Does it mean anything when you see or meet people that look like someone who was or is close to you? Are they somehow related to you from past lives?
—Amanda, USA
Dear Amanda,
One thing you may find is that the more you meditate and try to experience the presence of God within yourself, the more familiar everyone looks to you.
More and more we want to live as if all the world is our very own – people who are related, people you’ve never met. Try to feel the presence of God’s love and joy in your own heart, and feel you are sharing it with the whole world.
Considering Yogananda’s statement that it takes 5 to 8 million lives as a human being before we are totally free, it’s very likely that if someone seems familiar to you, they may well be someone you’ve known from the past.
But whether this is true or not is not so important. The most important thing is to treat everyone with the utmost respect and kindness and appreciation. I love to watch Swami Kriyananda greet people – clerks in stores, people he’s known for decades – all are treated with loving respect and familiariity. He looks for and sees the Divine in all, and rejoices in that.
It’s a good direction toward which to aspire.
There’s a wonderful book of Yogananda’s writings called Spiritual Relationships. I highly recommend it if you are interested in this subject.
In divine friendship,
Anandi
