Friday, May 23, 2014

Mayan mathematics



Hernán Cortés, excited by stories of the lands which Columbus had recently discovered, sailed from Spain in 1505 landing in Hispaniola which is now Santo Domingo. After farming there for some years he sailed with Velázquez to conquer Cuba in 1511. He was twice elected major of Santiago then, on 18 February 1519, he sailed for the coast of Yucatán with a force of 11 ships, 508 soldiers, 100 sailors, and 16 horses. He landed at Tabasco on the northern coast of the Yucatán peninsular. He met with little resistance from the local population and they presented him with presents including twenty girls. He married Malinche, one of these girls.
The people of the Yucatán peninsular were descendants of the ancient Mayan civilisation which had been in decline from about 900 AD. It is the mathematical achievements of this civilisation which we are concerned with in this article. However, before describing these, we should note that Cortés went on to conquer the Aztec peoples of Mexico. He captured Tenochtitlán before the end of 1519 (the city was rebuilt as Mexico City in 1521) and the Aztec empire fell to Cortés before the end of 1521. Malinche, who acted as interpreter for Cortés, played an important role in his ventures.
In order to understand how knowledge of the Mayan people has reached us we must consider another Spanish character in this story, namely Diego de Landa. He joined the Franciscan Order in 1541 when about 17 years old and requested that he be sent to the New World as a missionary. Landa helped the Mayan peoples in the Yucatán peninsular and generally tried his best to protect them from their new Spanish masters. He visited the ruins of the great cities of the Mayan civilisation and learnt from the people about their customs and history.
However, despite being sympathetic to the Mayan people, Landa abhorred their religious practices. To the devote Christian that Landa was, the Mayan religion with its icons and the Mayan texts written in hieroglyphics appeared like the work of the devil. He ordered all Mayan idols be destroyed and all Mayan books be burned. Landa seems to have been surprised at the distress this caused the Mayans.
Nobody can quite understand Landa's feelings but perhaps he regretted his actions or perhaps he tried to justify them. Certainly what he then did was to write a book Relación de las cosas de Yucatán (1566) which describes the hieroglyphics, customs, temples, religious practices and history of the Mayans which his own actions had done so much to eradicate. The book was lost for many years but rediscovered in Madrid three hundred years later in 1869.
A small number of Mayan documents survived destruction by Landa. The most important are: the Dresden Codex now kept in the Sächsische Landesbibliothek Dresden; the Madrid Codex now kept in the American Museum in Madrid; and the Paris Codex now in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris. The Dresden Codex is a treatise on astronomy, thought to have been copied in the eleventh century AD from an original document dating from the seventh or eighth centuries AD.


The Dresden codex:

Knowledge of the Mayan civilisation has been greatly increased in the last thirty years (see for example [3] and [8]). Modern techniques such as high resolution radar images, aerial photography and satellite images have changed conceptions of the Maya civilisation. We are interested in the Classic Period of the Maya which spans the period 250 AD to 900 AD, but this classic period was built on top of a civilisation which had lived in the region from about 2000 BC.
The Maya of the Classic Period built large cities, around fifteen have been identified in the Yucatán peninsular, with recent estimates of the population of the city of Tikal in the Southern Lowlands being around 50000 at its peak. Tikal is probably the largest of the cities and recent studies have identified about 3000 separate constructions including temples, palaces, shrines, wood and thatch houses, terraces, causeways, plazas and huge reservoirs for storing rainwater. The rulers were astronomer priests who lived in the cities who controlled the people with their religious instructions. Farming with sophisticated raised fields and irrigation systems provided the food to support the population.
A common culture, calendar, and mythology held the civilisation together and astronomy played an important part in the religion which underlay the whole life of the people. Of course astronomy and calendar calculations require mathematics and indeed the Maya constructed a very sophisticated number system. We do not know the date of these mathematical achievements but it seems certain that when the system was devised it contained features which were more advanced than any other in the world at the time.
The Maya number system was a base twenty system.

Here are the Mayan numerals.
Almost certainly the reason for base 20 arose from ancient people who counted on both their fingers and their toes. Although it was a base 20 system, called a vigesimal system, one can see how five plays a major role, again clearly relating to five fingers and toes. In fact it is worth noting that although the system is base 20 it only has three number symbols (perhaps the unit symbol arising from a pebble and the line symbol from a stick used in counting). Often people say how impossible it would be to have a number system to a large base since it would involve remembering so many special symbols. This shows how people are conditioned by the system they use and can only see variants of the number system in close analogy with the one with which they are familiar. Surprising and advanced features of the Mayan number system are the zero, denoted by a shell for reasons we cannot explain, and the positional nature of the system. However, the system was not a truly positional system as we shall now explain.
In a true base twenty system the first number would denote the number of units up to 19, the next would denote the number of 20's up to 19, the next the number of 400's up to 19, etc. However although the Maya number system starts this way with the units up to 19 and the 20's up to 19, it changes in the third place and this denotes the number of 360's up to 19 instead of the number of 400's. After this the system reverts to multiples of 20 so the fourth place is the number of 18 × 202, the next the number of 18 × 203 and so on. For example [ 8;14;3;1;12 ] represents
12 + 1 × 20 + 3 × 18 × 20 + 14 × 18 × 202 + 8 × 18 × 203 = 1253912.

As a second example [ 9;8;9;13;0 ] represents
0 + 13 × 20 + 9 × 18 × 20 + 8 × 18 × 202 + 9 × 18 × 203 =1357100.

Both these examples are found in the ruins of Mayan towns and we shall explain their significance below.
Now the system we have just described is used in the Dresden Codex and it is the only system for which we have any written evidence. In [4] Ifrah argues that the number system we have just introduced was the system of the Mayan priests and astronomers which they used for astronomical and calendar calculations. This is undoubtedly the case and that it was used in this way explains some of the irregularities in the system as we shall see below. It was the system used for calendars. However Ifrah also argues for a second truly base 20 system which would have been used by the merchants and was the number system which would also have been used in speech. This, he claims had a circle or dot (coming from a cocoa bean currency according to some, or a pebble used for counting according to others) as its unity, a horizontal bar for 5 and special symbols for 20, 400, 8000 etc. Ifrah writes [4]:-
Even though no trace of it remains, we can reasonably assume that the Maya had a number system of this kind, and that intermediate numbers were figured by repeating the signs as many times as was needed.

Let us say a little about the Maya calendar before returning to their number systems, for the calendar was behind the structure of the number system. Of course, there was also an influence in the other direction, and the base of the number system 20 played a major role in the structure of the calendar.
The Maya had two calendars. One of these was a ritual calendar, known as the Tzolkin, composed of 260 days. It contained 13 "months" of 20 days each, the months being named after 13 gods while the twenty days were numbered from 0 to 19. The second calendar was a 365-day civil calendar called the Haab. This calendar consisted of 18 months, named after agricultural or religious events, each with 20 days (again numbered 0 to 19) and a short "month" of only 5 days that was called the Wayeb. The Wayeb was considered an unlucky period and Landa wrote in his classic text that the Maya did not wash, comb their hair or do any hard work during these five days. Anyone born during these days would have bad luck and remain poor and unhappy all their lives.
Why then was the ritual calendar based on 260 days? This is a question to which we have no satisfactory answer. One suggestion is that since the Maya lived in the tropics the sun was directly overhead twice every year. Perhaps they measured 260 days and 105 days as the successive periods between the sun being directly overhead (the fact that this is true for the Yucatán peninsular cannot be taken to prove this theory). A second theory is that the Maya had 13 gods of the "upper world", and 20 was the number of a man, so giving each god a 20 day month gave a ritual calendar of 260 days.
At any rate having two calendars, one with 260 days and the other with 365 days, meant that the two would calendars would return to the same cycle after lcm(260, 365) = 18980 days. Now this is after 52 civil years (or 73 ritual years) and indeed the Maya had a sacred cycle consisting of 52 years. Another major player in the calendar was the planet Venus. The Mayan astronomers calculated its synodic period (after which it has returned to the same position) as 584 days. Now after only two of the 52 years cycles Venus will have made 65 revolutions and also be back to the same position. This remarkable coincidence would have meant great celebrations by the Maya every 104 years.
Now there was a third way that the Mayan people had of measuring time which was not strictly a calendar. It was an absolute timescale which was based on a creation date and time was measured forward from this. What date was the Mayan creation date? The date most often taken is 12 August 3113 BC but we should say straightaway that not all historians agree that this was the zero of this so-called "Long Count". Now one might expect that this measurement of time would either give the number of ritual calendar years since creation or the number of civil calendar years since creation. However it does neither.
The Long Count is based on a year of 360 days, or perhaps it is more accurate to say that it is just a count of days with then numbers represented in the Mayan number system. Now we see the probable reason for the departure of the number system from a true base 20 system. It was so that the system approximately represented years. Many inscriptions are found in the Mayan towns which give the date of erection in terms of this long count. Consider the two examples of Mayan numbers given above. The first
[ 8;14;3;1;12 ]

is the date given on a plate which came from the town of Tikal. It translates to
12 + 1 × 20 + 3 × 18 × 20 + 14 × 18 × 202 + 8 × 18 × 203

which is 1253912 days from the creation date of 12 August 3113 BC so the plate was carved in 320 AD.
The second example
[ 9;8;9;13;0 ]

is the completion date on a building in Palenque in Tabasco, near the landing site of Cortés. It translates to
0 + 13 × 20 + 9 × 18 × 20 + 8 × 18 × 202 + 9 × 18 × 203

which is 1357100 days from the creation date of 12 August 3113 BC so the building was completed in 603 AD.
We should note some properties (or more strictly non-properties) of the Mayan number system. The Mayans appear to have had no concept of a fraction but, as we shall see below, they were still able to make remarkably accurate astronomical measurements. Also since the Mayan numbers were not a true positional base 20 system, it fails to have the nice mathematical properties that we expect of a positional system. For example
[ 9;8;9;13;0 ] = 0 + 13 × 20 + 9 × 18 × 20 + 8 × 18 × 202 + 9 × 18 × 203 = 1357100

yet
[ 9;8;9;13 ] = 13 + 9 × 20 + 8 × 18 × 20 + 9 × 18 × 202 = 67873.

Moving all the numbers one place left would multiply the number by 20 in a true base 20 positional system yet 20 × 67873 = 1357460 which is not equal to 1357100. For when we multiple [ 9;8;9;13 ] by 20 we get 9 × 400 where in [ 9;8;9;13;0 ] we have 9 × 360.
We should also note that the Mayans almost certainly did not have methods of multiplication for their numbers and definitely did not use division of numbers. Yet the Mayan number system is certainly capable of being used for the operations of multiplication and division as the authors of [15] demonstrate.
Finally we should say a little about the Mayan advances in astronomy. Rodriguez writes in [19]:-
The Mayan concern for understanding the cycles of celestial bodies, particularly the Sun, the Moon and Venus, led them to accumulate a large set of highly accurate observations. An important aspect of their cosmology was the search for major cycles, in which the position of several objects repeated.

The Mayans carried out astronomical measurements with remarkable accuracy yet they had no instruments other than sticks. They used two sticks in the form of a cross, viewing astronomical objects through the right angle formed by the sticks. The Caracol building in Chichén Itza is thought by many to be a Mayan observatory. Many of the windows of the building are positioned to line up with significant lines of sight such as that of the setting sun on the spring equinox of 21 March and also certain lines of sight relating to the moon.


The Caracol building in Chichén Itza:

With such crude instruments the Maya were able to calculate the length of the year to be 365.242 days (the modern value is 365.242198 days). Two further remarkable calculations are of the length of the lunar month. At Copán (now on the border between Honduras and Guatemala) the Mayan astronomers found that 149 lunar months lasted 4400 days. This gives 29.5302 days as the length of the lunar month. At Palenque in Tabasco they calculated that 81 lunar months lasted 2392 days. This gives 29.5308 days as the length of the lunar month. The modern value is 29.53059 days. Was this not a remarkable achievement?
There are, however, very few other mathematical achievements of the Maya. Groemer [14] describes seven types of frieze ornaments occurring on Mayan buildings from the period 600 AD to 900 AD in the Puuc region of the Yucatán. This area includes the ruins at Kabah and Labna. Groemer gives twenty-five illustrations of friezes which show Mayan inventiveness and geometric intuition in such architectural decorations.
References (26 books/articles) Other Web sites:
  1. Kevin Brown (Mayan numeration)
  2. Rhonda Robinson (Mayan numbers)
  3. Mayan World Study Center (Mayan Mathematics)
  4. Mayan World Study Center (The Mayan calendar)
  5. Michiel Berger (Mayan Astronomy)
  6. B and V Böhm(The Dresden codex)

Article by: J J O'Connor and E F Robertson

VEDIC/INDIAN MATH-ORIGINATOIR OF MATH,COMPUTER.

Click below for vedic math project done by UK-
HISTORY OF VEDIC MATH

Mathmatician born in India-
List of Mathmetician in old Indian country




Wednesday, May 21, 2014

WHY BUDDHISM ELOPED FROM INDIA AND LIMITED TO OTHER THAN IN INDIA.

Fake theory of persecution of Buddhists in India  by Brahmins,Hindus.
Infact this article will dwell deep in to history of India during Great Ashoka and how clinging to Buddhism changed great formidable India to low weak India,which was not able to protect itself because of teachings of Buddhism and Jainism. Ashoka lost his economically mega empire to his grandson because he spread wealth in Buddhist Temples which was just a place for people who did not do any good to society,lost KARMA and later DHARMA and thus lost empire to Mommedanianas force. If you read this researched article-you will definitely rethink if Buddhism was good for India or not and if Buddhism is a reason for India's plight and weakness till today.
(This is a Research article to explode the myth of Fake theory of persecution of Buddhists in India)

Recently a new trend is being noticed in the literary circles particularly amongst the camp followers of Dr.Ambedkar that the Buddhism disappeared in ancient India due to persecution by the Hindus. This camp especially holds Brahmins as responsible for almost extinction of Buddhist tradition from this country. In this regard, Pushyamitra Shung, the Brahmin chieftain of Buddhist King Brihadratha who was also the founder of Shung dynasty is commonly targeted as the destroyer of several Buddhist stupas and killer of thousands of head shaven Buddhist monks.

The myth of religious persecution of Buddhism in India has been is rejected by Rhys Davids[i] who is considered as the grand authority on Buddhism. Renowned Historian Vincent Smith also rejects this assumption that Buddhism had been extinguished by the storm of Brahman Persecution. He considers this as false explanation[ii]. Most important Hiuen Tsang, during his visit to India does not mention any persecution against Jains and Buddhists[iii] but according to Sir Alexander Cunningham both Fa Hian and Hian Tsang noticed decline of Buddhism during their visits in India.

The fact of the matter is that Buddhism disappeared from the land of its origin due to various other important reasons:

1. Decline of moral values and ignoring the teachings of Lord Buddha by the followers especially of the Vajrayana sect of Buddhism.

2. Loss of patronage from the ruling class.

3. External attacks of Islamic invaders.

4. Consolidation of Brahmanical Hindus.


The basic teachings of Buddhism are based on Truth, Non violence, abstinence and devotion. With the passage of time we see that different sects and schools of thoughts emerged within Buddhism and they deviated from the core tenets of Lord Buddha, e.g., principle of non-violence. The Buddhism by 7th century had adopted tantric practices which were not in conformity with the original doctrines of Buddhism. Having taken the vow to remain as celibate for the whole life, monks turned into ‘Married Monks[iv]. Once refraining from animal Killing and avoiding meat eating Buddhist openly started flesh eating. This practice is commonly seen amongst all Buddhist countries. Well known author Brijlal Verma in his works while quoting Fahian and Hian Tsang says that during early ages of Buddhism, no one consumed meat. Meat eaters were considered as Chandalas and they were considered as outcastes who were forced to live outside the city limit[v]. The practice of living on alms and charity by Buddhist monks gradually started disappearing. The practice of living on alms and charity by Buddhist monks gradually started disappearing. The large monastic establishments instituted by Ashoka, were all repositories of learning’s. There influence was everywhere superior to the power of the King and the people accepted their monarchs at the bidding of the monks[vi]. In due course, the gap between the general public and the monks widened and ultimately the influence of austerity and sage hood of Buddhist monks diminished almost completely. Similarly the influence of monks on the ruling classes also started varnishing.

Additionally, the philosophy of Buddhism got restricted to the monks while common man had hardly any access to that. After monks stopped living on charity, their common bonds or ties with masses also started shaking. Monks who were living lavishly on state funds were being considered as a parasite or a burden rather than as a helping hand. The system of admission into Buddhist Sangh also suffered a setback. In the early ages of Buddhism, only those people were permitted to get admission into a 'Sangh' who were fully capable of living the austere life of an ascetic. With the passage of time persons of dubious character, thieves, robbers, opportunists, disgruntled and discarded elements started becoming monks in order to enjoy the life without putting any hard work whether physical or intellectual.

The comparatively pure Theism and practical morality of Buddha were first encountered with the mild quietism of the Vaishnavas, and at last deformed by the wildest extravagances of the Tantrists[vii]. Men crossed by Fortunes and disappointed in ambition, wives neglected by their husbands, and widows by their children, the sated debauchee, and the jealous enthusiast, all took the vow of celibacy, abstinence and poverty[viii]. The desire of possession not the desire for salvation became attracting factor for the masses for Monasteries. Ultimately the inclusion of Tantric Practices, adultery, alcoholism etc lead to moral degradation and total wipe out of right conduct from Viharas. The people looked upon unmoved, and would not defend what they had long ceased to respect; and the colossal figure of Buddhism, which had once bestridden the whole continent of India, vanished like a sudden rainbow at sunset. Beyond any doubt one can say that if Lord Buddha had been alive to see such deteriorating conditions of moral values in his Viharas, he would have immediately closed them.

The patronage towards the spread of the message of Lord Buddha started during the reign of Asoka. We can learn from the records that Asoka was found to be unusually spending the state resources on Buddhism[ix]. The Buddhist prose romance, named Asokavandana (being part of the Dirgavandana) tells a long story of Asoka’s senile devotion to the church and consequent waste of the resources of the empire, which went so far that the ministers were compelled to remove him from power and place Samprati, son of the blinded Kunala, on the throne[x]. This fact is supported by the facts that it is believed that Ashoka build about 84,000 Buddha Viharas in whole country thus spending large part of the state resources on propagation ignoring the other important state tasks[xi]. The condition was so dreaded that the whole army of soldiers were transformed into shaven head monks leading to loss of military power of the state. Soldiers were denied using arms as even training with arms was considered equivalent to non violence. The result was weakening of the defensive force of our country. The other Jain kings also adopted same policy as Buddhist Kings. The Doctrine of non violence was forcibly implemented on the general public and even punishments were announced for those who break the rule. We can understand the impact of this rule by these examples. In the Twelfth century Kumarapala, King of Gujarat in Western India, after his conversion to Jainism in A.D. 1159 took up the doctrine of the sanctity of animal life with the most inordinate zeal and imposed savage penalties upon violators of his rules. An unlucky merchant, who had committed the atrocities crime of cracking a Louse, was brought before the special court at Anhilwara and punished by the confiscation of his whole property the proceeds of which were devoted to the building of a temple. Another wretch, who had outraged the sanctity of the capital by bringing in a Dish of raw meat, was put to death[xii].

The degree of loss of defensive power of Maurya Empire can be understood by the fact that Salisuka Maurya in B.C. 216 who was descendant of King Asoka (once the supreme ruler of the country) was defeated by Kharavela the king of Orissa[xiii]. Among many reason one of the reason was that Asoka grandson Samprati left Buddhism and adopted Jainism. He was such deeply influenced by Jainism that he ordered dissolving of all forces and conversion of all soldiers to Jain monks and he himself died after prolonged fasting in a Jain muth in South India[xiv]. The result was the gradual weakening of the strength of the forces. During the reign of Brihadratha his military chieftain Pushyamitra Shung found Brihadratha the Maurya King as inefficient as had showed no interests in defending of the country especially by the Greeks. Pushyamitra killed him and ascended himself to the throne. He started mass capturing of the Greeks who were hiding in the grabs of Buddhists in Vihar. Few Historians considers Pushyamitra as Brahmin King and his campaign as persecution of Buddhists but in reality it was an act of self defence. Sir Vincent Smith claims that the self appointment of Pushyamitra as king and his action against Buddhists are exaggerated[xv] statements supporting Buddhist persecution. Pushyamitra provided equal patronage to both Buddhist as well as the Brahmins of his age. This fact is proved by his involvement in construction of one of the biggest Buddhist Stupa of his ages. Sir Vincent smith clearly writes that the persecutions were so rare and that a rule the various sects managed to live together in harmony, and in the enjoyment of fairly impartial official favour[xvi]. The invasion of India by Greek Menander and his defeat by the forces of Pushyamitra is a perfect example to prove his dedication for transforming the country into a strong and unified nation as it was during the reign of Asoka. The Greeks after the loss under Menander never tried to reinvade the country[xvii].

The later rulers supported both Buddhism as well as Vaishnavism equally. The mentioning of Lord Buddha as one the Avatars in Puranas shows that the society of those ages was not hostile to Buddhism in spite of the fact that whoever was the ruler a Brahmin or a Buddhist King. Historians give another view point that Chandra Gupta, the ruler from Gupta Dynasty may have professed Buddhism in the early part of his reign and Vaishnavism in the later part; for the differences between the two is more nominal than real[xviii].

Slowly the patronage to Buddhist monasteries reduced due to lack of understanding between the rulers and the monks. The main reason was decline in the impact of Buddhist monks on the rulers. The General conduct of monks suffered heavily that they started indulging in tantric practices rather than the Damma as taught by Buddha. The introduction of tantric practices by Vajrayana sect of Buddhism, the inclusion of Alcohol, Meat eating and uncontrolled relationships with women which were strictly forbidden was the last blow to the falling standards principles of Buddhism[xix]. A valid point is sometimes asked that Jainism also flourished along with Buddhism in the middle ages. Then how was Jainism able to survive? The reason was simple that the followers of Buddha stopped the practice of abstinence, poverty (minimal requirements) and the morality. They confined themselves to the Viharas rather than teaching the common man living outside Viharas. The followers of Jainism maintained their lives with austerity and dedication thus surviving even in incompatible circumstances.

The invasion by the outsiders is also an important cause of decline of Buddhism from our country. In 10th and 11th century Buddhism in Kashmir faced serious challenges by the invasion of Huns who weakened its roots in the Northern part of India[xx]. Subsequently by the 12th Century Buddhism was confined to the lands of Bihar and Bengal. The last blow which wiped out Buddhism from the land of its origin was Islamic invasion leading to destruction and mass killing of Buddhists. In Bihar and Bengal both rulers Palas and Senas were swept away by the torrent of Muhammadan invasion at the end of the twelfth century, when Kutub-ud-din General, son of Muhammad Bakhtyar stormed Bihar in or about A.D. 1197, and surprised Nudiah (Nadia) a year or two later. Great quantities of plunder were obtained, and the slaughter of the shaven head Brahmans, that is to say the Buddhist monks, was so thoroughly completed, that when the victor sought of someone explaining the content of the books in the libraries of the monasteries, and not a living man could be found who was capable of reading them. It was discovered, we are told, ‘that the whole of that fortress or the city was a college and in the Hindi tongue they call a college Bihar’. This crushing blow, followed up, off course, by similar act of violence, destroyed the vitality of Buddhism in the ancient home[xxi]. The remaining Buddhist Monks after widespread destruction like Shakyan Shri Bhadra, a Kashmiri in origin from Vikramsheela University shifted to Jagtala Vihar in Bengal. He had to even migrate from there to Nepal and finally he died in Kashmir. Similarly Buddhist monks spread out to the distant lands of Tibet, Nepal and survived outside India as staying here was invitation to death by the hands of Islamic invaders. As no tutors were left to teach the Dhamma of Buddha ultimately Buddhism disappeared from the land of its origin in almost 100 years of Islamic Invasion.

Need not to mention that one of the causes of the loss of social support of Buddhism from general public was the organization efforts by the Brahmins and foremost name which comes in front of us is of Adi Shankracharya. Believed to be born in Kerala in 8th century Adi Shankracharya well verses in Vedic philosophy toured throughout the country and started debates and dialogues with Jain and Buddhists monks. The famous one was arranged by the Ruler of Ujjain King Sundhava. After the victory of Adi Shankracharya King embraced himself the Vedic dharma and declared it as his state religion. These attempts were like winning state patronage and support for the propagation of Vedic Dharma. Needless to say that it was the scholarly efforts and hard work by Adi Shankracharya which enabled him to win over the rusted mind of so called Buddhist scholars who had left practicing the real message of Buddhism since ages. None of any historical documents till date provides any description of forceful killing or armed struggle by any King against the Buddhists during the lifetime of Adi Shankracharya. Fa Hian, a renowned Chinese pilgrim and traveller who came to India early in the fifth century, found Hindu temples and Buddhist monasteries in every great town in Northern India, and does not record one instance of hostilities or persecution. And all the great dynasties of the age those of Chandragupta and of Kanishka, the Andhras, the Guptas, and the Shah Kings, encouraged the holy men of both religions, and bestowed valuable gifts of land and property on Brahmans and Buddhist monks alike[xxii]. We can easily infer that Shankracharya did not destroyed Buddhism but he debated with the decaying and rotten structure which was mere symbolic remnants of the original Buddhism. Moreover Buddhism was still prevalent in centuries after the death of Shankracharya in the country.

Rahul Sankrityayan confirms this statements by providing existence of Buddhism till 12th centuries.. He mentions that for four centuries from 8th to 12th centuries we found Buddhist kings like Palas in Bihar under their rule the learning seat of Nalanda produced scholars like Shantrakshit and Dharmotara. He even credits the Gaharvar rulers of Northern India as a supporters of Buddhism and even mentions the queen of Gaharvar rulers Kumar Devi established Dhramchakra Mahavihar in Sarnath and King Govind chandra donated to Jaitvan Mahavihar. In southern India in Konkan Shilahar rulers were supporters of Buddhism. Even in the land of Shankar in Kerala there were supporters of Buddhism. The famous work of “Manjushree” was secured by the Brahmins of Kerala is an example of lack of any enmity between Brahmins and Buddhists in those ages[xxiii].

To sum up we need to understand that the Buddhists were never persecuted in India. No one can uproot a strong Banyan Tree. Only when it becomes hollow from inside by infestation of termites its life comes to end. Similar was the fate with Buddhism. It weakened due to its own internal causes like loss of morality, loss of conduct and other ill practices in Viharas. The weakened structure instead of acing as a light house became burden on the society. Thus social and ruler support extinguished with the times. The remaining skeleton was just like a feather which was flown with the wind of Islamic invasion. This fact is enforced by Historian R.C.Dutt as “During a thousand years Hinduism was influenced by Buddhism, until Hinduism adopted all that had made Buddhism popular, and thenceforth Buddhism declined. It is a mistake to suppose that Buddhism was stamped out in India by persecution; except in very rare instances, when conquerors indulged in cruelty and massacres, there was no religious persecution in India. Buddhism disappeared from India because its mission was fulfilled. Hinduism had adopted joyous celebrations and vast pilgrimages, Hinduism had assumed image-worship and popular rites, Hinduism had reunited the Aryans and the Hinduised non- Aryans into one homogeneous community, and thenceforth Buddhism declined in India because its mission was fulfilled and it ceased to be necessary.[xxiv]

We consider Buddhism as a reform movement against animal killing, untouchability and superstitions on name of Dharma widely prevalent in those ages. The basic teachings of Lord Buddha are inspired from the Vedic philosophy in terms of attainment of Moksha, Right Conduct, knowledge and following the right Path[xxv].


[i] J. Pali Text soc,1896,pp.87-92

[ii] Page 368 ref Vincent Smith, The early History of India

[iii] Page 454-455 ref Vincent Smith, The early History of India

[iv] Page 367 ref Vincent Smith, The early History of India

[v] Page 26,27 ref The Fahian and Hian Tsang visits to India by BrijMohanlal Verma, 1928

[vi] Page 125 ref Alexander Cunningham, The Bhilsa Topes; or, Buddhist monument of central India

[vii] Page 158 ref Alexander Cunningham The Bhilsa Topes; or, Buddhist monument of central India

[viii] Page 168 ref Alexander Cunningham The Bhilsa Topes; or, Buddhist monument of central India

[ix] Page 98-100 ref Alexander Cunningham The Bhilsa Topes; or, Buddhist monument of central India
[x] Page 192 ref Vincent Smith, The early History of India
[xi] Page 37 ref The Fahian and Hian Tsang visits to India by BrijMohanlal Verma, 1928
[xii] Page 181 ref Vincent Smith, The early History of India

[xiii] Page 197 ref Vincent Smith, The early History of India

[xiv] Alexander Cunningham, The Bhilsa Topes;or,Buddhist movement of central India

[xv] Page 202 ref Vincent Smith, The early History of India

[xvi] Page 203 ref Vincent Smith, The early History of India

[xvii] Page 199 ref Vincent Smith, The early History of India

[xviii] Page 157-158ref Alexander Cunningham, The Bhilsa Topes; or, Buddhist monument of central India

[xix] Page 68 ref Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan, Buddha Sanskriti

[xx] Page 409-410 ref Vincent Smith, The early History of India

[xxi] Page 403-404 ref Vincent Smith, The early History of India

[xxii] Page 60, 61 ref The civilisation of India by R.C.Dutt published in 1900 from London

[xxiii] Page 67,68 ref Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan, Buddha Sanskriti

[xxiv] Page 68 ref The civilisation of India by R.C.Dutt published in 1900 from London

[xxv] Ref Buddha an Aryan Reformer by Dr Dharamdev Vidyamartand
 

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

‘ताजमहल’ नहीं, हिंदुआे के तेजोमहालयका ८५० वर्ष पुराना सच्चा इतिहास,TEJO MAHAL IS STOLEN AND CHANGED TO TAJMAHAL.

CLICK  TO READ TITLE IN ENGLISH DOCUMENTORY BY BBC
'ताजमहल' वास्तु मुसलमानोंकी नहीं, अपितु वह मूलतः हिंदुओंकी है । वहां इससे पूर्र्व भगवान शिवजीका मंदिर था, यह इतिहास सूर्यप्रकाशके जितना ही स्पष्ट है । मुसलमानोंने इस वास्तुको ताजमहल बनाया । ताजमहल इससे पूर्र्व शिवालय होनेका प्रमाण पुरातत्व विभागके अधिकारी, अन्य पुरातत्वतज्ञ, इतिहासके अभ्यासक तथा देशविदेशके तज्ञ बताते हैं । मुसलमान आक्रमणकारियोंकी दैनिकीमें (डायरी) भी उन्होंने कहा है कि ताजमहल हिंदुओंकी वास्तु है । तब भी मुसलमान इस वास्तुपर अपना अधिकार जताते हैं । शिवालयके विषयमें सरकारके पास सैकडों प्रमाण धूल खाते पडे हैं । सरकार इसपर कुछ नहीं करेगी । इसलिए अब अपनी हथियाई गई वास्तु वापस प्राप्त करने हेतु यथाशक्ति प्रयास करना ही हिंदुओंका धर्मकर्तव्य है । ऐसी वास्तुएं वापस प्राप्त करने हेतु एवं हिंदुओंकी वास्तुओंकी रक्षाके लिए ‘हिंदु राष्ट्र’ अनिवार्य है !

मुसलमान आक्रमणकारियोंने भारतके केवल गांव एवं नगरोंके ही नामोंमें परिवर्तन नहीं किया, अपितु वहांकी विशाल वास्तुओंको नियंत्रणमें लेकर एवं उसमें मनचाहा परिवर्तन कर निस्संकोच रूपसे मुसलमानोंके नाम दिए । मूलतः मुसलमानोंको इतनी विशाल एवं सुंदर वास्तु बनानेका ज्ञान ही नहीं था । परंतु हिंदुओंने इस्लाम पंथकी स्थापनासे पूर्व ही अजिंटा तथा वेरूलके साथ अनेक विशाल मंदिरोंका निर्माणकार्य किया था । मुसलमान आक्रमणकारियोंको केवल भारतकी वास्तुकलाके सुंदर नमुने उद्ध्वस्त करना इतना ही ज्ञात था । गजनीद्वारा अनेक बार उद्ध्वस्त श्री सोमनाथ मंदिरसे लेकर तो आजकलमें अफगानिणस्तानमें उद्ध्वस्त बामयानकी विशाल बुद्धमूर्तितकका इतिहास मुसलमान आक्रमणकारियोंकी विध्वंसक मानसिकताके प्रमाण है ।

अंग्रेज सरकारद्वारा भी निश्चित रूपसे विध्वंस !

मुसलमान आक्रमणकर्ताओेंके पश्चात आए अंग्रेज सरकारको भारतीय संस्कृतिके विषयमें तनिक भी प्रेम न रहनेके कारण उन्होंने मुसलमान आक्रमणकर्ताओंका ही अनुकरण किया ।

आक्रमणकर्ताओंकी दैनिकीमें ताजमहलके विषयमें सत्य !

आग्राकी ताजमहल वास्तुकी भी कहानी इसी प्रकारकी है । डॉ. राधेश्याम ब्रह्मचारीने ताजमहलका तथाकथित निर्माता शहाजहानके ही कार्यकालमें लिखे गए दस्तावेजोंका संदर्भ लेकर ताजमहलका इतिहास तपासकर देखा है । अकबरके समान शहाजहानने भी बादशहानामा ऐतिहासिक अभिलेखमें अपना चरित्र एवं कार्यकालका इतिहास लिखकर रखा था । अब्दुल हमीद लाहोरीने अरेबिक भाषामें बादशहानामा लिखा था, जो एशियाटिक सोसायटी ऑफ बेंगाल ग्रंथालयमें आज भीr उपलब्ध है । इस बादशहानामाके पृष्ठ क्रमांक ४०२ एवं ४०३ के भागमें ताजमहल वास्तुका इतिहास छिपा हुआ है । इस भागका स्वच्छंद भाषांतर आगे दिया है ।
'शुक्रवार दिनांक १५ माह जमदिउलवलको शहाजहानकी पत्नी मुमताजुल जामानिका पार्थिव बुरहानपुरसे आग्रामें (उस समयका अकबराबाद) लाया गया । यहांके राजा मानसिंहके महलके रूपमें पहचाने जानेवाले अट्टालिकामें गाडा गया । यह अट्टालिका राजा मानसिंहके नाती राजा जयसिंहके मालिकीकी थी । उन्होंने यह अट्टालिका शहाजहानको देना स्वीकार किया । इसके स्थानपर राजा जयसिंहको शरीफाबादकी जहागिरी दी गई । यहां गाडे गए महारानीका विश्वको दर्शन न होने हेतु इस भवनका रूपांतर दर्गामें किया गया ।

मुमताजुुलकी मृत्यु !

शहाजहानकी पत्नीका मूल नाम था अर्जुमंद बानू । वह १८ वर्षोंतक शहाजहानकी रानी थी । इस कालावधिमें उसे १४ अपत्य हुए । बरहानपुरमें अंतिम जजगीमें उसकी मृत्यु हो गई । उसका शव वहींपर अस्थायी रूपसे गाडा गया ।

ॐ का शिल्प

ताजमहल शिवालय होनेका सरकारी प्रमाण !

ताजमहलसे ४ कि.मी. दूरीपर आग्रा नगरमें बटेश्वर नामक बस्ती थी । वर्ष १९०० में पुरातन सर्वेक्षण विभागके संचालक जनरल कनिंघमद्वारा किए गए उत्खननमें वहां संस्कृतमें ३४ श्लोकमें मुंज बटेश्वर आदेश नामक पोथा पाया गया, जो लक्ष्मणपुरीके संग्रहालयमें संरक्षित है । इसमें श्लोक क्रमांक २५, २६ एवं ३६ महत्त्वपूर्ण हैं । इनका स्वच्छंद भाषांतर आगे दिया है ।
'राजाने एक संगमरवरी मंदिरका निर्माणकार्य किया । यह भगवान विष्णुका है । राजाने दूसरा शिवका संगमरवरी मंदिरका निर्माण कार्य किया । ' यह अभिलेख विक्रम संवत १२१२ माह आश्विन शुद्ध पंचमी, शुक्रवारको लिखा गया । (वर्तमान समयमें विक्रम संवत २०७० चालू है । अर्थात शिवालयका निर्माणकार्य कर लगभग ८५० वर्षोंकी कालावधि बीत गई है ।) (यह कालावधि लेख लिखनेके समयका अर्थात वर्ष १९०० के संदर्भके अनुसार है – संपादक, दैनिक सनातन प्रभात )

शिवालयके प्रमाणको पुरातत्व शास्त्रज्ञोंका समर्थन !

१. प्रख्यात पुरातत्वशास्त्रज्ञ डी.जे. कालेने भी उपरोक्त दस्तावेजको समर्थन दिया है । उनके संशोधनके अनुसार राजा परमार्दीदेवने २ विशाल संगमरवरी मंदिरोंका निर्माणकार्य किया, जिसमें एक श्रीविष्णुका तो दूसरा भगवान शिवजीका था । कुछ समय पश्चात मुसलमान आक्रमणकर्ताओंने इन मंदिरोंका पावित्र्य भंग किया । इस घटनासे भयभीत होकर एक व्यक्तिने दस्तावेजको भूमिमें गाडकर रखा होगा । मंदिरोंकी पवित्रताका भंग होनेके कारण उनका धार्मिक उपयोग बंद हो गया । इसीलिए बादशहानामाके लेखक अब्दुल हमीद लाहोरीने मंदिरके स्थानपर महल ऐसा उल्लेख किया होगा ।
२. प्रसिद्ध इतिहासकार आर.सी. मुजुमदारके अनुसार चंद्रात्रेय (चंदेल) राजा परमार्दिदेवका दूसरा नाम था परमल एवं उसके राज्यका नाम था बुंदेलखंड । आज आग्रामें दो संगमरवरी प्रासाद हैं, जिसमें एक नूरजहांके पिताकी समाधि (श्रीविष्णु मंदिर) है एवं दूसरा (शिवमंदिर) ताजमहल है ।

ताजमहल हिंदुओंका शिवालय होनेके और भी स्पष्ट प्रमाण !

प्रसिद्ध इतिहासकार आर.सी. मुजुमदारके मतका समर्थन करनेवाले प्रमाण आगे दिए हैं ।
१. ताजमहलके प्रमुख गुंबजके कलशपर त्रिशूल है, जो शिवशस्त्रके रूपमें प्रचलित है ।
२. मुख्य गुंबजके उपरके छतपर एक संकल लटक रही है । वर्तमानमें इस संकलका कोई उपयोग नहीं होता; परंतु मुसलमानोंके आक्रमणसे पूर्व इस संकलको एक पात्र लगाया जाता था, जिसके माध्यमसे शिवलिंगपर अभिषेक होता था ।
३. अंदर ही २ मंजिलका ताजमहल है । वास्तव समाधि एवं रिक्त समाधि नीचेकी मंजिलपर है, जबकि २ रिक्त कबरें प्रथम मंजिलपर हैं । २ मंजिलवाले शिवालय उज्जैन एवं अन्य स्थानपर भी पाए जाते हैं ।
४. मुसलमानोंकी किसी भी वास्तुमें परिक्रमा मार्ग नहीं रहता; परंतु ताजमहलमें परिक्रमा मार्ग उपलब्ध है ।

वैदिक पद्धतीका वास्तुनिर्माण
५. फ्रांस देशीय प्रवासी तावेर्नियारने लिखकर रखा है कि इस मंदिरके परिसरमें बाजार भरता था । ऐसी प्रथा केवल हिंदु मंदिरोंमें ही पाई जाती है । मुसलमानोंके प्रार्थनास्थलोंमें ऐसे बाजार नहीं भरते ।

ताजमहल शिवालय होनेकी बात आधुनिक वैज्ञानिक प्रयोगद्वारा भी सिद्ध

वर्ष १९७३ में न्यूयार्कके प्रैट संस्थाके प्राध्यापक मर्विन मिल्सद्वारा ताजमहलके दक्षिणमें स्थित लकडीके दरवाजेका एक टुकडा अमेरिकामें ले जाया गया । उसे ब्रुकलिन महाविद्यालयके संचालक डॉ. विलियम्सको देकर उस टुकडेकी आयु कार्बन-१४ प्रयोग पद्धतिसे सिद्ध करनेको कहा गया । उस समय वह लकडा ६१० वर्ष (अल्प-अधिक ३९ वर्ष) आयुका निष्पन्न हुआ । इस प्रकारसे ताजमहल वास्तु शहाजहानसे पूर्व कितने वर्षोंसे अस्तित्वमें थी यह सिद्ध होता है ।

शिवालय (अर्थात तेजोमहालय) ८४८ वर्ष पुराना !

यहांके मंदिरमें स्थित शिवलिंगको 'तेजोलिंग' एवं मंदिरको तेजोमहालय कहा जाता था । यह भगवान शिवका मंदिर अग्रेश्वर नामसे प्रसिद्ध था । इससे ही इस नगरको आग्रा नाम पडा । मुंज बटेश्वर आदेशके अनुसार यह मंदिर ८४८ वर्ष पुराना है । इसका ३५० वां स्मृतिदिन मनाना अत्यंत हास्यजनक है ।
(संदर्भ : साप्ताहिक ऑर्गनायजर, २८.११.२००४)
स्त्रोत : दैनिक सनातन प्रभात



Monday, May 19, 2014

4 Harsh Truths to jolt you.

“The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off.” –Gloria Steinem -

1) Money is a hoax


“The Western worldview says, in essence, that technological progress is the highest value and that we were born to consume, to endlessly use and discard natural recourses, other species, gadgets, toys, and often, each other. The most highly prized freedom is the right to shop. It’s a world of commodities, not entities, and economic expansion is the primary measure of progress. Competition, taking, and hoarding are higher values than cooperation, sharing, and gifting. Profits are valued over people, money over meaning, entitlement over justice, ‘us’ over ‘them.’ This is the most dangerous addiction in the world, not only because of its impact on humanity but because it is rapidly undermining the natural systems that sustain the biosphere.” –Bill Plotkin
It is not the more evolved aspect of ourselves that tricks us into thinking that we need money to survive; it’s the less evolved aspect of ourselves that does the tricking. With our advanced technologies we imagine that we know the way the world works, when, for the most part, we have forgotten how everything is connected.
Until we can relearn “a language older than words,” and once again engage in a healthy dialogue with nature and the cosmos, we will continue to be tricked by the less evolved aspects of ourselves. The more awareness we bring to this extremely complicated cognitive dissonance, the more possible it will be to achieve an ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable world.
As it stands, however, the Federal Reserve is a house of cards guarded by a red herring. Money is the opiate of the masses, and the masses are too busy spending it on worthless crap to get to know each other as healthy individuals, let alone as a healthy community. We have become Pavlov Dogs, and money is our dinner bell. But money was never meant to be horded, or even amassed, it was meant to circulate as a way of uplifting the community. And yet here we are, hoarding and amassing, while our communities are in unhealthy disarray. It’s high time we abandoned the force-fed shibboleth that having more money makes us better people. It doesn’t. Being healthy, compassionate and moral is what makes us better.
truth-quote-nietzsche

2) Debt is fiction

“There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.” –John Adams
Unfortunately our nation has been enslaved by debt. Our current system is not an economic system at all, but an ecocidal system; an intrinsic obsolescence of conspicuous consumption. It’s a grave misfortune that efficiency, sustainability, and preservation are the enemies of our socioeconomic system. This has got to be the most bizarre delusion in the history of human thought, a retarded Ponzi scheme en masse.
But it’s difficult to get people to understand something when money, and especially debt, prevents them from understanding it. Instead of ownership, give us strategic access. Instead of equity, give us equality. Instead of one-track-minded profit, give us open-minded people. Instead of unsustainable monetary-based economics, give us a sustainable resource-based economy, which is basically the scientific method applied to ecological and social concerns.
As tough as it is to hear, nature is a dictatorship. We can either listen to it and fall into harmony or deny it and suffer. Ask yourself this question by Fleet & Lasn: “When the economic system fails, will we know how to behave, how to act, how to appreciate, how to value, how to survive, how to be and how to love in a world that no longer defines relations by money?”

3) Media is manipulation

tv-lies
“Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the U.S. media.” –Noam Chomsky
Media has always been an effective method for manipulating people. We are social creatures who are also psychological creatures. This combination makes us unwittingly vulnerable to the power of suggestion. As it stands, media has been our Achilles Heel. These days the “news” we receive from corporate media is more likely to be disinformation. Skepticism is a must when reading or viewing the information provided by these outlets.
The key: Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see. Analyze the Kool Aide before you swallow it. Even then, be prepared to vomit it back up at the first sign of deception. Remain circumspect and question all authority. They don’t have our best interest at heart. They only want our money, and to remain powerful. Like Wendell Berry wrote in the Unsettling of America, “People whose governing habit is the relinquishment of power, competence, and responsibility, make excellent spenders. They are the ideal consumers. By inducing in them little panics of boredom, powerlessness, sexual failure, mortality, paranoia, they can be made to buy virtually anything that is “attractively packaged.””
We are slowly becoming more aware of corporate media lying to us. But they know we know they’re lying to us. And we know they know we know they’re lying to us. With enough inertia, this debacle of a process just continues until we are eventually lying to ourselves. And here we are. Like the great Baruch Spinoza once surmised, “The supreme mystery of despotism, its prop and stay, is to keep men in a state of deception, and cloak the fear by which they must be held in check, so that they will fight for their servitude as if for salvation.” And here we are, unless we decide to wake up.

4) Government is a corporation


“The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.” –Thomas Jefferson
Here’s the thing: we do not live in a democracy, and we probably never really have. A prestigious Princeton study recently concluded that we live in an oligarchy: rule by a few individuals. And these individuals just so happen to be plutocrats, making this particular flavor of oligarchy a plutocracy: rule by the rich.
The problem is that money itself has become an immoral agent within an otherwise amoral system that praises itself as moral. Ask yourself: do you wish to live out harried lives of nine-to-five slavery, giving up your days to heartless corporations that don’t give a damn about anything except making money, or do you wish to live a happy life of loving compassion, doing what you enjoy, in spite of plutocracy, oligarchy, and tyranny?
The Occupy Movement succeeded in shifting the tenor and shape of debate in the world, but we must not rest on our laurels. Trickle-down economics DOES NOT WORK! Austerity economics DOES NOT WORK! Corporations are NOT people. Money does NOT equal speech. It’s a trap. If we don’t get big money out of politics then everything we want to do will be hopeless. We need to be smarter with our mobilization tactics for the change and allocation of power within our society. So far the security and surveillance state has boxed us in, like the great MLK Jr. said, “Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.”
Source: “4 Hard Truths That Will Jolt You Awake,” from fractalenlightenment.com, by Gary Z McGee
As seen on Unbounded Spirit



 

UFO“Something Is Monitoring The Planet, THROUGH UFO'S.

Former Sen. Mike Gravel (D-Alaska), and 2008 presidential candidate says that there is “an extraterrestrial influence that is investigating our planet. Something is monitoring the planet and they are monitoring it very cautiously.” He’s not the only one making these claims. A number of Astronauts, Professors, high ranking military and political personnel have been doing the same over the years. Official documentation released from three letter agencies, governments, and the freedom of information act are available to the public domain and back up what is being said by these people.
These comments come from Mr. Gravel after the recent “citizens hearing on disclosure.” You can find out more about that here and here.
The greatest form of ignorance is when someone rejects something they know nothing about – Wayne Dyer
Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance – Albert Einstein

The UFO “issue” is a complex one that branches into different areas like science, history, politics, consciousness and many more . It is without a doubt one of the most important topics the human civilization has come across, ever.
No doubt that human beings have been programmed with fear when it comes to this topic, and there is a good possibility that that has been done purposely. It’s time to let go of that, there is a whole galactic community out there teeming with life.
Our planet and the beings on it are currently going through a shift. We are beginning to see through the curtain that blinds the masses in all aspects of life. Our health, food, energy and financial institutions are much more transparent, and the people of Earth are calling for change. We are recognizing that we are what needs to change, we are the ones that do not resonate with this current system and we are the ones that have the tremendous potential to create something new. Maybe some groups of extraterrestrials are watching to see if we can do it? And maybe some aren’t.
“There is abundant evidence that we are being contacted, that civilizations have been visiting us for a very long time. That their appearance is bizarre from any type of traditional materialistic western point of view. That these visitors use the technologies of consciousness, they use toroids, they use co-rotating magnetic disks for their propulsion systems, that seems to be a common denominator of the UFO phenomenon.” - Dr Brian O’leary, Former NASA Astronaut and Princeton Physics Professor (source)
“Yes there have been crashed craft, and bodies recovered. We are not alone in the universe, they have been coming here for a long time” Apollo 14 Astronaut (source # 1) (source # 2)
“Decades ago, visitors from other planets warned us about the direction we were heading and offered to help. Instead, some of us interpreted their visits as a threat, and decided to shoot first and ask questions after. It is ironic that the US should be fighting monstrously expensive wars, allegedly to bring democracy to those countries, when it itself can no longer claim to be called a democracy when trillions, and I mean thousands of billions of dollars have been spent on black projects which both congress and the commander in chief have been kept deliberately in the dark.” -Paul Hellyer, Former Canadian Defence Minister (source)

Spiritual Awakening Symptoms and signs.

1.Activity at the crown of the head: Tingling, itching, prickly, crawling sensations along the scalp and/or down the spine. A sense of energy vibrating on top of the head, as if energy is erupting from the head in a shower. Also the sensation of energy pouring in through the crown, described as “sprinkles”. This may also be experienced as pressure on the crown, as if someone is pushing his/her finger into the center of your head. This secondary to downloads of energy through the crown. Sometimes  it is equated with hair stood on end of body was covered with goosebumps.
Advice: This is nothing to be alarmed about. What you are experiencing is an opening of the crown chakra.
2. Sudden waves of emotion.
Crying or feeling suddenly angry or sad with little provocation,if not depressed or bipolar.Emotional roller coaster. There is often a pressure or sense of emotions congested in the heart chakra (the middle of the chest). This is not to be confused with the heart, which is located to the left of the heart chakra.
Advice: Accept your feelings as they come up and let them go. Go directly to your heart chakra and feel the emotion. Expand it outward to your all your fields and breathe deeply from the belly all the way up to your upper chest. Just feel the feeling and let it evaporate on its own. Don’t direct the emotions at anyone. You are cleaning out your past. If you want some help with this, say out loud that you intend to release all these old issues and ask your Higher Power to help you. Be grateful that your body is releasing these emotions and not holding onto them inside where they can do harm.
3. Old “stuff” seems to be coming up, as described above, and the people with whom you need to work it out (or their clones) appear in your life.
Completion issues. Or perhaps you need to work through issues of self-worth, abundance, creativity, addictions, etc. The resources or people you need to help you move through these issues start to appear.
Advice: Do not get too involved in analyzing these issues. Examining them too much will simply cycle you back through them over and over again at deeper and deeper levels. Do not try to avoid them or disassociate yourself from them. Embrace whatever comes up and thank it for helping you move ahead.Thank your Higher Power for giving you the opportunity to release these issues. Remember, you don’t want these issues to stay stuck in your body.
4. Changes in weight.
The weight gain or wt loss could happen.
Advice: Don’t freak out,work slowly with exercise.Just accept it as a symptom of where you are right now. You will release/gain the weight when all your fears have been integrated. Release your anxiety about this. Enjoy how the food looks. Place your dominant hand over your heart and bless the food. Tell your body that you are going to use the food to richly nourish it, but that you are not going to use the food to fulfill your emotional hungers. Then pass your hand from left to right over the food and bless it. You may notice that the food feels warm to your hand even if the food is cold– I like to think that the food is good for me when it feels warm and nourishing to my hand. It is important not to let yourself off the hook when you forget to bless the food before you eat. If I’ve forgotten and I’ve nearly finished eating, I bless the food anyway.While eating — don’t watch TV or read.
5. Amplification of the senses.Increased sensitivity.
5A. Sight: Blurry vision, shimmering objects, seeing glittery particles, auras around people, plants, animals, and objects. Some report seeing formerly opaque objects as transparent. When you close your eyes, you no longer see darkness, but redness. You may also see geometric shapes or brilliant colors and pictures when eyes are closed. Colors appear more vivid — the sky might look teal orthe grass an amazing green. Often I see grids running across the ground. As you become more sensitive, you may see shapes or outlines in the air, especially when the room is almost dark. When your eyes are open or closed, you may see white shapes in your peripheral vision (these are your guides).
Advice:Your vision is changing in many ways — you are experiencing new ways of seeing. Be patient. Whatever you do, do not be afraid.
5B. Hearing: First make sure it is not due to disease called tinnitis(see ur Doctor first)Increased or decreased hearing. Other symptoms are hearing white noise in the head, beeps, tones, music or electronic patterns.Some hear water rushing, bees buzzing, whooshing, roaring or ringing. Others have what is called audio dyslexia– you can’t always make out what people are saying, as if you can no longer translate your own language. Some hear strange voices in their dreams, as if someone is hovering near them. You can either ask the presence(s) to leave.Again, there is nothing to fear.
Advice: Surrender to it. Let it come through. Listen. Your ears are adjusting to new frequencies.
5C. Enhanced senses of smell, touch, and/or taste. You might even smell the fragrance of flowers now and then. Many of the mystics did. Enjoy it.
6. Changes in prayer or meditation.
Not feeling the same sensations as before. Not having the same experience of being in contact with Spirit. Difficulty in focusing.
Advice: You may be in more instant and constant communion with Spirit now and the sensation may therefore be altered. You will adapt to this new feeling. You are actually thinking and acting in partnership with Spirit most of the time now.You may find your meditation periods shorter.
7. Power surges:
All of a sudden you are heated from head to toe. It is a momentary sensation, but uncomfortable. In contrast, some people have felt inexplicably cold.If you are an energy worker, you may have noticed that the heat running through your hands has increased tremendously.This is good.
Advice: If you are uncomfortable, ask your Higher Power, that if it be for your best and highest good, to turn down/up the temperature a bit.
8. A range of physical manifestations:
Headaches, backaches, neck pains, flu-like symptoms (this is called vibrational flu), digestive problems, muscular spasms or cramps, racing heartbeat, chest pains, changes in sexual desire, numbness or pain in the limbs, and involuntary vocalizations or bodily movements.
Advice: Remember about seeking medical help if you need it! If you have determined that this is not a medical condition, relax in the realization that it is only temporary.
9. Looking younger.
10. Vivid dreams.
Sometimes the dreams are so real that you wake up confused. You may even have lucid dreams in which you are in control. Many dreams may be mystical or carry messages for you. And in some dreams, you just know that you are not “dreaming” — that what is happening is somehow real.
Advice: You will remember what is important for you to remember. Don’t force anything. Above all, stay out of fear.
11. Events that completely alter your life:
death, divorce, change in job status, loss of home, illness, and/or other catastrophes — sometimes several at once! Forces that cause you to slow down, simplify, change, re-examine who you are and what your life means to you. Forces that you cannot ignore. Forces that cause you release your attachments. Forces that awaken your sense of love and compassion for all.
12. A desire to break free from restrictive patterns, life-draining jobs consumptive lifestyles, and toxic people or situations.
You feel a compelling need to “find yourself” and your life purpose — now! You want to be creative and free to be who you really are. You might find yourself drawn to the arts and nature. You want to unclutter yourself from things and people that no longer serve you.
Advice: Do it!
13. Emotional and mental confusion:
A feeling that you need to get your life straightened out–it feels like a mess. But at the same time you feel chaotic and unable to focus.
Advice: Put your ear to your heart and your own discernment will follow.
14. Introspection, solitude and loss of interest in more extroverted activities:
15. Creativity bursts:
Receiving images, ideas, music, and other creative inspirations at an often overwhelming rate.
Advice: At least record these inspirations, for Spirit is speaking to you about how you might fulfill your purpose and contribute to the healing of the planet.
16. A perception that time is accelerating.
It seems that way because you have had so many changes introduced into your life at an unprecedented rate. The number of changes seems to be growing.
Advice: Breaking your day up into appointments and time segments increases the sense of acceleration .You can slow time down by relaxing into the present moment and paying attention to what’s at hand, not anticipating what’s ahead. Slow down and tell yourself that you have plenty of time. Ask your Higher Power to help you. Keep your focus on the present. Try to flow from one activity to the next. Stay tuned to your inner guidance. You can also warp time by asking for it. Next time you feel rushed, say, “Time warp, please. I need some more time to —–.” Then relax.
17. A sense of impendingness.
There is a feeling that something is about to happen. This can create anxiety.
Advice: There is nothing to worry about. Things are definitely happening.There is nothing to fear.
18. Impatience.
You know better, but sometimes you can’t help it. You want to get on with what seems to be coming your way. Uncertainty is not comfortable.
Advice: Learn to live with the uncertainty. Impatience is really a lack of trust, especially trust in your Higher Power.When you focus on the present, you will experience miracles.
19. A deep yearning for meaning, purpose, spiritual connection, and revelation.
Perhaps an interest in the spiritual for the first time in your life. “Constant craving”.The material world cannot fulfill this longing.
Advice: Follow your heart and the way will open up for you.
20. A feeling that you are somehow different.
A disquieting sense that everything in your life feels new and altered, that you have left your old self behind. You have. You are much greater than you can possibly imagine. There is more to come.
21. “Teachers” appear everywhere with perfect timing to help you on your spiritual journey:In form of people, books, movies, events, Mother Nature, etc. Teachers may appear to be negative or positive when you are trapped in polarity thinking, but, from a transcendent perspective, they are always perfect. Just what you need to learn from and move on. By the way, we never get more than we are ready to master. Each challenge presents us with an opportunity to show our mastery in passing through it.
22. You find a spiritual track that makes sense to you and “speaks to you” at the most profound levels.
Suddenly you are gaining a perspective that you would never have considered before. You hunger to know more. You read, share with others, ask questions, and go inside to discover more about who you are and why you are here.
23. You are moving through learning and personal issues at a rapid pace.
You sense that you are “getting it” quite readily.
Advice: Keep remembering that things will come to you when they are ready to be healed. Not sooner. Deal with whatever comes up with courage and you will move through the issues rapidly.
24. Invisible presences.
Here is the woo-woo stuff. Some people report feeling surrounded by beings at night or having the sensation of being touched or talked to. Often they will wake with a start. Some also feel their body orbed vibrate. The vibrations are caused by energetic changes after emotional clearing has taken place.
Advice: This is a sensitive topic, but you may feel better blessing your bed and space around it before you sleep. I rest assured that you will be surrounded only by the most magnificent spiritual entities feel always safe in God’s care.
25. Portents, visions, “illusions”, numbers, and symbols:
Seeing things that have spiritual importance for you. Noticing how numbers appear synchronistically in your awareness. Everything has a message if you take the time to look.
26. Increased integrity:
You realize that it is time for you to seek and speak your truth. It suddenly seems important for you to become more authentic, more yourself. You may have to say “no” to people whom you have tried to please in the past. You may also find there is nowhere to hide, no secrets to keep anymore. Honesty becomes important in all your relationships.
Advice: Listen to your heart. If your guidance tells you not to do something, speak up and take action. Say “no”. Likewise, you must also say “yes” to that which compels you. You must risk displeasing others without guilt in order to attain spiritual sovereignty.
27. Harmony with seasons and cycles:
You are becoming more tuned to the seasons, the phases of the moon and natural cycles. More awareness of your place in the natural world. A stronger connection to the earth.
28. Electrical and mechanical malfunctions:
When you are around, lightbulbs flicker, the computer locks up, or the radio goes haywire.
Advice: Call on your angels, guides, or Grace Elohim to fix it or put up a field of protection of light around the machine.
29. Increased synchronicity and many small miracles.
Advice:Synchronistic events tell you if you are heading in the right direction or making the correct choices. Honor these clues and you cannot go astray. Spirit uses synchronicity to communicate to you. That’s when you begin to experience daily miracles.
30. Increased intuitive abilities and altered states of consciousness:
Thinking of someone and immediately hearing from them. More synchronicities. Having sudden insights about patterns or events from the past. Clairvoyance, out-of-body experiences, and other psychic phenomena. Intensified sensitivity and knowing. Awareness of one’s essence and that of others. Channeling angelic and Christ-consciousness energies.
31. Communication with Spirit.
Contact with angels, spirit guides, and other divine entities. Channeling. More and more people seem to be given this opportunity. Feeling inspiration and downloading information that takes form as writing, painting, ideas, communications, dance, etc.
33. A sense of Oneness with all.
A direct experience of this Wholeness. Transcendent awareness. Being flooded with compassion and love for all life. Compassionate detachment or unconditional love for all is what lifts us up to higher levels of consciousness and joy.
34. Moments of joy and bliss.
A deep abiding sense of peace and knowing that you are never alone.
35. Integration:
You become emotionally, psychologically, physically, and spiritually stronger and clearer. You feel as if you are in alignment with your Higher Self.
36. Living your purpose:
You know you are finally doing what you came to earth for. New skills and gifts are emerging, especially healing ones. Your life/work experiences are now converging and starting to make sense.
Advice: Listen to your heart. Your passion leads you to where you must go. Go within and ask your Higher Self, “What is it you would have me do?” Watch for synchronicities. Listen.
37. Feeling closer to animals and plants.
To some people, animals now seem to be more “human” in their behavior. Wild animals are less afraid. Plants respond to your love and attention more than ever. Some may even have messages for you.
38. Seeing beings of other dimensions.
The veil between dimensions is thinner, so it is not surprising. Just stay in your sovereignty. You are more powerful than you can ever imagine, so do not entertain fear. Ask your guides for help if you slip into fear.
39. Seeing a person’s true form or seeing loved ones with a different face — past life or parallel life.
40. Physically manifesting thoughts and desires more quickly and efficiently.
Advice: Monitor your thoughts. All thoughts are prayers. Be careful what you ask for.
41. Left-brain fogginess.
Your psychic abilities, your intuitive knowing, your feeling and compassion, your ability to experience your body, your visioning, your expressiveness all emanate from the right brain. In order for this side of the brain to develop more fully, the left brain must shut down a little bit. Normally the left-hemisphere’s capacity for order, organization, structure, linear sequencing, analysis, evaluation, precision, focus, problem-solving, and mathematics dominate our often less-valued right brain. What results are memory lapses, placing words in the wrong sequence, inability or no desire to read for very long, inability to focus; forgetting what you are just about to say; impatience with linear forms of communication (audio or written formats); a feeling of spaciness, being scattered; losing interesting research or complex information; feeling bombarded with words and talk and information; and a reluctance to write. Sometimes you feel dull and have no interest in analysis, lively intellectual discussion, or investigation. On the other hand, you might find yourself drawn to the sensate: videos, magazines with photos, beautiful artwork, movies, music, sculpting, painting, being with people, dancing, gardening, walking, and other kinesthetic forms of expression. You may search for spiritual content, even science fiction.
Advice: You may discover that if you allow your heart and your right brain to lead you, the left will then be activated appropriately to support you. And someday we will be well-balanced, using both hemispheres with mastery.
42. Dizziness.
This occurs when you are ungrounded. Perhaps you have just cleared a big emotional issue and your body is adjusting to your “lighter” state.
Advice: Ground yourself by eating protein.Take your shoes off and put your feet in the grass for a couple of minutes.
43. Heart palpitations.
A racing heart usually accompanies a heart opening. It only lasts for a few moments and means that the heart is re-balancing itself after an emotional release. I had one episode that terrified me: I woke up in the middle of the night, my heart pounding. I thought it was going to come right out of my chest. It only happened once and was, I understand, a huge heart-chakra opening. But I did check it out. There is nothing wrong with my heart.
Advice: Remember what I said about getting medical attention when needed. Consult your doctor about any conditions you are not comfortable with.
44. Faster hair and nail growth.
More protein is being used in the body. Too bad we can’t tell the body where to grow the hair and where not to grow it. (Or can we? Hmmm.)
45. A desire to find your soulmate or twin flame.
More than ever before, the idea that we can have a relationship that matches who we are seems more desirable.
Advice: The truth is, we have to be the kind of person we want to attract. We have to love ourselves and where we are right now before we can attract a more “perfect” mate. The work begins at home. Here is how I think it works: Hold the desire for this person in your heart, but without attachment. Expect that someday you will meet someone who is more suited to you, but let go of any expectations as to who this will be and how it will happen. Focus instead on cleaning up your own life and being the kind of person you want to be. Be happy now. Enjoy your life. Then you may see…..
46. Memories surface.
Body memories, suppressed memories, images of past lives and/or parallel lives. We are healing and integrating all our “selves”, so expect to have some of these experiences.
Advice. Keep in mind that it is best to recall what only what comes to mind, leave the rest alone,

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Vedas are truth-Scientists Claim That Consciousness Moves To Another Universe At Deaths-Beyond time and space

GITA/VEDAS are now scientifially explained-
Scientists Claim That Quantum Theory Proves Consciousness Moves To Another Universe At Death-
A book titled “Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the Nature of the Universe“ has stirred up the Internet, because it contained a notion that life does not end when the body dies, and it can last forever. The author of this publication, scientist Dr. Robert Lanza who was voted the 3rd most important scientist alive by the NY Times, has no doubts that this is possible.

Beyond time and space

Lanza is an expert in regenerative medicine and scientific director of Advanced Cell Technology Company. Before he has been known for his extensive research which dealt with stem cells, he was also famous for several successful experiments on cloning endangered animal species.
But not so long ago, the scientist became involved with physics, quantum mechanics and astrophysics. This explosive mixture has given birth to the new theory of biocentrism, which the professor has been preaching ever since. Biocentrism teaches that life and consciousness are fundamental to the universe. It is consciousness that creates the material universe, not the other way around.
Lanza points to the structure of the universe itself, and that the laws, forces, and constants of the universe appear to be fine-tuned for life, implying intelligence existed prior to matter. He also claims that space and time are not objects or things, but rather tools of our animal understanding. Lanza says that we carry space and time around with us “like turtles with shells.” meaning that when the shell comes off (space and time), we still exist.
The theory implies that death of consciousness simply does not exist. It only exists as a thought because people identify themselves with their body. They believe that the body is going to perish, sooner or later, thinking their consciousness will disappear too. If the body generates consciousness, then consciousness dies when the body dies. But if the body receives consciousness in the same way that a cable box receives satellite signals, then of course consciousness does not end at the death of the physical vehicle. In fact, consciousness exists outside of constraints of time and space. It is able to be anywhere: in the human body and outside of it. In other words, it is non-local in the same sense that quantum objects are non-local.
Lanza also believes that multiple universes can exist simultaneously. In one universe, the body can be dead. And in another it continues to exist, absorbing consciousness which migrated into this universe. This means that a dead person while traveling through the same tunnel ends up not in hell or in heaven, but in a similar world he or she once inhabited, but this time alive. And so on, infinitely. It’s almost like a cosmic Russian doll afterlife effect.

Multiple worlds

This hope-instilling, but extremely controversial theory by Lanza has many unwitting supporters, not just mere mortals who want to live forever, but also some well-known scientists. These are the physicists and astrophysicists who tend to agree with existence of parallel worlds and who suggest the possibility of multiple universes. Multiverse (multi-universe) is a so-called scientific concept, which they defend. They believe that no physical laws exist which would prohibit the existence of parallel worlds.
The first one was a science fiction writer H.G. Wells who proclaimed in 1895 in his story “The Door in the Wall”. And after 62 years, this idea was developed by Dr. Hugh Everett in his graduate thesis at the Princeton University. It basically posits that at any given moment the universe divides into countless similar instances. And the next moment, these “newborn” universes split in a similar fashion. In some of these worlds you may be present: reading this article in one universe, or watching TV in another.
The triggering factor for these multiplyingworlds is our actions, explained Everett. If we make some choices, instantly one universe splits into two with different versions of outcomes.
In the 1980s, Andrei Linde, scientist from the Lebedev’s Institute of physics, developed the theory of multiple universes. He is now a professor at Stanford University. Linde explained: Space consists of many inflating spheres, which give rise to similar spheres, and those, in turn, produce spheres in even greater numbers, and so on to infinity. In the universe, they are spaced apart. They are not aware of each other’s existence. But they represent parts of the same physical universe.
The fact that our universe is not alone is supported by data received from the Planck space telescope. Using the data, scientists have created the most accurate map of the microwave background, the so-called cosmic relic background radiation, which has remained since the inception of our universe. They also found that the universe has a lot of dark recesses represented by some holes and extensive gaps.
Theoretical physicist Laura Mersini-Houghton from the North Carolina University with her colleagues argue: the anomalies of the microwave background exist due to the fact that our universe is influenced by other universes existing nearby. And holes and gaps are a direct result of attacks on us by neighboring universes.

Soul/Spirit

So, there is abundance of places or other universes where our soul could migrate after death, according to the theory of neo-biocentrism. But does the soul exist? Is there any scientific theory of consciousness that could accommodate such a claim? According to Dr. Stuart Hameroff, a near-death experience happens when the quantum information that inhabits the nervous system leaves the body and dissipates into the universe. Contrary to materialistic accounts of consciousness, Dr. Hameroff offers an alternative explanation of consciousness that can perhaps appeal to both the rational scientific mind and personal intuitions.
Consciousness resides, according to Stuart and British physicist Sir Roger Penrose, in the microtubules of the brain cells, which are the primary sites of quantum processing. Upon death, this information is released from your body, meaning that your consciousness goes with it. They have argued that our experience of consciousness is the result of quantum gravity effects in these microtubules, a theory which they dubbed orchestrated objective reduction (Orch-OR).
Consciousness, or at least proto-consciousness is theorized by them to be a fundamental property of the universe, present even at the first moment of the universe during the Big Bang. “In one such scheme proto-conscious experience is a basic property of physical reality accessible to a quantum process associated with brain activity.”
Our souls are in fact constructed from the very fabric of the universe – and may have existed since the beginning of time. Our brains are just receivers and amplifiers for the proto-consciousness that is intrinsic to the fabric of space-time. So is there really a part of your consciousness that is non-material and will live on after the death of your physical body?
Dr Hameroff told the Science Channel’s Through the Wormhole documentary: “Let’s say the heart stops beating, the blood stops flowing, the microtubules lose their quantum state. The quantum information within the microtubules is not destroyed, it can’t be destroyed, it just distributes and dissipates to the universe at large”. Robert Lanza would add here that not only does it exist in the universe, it exists perhaps in another universe.
If the patient is resuscitated, revived, this quantum information can go back into the microtubules and the patient says “I had a near death experience”‘
He adds: “If they’re not revived, and the patient dies, it’s possible that this quantum information can exist outside the body, perhaps indefinitely, as a soul.”
This account of quantum consciousness explains things like near-death experiences, astral projection, out of body experiences, and even   REINCARNATION    without needing to appeal to religious ideology. The energy of your consciousness potentially gets recycled back into a different body at some point, and in the mean time it exists outside of the physical body on some other level of reality, and possibly in another universe.
Robert Lanza on Biocentrism:












REINCARNATION AND METAPHYSICS FACTS OR FICTION?

Is the idea of reincarnation just religious superstition or new-age wishful thinking? Reincarnation is spoken of in many cultures and religions especially in all Indian Scriptures like GITA. It is something that occurs to souls when they have lessons that still need to be learned in physical incarnation. For example, let’s say I was born into a rich family and coasted through life in comfort and freedom without struggle. When I return home to the spirit realm, I may need to reincarnate again into the physical plane to experience struggle and hardship in order to fully appreciate what comfort and freedom are. Some return for lessons, some apparently return to alleviate karma from past-lives, and some return simply to do good work on the earth and help other souls evolve here. But is there any scientific credibility to the belief in reincarnation?


Before we answer this question, it’s helpful to remember that we do not need hard PROOF in order to be justified in believing in something. If the weatherman says there is a 70% chance of showers, I don’t need proof that it’s going to rain before I am justified in bringing an umbrella with me. I don’t need hard scientific proof of extra-terrestrial life in order to be justified in believing that life exists on other planets, because there are so many good reasons that, when taken together cumulatively, provide a plausible account for belief in life on other planets.
Reincarnation is not something you can objectively measure in the same way you can measure a chemical reaction, so it may even be in principle non-provable using the scientific method. So the question is, “Are there enough solid pieces of evidence that, when taken together, justify a belief in reincarnation?” I think the answer is a resounding yes.

Dr. Ian Stevenson, Ph.D., former Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, spent 40 years researching reincarnation stories within children. This former chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology investigated over 3000 independent stories of children who claimed to have memories and know people from their alleged past lives. According to Stevenson, the number of cases that are worth considering is so high that it exceeds the ability of him and his team to investigate them all.
Facial recognition software confirmed that there was in fact a facial resemblance to their alleged prior incarnation. Some had birth marks on places where they allegedly suffered fatal wounds from in their past life. They were often dramatic and sometimes bizarre lesions, such as malformed digits or missing limbs, misshapen heads, and odd markings. As Dr. Stevenson writes in his paper “Birthmarks and Birth Defects Corresponding to Wounds on Deceased Persons” in the peer-reviewed Journal of Scientific Exploration:
“About 35% of children who claim to remember previous lives have birthmarks and/or birth defects that they (or adult informants) attribute to wounds on a person whose life the child remembers. The cases of 210 such children have been investigated. The birthmarks were usually areas of hairless, puckered skin; some were areas of little or no pigmentation (hypopigmented macules); others were areas of increased pigmentation (hyperpigmented nevi). The birth defects were nearly always of rare types. In cases in which a deceased person was identified the details of whose life unmistakably matched the child’s statements, a close correspondence was nearly always found between the birthmarks and/or birth defects on the child and the wounds on the deceased person. In 43 of 49 cases in which a medical document (usually a postmortem report) was obtained, it confirmed the correspondence between wounds and birthmarks (or birth defects).”
The memories the children recalled were far too specific to be chalked up to chance. In an article where 3 cases were looked at in great detail by Dr. Stevenson, he reported that each of the 3 children made roughly 30-40 claims regarding memories that had of their past lives, 82-92% of which were both verifiable and correct. The particularities and specific details that were given by the children ranged from anything from the names, personalities, and occupations of their former parents and siblings to the precise layouts of the houses they lived in. It was not uncommon for Stevenson to encounter a child who could go into a town he had never been in before and give him the details of the village, former personal belongings, the neighbourhood in which he lived in a past life, and the people who he use to associate with.
As he concludes: “It was possible in each case to find a family that had lost a member whose life corresponded to the subject’s statements. The statements of the subject, taken as a group, were sufficiently specific so that they could not have corresponded to the life of any other person. We believe we have excluded normal transmission of the correct information to the subjects and that they obtained the correct information they showed about the concerned deceased person by some paranormal process.”
Something which interested Dr. Stevenson was the phobias that were developed from past-life traumas. As Dr. Jim Tucker writes:
“Another area that interested Ian was the behavior of these children. He wrote a paper about phobias that many of the children showed, usually related to the mode of death from the life they claimed to remember (Stevenson, 1990a). He reported that 36% of the children in a series of 387 cases showed such fears. They occurred when the children were very young, sometimes before they had made their claims about the previous life. For example, he described a girl in Sri Lanka who as a baby resisted baths so much that three adults had to hold her down to give her one. By the age of six months, she also showed a marked phobia of buses and then later described the life of a girl in another village who had been walking along a narrow road between flooded paddy fields when she stepped back to avoid a bus going by, fell into the flood water, and drowned.” The original journal article these findings were published can be found here.
What seems to be more than mere chance is that children were able to accurately identify former acquaintances and relationships they had with people in their prior lives. Most impressively was a Lebanese girl who was able to remember and identify 25 different people from her past life and the interpersonal relationships she had with them. His best findings were put together in a book called Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation. For further reading, this book would really be your best bet. The American Journal of Psychiatry reviewed these cases and said there were ‘‘cases recorded in such full detail as to persuade the open mind that reincarnation is a tenable hypothesis to explain them’’. He had several other books and papers published and widely accepted in the mainstream community.
As a review in the Journal of the American Medical Association stated ‘‘In regard to reincarnation he has painstakingly and unemotionally collected a detailed series of cases from India, cases in which the evidence is difficult to explain on any other grounds.’’ The reviewer added: ‘‘He has placed on record a large amount of data that cannot be ignored’’. His one paper called ‘‘The Explanatory Value of the Idea of Reincarnation’’ had thousands of requests for reprints by scientists all over the world. His findings were also published in peer reviewed journals the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, and the International Journal of Comparative Sociology.
During a presentation at Penn State University in 2005, Dr. Jim B. Tucker, a child psychiatrist at the University of Virginia, described how a mother was leaning over the changing table to change her son’s diaper. Her young toddler unexpectedly said, “When I was your age, I used to change your diapers.” Sam Taylor, of Vermont, was born 18 months following his grandfather’s death. When he made this comment, he was only a few years old. When he was four and a half years old, however, Taylor was able to pick out his grandfather from a class picture of about 20 people and identify his grandfather’s first car from a photograph.
Here is video of a young boys reincarnation story covered by ABC news to provide you a glimpse into the nature of these cases. It’s important to note that this case is American, so the parents are not influencing or encouraging the boy to believe in reincarnation:

Upon coming to a conclusion about all his findings and his publications, we have to ask ourselves “What is the best explanation that can accommodate all of this evidence?” Why would there be so many cases of children who claim to have been other people, who know the specific names and interpersonal relationships of the person they recall being, have similar behaviour and personalities as the people they claimed to be, have birthmarks and abnormalities where they claimed to have suffered wounds in their past lives, and have phobias linked back to alleged past life traumas if reincarnation did not exist?
Reincarnation can no longer be looked at as some woo-woo pseudoscientific New Age fantasy. This is a hypothesis which has gotten serious attention in the mainstream academic community, and is still ripe with investigation to this day. When we take all the evidence together and look at it without religious or scientific bias getting in the way, it seems as though we are not only justified in believing in reincarnation, but it also may be the best of all explanations for the strongest cases.

“It is not surprising to be born more than once; everything in nature is resurrection” —Voltaire
Sources:
Sources to original articles can be found in the highlighted words in the article.
Laidlaw, R. W. (1967). Review of Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation. American Journal of Psychiatry, 124, 128.
King, L. S. (1975). Reincarnation. JAMA, 234, 978
http://www.medicine.virginia.edu/clinical/departments/psychiatry/sections/cspp/dops/case_types-page#CORT
http://www.examiner.com/article/reincarnation-scientific-evidence
Recommended read: Life Before Life by Dr. Jim Tucker, and Journey of Souls by Dr. Michael Newton.