I am 65 years old and this happened to me in 1977, when I was 26. I am originally from the city of Isfahan, which is in central Iran, about 300 miles south of the capital Tehran. I had followed a friend’s suggestion and had taken a job in the city of Mashad, which is in North West of Iran, about 800 miles away from Isfahah. That day I was driving back from Mashad to Isfahan for a few days of vacation and visiting my family. I left very early in the morning, around 2 am. Back in those days, the road was not that good and was not a highway, just a two-way road. At some point along the way when I was close to the city of Ghoochan, I noticed a car from the other lane was in my lane and the headlights were beaming right towards me. I tried to steer to the right to avoid a collision but the road shoulders were so narrow. I collided head-on with that car. My car spun a few times and fell off the road, which was several feet lower than the road itself. I was critically injured, but luckily a few minutes later, a passenger bus was passing by and saw the accident scene and stopped. They took me to a small hospital in the nearby city of Ghoochan.
In the hospital, the doctors and nurses started working on me right away. I had many injuries and felt severe pain all over my body. Nevertheless, when I was on the operating room bed, various thoughts were rushing through my head. For example, I was worried that if I don’t report back to my work on time in a few days that they might give my job away to someone else. At the same time, I was very angry at my friend who had encouraged me to take this job in a city far from my family. I blamed him for living away from my family, causing my accident and misery. I was frustrated at everything and everyone. I felt that this world and my life was a total mess and nothing was in it’s right place. My mind was full of complaints and anger.
I was not anesthetized and didn’t go into a coma. I remember a young woman around 22 years old entered the room. She seemed to be inexperienced and rather new to the hospital. She seemed beautiful and I wished I was not in this mess so I could talk to her and befriend her. But once again, I was distracted by unbearable pain and all the angry thoughts that were playing in my head. My attention was constantly shifting from my pain, to my angry thoughts, to this young lady; back and forth, and round and round.
Suddenly, I felt that everything shifted. I felt a deep calm and peace engulfing me. This feeling was totally opposite to what I was feeling a few minutes ago. I was not angry anymore and I was seeing perfection in everything in the world and around me. Now I was feeling that everything is exactly the way it should be. Whenever I focused my attention to any object or subject, I could get deep and complete insights into that matter. I could even understand the chemical compositions of objects I looked at and all its physical and mathematical properties. I shifted my attention to that young woman again. She seemed a little different than a few minutes ago. I noticed that I am seeing her like 360 degrees around her, like I have totally engulfed her. I could see her thoughts and feelings as well. In fact, I felt that I am present in the entire hospital. I could see that she had a lot of sadness and worry about what she was seeing. She was thinking that it was so sad that this young man is dying like this. I tried to soothe her and tell her that I am alright and that nothing is wrong with me. In fact, I’ve never felt so good in my life. But she kept ignoring me, like she does not see or hear me.
I noticed that she was staring towards a fixed point. I followed the direction she was looking and noticed that she is looking at the body of a young man who is lying on a bed. I was shocked because this man had striking similarities with me. I wondered who he was and why does he look so much like me? I even thought that maybe I have a twin brother I didn’t know about who happens to be in the same hospital. I tried to tap on the shoulder of the young woman to get her attention but my hand simply went through her body without any resistance. I was so puzzled. I looked at myself and saw that I have a transparent and illuminated body. I was so confused and bewildered. I started to think to myself, “Am I dead? Is this my body on the bed? My God, my mom would be so devastated. She is expecting me back home tomorrow.”
As soon as I thought about my mom, I immediately found myself in front of her in our house in Isfahan. It is hard to explain, but strangely I was still in the hospital too. I was aware and seeing everything there as well, without any difficulty and confusion. My presence at home did not decrease my awareness and presence in the hospital at all. It was like I had split into two pieces with equal awareness. My mom was sitting on the patio and preparing some vegetables for the dinner. I went behind her to hug her from behind, in order to surprise her. Again to my surprise, my hands went right through her body. I tried to talk to her but she did not pay any attention to me.
During this period as I thought about various friends and relatives, I instantly went to them while still present in previous places of the hospital, home, etc. For example when I thought about one of my teachers who I loved so much back in the days of high school. Suddenly I was beside him, while still in the hospital and also in my house in Isfahan beside my mom. I could immediately see all his thoughts, feelings, and all the things that were going on for him in life such as his thoughts, concerns, financial status, and health. I saw that I am no longer in his thoughts and heart. I could see that at that moment he was worried about his son. So I lost interest in him and left that scene. I thought about a few other relatives and friends and similarly I visited them as well. In every case I tried to communicate to the person I was visiting and make them aware of myself, to no avail. I realized that there is no use trying to communicate with people. Nobody could hear or see me.
Meanwhile I was seeing everything in the hospital. Over there, the doctors pronounced me dead and wrote some notes on my chart: “Resuscitation unsuccessful, the patient is pronounced dead at ….” They threw a sheet on my face and put me on another bed with wheels. Then they transferred me to a room where they temporarily kept the dead before sending them to the hospital morgue.
At some point through my experience, I passed very fast through a tunnel and moved towards a bright light at the end of tunnel. I cannot accurately place when this happened in my experience, as time had lost its meaning. I went to a very pleasant place that was made from light. I felt that this is my true home and I belonged there. My presence on earth looked like a deportation to a stranger, an isolated island that was incompatible and unpleasant. Where I was now, there was no past or future, no close or far, no up or down, no dark or light and all the relative things had lost their meaning. Everything seemed to be in absolute perfection. There were other souls there too; some with more light and possibilities than me and some with less. I never felt envy towards those who were more advanced and who had more light than me. It was well understood that each of us are where we should be according to our own capacity and growth. I had no bad feelings whatsoever that I am less advanced than some of the other souls.
When I was visiting my mom and some of my old friends and relatives, I had a vague feeling that there is a presence that was following me all the time, like a shadow. But I was so absorbed in the wonder of this whole experience, my thoughts, what was going on, and those people I was visiting, that I didn’t really pay attention to that presence. Eventually, I noticed him and I noticed him. He was an amazing, divine human-like figure who radiated lots of love and light. Instantly, I fell in love with this holy and immensely beautiful presence. I noticed that he loves me deeply and unconditionally. First I thought he must be a prophet or religious figure, but then I thought that he is even above all that. I realized that he has always been with me throughout my life, always. He was my guide.
I got the understanding that everybody who dies has a guide. But some humans are so attached to their physical and material world that they are still worry about their money, possessions. or power even after death. They don’t notice their guide and might not even notice that they are dead! Their soul can stay earth-bound for a long time after their death. For example, my guide showed me a man who apparently used to be in a position of authority and power back on the earth. After this man’s death, he still went to the office he used to work in, trying to sit at the same chair and sign documents. He was oblivious to the fact that his signature does not leave any marks and he has no power and effect in the physical world. He kept going to that office trying to sign things and act as he was still working there, not realizing that he is dead. I got this understanding that any strong earthbound attachment can keep our souls from soaring.
I saw people who had committed suicide and they seemed to have the worse situation among all these earthbound souls. They were completely trapped and had no way of communicating to anyone. Sometimes these souls would follow their loved ones on earth like a shadow for many years, begging for forgiveness for the hurt and pain they had caused them by their suicide. But it was no use and they wouldn’t be heard. My guide showed me these scenes.
Then he showed me a different kind of scene, scenes that formed in front of my eyes like a movie. These were scenes from my own life. The scenes were in chronological order from the very beginning of my life on the Earth. I saw a young woman who was pregnant. She was my mother and was pregnant with me. I entered her body like a wave. Before entering her body, I was feeling that I am present in the entire universe, but somehow part of me focused away from this entirety and totality to move into the physical world and my mother’s body. My feeling was the feeling of connectedness. I felt that everything is connected to everything and there is no beginning and end. I cannot tell for sure in what stage of pregnancy I entered her body, but I think it was a long time before delivery.
One example of my life review was when I was a little kid. We were traveling by car and stopped somewhere along the way. There was a river not far from the road and I was asked to go and bring some water in a bucket from that river. I went to fill up the bucket but on my way back, I felt that the bucket was way too heavy for me. I decided to empty some of the water to make the bucket lighter. Instead of emptying the water right there, I noticed a tree that was alone by itself in a dry patch of land. I took the effort to go out of my way to that tree and emptied some of the water at the tree base. I even waited there a few seconds to make sure the water is soaked in the soil and is absorbed. In my life review, I received such an applaud and joy for this simple act that it is unbelievable. It was like all the spirits in the Universe were filled with joy from this simple act and were telling me we are proud of you. That simple act seemed to be one of the best things I had ever done in my life! This was strange to me, because I didn’t think this little act was a big deal and thought I had done much more important and bigger things. However, it was shown to me that what I had done was extremely valuable because I had done it purely from the heart, with absolutely no expectation for my own gain.
Another example of my life review was when I was a 10 years old boy. I had bullied and mercilessly beaten another boy who was also around my age. He felt tortured and deeply hurt. In my life review, I saw that scene again. The boy was crying in physical and deep emotional pain. As he was walking in the street crying and going back home, he radiated negative energy which affected everything around him and on the path. People and even birds, trees, and flies received this negative energy from him, which kept propagating throughout the Universe. Even rocks on the side of the street were affected by his pain. I saw that everything is alive and our way of grouping things in categories of ‘alive’ and ‘not alive’ is only from our limited physical point of view. In reality everything is alive. I felt all of the pain and hurt that I had inflicted upon him inside of myself. When this boy went home to his parents, I saw the impact that seeing him in that state had on his parents. I felt the feeling and pain it created in them and how it affected their behavior from that point forward. I saw that as a result of this action, his parents would be always more worried when their son was out of home or if he was a few minutes late.
I saw that whenever I had done something good to anyone or anything, that I had done it to myself. And whenever I had hurt someone, I had done it to myself while actually doing that person a favor because they would receive some form of compensation or help from the Universe as a result. This universal gift would be bigger than the damage I had caused to them.
I wanted to stay in the world of love, peace, and light, but they reminded me of my responsibilities back on the earth. I argued and refused to return. They told me that if I don’t return, I won’t be able to achieve certain spiritual capabilities which I would have received had I gone back to earth. I still didn’t want to return and would rather stay there. Finally they showed my parts of my future and how if I returned it would affect many other people and help them to see the Light. When I realized how much my return to earth would help others, I could not wait to get back to earth. However, these scenes from my future were erased from my memory upon return to the Earth.
According to my medical documents, I came back to life 32 minutes after I was pronounced dead. But during this 32 minutes I saw so many things. It was like several months to me, if not several years. One of the staff in the hospital who was passing by the room my body was placed in, heard a little noise coming from inside the room. She rushed into the room and found that I was actually breathing again.
For years I hid my experience from people because whenever I talked about it, I faced their ridicule, negative judgment, or accusation of hallucination and making up stories. After several years, I saw a book about NDEs and noticed there are other people who have had similar experiences like me. Although the detail of their experience might be different or they might express their experience in a different way we still had similar experiences. After seeing this book, I was very anxious to find others who had an NDE and to meet them face to face. I even changed my job and started working in medical services section of a hospital to meet other NDErs. Gradually NDE phenomena became more known and accepted in the society. People became more open to hearing my story. Nowadays, on average I tell my story once or twice a month to various gatherings of friends or people who are interested. Unlike the past, now people and specially young ones show a lot more interest in hearing about my experience and it seems it affects them in a good way.