Rebirth: A Reality07

Rebirth: A Reality

“This house is not mine. My home is in Mathura, where my husband owns a garment shop. He is one of the richest persons of the city.”- when the four year old Shanti Devi began saying things like this to her mother, she thought that her daughter had learnt something from her friends while playing. Although she felt strange that how such a small girl could have such information about some other city and how does she know about the owner of a garment shop, but she didn’t took the matter seriously. Shanti Devi was born on December, 11, 1926 at Delhi. Since childhood, she liked solitude. This was the first occasion, when she spoke so much to her mother.

Some days later, this incident occurred again, but in a different way. Shanti Devi then refused to consume the non-vegetarian food cooked at her home saying that the food was not pure. She elaborated - “I am a vegetarian and only vegetarian food is cooked at my home at Mathura.” After this incident, her parents began preferring vegetarian food. However, they realized that their daughter had something unusual.

Finding no solution to their problem, eventually, they took the matter to the principal of the school where Shanti Devi was studying. By this time, Shanti Devi had already completed eight years of her life and her revelations had begun becoming the subject of discussion in her neighborhood. The principal apprehended that some fellow students of her class were misleading her and that was why she was uttering all that. Upon investigation, he found that she conversed with only few pupils and told them - “I am already married and a married woman does not converse with others unnecessarily.”

This made the principal curious and he called Shanti Devi and talked to her in isolation. Making her comfortable, he asked her about her Mathura connection. Once she trusted the principal, she told him that her husband’s name was Pandit Kedarnath Choubey and he belonged to a prosperous Brahman family of Mathura. The inquisitive principal wanted to verify the facts. He wrote a letter addressed to Pt. Choubey, in which he mentioned - “One of my students, Shanti Devi, daughter of Mr. Rang Bahadur Mathur, a resident of Delhi, claims that she was your wife, Lugdi Devi in her previous birth. This letter is not meant to tease you, but if this description is true, then kindly contact me.”

The principal of Raneja School, Lala Kishanchod, had not even imagined that such a weird letter, on which even the address of the receiver was

26 “God [is] the author of the universe, and the free establisher of the laws of motion.” – Physicist and chemist Robert Boyle

Akhand Jyoti November - December 2014

not written properly, would get a reply. But, destiny had its own plan. After some weeks, he received a letter from Pt. Choubey, in which he confirmed all the details mentioned. Indeed, he expressed intense desire to meet Shanti Devi so that he could establish the authenticity of the case. He sent the letter with his cousin, so that he could analyze the matter. When Shanti Devi met him, she not only recognized him, but even addressed him with his nick name.

Now it was the turn of Pt. Choubey’s brother to get excited. He called his brother to Delhi immediately. By then, Pt. Choubey had married again. He arrived at Delhi with his second wife and the son of his first wife, Lugdi Devi, which Shanti Devi described as hers in the previous birth. When they reached Mathur’s house, Shanti Devi was out to school, so they planned a drama to reach the truth.

Pt. Choubey decided to introduce himself as his elder brother. However, to everyone’s surprise, when Shanti Devi came, she recognized him, touched his feet, lowered her head and receded to a corner of the room timidly. Then, she embraced the ten-year old boy, who accompanied them and cried with delight. She rushed to her room, brought all her toys, gave them to Navneet and said - “Your mother is giving you these toys, take all of them.” This incident touched the hearts of everyone present in the room, their suspicion turned into trust. Shanti Devi slowly asked Pt. Choubey - “You promised me that you won’t marry again after my death, then why did you break your promise?” Choubey was startled, as this was a secret between him and his wife, Lugdi Devi. The doubt was completely removed. Everyone began believing that Shanti Devi was the wife of Pt. Choubey in her previous birth.

This news spread swiftly to the whole nation. When the newspaper daily ‘Indian Express’ published the story, the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi himself went to Delhi to meet Shanti Devi. He even constituted a high level committee to investigate the matter and present their views. On his instructions, a fifteen-member committee arrived at Mathura on November, 24, 1934. A crowd of thousands had flocked at the Mathura station to witness the event. The committee had brought Shanti Devi also so that the whole matter could be analyzed impartially.

The committee was astonished when she recognized and greeted the elder brother of Pt. Choubey, who was standing amidst the huge crowd. On reaching her home, she expressed her surprise and said that the color of the house had changed. The relatives of Lugdi Devi confirmed the fact and revealed that the house was painted in a new color after her death. Not only she described correctly every big and small thing of her house, but even took the group to the house of the parents of Lugdi Devi and embraced her mother. Their emotional meeting touched the hearts of all and the committee had no option but to declare that Shanti Devi was actually Lugdi Devi in her previous birth. Later, Shanti Devi remained unmarried for her whole life, as she had promised to Pt. Choubey. She left her mortal body in 1988.

“It may seem bizarre, but in my opinion science offers a surer path to God than religion.” – Physicist, Paul Davies

Akhand Jyoti November - December 2014

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The case of Shantidevi is one such example, which compels even the most suspicious mind to believe in the concept of re-birth. Numerous such cases are found, not only in India, but all around the globe, in which people not only retained the memories of their previous births, but upon investigation, their claims were found to be true. Most of these cases revealed that such memories are more pronounced in people who lost their previous lives in either accidents or in a painful state.

Astro-psychologists explain this as follows: when a person leaves his mortal body in pain, he reaches such an intense emotional state that he becomes unaware of the events which occur during his sojourn from one body to another. Consequently, he takes the memories of his previous life to the next, which is an unusual situation. Such examples have been collected and published by many experts, not only in India, but worldwide, which reasserts the Indian concept of re-birth.

This concept has been an indispensible part of Indian philosophy and it has been repeatedly mentioned in our sacred scriptures. The Vedic literature has envisaged this concept long back, which is today revealed by the modern astropsychologists.

Ved Vyasa, the author of the great epic Mahabharata, has declared in its Shanti Parva: “Those who die suddenly attain a new life soon and even retain the memories of their past birth for some time. This fades away, as they grow up, in the same way, as a dream is forgotten after a while.” The concept of re-birth not only reveals the to-and-fro movement of souls, but elucidates an important philosophy, which is a peculiar feature of the Indian way of thinking. According to this philosophy, the world is a system created by one’s own actions. Other religions, faiths, sects and metaphysical systems have not been able to perceive the world in such a holistic manner. The Indian thinkers believe that re-birth is not the mere process of movement of souls, but is a self-sustaining system, through which people get the fruits of good and bad actions they do.

Science may have a different opinion. However, the truth remains that if this system had not existed, there would have been no other way through which one could get the fruits of his actions. If souls had to take only a single body, then there would have been no mechanism through which they could have reaped the fruits of their actions. The concept of re-birth strengthens the ‘law of karma’. If the consequence of good and bad deeds is not obtained, then immorality would prevail in the whole world and ethics and morality would turn into impractical idealism. Then, the wicked and the insolent would rule the roost and the noble and righteous would suffer. Thus, the Almighty, the ultimate source of morality, determined the system of re-birth, so that man could act righteously and prudently and maintain the glory of human life, which is a precious gift to him.

“If you study science deep enough and long enough, it will force you to believe in God.” – Lord William Kelvin 28 Akhand Jyoti November - December 2014