A Further Prof of Reincarnation

MT 60 Yrs – 2nd Year No 49 – Friday 15th July 1955

Since about two weeks hundreds of persons from every corner of the island are going everyday to Castel to see a boy who is said to be the reincarnation of the late Seeram Jankoo who died at sea near Flat Island some five years ago.

Mr Malcolm de Chazal has written an article about this boy in Advance last week. Other articles will no doubt appear in this connection.

What is the truth about this case? To Mr Malcolm de Chazal, who does not believe in reincarnation, it is a case of possession by the spirit of Seeram Jankoo. To others it is a miracle that cannot be explained but that should be looked at with curiosity or admiration.

And so, people go to see the child from morning to evening and the poor parents are unable to go to work, whilst the poor child, the unwilling hero of the moment, is on the point of falling seriously ill.

What are the facts? About a month ago the boy whose name is Deepack and who is two years and seven months old, started saying to his mother for three consecutive days that he was Seeram. Upon questions being put to him he revealed that his boat capsized near Flat Island and that he fell into deep water. He lived at Vacoas and wanted to go there. He had his mother, his wife, his children, his houses, his buses and his cars there. When taken to Surinam to a marriage he showed great fear whilst crossing Souillac in a car near the bay at the mouth of River Savanne. When taken to Vacoas for the first time on Saturday 3 July 1955 he is said to have said that the shop, the house and the premises of the late Seeram Jankoo were his. When showed the photo of Seeram Jankoo in the drawing room of the latter, he said that it was his. When he saw the mother, the wife and the son of Seeram Jankoo, it seemed by the way he looked at them that he knew them.

The boy has said and done nothing in our presence that might enable us to confirm anything. But if all that is related about the boy by his parents is true, there is nothing supernatural in the case as it is just another proof of reincarnation.

Today reincarnation is a fact of nature and not a mere theory. Hundreds of millions of persons in the East and West now believe in it. Great writers and thinkers have affirmed it in their works. It has helped millions to solve many of those problems which are the despair of the modern world.

A human being is made up of a physical body and a soul. At the time of death the soul leaves the physical body taking with it the mind. The mind is the storehouse of all our experiences and of all our likes and dislikes.

When a soul is reincarnated the experiences of a past life are manifested. The individual has the same likes and dislikes. He exhibits certain special capacity which is the result of the experience of a past life. These manifestations explain what remain unexplained otherwise.

“Strong impressions made on the consciousness in a past life,” says C. Jinarajadasa, “appear in some curious mood or feeling”. If violent death occurred in a past life, uncontrollable fear of the thing that caused the death persists in the present life especially when the individual comes in presence of such a thing. This explains why the boy remembers the boat wreck near Flat Island and why he was so afraid at the sight of a rolling sea.

Persons who go to see the boy put a series of questions to him in order to get the same answers which he is said to have given to his parents. As a result the boy gets annoyed and very often starts weeping. They do not know what harm they are doing to the poor child.

All the impressions of a past life do not come to the mind in this life very easily and at every moment. And it is good that it is so. Otherwise many persons would have turned mad or would have committed suicide. Our past impressions are buried deep in our subconscious mind. It is by deep meditation that we can know some of those impressions. It is said that yogis who have long practiced the science of meditation can read the past lives of individuals. But generally the past lives remain a secret to common beings and that is why so many do not believe in them.

Why do we not remember the name we had in our past life and why does the boy Deepack remember his, you would ask. If all that is related about Deepack is true, then the answer is that he is remembering only those impressions which were strongly persisting in his mind at the time “of his death” in his past life. The other weaker impressions are too deep laid, that is why the other questions put to him to get more convincing proof remain without answer from him.

As the study of the human mind advances, more and more persons will understand and believe in reincarnation. The Theosophical Society is studying it in a very scientific way and many are the scholars in the West, not to speak of those in the East, who are convinced that “Reincarnation gives perspective, a true sense of values, the feeling of Eternity. It awakens wonder, stirs our imagination, and sends our gaze wandering down the vistas of the centuries. It is inspiration to poet, light to philosopher, joy to saint, for it tells of the way to God.’

By S. N. Dutt

• Published in print edition on 9 October 2015