ECKANKAR: Fritzi Comes Back

E C K A N K A R, Religia Światła i Dźwięku Boga

Fritzi Comes Back

How a Bond of Love Rejoined Souls Separated by Death

K. H. T.

I have accepted the Law of Reincarnation for many years. Yet occasionally an experience illuminates the wonder of it for me in an entirely new way.

I met Fritzi during the ten years of her life following the loss of her beloved husband, a famous German painter. We developed a deep friendship.

Of Jewish background and born in Romania, Fritzi was the first woman in her country to graduate with a degree in law. At eighty-three, she still kept up with world events by reading newspapers in five languages.

During World War II, Fritzi had managed to escape a German concentration camp, enduring more hardship than one can imagine. In spite of all this, she was a very happy person, full of dry humor, always giving of herself, trying to help or make other people happy in some way. By the time we met, she’d given away most of her belongings. I even had to lend her dishes and cutlery, as she had given away all her silverware and porcelain.

Fritzi had a deep interest in art, particularly in painting. Having organized art exhibitions for her husband when he was still alive, she had the necessary experience and knew the right people to be able to help up-and-coming young painters gain recognition.

One day, Fritzi introduced me to Niklas, a rather shy, newly married young painter for whom she had arranged an exhibition.

When Niklas’s first son, Manuel, was born, Fritzi asked me to drive her to the clinic to visit the family. The newborn was crying lustily when we arrived, but as soon as Fritzi held him, he quieted down, content to rest in her arms. I had never seen Fritzi so happy. She didn’t want to let the child go. It was love at first sight.

From that moment on, she wanted to see Manuel every chance she could. She bought him music cassettes and showered him with gifts. She talked about him all the time.

Her religious background and culture did not allow her mind to accept reincarnation, but to me it was obvious that she, as Soul, recognized her beloved husband who had passed away ten years before. He had come back in the body of this little baby boy. I knew better than to intrude on her beliefs, so I kept quiet.

Throughout this time I visited Fritzi almost every evening. As her health failed, she grew weaker and weaker. One evening I stopped by to deliver yet another gift she had asked me to buy for Manuel. I found her sitting in her easy chair. She had quietly passed away, with her lap full of photos of the baby she loved so.

After Fritzi’s death, I did not see Niklas and his family for a long time, although once in a while I got a phone call from them. Four years later, Niklas and his wife had a second son, Simon.

Not long after Simon’s birth, the family bought a house five minutes’ walk from mine. Niklas’s wife, together with Manuel, had looked at dozens of houses, but Manuel, then about five years old, insisted he liked the house close to mine best of all. Now Niklas and I share the same bus downtown to go to work every day.

In March 5, 2000, I was on my way to an ECK Worship Service at our local ECK center. I saw Niklas working in his garden.

“Come in and see my latest paintings,” he urged. As I entered the house, Simon ran up to greet me with such a happy smile. As he looked deeply into my eyes, I saw in his the same twinkle of mischief I had always seen in Fritzi’s eyes just before she told me one of her jokes. My skin prickled in recognition.

Manuel is now eight years old. His teacher told Niklas that his son is extremely gifted in painting and drawing. Manuel gives Niklas feedback on his paintings like a professional artist. For me, it is further confirmation that Manuel was once the famous German painter.

I believe Fritzi has come back in the body of Simon, choosing a family where she could once again be with Niklas, whom she helped to get started as an artist, and with her beloved husband, who is now her brother. And she lives so close by that I can see her every day.

For me, it is another joyful reminder of Soul’s eternal ability to transcend death through the bonds of love.

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