their authenticity. So, he correctly pointed out where he, when he was Ibrahim Bukhamzi, kept his dog and how it was tied. Neither was the obvious answer.

He also correctly identified "his" bed and described what it looked like in the past. He also showed where Ibrahim kept his weapons. In addition, he himself recognized and correctly named Ibrahim's sister, Khuda. He also recognized and named his brother without prompting when he was shown a photographic card.

Convincing was the dialogue that he had with "his" sister Khuda. She asked Imad: “You said something before you died. What was it?" Imad replied: "Khuda, call Fuad." It was true: Fuad had gone out shortly before, and Ibrahim wanted to see him again, but died almost immediately.

Unless there was a conspiracy between the young Imad and the elderly Khuda Bukhamzi - and this seemed almost impossible given Dr. Stevenson's careful observation - it is hard to imagine any other way that Imad could have learned about these last words of the dying man. except for one thing: that Imad was indeed the reincarnation of the late Ibrahim Bukhamzi.

In fact, this case is even more weighty: of the forty-seven statements made by Imad about his past life, only three turned out to be erroneous. This kind of evidence is hard to dismiss.

It might be objected that this case took place in a society in which the belief in reincarnation is cultivated, and therefore, as one might expect, fantasies of immature minds in this direction are encouraged.

Understanding this, Dr. Stevenson reports a curious point that he noted: reminiscences of past lives are found not only in those cultures in which reincarnation is recognized, but also in those where it is not recognized - or at least not officially recognized.

He, for example, investigated about thirty-five cases in the United States; similar cases exist in Canada and the UK. Moreover, as he points out, such cases are also found in India among Muslim families who have never recognized reincarnation.

It need hardly be emphasized that this research has some rather important implications for the scientific and medical knowledge of life. Yet, as obvious as this claim may seem, it will be vehemently denied in many circles.

Reincarnation poses a direct challenge to modern assumptions about what a person is - a statement that excludes everything that cannot be weighed, measured, separated or distinguished in a petri dish or on a microscope slide.

Dr. Stevenson once told television producer Jeffrey Iverson:

“Science should pay much more attention to the data we have that point to life after death. These testimonies are impressive and come from various sources, if you look honestly and impartially.

The prevailing theory is that when your brain dies, so does your consciousness, your soul. It is so firmly believed that scientists stop seeing that this is just a hypothetical assumption and there is no reason why consciousness should not survive brain death.

Modern cases of reincarnation

Cases confirming the existence of reincarnation are not so rare. Most of the famous ones are given in the book by Ian Stevenson "Twenty cases that make you think about reincarnation." This book is the main reference for all those who are interested in this phenomenon.

Prakash Varshni (Chhata, India) was born in 1951. His story did not become known to Stevenson immediately, but only a few years later. In infancy, as his parents recalled, the boy often cried. At the age of 4.5 years, the baby screamed and raised the whole family in the middle of the night and everyone tried to escape from the house to the street. The adults calmed down their son, but, according to eyewitnesses, he seemed to start talking.

Prakash said that his name was Nirmal, called his father, calling him a strange name Bholanath. In his confused stories, the boy constantly recalled and named the neighboring city of Kosi-Kalan, the center of the province, where he was allegedly born. Then the baby finally fell asleep, calming down, but the next night everything happened again. Night terrors and visions continued for about a month. And even during the day, the boy remembered about “his” family from Kosi-Kalan, telling everyone about Tara, his sister; described the solid brick house of his father, a wealthy merchant and owner of several shops. Bholanath, as the boy said, kept money in a special steel safe arranged in the house, and he, Nirmala, had his own box with a key, where he put his savings and children's wealth.

Prakash was so insistent, not to say obsessive, that his father's brother eventually gave in; he decided to take his nephew somewhere from home so that he would confess his inventions and calm down. They boarded a bus going in the opposite direction from Kosi-Kalan. But Prakash, who had never traveled outside his native village before, cried and begged to be taken home to Kosi Kalan, which is located in a completely different place.

The uncle and the boy moved to another bus, because it was obvious that the kid was not telling a fictitious story, but what he really remembers. In Kosi Kalan they had no trouble finding Bholanath Jain's shop, which, to Prakash's dismay, was closed. So they returned from the trip with nothing. But the boy, after returning home to Chhata, constantly cried, drove his mother away from him, saying that she was not his mother, and even stopped responding to his name, demanding that everyone call him Nirmal. He completely exhausted himself and those around him, and one day he ran away from home. They overtook him on the road leading to Kosi-Kalan; Prakash held in his hand a large nail, which he said opened the safe of his father Bholanath.

The Varshni family resorted to an old tried and tested remedy: the boy was put on a potter's wheel, which was quickly spun, but the boy did not leave his memories. Then he was beaten, and the boy, frightened, simply stopped talking about his past rich life. And Jane's family found out that visitors from Chhata were looking for them - a man and a little boy who said that his name was Nirmal. The story of the neighbors interested Bholanath, the owner of several shops, the father of the family (he had sons, and Tara was among his daughters). One of Bholanath's sons, named Nirmal, died of smallpox in childhood, almost a year and a half before Prakash was born. But only a few years later, in 1961, Bholanath Jain went to Chhata, and there he met the boy, in whom the soul of his dead son now lived. Prakash was delighted to see and immediately recognize Bholanat, calling her his father. He asked about Tara and his older brother, and Memo Prakash constantly called the youngest daughter of Bholanath by the name of Vilma, which confused all the eyewitnesses. The fact is that Memo was born after Nirmala's death, but in 1961 she was at the same age as Vilma during Nirmala's lifetime.

Soon the whole Jain family came to Chhata to meet Prakash. He recognized his brother Devendra and was very happy about his sister Tara and mother Nirmal. They invited the boy to visit them, and there was no need to beg him - he was eager, as he said, "home" with all his heart. In the summer of 1961 Prakash Varshni came to Kosi Kalan. He found his way to the Janes' house on his own, without getting tangled in the many turns and without listening to Tara Jane, who tried to confuse the boy as she tested him. True, he could not enter the house in any way: during the life of Nirmal, the entrance was in a different place. But, having got into the house, the boy immediately found Nirmal's room and another room where he lay before his death. Of the numerous children's toys, he immediately recognized the toy cart left over from Nirmal. Even his father's safe he unmistakably found.

The boy was surrounded by relatives and neighbors of the Janes, and Prakash, looking at the faces with joy, called everyone by name. So, when they pointed to a certain person and asked who he was and what he did, Prakash answered without hesitation: “His name is Ramesh, and he has a small shop, not far from our shop.” The boy simply addressed one of the adults with the words of hello, as if he were an old acquaintance: Prakash recognized him as a neighbor of the Jains named Chiranji, the owner of a grocery store in which he himself, being Nirmal, often bought food.

True, by 1961, Chiranji had already sold his shop, but the boy, who called himself Nirmal Jain, could not know about this, because he had died a few years before.

What surprised the Jains the most was that among Nirmala's relatives, Prakash recognized two of his aunts by his father; they lived in the same house, but in their own half, rarely leaving their rooms. No one, except for the closest relatives, could recognize them in their faces.

The Janes finally believed that in the body of Prakash their Nirmal had been reborn, and Prakash Varshni's family, much poorer, was confronted with this now irrefutable fact. They were worried that the boy would be kidnapped and were very sensitive to any inquiries about Prakash from outsiders. Some researchers who came to Chhata specifically for the sake of Prakash Varshni were beaten by his relatives and neighbors. However, the Janes were not going to adopt Prakash, they were very glad that Nirmal was alive again and occasionally came to visit them. And Prakash himself, having found another family, calmed down; the emotional connection that connected him with his past life weakened after a few years.

Another case belongs to the later ones and has been preserved in the piggy bank of Dr. J. Stevenson. In the Indian city of Nangal, located in the state of Punjab, in 1976 a girl was born, whom her parents named Simi. Everything was going great until, at the age of 3, the baby suddenly began to insistently tell her parents that she had a husband named Mohandala Sin and a son who urgently needed to be taken to the hospital. She cried and asked her parents to go to the town of Sundalnagal, where her house is located. Simi also gave details: her husband, she said, was a driver in Sundalnagal.

The desire of the little girl could be fulfilled only a year later, when her father's faltering business forced the whole family to move to the village of Srapath near Sundalnagal. In the provincial towns, everyone knows everyone else, and soon the Simi family heard about a bus driver in Sundalnagal named Mohandala Sin, whose wife died ten years ago. We found out where he lives and went to see him. But Simi, who was only 4 years old, did not need to ask for directions - as it turned out, she remembered everything perfectly and dragged her father almost running to “her own”, as she said, home. She told her father about the neighbors who lived nearby, recognized her own photograph, which depicted a young woman. The girl happily said: "It's me!" She remembered both her former name - Krishna, and the fact that she died due to illness in 1966 (all this information was confirmed by neighbors). A few days later, Mohandala Sin returned home and Simi was able to see him. She told stories from their life together that no one but the two of them could know. Krishna's family believed that Simi was her new incarnation. And her sons went with her to the mother of Krishna; the old woman was already about 70 years old, but she also could not help but believe the little girl who told that she was her daughter. Simi, seeing the handkerchief in the hand of the old woman, exclaimed, according to eyewitnesses: “This is a handkerchief of the same fabric as the dress that you sewed for me before the illness! I never wore it, because I died soon ... ".

The next story happened in North America, in the USA. It is set forth in the book by H. Benerji "Americans who were reincarnated." Des Moines is a small town in Iowa. Here, in 1977, the girl Romy was born in the Chris family. Dreamer, minx, mischievous, Romi started talking very early. And parents, who zealously adhered to the Catholic faith, were, to put it mildly, stunned by her first stories ... She said that she was a man named Joe Williams, he just died, having crashed while riding a motorcycle with his wife Sheila. The girl described in detail her death, her children, and her mother - the mother of Joe Williams. She, Romy said, once put out a strong fire that started in the house, and badly burned her hands. Not yet able to distinguish between right and left, the baby pointed to her right leg and said: “Louise’s leg hurts a lot ... I want to see her, she worries about me.” She also recalled the red house in Charles City, where Joe Williams was born, and became very angry when her parents did not believe her. And those, concerned about the persistent stories of their daughter, turned to specialists from the Association for the Study and Therapy of Past Lives. They suggested an experiment, and then the Chrises, accompanied by an expert group that included H. Benerji and members of the press, decided to go to Charles City, since it is located not far from their native Des Moines.

Romy Chris was 4 years old when she again found herself in the house where she lived in her past life in the body of Joe Williams. On the way, she demanded to buy Louise Williams blue flowers, which she loves so much. The red brick house that Romi recalled was not there, but the girl confidently led everyone to the white cottage. And not to the main entrance, but to the black one, around the corner. The knock was answered by an old woman, who could hardly move with the help of crutches; she tried not to step on her bandaged right leg. When asked if she was Louise Williams, the old woman replied sternly that yes, she was, but she did not have time to talk, because she had to leave. Only an hour later, when Mrs. Williams returned from her doctor, did she let the whole group into the house. The girl gave her a bouquet of blue flowers, and the old woman was moved, because, as it turned out, blue flowers were her son's last gift before the disaster. Romy's father told her everything her daughter said about Joe Williams and his life. Mrs. Williams was very surprised, because she had never been to Des Moines and never knew anyone there, like her dead son.

The red house where Joe was born was destroyed during his lifetime during a strong hurricane. Joe himself built the current cottage, and it was he who requested that the main entrance be locked during the cold season.

Mrs. Williams immediately fell in love with the little girl, so reminiscent of her son in her words and behavior. When the old woman got up to leave the room, Romi rushed to help her, supported her, despite her age and small stature, by the arm, helping to move around. Romy recognized an old family photo of Joe and Sheila and all three of their children, each of whom she named. The old woman confirmed all the stories of the girl - both about the fire and about the tragic death of Joe, which happened in 1975. Science could not explain this case, and Romy's parents did not believe in reincarnation. But they knew that their daughter was not fantasizing and not lying, because they saw the confirmation of her words with their own eyes.

A certain Mexican named Juan complained to a psychiatrist about strange visions. It seemed to him that he was a priest of some deity unknown to him and served in a temple located on a sea island. His duties included, according to Juan's stories, to serve the mummies kept in the temple. Huang described in detail the decorations on the walls of "his" temple, the clothes of other priests and priestesses. The main color, as he recalled, in the decorations was blue and its shades: the blue fabric of clothes, blue and blue frescoes depicting dolphins, fish, on the walls near the altars. Dr. Stevenson suggested a clue to these visions: during the excavations carried out in Crete, a vast necropolis was discovered, where, according to ancient Greek myths, the labyrinth of the Minotaur built by the legendary master Daedalus was located. The rituals described by Juan fully corresponded to the funeral rite depicted on the blue-blue frescoes; fish, birds and dolphins were portrayed as guides to the kingdom of the dead, and the ancient Hellenes and their ancestors - the inhabitants of Crete - perceived the blue color as the color of grief and pain of loss.

At 2 years old, Sri Lankan young Sujit surprised his parents with stories of his past life. From the story of the kid, the parents realized that he was the reincarnation of a railway worker named Sammy Fernando, who died while intoxicated under the wheels of a truck. Since the boy also named the place where the incident happened, Stevenson's expert team was able to establish that the story he told was true. Moreover, Sujit's story to the smallest detail coincided with the real story of the alcoholic Sammy Fernando and everything was refined for 4 years, until Sujit was 6 years old. At this age, the memories that disturbed the boy and his loved ones ceased.

In 1948, Svarnlata Mishra was born in the Indian city of Panna. After 3 years, she began to tell details about her former life to her brothers and sisters, and then to her father, who kept detailed records. The impetus for such memories was the trip of the girl and her father to Jabalpur, the road to which passes through Katni. It was here, according to the stories of Svarnlata, that she lived before, and her name was Biya Pathak.

The girl described the house where Biya lived: the doors of the house were painted black and equipped with strong bolts, and the house itself was made of white stone. She also recalled that the house had many rooms, only 4 of which were plastered, while repairs in the rest continued. The school for girls where Biya studied was, according to Svarnlata, right behind the house; one could see the railroad from the windows of the house. Another detail that was not difficult for experts to verify later is that the girl constantly said that her former family had their own car: in India in the 1930s. it was a great rarity and was well remembered by all the neighbors. Svarnlata said that she had two children in a past life and her son had just turned 13 when she died. She also remembered the sore throat that Biya suffered a few months before her death. True, she died, as it turned out during the investigation conducted by experts, from heart disease, but Svarnlata could not remember this. At the age of 4, Svarnlata once danced a dance for her mother, which she had never learned anywhere, sang songs that she could not hear from friends and relatives, in Bengali, although no one spoke this language at home. The fact that the girl could not hear these songs on the radio or see these dances anywhere is also indicative here: until the age of 8 she did not go to the cinema, and in her family's house there was neither a phonograph nor a radio.

The history of Bengali songs and the most difficult dances, which, without changing anything, the girl repeated from the age of 4, makes the case of Svarnlata outstanding in some way. The fact is that the little girl, remembering her life as Biya Pathak, said more than once that she also remembers how she was not Biya, but a girl named Kamlesh. Apparently, these are memories of an intermediate incarnation between Biya and Svarnlata, the researchers concluded. However, Svarnlata remembered the life of Kamlesh very fragmentarily. The most vivid memory was just the ability to dance in the style of santinektan, and a fragmentary knowledge of the Bengali language - the words of songs to the verses of the Bengali poet, Nobel Prize winner in 1913 R. Tagore (nowhere before the girl, as mentioned above, could not hear these songs).

And after another 2 years, she recognized in the wife of one of her father's colleagues, Professor Agnihotri (Mr. Mishra was an assistant school inspector), an old acquaintance, reminding her how, being at a wedding in the village of Tilora, they both - Biya and Mrs. Agnihotri - had a hard time finding a bathroom. It must be said that the professor's wife was from Katni.

Parapsychologists became interested in her memories from a previous life. A specialist from the University of Jaipur, Professor H. Banerjee was the leader of the team of experts who took up the investigation into the case of Swarnlata Mishra. Professor Banerjee got to know both families, and Svarnlata's memories were confirmed in detail, although the families did not know each other and had not even heard of each other before. It was only from Professor Banerjee that the relatives of the real Biya heard about her miraculous resurrection and came to Svarnlata's family, who at that time lived in Chhatarpur. They were also joined by Biya's husband and son, who lived at that time in Maikhara.

The girl, who is already 10 years old, was happy to see faces familiar from a past life: she threw herself on the neck of her beloved older brother, whom Biya called Babu in childhood, recognized her husband and son. And although, checking her memories, adults tried to confuse the girl, she reminded them of such details that no one except the real Biya and her relatives could know. For example, Svarnlata told her husband that Biya gave him a rather large amount of money just before her death - 120 rupees.

She remembered in detail and described in which box they were lying. The girl also remembered that Biya had gold crowns on her front tooth. She told this in response to an attempt by one of the brothers to confuse her: he claimed that Biya, his sister, did not have front teeth. Moreover, neither he nor the other brothers of Biya could remember whether Svarnlata was right when talking about crowns. This information was confirmed by other witnesses - their wives.

When Svarnlata was brought to her parents' house in Katni, where Biya was born, and to Maikhara, where she moved after getting married, gave birth to children and died, the girl learned something, but she did not remember some things that appeared after Biya's death; this was the case, for example, with the tree planted in front of the house after she died. Relatives, neighbors and acquaintances of Biya gathered, and many of them - 20 people! - the girl really found out, although about 20 years have passed since the death of that incarnation. Moreover, in order to check whether Svarnlata was inventing the circumstances of her former life, Biya's relatives specially arranged various tests for her. They gathered groups that included a different number of people, and among those with whom Biya did not know were her former friends, relatives, acquaintances, neighbors. Many, such as the adult son of Biya Morley, who did not believe in reincarnation (Biya's family was sufficiently Europeanized and did not adhere to the strictly religious traditions of India), claimed to the last that Svarnlata was playing them all. However, the girl managed to convince this skeptic too: she recognized all Biya's brothers, calling them their children's home names (and, as you know, they are never taken outside the house), confidently determined the order of their birth.

She was able to recognize not only her sons and husband, but also his cousin; she remembered the maid, the midwife who delivered Biya, even the shepherd, although for a long time they tried to convince her that this man had already died. With Biya's husband, Svarnlata behaved as an Indian wife should, and when she saw a married couple of close friends of her former family, she noted that her husband now wears glasses that he did not need before.

She remembered details that are impossible to imagine. So, among the statements of Svarnlata was that the father of her former, when she was called Biya, constantly wears a turban (this was true, although not typical for the area where the Pathak family lived); demanded to bring her a bara, a delicacy that Biya loved very much, and in the Svarnlata family they never cooked it.

Warm family relations were established between all three families, and Svarnlata, even after graduating from the university, kept in touch with the relatives of her previous incarnation.

The case of Bisham Chand is no less interesting. This young man was born in 1921 (in Bareilly, India). Even before turning 2 years old, the name “Filbhit” was first heard in his speech. Later, the boy had an obsessive desire to visit this city, although no one in the family had any friends or acquaintances there. However, the relatives did not go to meet him. But when the boy was five years old, real problems began. He began to tell the details of his previous life, in which he was born the son of a landowner.

According to Bisham, his father was very rich, lived in a huge house, where the boy had his own room, as well as a beautiful home chapel. Women were housed in a separate half. Bisham said that parties were often held at his father's house, at which beautiful girls danced, invited specifically for entertainment. The boy also remembered names. So, he said that he himself was called Lakshmi Narain, and the person living next door was called Sander Lal.

The boy, who remembered his former merry life, was, to put it mildly, sad. He did not want to eat what was served on the table in his poor family, demanding delicacies. But since Bisham's father was an ordinary official and the family had to exist on a very modest salary of a civil servant, the boy went to the neighbors to get what he wanted. Bisham did not want to wear a regular denim dress, constantly demanded pocket money and often cried because he did not get all this. Once he seriously advised his father to take a mistress, because he himself, in addition to his wife, had another woman. The boy's tone in conversations with his family became more and more arrogant.

Further, the child's memories acquired the features of a detective story. Bisham said that he drank heavily in his former life (his older sister saw the boy drinking brandy and alcohol) and killed a man who left the room where he lived, Lakshmi, a prostitute lover named Padma. The prosecutor of the city became interested in the details of Bisham's story. He offered, after writing down the boy's "testimony" in detail, to go with him to Filbhit, which, by the way, was located only 50 miles from Bareilly. With them went Bisham's father and his older brother, and this is what they learned in Filbhit.

Filbhit is a small town, and many here have not forgotten Lakshmi Narain, who died 8 years ago at the age of 32. Lakshmi, the son of a very rich and respectable man, was distinguished by bad temper and depraved behavior. The prostitute whose name Bisham remembered still lived in Filbhit. Considering Padma as something of a personal property, Lakshmi was madly jealous of everyone and actually killed Padma's lover with a shot from a revolver. True, thanks to the money and connections of his father, the criminal case was closed.

The boy, finding himself in Filbhit for the first time in his life, nevertheless learned a lot here. He remembered the class at the school where Lakshmi studied, correctly described the teacher, who was no longer working, recognized a classmate in the crowd of curious. Near the dwelling of the Narains, the visitors found a house “with a green gate”, where Sunder Lal lived. Bisham immediately established an excellent relationship with the mother of Laxmi Narain, and he talked with her for a long time, answering various questions. Including the woman asked the boy to tell about the servant of her son Lakshmi, who followed him everywhere. Bisham gave absolutely accurate answers, even named the caste to which he belonged.

The last proof that Bisham is the incarnation of Lakshmi Narain was the following. It was known in the Narain family that the old man, Lakshmi's father, had hidden money somewhere in the house. But even before his death, he did not tell anyone about the location of the hiding place, although his relatives suspected that perhaps Lakshmi knew. Bisham was asked about the location of the hiding place, and he, without hesitation, went to one of the rooms of the old big house, where the whole family used to live (a lot of money was spent on the police closing the murder case, and the family went bankrupt shortly after the death of Lakshmi Narain ). It was here that they found a cache of gold coins.

Of particular interest in this case is the fact that for the first time information about Bisham Chand appeared in the newspaper "Leader"; the author of the article was the prosecutor of the town of Bareilly Sahay, who drew the attention of scientists to the case of Bisham. The case was listed by J. Stevenson as evidence, since he himself was able to interview many witnesses.

The story, which also happened in India with Shanti Devi (born in 1926 in Delhi, India), is also verified and confirmed. As in other cases, at the age of 3, the girl began to recall vivid episodes of her former life. She talked about her husband Kendarnart, about the birth of two children. She died in childbirth (third child) just a year before being reborn in the body of Shanti.

Interestingly, all those who remember perfectly reproduce the details associated with their former dwelling (this was the case in the case of Bisham Chand, and others). And Shanti described in detail the house in which she, when her name was Luji, lived with her husband and children in Muttra.

The girl seemed to go in cycles in her fantasies, and her parents were very worried about her state of mind when one of the relatives offered to check the veracity of Shanti's words. It was not difficult, because if we take the girl’s words for truth, then only a few years have passed since the death of her previous incarnation. A letter was sent to Muttra (the address was given by Shanti herself).

A widower named Kendarnart lived at the indicated address; his wife, Luji, died giving birth to their third child in 1925. He thought that someone had decided to play a trick on him, and asked his cousin from Delhi to deal with the scammers. Kendarnart's cousin knew Luji very well and could easily recognize the deceit, the attempt at falsification. Mr. Lal went to Devi's house, and nine-year-old Shanti opened the door, throwing herself on the neck of the man she had seen for the first time. She dragged the amazed Lal into the house, shouting that her husband's cousin had come to visit them. So the stories of Shanti found their real confirmation in the image of a man who stepped on the threshold of Devi's house from their daughter's past life. It was decided that Kendarnart and the children should also come to Delhi to see for himself: his wife had returned to life again, though in the body of a little girl.

Shanti-Ludji recognized both her husband and her son, who managed to come with his father. She constantly turned to them, calling them affectionate names at home, and treated them to various goodies. In a conversation with Kendarnart, she used buzzwords, mentioned episodes known only to two - Kendarnart and Ludzhi. From that moment on, Shanti was recognized by her former family as the incarnation of the deceased Luja. The news about another case of incarnation appeared in the press, scientists became interested in them.

Additional proof of the reality of reincarnation was given by Shanti's trip to Muttra. Here, still from the train window, she saw and recognized Kendarnart's relatives - her brother and mother. They came to meet Ludzhi returned to the train. In the case of Shanti, the phenomenon of xenoglossia also took place: in a conversation with her husband's relatives, the girl used the dialect common in Muttra. A girl who was born and lived all her life in Delhi could not know him from anywhere. In Kendarnart's dwelling, Shanti acted as if she had returned to her home. She knew in it all the nooks and crannies, all the rooms, all the hiding places (after all, there are hiding places in every house). For example, she said that before her death she buried a pot with rings in the courtyard of the house, and accurately indicated the place. Only two people knew that this happened - Lugi herself and her husband. The hidden treasure was found exactly in the place that the girl showed.

The boy-dealer Gopal Gupta did not speak until the age of 2, but in 1958, when Gopal's parents hosted several people, the little boy put on a performance to the surprise of everyone - both parents and guests. In response to the usual request for help to remove the glasses from the table, Gopal became very angry, scattered them and shouted: “Let the servants do it! I, such a rich man, will not carry dirty glasses like a worthless janitor! The story was somehow hushed up, but the boy did not even think of stopping in his fantasies, as his parents thought at first. He told more and more details, gave his name and the names of his brothers, and also remembered the name of the city - Mathur, where the entire Sharma family lived. According to Gopal's stories, it turned out that the Sharma brothers were co-owners of the chemical production, but quarreled among themselves, and the youngest of them killed him with a pistol shot. Gopal's father thought that such details and details could certainly be verified. After all, the Sharma brothers are not the last people in the city, and a criminal investigation should have been carried out on the death of one of them. True, it took several years to collect and check. But the chemical company whose name the boy remembered, Suk San Charak, did exist in Mathura, a city near Delhi. Gopal's father managed to meet with the manager of the company, K. Patak, and told him about his son's memories. The information interested Mr. Patak, and he gave the address of an unfamiliar man who came specially from Delhi to the widow of one of the Sharma brothers.

Subhadra Devi Sharma traveled to Delhi to speak with Gopal, whom she recognized as the new incarnation of her slain husband Shaktipal Sharma; after all, the details that the little boy told, no one but her late husband could know. A return visit soon followed. Gopal and his father came to Mathura, he himself found the way to the house of Shaktipal Sharma, recognized from the photographs of the people he knew in the previous incarnation. In the office of the company, the boy showed the place where he shot at his older brother Brajendrapal.

From former lives, the newly reborn have not only memories, but also skills that a baby cannot have simply due to age. The above was about a girl who suddenly sang in Bengali and began to dance Bengali dances. A case was described by Dr. Stevenson in which an Indian boy named Parmod Sharma (born October 11, 1944), who was just over 2 years old, claimed to be the owner of several businesses, including a candy store that sells soda water " The Mohan Brothers. When he was 3 years old, Parmod, by the way, the son of a Sanskrit teacher in college, played all alone, making cakes out of sand, like a real confectioner, and served them to his family for tea. Another favorite activity of the kid was building model buildings (he said that this is how his store in Moradabad, which is located 90 miles north of the boy's hometown of Bisauli) looks like) and equipping them with electrical wiring! At the age of 5, the boy was taken to Moradabad to check the reality of his memories, and here they led him to a complex machine that produces soda water. For the sake of experiment, a hose was disconnected from it. Parmod immediately explained why the machine wasn't working and how to "fix" it. True, the boy could not turn on the device on his own, but he gave detailed instructions to the technician. The Mehri family recognized in Parmoda their relative and the owner of this enterprise.

Obviously, most of the cases related to the phenomenon of reincarnation have been noted and studied in the countries of Southeast Asia, in particular India, Burma, and Sri Lanka. There is an explanation for this: after all, in these countries, where the idea of ​​reincarnation is the cornerstone of the religious, philosophical, moral and ethical views of the population, adults do not dismiss infant stories about past lives, and sometimes even try to independently find confirmation or refute the fantasies of their children. Not like in Europe and America, where there is simply no problem of a series of new incarnations for religious reasons. However (and this is perhaps one of the strongest confirmations of the reality of the transmigration of souls), cases confirming reincarnation were also recorded in these skeptical - until a certain time - countries.

There was a man in Alaska named Victor Vincent; he was born at the end of the 19th century, and in 1945, when he was already over 60 years old, he, feeling that he would soon die, went to his young neighbor named Chatkin and told a fantastic story. The old man said that in the next life he would be reborn in the body of her son. So that the young woman could check whether this was so, the old man Vincent showed her the signs on his body, which should also appear on the body of the future son. He had traces of surgery on his back and scars from stitches on the bridge of his nose. Victor Vincent died a short time later, and two years later, in December 1947, the woman had a son who had the signs shown by Vincent on his body in the form of depigmented spots on the skin, resembling postoperative scars in shape and configuration. Dr. Stevenson recorded this case in 1962 and investigated it by talking to eyewitnesses and witnesses. Mrs. Chatkin's son, who was named Corles, claimed that he was in his last incarnation Victor Vincent, a fisherman. And since childhood, according to the stories of his neighbors, the abilities of Victor, who was known for his ability to understand any outboard motors, were noted. Yes, and information about the life of V. Vincent from a teenager was very accurate. So, eyewitnesses said that once when Corles was with his mother in the city of Sitka, he met a woman there who turned out to be the adopted daughter of the deceased Vincent. The boy called her, shouted, then hugged her and did not let go, calling her by the name that the Indians of her tribe had given the woman even before her adoption. Corles' mother knew nothing about this. And Corles often recognized people from a past life when he was Victor Vincent.

And here is another case that occurred in North America. Samuel Chalker, born in Sacramento, California, USA, was less than a year old when, according to her mother, she spoke in a strange language that did not at all resemble the usual infantile babble. A little later, when the girl grew up, the whole Chalker family went on vacation to Oklahoma, where they visited the southwest of the state, on the Comanche Indian reservation. Samuela ran up to the old Indians and again began to make the same strange sounds. To the surprise of those around, the old people answered the girl with the same sounds, and later explained that the baby addressed them in the ancient Comanche language, which at that time was known to only 2 dozen people (according to statistics, in 1992 there were only about 6 thousand Comanches , of which most of the language of their ancestors no longer knew)!

But the girl didn’t just talk to the Comanches: she, as the Indians translated Samuel’s words, found out what had become of her husband Nokon, the leader of the Comanches, and her son. In the archives of Oklahoma, information has been preserved that in 1836 a white girl named Jessica Blaine was kidnapped by Indians from the Comanche tribe. The Comanches brought her up in the traditions of the tribe (such cases happened and are documented), got married, gave birth three times. She was discovered by representatives of the US authorities who attempted to return Jessica Blaine to her compatriots and relatives, but she, yearning for her children and husband, soon died (in 1864), refusing to eat and drink.

And in Lebanon, whose inhabitants do not belong to Buddhists, adherents of the idea of ​​karma and the eternal wheel of rebirth, there were also cases of new incarnations. I. Stevenson himself discovered Imad Elavar here, who told and demonstrated strange things. The kid still did not know how to walk and talk properly, but in his speech he already mentioned the names of people unknown in his family, the names of other places in Lebanon. Once, walking with peers on the street, Imad tightly hugged a stranger, calling him by name. He was surprised no less than others, but Imad said that he had once lived in the neighborhood with him. Imad's parents invited a stranger to their place and asked:; it turned out that his village was located behind the mountains, tens of kilometers from the village where the Elavar family lived. Imad's parents turned to scientists. Ian Stevenson, then well-known, arrived at the head of an expert group. Imad was already 5 years old, and the scientist took him with him to that village beyond the mountains - Kriba, where, as Imad said, he once lived. The researcher spent a lot of time in conversations with the inhabitants of Kribu and found out that Imad tells details from the life of Ibrahim Bukhmazi, who died of a lung disease.

From the stories of the kid, Dr. Stevenson became aware of various details regarding the fate of the deceased, and they were confirmed when examining the “accident scene” (for example, the boy often described that ordinary sheds served as garages in his past house, and the car was very small, bright yellow) . It is impossible to explain the case of Imad Elavar with anything other than reincarnation: Stevenson collected data according to which the boy could not get the information he knew from the life of Ibrahim Bukhmazi otherwise than from his own memories. The possibility of mystification, deceit on the part of the inhabitants of Cribu or the Imada family was excluded.

In the average American family of Henry and Eileen Rogers, there was an amusing incident described in the press. It all started tragically: under the wheels of a heavy truck, running out onto the roadway, the son of the Rogers, Terence, who was only 12 years old, died. Only 2 years later, the family recovered a little after the death of their only son, and soon Eileen, who was already 38 years old, gave birth to her second son. They named him Frank. In the brief period of infancy, no one paid attention to the fact that Frank does everything the same way as Terence once did. The Rogers remembered this later, when strange incidents began to happen to 2-year-old Frank. Frank suddenly spoke in the voice of his dead brother, discovered in his behavior his habits, for example, hugging his mother by the legs when she was sitting in an armchair and doing needlework. Frank once expressed a desire to watch Terence's favorite movie, which had not been shown on TV for a long time. The baby began to address his father in the same way as Terence did, although after the death of the eldest son in the house they avoided mentioning this: it was too painful for the Rogers to remember the death of their son. Frank then asked his father what happened to their red Pontiac, in which they all traveled along the west coast (needless to say, this happened several years before the birth of the youngest son, when the late Terence was ten years old); and then asked his father to finally repair the bike. It was Terence's tricycle that was gathering dust in the back corner of the garage, and there was no way little Frank could have known it existed. The boy so reminded his parents of his older brother that they, zealous Catholics, suspected the intervention of otherworldly forces and turned to the priest. But he advised to talk to a psychiatrist who read the writings of Dr. Stevenson. He decided to conduct an experiment: he showed Frank various photographs, which depicted the faces of classmates, friends, teachers of Terence, distant relatives whom Frank had not yet seen. The kid recognized and called everyone by name, recalled the various character traits inherent in some, described funny incidents that happened to them under Terence.

The case of Frank Rogers became known to a wide range of scientists, and psychologists from Harvard University came to grips with his study. Nobody could offer any other explanations, except that the spirit of the deceased Terence had taken possession of Frank's body. And according to the old rule, called "Occam's razor", if you cut off all really impossible explanations, the desired answer to the question will be the last possible one, even if it seems unrealistic.

A similar case of reincarnation has also been reported in West Berlin. Teenage girl Helena Markard was hospitalized in an accident. 12-year-old Helena was in a very serious condition, and the doctors did not hope to save her. But the girl survived and when she finally came to her senses, she turned to the doctors in Italian (before, before the disaster, she did not speak this language). Helena remembered that her name was Rosetta Castellani and she came from the town of Noveta, which is located near Padua, in northern Italy. She remembered both her birthday - August 9, 1887 - and the year of her own death - 1917. Later, Helena talked about her sons Bruno and France, asked to go home to her children, saying that they were waiting for her from the trip.

Doctors explained the case of H. Marquard with serious brain damage, as a result of which the patient developed delirium. However, the girl's fantasies were so detailed that they decided to call in a specialist, a doctor of psychology, Rowedder. He conducted his own investigation and found that in Noveta near Padua, records of the birth of Rosetta Teobaldi and her marriage to Gino Castellani, which took place in October 1908, were preserved in the parish books, which took place in October 1908. The doctor found the address of the house where Rosetta lived with her family and died. Helena, who went on an expedition “on the waves of her memory” together with Rowedder, found herself on Noveta Street, and immediately showed the right house without a mistake. The door to the group was opened by Frans, Rosette's daughter. Helena immediately recognized her, calling her by name and telling the doctor: "This is my daughter ...".

These books are about a technique for achieving the soul's memories associated with its life outside the human body. Dedicated to all practicing hypnotherapists who communicate with the souls of patients using the technique of spiritual return, and to those who are looking for answers to questions about their spiritual being.

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Elizabeth Clare Prophet traces the development of the idea of ​​reincarnation from ancient times to Jesus, early Christians, Church Councils, and the persecution of so-called heretics. Using the latest research and evidence, she convincingly argues that Jesus, based on knowledge of the reincarnation of the soul, taught that our destiny is eternal life in union with God.

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Reincarnation is an undeniable scientific fact. This is the most mysterious phenomenon of nature - the fundamental principle of creation. For those who yearn to get the maximum benefit from their lives, it is extremely important to know the experience of their past lives - to know what we came into this world with, to know the main task of life that we have chosen for ourselves Using the practical techniques in this book, you will learn techniques for entering a meditative state, during which you can explore your past lives, correct the belief system that is holding you back, strengthen your energy system and free yourself from negative karma.

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Tibetan doctrine of reincarnation"

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According to the author, if you have ever experienced a sense of deja vu, had recurring dreams about a certain place and time, or suddenly felt kinship with strangers, then all this provides the key to understanding your past lives. Thanks to this book, you will learn how the knowledge of your previous incarnations can affect your present. The author simply and clearly explains how to safely and easily explore the memories of past lives using self-hypnosis, meditation, dowsing, various aromas and crystals. You will learn to recognize soul mates and their role in your destiny; you will be able to realize the true purpose of your life and embark on the path of spiritual development

• Wells David: "Real People, Real Past Lives" download

The book "Real People, Real Past Lives" tells about the past lives of ordinary people like you and me, living in everyday worries. However, they have something to tell. Perhaps these stories will remind you of your own experiences. Having become acquainted with the stories of other people, you will find out that you probably already had the experience of remembering past lives: this could happen in a dream, or in reality in an unfamiliar place, when it seemed to you that it was already known to you. Using meditations and other methods proposed by the author , you will be able to prepare yourself for a conscious journey into the past and see who you were before.

• Stein Diane :"Karmic Healing" download

Karma is a process of learning and spiritual growth in which people become aware of the consequences of their own actions. By knowing the consequences, a person learns to act in such a way that their actions bring joy to the lives of others. The purpose of this book is to teach you the means of healing. They include working with the Lords of Karma to help remove suffering and energy blockages from your past lives. By healing the present and past, you remove pain, suffering, and traumatic experiences from your future. Using these techniques, you can heal from the effects of trauma on any energy level.

• Falles Lawrence :"Conversations with Soul"

• Chadwick Gloria :"Reveal Your Past Lives"

• Sale Rachel: Soul Integration" download

• Amit Goswami: "Physics of the Soul" download

The Quantum Book of Life, Dying, Reincarnation andimmortality. The well-known physicist and thinker, Dr. Amit Goswami, in his book Physics of the Soul, offers a detailed reasoned model of how the theory of reincarnation (reincarnation of the soul) can function. His concept is based in many aspects on the laws of quantum physics. According to Dr. Goswami's hypothesis, consciousness capable of moving from one body to another is a quantum monad - a structure consisting of waves of possibility that realize themselves in the next incarnation. The book is intended for everyone who is interested in the posthumous fate of human consciousness and the spiritual evolution of the human species.

• Robert Schwartz :"The Plan of Your Soul"

On January 14, a post about an interview with Stanislav Grof appeared on the Psy-cru blog http://toxica666.livejournal.com/111171.html In his interview, Grof mentioned many topics that until recently remained outside the scope of science. In this regard, he also mentioned the rather interesting scientific research of Ian Stevenson, who for more than 40 years has been collecting information on various cases in which people claimed to remember their past lives. Particular attention in his research is given to childhood cases and cases when children recalled a violent death in a past life.

Ian Stevenson is a Canadian-American biochemist and psychologist. Born and raised in Ottawa. His father was a correspondent for the London newspaper The Times. Mother was interested in Theosophy. Until his resignation in 2002, he headed the Department of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia. Stevenson traveled for 40 years and investigated 3,000 cases of past life memories of children and even more other unusual cases associated with stigmatists, psychics, and also studied the phenomenon of the mother's mental influence on fetus formation during pregnancy.

Stevenson's main works:

• « Twenty cases of reincarnation » (Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation ) (1974 )
• "Children Who Remember Previous Lives: A Quest of Reincarnation" (1987)
• "Reincarnation and Biology" (1997)
• "European Cases of the Reincarnation Type" (2003)

In 1962, a young Lebanese told Professor Stevenson a strange story. It turns out that in the native village of this young man there are children who remember the details of their previous lives. The story was so vivid and convincing that the professor decided to visit this mysterious village. But a year and a half passed before he managed to come to Lebanon. Upon arrival, Stevenson immediately went to Cornyel and met there a boy, Imad Al-Awar, who was in his sixth year.
Imad was born here in Cornayel in 1958 and the first words he spoke were "Jamili" and "Mahmud". The household was surprised, none of their relatives were called that. Later, the boy began to mention a certain Kirby frequently. One day, two-year-old Imad saw an unfamiliar man on the road and, rushing to the traveler, began to hug him. The man asked if they knew each other. Imad replied that yes, they were neighbors. It turned out that the man came from Khirby, a village located 30 kilometers from Cornyell, on the other side of the mountain range.
Growing up, Imad often told his mother and sisters about his past life in Khirbi, shared memories of the beauty of Jamila. Once I remembered an accident when a close relative of his, who fell under the wheels of a truck, had his legs crushed and he died. Imad constantly asked his parents to show him Khirbi.
Stevenson had a long conversation with the kid, interviewed his relatives to gather as much information as possible, and then went through the mountain range to a distant village. Here he learned that in 1943 a truck hit a young man from the Bugamzi family, crushed both of his legs, which is why he died. This young man, Sayda, had a cousin named Ibrahim, who around the same time became the cause of a noisy scandal - he openly lived with his mistress, a beautiful girl named Jamili.
But in 1949, at the age of 25, Ibrahim died of tuberculosis. For the past six months he has been bedridden. The only one who helped him was his uncle Mahmud, Sayd's father. The house in which Ibrahim died was exactly as described by Imad. And the man who lived next door turned out to be exactly the stranger who was hugged on the street by two-year-old Imad. Stevenson found that out of 47 facts that Imad reported about his previous life, 44 corresponded exactly to the facts from the life of Ibrahim Bughamzi.

Most noteworthy are his works on the correspondence of birthmarks and birth defects to injuries in deceased people: http://outofbody.ru/node/58 , http://www.scorcher.ru/mist/reilife/stivenson.htm although in Jan's collection Stevenson has many more interesting cases to consider.
Reencarnation usually means the transfer of the mind from one body to another, however, in the case of injuries, it is possible that difficult impressions from a past life are transferred to a new life. As an example, the gunshot and stab wounds inflicted on the body in the "past birth" and the corresponding marks on the bodies in the "new reincarnation" can serve as an example.

Let me give you one story as an example:

The data collected by Stevenson suggests that for the most part the lives of the people remembered by the children ended prematurely or violently. Of course, this does not mean that only those who died a violent death are reborn, but people who die a natural death at an advanced age do not transfer vivid memories from one life to another.

210 cases in children were studied. Birthmarks are usually localized in the scalp and have a smooth or wrinkled surface; some are depigmented or weakly pigmented (hypopigmented macules; others may be hyperpigmented (hyperpigmented nevi). Birth defects were almost always rare types.

In a number of cases where the deceased person, whose identity was identified from the relevant detailed descriptions of the child, there was almost always a close correspondence between birthmarks and/or birth defects in this child and wounds on the corpse of the deceased person. In 43 out of 49 cases supported by medical documents (usually a post-mortem report), such compliance was confirmed. The details and facts reported by the children in the cases considered, along with the material signs on the body, naturally correlate. It must be admitted that some hardly explainable phenomenon lies at the basis of this.

It seems that quite often, at the same time, violent death leaves deep traces not only in the soul, but also on the body of the reincarnated - usually exactly where the mortal wounds that cut off his previous life fell. Here is a case described by scientists at the Brazilian Institute of Psychical and Biophysical Research.
Tina was born near Sao Paulo and now works there in one of the law firms. From early childhood, she knew that in a past life she lived in France and her name was Alex Barralu. Mom, a tall, fair-haired, well-dressed woman, was named Angela. So Tina learned to speak French surprisingly quickly while still very young. She loves everything that has to do with France, and ... hates the Germans fiercely, because, as she claims, during the occupation of France, she was shot by a Nazi soldier with a rifle. Tina has strange birth marks on her chest and back, resembling a healed bullet wound. Doctors believe that exactly such traces can remain if a bullet enters the chest, pierces right through the heart and exits from the back.

These stories very eloquently point to some connection between two events, two objects. However, it is worth noting that since the mind has no form and its existence has not been scientifically proven, then rebirth is a kind of mental phenomenon that can be considered from different angles. For example, in a number of works, Stevenson writes about the connection between the experiences of the mother and birth defects of the fetus. Such parallels may be the result of such an impact. Or we are really dealing with reincarnation. In general, from the point of view of our ordinary science, which operates with very meager tools like empirical knowledge, tactile auditory and other sensations elevated to abstract values, it is impossible to make any exact conclusion regarding the reality or non-reality of reincarnation. The tool is not that accurate. However, we can confidently conclude that there is undoubtedly some kind of psychic phenomenon that can be explained by the extrasensory ability of the object under study, which could survive during the formation not its own death, but the death of another person. After all, there is no connection between the bodies of objects, except for similar marks, and the question of the true Self of a person has not yet been sufficiently studied and, in fact, it is not clear what is being reincarnated. And although in various esoteric teachings this issue has been comprehensively studied for science, it still remains under a ban.
In general, Stevenson clarified the situation with paranormal phenomena a little and just once again showed us scientifically that there is undoubtedly an area that we have not yet explored, but no less real, an area in which theology is more knowledgeable than science in the strict sense.

In the late 1950s, psychiatrist Ian Stevenson (1918-2007) at the Medical College in Charlottesville, Virginia, began looking for answers to the question of the memory of past existences. He began to study reports of reincarnation using a systematic scientific procedure.

Even his critics could not fail to recognize the thoroughness with which he controlled the methods he used, and realized that any criticism of his undisputed discoveries would have to follow no less rigorous method.

The results of Dr. Stevenson's initial research were published in 1960 in the United States and a year later in England. He carefully studied hundreds of cases that claimed to have memories of previous births. After testing these examples against his scientific criteria, he reduced the number of eligible cases to only twenty-eight.

But these cases had a number of common strengths: all subjects remembered that they were certain people and lived in certain places long before they were born. In addition, the facts they presented could be directly confirmed or refuted by an independent examination.

One of the cases he reported concerned a young Japanese boy who insisted from a very early age that he had formerly been a boy named Tozo, whose father, a farmer, lived in the village of Hodokubo.

The boy explained that in a previous life, when he - as Tozo - was still small, his father had died; shortly thereafter, his mother remarried. However, just a year after this wedding, Tozo also died - from smallpox. He was only six years old.

In addition to this information, the boy gave a detailed description of the house where Tozo lived, the appearance of his parents, and even his funeral. It seemed that it was about genuine memories from a past life.

To test his claims, the boy was brought to Hodokubo village. It turned out that his former parents and the other people mentioned had undoubtedly lived here in the past. In addition, the village, in which he had never been before, was clearly familiar to him.

Without any help, he brought his companions to his former home. Once there, he drew their attention to a shop that he said did not exist in his previous life. In like manner he pointed to a tree which was unfamiliar to him and which had evidently grown since then.

The investigation quickly confirmed that both these allegations were true. His testimonies before visiting Hodokubo amounted to a total of sixteen clear and specific statements that could be verified. When they were checked, they were all correct.

In his work, Dr. Stevenson especially emphasized his high confidence in the testimonies of children. He believed that not only were they much less subject to conscious or unconscious illusions, but they were also unlikely to be able to read or hear about the events in the past that they describe.

Stevenson continued his research and in 1966 published the first edition of his authoritative book, Twenty Cases That Evidence for Reincarnation. By this time, he had personally studied almost 600 cases that seemed best explained by reincarnation.

Eight years later he produced the second edition of this book; by that time, the total number of cases studied had doubled to about 1200. Among them, he found those that, in his opinion, “do not just inspire the idea of ​​​​reincarnation; they seem to give weighty evidence in her favour.”

Case of Imad Elawar

Dr. Stevenson heard of a case of past life memories in a boy, Imad Elawar, who lived in a small Lebanese village in the Druze settlement area (a religious sect in the mountains of Lebanon and Syria).

Although considered to be under Islamic influence, the Druze actually have a large number of very different beliefs, one of which is the belief in reincarnation. Perhaps as a result of this, numerous instances of memories of past existences are noted in the Druze community.

Before Imad reached the age of two, he had already started talking about a previous life he had spent in another village called Khribi, also a Druze settlement, where he claimed to have been a member of the Bukhamzi family. He often begged his parents to take him there. But his father refused and thought he was fantasizing. The boy soon learned to avoid talking on the subject in front of his father.

Imad made a number of statements about his past life. He mentioned a beautiful woman named Jamila whom he loved very much. He talked about his life in Khribi, about the pleasure he had in hunting with his dog, about his double-barreled shotgun and his rifle, which, since he had no right to keep them, he had to hide.

He described that he had a small yellow car and that he also used other cars that the family had. He also mentioned that he was an eyewitness to a traffic accident in which a truck ran over his cousin, injuring him so badly that he soon died.

When an investigation was eventually carried out, it turned out that all these claims were true.

In the spring of 1964, Dr. Stevenson made the first of several trips to this mountainous region to speak with young Imad, who was then five years old.

Before visiting his "native" village, Imad made a total of forty-seven clear and definite statements about his previous life. Dr. Stevenson wanted to personally verify the authenticity of each, and therefore decided to take Imad to the village of Khribi as soon as possible.

Within a few days this was possible; they set out together twenty miles to the village along a road that was rarely traveled and that kept winding through the mountains. As in much of Lebanon, both villages were well connected to the capital, Beirut, located on the coast, but there was no regular traffic between the villages themselves, due to the poor road that ran through rough terrain.

Arriving in the village, Imad made sixteen more statements on the spot: he spoke vaguely in one, was mistaken in another, but turned out to be right in the remaining fourteen. And of those fourteen statements, twelve dealt with very personal incidents or comments about his previous life. It is highly unlikely that this information could be obtained not from the family, but from some other source.

Despite the fact that Imad never gave the name that he bore in his previous life, the only figure in the Bukhamzi family to whom this information corresponded - and corresponded very accurately - was one of the sons, Ibrahim, who died of tuberculosis in September 1949 . He was a close friend of a cousin who died in a truck run over him in 1943. He also loved a beautiful woman, Jamila, who left the village after his death.

While in the village, Imad recalled some more details of his former life as a member of the Bukhamzi family, impressive both in their character and in their authenticity. So, he correctly pointed out where he, when he was Ibrahim Bukhamzi, kept his dog and how it was tied. Neither was the obvious answer.

He also correctly identified "his" bed and described what it looked like in the past. He also showed where Ibrahim kept his weapons. In addition, he himself recognized and correctly named Ibrahim's sister, Khuda. He also recognized and named his brother without prompting when he was shown a photographic card.

Convincing was the dialogue that he had with "his" sister Khuda. She asked Imad: “You said something before you died. What was it?" Imad replied: "Khuda, call Fuad." It was true: Fuad had gone out shortly before, and Ibrahim wanted to see him again, but died almost immediately.

Unless there was a conspiracy between the young Imad and the elderly Khuda Bukhamzi—which seemed almost impossible given Dr. Stevenson's careful observation—it is hard to imagine any other way that Imad could have learned of these last words of the dying man. except for one thing: that Imad was indeed the reincarnation of the late Ibrahim Bukhamzi.

In fact, this case is even more weighty: of the forty-seven statements made by Imad about his past life, only three turned out to be erroneous. This kind of evidence is hard to dismiss.

It might be objected that this case took place in a society in which the belief in reincarnation is cultivated, and therefore, as one might expect, fantasies of immature minds in this direction are encouraged.

Understanding this, Dr. Stevenson reports a curious point that he noted: reminiscences of past lives are found not only in those cultures in which reincarnation is recognized, but also in those where it is not recognized - or at least not officially recognized.

He, for example, investigated about thirty-five cases in the United States; similar cases exist in Canada and the UK. Moreover, as he points out, such cases are also found in India among Muslim families who have never recognized reincarnation.

It need hardly be emphasized that this research has some rather important implications for the scientific and medical knowledge of life. Yet, as obvious as this claim may seem, it will be vehemently denied in many circles.

Reincarnation poses a direct challenge to modern assumptions about what a person is - a statement that excludes everything that cannot be weighed, measured, separated or distinguished in a petri dish or on a microscope slide.

Dr. Stevenson once told television producer Jeffrey Iverson:

“Science should pay much more attention to the data we have that point to life after death. These testimonies are impressive and come from various sources, if you look honestly and impartially.

The prevailing theory is that when your brain dies, so does your consciousness, your soul. It is so firmly believed that scientists stop seeing that this is just a hypothetical assumption and there is no reason why consciousness should not survive brain death.