Shanti Devi - The Only Fully Explained and Proven Case of Reincarnation

Couple of days ago, I came across a Swedish book: "Shanti Devi: En berättelse om reinkarnation",which was originally published in 1994. It has also been published in English: "I Have Lived Before: The True Story of the Reincarnation of Shanti DeviI". In 1971 the author book Sture Lönnerstrand, went all the way down from Sweden to expose the ‘fake’ case. After completing his investigations he issued the statement: ‘This is the only fully explained and proven case of reincarnation there has ever been.”

Today I remembered about it and decided to look it up in ATS, although to my surprise I did not find any threads about this, only a mention at some post. Google on the other hand had a lot of information on this particular case. It is believed to be one of the best documented cases of reincarnation.

"Shanti Devi was born in a middle class family of Delhi on December 11, 1926. She was just like any other ordinary girl, excepting that till the age of four she did not speak much. From the age of four, when she started speaking, she ceased to be an ordinary girl and her behaviour changed a lot. She started talking about her ‘husband’ and ‘children’. She would repeatedly describe her home and her husband’s shop at Mathura. She said she was a Chouban (member of the Choubey family) of Mathura and her name was Lugdi. She would talk of the food and clothing she enjoyed in a former life. Her parents ignored her, but she persisted. Her parents got puzzled but she insisted on a visit to Mathura. For five years her parents tried to distract her mind but to no avail. At last, a sympathetic granduncle came to her aid. He asked her to give him the name and address of her ‘husband’ at Mathura. A friend, Lala Kishan Chand, wrote a letter to the address given by the girl. Soon a reply came, attesting that the statements of the girl were substantially correct. It was suggested that a relation of Choube Kedar Nath, Pt. (Pundit) Kanji Mal of Delhi might be allowed to interview the girl. An interview was accordingly arranged. Shanti Devi is reported to have correctly recognized Pt. Kanji Mal as the younger cousin of her alleged husband. She gave convincing answers to the questions put to her by Pt. Kanji Mal. “After this conversation”, he wrote, “I was convinced that the girl was really my own relation, now personating in another body.” On November 13, 1935, Kedar Nath Choubey, along with his third wife (he had one prior to Lugdi) went to Shanti Devi’s house in Delhi. Shanti Devi recognized her husband and expressed motherly affection towards her son Nitlal who was now her elder. She burst into tears and sobbed for about an hour. Late at night Kedar Nath Choubey took Shanti Devi in a separate room, and put her some intimate questions. He was satisfied by her answers and moved to tears.

Shanti Devi continued insisting on a visit to Mathura. She added many more details about her house and other events related to her former life. On November 24, 1935, she was taken to Mathura by the committee of fifteen eminent persons appointed on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi to investigate the veracity of the claim made by the girl. She was: “kept under close observation and all her movements and remarks were carefully noted” by the committee. Shanti Devi is reported to have recognized a number of persons, answered all the queries put to her and spotted out the significant places connected with her past life. "

A bit different angle with some other details from Wikipedia:

Shanti Devi (11 December 1926 - 27 December 1987) was born in Delhi, India. As a little girl in the 1930s she began to claim to remember details of a past life. Discouraged by her parents, she ran away from home at age six, trying to reach Mathura. Back home, she stated in school that she was married and had died ten days after having given birth to a child. Interviewed by her teacher and headmaster, she used words from the Mathura dialect and divulged the name of her merchant husband, "Kedar Nath". The headmaster located a merchant by that name in Mathura who had lost his wife, Lugdi Devi, nine years earlier, ten days after having given birth to a son. Kedar Nath traveled to Delhi, pretending to be his own brother, but Shanti Devi immediately recognized him and Lugdi Devi's son. As she knew several details of Kedar Nath's life with his wife, he was soon convinced that Shanti Devi was indeed the reincarnation of Lugdi Devi. When Mahatma Gandhi heard about the case, he met the child and set up a commission to investigate. The commission traveled with Shanti Devi to Mathura, arriving on November 15, 1935. There she recognized several family members, including the grandfather of Lugdi Devi. She found out that Kedar Nath had neglected to keep a number of promises he had made to Lugdi Devi on her deathbed. She then traveled home with her parents. The commission's report concluded that Shanti Devi was indeed the reincarnation

A well-written chapter in a free book in Google Books starting at page 131

Detailed article with interviews with Shanti Devi
Wikipedia

Other articles:
explaininglifesmysteries.blogspot.com...
prebirthexperience.com...

There is a lot of information on this case in internet. As it has become kind of a legend, then some details may vary depending on the author.

As being an atheist and non-believer in reincarnation, this is a case that really made me think about things. How is it possible she knew so much about her previous life- the unexplainable accent, the address, recognising the tricks played at her, knowing details, recognising people?

I would understand if she was just a good actor, but she was only 9 - being able to convince Mahatma Gandhi & several other prominent members of the Indian government to set up a committee of 15 specialists and performing faultlessly under supervision despite the tricks played at her - it seems impossible act to perform by a 9-year-old even to a sceptic as I am.

What do you think of this case?

well it seems to work for the dali lama (sp?)

I find it very interesting, thank you for sharing that.
I wonder. If it is true, why are there not more people that remember when/if they come back?
Or, maybe there are, but nobody listens or believes them?

reply to post by Cabin


s/f OP

Reincarnation is a topic that fascinates me.. I remember when I was little (maybe 3/4yrs old) my mum was calling me in from the garden and apparently I turned round and said to her; 'My name is not ****, my name is Swift Willow'...

So I do not know if I reincarnated or was remembering a past life..

Here is an article about a young boy who from an early age kept talking about his old mum and his childhood..

LITTLE Cameron Macaulay was a typical six-year-old, always talking about his mum and family. He liked to draw pictures of his home too — a long single-storey, white house standing in a bay.

But it sent shivers down his mum’s spine — because Cameron said it was somewhere they had never been, 160 miles away from where they lived.

And he said the mother he was talking about was his “old mum

www.thesun.co.uk...

Reincarnation may be very real. However at the moment I do not think we have the technology or knowledge to fully understand this phenomena..

I am still kind of on the fence with this though.. But what an interesting story, thanks for sharing.

Great thread OP!

Thank you for sharing this story. s&f

It really makes you think doesn't it.

I do believe in reincarnation.
I used to believe that there is nothing when we die but since 'waking up' and opening my mind to other ideas I find that what I used to say is just plain dumb.

This story (hoping it's true) just pushes my mind deeper down that ol' rabbit hole.

Thanks again.

Definitely not the only case of it's kind, the name Ian Stevenson comes to mind.. He researched past lives through very scientific means, I believe he was a psychiatrist or something like that. Looking into him brings about numerous cases of this detail.

Originally posted by chiefsmom
I find it very interesting, thank you for sharing that.
I wonder. If it is true, why are there not more people that remember when/if they come back?
Or, maybe there are, but nobody listens or believes them?

I've seen a few posts from other members saying that they could remember past lives.
Hopefully they will pop in and say hello.

I think someone who isn't open to the idea of reincarnation would find it difficult to believe.

Maybe those who can remember things think they have something wrong mentally and keep it to themselves? Idk..

I would love to hear of anyones story, tell us! You're not mental!

Finally something interesting. I am glad you shared this with us here. I read the OP and some of the sources and this one is juicy. I'll be on a few day reading/research spree with this subject (again) it's been a while since I have delved into this one.

P.S. I believe the OP story!

S&F

-Alien

reply to post by Cabin

Very good thread, I've heard of this case but didn't remember the details. Sometimes when a question comes up, like "Is there such a thing as a psychic experience", or others, only one answer in the affirmative proves the entire logic set. There have been some interesting and significant "reincarnation" cases, and it will be interesting reading this thread to see if this was ever debunked. Thanks for the good find.

Awesome thread! S&F!

You might be interested in looking at the case of Carroll Beckwith/Robert Snow. Another very convincing case.

reply to post by SilentE

I think someone who isn't open to the idea of reincarnation would find it difficult to believe.

I am not that open to the idea, but the two questions that rise above all else is: Why would this girl lie? How did she profit from it? I can't answer those questions.

I have always wondered myself if what some people remember as past lives would be an ability to access some kind of genetic memories? (I know, I'm a huge stargate and sci-fi fan but what if?)

That case is extremely interesting. From what I gather, there are probably several factors that limit the number of cases like hers in popular stories and media.

1) growing up in a culture hostile to the idea of reincarnation.

2) no sympathetic relatives to document and help investigate the childs stories.

3) embarrassed family members who actively try to downplay, distort or medicate the "condition" until it disappears.

Another idea: My favorite writers on the subject are fiction writers. They are generally more interesting. One - Philip K Dick - theorized that for most of us, our "previous lives" are occurring simultaneously to our current life in a parallel universe, and these memories would only seem like "dreams."

This is not proof of a past life. This Shanti person may have been being fed information by another entity - ask older Catholic priests about this.. demons can give information to people at the speed of light. It may also be possible there is a scientific reason for this that's not yet understood.. perhaps some form of genetic memory passed down through generations. Either way, there is no way to prove this is reincarnation or something else.

It seems everyone is on board with this being real, so allow me to play devils advocate.

I'm not familiar with India, but don't they believe strongly in reincarnation? Perhaps this
was a ploy by some are all party members to push their ideology. A simple lie, and trick.

I'm not trolling are starting an argument, but we should look down all the roads to deny
ignorance.


S&F for the thread it was interesting.

reply to post by Cabin


Interesting story Op, I never heard of the case before. It sounds quite convincing. You have to wonder what made this particular young girl remember her past life? I know there have been other similar cases of young children remembering parts of their past life. This case however, sounds like it trumps all the others.

I never gave much thought of reincarnation up until the last several years. I now think there is a possibility we have lived past lives. It's an interesting perspective of life after death. The only thing is, I don't know if I would ever want to come back to this stressful and violent world.

Isnt time an illusion?

Although I believe in the fundamental possiblity of reincarnation, this sounds more like either genetic memory and/or and overlap in space-time... vortex, where a parallel spirit or memories thereof were channeled thru this Shanti.

in any event, wonder how these memories help/ed her in this life, over the years?

Originally posted by chiefsmom
I find it very interesting, thank you for sharing that.
I wonder. If it is true, why are there not more people that remember when/if they come back?
Or, maybe there are, but nobody listens or believes them?

Memories are partially dependent on the body in which they were made. The hardware gets messed up, the memories get lost. You can see it in alzheimers people.

Then there is the body which is loaded with generational programming. For example, the body is in USA, the region speaks English, but the DNA has a history of being used in places of Italian, so the baby's pre-wiring is having to overcome inherited genes and their language patterns, and all the spiritual inheritance of all one's ancestors. And it is a cultural barrier, a language barrier (babies don't speak developed language), and an identity barrier, of what "me" and "my stuff" is (toddlers have to re-learn it:mine!), and the religious barriers. It's a full time job living in the body one is born into; like moving into a new house, you don't go back to your old house, because, oh right, it died.

Then there are fakers frauds liars and cheats who all think they were someone royal in a past life.

It gets really interesting when you start having on your mind the lives you'll live after this one. The future can be so awesome! Why remember how in a previous life, my mom married me off when I was 10? And when I was a youth in the Ming dynasty in China we were taught lectures while standing in courtyards looking up at the stars? Thousands of lives to remember. Not relevant to being in the now and being the best you can now.

Yep! I've heard about her, and read about her case. Very convincing.
S/F for bringing it up again here!

I have searched for 15 minutes and can not find one reference of Ghandi having thing to do with this case other then the mention of this books on a few forums and blogs.

I would love to believe but its a story from a book. Whether the author made up the Ghandi commission or it actual happened is what the maker or breaker .

Anybody come up with a news article a video any evidence Ghandi had anything todo with this case or even knew of it for that matter I would love to see it .

For me that's what gives the case any credibility.