 In
1986, researchers
Satwant Pasricha and
Ian Stevenson,
documented 16 cases of Indian near-death experiences in the
Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research (77,1
15-135). Their small sample shows, Indian and American near-death
experiences resemble each other in some respects but differ in others.
Subjects of Indian near-death experiences do not report seeing their own
physical body during the near-death experience, although American
subjects usually do. Subjects of Indian near-death experiences
frequently report being taken to the after-death realm by functionaries
who then discover that a mistake has been made and send the person back,
whereupon he or she revives. In contrast, American subjects, if they say
anything at all about why they revived, mention meeting deceased family
members who told them to go back, or say they came back because of ties
of love and duty with living persons
or say they were told it was not their time to die.
Many people have asked me (the webmaster) why experiences, such
as Hindu near-death experiences, are so different than western ones. The
reason is because everyone has their own cultural and religious
background by which they see their experience.
Jody Long, a near-death researcher with
NDERF, has put it best. She said, "One of the near-death experience
truths is that each person integrates their near-death experience into
their own pre-existing belief system."
This important truth must be kept in the back of one's mind when reading
these different reports.
The following Hindu near-death experiences come from Pasricha's and
Stevenson's research as well as other sources on near-death experiences
in India.
Vasudev Pandey
Vasudev Pandey was interviewed in 1975 and again in 1976. He was born in
1921 and had nearly died in his home of what he described as
"paratyphoid disease" when he was about 10 years old. Vasudev had been
considered dead and his body had actually been taken to the cremation
ground. However, some indications of life aroused attention, and Vasudev
was removed to the hospital where doctors tried to revive him, using
"injections," with eventual success. He remained unconscious for 3 days
and then became able to describe the following experience
(as narrated to us in 1975):
"Two persons caught me and took me with them. I felt tired after walking
some distance; they started to drag me. My feet became useless. There
was a man sitting up. He looked dreadful and was all black. He was not
wearing any clothes. He said in a rage [to the attendants who had
brought Vasudev] "I had asked you to bring Vasudev the gardener. Our
garden is drying up. You have brought Vasudev the student." When I
regained consciousness, Vasudev the gardener was standing in front of me
[apparently in the crowd of family and servants who had gathered around
the bed of the ostensibly dead Vasudev]. He was hale and hearty. People
started teasing him saying, "Now it is your turn." He seemed to sleep
well in the night, but the next morning he was dead."
In reply to questions about details, Vasudev said that the "black man"
had a club and used foul language. Vasudev identified him as Yamraj, the
Hindu god of the dead. He said that he was "brought back" by the same
two men who had taken him to Yamraj in the first place. Vasudev's mother
(who had died before the time of the interview) had been a
pious woman who read scriptures that included descriptions of Yamraj.
Vasudev, even as a boy before his near-death experience, was quite
familiar with Yamraj.
Durga Jatav
Durga Jatav, a man approximately 50 years old, was interviewed in
November, 1979, and again 3 months later. About 30 years before, he had
been ill for several weeks, suffering from what had been diagnosed as
typhoid. When his body "became cold" for a couple of hours, his family
thought he had died. He revived, however, and on the third day following
this he told his family he had been taken to another place by 10 people.
He had tried to escape, but they had then cut off his legs at the knees
to prevent his escape. He was taken to a place where there were tables
and chairs and 40 or 50 people sitting. He recognized no one. They
looked at his "papers," saw that his name was not on their list, and
said, "Why have you brought him here? Take him back." To this Durga had
replied, "How can I go back? I don't have feet." He was then shown
several pairs of legs, he recognized his own, and they were somehow
reattached. He was then sent back with the instructions not to "stretch"
(bend?) his knees so that they could mend. (Durga's older
sister, who was also interviewed, corroborated his account of his
apparent death and revival.)
Durga's sister and a neighbor noticed a few days after he revived that
marks had appeared on his knees; there had previously been no such marks
there. These folds, or deep fissures, in the skin on the front of
Durga's knees were still visible in 1979. There was no bleeding or pain
in the knees other than the discomfort engendered by Durga's following
the "instructions" to keep his knees in a fixed position. X-ray
photographs that we had taken in 1981 showed no abnormality below the
surface of the skin.
Durga had not heard of such experiences before his own near-death
experience. He did not see his physical body from some other position in
space. He said that afterward the experience seemed like a dream;
nevertheless, he claimed that it had strengthened his faith in God.
One informant for this case (the headman of the village where Durga
lived)
said that at the time of Durga's experience another person by the
same name had died in Agra
(about 30 km away); however, neither Durga nor his older
sister were able to confirm this statement.
Chhajju Bania
Chhajju Bania was interviewed in 1981, at which time he was about 40
years old. His near-death experience had occurred some 6 years earlier.
He became ill with fever and his condition deteriorated until he was
thought to have died, at which time his relatives began preparing his
body for cremation. However, he revived, and he gave the following
account of his experience as he remembered it afterward:
"Four black messengers came and held me. I asked, "Where are you taking
me?" They took me and seated me near the god. My body had become small.
There was an old lady sitting there. She had a pen in her hand, and the
clerks had a heap of books in front of them. I was summoned ... One of
the clerks said, "We don't need Chhajju Bania (trader). We had
asked for Chhajju Kumhar
(potter). Push him back and bring the other man. He (meaning
Chhajju Bania) has some life remaining." I asked the clerks to give
me some work to do, but not to send me back. Yamraj was there sitting on
a high chair with a white beard and wearing yellow clothes. He asked me,
"What do you want?" I told him that I wanted to stay there. He asked me
to extend my hand. I don't remember whether he gave me something or not.
Then I was pushed down [and revived]."
Chhajju mentioned that he later learned that a person called Chhajju
Kumhar had died at about the same time that he
(Chhajju Bania) revived. He said that his behavior had
changed following his near-death experience, particularly in the
direction of his becoming more honest.
Chhajju's wife, Saroj, remembered her husband's experience, but her
account of what he told her about the near-death experience differed in
some details from his statement. For example, she said he had told her
(about reviving) that at the place to which the four men had
taken him there "was a man with a beard with lots of papers in front of
him"
(not an old lady). The bearded man said, "It is not his turn.
Bring Chhajju Kori
(a weaver)" (Not Chhajju Kumhar). Other discrepancies
between the two accounts concerned unimportant details. Saroj remembered
her husband telling her that he had not wanted to leave "there" and that
he had been "pushed down" before he revived.
Mangal Singh
Mangal Singh was interviewed in March, 1983, when he was 79 years old.
He described his near-death experience, which had occurred approximately
5 or 6 years earlier. Unlike most subjects who have had near-death
experiences, he was not ill at the time, or did not consider himself to
be so. He gave the following description of his experience:
"I was lying down on a cot when two people came, lifted me up, and took
me along. I heard a hissing sound, but I couldn't see anything. Then I
came to a gate. There was grass, and the ground seemed to be sloping. A
man was there, and he reprimanded the men who had brought me, "Why have
you brought the wrong person? Why have you not brought the man you had
been sent for?" The two men [who had brought Mangal] ran away, and the
senior man said, "You go back." Suddenly I saw two big pots of boiling
water, although there was no fire, no firewood, and no fireplace. Then
the man pushed me with his hand and said, "You had better hurry up and
go back." When he touched me, I suddenly became aware of how hot his
hand was. Then I realized why the pots were boiling. The heat was coming
from his hands. Suddenly I regained consciousness, and I had a severe
burning sensation in my left arm."
The area developed the appearance of a boil. Mangal showed it to a
doctor who applied some ointment. The area healed within 3 days but left
a residual mark on the left arm, which was examined.
In response to questions, Mangal said that he thought that he might have
been sleeping at the time of the experience, but he was not sure of
this. He was unable to describe the appearance of the persons figuring
in the experience. It seemed to be less visual than auditory and
tactile. He did remember that the senior "official" had picked up a
lathi
(a heavy Indian staff) with which he intended to beat the
lesser "employees" before they ran away. Another person had died in the
locality at or about the time he revived, but Mangal and his family made
no inquires about the suddenness of this person's death and did not even
learn his name.
An Analysis of Hindu NDEs
The Hindu near-death experiences profiled here are typical of the cases
studied in India by researchers Satwant Pasricha and Ian Stevenson. The
subject does not view his or her physical body, as do many subjects of
western near-death experience cases. Instead the subject is taken in
hand by "messengers" and brought before a man or woman who is often
described as having a book or papers that he or she consults. A mistake
is discovered. The wrong person has been "sent for," and this person is
then brought back by the messengers to his or her terrestrial life; or
the subject is "pushed down" and revives. The error supposedly made is
often a slight one, as a person of the same given name but a different
caste, or someone living in a different but nearby village, should have
died and been brought instead of the subject of the near-death
experience. In six of their cases, the informants said that another
"correct" person
(corresponding to the subject's information from the "next world")
did, in fact, die at about the time the subject revived; but the
researchers did not verify those deaths.
In contrast, subjects of western near-death experiences usually give no
reason
(in psychological terms) for their recovery; if they do give
one they may say that they revived because they decided to return of
their own accord, often because of love for living members of their
family. Sometimes they are "sent back" by deceased persons who tell them
their "time has not yet come." Indian subjects sometimes report meeting
relatives and friends in the "other realm" in which they find
themselves, but these persons have nothing to do or say about the
prematurity of the subject's death and a need for him or her to continue
living. The idea of prematurity of death, or "your time has not yet
come," occurs in the cases of both cultures; but the persons involved in
sending the NDEr "back to life" differ.
All in all, researchers Pasricha and Stevenson uncovered 16 accounts of
near-death experiences in India. Later research by Pasricha documented
another 29 near-death experiences by people living in India.
A comparison of Hindu near-death experiences with western accounts
reveals the following:
(1) In 45 Hindu near-death accounts, Pasrich and
Stevenson found no evidence of a tunnel experience which is frequently
found in western accounts of the near-death experience. However, another
near-death researcher,
Susan Blackmore, has
reported accounts of a tunnel experience in her research of 8 Hindu
near-death experiencers.
(2) Only one account contained an out-of-body experience, which is
another aspect that is frequently found in western accounts.
Osis and Haraldsson did
find several accounts of out-of-body experience in the Indian near-death
experiences they researched.
(3) Consistent with western accounts, some Hindu near-death
accounts included a life review. However, whereas in western accounts
the life review often consist of seeing a panoramic view of a person's
entire life, Hindu accounts consists of having someone read the record
of the dying person's life
(called the "akashic
record"). In Christian circles, this is equivalent to reading
from the "Book of
Life" as known from Christian doctrine of the resurrection. In Hindu
circles, it is a traditional belief that the reading of a person's
akashic record occurs immediately after death and this concept is widely
believed by Hindus all over India. However, the panoramic life review,
which is commonly mentioned in western accounts, does not appear in
accounts from India.
(4) As in western accounts, Hindu near-death accounts sometimes
describe the meeting of religious deities and deceased loved ones.
Near-death researchers, Karlis Osis and Erlendur Haraldsson, documented
the first major accounts of near-death experiences in India. In their
interviews with 704 people living in India about their near-death
experiences, 64 accounts of near-death experiences came to the surface.
The remaining accounts had to do with death-bed visions.
Hindu Afterlife Beliefs
 The
Upanishads, the ancient set of Hindu religious texts, postulated an
eternal, changeless core of the self called as the "Atman." This soul or
"deep self" was viewed as being identical with the unchanging godhead,
referred to as Brahma
(the unitary ground of being that transcends particular gods and
goddesses). Untouched by the variations of time and circumstance,
the Atman was nevertheless entrapped in the world of "samsara"
(the cycle of death and rebirth). Unlike Western treatments of
reincarnation, which tend to make the idea of coming back into body
after body seem exotic, desirable, and even romantic, Hinduism,
Buddhism, and other southern Asian religions portray the samsaric
process as unhappy. Life in this world means suffering.
What keeps us trapped in the samsaric cycle is the law of karma. In its
simplest form, this law operates impersonally like a natural law,
ensuring that every good or bad deed eventually returns to the
individual in the form of reward or punishment commensurate with the
original deed. It is the necessity of "reaping one's karma" that compels
human beings to take rebirth
(to reincarnate) in successive lifetimes. In other words, if
one dies before reaping the effects of one's actions
(as most people do), the karmic process demands that one come
back in a future life. Coming back in another lifetime also allows
karmic forces to reward or punish one through the circumstances to which
one is born. Hence, for example, an individual who was generous in one
lifetime might be reborn as a wealthy person in the next incarnation.
"Moksha" is the traditional Sanskrit term for release or liberation
from the endless chain of deaths and rebirths. In the southern Asian
religious tradition, it represents the supreme goal of human strivings.
Reflecting the diversity of Hinduism, liberation can be attained in a
variety of ways, from the proper performance of certain rituals to
highly disciplined forms of yoga. In the Upanishads, it is proper
knowledge, in the sense of insight into the nature of reality, that
enables the aspiring seeker to achieve liberation from the wheel of
rebirth.
What happens to the individual after reaching moksha? In Upanishadic
Hinduism, the individual Atman is believed to merge into the cosmic
Brahma. A traditional image is that of a drop of water that, when
dropped into the ocean, loses its individuality and becomes one with the
sea. Although widespread, this metaphor does not quite capture the
significance of this merger. Rather than losing one's individuality, the
Upanishadic understanding is that the Atman is never separate from
Brahma; hence, individuality is illusory, and moksha is simply waking up
from the dream of separateness.
The most that the classical texts of Hinduism say about the state of one
who has merged with the godhead is that the person has become one with
pure "beingness," consciousness, and bliss. From the perspective of
world-affirming Western society, such a static afterlife appears
distinctly undesirable.
Beginning at least several centuries B.C., devotionalism rejected the
impersonalism of both the ritual strategy of Vedism and the intellectual
emphasis of the Upanishads. Instead, God was approached as a personal,
supremely loving deity who would respond to devotional worship. The
afterlife in devotional theism is not the static, abstract bliss of
merging into the ocean of Brahma. Rather, the devotional tradition views
the liberated soul as participating in a blissful round of devotional
activities in a heaven world that is comparable, in certain respects, to
the heaven of Western religions.
Along with heaven realms, Hinduism also developed notions of hell worlds
in which exceptionally sinful individuals were punished. Many of the
torments of Hindu hell worlds, such as being tortured by demons,
resemble the torments of more familiar Western hells. Unlike Western
hells, however, Hindu hell worlds are not final dwelling places. They
are more like purgatories in which sinful souls experience suffering for
a limited term. After the term is over, even the most evil person is
turned out of hell to once again participate in the cycle of
reincarnation.
Painting © The
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.
www.harekrishna.com.
Used with permission. |
