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Life after Death
By Nani Ma
Trustee
Shradha Cancer Care Trust
Spiritual Advisor
Ganga Prem Hospice
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| Nani Ma |
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When we look at what we call
a dead body, it doesnt look as if there
is something called, life after death.
The body doesnt move. It doesnt speak,
it doesnt laugh or cry. It doesnt
even breathe. We have to dispose of it just like
any other machine which doesnt work anymore.
If we dont dispose of it right away, it
will start to decompose, to disintegrate because
the material of which it is made deteriorates
quickly.
Facing death with the
help of understanding
The body that seemed alive just minutes ago is
dead now and we have started to weep, because
our loved one will not be with us anymore. Bhagavan
Sri Ramji spoke to Tara when her husband lay dead
on the ground and she was beside herself with
grief. (Adhyatma Ramayana:
Kishkinda Kanda, ch. 3) He asked her to
think carefully and tell him whether she was grieving
for the body that lay in front of her or for the
Atma, the Soul that had inhabited it. He said
that if she was grieving for the body, which was
made up of the 5 elements in the shape of flesh,
bones and blood and that had taken form according
to time, action and the modes of nature, then
that body still lay before her and so there was
no need to grieve. If on the other hand she was
grieving for the Atma, which had lived in the
body then also she should not grieve as that Atma
is all-pervading and changeless. It is neither
born nor dies, is neither man nor woman. It is
one-without-a-second and cannot be affected by
anything. It is eternal, pure knowledge and infinite.
Bhagavan Sri Ramji was referring to the Hindu
belief that in an individual, the eternal Atma
or Soul is enveloped within 3 bodies; a gross
or physical body which is made up of the 5 gross
elements and has a form with arms, legs, a trunk
and many internal fleshy organs; a subtle body
which is made up of subtle elements and consists
of the sense organs, the 5 pranas or life breath
and the mind or thinking faculty along with the
emotions; and a causal body which is made up of
ignorance. The causal body covers the Atma and
hides it from our vision and understanding while
the subtle and gross bodies project a personality
into a universe which is similarly projected by
the mysterious power known as Prakriti or nature
of the original Being.
When we say someone is dying, what we actually
mean is that the gross body has, for some reason,
become unfit for habitation by the soul. Perhaps
some of the bodys essential parts have been
irreparably damaged by an accident. Perhaps it
has developed an incurable, progressive disease
or perhaps it had just become old and worn out.
When this happens the Atma leaves the physical
body taking with it the subtle and causal bodies.
In the Srimad Bhagavad Gita
(ch.15, v.7-11), Bhagavan Sri Krishnaji
describes this subtle process as being akin to
the wind taking the sweet smell from a flower
and carrying it away. He describes how the ignorant
person cannot see the Atma which presides over
the body and uses the sense organs and mind to
enjoy gross and subtle sense objects. The ignorant
person sees the body functioning and not the power
within, much as we may see a machine working and
forget the electricity which is responsible for
its functioning.
This ignorance leads to great distress when the
living consciousness that is the Soul suddenly
leaves, taking with it the subtle personality
and leaving behind only a corpse. It is confusing
and distressing for all of us but not for the
wise who, as Lord Krishna says, perceive the Atma
as it lives within and later leaves the body.
Tara replied, Then
if the body is only an inert substance and the
Atma is eternal consciousness, who is it who suffers
or enjoys?
Bhagavan Sri Ramji replied,
As long as there is
the feeling of I and mine
towards the body and sense organs, as long as
the jiva atma or individual soul lacks discrimination
between Spirit/ Atma and matter/ bodies, so it
will be connected to this material universe full
of the sorrows and enjoyments involved in sensory
experience
Because the jiva atma identifies
itself with the mind it becomes affected by the
sorrows and joys which actually belong to the
insentient mind
When one comes to know,
from ones own experience, ones true
Self as the non dual Existence, Knowledge and
Bliss and that the Atma is separate from the body,
sense organs, mind and ego then one will be free
The sorrows of the world will not be able to touch
one.
Facing death, losing our loved ones and fear
of our own death, is the greatest sorrow that
we can experience on this Earth. Death follows
us like a dark shadow throughout life and to escape
it many people resort to the very immature method
of ignoring its existence. However this method
doesnt work for long because death is present
with us daily and each and everyone us has at
some time to face the loss of our loved ones and
finally to face our own inevitable death. Hinduism
offers 2 main ways of overcoming the sorrow involved
in the death experience:
One is the acquirement of knowledge such as Bhagavan
Sri Ramji taught Tara in the Ramayana or as Bhagavan
Sri Krishnaji taught Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita.
It is the knowledge that the Atma or Soul is always
separate from the body, knowledge that there is
life after death because life, the
Atma, is present before, during and after its
transitory habitation of this ephemeral body.
Beings are not manifest at the beginning.
They are manifest in the middle, O descendent
of Bharat, and (again) they are not manifest at
the end, what is there to wail about? (Bhagavad
Gita ch.2, v.28). The death transition
is in fact just like changing ones clothes
when they wear out. Just
as a person discards old clothes and takes new
ones so the embodied soul discards worn out bodies
and goes to other new ones. (Bhagavad Gita
ch.2 v.22) This knowledge of the Atma is
at first an intellectual understanding based on
logical reasoning but when perfected through spiritual
practice it becomes experiential knowledge capable
of liberating one from all sorrow.
Life after death could mean return to ones
own true form. However, if at the time of death,
there is continued desire for more physical and
emotional enjoyment, the jiva atma will take the
subtle and causal bodies and move into another
body which is suitable to the personality and
desires of the individual and to the activities
which he previously performed in order to satiate
those desires.
Facing death with the
help of devotion
In Hinduism, otherwise known as Sanatana Dharma
(the eternal religion), the other principal method
to overcome the sorrow connected to both life
and death is devotion, or surrender to the Higher
Power. Belief in a Supreme Being that knows better
than we do is an integral part of the Hindu faith.
Belief that Bhagavan or God knows best and does
the best for us brings great solace to those devotees
who choose this path. For those who worship God
with form, there is the reassurance that devotion
and surrender to that form leads, after death,
to an Eternal Abode where the Deity resides. Sri
Krishna Bhagavan says, Fix
your mind in Me, be devoted to Me, worship Me
and bow to Me. You will come to Me, I truly promise
you. You are dear to Me. (Bhagavad Gita
ch.18, v.65)
The acme of this devotional path is when the
devotee can completely submerge his mind and intellect
in the Deity to the extent that he has no separate
will of his own but is satisfied with whatever
his Lord gives him. If the devotee is able to
fully surrender and worship Bhagavan constantly
it is believed that he will attain Bhagavan. Sanatana
Dharma teaches that whatever a person thinks of
at the time of death, that is what he will become.
These last thoughts are believed to be formed
by the habits of a persons lifetime.
Whatever one remembers at the time of leaving
the body, O Kaunteya, one will reach that, as
one has always been influenced by that. Therefore,
remember Me at all times and fight (do your duty).
Having your mind and intellect surrendered to
Me, you will come to Me without a doubt.
(Bhagavad Gita ch.8, v.6-7)
This belief also means that if one has not been
able to keep ones mind and intellect on
the Higher Power throughout ones life and
therefore is not able to remember Him at the last
time one will take birth again in other forms
according to ones desires, tendencies and
actions. Some souls
enter the womb for acquiring new bodies and others
enter immovable life (trees etc) in accordance
with their actions and their knowledge. (Katha
Upanishad, 2.2.7.) This does not mean to
say that if we have not been able to achieve the
goal of our practice in this life that all practice
was in vain as Sri Krishna promises, (One
who has striven for realisation of the Truth)
will not be lost either in this life or the next.
O dear friend, one who has done virtuous deeds
will not go to a bad state of existence
There
(in another life), O Scion of the Kurus, he will
regain the understanding of his last life and
he will work again for perfection. (Bhagavad
Gita ch.6, v.40-43) The different possibilities
of reincarnations are described in all the Hindu
scriptures and range from births in heaven, through
births in both movable and immovable forms, to
births in the nether worlds and the various hells.
The role of the mind
in relationship with life
after death
What is clear from all the scriptures is the importance
given to the role of the mind in relationship
to life after death. It is the mind that governs
our happiness and sorrow in this life and also
it is the mind, with its latent desires, that
can take us to liberation from worldly existence
or throws us back into the whirlpool of samsara
(the endless coming and going into different bodies).
Life after death is very much an integral part
of the Hindu faith and so also is the belief that
the life we will have in the future is up to us.
By controlling our desires and actions we can
in fact control our future lives. If we wish for
cessation of the pain of repeated worldly life
and death, then we have to follow one of the paths
outlined in the scriptures. All of these paths
basically consist in attuning our minds to concepts
which take us beyond the limited confines of our
body-mind complex and the obsessive desires generated
by it. When all the
desires contained in his heart cease to exist
then a mortal becomes immortal and he attains
Brahman (Atma) here. (Katha Upanishad 2.3.14.)
Like the visible tip of an iceberg, our physical
and mental bodies are only the outward indication
of something much bigger, something described
in the scriptures as an infinite and eternal Being
which is our own true form.
The spiritual practices of the Hindu faith, particularly
meditation, are designed so that we ourselves
can experience an existence beyond the body and
mind. First hand experience of our own unlimited
reality will remove all doubts as to the actual
nature of our Being. The
knot of the heart is undone, all doubts are destroyed,
all action is finished when that Totality (Brahman)
is seen. (Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.8)
With experience of ourselves as other than the
body and mind, it will not be difficult to understand
that the death of the body is only a superficial
transition which does not affect the deeper parts
of our existence. Until such time as we are able
to experience the Divine ourselves, the scriptures
advise faith in the words of those who have had
that experience. Other
people, although not knowing in this way (the
difference between Spirit and matter), worship
on hearing from others. They also cross over death,
being engaged in listening. (Bhagavad Gita
ch.13, v.25) Direct knowledge of, or faith
in the Higher Truth brings the Hindu peace and
acceptance in the face of lifes greatest
problem, the problem of facing death and what
lies beyond.
Excerpts from the Kathopanishad
(the conversation between
Naciketa and Death)
Kathopanishad is an ancient
scripture in which a young boy goes to the land
of Death. Death grants the boy three boons and
as the third boon the young boy, Naciketa, asks
Death to explain to him the secrets of death and
immortality.
Naciketa said,
This doubt that arises on the death of a man,
some saying It exists, and others
saying It does not exist. Instructed
by you I would know this. (1.1.21)
Death said,
No mortal lives by prana or apana (ingoing and
outgoing breath) but all live by something else
on which both of these depend. (2.2.5)
O Naciketa, I shall tell you of this secret, eternal
Brahman and also how the Self fares after death.
(2.2.6)
Some souls enter the womb for acquiring a body
and others assume plant form, in accordance with
their work and in conformity with their knowledge.
(2.2.7.)
The Self is this which keeps awake and goes on
creating desirable things even when the senses
fall asleep. That is pure; that is Brahman, that
is, indeed, called immortal. All the worlds are
fixed on that; none can transcend it. This indeed
is that. (2.2.8)
Just as air, though one, having entered into
this world, assumes separate forms in respect
of different shapes, similarly, the one Self inside
all beings assumes various forms in respect of
each shape; and (yet) it is outside. (2.2.10)
Just as the sun, which is the eye of the whole
world, is not tainted by the ocular and external
defects, similarly, the Self, that is one in all
beings, is not tainted by the sorrows of the world.
It is transcendental. (2.2.11)
There the sun does not shine, neither do the
moon and the stars; nor do these flashes of lightning
shine there. How can this fire shine? Everything
shines after that self effulgent one. By its light
all this shines. (2.2.15)
Its form does not exist within the range of vision;
nobody sees it with the eye. When this Self is
revealed through deliberation, it is realised
by the intellect, the ruler of the mind, that
resides in the heart. Those who know this become
immortal. (2.3.10)
When all desires clinging to ones heart
fall off, then a mortal becomes immortal (and
he) attains Brahman here. (2.3.14)
When all the knots of the heart are destroyed,
even while a man is alive, then a mortal becomes
immortal. This much alone is the instruction.
(2.3.15)
The Purusha, the indwelling Self, of the size
of a thumb, is ever seated in the hearts of men.
One should unerringly separate it from ones
body like a stalk from the muñja grass.
That one should know as pure and immortal. That
one should know as pure and immortal. (2.3.17)
To read more about spiritual care at Ganga Prem
Hospice
please go to Spiritual
Care.
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