The recent trend in some sections of the Indian visual media is rebirth and associated quackery. On one of the channels, it started with sessions of “hypnotism” taking people back to their past births and “treatment” for many of their problems of the present birth which are allegedly caused by deeds in the past life!

There is a “Dr.” Prithi Jain along with a moderator putting the person who had volunteered into what is called a “hypnotic trance.” That is followed by question-answer sessions along with re-enactment of episodes which are supposed to have happened in past births, followed by “counselling” and “therapy,” with the subject admitting at the end of the session that he or she is feeling better. The ill-informed Indian middle-class audience is fascinated by these antics, and the viewership must have definitely gone up. Like all other talk shows, in these too the episodes started with sessions with some “celebrities.” Now, it is the hoi polloi whose past lives are on public display. Not to be left behind, many regional channels have followed suit, and there must be zillions of such past life programs being shown in these, with a gullible lot of our viewers lapping up the tripe being served as science.

Many are under the impression that this is the latest in the field of mental health, not realising that this nonsense has been in existence for more than a century and was dismissed as a hoax long, long back. There have been many famous cases like the reincarnate Audie Murphy, reincarnations of allegedly famous doctors like Cayce, Arigo, and many such. They have been sensationalised in the print media even by very conservative publications like Reader’s Digest. Seances, which have been proved to be frauds by eminent magicians like Houdini, and even novels which became bestsellers based on these themes have been popular in the past century. There have been movies based on these, like the classics Madhumati, Milan, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, etc., some of which have been hits at the box office. There has been “research” on rebirth, a lot of which—I should say all of which—has been discredited as the case histories were proved to be cooked up. One of the universities in Rajasthan had a department of parapsychology which had UGC grants, but was closed down when investigations proved that data was cooked up to provide interesting cases. We have some in nationally famous institutions who have cooked up data and got their Ph.Ds by quoting cases only indicated as alphabets under the guise of patient confidentiality, thus preventing any investigation of cases of reincarnation quoted by them.

We also have celebrities who supposedly take rebirth again and again, like the Dalai Lama and his coterie, who are all supposed to be reincarnations of famous religious leaders and worshipped as the living Buddha by his gullible devotees. More recently, there is the case of reincarnation in Andhra of a little girl called Shambhavi, whose rebirth claims have been allegedly certified by no less a person than the most famous reincarnation of them all—the Dalai Lama himself! The Dalai Lama, who apparently is supposedly more rational than many other religious leaders—that, of course, is not saying much, because the irrational behaviour of many of them, like the Pope, is worse. The Dalai Lama, whose supposedly broad-minded and liberal views are legendary, is not free from superstitions like his support of rebirth, Tibetan medicine, and a variety of such. In the last-mentioned case of Shambhavi in Andhra Pradesh, we have moved the Human Rights Commission of Andhra Pradesh asking for the protection of the minor girl Shambhavi, as we feel that this little girl is being exploited by some unscrupulous adults for their own nefarious ends. The campaign, which started as an anti-superstition one, has now gotten a wider perspective by making it an issue of the rights of the child and the exploitation of a minor. This campaign, started by Babu Gogineni, though initially opposed by many under the impression that it was a case of opposition to the religious beliefs of a community, got wide support when people understood the true nature of this issue.

These episodes of rebirth, along with the hoopla surrounding them and the claims of the whole thing being “scientific,” need a discussion of many specific issues connected to them, both ethical and scientific. If we take up the issues of biology, if we are to accept that reincarnation is a fact, then questions of what passes from one to another during this process pop up. One has to query whether it is a molecule or an atom or a cell that travels from one to the other during this process. Or is it something subatomic, like rays or particles? How come only some reincarnate and not all? If reincarnation is only for humans, then what can explain the huge population growth? If it is claimed that reincarnation is cross-species, then at what stage does the capacity to be so get acquired? Do bacteria and viruses also reincarnate?

Well, I am sure the explanation will be that there is none, but it is an unexplained truth. Well, if that be so, when extraordinary claims are made, we do need extraordinary proof, while even ordinary proof is not forthcoming. Some examples of child prodigies are shown as proof, which have no relevance, because if a newborn is a reincarnation, it should exhibit all traits of its past birth at the time of delivery itself. But the usual finding is that they do so only like others, maybe a little earlier than many of their age and social group. The only so-called evidence that is offered are quotations from religious texts, which cannot be accepted as evidence of any credibility. If they are further questioned, then the replies come that it is a matter of faith and hence above question!

Here we have to understand what the vested interests behind these are. Past life regression therapy is not an accepted form of therapy in any standard textbook of psychiatry. If any qualified psychiatrist registered as one in any state or the Medical Council of India promotes or practices it, the registration can be cancelled for professional misconduct. So, it is obvious that the “Dr.” who “treats” patients on TV cannot be a qualified practitioner of any system of medicine. If one goes to the website of this “institution” offering past life regression therapy, all that one sees are testimonials from patients, which are not considered evidence at all.

But we have many people claiming that their phobias in the present life were traced to events in their past life, and so on. The claim is also that when these events were discovered and counselling done, they got a lot of relief! Well, these are classic cases of two lies cancelling each other out! What happened in the past life itself is questionable, and hence the suggestions may act just as any ordinary mental suggestion and may have some effects. One can also use these as a convenient excuse to explain the misdeeds of the present existence. One can always be on the lookout for a scapegoat for one’s misdeeds, and something happening in a past life is as good as any. So, that would explain the claims put forward by those who say that they have been healed by this “past life regression therapy.” In the West, there are fringe groups which perform this therapy followed by what is called a rebirthing experience, resulting in a clean slate for the subject, probably after which new misdeeds can be committed on a newly opened account!

Past life can be used as an excuse for many other things. For example, one can always justify the caste system under the excuse that the “lower” castes are born so as to atone for the sins of their previous births. Those who enjoy all the best things of life at the cost of others can always have an excuse that this is due to the good deeds performed in their past life. It could also keep the exploited from protesting under the guise that their exploiters will be punished in their next life for what they are doing now! Though it would be difficult for us to have an explanation for why we should be punished or rewarded for having done something in a past existence which we are not even aware of, one could explain that that awareness could be brought by the right combinations of suggestions—and where do these come from? Naturally from the past life regression therapist or from some holy scripture which is unquestionable! So, here we have the judge, jury, and prosecutor all rolled into one, and whatever they say will be irrefutable.

The write-up would not be complete without a few personal experiences. There was a very famous case of reincarnation in a place called Navalgund in Dharwad district. There was a boy who was called “DC Saheba”—the reason was that he was supposed to be the reincarnation of a Deputy Commissioner from Punjab who had died an untimely death. The boy was supposed to be narrating incidents of his past life with great accuracy. When I had been to this place, I made enquiries about him to take his case history. The villagers told me that they had driven away the whole family from their village. Their reason was that they were bringing a bad reputation to the village by tutoring the child to narrate cooked-up stories. Once, about 15 years ago, the Vice Chancellor of Mangalore University, Dr. S. Gopal, was scheduled to deliver a lecture on reincarnation at a conference on the same topic at Mangalore. Three days before that, the Research Students Association of this university had invited me to deliver a lecture-demonstration on manifestations of the supernatural. During the question-answer session, one student asked me about rebirth. I told him that he was addressing the question to the wrong person. I told him to ask the same of the Vice Chancellor of the university, who was a physicist. I told him to clarify from him what would pass from one living organism to the other during the process—whether it was an atom, molecule, ray, or particle! The result was that the Vice Chancellor’s lecture was not held, as he had not turned up at the conference on rebirth! I had to travel all the way to Athens to convince a very senior citizen aged about eighty that there was no rebirth. He was a member of a cult called Radha Soami Satsang Beas, who had brainwashed him into thinking that one single mistake from him would cause the rebirth of five generations of his ancestors as ants hundreds of times. His guilt complex was causing so many problems for him that his son invited me to stay in Athens for a week to convince his father that there was nothing like rebirth. I did not know how far I succeeded in that, but it was an eye-opener for the senior citizen, who had believed that all Indians had been reborn at least a dozen times and were in full knowledge of their past births. In fact, I was the first Indian whom he had met who was not a member of this cult! Till then, all the Indians whom he had met were members of this cult only and carefully screened so that they would say those things which were the beliefs of this cult.

Rebirth is a good way of explaining the Karma theory, suppressing any rebellion against exploitation, and now a good way to explain one’s misdeeds! The latest uses are to increase the TRP ratings of TV channels and sell quack therapies like past life regression and birthing experiences! In our country, we also have cases where a rich person gets reborn in a poverty-stricken household and a relationship develops between them, leading to the improvement of the economic status of the former! We never, ever come across a case where it happens the other way round.

For the superstition-ridden, gullible people, the TV channels looking for viewership, and those selling their quack remedies, the idea of rebirth has been a blessing. As for me, it would be good for all who read this to remember that you are reading this due to the misdeeds of your past lives, and I am writing this to atone for the sins committed in my past many lives! Going through this is past life regression therapy which is going to absolve all of us of their ill effects!