Why does nature hide spiritual truths – why don’t all of us have past-life memories or near-death experiences?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So why does nature seem to hide certain experiences? Why is it only 1 in 10 person people have near-death experiences? There are two distinct aspects going on over here. First is, in terms of our own capacity, the kind of body and mind that we have. Second is, the purpose of this world.
So let’s start with the personal level. See, all of us have a particular kind of body and a particular kind of mind which is suited for certain kinds of experiences. It’s not suited for certain kinds of experiences.
What I mean by this is that, say, some people, they hear music. Almost everybody likes music. But not everybody is a connoisseur of music.
Some people are really, oh, this is very good music. This is mediocre music. So that capacity is different for different people.
That’s a sensibility that some people have, some people don’t have. Now, from the philosophical perspective, the sensibilities that we have, somebody might go to a very beautiful hill station, and if they are not very attuned to nature, they may experience nothing. They say, what is there to see? I just want to go from here.
Some other people may feel, oh, this is such a wonderful place. I know. It’s so serene.
I’m feeling so calm, so relaxed. So what happens over there is, that different people have different sensibilities. And this is just the way we all are as individuals.
We are different. So, sometimes, even if somebody gets an experience, somebody is taken to a very special place in nature, what is there to see? Nothing. Just want to leave.
So what happens, without a sensibility, one will not be able to, one will not be able to appreciate what one has experienced. So, experience, a first-hand experience is no guarantor of knowledge. In fact, it says there are near-death experiences.
There are past-life memories also people talk about. So one of the most famous celebrity past-life memory case is of the designer of the Titanic. His name was Thomas Andrews, one of the key designing engineers.
So he was on board the Titanic when the Titanic sank. And he was blamed for it. There must have been some design flaw on his side.
Now, later on, a person named William Burns, he was born and he said that I am Thomas Andrews reincarnated. And he gave, what is still date, the most reasonable explanation for why the Titanic sank so quickly. When the Titanic was made, it was claimed that this is a ship that even God cannot sink.
But it not only sank, there was a collision with the iceberg, but it sank very quickly. And he said that before they went on that maiden voyage, he had been testing the ship. William Burns said that Thomas Andrews was doing this test.
And he said, I was testing the hull of the ship, I hit it with a hammer. And at some points, I hit it once with a hammer, boom, huge resonance happened. So, when I saw that, I told, Mr. Black was the financer for this whole project.
He said that the hull is not adequately thick. At certain points, when it is hit, it is leading to resonance. If it is hit very forcefully, that resonance can cause crack and damages.
So, now Black, he was the financer, he said we already got enough finance, everything is planned, it’s a pleasure cruise, just don’t bother. So, he swept aside the objections. So, Black, he escaped.
There were some life rafts on there, he escaped. But Thomas Andrews, he sank along with the ship. So, now William Burns, he gives a very coherent account of what happened.
There is a lot of evidence of whatever happened on the Titanic before the sinking. But the most important thing is, he himself is convinced that I am Thomas Andrews. But he is not at all interested in anything spiritual.
As William Burns, he said, the purpose of, the mission of my life is to clear the good name of Thomas Andrews. So, what has happened, he himself had a first-hand experience of dying and being reborn, but that did not lead to any spiritual inquisitiveness. Just, oh, Thomas Andrews name was maligned, I have to clear that.
That’s his mission in life. So, basically, spiritual exploration or spiritual inclination, that is a matter of individual choice. So, some people will choose it, some people will not choose it.
And it is up to us, with our free will, to choose it. So, the nature of this world is such that we are given options. If we want to be spiritual, there is evidence for that.
If we want to be materialistic, there is evidence for that also. So, we have to choose. It is said that, when we talk about anything spiritual, believers need no reasons and non-believers accept no reasons.
So, it is ultimately a matter of individual choice. So, everybody cannot have such experiences because not everybody has the sensibility for having those experiences. And even if they have those experiences, it is not necessary that they will lead to transformations.
So, more than depending on some experiences that someone may or may not have had, we can focus on processes that can raise our consciousness to the spiritual level. In science also, especially as science advances more and more, how many of the advanced high energy physics ideas can be demonstrated by us? Say, a few years ago, some scientists proposed that they discovered the God particle. Now, most of us, not most of us, most scientists, even most physicists, cannot do the experiments required to replicate that finding.
It’s only one or two experimental setups, which can accelerate particles to an enormously high level, that can actually even examine that experiment, whether to prove it or disprove it, whatever. So, generally, the more sophisticated the science becomes, it’s not so easy to replicate the experiences. So, same applies with respect to these kind of unusual experiences also.
So, rather than resting our own spirituality on such unusual experiences, we can focus on the universal processes. There are processes of what is called in the Indian tradition as yoga, for raising one’s consciousness from the material to the spiritual level. So, yoga is often nowadays thought of as exercise.
But the word yoga comes from the root connection. So, basically, we connect with our spiritual side, we connect with our spiritual source. So, just as there are processes by which, say, a sick person can become healthy, a person has, say, malaria, you take this medicine, you’ll become healthy.
So, like that, if I’m on the ground floor, there’s a process. I climb the elevator, I get to the elevator, I’ll rise up. So, there are processes given by which all of us can become more spiritual, can experience spiritual reality.
The Bhagavad Gita says, Pratyaksha Vagamandharmyam. Pratyaksha, we can practically experience for ourselves. So, such pointers, such unusual experiences can be pointers for us to explore.
And by exploration, we will ourselves get first-hand experience of our own essential spirituality. Thank you. So, any other questions or comments?