Question: How can a spiritual Master like yourself convince others who do not believe in reincarnation that it is really true?

Sri Chinmoy: If someone asked me to convince him that he had previous lives, even if that individual did not believe in reincarnation, I would be able to prove it to him. I would ask that individual to meditate with me for a few minutes and I would enter into him and bring to the fore his immediate past incarnation. I would bring the image of one or two of his past activities to the fore to such an extent that what he was in his past incarnation would become vivid to the person. I have done it quite a few times in New York. But sometimes it is not right for the person to know his past incarnations, and then I do not tell him.

One of my most devoted disciples one day asked me about his past incarnation. I told him that in his past incarnation he was a boatman in Japan. I told him he could go deep within to see it. I had not even completed my sentence when he himself saw that he was a boatman. But for those who are arrogant, for those who will not believe, and there are people who will not believe when you speak about reincarnation, we have to see if it is worthwhile to convince them about the past. For if they are satisfied with their own notion that there is no reincarnation, then let them be satisfied. After all, who is the loser?

A young boy, who was not a disciple of mine, once asked me about his past incarnation. I told him that in his past incarnation he had lived in Germany and had died in an aeroplane crash. Immediately he said that from the age of three he had been a great admirer of Hitler. He could read German books and German poetry from the age of three. But this information did not help the boy spiritually at all. He was curious and I fed his curiosity, not his spirituality. So in most cases I will not tell a person about his past incarnations.