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Heredity, Predispositions from Past Lives and the Spiritual Path · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  In his play Hamlet, William Shakespeare has the protagonist
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  proclaim there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
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  than are dreamt of in your philosophy, particularly in the
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  West, anything that references the possibility of past lives,
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  inherited memories or capacities or experiences is treated with
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  disdain and disbelief. For the most part, the
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  materialist mindset does not recognize the existence of the
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  soul, the process of rebirth as a mechanism for the growth and
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  development of the soul, or any mechanism that is not directly
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  tied to material processes that can be scientifically evidenced.
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  In recent times, the science of genetics has begun to recognize
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  physical hereditary factors. And if we add into this element
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  of nature the support and education of parents and the
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  social setting, in other words, nurture, the materialists now
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  can recognize many traits that seem to carry forward from one
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  generation to the next. What is missing here, however,
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  is an explanation for those cases that do not rely on
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  physical heredity or the education, training and
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  encouragement provided by the social framework of the family,
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  the schools, the peers, and the social forces of the time.
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  Such cases exist. The case of prodigies such as
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  Mozart are frequently raised in such discussions.
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  How can a 5 year old child write music or begin a Grand Tour of
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  Europe performing before royalty at the age of 6 and write his
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  first Symphony at the age of 8 if there is no predisposition
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  brought in from a past lifetime? Materialists have their
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  explanation of course that certain mental, vital and pre
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  physical predispositions based in genetic inheritance provide a
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  basis and the education of the child by the father who was
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  himself a musician and composer make this possible.
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  There are, however, intriguing cases that do not provide both
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  the parental predisposition and the parental training that
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  Mozart received. For example, the French composer
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  Camis St. Cien apparently had a musical
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  aptitude to pick out tunes on the piano already at age 2 and
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  began composing at age 3, with more sophisticated composition
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  starting at age 5. Alma Deutscher is a more modern
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  example of a prodigy who began piano at age 2, violin at age 3,
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  and composed her first short opera at age 7 and full opera at
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  age 10. She apparently claimed that the
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  melody she composed came to her in her dreams.
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  It is not only in the field of music, however, that we can see
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  evidence of forces at work beyond those that the
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  materialist explanation will succeed in covering.
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  An individual by the name of Terence Dow was already teaching
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  older children spelling and addition when he was just two
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  years old. By age 8, he achieved a high
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  score on the SAT math section, a test usually taken by
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  individuals in their final year of high school.
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  The question of past lifetimes becomes more intriguing when we
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  study documented cases of young children who can describe
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  details of a past lifetime in places they have never been and
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  circumstances they could never have experienced, and sometimes
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  with languages they have never been exposed to in their current
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  young lifetime. A substantial and documented
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  study was undertaken at the University of Virginia with a
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  number of cases that included mechanisms to eliminate possible
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  alternative explanations. One of the most well known
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  examples of course is the reincarnation of Tibetan lamas
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  such as the Dalai Lama and the method of identifying the reborn
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  lama that acts as a filter to prevent mistakes.
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  Many people will jump from the one extreme of non belief to the
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  other extreme of absolute belief in predestination and
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  predetermination. Yet Shrid Arrobindo and the
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  mother have added another element to this discussion,
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  which is the evolution of consciousness and the conscious
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  choice of the awakened soul. The stars, if you will, may
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  provide a predisposition but do not control entirely the destiny
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  of the awakened soul. This provides a method for both
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  a foundation and an evolutionary growth.
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  In some cases we may even recognize, as the Tibetan Book
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  of the Dead asserts, that the soul at the time of death can
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  remain conscious and avoid falling into negative or useless
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  births, and in some cases can choose a birth that will carry
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  on the direction and aspiration of the soul into the next
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  lifetime. Generally, the soul does not
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  bring along all the baggage of the details of the past birth,
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  but brings with it the essence of that prior lifetime and
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  experience so that progress can be made without having to start
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  all over again from the beginning in each new birth.
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  While this may provide a foundation for progress, past
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  habits or samskaras may carry over and create limitations and
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  obstacles for the spiritual practitioner to recognize and
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  overcome, Sri Orbindo observes. Quote.
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  It is true that we bring most of ourselves, or rather most of our
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  predispositions, tendencies of reaction to the universal nature
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  from past lives. Heredity only effects strongly
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  the external being. Besides, all the effects of
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  heredity are not accepted even there, only those that are in
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  consonance with what we are to be or not preventative of it at
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  least. End Quote reference.
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  Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga Chapter 5.
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  Physical consciousness, subconscience, sleep and dream
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  illness. Age 90.