LIFE AFTER DEATH

By

Achala Bhakthan

We have heard about this concept of Life after Death from many eminent scholars and our Sastras speak about this.  Have we ever enquired about the validity of this statement?  Have we enquired about what it refers to? Death means “end of life”.  This means, there m..\index.htmust be a “birth”, i.e. beginning of “life”.  Further we have to agree that if there is birth, there is death.  Thus, birth and death are like two sides of a coin.  If one is not there, the other is also not there.  Does it not show that it is a relative term, one related to the other?  The statement: “LIFE AFTER DEATH” carries the answer, i.e. after death = life and after life = death.  They are inter-connected and inter-related.  The statement itself is having the answer in it.  What is there to disuss this further?

When the life in a living organism comes to an end, it is said to be dead. The absence of one is said ro be the other. Therefore, Life is real and death is unreal, since lifelessness is death and there is no separate status as death.  Just as Light and Darkness.  If there is no light, it is said ro be dark.  Is “DARK” the existence or “LIGHT” is the existence?  When Sunlight comes, there is life or activity.  When Sun sets, the light is gone and then we call that state as darkness.  So, Sunlight is real and darkness is unreal.   When the life ends, the state after that is known as Death.  This becomes easy for us since we have now to enquire only about Life. What is Life?  Life is consciousness, which is real and the absence of Consciousness is called Death.  During life, awarness dawns.  Life and Death are predicates and they need a subject. According to grammer, any predicate should have a subject. So far we have spoken about a phenomenon without a subject.      Therefore, this point refers to someone or something, which goes through this process, and unless we add a subject, this statement has no meaning.  Let us enquire: 

Whose death?  Whose existene?  Are we clear?  Some one may say it relates to Atma or Soul.  What is this phenomenon called Atma or Soul? The answer may be “the living entity called Jeevatma”.  Still, to me it is not clear.  Who is the living entity?  The Body, Mind, Intellect, Prana or Ego or all taken together is referred to as Jeevvathma?  Have we analysed this concept of Jeevatma? Does it relate to the Body,Mind and Intellect (BMI)? Cannot be because these three function only during consciousness.  That means Consciousness is not these three and Consciousness gives life to BMI, which function with the help of this energy.  BMI are only instruments, which reflect the consciousness justa as the Electricity which reflects through the bulk and other electrical instruments.  This leads us to the quesrion of Prana.  What is Prana?  Prana is that element. which enables the BMI to draw the consciousness and function.  This Prana is the air that every living organ inhales and exhales. Thus, Prana is also secondary to Consciousness.  Therefore, we have to enquire about the Ego.  What is Ego?  Ego is nothing but the ownership feeling of all the activities of BMI. This ownership feeling is called the Jeevaatma.  This Jeevatma also is secondary to Consciousness since it also disappears when the Consciousness is absent.  Thus, BMI, Prana and Ego are all secondary to Consciousness.  If so, can we conclude that Consciousness is the subject?  Logically speaking Consciousness, being independent and primary, should be the subject. A Primary thing is the basis and is real, upon which everything depends.  Therefore we can reasonably conclude that Consciousness is the subject or substratum.  Consciousness, being the subject, it is the source of life to the BMI, Prana and Ego.  The source is, therefore, real and endless.  If Consciousness is the base, the substratum, it should be ever permanent and does not have a beginning or an end.  We call this Consciousness as God, Paramatma, who is ever existing, who has no birth and death.  He is the substratum of Life.  If so, birth and death relate to whom?  It should relate to the one, which is impermanent, since this Birth and Death are relative and impermanent.  BMI are the instruments and Prana is the mediator, which enables these instruments to draw the energy from Consciousness.  Hence, it should necessarily be the Ego, which is the ownership feeling of all actions of BMI, as said earlier. Thus, Birth and Death relate to EGO, which is otherwise called Jeevatma.  When Ego ends, it is the death of Jeevatma.

Now when the Prana stops to function, the BMI beome lifeless and inactive..  When BMI does not function, there is no thought, no feeling, no action, no reaction and nothing to own.  Therefore, EGO becomes non-existent.  This is called Death because the Life is absent. What happens to Ego?  The feeling of I-ness is lost because the BMI have become inert.  Our Sastras proclaim: “Be Egoless and realise the Reality (Ultimate)”. This means we can attain Realisation only when the Ego is absent.  Being Egoless is our aim and hence Egolessness called death relates to Ego and it should be a welcome phenomenon.  Ego ends not only on physical death but even while living.  That is what our sastras tell us.  When you go into Samadhi (deep and long meditation) there is no Ego but Body and Prana are existent and Mind and Intellect are subdued. Thus, death occurs even during life, I mean death of Ego while Life exists.  To understand this, let us take an example from our own life.  When we go to deep sleep (without dreams), what happens?  Are we aware of anything happening around us or inside of us?  Here we are not conscious of or we are not aware of things happening then because the Ego is absent, but temporarily.  On waking up, Ego arises again and we understand that we were asleep.  Who tells us that we were asleep if Ego was absent.  Sure, it is not the Ego which tells us but the Consciousness was present during sleep which enables us to underastand what happened before we woke up.  Thus, can we not conclude that we are dyeing every day and taking birth every day, as this birth and death relates to Ego?  The difference in Deep Sleep and Samadhi is that in Samadhi it is the longevity compared to Deep Sleep.  In deep sleep, we are not aware of anything, nor are we with the Consciousness – ignorance prevails.  But in Samadhi, we do not lose awareness, which expands fully and we are in full awareness - one with the Consciousness.  In both states, Ego is absent.  This shows, the death and birth is related to the Ego.  Once Ego ends, we are one with the Conciousness, the subjext.

The moment we say Death, we relate it to the loss of Prana and inactive BMI.  What I am trying to prove is that the phenomenon death relates to Ego, and it is possible even during Life time.  Hence, what is after death is life and what is after life is death, since this relates to Ego and ego has beginning and end.  With the loss of BMI and Prana, Ego ends but it has to appear again when the Vasanaas (rudimentary unfulfilled desires of past life) reappear in another BMI.  Thus, Life is followed by death and after death again life, both relate to EGO, Jeevaatma.  The Paramatma, Consiousness, does not get affected with these changes.  Some one may question that what we mean is what happens after physical death.  

• On physical death, the Prana escapes through any of the nine openings in our body or through the Sushumna Nadi for Yogis and becomes one with the Universal Conssciousness.  It has no separate entity.  The Vaasanaas are like beejam, the seed, which still exists after even physical death, which gets enveloped by another BMI depending on the type of desires that remain to be fulfilled in the past life.  Thus, Birth and Death is an unending cycle for unrealized Jeevatmas.  Once Realisation dawns, then this cyle of death and birth ends.  That is called Moksham.  A desireless, unattached Yogi, who exists one with the Consiousness, alone attains this state at even physical existence.  Some one may doubt as to how the vaasanaas can exist when the life is gone.  They have subtle body, which cannot be seen to the naked eyes, just as bacteria and many living organs in the air. Our Sastras explain that after physical death, Jeevaatma goes to various lokhas like Swarga, Naraka, Pathala, Yama loka, Vishnu Loka, Shiva Loka etc.  These are showing the status of the Vaasanaas.  I am not having the knowledge to agree or to disagree on the question as to whether such lokhas exist. To me, they are a way of explaining the type of modification these vaasanaas will go through before reappearing. To me it seems EGO has no existence without BMI and Prana and it appears in every BMI which function with Prana.  We have seen that the birth and death relates to the Ego.  But this Ego has no separatre entity and cannot be said that a particular Ego takes birth or dyes.  Ego appears when BMI & Prana come into existence and Ego ends when they disappear or on attaining Realisation of the Truth – become one with the Consciousness. 

In conclusion, there is life after death and death after life in so far as Ego or Jeevaatma is concerned.  There are no such phenomena for the subject “Consciousness” which is ever permanent, unrelated, unchanging, substratum. 

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