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CompuServe               OMN-169

NDEs In India

Near death experiences, or NDEs, most often follow serious  injuries or
illnesses in which imminent death is expected, but does not occur.  These
bizarre, brief encounters with the  "afterworld" are usually characterized by
visions of long-dead relatives, swirling lights, and the sensation of utter
peace. But now, according to recent research, it seems that not all   aspects of
the NDE are universal.  In a study by Dr. Ian  Stevenson of the University of
Virginia Medical School and Dr.  Satwant Pasricha of the Institute of Mental
Health and  Neurosciences in Bangalore, India, NDE reports from East and  West
reflect variations in the cultures themselves.

Indians, the researchers found, tended to report that  "messengers" of the god
of death took them to the otherworld,  where a man with a book was waiting to
check them in.  They were  generally sent back to earth only after it was
discovered that a  mistake had been made, that the intended victim had the same
name  but came from a different caste or lived in a village nearby.   Once the
mistake was detected, NDE-ers were generally escorted back by the same
messengers that brought them in initially. Americans, on the other hand, usually
went unescorted to the otherworld and returned alone, not because of some
untimely  mistake, but because of love for family or a simple desire to  live.
Do these findings prove NDEs are nothing more than mental  projections of
cultural beliefs?  Maybe so.  But Stevenson and Pasricha contend that "if we DO
survive death and live in an  after-death realm, we should expect to find
variations in that world just as we do in this one," they declare.  "A traveler
to  Delhi encounters dark-skinned immigration officials, who in  many respects
behave differently from the lighter-skinned  immigration officials another
traveler may meet when arriving in  London or New York.  In the same way, there
may be different  receptionists in the world after death."