Anita Moorjani's overwhelming & unconditional love Near Death Experience: Oct. 2011 mail exchanges
Yesterday (April 2nd, 2015), I was forwarded a mail about about the extraordinary Near Death Experience (NDE) that a Hong Kong based lady, Anita Moorjani, experienced. That reminded me of a mail I had received in Oct. 2011 on the same topic. The contents provided in that Oct. 2011 mail seem to be similar to what is available now at the following two links:
http://www.anitamoorjani.com/about-anita/near-death-experience-description/
http://www.anitamoorjani.com/about-anita/nderf-question-answer/
A few quotes from above links about her experience of overwhelming love, unconditional love, while in her NDE (and, to some extent, later on as well):
"I realized what a gift life was, and that I was surrounded by loving spiritual beings, who were always around me even when I did not know it. The amount of love I felt was overwhelming, and from this perspective, ..."
"After what I have seen, I realize that absolutely anything is possible, and that we did not come here to suffer. Life is supposed to be great, and we are very, very loved. The way I look at life has changed dramatically, and I am so glad to have been given a second chance to experience “heaven on earth”."
"What emotions did you feel during the experience? Felt tremendous love, more than anything I have experienced on earth. I felt very loved, like no matter what I did, I would still be loved. I did not have to do anything to deserve it or prove myself."
Ravi: Around Oct. 2011 itself, I had rather extensive comment exchanges on Anita Moorjani's NDE and have given below an edited version of that comment exchange. Note that the correspondents mentioned in it have okayed sharing their responses on this blog.
Ravi: Utterly Fascinating sir. Thank you so much for this delightful spiritual experience mail.
I dug up a little on Anita Moorjani.
Here's a fantastic interview of around 45 minutes where Anita speaks ever so simply and clearly about her experience: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjLouLHH-_I. She is very articulate but without getting into any fancy words and phrases. I felt that she is a very genuine person sharing her experiences in a "heart to heart" way.
Some interesting points, to me at least, from the video:
1) Her father was an "orthodox" Hindu. But Anita rebelled against some aspects of orthodox Hinduism ["arranged marriage" :-)].
2) From her name, her family seems to be Sindhi. Interesting!!! Of course, she was brought up & lives in Hong Kong and comes across like a British born NRI (Hong Kong has strong Brit. influence).
3) Her religious and scriptural background seems to be minimal. At least, her interview did not reflect strong religious or scriptural background.
4) Fascinatingly she says that during her NDE she could, by focusing her awareness on somebody, feel the emotions of that person. And goes on to say that the body is not real but that the emotions are real. [Hindu scripture tells us that there are higher levels where emotions are also unreal - reality is changeless truth - all else is Illusion - Maya.]
5) She talks about feeling that the only reality is Unconditional Love.
6) She also says that we are all connected and one. She says that when she would focus her awareness on somebody (during her NDE) she would have immense compassion for that person and feel everything he/she feels.
7) So simply she says that she was pretty confused when she came back to her body and could not understand her NDE and her INTUITIVELY KNOWING so many things!
Utterly Fascinating!!! She comes across as a simple, genuine & loving person. I think God truly loves such persons as against high-brow intellectuals/scriptural pandits, and therefore showers His Grace on these genuine & loving people giving the high-brow fellows a wide berth :-).
------------------------------------------------------
Correspondent A responded: Hi Ravi, this was very interesting! She said that she came back from her NDE to her (ailing) body at her father's wish/asking/suggestion! Does it mean that her father's soul was still in the ETHER somewhere, and had not taken rebirth for last 10 years! It would be very thrilling to "meet" someone from the past after one passes away!
Any thoughts?
------------------------------------------------------
Ravi: Zero experience :) But little hearsay on it.
Some "souls", better description perhaps would be soul+samskaras-ethereal-body, do stay in the "ether" after death. Some advanced spiritual adepts while being alive itself are able to "see" and communicate with such ethereal-bodies.
Don't know how long these ethereal-bodies stay in the "ether" before they take on a new physical body. Don't know which scripture covers these topics.
But I certainly believe that ethereal-bodies do stay around. Whether each person on passing away stays some time in the "ether" and meets up with dear departed relatives & friends - I really have no reading info. on it.
In public discourses Sathya Sai Baba has referred to visits by his dear departed mother, Easwaramma, at least a couple of times. She was so attached to Him that even after her giving up the physical body the ethereal-body wanted to stay close to Him.
Sathya Sai Baba also said that there was a gap of eight years after He gave up His Shirdi Sai body before he took on the Sathya Sai body. So even Shirdi Sai Baba must have been around in the "ether" for eight years. I wonder whether Sathya Sai body is now in the "ether" or has already taken up the Prema Sai Baba body!!! Billion Dollar Question for Sai devotees!!!
------------------------------------------------------
Correspondent B:
During my childhood I did hear stories like people coming back to life while others were busy preparing for cremation. About bhut (ghost) (good natured). And goddesses entering bodies etc. Never rejected the stories but did not ever care to investigate them either.
One thing that I noticed is that people claiming to have had NDE as well as known spiritual figures is that they are just a handful number of people in a seven-billion human population. So clearly the chances that I will have the pleasure of realizing / experiencing what they do, is slim to none. But they all tell two things (if not more) - a) we are (or have) egos, which comes in the way to our growth, and b) accept that as a fact and try to keep your mind open to let things come to you and then things will come to you. Resist to accept the ego, and you have a problem. Struggle to find the truth, and it will recede to infinity.
Sometime back dear Ravi had sent some ppt that talked about what you see from a distance of 10 million light-years or 1 picometer is one and the same thing - void. Looking at that ppt, dear Rj said, "Anant Koti Brahmand Nayaka !". An obvious conclusion one can draw is that that very void is what connects us all from here to infinity. But do we feel it? No amount of knowledge can help us feel it. Feeling just comes to us. There are times that we can feel this connectedness. But such times are essentially momentary and the next moment we are back in the world where we exist as individuals and simply unaware of the omnipresent void within and without. Our minds are peaceful when we feel the void or connectedness and then it is restless again. It is like I keep receiving emails peacefully and then my mind becomes restless and my fingers start typing to add to your chores.
So my question to you guys is, have you experienced moments of connectedness? What were the moments like when your mind you think was very peaceful? Did some answers "come" to you about the questions that you either were trying to get answers to at some time in the past or to a question that just "popped" to your mind? While the void has given me peace, I hope it does not take it away from you just because you realize that you are connected to me!
------------------------------------------------------
Ravi:
[About NDE experience and well known spiritual figures being only a handful in a seven-billion human population:]
Interesting observation! Many years ago in Dombivli (a town close to Mumbai, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dombivli), as I was exploring the Bhakti (devotion) path more seriously (earlier it was just vaad-vivaad (argument-counter-argument) philosophy stuff) but still relatively new to Bhakti & spiritual practise & spiritual life, a tailor told me that he loved going to "holy places" like Pandharpur (IFIRC). He said that if one is lucky one may come across and have Darshan of "great persons".
I did not really understand him then. Later I realized how rare these spiritual great persons are. Especially those that mingle with common humanity as against those who live in seclusion in remote places like the Himalayas. My wild guess is that the number of spiritually realized people who mingle with common humanity must be less than a thousand, or at most ten thousand. Ten thousand in seven billion. 10,000 in 7,000,000,000. i.e. 1 in 700,000. Let me round it (rather expansively) to 1 in a million. That's how rare they are. That's how tough it is to come out of the Lord's Maya maze of confusion. No wonder the Dombivli tailor said what he said.
[About void connecting us all and times when we feel this connectedness:]
I think that is the key to our existential reality. Feeling & not thinking. And feeling from the very depth of our being.
About the void I think Sathya Sai Baba put it very well. I don't recall the exact words but He said something like, the ultimate reality (your/our reality) is a nothingness. But not a nothingness that signifies the absence of something. Instead a nothingness which has the power to project this whole universe.
Another very important teaching from Sathya Sai Baba is that we are all forms of Pure Love. So I conclude that the nothingness/void that is our existential reality not only has the power to project this entire universe but is also a power of Love which loves its projection like a mother loves a child born out of her womb.
...
My belief is that we are all caught up in our Karma, some which we inherited from actions of previous births and some that were of our doing in this birth. And we have to do karma to progress spiritually too. Even to discuss these topics we need to do the karma of reading mails and responding to mails.
[About "So my question to you guys is, have you experienced moments of connectedness? What were the moments like when your mind you think was very peaceful?"]
Peaceful, very peaceful - yes. Connectedness - more of imagination and nice feeling that came with the imagination rather than direct experience.
[About "Did some answers "come" to you about the questions that you either were trying to get answers to at some time in the past or to a question that just "popped" to your mind?":]
My experience is that if the mind is mostly single-tasking it is easier for me to "feel" what is the "right" thing to do when I am caught up in a dilemma. The challenge is to act on what I felt was "right" even if some unpleasant consequences have to be faced. Doing the "right" thing (as I felt it) has helped me enormously in staying centered and at peace with myself. But I have not had any "material answers" coming to me from the void.
[About "While the void has given me peace, I hope it does not take it away from you just because you realize that you are connected to me!":]
Truly realizing/experiencing that we are connected to each other is, IMHO, a spiritual experience of a very, very high order. Perhaps only the great Mahatmas (not merely the first stage self-realized chaps) reach that level. They can feel the other guy's feelings like the lady described about her NDE!!! That's truly awesome. In moments of deep love between a mother and child or between lovers and, of course, between intense devotee & God, people claim to have had such connectedness experience. But to have it on a sustained basis is, IMHO, the realm of the rarest of the rare of spiritual adepts.
I am nowhere close to that level and so, you need not worry about you taking away my peace :-).
------------------------------------------------------
Correspondent A: This is getting to be an interesting discussion! I also don't know which scripture covers this topic. I first thought, it could be Garbhopanishad, but looks like it covers Jiva's journey after it is conceived, and not before that.
Here is my recollection of what I heard during one of the Ishopanishad pravachans (discourses) by Dadaji (Late Sri Pandurang Shastri Athavale) regarding how long these ethereal-bodies may take before taking on a new body. During one of his pravachans, he had made a flying reference to this topic (I am not sure if this is actually in Ishopanishad mantra, or not, as he tends to quote various scriptures and Eastern and Western texts, when the context presents itself). He had said that it depends on a number of factors like - the weight of "karma" (self-less, for higher-self, selfish,...), imprints (samsakars) that mun (mind) and buddhi (intellect) had taken, unfulfilled worldly desires, if the death was premature/accidental-due-to-collective-fate etc. to name a few.
http://www.anitamoorjani.com/about-anita/near-death-experience-description/
http://www.anitamoorjani.com/about-anita/nderf-question-answer/
A few quotes from above links about her experience of overwhelming love, unconditional love, while in her NDE (and, to some extent, later on as well):
"I realized what a gift life was, and that I was surrounded by loving spiritual beings, who were always around me even when I did not know it. The amount of love I felt was overwhelming, and from this perspective, ..."
"After what I have seen, I realize that absolutely anything is possible, and that we did not come here to suffer. Life is supposed to be great, and we are very, very loved. The way I look at life has changed dramatically, and I am so glad to have been given a second chance to experience “heaven on earth”."
"What emotions did you feel during the experience? Felt tremendous love, more than anything I have experienced on earth. I felt very loved, like no matter what I did, I would still be loved. I did not have to do anything to deserve it or prove myself."
-----------------
Ravi: Around Oct. 2011 itself, I had rather extensive comment exchanges on Anita Moorjani's NDE and have given below an edited version of that comment exchange. Note that the correspondents mentioned in it have okayed sharing their responses on this blog.
Ravi: Utterly Fascinating sir. Thank you so much for this delightful spiritual experience mail.
I dug up a little on Anita Moorjani.
Here's a fantastic interview of around 45 minutes where Anita speaks ever so simply and clearly about her experience: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjLouLHH-_I. She is very articulate but without getting into any fancy words and phrases. I felt that she is a very genuine person sharing her experiences in a "heart to heart" way.
Some interesting points, to me at least, from the video:
1) Her father was an "orthodox" Hindu. But Anita rebelled against some aspects of orthodox Hinduism ["arranged marriage" :-)].
2) From her name, her family seems to be Sindhi. Interesting!!! Of course, she was brought up & lives in Hong Kong and comes across like a British born NRI (Hong Kong has strong Brit. influence).
3) Her religious and scriptural background seems to be minimal. At least, her interview did not reflect strong religious or scriptural background.
4) Fascinatingly she says that during her NDE she could, by focusing her awareness on somebody, feel the emotions of that person. And goes on to say that the body is not real but that the emotions are real. [Hindu scripture tells us that there are higher levels where emotions are also unreal - reality is changeless truth - all else is Illusion - Maya.]
5) She talks about feeling that the only reality is Unconditional Love.
6) She also says that we are all connected and one. She says that when she would focus her awareness on somebody (during her NDE) she would have immense compassion for that person and feel everything he/she feels.
7) So simply she says that she was pretty confused when she came back to her body and could not understand her NDE and her INTUITIVELY KNOWING so many things!
Utterly Fascinating!!! She comes across as a simple, genuine & loving person. I think God truly loves such persons as against high-brow intellectuals/scriptural pandits, and therefore showers His Grace on these genuine & loving people giving the high-brow fellows a wide berth :-).
------------------------------------------------------
Correspondent A responded: Hi Ravi, this was very interesting! She said that she came back from her NDE to her (ailing) body at her father's wish/asking/suggestion! Does it mean that her father's soul was still in the ETHER somewhere, and had not taken rebirth for last 10 years! It would be very thrilling to "meet" someone from the past after one passes away!
Any thoughts?
------------------------------------------------------
Ravi: Zero experience :) But little hearsay on it.
Some "souls", better description perhaps would be soul+samskaras-ethereal-body, do stay in the "ether" after death. Some advanced spiritual adepts while being alive itself are able to "see" and communicate with such ethereal-bodies.
Don't know how long these ethereal-bodies stay in the "ether" before they take on a new physical body. Don't know which scripture covers these topics.
But I certainly believe that ethereal-bodies do stay around. Whether each person on passing away stays some time in the "ether" and meets up with dear departed relatives & friends - I really have no reading info. on it.
In public discourses Sathya Sai Baba has referred to visits by his dear departed mother, Easwaramma, at least a couple of times. She was so attached to Him that even after her giving up the physical body the ethereal-body wanted to stay close to Him.
Sathya Sai Baba also said that there was a gap of eight years after He gave up His Shirdi Sai body before he took on the Sathya Sai body. So even Shirdi Sai Baba must have been around in the "ether" for eight years. I wonder whether Sathya Sai body is now in the "ether" or has already taken up the Prema Sai Baba body!!! Billion Dollar Question for Sai devotees!!!
------------------------------------------------------
Correspondent B:
During my childhood I did hear stories like people coming back to life while others were busy preparing for cremation. About bhut (ghost) (good natured). And goddesses entering bodies etc. Never rejected the stories but did not ever care to investigate them either.
One thing that I noticed is that people claiming to have had NDE as well as known spiritual figures is that they are just a handful number of people in a seven-billion human population. So clearly the chances that I will have the pleasure of realizing / experiencing what they do, is slim to none. But they all tell two things (if not more) - a) we are (or have) egos, which comes in the way to our growth, and b) accept that as a fact and try to keep your mind open to let things come to you and then things will come to you. Resist to accept the ego, and you have a problem. Struggle to find the truth, and it will recede to infinity.
Sometime back dear Ravi had sent some ppt that talked about what you see from a distance of 10 million light-years or 1 picometer is one and the same thing - void. Looking at that ppt, dear Rj said, "Anant Koti Brahmand Nayaka !". An obvious conclusion one can draw is that that very void is what connects us all from here to infinity. But do we feel it? No amount of knowledge can help us feel it. Feeling just comes to us. There are times that we can feel this connectedness. But such times are essentially momentary and the next moment we are back in the world where we exist as individuals and simply unaware of the omnipresent void within and without. Our minds are peaceful when we feel the void or connectedness and then it is restless again. It is like I keep receiving emails peacefully and then my mind becomes restless and my fingers start typing to add to your chores.
So my question to you guys is, have you experienced moments of connectedness? What were the moments like when your mind you think was very peaceful? Did some answers "come" to you about the questions that you either were trying to get answers to at some time in the past or to a question that just "popped" to your mind? While the void has given me peace, I hope it does not take it away from you just because you realize that you are connected to me!
------------------------------------------------------
Ravi:
[About NDE experience and well known spiritual figures being only a handful in a seven-billion human population:]
Interesting observation! Many years ago in Dombivli (a town close to Mumbai, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dombivli), as I was exploring the Bhakti (devotion) path more seriously (earlier it was just vaad-vivaad (argument-counter-argument) philosophy stuff) but still relatively new to Bhakti & spiritual practise & spiritual life, a tailor told me that he loved going to "holy places" like Pandharpur (IFIRC). He said that if one is lucky one may come across and have Darshan of "great persons".
I did not really understand him then. Later I realized how rare these spiritual great persons are. Especially those that mingle with common humanity as against those who live in seclusion in remote places like the Himalayas. My wild guess is that the number of spiritually realized people who mingle with common humanity must be less than a thousand, or at most ten thousand. Ten thousand in seven billion. 10,000 in 7,000,000,000. i.e. 1 in 700,000. Let me round it (rather expansively) to 1 in a million. That's how rare they are. That's how tough it is to come out of the Lord's Maya maze of confusion. No wonder the Dombivli tailor said what he said.
[About void connecting us all and times when we feel this connectedness:]
I think that is the key to our existential reality. Feeling & not thinking. And feeling from the very depth of our being.
About the void I think Sathya Sai Baba put it very well. I don't recall the exact words but He said something like, the ultimate reality (your/our reality) is a nothingness. But not a nothingness that signifies the absence of something. Instead a nothingness which has the power to project this whole universe.
Another very important teaching from Sathya Sai Baba is that we are all forms of Pure Love. So I conclude that the nothingness/void that is our existential reality not only has the power to project this entire universe but is also a power of Love which loves its projection like a mother loves a child born out of her womb.
...
My belief is that we are all caught up in our Karma, some which we inherited from actions of previous births and some that were of our doing in this birth. And we have to do karma to progress spiritually too. Even to discuss these topics we need to do the karma of reading mails and responding to mails.
[About "So my question to you guys is, have you experienced moments of connectedness? What were the moments like when your mind you think was very peaceful?"]
Peaceful, very peaceful - yes. Connectedness - more of imagination and nice feeling that came with the imagination rather than direct experience.
[About "Did some answers "come" to you about the questions that you either were trying to get answers to at some time in the past or to a question that just "popped" to your mind?":]
My experience is that if the mind is mostly single-tasking it is easier for me to "feel" what is the "right" thing to do when I am caught up in a dilemma. The challenge is to act on what I felt was "right" even if some unpleasant consequences have to be faced. Doing the "right" thing (as I felt it) has helped me enormously in staying centered and at peace with myself. But I have not had any "material answers" coming to me from the void.
[About "While the void has given me peace, I hope it does not take it away from you just because you realize that you are connected to me!":]
Truly realizing/experiencing that we are connected to each other is, IMHO, a spiritual experience of a very, very high order. Perhaps only the great Mahatmas (not merely the first stage self-realized chaps) reach that level. They can feel the other guy's feelings like the lady described about her NDE!!! That's truly awesome. In moments of deep love between a mother and child or between lovers and, of course, between intense devotee & God, people claim to have had such connectedness experience. But to have it on a sustained basis is, IMHO, the realm of the rarest of the rare of spiritual adepts.
I am nowhere close to that level and so, you need not worry about you taking away my peace :-).
------------------------------------------------------
Correspondent A: This is getting to be an interesting discussion! I also don't know which scripture covers this topic. I first thought, it could be Garbhopanishad, but looks like it covers Jiva's journey after it is conceived, and not before that.
Here is my recollection of what I heard during one of the Ishopanishad pravachans (discourses) by Dadaji (Late Sri Pandurang Shastri Athavale) regarding how long these ethereal-bodies may take before taking on a new body. During one of his pravachans, he had made a flying reference to this topic (I am not sure if this is actually in Ishopanishad mantra, or not, as he tends to quote various scriptures and Eastern and Western texts, when the context presents itself). He had said that it depends on a number of factors like - the weight of "karma" (self-less, for higher-self, selfish,...), imprints (samsakars) that mun (mind) and buddhi (intellect) had taken, unfulfilled worldly desires, if the death was premature/accidental-due-to-collective-fate etc. to name a few.
Ravi response: The last sentence roughly corresponds to what I have read, heard and believe.It may take anywhere between one year to a hundred. Again, I am not sure if this is mentioned in the Ishopanishad, or he mentioned it based on his reading/understanding of various scripture. So, don't take my word for it. I am just sharing my recollection.
Ravi response: No idea on this one. I don't recollect reading about a period like this in my reasonable breadth reading/browse-reading of Veda - Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas & Upanishads. But I may have missed out something or not read/browse-read a particular vedic branch text.
I am given to understand that the Puranas cover a lot of ground, though some of it can be very hard to believe. Maybe some Puranas do cover this period in the "ether".He also briefly mentioned about the normal process/path a soul takes to come back to a new body. A soul after leaving the previous body, rises above earth, stays in "ether" for a few years --> embeds itself to the megha-mandal (megha means rain-clouds) --> comes down via rain-water --> makes its way to plant/food crop --> to man's body --> to his semen --> to woman's womb --> connects with ovum --> develops itself for about 9 months before being born.
Ravi response: I think I recall reading this somewhere. Don't know whether it was the Veda.
However, I feel this is an attempt to simplistically explain a complex "inner-level" process. I do not believe this explanation to be true. My understanding of the "ether" now is not "outer ether" like outer space ether (above the earth). I am quite convinced that it is an "inner ether" which gets revealed as we journey within ourselves and our inner reality.There are exceptions to this normal path. For example, Karna (and some of other Pamdavs) being born to Kunti. However, all along, the samskaras (imprints that mind/intellect took) and "past karma" remains with it. And precisely that is the reason everyone is born "unequal" - contradictory to western conventional understanding (however, they say this in a different context though)!
Ravi response: I agree broadly. I think Past Karma is the key thing which determines a lot of the "differences" amongst people's lives. But Past Karma does not decide everything - some part is left to the individual's effort (Present Karma).What a journey!
Ravi response: An utterly fascinating journey!!! The Jnanis (spiritually realized & knowledgeable ones) say that once a person reaches the highest levels of REALIZATION then everything that happens in the Universe seems perfect - even the suffering and death that all life on earth goes through along with the joys.------------------------------------------------------
Sai Ram Dear Ravi, When I was 16 years old I had my first full-blown spiritual vision in this life that has shaped my life from that moment. Here is what happened:
ReplyDeleteI was sitting at a table at a friend's house having a cup of coffee, relaxed, and very aware of where I was at, but at the same time I was flying through the Universe,through the stars and planets and it was a VERY familiar feeling, as if I had done this hundreds of times before.
Then the room illuminated in a bright white light, so bright that I felt as if I was inside a fluorescent light bulb! It was so bright, but it did not hurt my eyes.
Then I realized, "IT IS"! I realized that the White Light was the "God Force Energy", that THIS was the TRUE REALITY, and what we think is reality is actually an illusion. I pictured our reality as "droplets" of this God Force Energy. (I can only describe that White Light "God Force Energy" as the Effulgent Light of Pure Love, aka "The Unified Field, aka The Source, aka GOD)
Then I saw an image of the Tao (the Yin/Yang symbol) which I had never seen before in this life. I saw that the "S" shaped line between the black and the white shone bright with that silvery White Light of the God Force Energy, and I understood that it was the friction of those opposites that spring the material world into existence, but really the ONLY TRUE REALITY is that God Force Energy that was shining up through the "S" shaped line dividing the two halves of the Tao. (Truly THAT image was"a picture worth a thousand words" to me).
When I read or hear about people's Near Death Experiences, I realized how remarkably similar my vision was to those NDEs, though I was a fully and robustfully alive teenager. It is my belief that we have ALL experienced this, but we are made to forget, so that we may "play the Game of Life" and balance our karma so we can return to from whence we came...
I have had many spiritual experiences and dreams since babyhood and on, but the above Vision really had given me the spiritual understanding and underpinning of my life, and gave me an interest to seek out the teachings of different spiritual traditions, and I saw that they all boil down to the same thing I saw underpinning the entire material world: LOVE!