Past life tendencies presenting themselves as present life philias or phobias

Hi all,

I have decided to create a thread with content from various sources depicting present life philias or phobias as an expression of past life tendencies, with insights and commentary over the same.


Shivayogini Matha (1923-1981) was a female enlightened sage and teacher in India who arose from the carpenter caste, and who interestingly as a child showed very high interest in attractive ornaments and beautiful clothes.

Once seeing a neighbors daughter having a beautiful ornament, she asked her parents to get the same for her, and even mischievously suggested to take it from the neighbor's daughter if they could not get the same.

This intense interest continued in her during her childhood and early teens, and after getting photographed wearing beautiful clothes and ornaments, her interest in the same suddenly faded away . She then stopped wearing such clothes and ornaments and took to a much more simpler and austere lifestyle.

Later on after many years, when she was asked about the same, she stated that in her past life, she was the wife of an austere and pious brahmana of the priestly order, and that her wish for ornaments and clothes had remained unfulfilled in that lifetime.

Her strong interest in jewellery and beautiful clothes in the present lifetime thus came from an unfufilled desire for the same from a past lifetime. After fulfilling them, she lost her desire for the same.

The enlightened sage Sri Ramakrishna had stated that smaller desires of a harmless nature can be indulged in while larger desires should be renounced by the exercise of wisdom and intelligent discrimination.

The observable elements are few and stark: a child’s intense compulsion for ornaments and fine clothes, the moment she is photographed wearing them, and the abrupt reversal into austerity.

Adding reincarnation to explain the sequence is a form of curve-fitting. Any number of other causal stories could be fitted to the same three points.

When explanation becomes this elastic, it may be more useful to stop trying to explain and begin interpreting.

Interpretation does not claim to recover the true cause. It treats the sequence as a set of symbols open to multiple readings. It accepts subjectivity as inherent rather than as a flaw. It does not depend on the historical accuracy of the details. And because it remains open-ended, different temperaments can extract different, equally legitimate meanings from the same events — each finding the reading that most clarifies or liberates their own inner pattern.

In that sense the story stops being a puzzle to solve and becomes a mirror.

This is interesting!

Richard Slavin (Radhanath Swami ) is another example of a child whose behavior was subject to past life influences. He was born in the US to Jewish parents.

As a child, Richard showed a tendency that he later called "the traces of my past lives". He did not prefer eating at the table, but seated on the floor, as is customary in India. When his parents forbade him to do so, he began to eat at the table standing. He hated the sight of meat and eggs, nauseated at their sight, and often vomited after eating meat, something that took him several years to get accustomed to.

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Usually hermits and yogis tend to be seated on the floor in India while eating food.

This was also true of large sections of the Indian population in the past though they have transitioned to being seated and eating on the table due to western influences. However in ashrams, one can still find ashramites and visitors seated on the floor.

Similarly vegetarianism is prevalent amongst Indian yogis and hermits, and large sections of the Indian population.

So it is possible that past life tendencies and habits were influencing Slavin's childhood behavior and attitudes.