The first WordPress blogger to comment on my early posts, Jerry, asked about NDEs, near-death experiences. I have read a few descriptions of such experiences. As well, a close friend of mine had such an experience. I too had an experience which had a near-death trigger, but which otherwise did not fit the norm.
To begin with my story. I was seriously ill with dengue fever, that bone-crunching disease. I was in so much pain that I heard myself shout with pain if anyone even touched my mattress. One evening, in deep non-existence through a raging fever, I found myself floating horizontally near the ceiling. I looked down and saw 2 clearly dead bodies. One was mine; the other was that of my father. But I had recently participated in his cremation, involving a great deal of Hindu ritual.
I remember being terribly afraid. Why? I had no idea. I still do not. I recall waking up in a great sweat. It soaked the bed sheet. That was the beginning of my recovery which, a few years later, I had reason to regret; my downfall had begun.
After a lifetime of trying to make sense of this experience, I now believe that I must have been near death; and that my subconscious mind had acted on that knowledge. That fear, which was akin to a nightmare, was the trigger to my recovery – for, I obviously had to live. There was a river of my personal destiny on which my sampan awaited, offering me full freedom to fall into holes which were not there, while the wheels of my life-chances cart would fall off as influenced by my past-life inheritance. To understand this, the reader will need to read my memoir The Dance of Destiny (soon available as a Kindle ebook for $2.99).
My friend’s experience was a typical NDE. She died, and was brought back to life. In between, she went through that typical process of moving towards a light, seeing her mother (and others) at the end of a bridge of some kind, and being told by her mother that she had to go back. Most significantly, her mother addressed her by a name which only her mother had ever used.
A professional sceptic would ‘explain’ NDEs by referring – without any evidence – to the way the human brain allegedly throws up hallucinations at death. An equally unprovable ‘explanation’ is that such people as my friend had been given a glimpse (far too brief a glimpse) into the After-life. I suspect that she had been spiritually protected by her experience (the prospect of a nicer abode) for the difficult life she was to encounter.
As my reality includes the spirit world, I am inclined to believe, not the speculative scientists nor the professional sceptics (all of whom may be guilty of subscribing to a ‘theology’ of their own), that we can be guided or influenced by our progenitors and their compatriots in that other place most of us aspire to. Prove me wrong – with evidence – if you can. I do not believe in evil spirits. In my speculative view (unprovable, of course) all evil originates within live brains on Earth.
RAJA ARASA RATNAM 