At all times people, practicing spiritual doctrines and devoting themselves God, were honored and respected. Even in our time of materialism and atheism, religion and church in all countries are under the patronage of the state. Various political figures, even being atheists, don't want to quarrel with spiritual leaders of the dominating religion. Of course, it may be political games, but still, most people, living in a concrete country, consider themselves followers of some stable religion. It is known, that people who differ from the dull majority, who are 3distinguished for their individuality, behavior, convictions, and who exceed the limits of generally accepted standards, don't enjoy popularity. They are looked upon with side looks, there is even an insulting word - "abnormal." Although, if we consider this word without emotions, it, indeed, suits them most, since they really differ from a standard, they are not like the others. Let�s consider Christianity. Russia is an Orthodox Christian country, and most people considered consider themselves Christians, but if anyone comes across a true believer, who calls for repentance, that person would want to stop further contacts with a true believer after some minutes, and would later try to avoid meeting this believer, knowing, what the talk would be about. Naturally, all this is because of the lack of faith in people. Many people consider themselves believers because they feel that there is something, that God most probably exists, but it is such a faint feeling, that it can only be expressed in belief in the fact of God�s existence: "I believe in existence of God, but it is His own business, it doesn't concern me." But what would these people say when they really experience existence of God and life after death? As a rule, all their world view completely changes, hell and heaven become at once real, the words of the necessity of repentance and life according to God's commandments come back to memory, and the attitudes of people to life and to the place of man in this world change.

Recently, in the Western countries and also in Russia, scientists become more and more interested in near-death states of consciousness, persistence of consciousness after death, rebirth of consciousness. Research conducted in this field aroused live interest of scientists of different profiles: psychologists, psychiatrists, neurosurgeons, philosophers, and so on. In the West, even international research organizations were established, magazines are being published, and science GuestBooks are held, all dedicated to this subject. As a result of all this scientific research work and a great number of collected accounts, many scientists came to the conclusion about the existence of conscious life after death.

Most well known in the field of the near-death studies are Raymond A. Moody and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. They collected a lot of post-mortal memories, both from personal contact with reanimated patients and by questioning other physicians. Thus, according to the research, more than thirty percent of reanimated patients remember their condition after death, and one third of them could tell of their feelings in detail, what they had seen. Some patients who had experienced the clinical death, came out of the physical bodies, but remained in the physical world near their bodies or traveled to familiar localities. As for others, they found themselves in another reality. But all these cases practically don't differ from each other, irrespective of religion or religious views of the people. Here are some examples, described by Raymond Moody:

"About a year ago I got into hospital because of a heart problem. The next morning, while still in bed, I felt strong pain in the chest. I pressed the button to call a nurse. The nurses came and started giving me necessary help. It was uncomfortable to lie on the back and I turned around. Just after that my breathing ceased and my heart stopped beating. At once I heard the nurses shouting something. At that moment I felt that I separated from my body and slipped down between the mattress and the bed frame on one side of the bed - one can even say that I slipped through the bed frame down to the floor. Then I began to rise up slowly. At that time I saw some more nurses running into the room, they were, probably, twelve of them. I saw my doctor coming in, responding to their call. His appearance awoke my interest. Having moved behind the lamp, I saw him from one side very distinctly. I was soaring just under the celling and looking downwards. It seemed to me, that I was like a sheet of paper which had flown from a light breath up to the ceiling.

I saw how the doctors tried to bring me back to life. My body was stretched on the bed and everybody was standing around it. I heard a nurse exclaiming: "My God, she has died!" At that time another sister bent over me and gave me artificial breathing from mouth to mouth. At that time I saw the back of her head. I shall never forger her hair, it was cut very short. Just after that I saw an apparatus rolled in, with the help of which the nurses tried to apply electric shock on my chest. I heard my bones cracking and squeaking during that procedure. It was terrible indeed. They massaged my chest, rubbed my legs and hands, and I thought: "What are they worrying about? I feel so well now."

"I had a heart attack, I was clinically dead... But I remember everything, absolutely everything. Unexpectedly I felt the numbness. Sounds were heard as if at a distance... All this time I was perfectly aware of everything happening around me. I heard that the cardiograph turned off. I saw a nurse coming into the room and called on the telephone. I noticed the doctors and other nurses coming in after her.

At that time everything dimmed, a sound was heard, which I could not describe, it was like a beat of a large drum: it was a very fast, impetuous sound like a sound of a stream running through a gorge. Suddenly I rose to a height of several feet, looking down at my own body from above. People bustled about my body. But I didn't feel fear. I didn't feel pain, only calmness. After a second or two, it seemed to me, that I turned over and rose. It was dark like in a hole or a tunnel, but soon after I noticed a bright light. It became brighter and brighter. It seemed I moved through it. Suddenly I found myself somewhere else. I was surrounded with a beautiful golden light coming from some unknown source. It took up all the space around me, coming from everywhere. Later I heard music, and it seemed to me, that I was out of town among brooks, grass, trees, and mountains. But when I looked around, I saw neither trees, nor other familiar things. The strangest thing was that there were people there. Not in a some form or body. Simply, they were there.

I had a feeling of perfect peace, satisfaction, and love. I seemed like I became a part of that love. I don't know, how long those feelings lasted - the whole night or just a second."

"I felt some vibration around my body and inside it. I turned out as though divided, and then I saw my body. During some time I watched the doctor and the nurse occupied with my body, and waited, what would happen next... I was at the head of the bed, looking at them and at my body. I noticed that one of the sisters went towards the wall along the bed to take the oxygen mask, and I felt her going through my neck.

Then I floated upwards, moving through a dark tunnel, and went out to the shining light... Some time later I met my grandparents, father, and brothers, who all had died... Everywhere I was surrounded with wonderful shining light. In that marvelous place, there were various colors, bright colors, but not like on earth, they were quite indescribable. There were people... whole groups of people. Some of them were carefully studying something. At a distance I saw a city with buildings. They shone brightly. Happy people, shining water, fountains... it seemed to me, that it was a city of light with the sounds of wonderful music. I think, that if I had entered that city, I would have never come back... I was told, that if I would go there, there would be no return... and that I had to make up my mind."

The most incredible experience that dying people had on the other side of life was appearance of a being of light, shining with love, understanding, support. The light radiated by the being was of unearthly brightness, but it did not hurt the eyes. People apprehended the being as God, Christ, angel or simply as a being of light radiating love.

After appearing, the being entered into communication with the dying person, but the communication itself was not verbal. The Light asked the person, if he or she was ready to die, what he or she has done in life, pointed out the mistakes made in life, and what was to be changed.

�The light was bright, it covered everything and, nevertheless, didn�t prevent me to see the operating-room, doctors, nurses, and everything around me. At first, when the light appeared, I didn�t realize to full extent what had happened. But then it seemed to ask me the question: �Are you ready to die?� I had a feeling that I was talking with somebody I didn�t see. But the voice belonged just to the Light. I suppose that it realized that I was not ready to die. But it felt so good to be with that Light! And, besides, it even had a sense of humor� It had it, no doubt!�

�When the light appeared, it asked me at once: �What have you done in your life?� Just at that moment the scenes started flashing. �What is it?� I thought, as it happened so unexpectedly. I found myself in my childhood. Then I went year by year through my whole life, from early childhood till the present time. I had a strange feeling. I was a little girl, playing near a stream. Then followed other scenes: emotional experiences connecting with my sister, our neighbors and familiar places where I used to go. Then I found myself in a kindergarten, and I remembered the time I had the only toy, most favorite, how I broke it and then wept bitterly because of it. The scenes kept changing� high school years, when I had the honor to be elected to the school scientific society. So I �went through� all higher school grades, then first years in the institute. And so - till the present time. Scenes which appeared before me were so real! As if you take a detached view and see them in three-dimensional space and in color. Moreover, those scenes were moving. For instance, at the moment when I broke my toy, I saw all movement. It was quite in another way than what I could see as a little girl. I had feeling that another girl, like in the cinema, was playing on the playground. But still it was me� when I watched the apparitions, there Light could hardly be seen. It disappeared just after it asked me, what I had done in my life. Still I felt its presence, it led me in that �review�, at times pointing out some events. It tried to emphasize something in each of those scenes� especially concerning the importance of love... When it could be seen most clearly, for example, in my relations with my sister, it showed me some scenes I was egoistic with regard to her, and then some situations when I really showed love. It seemed to suggest to me an idea that I had to be better, though it didn�t accuse me of anything.

It seemed to take interest in questions related to knowledge. Every time, pointing out situations concerning knowledge, it �said�, that I had to continue learning and that, when it would call for me again (by that time I have already realized that I would return back to life) I had to keep striving for knowledge. It talked of knowledge as a permanent process, and I gained the impression that that process would continue even after death.�

And now about relation of people to their return:

"After my �coming back� I wept almost for a whole week because I had to go on with my life in this world. I didn't want to return.�

Scientists collected thousands testimonies of people who experienced clinical death, and practically each person who had been "there" changed his or her relation to life, became more understanding and loving towards other people. Many people devoted then their lives to worship of God and to people, became more spiritual.

By studying these cases, one can arrive at a conclusion that life after death really exists. But what is to be said about what had been before our birth? There is plenty of evidence on this subject. Thus, for example, doctor Cannon from England, the owner of nine diplomas of European universities, collected a big amount of data on past lives, returned more than a thousand people to their distant past with the help of regression hypnosis. Based on the received data, he said:

"In the course of many years the theory of rebirth of the soul seemed to me a wild idea, and I did all I could to refute it. I even contradicted the people under test, hoping that while in trance, they had illusions, which they would later tell about. Many years have passed, but although the people under test belonged to different religious confessions, they all were telling similar things. After I have studied thousands of cases, I had to admit the existence of reincarnation."

Another famous investigator in this field -- professor of department of psychiatry of the University of Virginia, Ian Stevenson. Together with his research group, during twenty years, he carried out scientific investigations all over the world and collected more than two thousand cases of people remembering past lives. It was found that children who were put under test remembered their past lives rather well as not too much time had passed from the moment of death. Many facts reported by people were confirmed, which proved the authenticity of their accounts of reincarnation.

In his work "Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation� Ian Stevenson narrates striking events. Here is one of them: "Bishem Chand was born in 1921 in the family Ghulams in the town Bareilly, India. At the age of approximately one and a half Bishem began to ask questions about the little town Filbhit, about 50 miles of Bareilly. Nobody in the family Ghulams knew that little town. When Bishem asked to go there, everybody realized that he thought he had lived there in his former life.

Time passed, Bishem often told about his former life in Filbhit. Such behavior began to irritate his family. In the summer of 1926 Bishem began to say that he clearly remembered his past life. He remembered that his name was Lakshmy Narain, that he was a son of a rich landowner. He said that he remembers Har Narain, who turned out to be the father of Lakshmy Narain. He described the house in which he lived, that there was a sacred room in the house and a separate dwelling for women. He was fond of listening to songs and watching girls dancing - professional dancers, who sometimes performed the duties of prostitutes. He remembered jolly evenings - parties in the neighbor Sander Lala�s house, who lived in the "house with green gates". Once little Bishem advised his father to take a woman besides his wife.

The family of Bishem Chand was poor, and the comparison of the present life with the former, more rich life, began to upset the boy. At times he refused the meals, saying that in the former life those meals was not given even to the servants. He demanded meat, fish and, if his family was not able to buy it, he went begging for all of these to the neighbors. He threw aside cotton clothes, demanding the silk ones (cotton clothing, he said, was not suitable even for servants). He demanded money from his father and, when father didn't give it, the boy cried bitterly. Once the father of Bishem said, that he was going to buy a watch. Then little Bishem said: "Father, don't buy a watch. When I go to Filbhit, I will take three watches for you from my trade agent, Mussulman, whom I hired." And he called out the name of the agent.

Once the sister of Bishem (she was three years older than him) found him drinking brandy (that explained the gradual disappearance of alcohol, which was kept at home only for medical purposes). In a typical for him arrogant tone, the child answered that he used to drink brandy, that he, in general, had drunk a lot of alcoholic drinks in his former life. After that he narrated that he had a woman (he knew the difference between a woman and wife) in his former life. According to him, her name was Padma, and, though she was a prostitute, he considered her his property and said with pride that once he had murdered a man who was coming out of her room. These memories of Bishem Chand attracted attention of a certain K. Sahay, public prosecutor of town Bareilly. Sahay wrote down surprising things which the boy spoke about. After that he decided to take Bishem and his father to Filbhit. Almost eight years passed after the death of Lakshmy Narain, who was the boy, as he thought, in his former life. When they came to Filbhit, there gathered a whole crowd of curious people. Almost everybody in Filbhit knew the rich family of Narains and their lecherous son Lakshmy, who kept company with the prostitute Padma (still living in that town), and also about the event, when Narain, in a surge of a jealous fury, shot and killed his rival - the lover of Padma. And though the family of Narains was rather powerful to hash up a scandal, Lakshmy Narain himself died a natural death some months later in the age of 32.

When Bishem Chand was brought to an old municipal school, he ran where "his" classroom was. Somebody drew a little picture, and Bishem recognized it as one of the classmates of Lakshmy, who happened to be in the crowd of people at that moment, and when that classmate asked about their teacher, Bishem correctly described him as a stout man with beard.

In the part of town where Lakshmy Narain used to live, Bishem Chand recognized Sander Lala�s house, which he had described before, calling it "a house with green gates." The boy also pointed out the court, where professional dancers used to perform.

The merchants of that part of the town confirmed the words of the boy. In the article published in the newspaper "Leader", Sahay wrote that the crowd following the boy persistently tried to get him to name the prostitute he had dated in his former life. And when he pronounced the name "Padma", all began to shout that the name was correct. During that remarkable day the boy was sometimes presented with drums. The father of the boy said that Bishem had never seen such drums before, but, to the surprise of the people and members of the family, he skillfully started playing one of the drums, as he used to do it before, being Lakshmy Narain. When the mother of Laksmy Narain saw Bishem Chand, they felt drawn to each other. Bishem correctly answered all her questions and exactly described the private servant of Lakshmy Narain. Later he said that he loved the mother of Lakshmy Narain more than his own mother.

The father of Lakshmy Narain hid some jewels before his death, but nobody knew exactly where he hid them. When Bishem was asked about jewels, he led everybody to a room of the house where his family had lived before. Later people found gold coins in that room, which confirmed the truthfulness of boy's stories about his former life in that house."

The author of this book has also learned about many memories of people practicing yoga about their past lives. So, one practitioner remembered one of his former lives when he was a Buddhist monk. He remembered an episode when he was gathering donations. Later, when he read Rathapala sutra for the first time, he was surprised at the similarity of his memories and that sutra. He also revealed the differences between his memories and what was written in that sutra. For example, when his wife fell to his feet and cried: "For the sake of what goddess have you abandoned me?!," it is more a characteristic of the spoken language, than what is written in the sutra: �For the sake of which goddess do you do your sacred practice.� It�s worth noting that the partner of that practitioner in this life behaved herself in a similar way when he decided to part with her and become a monk, and he himself came to the conclusion that she, it seemed, was the wife of Ratapala, that is his own wife in his past life.

From the above mentioned examples, one can come to a conclusion, that a man is always born a man, but that is not the case. Here is a story of one practicing woman, who reached lebration.

"In former lives I was an Asura many times, and in one of these lives I was a devil. A devil is, so to say, a part of evil.

I was a devil and lived at the bottom of a lake. I had no friends. I always lived alone and suffered from loneliness. My main food was fresh human blood and, when I saw people, frisking in the lake, I pulled them under the water and sucked their blood, and, noticing a boat, sailing on the surface of the water, I overturned it, snatched people off and sucked their blood.

So I lived some hundreds of years, my food being human blood. But there were so many people missing, so that the people who lived near the lake started thinking: "It is strange, does a devil live in this lake?" - and began to look for it.

When they looked for the devil, I sometimes appeared on the surface of water, which was unusual, so they caught me, dragged to the shore and began to interrogate me.

At first, whatever I was asked, I pretended that I didn't know anything. Whatever that could be, was I a devil or not, my appearance didn't differ from the appearance of an ordinary woman, and if I had behaved myself as other people, nobody would have noticed anything. As I looked like a human being, my true essence would not have been recognized. But I was wrong.

Something unforeseen happened. While being questioned I noticed a bleeding man. I was hungry at that time, so, when I saw blood, I couldn't remain calm and my essence of a devil became apparent. Gradually canine teeth appeared, my appearance changed, and I started looking like a devil.

Even for people of that time, who, contrary to modern people, were used to seeing devils, that scene was, probably, rather shocking. Almost everybody who there was stunned and stiffened in astonishment. Then their astonishment and fear changed at once to hostile attitude to me and to the intention to murder me.

I took heart and put an end to my life on the spot. Under those circumstances I could run away, but since they had already recognized my real face, I could not remain in the lake where I used to live. Moreover, perpetually dull life in loneliness had already become intolerable."

Many people also remembered their past lives in heaven and in the animal world.

All these concern the past, but with the help of spiritual practice and yoga we can also change our present life.

"My life has strongly changed since I began to practice yoga. My dreams became more frequent, became more real and clear, so that, when going to bed, I wait impatiently, what would happen with me this time. My dreams became so real and gripping, that by contents and effects they could be compared with masterpieces of world cinema. Moreover, upon waking up, I remember the whole dream from the beginning to the end. As a rule, in one night I have some fascinating dreams with short intervals, one may say that all the time I am sleeping, I am in another reality. The meditation which I practice also helps me in my sleep. Since the world of dreams is more flexible than this real world, that dream world can be changed. For example, in one dream I have fallen from the roof of a skyscraper (Please, take into account the reality of what was happening for me), while falling, I was so frightened, that I spontaneously went into meditation. I was shrouded in white light and strong energy. I turned into a clot of energy and remained in that condition for some minutes. The dream, of course, stopped, as I was in meditation. Little by little, I completely calmed down and the energy began to fade. Then I went into the same dream again, but I found myself in another situation.

In another dream I was jumping over the tram rails and suddenly began to sour upwards. The dream stopped at once, and I, having awoken in my astral body, went on swiftly gaining height. I completely woke up and looked downward at Moscow. Peering into the city, I wanted to be convinced that it was not a dream, but reality. Being convinced in it, and soaring to the birds-eye altitude, I began to ponder in my mind, where to fly and whom to visit. While I was thinking this way, I felt strong energy vibration, shrouding me. Gradually it completely absorbed me and, when it began to abate, I realized that I was lying on the floor in the pose, I have fallen asleep.

In other dreams I also often go over to being innerly awake, but my dream does not stop in this case."

But the life of people practicing meditation and yoga is being changed not only during sleep:

"Lately I often show the ability to read somebody's thoughts. If a man I am speaking with accurately expresses his thoughts, then I first hear it in my mind and only after that I apprehend it by ear. Or, for example, if some people dispute with each other, I see the point of view of each of them, all advantages and disadvantages of their positions, and possibilities of compromise. In this case I don't need thinking and analyzing, I simply see all possible versions and points of contact at once. With the help of meditation, my mind became more precise, without any worry, mental dust, and chaotic movements. Thanks to it my memory and recognizing of what is going on became better.

I haven't made great progress in school, I got only good and satisfactory grades, but now, after many years, I remember everything that I studied in school. When I meet classmates who were excellent students, I am surprised, that they don't remember elementary things and they, in their turn, are surprised that I have understanding of special fields of science. It can be explained by the fact, that while learning my lessons at that time, I didn't understand much of it, especially what was not interesting for me, but all this information accumulated in the subconsciousness. After many years, when my mind was purified, all information clarified, and I could comprehend its sense. As for ordinary people, their mind is always in motion, and the senseless consumption of unnecessary information washes their memory away and obscures it.

Maybe, many readers took an interest in what is written here and, probably, would like to test all this for themselves. At the end of this book, some methods of the accumulating the energy, Pranayama, and meditation will be given, and if you seriously start doing these practices, a new universe of possibilities will open for you. But it should be noted, that this book is intended to help in making the first step for the people who decided to devote themselves to God, to reach liberation.