Kishore 

My personal experiences make me believe that I am leading a journey from where I left in my previous life. I somehow strongly believe that many of my strong beliefs were strongly influenced by my previous lives. Some of my beliefs are so strong that I wonder how I know some of the things I believe in and only plausible explanation I can find is my life is just another phase of my soul's journey towards God.

1. Strong resistance to some habits: If one believes that circumstances can influence people to adopt habits, I believe that they are more influenced by your previous lives. Somehow I strongly believe the following: 

Smoking is bad for health. I strongly believed that and was never tempted me to even try this habit. 

Drinking is bad for health. I also very strongly believe in this and never even tasted a single drop of any of the intoxicating liquids. There were circumstances where some of my friends asked me to taste at least once and I strongly declined. It is also possible for people to assume that once you come to US or other western countries you will naturally take to drinking. I still strongly believe and fortunately I have been able to avoid coming under such influences. I believe that I learned my lessons which made me take such a strong resolution. I do hope and pray to God that I will be able to stand on my resolve in future too.

Eating meat is also bad. As I was born in a family which does not eat meat by tradition and custom, I never had an idea of eating meat. And my strong belief that eating meat is not necessary and even harmful for humans has been carried through my life. Again I belief that this belief has been shaped in my previous lives as I can't associate any other experience in current life to this belief. I have seen people who eat meat though it is not part of their custom. I don't condemn them but believe that they still have tendencies carried forward from their previous lives though customs suggest not to eat meat. I have also seen where people are meat eaters by family habit, but give up after sometime. 

Unfulfilled desires have to be appeased: Many times we condemn people for having bad habits. Actually I don't consider them as bad habits. I consider them natural tendency to experience something which they feel inclined to and sometime or the other they will grow out of it. 

2. My preferences about living in India:

During college education almost 30% of our classmates started preparation for GRE, TOEFL with an aim to pursue their higher studies in US. During the same period my brother also came to US for higher studies. It was natural for my parents and friends to suggest that I should also go to US. I don't know for what reason, but I believed strongly in two things: I believed that life in US is more materialistic and it would not suit my personal preferences. No one told me such an idea, but it was such a strong belief that I claimed I will never go to US and I will always be happy in India. After years when I wonder over this belief of my mine, I come to realize that I have lived in West/US in my previous lives and this has given me this belief.

Even after my education, when I started working in Software field, I was constantly bombarded with questions like: when are you going to US? People found it difficult to believe that I don't prefer going to US while so many people desperately want to go to US at the earliest opportunity. I was able to veer off peer pressure and strong suggestions from many people that I was not taking the 'opportunity' and I strongly believe that I had learned my lessons I don't want to repeat my mistakes. I used to say the following related to US: It is highly materialistic life. There is no job security. You will not feel spiritually fulfilled. You will miss family back home.

Now that I am in US, I realize that what I believed was correct and still hold my views. It is a different story that I continue to stay in US despite holding such strong views. It is because my fate drove me here despite my strong beliefs and I have kept an open mind to accept life as it comes and not complain.

3. Some more subtle beliefs:

I have some more subtle beliefs related to evolution which go on in my mind. These are ideas I have never heard before and read about them. But still these ideas remain strong in my mind and again believe them that these are lessons I learned in earlier births.

• Once during college I had a conversation with one of my classmates where I told about existence of God and talked a lot about spirituality. I remember some of the words I said that time came to my mind for the first time and I don't know where those ideas came from.

• Belief in Karma: I strongly believe Karma guides almost every minor detail of an individual's life. Even a soul's birth in a human form is determined by Karma of the soul. In which family you will be born and at what time you will be born is all destined and strongly influenced by Karma. I believed in this much earlier than I read the same in books. This made me believe that we have the infinite knowledge within us and external experiences, influences help to bring out those thoughts into open.

• Material Progress is gradual: I strongly believe that evolution is repeating itself over and over. Some of the scientific progress has all been made centuries ago and for some reason it is all destroyed. What science is out to discover (hidden secrets of world) is already done centuries ago and essence of their findings are written in ancient scriptures and religious teachings. Scientists will gradually uncover them.

• Theory of Evolution: Darwin's theory of evolution was understood long time back and it was explained in Hindu scriptures. Lord Vishnu's dasavataras (ten incarnations) are nothing but theory of evolution. Lord Vishnu's Avatars start with fish (life form in water), tortoise (life form that can survive in water and earth) and goes along with pig (life form that can only survive on earth). Other avatars also reflect gradual evolution: Narasimha (Half human, half animal), Vamana (small being) Parasurama (a being with passion), Rama (a being as normal human and without any superhuman powers), Krishna (a being with superhuman powers), Buddha (a being that exemplifies merging with super soul) and Kalki (a being that denotes destruction of life that starts another cycle of evolution). Somehow this idea came to me but I can't really relate everything to theory of evolution as I never gave too much thought to this. 

• Natural tendency to some saints/gods: Many times we find that we get attracted to some saints/gods in current life. How does this start? This is a natural one carried forward from previous lives. e.g. if you find strong attraction from Swami Vivekananda/Sri Ramakrishna it might be possible that in your previous life you were also influenced by him in either direction association with them or by some other factor. Some souls born in East have strong desires towards Western life and some souls born in West get attracted by spirituality in the East. This all indicates continuation of soul's journey in a different form.

• Soul-mates:  Many times we hear 'made for each other' kind of references. I do believe in that. People with complementing tendencies come together as husband and wife and together they lead a life which lead both of them onward with their spiritual journey. It is for this reason that there are unthinkable marriages. Marriages between people of different religions, different castes, different countries are all natural. There is no point in really condemning such marriages because it is union of souls that took birth in different places because of their Karma but destiny will string bring them together as they are perfect match for one another.

Summary:

It is not only me but every one has some strong beliefs, their personal behaviors that are not just shaped in this birth but well formed and influenced by experiences in previous lives. Having an understanding of this will make the spiritual journey and evolution of the soul easier.  Don't resist your beliefs as negative influences, but rather understand them and live with them. Also believe Knowledge is within and tapping that knowledge is what is required to evolve. Swami Vivekananda said "Each soul is potentially divine". We have all our potential and universal wisdom hidden within us. By auto suggestion and shaping our thoughts we can become what we want to be. And every step you take in this birth will not only shape what you become in this life but also influence in your next. Essence of Karma Yoga is "Previous Karma influences your life and by understanding this one should use their powers of reasoning and take steps to shape their future". Human being is uniquely blessed with this reasoning power and ignoring this is the biggest mistake one can do.

Note: I shared thoughts that came naturally to my mind. I have written this words to share what I strongly feel and not for any other purpose. If this helps you to realize something, I will be happy.

Jai Sriram, Jai Hanuman

March 2002