First 4 6 Last

Many of you might have experienced a premonition of would-be events, or a glimpse of the future sometime or the other, though without paying much attention to it at that time. Such experiences might be related to your personal life or might pertain to an event of social or national importance. Though we rarely comprehend the implications of such precognitive experiences, whenever we do, these could be of immense importance — especially in taking preventive measures against a likely accident or natural calamity.

8 th December 1978 – a chilled night in England! Edward Pearson was caught travelling without ticket in a London bound train. He was arrested and produced before the court. Replying to the judge, he explained – “Mr. Justice, I did not intend to travel without a ticket. I have never done so in the past. I am a disciplined civilian. This time circumstance had forced me to catch the train in emergency; when I reached the station, the train was about to depart. I got into it almost running; I had no time to purchase a ticket!

When questioned about the reason for this urgency, he replied – “In fact I have had precognition of important events and natural calamities on several occasions in the past. Yesterday, I had a premonition that a severe earthquake will occur in Glasgow in the near future – it may be tomorrow, or may be a week or a month from now...! It could prove disastrous! I wanted to rush to the meteorology department in London and convince the executives by explaining my experience in detail (which can’t be done over phone, as they would not take me seriously). This way, they might arrange for necessary warnings and safety measures in advance”.

The jury found no justifiable or legitimate ground in his defense. He appeared as a person misleading the Railway Controller by false stories. Moreover, the territory of England had no history of severe earthquakes. Edward was naturally punished for this dual crime. Exactly three weeks later, “Daily Courier and Advertiser” published the news of a deadly tremor in Glasgow under the heading ‘Prophecy of a Ticket-less Traveler’. As per Edwards Pearson’s premonition, this natural calamity had claimed significant loss of lives and property. This entire incident was also covered in detail in the book “The Unexpected Mysteries of Mind, Space and Time”. J. W. Dunne has described several such dreams in his book “An Experiment with Time”. In one of his own dreams, he had seen the eruption of a volcano in the Crestar Island few weeks before the calamity.

Recognizing the importance of research on the precognitive powers of human mind, Psychiatrist Dr. J. C. Barker had founded the organization “British Premonition Bureau” in 1967 for a survey and registered documentation of precognitive experiences. Apart from research on the instances of premonition, this organization used to arrange for precautionary measures in view of the authentically recorded (in its office) premonitions of natural calamities. Another organization called “Central Premonitions Registry” is engaged in similar work in New York. It was founded by an American psychologist named Robert D. Nelson. He never believed in dreams and precognition until he experienced the truth of his own premonition of a road accident. Being a doctor he also encouraged scientific validation and research into such experiences.

Spain’s El Escorial Palace is a masterpiece of Spanish architecture. King Phillip II had got it constructed in the memory of his wife Mary Tudor. One of the halls in this monument was designed for the burial of the king’s father and his successors. An astrologer had then foretold this King that his family’s empire would last for twenty-four generations only. Because of his faith in the seer, the king arranged for twenty-four graveyards in the said hall. Queen Maria Christina was the 23 rd ruler of the same royal dynasty. She died in 1929 and was buried in the same hall. Surprisingly, Alfonso – the prince designate since a long time, was finally sworn in as the King of Spain. Within two years he was dethroned and assassinated. With him the empire of Phillip’s lineage had also come to an end.

It was sometime during the peaceful freedom movement of India, when an elderly American woman, Jeane Dixon (nick-name, Nancy) came here as a tourist. She was a good friend of Mrs. Sarojini Naidu. Sarojini had organized a get- together to introduce her to some Indian friends. Mr. Jinnah and his newly-wed, young Parsi wife were also present on this occasion. Nancy constantly stared at the couple for several minutes while being introduced to them. After the couple had left, Mrs Sarojini Naidu asked Nancy about her embarrassing behavior. Nancy replied –– “I could read it on their faces that within three years from now, they would be divorced. Afterwards, the young pretty woman (Mrs. Jinnah) would commit suicide and Mr. Jinnah will become a king – the head of a state ...”. All the others around including the host, laughed at this whimsical ‘prediction’. No one could have imagined the couple’s separation, as Mr. Jinnah was deeply in love with his wife. The possibility of India’s freedom in such a short span of time and Jinnah’s enthronement as the first President of Pakistan sounded equally baseless.

However, everyone witnessed that the next three years brought a drastic change in the fate of the country as well as that of the Jinnahs. They were divorced and Mrs. Jinnah ended her life in depression. With its independence, India was divided into two nations and Mr. Jinnah became the first head of the newly created state of Pakistan.

Mr. Zaidy, the then vice-chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University (India) had also heard about this prediction. He visited London six years after the independence of India. There he called upon this foreteller – Madam Jean Dixon (Nancy). While discussing about her clairvoyance, Prof. Zaidy casually asked her about the future of India and Pakistan. She just looked into the air and said – East of Pakistan will be separated in a couple of decades. Indeed, her precognition came true, when Pakistan was divided and its eastern part emerged as an independent country – Bangladesh in 1970.

Intrinsic Quest & Vision of the Future:

Our past and future are closely, though indirectly, related to our present. Except perhaps in childhood — when our neuronal network is not fully developed and our own life is largely shaped by the guidance and support of our parents and teachers, our past experiences help our learning and planning in the present. Our individual personality, our inclinations and abilities contribute a lot to making our present. Although the present phase of our life is most important, whatever we envisage or plan to do now, always has an influence on the thought or expectation of the future.

The bodily experiences, pleasures and pains, knowledge of the surroundings, or the activities of the people around –– fall in the periphery of the present. The domain of mental activities is far wider. It embraces vision of the future as well in its folds. What the mind wants to acquire in the future triggers its aspirations/ambitions today. This often dominates its thinking and hence the activities of the present. Noting the fact that the activities of the present shape the future, we may thus say that our imagination, aspiration, or planning for the future make most of the unfoldment of our life.

Ability to cultivate an attitude as per the new circumstances to make the best use of one’s potentials is a sign of wisdom. A grasshopper adjusts its body to bear and turn the seasonal changes in its favor – it becomes yellow like a dry leaf in the summer and appears fresh and green like a newborn leaf in the autumn. It is said that it adopts the color of what it sees around. Adversity or favorableness of the circumstances mostly depends upon how we look at them. It is our own attitude that makes all the difference. A little bout of hardship might make a coward faint with fear, whereas a brave and courageous person would face it, fight it, and grow stronger with such challenges and struggles in life. It is said that the trend of our life is usually a shadow of our outlook. What one would become tomorrow largely depends upon what he aims at, thinks (and hence) does today. Man is therefore regarded as the architect of his destiny.

Focused thinking and balanced attitude give a creative direction to one’s deeds in a given circumstance. Ability to envisage the future vis- à-vis one’s potentials is as important as the appropriate use of the present opportunities. Formulating realistic and progressive goals, thorough planning for stepwise excelling in that direction and sincere endeavors, define the key to success in every walk of life. Prudence and foresightedness, yearning, and focused diligence, together with purity of heart are therefore most desired to ensure righteous and distinct accomplishments in life.

In general, anyone with average intellect would be able to envisage the consequential circumstances in near future based on the analysis of the present vis-à-vis his knowledge and experience. Timely preparation before the change of seasons is an example of rather sundry inferences of this kind. Preparation for the exams, cultivation of the land before the season of monsoon, sales and purchases as per the favorable trends of market, etc are examples of sensible actions based on past experience, and vision of the near future. Specialization in certain fields of knowledge, skilled talents, and professional expertise, usually go hand-in-hand with intellectual sharpness, clarity of imagination, and reasoned decision making. An architect’s design of a monument, an engineer’s model of a sophisticated machine, etc, are well-known examples of this sort.

Knowledge of the direction, or likely consequences of a particular action or condition, etc., also helps in correct decision making or planning for the future. Prescriptions recommended by a medical expert or manufacturing and sales planned by an efficient production-manager illustrate this talent. Who can beat an experienced farmer or a gardener in deciding about the right time for plantation and irrigation as per the quality and type of the seed and the soil in different seasons? Vision and accumulated experience together account for such practical sense or expertise. Scientific researchers do not plan their innovative experiments out of the blue or a whim. It is mostly their analytical thinking, thorough knowledge, unperturbed industriousness, and above all their reasoned insight that leads to remarkable discoveries and inventions. The talents of writers, poets, and artists too are recognized because of their creative imaginations and distinct expressions.

Natural tendency of the human mind to know the unknown is said to have evolved its abilities of inferring, imagining, and envisaging the future. This inquisitiveness has been the basis of the remarkable scientific breakthroughs we witness today. Elucidation of Nature, accomplishments in the space missions, understanding of the complex body-functions, majestic use of the atomic and subatomic powers, etc., have become possible by the piercing vision, focused analytical thinking, and adept inferences of brilliant minds in –– drawing the facts from the figures, extracting knowledge from the observations, deciphering the cause from the effects, conceptualizing, etc.

Intrinsic quest to know the future has given birth to astrology. Many people approach the palmists, numerologists, tarot card-readers, astrologers, etc, whenever they are worried or desperate about some future event, or generally curious when they hear about an ‘expert’ foreteller. Computer-aided formulation of horoscope and prediction of future is also quite popular these days. “How the positions and motions of planets affect the biomagnetism and hence the physical and mental conditions of a person?”; “How these effects are projected in the lines on the palm?”; “How do the radiation of crystals and gems influence one’s psychology....?” It might require understanding and researching a difficult branch of mathematics and finding the missing links in the lost volumes of the ancient science of astrology or forecasting to resolve these riddles. But one thing is sure that one’s faith in such predictions plays wonders on his psychology (and hence on the future course of his life).

It is a common observation that prediction of a bright future or an auspicious time ahead induces optimism, enthusiasm and a feeling of joy, in the believer and, depending upon his ambitions and zeal, he takes progressive, adventurous, or even risky decisions. Likelihood of adversities, danger, or attack of diseases, etc, generates contrary effects of varied intensities depending upon people’s beliefs and mental strength. The believers usually go for anything to prevent or minimize the ‘ill omen or hardships in the offing’. At the root of development of astrology and related discipline of predictive knowledge lies the curiosity of human mind to know the future. Popularity of various methods of “fortune-foretelling” based upon this knowledge blossoms mainly because of the inquisitiveness, hidden fears, and aspirations of the human mind linked with uncertainty of the future.

Natural interest or eagerness of the mind to peep into the future should not be let lost with emotional tides or agile daydreaming. It should be viewed as a source of immense mental power that needs to be channelized wisely. Many great thinkers, scientists, and visionaries of the world have set ample examples in human history to guide us towards righteous use of this inner strength which could enable us truly become adept architects of our own destiny.

It is the ‘soil’ of mind where the crop of future creations and accomplishments is ‘cultivated’.Trenchancy of vision, creativity of imagination, acumen, and farsightedness account for distinguished faculties of the mind. Intellectual brilliance, maturity and wisdom too are often judged with respect to these qualities.

Precognition, foresight, and clairvoyance are reflections of spiritual refinement and evolution of these potentials of human mind. The seed of these supernormal faculties exists in our minds as well. We should inculcate righteous thinking and endeavor to sharpen and enlighten it every day to realize that the key to unravel and also to carve our ‘unknown’ future indeed lies to a great extent in our own hands.

First 4 6 Last