Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Headed to the source of life....

I have just returned from my swimming lessons. I resumed swimming which I left a year ago, thanks to viral infection. Working slowly on increasing my stamina and hands-feet co-ordination, and yes the most tough probably- breath control. Completed two years probation in the University and awaiting my confirmation and slowing getting hang of how things work or dont work here. Had too many administrative and non-academic duties, and that affected my academic pursuits- reading and writing and researching for instance. Psychotherapy and asthma continues but this year was relatively better than the previous year, touch wood. Got computers and toilets in working condition for our dept building. Hoping that the next year will be even better

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Many Lives of Sachin Ketkar

What happened to Sachin after he followed his buffalo? Well he attened the Past Life Regression Workshop of Dr. Newton Kondaveti on April 19 and 20 and had some glimpses of what seemed to be his past lives. In the session on traumatic past life regression, I had a particularly vivid experience. After entering a relaxed state, when the doctor suggested to him to go to the `source of his problem', which for him meant Asthma, he had visions of someone who looked like an eighteenth century Chinese peasant being executed in rather gruesome manner by the royal soilders, They flogged him and took him into an open space, made him lie on his back on a platform and slashed his throat. The poor chap, probably me, couldnt even scream. I felt a gush of anger at why I was being killed in this horrible way and a gush of sorrow at why they are doing this to me. I couldnt express this anger and sorrow. Dr. Laxmi, Dr. Newton's wife asked me if I had problems of expressing and dealing with my feelings of anger and sorrow. Of course, I said. When I introspected deeply later into my own emotional make up, I could feel a great amount of guilt that I have suppressed over the years. Guilt, after all is a form of anger which is directed to one's self. I have always choked my self on my rage, grief and the feeling of helplessness. Later the doctors' suggested to `relieve' the memory, I found that emotionally I was not in physical pain but the feelings of anger and grief overwhelmed me. I `floated' above the vision after asking the `higher spirits' to heal me and saw my beheaded body being dumpted outside the city, which on later research resembled ` the Forbidden City', along with my head.

In other sessions, I visioned an old priest, probably a Hindu priest, dressed in orange garments of sadhus living and dying in peace. But the temple which on first site resembled the Konark Temple which I had just visited, was a far more taller and squarer brick construction, which I could not identify.

Using a Brian Weiss audio file for self regression at home, I once ended up in an Arabian desert dressed as a Beduoin.

Skeptics say that these experiences are fantasies, `confabulations' and `false memories' and the defenders say that what matters is that if they have healing potential then why worry about what these experiences really are. If it works as a therapy, they why really care if they are `false memories' and `fantasises'.

For one thing, it is difficult to prove rebirth `scientifically'. But then you cant establish many things `scientifically'. The experiences are so `subjective' that you cannot really establish anything on the basis of these subjective experiences.
Do I believe in these things? Yes, I think that these things do have something in them. If I had to fantasize, I would have dreamt of being Alexander the Great or Akbar and would have dreamt of more peaceful ways of dying than the ones I visualized. Why should I see a poor chinese peasant who is butchered for no apparent reason?

And please expect more on PLR on this blog, because I have really taken it up and want to get to the bottom of this thing.