Sometimes books are all it takes to get connected back with a friend after decades. Mayank Gaur, the author of ‘Which Life Are You From?: Story 1-Bunny’s Burrow’, is a close friend and our lives overlapped for some six to nine months. Later, we crossed paths and maybe met twice-thrice when I was in Delhi in the early nineties,
Recently, he read of the short story contest for writers with roots in Uttarakhand. No, he did participate in the contest, but we connected overcall. The time-warped back to the early nineties. We were back in time and realised we shared common interests. The conversation was so close that it was natural to ask- Which Life Are You From?
This was when I came to know of Mayank’s book. He sent a signed copy that will not be UnCaged soon. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it and maybe have a hint of an idea. From some life that I don’t remember or know and that is anyway not important.
The Mind Cannot Remember What the Soul Cannot Forget.
A simple line innocuously tucked away somewhere at the start of one of the chapters in the book sums the whole concept. The eternity of journey. The repeated chasing of connections and reconnections. The past defining future and present. The need for an absence to really know and find logic. The need to believe and flow.
The book keeps religion and spirituality at arm’s length. There is humour, love, tragedy, faith and hope and maybe points for introspection. Perhaps finding your own belief without reason.
MORE TO COME.
As the name and the title, ‘Which life are you from? Story-1’ suggested Mayank does have plans for more stories in the series. Happy writing to him, but this could be tough. Knowing him, that will be the least of the problem. I will definitely wait and read the following story.
You may, towards the end, find a transitory touch of Adam in Mitch Albom’s ‘The Five People you meet in Heaven’. But remember, incarnation, intertwining life, soul needs and desires is a Hindu (Read eastern and Indian) concept that western authors have presented and projected. Here is another interesting presentation by an Indian author in his debut novel. All the best.
THE IDEA BEHIND THE BOOK.
When questioned on how the idea to write the story like ‘Which Life Are You From?: Story 1-Bunny’s Burrow’ came, here is what Mayank says: ‘We Hindus believe in the continuity of life over lifetimes, as an ongoing cycle of birth-death- birth. We wish our departed souls ‘Om Sadgati’ – implying, ‘may you have an auspicious journey to the next life.’
“But beyond religion and faith, some path-breaking work over the last century has been done in the space of science, which strongly suggests- there are many lives. I can quote many respected authorities, like Dr Ian Stevenson, Dr Raymond Moody and Dr Brian Weiss, to name just a few. While conventional scientists may still consider parapsychology to be a pseudo-science, they cannot deny that over a million documented cases of NDE (near-death experience), and thousands of eye-opening interviews of children who remember past lives astonishingly vividly, exist in eminent institutes across the world. They cannot just be swept away.
“Looking beyond parapsychology and metaphysics, things begin to get interesting! Astrophysicists, cosmologists, gurus of quantum physics and quantum mechanics are now beginning to say that conventional science knows precious little! Beyond the event horizon and the point of the singularity of black holes, other universes, other manifestations of reality must most certainly exist. Besides, consciousness is still beyond the comprehension of their sciences. Yet, to say ‘it cannot presently be proved; hence it doesn’t exist’, would be most un-scientific (pun intended). I can go on and on about how neurologists in the US, armed with futuristic brain-scanning technologies, are conforming that some patients revived from clinical death vividly remember the goings-on during the period that they were ‘no more!
“In other words, it is becoming increasingly evident that a lot of what is written in the ancient Indian scriptures is more modern than modern science; that recurring lives are not just likely, the assumption makes solid sense.”
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
It may count for nothing, and I do not have any corroborative explanation or witness to it. However, it is said then in early childhood, I would crawl like an army man, act like I was in a war. Tell parents that I was killed in a war. Born in 1963, it was always thought to be related to the 1962 Indo-China war. No explanation, no defending the subject. However, I do not recall anything other than what the elders have told me. But, perhaps, this may explain my deep-rooted admiration and respect for armed forces, discipline and patriotic feelings. I have been interested in the subject of many lives but never had the urge to put myself under the scanner with a life-regression expert. But, I have a few friends who have participated in such experiments.
MAYANK SPEAKS.
My mother is a state topper in psychology from the early sixties. During her postgraduation, the story of Shanti Devi’s past-life memories had the world of psychology abuzz with excitement. My mother, as part of her field study, interviewed two little kids who remembered their past lives. She is convinced beyond doubt that those toddlers couldn’t have been tutored to say what they remembered about another time and place. Hearing her speak about this had me hooked on to the subject since childhood. So, I’ve been reading up on whatever I could lay my hands on in subjects related to reincarnation and paranormal phenomena.
I have interviewed several regression therapists and heard many stories of reincarnation in my own family and friends’ circles, but who am I talking to! Did you not as a child yourself remember the gun positions during the ’62 Chinese war? ( This one is addressed to me in particular)
Lastly, I have been meditating intensely for a few years now. While I cannot claim to remember any past life, very vivid memories from other times and places are beginning to occasionally occur to me lately; a fascinating experience!
This background is the space from where the idea of my book ‘Which Life Are You From?’ comes from.
FICTION OR INSPIRED BY REAL-LIFE EXPERIENCES?
The book is pure fiction, but it is peppered with events, incidents and especially mischief from my childhood in army cantonments, among them Mhow, where this story is based in. As the story progressed, Bunny and her family became very real to me. They still are.
I will reiterate that I have studied this subject deeply, conversed with many doctors, psychologists, regression therapists, an amazing ‘medium’ from Australia, sadhus, even Aghoris. I have listened keenly to many cases of reincarnation by friends and acquaintances, including you, and unlike most sceptics, I have thought about it at length. So, this fiction is born of my interpretation of the lives of people I have met.
DOES THE BOOK PROMOTE THE HINDU RELIGION?
And here, I like what Mayank says: N”o, I am not at all promoting religion or Hinduism. In fact, Hindu philosophy is way older than any religion; my story suggests that while religion may be a path to spiritual evolution, even an atheist, on the right path, will get there.” There are no churches, temples and mosques on the other side now, are there?
MY TAKE- OUT : ‘WHICH LIFE ARe YOU FROM?’
In addition to saying I enjoyed reading the book, there are two profound learning I take out. One of them I have shared above, ‘The Mind Cannot Remember What the Soul Cannot Forget’. Please do reflect upon it. To me, this is the difference between one life and many lives. And the second ‘everyone who wept at her grave will realise that grief is not the evidence of separation, it is, in fact, the proof of forthcoming reunions’. No, it may not help release the pain, which is natural, but one can look forward to the forthcoming reunions.
IN THE END.
You may read ‘Which Life Are You From?: Story 1-Bunny’s Burrow’ as a story, and it is beautiful. Wish I could write like that. Or you can read it with all the layering of a believer or non-believer in the very thought of multiple lives. However, it will at the end ask you a question you are most likely not to have an answer to, ‘Which Life Are You From? Check out the first 4 chapters here- free preview. And if you want to buy and read the book- click here.
SNAPSHOT of ‘Which Life Are You From?’
Lieutenant Colonel S.S. Narula, a.k.a. Sunny, has been staggered by a series of bizarre coincidences since he arrived in Mhow cantonment in Central India this morning. As he gazes with moist eyes at his childhood bestie’s tombstone, the giant of a man has no idea of the extraordinary turn his life is about to take. Little Bunny had shaken up the sleepy army cantonment when she had arrived in town with her English mum, Debbie, and her Anglo-Indian daddy, Major Robert Hudson, in the late ’70s. She was blonde, beautiful, a bundle of mischief and a reservoir of compassion. She was also mildly dyslexic and occasionally made vague allusions that sounded like memories from other lives. Love, wealth, expensive toys, the freedom to be naughty – Bunny had plenty and more of everything, except time.
Everyone was devastated when Bunny passed away. But one young lad became obsessed with her return; Vikram, the teenaged elder brother of her dear friend Vaani. But why? Being a hosteller, he hardly met her; and teenagers don’t much care for little kids anyway. Could it be that since the mind cannot remember what the soul cannot forget, Vikram was grieving the loss of a soulmate without even knowing about it?
Thirty years later, as the new age of spiritual awakening begins, Bunny’s Invisible Observer sets up amazing coincidences that will bring her scattered soul family together. And everyone who wept over her grave will smile again when Bunny returns. With it, the author hopes readers will take away the diverse nuances of love, the value of laughter and the essence of spirituality.
ABOUT MAYANK GAUR.
Mayank is an advertising writer and creative director for over three decades and has created several award-winning campaigns for leading brands. He is a keen trekker, sports- films- music addict, and like to think of himself as a ‘spiritual wanderer’. He closely follows subjects as diverse as ancient philosophies, parapsychology, metaphysics, quantum physics/ mechanics and astrophysics.
BLOG/064/2021/Book/014
To connect send an email or connect on Twitter S_kotnala.
To subscribe to the weekly update click here.
