Fundamental to the religious teachings of Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism, proposed by the ancient Greeks, believed by the ancient Mayans, and widely accepted by Native Americans, reincarnation is a fascinating theory that has been debated for thousands of years.
Accounts of past lives have been recorded as far back as the Tsin dynasty in China (255-206 BCE), which includes the case of 5-year-old Pao Tsing, a boy who was convinced that he had lived before and provided details of the town and family he once knew.
He explained that he had died after falling down a well and was so insistent of the fact, that his parents took him to the area to investigate. Despite the family never visiting that town before, Pao knew it well, and they were able to track down the other family that he had mentioned. Pao identified and named his previous parents, who confirmed the boy’s story.
Although the thought of returning from the dead in another form may add comfort and reassurance that we live on, some refuse to consider the possibility at all.
Atheists for example, are convinced that we don’t have souls and upon death, simply cease to exist. It may be a miserable way of thinking, but they’re realists. They’ve prepared for the worst and (presumably) are happy with the fact that there’s nothing for them beyond.
Judaism, in the kabbalistic view, paints a positive picture, believing that the soul spins onward through a great many bodies, striving after a higher form of perfection.
Christianity on the other hand, doesn’t support reincarnation at all, with the belief that we have one life on earth before we receive an eternal judgment and verdict, based on whether “we” accepted Jesus as our Saviour.
Their judgment process and access to heaven can’t support multiple lives or a return to the living, otherwise it shows that the Christian God is freely giving out tickets for “life do-overs/redos” and diminishes the importance of heaven & hell (it would be, Don’t get too comfortable in heaven as you won’t be there long or, never mind about hell, you’ll get another shot at the pearly gates soon!).
In a similar way, Islam rejects the concept of reincarnation, with the belief that there is only one birth on this Earth and eternal life will follow.
It is therefore interesting to see that the US, despite having a population that is 63% Christian (210 million people) and 1.3% Muslim (3.45 million people), has statistics that show nearly four-in-ten American adults under the age of 50 (38%) believe in reincarnation, as does 27% of those aged 50 and older (Pew Research Center; November 23, 2021).
But we’re a UK website, we’re not as God fearing as the Americans. Does that mean we’re more open to the possibility?
Well, not necessarily…A 2021 YouGov study into Death & the Afterlife shows that just one in six (16%) UK residents believe in reincarnation.
Now, if you’re like me and obsessively watch programs like The Ghost Inside My Child, (which is listed under the subject category of Fantasy btw, showing that the American Christian community has already intervened to tell us what’s right & wrong), you would have seen many accounts from real families and children describing past life experiences. Reincarnation claims are more common than we realise, but unfortunately, they are either ignored, labelled as a child’s imagination, or repressed to avoid ridicule or cultural/societal upset.
Many past life claims are made by children under 5 and the memory will fade as the child gets older, so if you think that your child is displaying unusual behavior or making strange statements, investigate and ask the right questions as soon as the signs are there.
Children do have active imaginations, but they also have limited life experience, so you will have a better grasp of their knowledge and what they’ve been exposed too. This can be used as a method of validation. An older child or adult has access to education, the internet, and social groups, so can research and improve the details of their claims or be influenced by other means. Because of this, an older person’s claim will always run the risk of being viewed as deceitful, mistaken or crazy, regardless of the details and evidence they provide.
I’m not here to tell you if reincarnation is real or fake, nobody can answer that with 100% or even 50% accuracy, and they would be arrogant fools to attempt it, but I can share an interesting case with you to at least make you contemplate the theory.
After all, if religious groups can knock on your door, visit your workplace/schools, hand out flyers and preach in the streets to tell you their views, this is pretty low-key right?
Titu Singh - Suresh Verma:
In August 1983, local business owner Suresh Verma was shot in the head and killed as he returned home to his family in Agra, India. In December of that same year, Titu Singh was born in the town of Bad, just outside of Mathura and about 33 miles from the city of Agra.
Titu’s family had no previous connection to Verma’s and had rarely visited Agra. Yet from the age of two, Titu began to tell his family that his name was Suresh Verma, and that he once lived in Agra, with his wife Uma and their two children. As strange as this was to his parents, they presumed it was just his playful imagination, something that he would soon forget in a matter of weeks. But he didn’t.
As Titu’s vocabulary grew, so did the details about his life as Suresh Verma, including the name and location of his radio & TV shop. By the age of 4, he was showing frustrations of being away from his “other” home and family, leading him to a number of attempts to pack his belongings and travel there by himself.
Prompted by this strange behavior, Titu’s older brother decided to go to Agra and investigate the claims.
Amazingly, Titu’s brother found the shop, Suresh Radios, exactly where Titu said it would be and the owner, a widow named Uma, had a husband called Suresh who was murdered by a gun shot to the head.
Hearing of the child's strange claims, the Verma family visited Titu unannounced, yet Titu recognised Uma and Suresh’s parents immediately, shouting that his other family were here and rushed to greet them.
He was even able to identify Suresh’s two children as they played in a group with others and called them over to him by name.
Upon a later trip to Suresh Radios, Titu correctly pointed out the changes to the shop since Suresh’s death and shared personal memories with Uma that only the two of them knew. Both Uma and Suresh’s parents were convinced without doubt, that Titu is, or at least was, Suresh.
And a final surprise to the story came when they investigated Titu’s head…Suresh was killed from a bullet wound to his right temple. On examination, Titu had a birthmark in the exact location of his right temple, and another in the same location as the exit wound!
Reincarnation claims are being made by children (and adults) on a daily basis all over the world, we just don’t hear about them in mainstream media. Most are overlooked and ignored because parent’s fail to see the signs and investigate or because people are so convinced that it can’t happen, that they shut out the possibility and find an alternative answer to satisfies their own beliefs.
Have you or a family member experienced a past life?
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