WHERE DOES JEEVAATMA TRAVEL AFTER SO CALLED DEATH?

Where does Jeevaatma Travel after so called Death?

(Compilation for a discourse by N. R. Srinivasan, Nashville, TN, USA, Nov. 2017)

Death is only a passage from one form of life to another and none is dead but only departed. An average person takes cognizance of the visible physical world through the medium of his sense organs and by the application of his rational judgment.  But this physical world represents only an insignificant portion of the totality of innumerable worlds that exist in the worlds’ manifestation. By an appropriate endeavor (saadhana), we can raise our consciousness to higher and deeper levels and make it active and functional there. If we can awaken our latent potency of knowledge vis-à-vis objects which are beyond the grasp of our physical senses, we can have access to those subtle worlds depending on our individual capacities and development, and establish conscious communication with them. Even while still living in our gross physical body, even before we have shed it at death, we can travel at will to these subtle supra-physical planes of existence.

In ancient times, Yogis and Rishis knew much about the existence of supra-physical worlds. When men, particularly the ones with evil-minded nature die, their hungry and desire-driven vital beings may assume many forms and move about in earth’s atmosphere just beyond the gross physical plane.

Whenever we evoke in our mind the memory of a particular person or talk about him with somebody, we only think about his ‘ego’. What prominently occupies our consciousness at that time is that he is a particular person, a separate being with definite and discernible traits and characteristics.

Body	Kosha Name	Remarks
Physical	Stoola Sareeram
Material	Anna maya
Vital	Praana maya
Mental	Manoe maya
Knowledge	Vignaana maya
Bliss	Aananda maya

Man has not only his gross physical body, visible and sensible to us, but has other bodies too; such as, a subtle physical body, a vital body, a mental body and others. These have different trends and functions of their own. His total being, according to Upanishads is constituted of “koshas” or sheaths and envelopes--such as, “Anna-maya kosha” (material envelope), “Praana-maya kosha” (vital envelope), “Manoe-maya kosha” (mental envelope), “Vignaana-maya kosha” (Knowledge sheath), and “Aananda-maya kosha” (bliss sheath). He possesses for his self expression and manifestation many instruments and vehicles; such as his body, his life, his mind etc., as their active functioning. These instruments have many different modalities, such as desires, aspirations, imaginations, memories, reasoning power, discrimination etc. The constitution of men’s consciousness is indeed highly complex and an intermingled amalgam. At the center of all this complex psychological structure lies man’s soul or psychic being, called Jeeva. It is the psychic being which is indeed the “Traveler of the worlds” and moves around after the physical body’s dissolution.

Jeeva travels into different supra-physical realms, and then comes back into an almost unending series of successive rebirths upon earth.  And all this is, with only one single aim in view, to ultimately bring about the full manifestation of divine life upon earth itself and that too in a material–physical human or super-human body.

The movement of soul or psychic being poses the following questions:

        What does the psychic being do stage after stage?

        Where does it proceed?

        When and how many times does it decide to reincarnate in a new body upon earth?

After death of the physical body, the psychic successively passes through the kingdoms of the subtle physical, the vital, and the mental and finally reaches its own domain, the psychic world.

While passing through a particular kingdom, the psychic being discards the no-more-needed elements of the superficial and temporary personality of the individual in his preceeding embodiment. Just as a soul drops of its physical sheath at the moment of so called “death” or in reality, the beginning of the journey, it discards its vital and mental sheaths after some time, short or long, depending on variable circumstances. But that does not mean nothing from the past will accompany the psychic being. The essence of all the experiences of the physical, the vital and the mental pasts of the being in its preceding incarnation will be gathered by the psychic and carried with it; this will act in time as the seed constituent of the new body, vital and mind in its new embodiment upon earth.

The psychic being will at last go to the psychic world and rest there in a profound pregnant trance. There, in the psychic world, the proper assimilation of experiences of the individual being and the preparation for its next earthly life will take place under the guidance of the Supreme Spirit or the Great Being (God).

In the case of those undeveloped individuals whose consciousness has not yet been sufficiently developed, who are tied down to the temporary pleasures and enjoyment of the physical world or whose principal pre-occupation has been with their vital life and who did not want to leave the previous earthly life, but were almost dragged away from there, the psychic being may take a different decision. It may not want to retire to the psychic world but may provide with new physical bodies, as soon as possible, so that they may continue their needed development.

In the case of those whose consciousness is sufficiently developed and who have been able to center their whole being on their soul, the psychic being may adopt many different courses after dropping off the physical body:

1)      The psychic being may assume a new physical body on the terrestrial plane (Ihaiva-in this very world) instead of spending time in other worlds in order to maintain its spiritual adventure there, uninterrupted.

2)      Instead of creating a new body for itself, the psychic being of the departed person may integrate itself with a second psychic being in another physical body and continue its forward journey through the combined action.     

  

3)      Psychic being may retire to the psychic world and remain immersed there for many years in a supremely delightful preparatory repose.

Now let us consider the movement of the ego-centered external being. The consciousness and nature of most human beings is not at all integrated and homogeneous. It represents the picture of an ill-assorted amalgam of many independently functioning elements and tendencies. Real individuality is not developed there. Yet an individual during his stay in a physical body thinks and feels him to be a separate and unique individual, due to his false self-identification with a fictitiously centralizing of ego-sense and ego idea.

After the dissolution of the physical body after death, these different constituent elements of the being, his physical, vital and mental beings get disbanded and separated and start dwelling in different worlds of their choice and seek there to satisfy their own separate desires and impulses in some way or order.

Then, a time arrives when the energy behind their functioning existence gets used up and they disintegrate and disappear for all time to come. There remains nothing left of the “ego-being” that was operative in the living physical body during individual’s life time. The physical-vital-mental personalities of this ego-being are created for a single life to serve some temporary purpose of the living soul. After the termination of that life, these separate constituent beings vanish into thin air but the psychic being travels in an uninterrupted way.

 

But if a person has been able to integrate his vital being completely around his psychic being and if this vital being comes to be always governed by the psychic without the slightest reservation or resistance coming from it, this vital being need not be discarded after the body’s death; it may be left intact in the universal vital world, while the psychic travels to its own world, the psychic world. On its return journey to the earth for its next embodiment, the psychic may pick up this surviving vital being and carry it along to integrate it in the next physical body.

 

The same principle applies to the case of the mental being of a person. If anyone wants to preserve his personal identity through the succession of rebirths, he has to center his entire personality and put it under the psychic’s governance as a most pliable vehicle of soul manifestation.

During the time vital and physical beings continue to remain after death, divorced from any concrete awareness of the deeply hidden psychic being, they may at times indulge in creative imagination and fictitiously produce subjective heavens and hells in the other worlds, all patterned in their own wishes and hopes and fears. These heavens and hells have no objective reality, but the experiences the disembodied being actually undergoes there after death are very concrete and tangible for his consciousness.

Let us now consider the movement of the sheaths and their residues. After the dissolution of the body, the physical, the vital and the mental generally get broken up into different fragments. Just as the physical disintegrates after being cremated the vital and mental also get disintegrated into many fragments. These different constituent elements such as desires, impulses, passions etc., follow their separate independent courses and seek to fulfill their own propensities as and when suitable opportunities present themselves, they may get into the consciousness of other living men or even into congenial animal bodies to satisfy their characteristic appetite.

If, during the lifetime of the individual, he has been able to develop a special mental capacity and aptitude such as the ability for creative writing or musical talent, these elements may move about for sometime in the invisible realms of the earthly atmosphere after the physical death of the person concerned. They then try to seek out appropriate vehicles of self-expression. Besides, when they find out a living human being who has the possibility of fulfilling this purpose, they enter into that being and try to maintain the continuity of their creativity through the talent and aptitude of that other person.

The three namely, Knowledge (Jnaana), Karma and previous birth’s intuition (poorva vaasana) follow Jeevaatma, the Soul. One cannot act or enjoy without previous intuition. Therefore the three namely, Jnaana, Karma, and Poorva Vaasana happen to be the load that is carried in the cart while proceeding to the other world.

 

 We have discussed so for the nature of death and the movement, the destiny and the dissolution of the general run of not-so-developed human beings. This is different in the case of advanced Yogis and mystics. Jeevan muktas and other liberated souls enjoy complete freedom of choice and are no way bound by any particular rule or procedure. They can, after shedding of their physical body, travel to any particular supra-physical world of their choice, may come back to terrestrial plane in another human embodiment. Or, may not do so but stay permanently in any desired supra world such as Brahmaloka, Vishnuloka, Sivaloka, etc. or crossing the bounds of all cosmic manifestation may pass beyond time and space and merge with the Transcendent Absolute (God).

When a spiritually wise-man dies, his life energy (Praana sakti) pierces the Brahmarandra (Aperture in the crown of the head where the Sushumna naadi terminates) and passes out of the body following the Moordhanya or Sushumna naadi. Thus, we read in (Brihadaaranyaka  Upanishad):

“Hridayasyaagram pradyoetatae tena pradyoetena esha nishkraamati chakshushoe vaa moordhnoe vaa….”

The center of the heart gets illuminated at the moment of death and the Aaatma takes help of the light to pass out of the body mostly through the eyes or through the head…..

The naadi or the nerve of the heart of the dying person which happens to be exit for the Aaatman becomes illuminated on account of the brilliance of the sense organs that were withdrawn.

By the light of that, Aaatman passes out of the body through the eye or the head or any other part. When the Jeeva passes out the vital air (mukhya praana) and all other sense organs that are ruled by the vital air, follow the Jeeva and pass out of the body. At that state, the Jeevaatma will be aware of the body it has to gain after passing out of the present body. That knowledge or awareness is dependent upon his karma and not by the efforts of the Jeeva.

The second chapter of Bhagavata also says: “While leaving his body, the Yogi withdraws his life-breath (Praana vaayu) from different limbs of the body, concentrates it first in the six centers (chakras) and finally rises to Sahasraara. He then controls the other seven holes (two eyes, two nostrils, two ears and the mouth) and leaves the body through the Brahmarandra.

An ordinary death and extinction of body consciousness culminates in blind darkness. The realized soul of a Yogi coming from light to the blind darkness employs its inner power of vision which has no dependence upon outer light and discovers a new ineffable luminosity to which light and darkness, knowledge and ignorance, vidya and avidya are either veils or coverings. It is the Vaivasvata Mrityu, the solar death of the sage, who has turned his eyes inward.

How long does the departed being remain in the supra physical world before it assumes a new physical body or rebirth? There may be wide variation in this intervening interval of time, depending on many factors, of which one important one is the state of development of the consciousness of the departed being. In some cases, rebirth may take place almost immediately after the dropping of the preceding body. In some other cases, it may take a few months, or a few years, or even few centuries before the soul decides to come back in a new body. As the psychic develops more and more, this interval too lengthens in proportion. When the psychic being attains to its full development, it escapes all rules of imposition from outside and becomes completely free as regards the choice of the movement for its embodiment. If it so wishes, it may not come back again to an earthly embodiment.

Many small vital entities of dubious intentions are swarming in the lower vital world of the supra physical region. These entities may grab at times fragments and residues of the discarded mind and vital beings of the dead person and covering themselves up these instrumental residues, pose as the soul of the person concerned and try to deceive the credulous relatives and friends. The real fact is that the psychic being of the departed person retires to the psychic world after death, and the physical, vital and mental sheaths disintegrate after sometime. There is therefore nothing left behind to claim to be the soul of the dead man and appear before the pancetta or the medium.

Almost all religions speak of heaven and hell. In the vital and the subtle-physical worlds on the other side of the physical realm, there are regions of happy and pleasant experiences and also regions too which offer very unpleasant and painful experiences to the wandering being. An individual, discarding his gross physical sheath (annmaya kosha) at death and then pursuing his course of other world journey may have to come at some stage to these so called “heaven” or “hell” and be acquainted with their corresponding delightful or painful experiences. But these will come about solely in the interest of soul’s progress in its spiritual journey and surely not as “rewards” and “punishments” for the being’s so judged “merits” and “demerits”.

The obstacles and difficulties we seek to avoid and by-pass in our earthly physical existence, will confront us once again in the other worlds for their proper settlement and in more intractable situations. Every living person must prepare himself even from now, if he expects to have auspicious death, and a spiritually fruitful other worldly journey.  The best preparation in this regard is to organize and harmonize all the parts of one’s consciousness around  the central psychic being  so that they can be pliable to be molded and governed at all times and in every way by one’s divine center. If one can do that, he will find after death that all that is required for his spiritual progression and all the other worlds he should visit for this purpose will be arranged for him by the luminous guidance of the Divine power of Light. So, it is not at all wise to shove our weaknesses and difficulties under a hiding carpet, thinking that the act of physical death will automatically lead to painless elimination. It is an illusory false hope.

The seeker of Divine Light should develop right attitude vis-à-vis the body’s death.  To quote from Mother:  “Never want that death should arrive nor should you fear death even in the slightest degree. Do not try to cling on to your life egoistically by every possible means, only to delay the inevitable end by a minute or two. Do not give vent to the mood of frightful anguish and turn death into a disgusting defeat. Rather, never think of death; never be haunted by the fear of death; instead, make the best possible use of every moment of your life; never lose even a moment in your effort at realizing your spiritual goal. Always live in your ideal, in the truth of your ideal. Make that the only real thing in your life, the raison d’etre of your being, and in all things see this spiritual ideal and never come down into the sordid ties of the material life. If you can do so, you will find that whatever and in whichever way death comes to you, you will be able to keep your head high and smile and say, “Here I am”. In that case, you will not find death sordid and terrible or as something of the nature of an ignoble defeat but as a very beautiful welcome experience.”

The thoughts expressed by Jugal Kishore Mukherjee as above on Jeevaatma and its final destination are based on the Vedic thoughts from Brahmsootra, various Upanishads and Bhagavad Geetaa. Bhagavad Geetaa (Smriti Prasthaana) embraces all the views contained in the Brahmasootra (Sruti Prasthaana) and Upanishads (Sookti Prasthaana) and also Sankhya Yogic thoughts. A summary of thoughts on Jeevaatma expressed in Brahmasootras and various Upanishads are included here for ready reference.

 

[This lecture has been prepared by N.R.Srinivasan, for the Vedanta Class at Sri Ganesha Temple by suitable extraction and editing from “Mysteries of Death, Fate, Karma and Rebirth” by Jugal Kishore Mukherjee, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, extraction from Vedanta Sutras of Vedavyasa by Dr. N.S. Anantha Rangacharya and extracts from Ten Cardinal Upanishads from Swami Harshananda of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Bengaluru].

APPENDICES

Death: A Process of Growth

Posted by Indrani Devi Dasi | Dec 18, 2013 \IndiaDivine.Org

In society today there is much talk of death and dying because of the premature loss of life due to crime, cancer, AIDS, and the increase in suicide, famine and wars. Recent topics such as living wills and euthanasia also have brought the subject of death and dying more to our attention. Even though many people are uncomfortable talking about death, especially their own of that of someone close, it is one experience of our lives we know will occur with certainty. The least certain is the time when it will happen. Because of this utter uncertainty about the time of death, we need to be prepared for it at all times.

Anyone researching the literature on death & dying finds an array of books and articles. Valuable as these numerous studies have been in shaping compassionate social attitudes toward the fatally ill and in clarifying our ways of thinking about our own life and death, most of them lack a spiritual dimension — practical guidance in what may be called the “art” of dying.

Death is a subject we try to conceal, deny and bury, but death does not go away. In times past when people died amid familiar surroundings, the sight of death was not uncommon. There were no “old people homes”, die of one ailment or another. The full cycle of life was more visible, birth, growth, sickness aging and death. Today, technological development has brought dehumanisation and alienation to the dying person. It is almost impossible for anyone to hear of say any last words. New drugs appear to keep people alive longer and kill the pain but they can also diminish the consciousness, making communication very difficult.

Now, people die in the alien world of the modern medical hospital or among strangers in a nursing home, who are dealing with the fear of death themselves. Contemporary medicine’s approach to the dying seems to be dominated by a determined effort to conquer death and delay its advent at all cost.

In refusing to face death, we close off a part of life. There is an interesting tendency in Western thinking to dissociate death from life. In Western thinking, the answer to the problem of death is to try to conquer it or postpone its arrival as long as possible, whereas, in ancient and non-western cultures, there is the recognition of the utmost importance of dying as an integral aspect of life. In these cultures, the theme of death has had a deep influence on religion, ritual, life, mythology, and philosophy. For ancient cultures, dying is sometimes seen as a step up in the spiritual hierarchy, a promotion into the world of revered ancestors, powerful spirits or as an upward transition from the complicated earthly life fraught with suffering and problems.

We need to examine the meaning of human life. Ancient scriptures tell us that human life is meant for reviving one’s eternal relationship with the Lord. All religious injunctions are meant for awakening is brought about, the quicker the mission of human life is fulfilled. The awakening occurs by processes. The process of expressing life is growth. The process of dying is growth also. From the time we enter this world, we are in a process of growth – – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. In order for these growth processes to occur we must “die” a little. The dying has to occur in order to live. What is that dying? To die means there are things we put behind us. Things we have to kill out of our system. As we grow, we die to the life chosen by family, society, friends and the media. To grow, we must continuously die and be reborn at another stage, in the same way a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.

From the first moment at birth until our last breath at death we go through six changes as does everything on this material earth: birth, growth, maintenance, disease, old age, death. Some examples of growth processes, are graduation from school and finding work, getting into or out of relationships, losing one’s job, moving to a new location, or starting a new profession. Whatever the situation, it is one of growth, yet it is filled with anxiety and fraught with a sense of danger. But it is also filled with excitement as well as joy.

Moving through any of the examples given, we may recognize certain stages we go through which are similar to the stages of dying given by Dr Elizabeth Kubler-Ross in her book Death and Dying. Her work with the terminally ill has helped many people to deal with the dying process. She describes the stages of dying as denial, rage/anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Haven’t you had those feelings when a relationship is breaking up? When moving to another location due to loss of a job? When divorcing a partner of many years of when someone you love dies? Aren’t those feelings there? All are a part of our life experiences yet are part of a “dying” experience also. We die to lod ways of thinking, to doubt and fears and we are reborn to live life more fully. These “dying” experiences continue until the final growth experience occurs, the death of the physical body when the eternal soul is freed to return to the Lord. Hopefully.

Life and death are not demarcated. They are not conditions existing independent of each other. They are merely facets of one natural process (growth) both present at any given time. It is the denial of death, as a part of the process, that is partially responsible for people living empty, purposeless lives. When you live as if you will live forever it becomes to easy to postpone the things you must do. Most people live their lives in preparation for tomorrow of in remembering yesterday and meanwhile today is lost. But if you live each day as if it could be your last, then you could use each day to grow because each day we are in the dying process preparing for the final growth process – – death.

To understand these processes, we need to have a strong belief system – religious, spiritual and /or philosophical that teaches us who we are, the purpose of life, and where we go after death. We must have some understanding of who or what dies. Most people believe they are a body and a mind, and ”I”, an ego identified by name, i.e “I am Jane from Boston”. “I am American”. “I am Black”.

A spiritual perspective includes the understanding that we are more than the body: we are spirit/soul in a body. Understanding this is the real preparation for the process of growth called death. This means remembering the real purpose of life. This really means developing a higher consciousness by which we perceive ourselves to be eternal.

In order to work with the concept of knowing who we are, we need to study and examine how ancient religions and spiritual and philosophical teachings describe death and an afterlife. You will find it is a more comforting explanation of the relationship between life and death than what is offered in many Western religions.

If we are to have true contentment we must free ourselves from the chain of birth and death. We need to gain knowledge of the self. To do this we go to books and teachers of higher knowledge. The oldest of these books of knowledge are the Vedas, original scriptures spoken by the Lord himself. The purpose of books of knowledge are to train us to understand our position as pure soul.

One such book is the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, in which Krishna, the Supreme Lord, provides instructions on the nature of the self to His student Arjuna who is struck with terror by the task of slaying his kinsmen on the field of battle. Krishna tells Arjuna that, although the body perishes, the soul cannot be injured and does not die because it is eternal. Arjuna is informed that knowledge means to know the difference between matter and spirit and the controller of both. Knowledge is the preparation for facing the process of dying leading to the final process of growth – death. Christen tells Arena that “one who has taken birth is sure to die, and after death one is sure to take birth again…” That is until one engages in devotional service to the Supreme and moves toward ending the cycle of birth and death. Ending the cycle of birth and death means remembering that we are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, controlling the mind and senses and moving beyond the pull of the material world, to return to the spiritual would, our true home.

Unfortunately, much of modern society, feels that death is the greatest of human misfortunes and that dying is the final agonizing struggle against extinction. Just as people are afraid of heights, the dark, deep water, the future of the unknown. Many try to relieve their anxiety by more and more self-gratification. But death does not forget about us. Therefore we should always remember the real purpose of life and that life is nothing but a moment on our path toward self-realization.

Srila Prabhupada’s message of self-realization to this Western world is in essence that we are not the body. We are spirit/soul, part and parcel of the Lord. He stressed that it is not simply a matter of saying “I am not the body”, but of actually realizing it. Until we truly understand that, we will continue in the cycle of birth and death. But we are not left to figure out how to do this. We are given a wonderful process; chant the Names of the Lord and engage in devotional service to the Lord. We will then be less fearful about death and more fulfilled about life.

 From Death to Immortality

Posted by Jahnava Nitai Das | IndiaDivine.Org

What will happen to me after death? In the second chapter of Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna explains this subject to Arjuna in great detail. Arjuna was faced with a situation where, in order to uphold dharma, he had to fight and kill people who were very dear to him, his own relatives and friends. As one might expect, it caused great disturbance to Arjuna, and when he finally saw the people with whom he was going to fight, he lost all composure and began to cry. Arjuna threw down his bow and told to Lord Krishna, “na yotsya”, I shall not fight.

His anxiety and grief was based on his false identification of the body as the self. He thought the self ceases to exist when the body dies. To correct this misconception and to establish Arjuna in full knowledge of the self, Lord Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

He began by first establishing the eternality of the soul:

na jayate mriyate va kadacin nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah
ajo nityah sasvato ’yam purano  na hanyate hanyamane sarire

“For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.”

The body is simply an external covering of the soul. Being material, the body is by nature temporary, and must at some point deteriorate and die. The soul on the other hand is spiritual in nature. For it there is neithger beginning nor end. Matter and spirit are qualitatively opposite. Whereas the matter’s natural quality is that it is temporary, full of ignorance and full of suffering, the qualities of the soul are that it is eternal (sat), full of knowledge (chit) and full of bliss (ananda).

Anything that has a beginning in time will also certainly have an end. Thus the body will inevitably come to an end, but the soul, which is beginningless, will continue its existence:

jatasya hi dhruvo mrtyur dhruvam janma mrtasya ca
tasmad apariharye ’rthe na tvam socitum arhasi

“One who has taken his birth is sure to die, and after death one is sure to take birth again. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament.”

Krishna describes death in the Bhagavad Gita as being nothing more than a change of dress:

vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya navani grhnati naro ’parani
tatha sarirani vihaya jirnany anyani samyati navani dehi

“As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.”

This body is nothing but a vehicle, and the soul is the passenger. When this vehicle is no longer suitable for the soul, due to old age and decay, the soul is given a new vehicle. Thus death is simply the transition from one vehicle to the next.

dehino ’smin yatha dehe aumaram yauvanam jara
tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.”

The soul is actually covered by two bodies, one physical (sthula-sarira) and one subtle (sukshma sarira). The physical body is composed of the elements earth, water, fire, air and ether. This is what people generally think of as themselves – what they see in the mirror. The subtle body is composed of mind (manas), intelligence (buddhi) and false identification (ahankara). This subtle body stores all of the thoughts, desires, and experiences one has had, in every single life one has lived. As each new life comes, the experiences of the older lives are pushed deeper and deeper inside, thus they are forgotten. Sometimes these inner thoughts again resurface due to a dramatic occurrence or due to meditation and sadhana. In the case of a dramatic occurrence, the result is confusion, as the person cannot figure out which life is actually his. In the case of meditation, the yogi develops full conviction that he is not the body, and the lives he has experienced are not the reality.

It is the subtle body which carries the soul to his next destination at the time of death. From the time of the soul’s original embodiment in matter it has possessed the same subtle body, regardless of the external bodies it had. At death the physical body changes, but the subtle body continues with the soul. Only at the time of liberation is the subtle body finally cast off, diffused back into the cosmic elements.

What determines the body one will go to at the time of death? Krishna answers this question as follows:

yam yam vapi smaran bhavam tyajaty ante kalevaram
tam tam evaiti kaunteya sada tad-bhava-bhavitah

“Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kunti, that state he will attain without fail.”

According to our consciousness at the time of death we receive a suitable body. What we remember at the time of death is not just a matter of the momentary thought that occurs. What we have done throughout our entire life will naturally come to our mind as we leave our body. Just prior to death, our entire life is flashed before our mind’s eye in a split second. One particular event will be very attractive to us, and we will focus on that. Based on that desire we will be given our next body, sometimes higher and sometimes lower.

If our mind focuses on an activity which is very ignorant (tamo-guna), we will receive a suitable body among the lower species of life – as a plant, a fish, a tree, or an animal.

If our mind focuses on an activity which is passionate (rajo-guna), we will be given a body within the human categories of life.

If our mind focuses on an activity which is primarily within the mode of goodness (sattva-guna), we will receive a body on one of the higher planets – svarga-loka, etc.

Again I will mention that our mind will focus on an activity based on how we have lived our entire life. It is not possible to suddenly make our consciousness pure if we have spent our entire life engaging in improper activity.

The ultimate result of this transmigration from one body to the next is that we have tied one more knot in the rope of attachment which binds us to this material world. No matter what the destination, it is still not a victory. Whichever body we receive, we are still embodied – it is an artificial covering entrapping us.

Krishna describes this entire universe as duhkhalayam ashashvatam – temporary and full of suffering. No matter which body one has, these two qualities are there. But there is an alternative, a solution to this seemingly endless cycle. Krishna says:

anta-kale ca mam eva smaran muktva kalevaram
yah prayati sa mad-bhavam yati nasty atra samshayah

“And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.”

If we are able to remember Lord Krishna at the time of death, we will become free from the external covering of the body and attain His eternal abode. This sounds very simple, but again it is not such an easy thing. Death is the ultimate test we must all face. What will be our consciousness at that moment? For those who are attached to the body due to identifying the body as the self, death is the most difficult occurrence. The soul is forced out of the body, despite his attempts to remain within it. I cannot describe the tremendous pain one who is attached to the body goes through at death. But I can say it is greater than anything else one can experience in life.

For the self-realized devotee the situation is completely different. He understands he is not the body. He knows the body is just a vehicle, a machine, and as such he has no attachment to the external body. For him death is as simple as opening a door and walking through it. Every day when we go outside our house we open the door and walk out. It is not a dramatic event. It is practically a non-event. This is what the devotee experiences at the time of death. Because of his realization of the self he has no attachment or false identification with the body.

And because his consciousness is always fixed on the Lord, his destination is complete freedom from the cycle of birth and death:

mam upetya punar janma duhkhalayam asasvatam
napnuvanti mahatmanah samsiddhim paramam gatah

“After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.”

The devotee is resituated in his constitutional spiritual position, free from all external material coverings. This is mukti, or liberation – attainment of the Supreme abode of Vaikuntha:

na tad bhashayate suryo m na sashanko na pavakah
yad gatva na nivartante   tad dhama paramam mama

“That supreme abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by fire or electricity. Those who reach it never return to this material world.”

We are all part and parcel of God. Our true nature is spiritual, sacidananda svarupo ‘ham sivo ‘ham sivo ‘ham. Due to false identification with the body we are covered by illusion and forced to undergo birth and death. The soul is 10,000 times more effulgent than the sun, but the covering of ignorance is so strong that we appear to be like dead matter.

The Upanishads advise us to move from darkness to light, from the temporary to the eternal, from death to immortality.

vidyayamritam ashnute

“By cultivating spiritual knowledge one attains immortality.”

Death is not something to be feared, but something we must conquer. Excessive attachment for material things puts a man into a fearful condition of existence – bhayam dvitiyabhinivesatah syaat. Because we are attached to the material body, due to ignorance of our spiritual self, we therefore fear death. By cultivating transcendental knowledge of the self, and by advancing spiritually through practice of sadhana, we can separate attachment to the body and become fearless.

This is actually the goal of life – to move from death to immortality; Not immortality of the body, for the body is not actually alive at any time, but the realization of the soul’s eternal, blissful nature.

Such a realization is possible only by sincere practice of sadhana and devotional service to Lord Krishna. This was Krishna’s message to Arjuna, and it is His message to each and every one of us.

man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi satyam te pratijane priyo ’si me

“Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.”

Will I continue my current family relationships even after death?

As two straws float in a river, and sometimes touch and sometimes separate, so in the same way our karma causes us to form temporary relationships with other living entities in this world. These relationships are not eternal. First we must understand that the identities which we are relating to are themselves not eternal. For example, my mother is an eternal spirit soul. At present her soul is situated within the body of a woman, and I am calling her as mother. In her previous life, or in her next life, she may have the body of a man. How can I continue to relate to her as mother? That relationship which depends on the body is as temporary as the body.

But there is an eternal relationship which we have with everyone. We are all part and parcel of God, and our constitutional position is in the spiritual realm. Since we are all spirit souls, part and parcel of God, we are all eternally related. At present due to the covering of illusion we do not know what our spiritual relationships are to each other. Only when we purify our own consciousness through sadhana can we know our own real identity and the identities of others. Based on those spiritual identities we will have spiritual relationships.

From time immemorial we have been passing through many, many species of life. Naturally we have had many mothers, sometimes a spider mother, sometimes a dog mother, sometimes a human mother. By the mercy of the Lord we are given forgetfulness at the time of birth so that the attachments of our previous life are buried deep within our consciousness. These countless relationships we have passed through are all reflections of our true relationships in the spiritual realm.

Knowing that we are all spirit souls, and not the external bodily covering, we should work for the spiritual upliftment of all our family members. By reestablishing someone’s eternal spiritual relationship we are truly helping our loved ones, not just their temporary body. This is actual compassion. No one knows where compassion should be applied. Compassion for the dress of a drowning man is senseless. A man fallen in the ocean of nescience cannot be saved simply by rescuing his outward dress – the gross material body.

If you take up a daily practice of sadhana you will become free from fear. Study the Bhagavad gita to develop spiritual knowledge and take up nama-japa sadhana. By chanting the names of Krishna you will be able to cross over death:

hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

Bhutas During the Birth-Death Passage

Posted by The Editor | Feb 19, 2012 | IndiaDivine.Org 

This brief study deals with the topic of the bhutas and their expression of the homogeneity of the human being with Nature, at least in the perspective of the gross manifestation. I have used the classic terms of the Upanishadic Tradition. With quite simple changes in point of view, it would be possible to use the terminology pertaining to any other classical Philosophy. Samkhya, Puranas, tantras, among the several streams of Indian Culture. In each doctrine the description of the pancabhutas changes, but the concept of the continuum of Nature does not change. The apparent exception, the chaturbhutavada of the ancient Buddhist doctrines, has been integrated only by the fifth element in the Tibetan Tradition.

The problem here discussed is, in which manner the five elements [2] produce the human body starting from conception; where the elements originate; and, analogically, how the corpse is destroyed and where the bhutas go after death. When a jiva appears in this world, it rains down from the sky as a potentiality of being.   In this condition it leads a vegetative existence, awaiting a body. The description of the panchagnividya in both the Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya Upanisads agree on this point. [3]

Actually, it is evident that the jiva is complete in its own components, at least insomuch as it can be complete in this state of subtle latency. It does not have as yet a body which will enable it to develop a human life. The body is considered as an instrument which will be used by the real being to modify its own condition or destiny. For this reason the jiva, without the body, is obliged to lead a vegetative life. It is so, because in this world the body is the extreme limit of human manifestation.

Borrowing the terminology of the panchakosavada as displayed by the Taittiriya Upanisad, we can express the concept of limit of manifestation, pointing out that it is the last of the five envelopes worn by Atman. This envelope, called annamayakosa, is the body itself. The previously mentioned doctrine of the Taittiriya Upanisad is very useful for our purposes. When we say that jiva has not yet met its body, we mean that Atman, at its present stage, is wearing all the kosas, except the annamayakosa. In this way, maintaining the previous comparison between the panchagnividya of the Brihadaranyaka and the Chandogya Upanisads and the Taittiriya’s doctrine, we can make a connection between the jiva in the vegetative state awaiting the body, and Atman in the pranamayakosa.

It is evident that the body is the achievement of the whole individuality, which allows the actual development of life, as well as the actions, choices, and developing awareness peculiar to that being.

The absence of the body corresponds to the absence of the bhutas: the gross elements constituting the corporeity. In these terms we can infer that the jiva in the examined state  is provided with the other manifested tattvas. Then, where does the body come from? We already know that the body comprises the organic compound of the five elements. From the perspective of the Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads, the body cannot proceed from the subtle elements because they are not its direct material causes, but only causes of the bhutas. [4] The solution of this problem is found in the same doctrine of the Taittiriya Upanisad, which defines the body as being composed of food, the annamayakosa. [5] It seems as if the panchabhutas, in order to form the body, ascend nature’s ladder from the mineral, through the vegetal, to the animal realm. The description of this very delicate passage from vegetal to animal is omitted by this Upanishadic statement. How then does the food, i.e., the herbs, become a man? The Prasna Upanisad fills the gap: “Prajapati indeed is the food; from that indeed the semen comes; from that are born these beings.” [6]

There is another point of great importance: annarasamaya from the aforementioned Taittiriya quotation  can be translated not only, as is usual, the essence of food but, instead, tasting the food. If this interpretation is correct, we can once again link this argument to the panchagnividya; the rasa from this point of view indicates how apa  after its fivefold oblation to the fire, comes to be known “by the word human being”. [7]

To review all these concepts, the five elements are the origin of the herbs: the man eats the herbs  and his food “when eaten, becomes divided in three parts: that which is the grossest component becomes excreta: that which is the medium becomes flesh, and that which is the subtlest becomes mind”. [8] “That which is this semen is extracted from all the limbs as their vigor. He holds that self of his in his own self, when he sheds it into his wife, then he procreates it”. [9]

Here we take for granted two topics. The first is the philosophical argument that herbs are not the jiva itself, but only its abode. This argument is discussed extensively in the Brahmasutra Bhasyas. [10] The second one is that the same process of assimilation of the food becomes blood or ovum in the women, as well as semen in the man. This subject is discussed in detail by Ayurvedic texts. [11] These arguments are basic, but they could distract us from the primary points that the author wishes to pursue in this paper.

The body of the new being begins its development with the fusion of the seed and the ovum. “Uniting the semen and the blood, the embryo arises . . . .”; [12] “One night after the union in fertile period, arises a nodule (kalila); after seven nights it changes into a bubble (budbuda); in half a month arises the embryo (pinda) . . . “, [13] and so on. The conclusion of the same khanda is important for our subject. This is because it is stated that the prana “grows well on the food and drink received from the mother, which arrive by means of a cord, in the form of vein”. [14] It is demonstrated, at least in brahmanical thought, that the five elements which are changed successively into food, semen and ovum, constitute the first nodule, the first abode of a new jiva. From this moment the nodule begins to grow, nourished by the food eaten by the mother, that is to say by the five elements that the mother receives from outer ambience. And after his own birth as a human being – as well as other different beings – what does he do? He continues to eat, eating food or, more accurately, the five elements. This is the central reason which the gross body (sthula sarira) composed of the five elements is called annamayakosa. If one does not eat, one is no longer able to replace one’s burned or excreted components and, at last, one dies.

After death the constitutive bhutas of the corpse undergo an analogic process, but in opposite directions. The body’s components return to Nature. [15] Every individual element merges into the general external element. “. . . When the voice of the dead is merged in fire, the smell in the air, the sight in the sun, masses in the moon, hearing in the cardinal points, the body in the earth, the internal akasa in the external akasa, the hair of the body in herbs, the hair of the head in trees, the [female] blood and the [male] seed in water, where is the man?” [16] To answer this question we can state that he is no longer here. He has moved to another more subtle level of Nature, the pranamayakosa. This may take place only after having returned the panchabhutas to the gross level of Nature.

It is evident that the ancient seers of India have demonstrated and described the space-temporal continuum (sarvavapi) with scientific rigor. The bhutas, before the conception of the human being – and not only human ones, are herbs which serve as food for the man. In the last stage the gross body composed by bhutas, becomes food once again: food for the fire of the cremation pyre; or food for the earth, fertilizing the earth and provoking stimulating the growth of herbs; or food for animals; birds, fish, insects etc; becoming the constituents of their organisms.

This recalls to our mind the classical and incontestable example of the satkaryavada: the goldsmith gives to gold the form of rings, armlets and necklaces. These products differ but are identical in their Nature. [17] Gold, in fact, is the space-temporal continuum which sweeps away temporary and local differences. We can, in this way, express how it is possible to have an authentic and genuine contact among living beings. For example, I can see the flower because I have fire (tejas) in my eyes and the flower also contains the fire. The tejas of the sun assists the growth of the flower by means of the sun-rays which reach and nourish it. The flower, with his own tejas recognizes and worships the blazing sun, following with respect the sun’s movement in the sky. There is no cessation or gap for the fire between my eyes, the flower, the sun. Moreover I can listen to you because you have ether (akasa) in yourself producing your words, there is ether between us, and I have ether in my ears. There is no cessation of ether between your mouth, the space between us, and my ears. [18]

Nature is, of course, not limited to the gross manifestation. There are several increasingly more subtle levels. Using the same example employed to illustrate the continuum of ether, we can note that with the addition of a rational message to the sound of the voice, the human being is able to express his thought to the outer environment. In this way the thought is received and understood by other human beings. This is possible because there is manas in the person who speaks, manas in the listener, and manas in the space between them. No cessation of manas is between them. Nature is the universal substratum of the Cosmos, [19] and it is in this way the continuum is, and this Indian holistic doctrine of the Prakrti overlaps the concept of Natura naturata in Spino’s Philosophy

SCIENCE VIEWS AFTERLIFE

LONDON: It's a question pondered by philosophers, scientists and the devout since the dawn of time: is there an afterlife?

While the religious would argue that life on earth is a mere warm up for an eternity spent in heaven or hell, and many scientists would dismiss the concept for lack of proof — one expert claims he has definitive evidence to confirm once and for all that there is indeed life after death.

The answer, Professor Robert Lanza says, lies in quantum physics — specifically the theory of biocentrism. The scientist, from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina, says the evidence lies in the idea that the concept of death is a mere figment of our consciousness.

Professor Lanza says biocentrism explains that the universe only exists because of an individual's consciousness of it — essentially life and biology are central to reality, which in turn creates the universe; the universe itself does not create life. The same applies to the concepts of space and time, which Professor Lanza describes as "simply tools of the mind".

In a message posted on the scientist's website, he explains that with this theory in mind, the concept of death as we know it is "cannot exist in any real sense" as there are no true boundaries by which to define it. Essentially, the idea of dying is something we have long been taught to accept, but in reality it just exists in our minds.

Professor Lanza says biocentrism is similar to the idea of parallel universes — a concept hypothesized by theoretical physicists. In much the same way as everything that could possibly happen is speculated to be occurring all at once across multiple universes, he says that once we begin to question our preconceived concepts of time and consciousness, the alternatives are huge and could alter the way we think about the world in a way not seen since the 15th century's "flat earth" debate.

He goes on to use the so-called double-slit experiment as proof that the behavior   of a particle can be altered by a person's perception of it. In the experiment, when scientists watch a particle pass through a multi-holed barrier, the particle acts like a bullet travelling through a single slit. When the article is not watched, however, the particle moves through the holes like a wave.

Scientists argue that the double-slit experiment proves that particles can act as two separate entities at the same time, challenging long-established ideas of time and perception.

Although the idea is rather complicated, Professor Lanza says it can be explained far more simply using colors. Essentially, the sky may be perceived as blue, but if the cells in our brain were changed to make the sky look green, was the sky ever truly blue or was that just our perception?

In terms of how this affects life after death, Professor Lanza explains that, when we die, our life becomes a "perennial flower that returns to bloom in the multiverse". He added: "Life is an adventure that transcends our ordinary linear way of thinking. When we die, we do so not in the random billiard-ball-matrix but in the inescapable-life-matrix."

Professor Lanza's theory is explained in full in his book Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe.

Art of Living is to Master the Art of Dying

Posted by Sri Chaitanya Chandra Das | Jan 22, 2016 \IndiaDivine.Org

The last thing people would like to discuss or even think is ‘Death’. But they often don’t last till last to discuss or even think about what really death is! Man has made so much innovation in technology that with little remote control he can control satellites from thousands of miles away. Or he can put so much complexity into a small electronic chip to work wonders. But death challenges all human advancements.

It is an affront to the genius of modern human. Nobody wants to die but everybody has to die. It is beyond their control. So much research has gone into eliminating death but the wonder is no body has escaped cruel death till now even the researchers. The death rate is same everywhere i.e. 100%.

In my childhood I used to deliberate so much on death. The more I used to deliberate the more I used to get befuddled as there seemed no solution for this enigma. I used to cry at night thinking that one day I have to leave my beloved ones. How can I never be separated from them was my relentless anxiety. I used to ponder when we come in this world there are attachments growing around us. Attachment for mother, father, friends, etc. gives us boost to struggle in this world. Without attachments rarely  one can survive. But the paradox is at the time of death all attachments are abruptly severed. How ghastly! How Painful! Death means end of everything. Death means perpetual separation from loved ones, never to meet again, ever! How horrifying is the idea! Just as some dry leaves on river surface come together and with a surge of wave are separated for ever. Thinking thus I would cry whole night.

One who thinks profoundly about death cannot afford to bear attachments for anyone and anything in this world. But people don’t want to think about death rather they want to forget it so that they can cultivate attachments for their loved ones which is source of pleasure for them. Just like when we are ailing we know something is erroneous with the body and we take medication. In this world we can’t live without attachments but death severs those very same attachments brusquely and makes us suffer bitterly. Hence we can conclude that we are at wrong place. This world is not meant for gentlemen/women.

Once when Pandavas, great devotees of Lord were in exile they were extremely thirsty while nomadic in the forest. Yudhistira asked his brothers to search some lake nearby. When after long time they didn’t return he himself went in search of them. No sooner he found them near a lake in unconscious state than a supernatural voice resonated,

“Your brothers didn’t care to answer my questions before drinking water from my lake hence their current state. If you too don’t answer you will follow them.”

Yudhistir nodded solemnly.

One of the many questions asked by the supernatural voice was “What is most astonishing thing in this world?”

Yudhistira impeccably replied “One sees death everywhere around but he thinks he is an exception. This is most astonishing.”

Later after perfectly answering all other questions the brothers were resurrected back.

So the most astounding thing in the world is not the 7 wonders of the world, but the attitude that I will never die in spite of seeing death around. Everyone who dies thinks like that. Nobody likes to die.

In the Light of Scriptures

While voyaging throughout 84 lacks species of life every time we encountered death. We were in species of dog, ant, tree, snake, fish, tiger, elephant, eagle, demigod, pigeon, spider, scorpion, lion, whale, shark, bacteria…… It is thrilling!? But surely not fun. Every animal species is filled with immense angst for survival. Even the kings of jungle have to famish for weeks to catch their prey. It’s not a tranquil life.

If we deliberate deeply we can observe that for every kind of desire we have, there is facility in nature. If someone desires to fly freely in the air there is bird’s body, someone desires to swim there is aquatic body, someone desires to eat a lot there is elephant body, someone desires excess sex is given pigeon body, someone desires to sleep a lot there is polar bear body, someone likes to be naked there is tree body, someone desires to eat flesh there is tiger body and so forth. God has provided facility for accomplishing every kind of desire. You just think of it and it is there in nature. Of course we need to deserve before we desire. Now the desire for living eternal is there in everyone without exception. Nobody wants to die. So is there any facility for that in nature? Yes of course! Hence the quest for supernatural is natural. Many movies are also made portraying such a supernatural place where one doesn’t die and can live eternally happy. It is described in Bhagavad Gita 15.6

na tad bhasayate suryo na sasanko na pavakah yad gatva na nivartante tad dhama paramam mama

That supreme abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by fire or electricity. Those who reach it never return to this material world.

Death for Transcendentalists

It is explained in Vedic texts that we are not the body but spirit soul. And the body has death not the soul. So actually we don’t die rather the body does at the time of death. Good news! How relieving it is. Soul is indestructible while the body is destructible. Soul is driving force for the body. A transcendentalists  understands this fact and goes further to know the source of the soul. The original home of the soul is the kingdom of God. Somehow the soul has landed in this foreign land and is suffering like an orphan. Hence the duty of the living entity is to go back to his original home where there is eternity, bliss and complete knowledge in association of God.

It is explained that just like a cat when she hunts for rat her teeth appears like death knell to rat but for a kitten same teeth are loving embrace of mother. When death appears a materialists feels petrified. But for a transcendentalists death is God’s loving embrace, a call back home.

When two prisoners are escorted out of a jail into a van it may seem both are heading to same destination. But one is released completely from the jail because of his good bearing while the other is confined to rigorous imprisonment on account of his impish conduct. So death is same for materialists and transcendentalist but what happens after death is imperative.

So a transcendentalists practices bhakti yoga. Bhakti yoga is more powerful than death. Even death cannot check progress on this path. Best way of practicing it is by chanting God’s names ‘HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE”

One who practices sincerely and seriously will surely at time of death acquire a spiritual body which is absolutely free of any deficiency.  So death is a time to change body from an inferior one to superior one.  Hence for a transcendentalists death is time to revel!

Conclusion

Finally my crying for my loved ones came to an end. I understood if we perform Bhakti yoga and achieve perfection then we all can meet again in spiritual world never to be separated again. Srila Prabhupada, founder Acharya of ISKCON once said, “When we go back to spiritual world we will have another ISKCON there!” Path of Bhakti yoga is best welfare activity for the family members and all. Even if one performs bhakti yoga alone he can deliver his beloved ones. In the holy pages of Srimad Bhagavatam 4th canto the story of Dhruva Maharaj appears where his mother guided him to practice Yoga in forest to achieve Lord. At the culmination when Dhruva achieved perfection and was about to leave for spiritual world he asked his beloved mother also to be taken along although she didn’t practice yoga herself. So if I practice seriously enough and when time comes for soaring back to spiritual world I shall take my beloved ones along. Then we shall live happily ever after together with God in the kingdom of God!!! “Happily ever after”

German Scientists Prove There is Life after Death

Berlin | A team of psychologists and medical doctors associated with the Technische Universität of Berlin, have announced that they had proven by clinical experimentation, the existence of some form of life after death. This astonishing announcement is based on the conclusions of a study using a new type of medically supervised near-death experiences that allow patients to be clinically dead for almost 20 minutes before being brought back to life.

This controversial process that was repeated on 944 volunteers over that last four years, necessitates a complex mixture of drugs including epinephrine and dimethyltryptamine, destined to allow the body to survive the state of clinical death and the reanimation process without damage. The body of the subject was then put into a temporary coma   state induced by a mixture of other drugs which had to be filtered by ozone from his blood during the reanimation process 18 minutes later.

The extremely long duration of the experience was only recently made possible by the development of a new cardiopulmonary recitation (CPR) machine called the Auto Pulse. This type of equipment has already been used over the last few years, to reanimate people who had been dead for somewhere between 40 minutes to an hour.

Near-death experiences have been hypothesized in various medical journals in the past, as having the characteristics of hallucinations, but Dr. Ackermann and his team, on the contrary, consider them as evidence for the existence of the afterlife and of a form of dualism between mind and body.

The team of scientists led by Dr. Berthold Ackermann, has monitored the operations and have compiled the testimonies of the subjects. Although there are some slight variations from one individual to another, all of the subjects have some memories of their period of clinical death and a vast majority of them described some very similar sensations.

Most common memories include a feeling of detachment from the body, feelings of levitation, total serenity, security, warmth, the experience of absolute dissolution, and the presence of an overwhelming light.

The scientists say that they are well aware the many of their conclusions could shock a lot of people, like the fact that the religious beliefs of the various subjects seems to have held no incidence at all, on the sensations and experiences that they described at the end of the experiment. Indeed, the volunteers counted in their ranks some members are a variety of Christian churches, Muslims, Jews, Hindus and atheists.

“I know our results could disturb the beliefs of many people” says Mr. Ackermann. “But in a way, we have just answered one of the greatest questions in the history of mankind, so I hope these people will be able to forgive us. Yes, there is life after death and it looks like this applies to everyone.”

ALL RELIGIONS ARE NOT THE SAME ON VIEWS OF DEATH AND LIFE AFTER

 (E -Mail sent to HR Participants in February 2019)

 Katha Upanishad, Nachiketa considered within himself, and said:  When a man dies there is the doubt: some say he is; others say, he is not! Very few religions say he is on his journey and on his up-hill task; often he comes back disappointed and restarts his journey but there is always hope to reach the summit; but all other religions  say he is not and are also not sure where and how he has ended his journey.    Those who continue the journey can be in union with God and be immortal. The secret of Immortality is to be found in purification of the heart, in meditation, in realization of the identity of the Self within and Brahman without.  But others say: “All human beings (and no other living beings) shall die and be resurrected on the date of Last Judgment, and the Creator who is outside the Cosmos shall visit these resurrected souls and allot them into the eternal bondage of either heaven or hell.  There is no chance for their return and reschedule the journey.

WESCHATOLOGY (Theory of Death)

This story from Kaṭha Upanishad is a broad explanation of how Hinduism views death. This gives a complete exposition of how a man decides his own course, as beautifully explained in the Bhagvad Gita:

‘uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ nātmānam avasādayet |  ātmaiva hyātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ’ (Bhagvad Gita 6:5)

Elevate yourself through the power of your mind, and not degrade yourself, for the mind can be the friend and also the enemy of the Self.

The word Atma here denotes body-mind-soul complex. In the Yoga system, the mind and the conditioned soul are especially important.  The purpose of the Yoga system is to control the mind and to draw it away from attachment to sense objects. The mind must be so trained that it can deliver the conditioned soul from the mire of nescience. In material existence one is subjected to the influence of the mind and the senses. In fact, the pure soul is entangled in the material world because the mind’s ego which desires to rule it over material nature. Therefore, the mind should be trained so that it will not be attracted by the glitter of material nature, and in this way the conditioned soul may be saved. One should not degrade oneself by attraction to sense objects. The more one is attracted by sense objects, the more one becomes entangled in material existence.  It is also said:

Mana eva manushyaanaam kaaranam bandha mokshayoh | bandhaaya vishayaasango muktyai nirvishayam manah ||

For man, mind is the cause of bondage and mind is the cause of liberation. Mind absorbed in sense objects is the cause of bondage, and mind detached from the sense objects is the cause for Liberation. Therefore the mind that is always engaged in Supreme Consciousness is the cause of supreme liberation.  

“Goal of Hindu and yogic thought is Moksha, which is not simply going to a heavenly world, but the liberation of our inner consciousness from time, space and karma, taking us beyond all need for rebirth in the realm of Samsara. Your true nature is the boundless light of pure consciousness beyond body and mind, which are but your outer instruments” says David Frawley.

“Vājashravasa, desiring a gift from the gods, started an offering to donate all his possession that is called as ‘ SARVA DAKSHINA’. But Nachiketā, his son, noticed that Vājashravasa was donating only the cows that were old, barren, blind, or lame; not such as might buy the worshiper a place in heaven. Nachiketā wanting the best for his father’s rite, asked: “I too am yours, to which god will you offer me?” After being pestered thus, Vājashravasa answered in a fit of anger, “I give you to Death (Yama)”.

So Nachiketā went to Death’s home, but the god was out, and he waited three days without any food or water. When Yama returned, he was sorry to see that a Brahmin guest had been waiting so long without food and water.  In Indian culture guests are believed to be equal to god and causing trouble to god is a great sin. To compensate his mistake, Yama told Nachiketā, “You have waited in my house for three days without hospitality, therefore ask three boons from me”. Nachiketā first asked for peace for his father and himself. Yama agreed. Next, Nachiketā wished to learn the sacred fire sacrifice, which also Yama elaborated. For his third boon, Nachiketā wanted to learn the mystery of what comes after death.

Yama was reluctant on this question. He said that this had been a mystery even to the gods. He asked Nachiketā to ask for some other boon, and offered many material gains.

But Nachiketā replied that material things will last only till tomorrow. He who has encountered Death personally, how can he desire wealth? No other boon would do. Yama was secretly pleased with this disciple, and elaborated on the nature of the true Self, which persists beyond death. The key of the realization is that this Self is inseparable from Brahman, the supreme spirit, the vital force in the universe. Yama’s explanation is a succinct explication of Hindu darshana, and focuses on the following points:

The sound Om! is the syllabus of the supreme Brahman;The Atma, whose symbol is Om is the same as the omnipresent Brahman. Smaller than the smallest and larger than the largest, the Soul is formless and all pervading;The goal of the wise is to know this Ātmā; The Ātmā is like a rider; the horses are the senses, which he guides through the maze of desires; After death, it is the Ātmā that remains; the Atman is immortal; Mere reading of the scriptures or intellectual learning cannot realize Ātmā; One must discriminate the Ātmā from the body, which is the seat of desire; Inability to realize Brahman results in one being enmeshed in the cycle of rebirths. Understanding the Self leads to moksha, or liberation--Thus having learned the wisdom of the Brahman from Yama, Nachiketā was freed from the cycle of births.

 It is for good reason that this story is often considered to be the essence of Upanishadic wisdom. Death ought to liberate a human being and make him become One with the Truth.  Parā Vidyā, or knowledge of the transcendent, obliterates the line between Purusha and Prakriti and death facilitates this obliteration of identities, as in Sāṃkhya; or as Samādhi in Yoga.

Death in the Abrahamic Religions is the route to an eternal bondage, as opposed to liberation. In keeping with the concept of linear/super-linear Time, and 2-valued binary Logic, concept of   earlier reincarnation is replaced by resurrection. All human beings (and no other living beings) shall die and be resurrected on the date of Last Judgment, and the Creator who is outside the Cosmos shall visit these resurrected souls and give them into the eternal bondage of either heaven or hell. This is also a state of inequity, as a person hardly has the opportunity to correct his mistakes. The Book rewards or punishes a man not necessarily for his freely willed actions, but for his beliefs. Creationism and Determinism are close allies. In some extreme cases like Al-Ghazali, the Time is metaphysically broken from instant to instant so that Allah is busy producing events every instant, and destroying them the next instant. This is the ultimate in Determinism. The binary of consciousness vs. reason; and necessity vs. free will dictate everything. God/Allah/Yahveh does not care for your freely willed action, or reasoned choices. If you have followed the Word, and done right by the Diktat, you get an eternal reward — which is in the form of an eternal bondage to pleasure or pain. So the death in the Abrahamic Religions happens because:

1. There is only one life; 2. Death is the route to eternal heaven and hell; 3. Heaven and hell is a reward of loyalty; 4. A believer alone has the right to heaven; 5. A non-believer is mandated to go to hell; 6. Upon death, the body and soul rests in peace (RIP) till the Last Judgment Day; 7. Everyone is resurrected on the Last Judgment Day; 8. Their accounts of piety and sin are read out and they are sent to heaven and hell; 9. The world ends and God remains in his abode; while everyone else remains bound to his heaven and hell eternally.

One need not be too well versed in science to realize that this is the natural outcome of Time in a straight line, a 2-valued binary Logic, and the finality of the Word of the Book.” Says Sanjay Dixit.

In this confused and disturbed world fighting and killing in the name of religion some Wise are trying to convince  us    ‘All religions are the same’.  Kathophanishad and Gita say  “it is totally wrong” as seen above as Religions either partly reflect  Sanatana Dharma or moved away from it including Hinduism.