Book Review: Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian Weiss

Originally contributed by reader Shubhli.

You wake up suddenly in the middle of the night — sweaty, a little out of breath, a tad confused. Maybe you've been dreaming. You've experienced a roller coaster of emotions, and you know the dream is related to you, but you can't quite put your finger on it. At a party you meet a complete stranger and instantly feel you've known each other for ages. Or you walk through a situation with the eerie feeling you've already witnessed it — déjà vu, isn't that what we call it?

We accept all this as part of life and carry on, sometimes shoving those dreams to the back of our minds to review at leisure. Now, I'm sure many of you will agree that everything happens for a reason, even if we may not have the insight or foresight to comprehend the reason when the event occurs. But then, many events are beyond reasoning and the scope of science. A lady may be able to offer no explanation for why she is afraid of water, or the gentleman next door why he fears heights. No traumatic experience, yet the phobia persists.

Enter past-life regression therapy. Many of you may have heard of it: a therapist hypnotizes you, takes you back to the root of the problem across lifetimes, and helps you heal it at the soul level. We Hindus already believe in the cycle of birth, death, rebirth, reincarnation. But here we have an American doctor, Brian Weiss of Miami, Florida, whose study of survival after bodily death and past-life memories laid bare some astonishing facts.

Dr. Weiss was initially not interested in parapsychology — it seemed too far-fetched. His life changed irreversibly when a patient named Catherine walked into his clinic one fine morning. For 18 months he used conventional therapy to help her overcome her symptoms. When nothing worked, he tried hypnosis. In a series of trances, Catherine recalled past lives, dozens of them. Together, doctor and patient learned that Catherine's fear of water was not because she fell into a pool at age three, but traced to a lifetime in Egypt where she drowned when the Nile flooded. Her soul was carrying the trauma across births. In the next session, Catherine happily announced her lifelong fear of drowning had disappeared.

During these sessions, Catherine's soul would rest at the end of a lifetime and the doctor would receive messages from what he called the "Master spirits": mystical knowledge passed on in the process, all recorded in his book Many Lives, Many Masters, which we readers are fortunate enough to go through. In one session, Catherine gave information about Weiss's dead father and about his son who had died of a peculiar heart ailment, details that left him astounded.

The reason this book is a must-read, for me, is threefold. First, like Catherine, it helps readers lose the fear of death and accept that we are the soul, not the body. Second, it helps us overcome the fear of losing loved ones. Catherine's recognition of friends and family from past births helps us realize the soul does not die; when a loved one passes away, it is not the end but a transition, and we may meet again to give and take love. Third, and most important, this book can help you heal your soul. There are so many times we act negatively, knowingly. We hold grudges, we are unable to let go. The words of wisdom from the Master spirits play the key role here: to explain in simple words, those obsessed with their body were perhaps ridiculed for it in a past birth; those who eat a lot may have starved in a past life, and extra food gives them security. When you come face to face with that fact, you can train your soul to come to peace with the issue. Your anger, anxiety, hatred, and possessiveness will automatically diminish when you understand the root cause and learn to let go.

So pick up a copy today and heal your soul. And even if you don't believe in reincarnation or past lives, it is a very interesting read. When you do, don't forget to pick up another one by Dr. Weiss (Only Love Is Real) for the die-hard romantics who discover that true love and soulmates carry on, one birth after another, for ages and forever.

Happy reading, everyone.