Is Eckhart Tolle a re-incarnation of Meister Eckhart?

I purchased an interesting book titled "Eckhart Tolle & Sri Aurobindo- Perspectives on Enlightenment by A.S.Dalal printed in 2008. This book is a comparitive study of the teachings of these two teachers. There is an interview of Eckhart Tolle by AS Dalal & Dr.Mistry in 2002 during Eckhart Tolle's visit to India.

The last question in the interview by Dr.Mistry was that the being in the present form of Eckhart Tolle must have been growing in previous incarnations until it flowered in the present incarnation and that it was unlikely that the totality suddenly put forth ET in this present life? In fact Dr. Mistry hinted that ET might be "Meister Eckhart" reborn. Meister Eckhart was a 13th century German mystic and philosopher. ET seemed to have laughed at this suggestion and did not agree or disagree with Dr.Mistry and answered the question of rebirth in a very impersonal way. However, there is a footnote to this interview which caught my attention:

However subsequent to this interview, in an article on "Living in the Now" (published in the July / August 2002 issue of Body & Soul magazine), Peter Occhiogrosso writes about Eckhart Tolle: In a dream several years after his transformation, he (ET) says, 'Somebody called me "Eckhart" I saw books written by [Meister] Eckhart and I knew I had written them. I realized it was a sign, and that it was my name.' " Soon after, he discarded his given names of Ullrich Leonard and adopted the name he now uses.

Reincarnation

Found this interesting weblink on cases of re-incarnation from an article in the Indian express newspaper - http://www.johnadams.net/

Nishkama Karma

The literal meaning of nishkama karma is "desireless action," i.e., selfless action. More generally, it means action performed without desiring or fearing the consequences; action performed with indifference to the outcome. It's used to describe the practice of doing actions without any expectation of the fruits (results or reactions or effects). Nishkama Karma Yoga is another name for Karma Yoga, which is one of the main themes of the Bhagavad Gita.

The following passage records how Sri Ramana Maharshi once demonstrated nishkama karma:
Mr. Rangachari, a Telugu pandit in Voorhees' College of Vellore, asked about nishkama karma. There was no reply. After a time Sri Bhagavan [Ramana] went up the hill and a few followed him, including the pandit. There was a thorny stick lying on the way which Sri Bhagavan picked up; he sat down and began leisurely to work at it [sic]. The thorns were cut off, the knots were made smooth, the whole stick was polished with a rough leaf. The whole operation took about six hours. Everyone was wondering at the fine appearance of the stick made of a spiky material. A shepherd boy put in his appearance on the way as the group moved off. He had lost his stick and was at a loss. Sri Bhagavan immediately gave the new one in his hand to the boy and passed on.
The pandit said that this was the matter-of-fact answer to his question.

Laughter

This is worth considering. It is significant. The first thing to understand is that except for man, no animal is capable of laughter. So laughter shows a very high peak in the evolution of life. If you go out on the street and see a buffalo laughing, you will be scared to death. And if you report it, then nobody will believe that it can happen. It is impossible. Why don't animals laugh? Why can't trees laugh? There is a very deep cause for laughter. Only that animal can laugh which can get bored. Animals and trees are not bored. Boredom and laughter are the polar dualities, these are the polar opposites. They go together. And man is the only animal that is bored. Boredom is the symbol of humanity. Look at dogs and cats; they are never bored. Man seems to be deep in boredom. Why aren't other animals bored? Why does man alone suffer boredom? "The higher the intelligence, the greater is boredom. The lower intelligence is not bored so much. That's why primitives are happier. You will find people in the primi-tive societies are happier than those in civilized ones. Bertrand Russel became jealous when for the first time, he came into contact with some primitive tribes. He started feeling jealous. The aboriginals were so happy, they were not bored at all. Life was a blessing to them. They were poor starved, almost naked. In every way, they had noth-ing. But they were not bored with life.

OSHO

"To decide to be at the level of choice is to take responsibility for your life and to be in control of your life."-Arbie M. Dale

What we plant in the soil of contemplation, we shall reap in the harvest of action."-Meister Eckhart