Out-of-Body
Asking for Past Life Memories
This morning I meditated for 45 minutes, then laid on the couch. It took me a long time to relax, but eventually I was able to hit the start of the vibrations.
I actually think the vibrations – or at least, what I’m calling the vibrations – are a form of nimitta. Typically, “nimitta” refer to mental images, but I think when the focus has been on hearing, the nimitta can be loud sounds instead. And when the focus has been on the body, the nimitta can be rumbling vibrations, or possibly a feeling of release and deep relaxtion that happens when entering sleep.
Anyways, I heard loud ringing, and recognized that I could leave my body.
I started by sliding around, but it felt different this time. It felt like my body sensations were moving around, but my center of consciousness was staying still, inside my brain. Sort of like a split consciousness.
I asked to be spun around really fast, and started to spin really fast. Again, this felt like my body sensations were spinning, but my center of consciousness was still in my brain.
I started to play around with asking different things.
I asked for music, and heard music. I had hints of dreams, but laughed at their content, and rejected them.
I kept returning to the loud ringing, and then experimenting from there.
It dawned on me: Ajahn Brahm said I could ask for memories of my past life.
The technique is to first ask for your earliest memory in this life. So I did that.
I heard a TV. It sounded like it was playing a movie. I heard a man’s voice that I didn’t recognize. He was talking to someone and said “The kid would probably like cartoons better.” They didn’t change the channel though.
I thought that was an interesting… “memory”? Or maybe it was a dream? There were no visuals, just what I heard.
Then I asked for my last memory of my past life.
I heard singing, almost chanting, of people saying “Mumbai, Mumbai, Mumbai”. I saw a vision of an elephant in profile, with circles around it, like an image of Lord Ganesha from Hinduism. Then I started to sob.
I returned and heard my dog chewing himself aggressively. I forced myself to get up to stop him, since it was annoying me. Upon getting up, I realized that my dog was sleeping peacefully in the other room, and I was fooled into getting up. My eyes were dry.
Pretty strange – I want to experiment with this state of mind more, and see if I can somehow recall information that can be verified physically.
I have been in this state of mind before. I would call it a pre-OBE state of mind.
Maybe this state of mind is more fluid, and I skip over it quickly because of my desire to have an OBE. Perhaps I get in this ask-for-anything state, quickly ask for an OBE, and get one.