SB 4.29.64 – Past Lives and a Better Future—Back to Godhead

Giriraj Swami: We are reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto Four Chapter Twenty-nine: “Talks Between Nārada and King Prācīnabarhi,”

TEXT 64

nānubhūtaṁ kva cānena

dehenādṛṣṭam aśrutam

kadācid upalabhyeta

yad rūpaṁ yādṛg ātmani

TRANSLATION

Sometimes we suddenly experience something that was never experienced in the present body, by sight or hearing. Sometimes we see such things suddenly in dreams.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

In dreams we sometimes see things that we have never experienced in the present body. Sometimes in dreams we think that we are flying in the sky, although we have no experience of flying. This means that once in a previous life, either as a demigod or astronaut, we flew in the sky. The impression is there in the stockpile of the mind, and it suddenly expresses itself. It is like fermentation taking place in the depths of water, which sometimes manifests itself in bubbles on the water’s surface. Sometimes we dream of coming to a place we have never known or experienced in this lifetime, but this is proof that in a past life we experienced this. The impression is kept within the mind and sometimes becomes manifest either in dream or in thought. The conclusion is that the mind is the storehouse of various thoughts and experiences undergone during our past lives. Thus there is a chain of continuation from one life to another, from previous lives to this life, and from this life to future lives. This is also sometimes proved by saying that a man is a born poet, a born scientist or a born devotee. If, like Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, we think of Kṛṣṇa constantly in this life (sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ), we will certainly be transferred to the kingdom of God at the time of death. Even if our attempt to be Kṛṣṇa conscious is not complete, our Kṛṣṇa consciousness will continue in the next life. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (6.41):

prāpya puṇya-kṛtāṁ lokān
uṣitvā śāśvatīḥ samāḥ
śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe
yoga-bhraṣṭo ‘bhijāyate

“The unsuccessful yogī, after many, many years of enjoyment on the planets of the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people, or into a family of rich aristocracy.”

If we rigidly follow the principles of meditation on Kṛṣṇa, there is no doubt that in our next life we will be transferred to Kṛṣṇaloka, Goloka Vṛndāvana.

COMMENT

Even empiric scientists and professors have made studies into the phenomenon of people knowing things that they have never seen or heard. For example, one lady remembered being born in Ireland many centuries ago, and being present in a certain battle. And even knowing the language from centuries ago, which is a language that is no longer spoken.

So there have been many documented cases of people who know things that they have never seen or heard in the present life. And these cases substantiate the idea that the person has lived in previous lives and suggests that the person will continue to live in future lives. I used to visit Sri Lanka often, and while I was there one case became quite controversial. A young girl, less than five years of age, kept talking about a place where she wanted to go. And it was a place that she called home. So finally, around the age of four or five, they followed her directions to a very small village in a rural area of Sri Lanka, to the exact house that she had indicated. And it appears that there was no way that she could have known about the existence of that house, or how to get there, or any of the details. Then in the house she knew what was in every room. And finally, she insisted she wanted to go to her room. And it turned out that that room had belonged to a child who had died about five years before. And what caused the big controversy is that she recognized her parents from her past life. And she said that she wanted to stay with them in her old house, with them as her parents.

So, her parents in her present life were very upset, because they thought she was their daughter and from the very beginning they were raising her as their daughter. So, the matter was taken to court to decide who would have custody over the girl; her parents from her previous life, or her parents from her present life. Of course, in ordinary terms one could say, well, of course the present parents should have custody. But the matter was complicated, because she was so adamant that the other set of parents were her parents. And she wanted to live with them, because she considered them to be her real parents. So there are many such instances.

Another category is people who are born with extraordinary gifts. A famous example is Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the famous classical composer. When he was seven years old, he was hearing symphonies, whole symphonies in his mind. And not only was he hearing the symphonies, but he could write down the notes to the symphony, which is a major task, because you have to write down the notes for every instrument in the whole orchestra. So what is the conclusion? The only conclusion is that he had some ability from the past life.

And although Srila Prabhupada did not often engage in making specific comments about individuals’ past lives, he did make one about John Lennon. He said that John Lennon had been a musician in Calcutta in his previous life. And therefore, he was a gifted musician in the present life and had some little attraction to Vedic culture. So if one is open to the evidence, there is really very compelling evidence, even from the empiric point of view, that a person keeps experiences from the past life. Of course, the researchers may not have a clear idea of the difference between the gross body, the subtle body, and the soul, and the different elements within the subtle body, mind, intelligence, and ego, and then the soul which is beyond the subtle body. But they at least have an idea that there is some continuity from previous lives; not just one immediate past life, but many lives. And there are people who do past life regressions. They hypnotize you, and they bring you back into past lives.

And there was a dentist in England, at that time he was probably in his late 50s or early 60s, I am not sure. We were so young then. And he used hypnosis as a dentist; instead of using anesthesia in certain cases, he used hypnosis. And he started finding that people, entered different states of consciousness in hypnosis. And then he did some investigation, and learned the technique of past life regressions. So, it became a thing that during a particular period, when I was visiting England, that he would do past life regressions of different devotees. And other devotees could sit in the audience and he would ask the devotee who was the subject, to describe what he is seeing. And the devotees would describe very vividly. So there were a few cases that I witnessed, and it was very interesting to see the continuity of traits in the different devotees, if we believe this whole thing.

But one that I will share, because many of you know him, was the past life regression of Indradyumna Swami. I do not remember all the past lives, but I do remember the immediate past life. He was born in India and he was a sadhu of sorts, say a Vaishnava, and he would wander from one place to another, one holy place to another, and he would chant and he would read the Bhagavad-gītā. And he describes his last moments of his previous life, that he was holding a copy of the Bhagavad-gītā. It is like that, wandering, wandering, wandering, then he came to some sacred place by the banks of the river, while holding the Bhagavad-gītā he left his body. And then he describes how he was born in California. But then very quickly he is again wandering, traveling as, as a youth. I do not know if we would say hippie, but as a youth of that generation. And it is the same thing, wandering, wandering, wandering. And then I remember he went to Egypt and then eventually came back to the United States. Then he describes how he met the devotees, and the rest of it, other than some very early childhood memories, but the rest of it consisted of events that were accessible to his conscious recall and things that he has spoken about. But it is very interesting to see how those traits, they continued. The body changed, but that traveling, that searching, the chanting, the reading scripture, just continued. And you can see that, that change of body really it was like a change of dress. It did not really affect the person’s inner spirit. Of course, these are all devotees. We know that devotional service continues from one life to the next.

There was another devotee, he was a good devotee, but he was more of a manager. He did great service in Italy, tremendous service in spreading the movement there. And it turned out that he was an army officer in a previous life in India, and he was also a doctor. I do not know if it could be the same life, or those were different lives, but it was just very interesting to see how that continued from one life to another. But of course, we are not so interested in these temporary lives, temporary bodies, and temporary mental conditions. What we want to learn from these experiences is that we are not the body. That we are constantly changing the body. And although there is some continuity from one life to the next, there is also some change from one life to the next. And so there can be the change; life after life, after life, can be very different, b ringing you to a very different condition. So, we do not want to remain trapped in these different miserable bodies.

Someone asked Srila Prabhupada about astrology, or palmistry, and Srila Prabhupada said, “Suppose I say that you will become a king, how long will you be able to remain as a king?” So what is the use of it all? Maya, one meaning of maya is mercy, and Srila Prabhupada explains that it is maya’s mercy that we forget our past life. Because suppose I was a king in the past life, and then in this life I am a gardener. Nothing against gardeners, but I would be thinking, “Oh, I was living as a king, I had a beautiful palace, I had so many servants, and secretaries, and now I am a gardener.” But my boss is Amarendra Prabhu, so that is, better than being a king.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura says he would rather be born as an insect in a house of devotees than as a Brahma without any Krishna consciousness. So we should, being aware of our actual identities as spirit souls, and of the flickering cañcalā nature of the mind, train the mind to think of Krishna, so that at the time of death we will think of Krishna, and go to Krishna – that is the whole program. Srila Prabhupada says that if we do, then no doubt, we will be transferred to the spiritual kingdom of God, to Goloka Vrindavan. But even if we are not completely successful, we will take birth on a higher planet and after enjoying life on a higher planet, we will take birth in a pious family. These are of righteous people, or wealthy aristocrats.

And this statement very much echoed the words that Srila Prabhupada wrote in relation to his disciple Jayananda dasa. After Jayananda dasa left, Srila Prabhupada wrote a letter addressed to Jayananda Prabhu, that he sent to Back to Godhead magazine to publish. And in the letter, he wrote that, if you were thinking of Krishna at the time of death, you would have gone to Vaikuntha. But even otherwise, you would at least have taken birth on a heavenly planet. And after enjoying for many years on a higher planet, you would take birth again, śucīnām śrīmatāṁ gehe, in a righteous family, or a wealthy family. But then Srila Prabhupada added just the same way he did in the purport, “But I am sure that because you were surrounded by the chanting of the holy names at the time of death, that you went to Vaikuntha.” And Jayananda Prabhu was just one of many examples of devotees in the present Krishna consciousness movement, who seem to have thought of Krishna at the time of death and consequently, gone to Krishna. And again, Krishna, as explained by Srila Jiva Gosvami and other acharyas, Krishna includes not only Krishna but His immediate expansions and His pure devotees. So, thinking of Krishna could mean thinking of Krishna in Vrindavan. It could mean thinking of Lord Ramachandra, or Lord Nṛsiṁha. It could mean thinking of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu, it could mean thinking of Srila Prabhupada, our immediate spiritual master. And those are all considered to be in the category of Krishna. And according to our thought at the time of death, our consciousness and our desire, we will get our next life.

Some people, they are very fixed; they want to go to Vrindavan and serve Krishna in a particular relationship. Some want to take birth and serve Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in His pastimes. and some say, “I just want to take birth wherever my spiritual master is, and serve him.” So those are all included in the category of Krishna, thinking of Krishna at the time of death.

And of course, serving our spiritual master means ultimately serving Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Radha and Krishna. But we have to take it seriously. It is not so easy to control the mind. To the contrary, it is quite difficult. So we have to practice. And it is a matter of cleansing the heart, and developing faith, and taste, attraction, and attachment to Krishna. If you are attached to something, you automatically think about it. No one has to tell you to think about it. If you love someone, you think about it all the time. Or something, it could be a person, it could be your money, it could be your house, it could be your pet, it could be anything. Wherever your greatest attachment is, that is what you will think about naturally, and you will tend to think about it at the time of death. So therefore, the program is to think of Krishna but one will naturally think of Krishna, if one becomes attached to Krishna. But the two go together by forcing our minds to hear the holy name, hear the transcendental pastimes, see the deity. The mind becomes purified and we develop our attachment. And by serving the devotees, serving the spiritual master, serving the instructions of the spiritual master, he is pleased and Krishna is pleased. And then by their grace we develop our attachment for them, and detachment from material things. And then when we are more attached to Krishna than to anything else, and detached from everything else, then there is no question. There is no doubt, we will definitely think of Krishna at the time of death and go to Krishna. But if we are mixed, we have some attachment for Krishna, but we also have attachment to other things, then it is a little risky, in the sense that we may not think of Krishna at the time of death, and go to Krishna. But if we have sincerely served Krishna throughout our life, then it is sure that at least in the next life we will get a human birth and have an opportunity to continue our progress in Krishna consciousness.

As we have been discussing the special feature of Lord Chaitanya, the most munificent incarnation of Godhead, is that He wanted devotees to engage in saṅkīrtana and engage others in saṅkīrtana. And that is our special facility in Kali-yuga which is such a dark age, such a difficult age – is that by performance of saṅkīrtana yajna. Maharaja Pariksit, after hearing about the hellish punishments awarded to sinful living entities was very concerned. What about them? What can we do to help them? How can they be saved hearing the anomalies of Kali-yuga? Śukadeva Gosvami replied, kalau doṣa-nidhe rājan. That Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults. Srila Prabhupada said that an ocean, there is no limit to the extent of an ocean. There is no limit to the faults in Kali-yuga. He said if someone has an infection in a particular place on his body, you can put some medicinal oil on it. But if his whole body is a diseased, you have to put his whole body in a, in a vat of oil. You cannot even locate where the infection is. He said that is what Kali-yuga is like. It is an ocean of faults. You cannot even localize where the faults are, they are everywhere. So, kalau doṣa-nidhe rājan asti hy eko mahān-guṇaḥ, but there is one great quality in Kali-yuga. kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya Kirtana deva, by performing Krishna kirtan, mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet, mukta sanga parambrajet, one becomes liberated from all material association or attachment and achieves the supreme destination. He goes back home, back to Godhead.

So that is our only hope, but we must engage in it fully, wholeheartedly, not casually. Otherwise regarding faults, as Srila Prabhupada commented once in Mayapur after some controversy amongst the devotees, that in terms of varnashrama-dharma, in Kali-yuga, no one can follow perfectly. You can find fault in me and I can find fault in you. But if we simply spend our time finding fault with each other, then our spiritual lives will be ruined. He said no one can follow perfectly in Kali-yuga, and therefore Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has given the holy name.

harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā

So that is our only hope, but we have to take it up seriously. Chant without offense.

Hare Krishna.