Life and Death: An Enigma
What happens to our soul when we die If one dies unfulfilled, what happens to the soul ?
Life and Death are the Obverse and Reverse of the same coin. There is no Life without Death;-neither is there Death without Life. Perhaps, understanding this will lead to a better grasp about what life is all about. The physical or gross body is called sthula shariram (Physical). Our limited self, the subtle body, is called sukshma shariram (Astral). Sthula shariram (Physical) is the abode of jivatma, the spirit of life. It is not the body, but it gets identified with the body. The soul, along with the mind, is the seat of consciousness. The body is only a vehicle, and when it is consigned to flames after physical death, the soul is set free. Then it searches for another body that will be its vehicle for another lifetime. At the end of this search, depending upon its karma in life till then, it is assigned to a particular body. The soul begins life a new in that body.
In reality, the soul is immortal. The space in a room appears limited by the room. Is the space enclosed within the four walls of the room or is the room a small enclosure in the vast unlimited space in the universe. The room is a tiny speck in space. But we say there is space in the room. Think of the jivatma as space and of the body as the walls of the room that encloses part of the space. If the walls of the room crumble, will the space previously contained here suffer any damage or dissolution No, the space returns to its state of continuity which it had earlier with the space outside the walls. Once we realise this, we know that physical death means the release of our immortal soul from the confines of our mortal body. This realisation is gnanodayam, the dawn of knowledge.
Doesn’t the cycle of birth, death and rebirth negate the law of karma ?
No, it means that the soul is on an unending journey of evolution. The question is whether you want to hasten this process, or you want to allow this process to happen at its own pace. For example, if you are into agriculture, you pump water into your fields when there is no rain for a long period. The water accelerates crop growth which would otherwise be slowed down by delayed rains. Irrigation technology speeds up the agricultural process. Likewise, there are spiritual methods to enlighten the process of birth and rebirth.
Isn’t time a concept applicable only to the physical world?
When you are conscious of the soul’s essential transcendence of physical dimensions, you are beyond the confines of time. But if you don’t have this awareness if you are operating from ignorance you are subject to time, even though you have the potential to transcend it. We know that space is not limited by the walls of a room.
But space, not being conscious, is incapable of extending itself to its vast expanse outside until an external agency brings the walls down. It stays confined within concrete boundaries. It is the same with us. Physical time is incapable of liberating our soul. But knowledge has liberating power. The liberation that heightened consciousness leads to is called jivan mukti, liberation from biological life. If we remain ignorant of our true nature, we remain in bondage to our body nature with its trappings of kama sexual desire, krodha-anger, lobha-non-restraint and moha-greed. True knowledge liberates whereas ignorance binds.
There are Eight layers of Life circles:- these are Physical, Astral, Causal, Super-Causal, Cosmic, Super-Cosmic, Nameless and at last Absolute.
What happens to our soul when we die If one dies unfulfilled, what happens to the soul ?
Life and Death are the Obverse and Reverse of the same coin. There is no Life without Death;-neither is there Death without Life. Perhaps, understanding this will lead to a better grasp about what life is all about. The physical or gross body is called sthula shariram (Physical). Our limited self, the subtle body, is called sukshma shariram (Astral). Sthula shariram (Physical) is the abode of jivatma, the spirit of life. It is not the body, but it gets identified with the body. The soul, along with the mind, is the seat of consciousness. The body is only a vehicle, and when it is consigned to flames after physical death, the soul is set free. Then it searches for another body that will be its vehicle for another lifetime. At the end of this search, depending upon its karma in life till then, it is assigned to a particular body. The soul begins life a new in that body.
In reality, the soul is immortal. The space in a room appears limited by the room. Is the space enclosed within the four walls of the room or is the room a small enclosure in the vast unlimited space in the universe. The room is a tiny speck in space. But we say there is space in the room. Think of the jivatma as space and of the body as the walls of the room that encloses part of the space. If the walls of the room crumble, will the space previously contained here suffer any damage or dissolution No, the space returns to its state of continuity which it had earlier with the space outside the walls. Once we realise this, we know that physical death means the release of our immortal soul from the confines of our mortal body. This realisation is gnanodayam, the dawn of knowledge.
Doesn’t the cycle of birth, death and rebirth negate the law of karma ?
No, it means that the soul is on an unending journey of evolution. The question is whether you want to hasten this process, or you want to allow this process to happen at its own pace. For example, if you are into agriculture, you pump water into your fields when there is no rain for a long period. The water accelerates crop growth which would otherwise be slowed down by delayed rains. Irrigation technology speeds up the agricultural process. Likewise, there are spiritual methods to enlighten the process of birth and rebirth.
Isn’t time a concept applicable only to the physical world?
When you are conscious of the soul’s essential transcendence of physical dimensions, you are beyond the confines of time. But if you don’t have this awareness if you are operating from ignorance you are subject to time, even though you have the potential to transcend it. We know that space is not limited by the walls of a room.
But space, not being conscious, is incapable of extending itself to its vast expanse outside until an external agency brings the walls down. It stays confined within concrete boundaries. It is the same with us. Physical time is incapable of liberating our soul. But knowledge has liberating power. The liberation that heightened consciousness leads to is called jivan mukti, liberation from biological life. If we remain ignorant of our true nature, we remain in bondage to our body nature with its trappings of kama sexual desire, krodha-anger, lobha-non-restraint and moha-greed. True knowledge liberates whereas ignorance binds.
There are Eight layers of Life circles:- these are Physical, Astral, Causal, Super-Causal, Cosmic, Super-Cosmic, Nameless and at last Absolute.
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