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.

Aga Aga Mhashi

There is an old rhyme in Marathi, ` Aga Aga Mhashi, Mala kuthe neshi..!' which can be roughly rendered as ` O my buffalo where are you taking me?!'. These lofty words, it is believed, were uttered by a great Man in Our Village, who blamed his buffalo for taking him where he was going because he had held on to her. In my case, the buffalo is my Good Old Asthma and see where is it taking me. It took me to Sai Mandir, Valsad daily at 5.30 in morning on my bicycle when I was studying in eleventh , way back in 1989. I did ` Alni Upwas' or Hindu method of fasting by eating things that dont have salt in them.I watered Tulsi, chanted Hanuman Chalisa and Gayatri Mantra, practised pranayama in the early nineties with a desperate hope that a miracle may happen and the disease may vanish. All this was done on the recommendation of the late Mr. Ram Sathye, a local holyman whom people called `prabhu'. Nothing worked. Prabhu is in his heaven and Sachin's asthma is deteriorating.

Later, the Great Man of Valsad ( that's me) gave a shot to more or less bizarre things- swallowing Hyderabadi Fish, homeopathic pills, ayurvedic powders and also psychiatric councelling. The respected counceller believes that I am being unnecessarily fussy about asthma. Asthmatic ki gat Asthmatic jaane.

And tell you what, tommorow I am headed for Dr. Newton's workshop on Past Life Therapy!


Who know it may reveal that in my past livee I was choked, strangulated, drowned or decapitated and this experience may be the reason for my choking in this life.

Why all of a sudden, are you headed for this bizarre new thing now Mr. Ketkar? Hope, my dear friends, hope. This buffalo is taking me places.

One of the factors that has influenced me is Dr Brian Weiss, whose books have whetted my curiosity.

But more important reason behind trying these things is probably not what many people would understand. Only poets can understand these things. If I could access my past lives, I would have more maal masala for my poetry and fiction! Being a poet has these occupational hazards, folks.