Mysteries of Death, Fate, Karma and Rebirth

III

WHERE DOES THE "JIVA" GO AFTER DEATH?

After exiting from the physical body at death, the departing "jiva" does not understand for some time where he actually is. He goes on moving about in a state of confusion; he wonders if he is really dead or is still alive. This is especially so if he has had to quit his body suddenly, passing all his apprehension. And there is no end to his troubles if he has foolishly ended his life through an act of suicide, while in a state of intense emotion or passion. Many departed "jivas" linger for a short or a long period of time in a state of half sleep and half wakefulness. Some of them may hover near their just-dead bodies for some time in their subtle vital bodies. And, for this reason, it is not advisable to cremate a body very soon after it has become clinically nonfunctional.

In olden times people used to recite sacred mantras or adopt some other occult rituals in order to hasten the separation of the subtle body from the 'dead' gross physical body. Even after this separation the vital being of the dead person may continue for some days to move around his accustomed room or house or the place of his work. And this period may be indefinitely lengthened if the bereaved relatives left behind indulge in sorrowful weeping or try to keep the departed person tied to them with strong bonds of attachment.

However, sooner or later a time comes when this link of bondage snaps and the 'dead' man begins his journey proper in the other worlds. The very first region he enters into is an unpleasant one which the Mother has named "domaine de la Mort", "the domain of death". This region lies on the border between the subtle physical plane and the lower vital world. The Mother has spoken extensively about this "Death-domain" in two of her evening conversations, those of March 10, 1954 and December 29,1954. Readers are advised to go through the relevant portions of these two conversations as recorded in her Questions and Answers 1954. We

Page 76

content ourselves with quoting here two short passages from these conversations.

"...once one has left his body, whether he is conscious or unconscious,... one always goes out into the same domain to begin with - unless one is a yogi who can do what he likes with himself.... All men when they leave their body are flung into a domain of the lower vital which has nothing particularly pleasant about it." (CWM, Vol. 6, p. 449)

"Generally, 'domain of death' is the name given to a certain region of the most material vital into which one is projected at the moment one leaves one's body.... Well, that region, that material vital world is very dark, it is full of adverse formations having desires at their centre or even adverse wills, and these are very, very elemental entities which have a very fragmentary life and are like vampires, in the sense that they feed on all that is thrown out from human beings. And so, at that moment, from the shock of death - for very few die without a shock... well, at that shock of death, those entities rush in upon this, upon this vitality that goes out, and feed upon it." (Ibid., p. 55)

And this is not surely a happy experience. But this general rule is applicable to the case of ordinary human beings. The situation becomes different for those who have done some serious sadhana during their lifetime and have brought about some development in their consciousness. For them there are, as it were, some "bridges", some "protected passages" built in the vital world so that they can use them to cross over all possible dangers and discomforts of the domain of death.

But what is of great consolation is the fact that even for the run of ordinary men, - and these form the majority of human beings who die, - there are circumstances which can very much alleviate their pain and suffering when they fall into the domain of death after the dissolution of their physical body. Here is what the Mother has to say about these special circumstances:

Page 77

"... when a person is much loved by others who are yet alive; if at that moment these people who love him concentrate their thought and love on the departed one, he finds a refuge therein, and this protects him completely against those entities; but one who passes away,... surrounded... by people who are in a terribly unconscious state - he is like a prey delivered to these forces." (Ibid. pp. 55-56)

Anyway, a time comes when this very first phase of unpleasant experiences ends for the departed "jiva". And he sets on his real other-worldly journey. But to which destination? Is there any specific world to which he is guided?

These questions cannot be satisfactorily answered in brief; for to answer adequately will require much space and a very complex discussion. We shall surely attempt this answer in its proper place, but a very important issue has to be settled first. The issue is:

Is there any special purpose which necessitates this journey of the departed being through a succession of supraphysical worlds? Or, who knows, perhaps the departed being immediately after his physical death, takes hold of a new physical body and is "reborn"? Yes, there are thinkers who subscribe to this second view. According to their line of thinking, there is no time gap between the moment of death and that at which the next rebirth occurs. They cite the analogy of a leech in this connection. They affirm that just as a leech climbs to the tip of a twig of a creeper, goes on searching from there for a second twig of a neighbouring creeper, and as soon as it succeeds in this attempt, leaves the first creeper-tip and moves on to the second creeper, the "jivatma", in an analogous manner, even before it leaves the first body, looks out for a suitable new body, and when it is found, decides to quit the previous body, and this is what appears to other men as "death". And this is invariably followed by a new embodiment.

But there is a snag here. For, this view implies that the "jivatma" is entirely dependent upon a physical-material body for its existence: it can never independently subsist outside of a physical body.

Another puzzle too is created by this second hypothesis. If there are no supraphysical other worlds where the departed "jiva"

Page 78

can stay and function, where should he undergo the consequences of the "karma" incurred by him during his lifetime? Is it only in a succession of physical-terrestrial rebirths? But in that case, what happens to the widely-held ideas of heavens and hells in the other world? Is it not generally believed that a departed jiva is judged in the supraphysical worlds beyond death for all his karmas and is then allotted a certain period of sojourn amongst the pleasures and happinesses of a "heaven" or in the torments and sufferings of a "hell", all depending on the relative quality of the karmas done in a terrestrial body? Is it not also held that after the effects of the karmas are exhausted through the quota of enjoyments and sufferings in the other worlds, the departed jivatma is sent back to the earth again in a new physical body for pursuing a new cycle of karmas?

Now, if these latter views have any basis in fact, there has to be a time-interval between one death and the next rebirth. But even in this theory there is no suggestion of any progressive movement of the departed "jiva" from one supraphysical world to a still higher world. This hypothesis is silent on this point. And this cannot but be so. For, those who adhere to this view have no clear idea about the purpose and goal of human life upon earth. It is often stated by them that the only possible goal of an individual human existence is to bring about a permanent cessation of the cosmic wheel of birth-death-rebirth-redeath, through the attainment of "Moksha" or "Liberation", and this Moksha can come only when all the accumulated karmas are exhausted to the last vestige by their annulment in a human body itself.

We, the sadhakas of the Integral Yoga, hold a view completely different from the one elaborated above. According to our integral theory of world-manifestation, the perfect and final goal set before the terrestrial being called "man" is to establish a divine life in a human body on the terrestrial plane itself. And that surely necessitates the perfect manifestation of divine knowledge-power-bliss here upon earth itself and not elsewhere in some supraphysical world.

But surely this is not possible in the short span of a single human life. And it is for this reason that our soul or psychic being

Page 79

has been passing from life to life through a succession of rebirths. It is going to its final destination through a process of progressive development and evolution. And in the fulfilment of this great task both the spheres of existence, the earthly-physical world and the supraphysical worlds, bring their own separate significant contributions.

Now, just as in the case of an individual human being there are planes of consciousness like the physical, the vital, the mental and others, so also in the cosmic field there exist beyond the physical-material world other worlds like the vital, mental, etc. And what is of great relevance and significance is the fact that there is close connection, communication, and co-operation between the functioning "vital plane" in an earthly human body and the corresponding vital world of the supraphysical cosmos. And the same principle holds good for the other parts of the being and other planes of the world.

It is because of this correspondence and interconnection that the "jivatma" feels an irresistible pull from the higher worlds after it has shed its earthly-physical body, and it makes it enter those other worlds successively one after another. Also, all that it has left undone during its lifetime in the physical body upon earth, it tries to complete, albeit partially, in the corresponding supraphysical worlds beyond. For, we should remember that the departed being does not begin his next life exactly at that state and stage of his evolutionary development where it had to leave them at the time of the dissolution of the previous body. It undergoes in the meantime much refinement, rejects many undesirable things, and imbibes certain others which will be helpful; and all this operation is usually gone through in the fields of other-worldly existence and in the period of time separating death and the next rebirth. For, as we have already pointed out, our physical-terrestrial world is not the only possible world of dwelling for the human soul nor is it a fact that, even if other supraphysical worlds exist, they exist independently on their own, completely cut off from all connection with the physical world. It is not incumbent upon a departed being that it must, of necessity, pass to a new physical body immediately after the dropping of the earlier one.

Page 80

Enough of this sort of metaphysical discussion: we need not extend it any further. Sri Aurobindo has written at length and exhaustively on these difficult though important issues in his magnum opus, The Life Divine. Interested readers may in this connection go through the three following chapters of the book: (i) "The Order of the Worlds"; (ii) "Rebirth and Other Worlds"; and (iii) "The Philosophy of Rebirth". On our part, let us revert to what we were discussing about. Well, some of the relevant questions we had raised are:

What happens to the "jiva" after the death of his physical body? Does he go anywhere else? If yes, where? in which worlds? And how long does he stay there? And if he has a journey to make, when and how does this itinerary end for the soul?

The Mother was once asked similar questions by the children of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. She started answering these questions but with the following witty introduction:

'Oh, you are asking me to write an entire Mahabharata! For the same destiny does not lie before every departed being. There is infinite variation in this matter, depending on his state of consciousness, stage of development, his psychological disposition at the moment of death and the necessity of further spiritual progress.' (adapted)

Sri Aurobindo, on his part, has laconically expressed the same view in the following words.

"Universal statements cannot be easily made about these things - there is a general line, but individual cases vary in an almost indefinite extent." (Letters on Yoga, p. 436)

In our present chapter we shall confine ourselves mainly to the discussion of this general line; but at the same time we shall refer to some special cases too. It goes without saying that all this is taken from the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother: there is nothing concocted by the present author's imagination.

But before we start our actual elaboration, it would be advisable

Page 81

to make one point sufficiently clear; otherwise confusion is bound to be created in the proper comprehension of all that is going to follow hereafter. The point at issue is this:

We are investigating the nature and the final destination of the other-worldly journey of the departed being. But what do we exactly mean by this "departed being"? Is it the well-known personality of our near and dear one who is now "dead"? Or is it his immortal soul? Or, who knows, it is perhaps his ego-consciousness whose fate and fortune we are enquiring about! Or, in the alternative, we are perhaps interested in knowing what happens after death to the special qualities and aptitudes the person in question developed and possessed while he was in his living physical body. What fate overtakes his musical dexterity, mathematical skills, literary creativity, scientific acumen, etc.?

The answer to these questions will vary depending on who or what is specially referred to when we raise our question as regards the post-mortem destiny of the departed being. Thus, there is no single and simple straightforward answer to the omnibus question: "What happens after death?" One can answer only part by part, taking different categories in turn; and that is what we propose to do here. Our task will be made easier if we first say a few words as regards the complex constitution of the planes and parts of a human being. For, this constitution is neither simple nor homogeneous or harmonious. Of course, we are not referring here to the anatomy and physiology of his physical body. We are speaking about the highly complex constitution of his psychological consciousness. With these few words of introduction let us start our inquiry.

Whenever we evoke in our mind the memory of a particular person or talk about him with somebody, we spontaneously 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. In other words, he is "unique" in our view.

But that is not the real truth of the matter. Behind the apparent unicity of his personality lie hidden many different beings with separate trends and functions of their own, such as, his physical

Page 82

being, vital being, mental being and others.

Also, he 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. His total being is constituted of five "Koshas" or sheaths and envelopes, such as, "Annamaya Kosha" (material envelope), "Prạnamaya Kosha" (vital envelope), "Manomaya Kosha" (mental envelope), "Vijnanamaya Kosha" (Knowledge sheath), and "Anandamaya Kosha" (Bliss sheath).

He possesses also for his self-expression and manifestation many instruments and vehicles; such as, his body, his life, his mind, etc. And these instruments have many different modalities so far as their active functioning is concerned; such as, desires, aspirations, imaginations, memories, reason-power, discriminations, etc. There is no end to this delineation; for the constitution of a man's consciousness is indeed highly complex and an intermingled amalgam.

But at the centre of all this complex psychological structure lies man's soul or psychic being. And it is this psychic which is indeed the real "traveller of the worlds", and moves after the physical body's dissolution, into different supraphysical realms, and, then, comes back into an almost unending series of successive rebirths upon earth. And all this with only one single aim in view, to ultimately bring about the full manifestation of a divine life upon earth itself and in a material-physical human or superhuman body.

But what is the role and function of the mind, the vital and the physical in this affair? - They are the channels of manifestation of the psychic being in its progressive self-unfolding.

Now, one important point. Just as, while still remaining confined in the physical body we erroneously consider ourselves as separate and unique ego-persons, totally oblivious of the constantly active presence of our psychic being, just as, again, our mind and vital and physical parts undergo varieties of experiences, pleasant or unpleasant, independent of the psychic being, our psychic being too continues, in a parallel way and movement, to develop all the time by the assimilation of the essences of the variegated experiences of its instruments. Now, after the dissolution of the physical

Page 83

body, our ego-person and our mind, vital and physical beings continue for some time, short or long depending on many factors, to have their own independent experiences in the supraphysical worlds but remaining unaware of the indwelling psychic being. But what about the psychic at that time? It continues to grow and develop independently in a line of its own but all the time governing and controlling the developments of the outer instruments with a masterly grip over them.

We must not forget that just as our psychic being is essentially immortal, its own central line of development too is immune from any abrupt disruption and discontinuation. The development maintains its uninterrupted continuity all through the long passage from a physical body to the other-worldly habitats after death and, then, to a succession of rebirths in physical embodiments upon earth.

But it is only the psychic being which possesses this continuity. All the other constituent elements of man's being, his mind and life and body, are not only mutable but also perishable. They have no essential continuity of their own. During the period following the body's death they continue to fulfil the need of the soul for some time and when this task is over, they get normally dissolved, and disappear as disjointed fragments in their corresponding cosmic domains. When the psychic being comes back again upon earth for continuing its journey forward, it assumes not only a new physical body but a new vital and a new mind also, all in conformity with its basic needs of progress in the new incarnation. How much of the contribution of the mind and the vital of the previous life will be integrated and assimilated in the new ones, will be determined by the psychic being alone. The situation, as we can see, is rather complex and defies all easy generalisation.

And if such is indeed the state of affairs, we have to speak along at least three different lines, when we propose to discuss the question of the itinerary of a departed being following its discarding of its physical body:

First Line of Inquiry. - Always dwelling at the centre of an individual being, what does the psychic being or the real "jiva" do, stage after stage, after the body's death? Where does it proceed to? And when and after how much time does it decide to reincarnate

Page 84

in a new body upon earth?

Second Line of Inquiry. - Continuing to remain all the time oblivious of the presence of the psychic being even in the "postmortem" supraphysical worlds, what do the ego-being and the subtle physical-vital-mental constituents of a departed person do and where do they travel to?

Third Line of Inquiry. - What happens to the discarded residues of the "envelopes" of the "dead" man, of his mind and vital, once these have been finally rejected by the psychic being in the other world as useless stuff?

Along with these three lines of inquiry we shall also discuss in brief what changes are brought about in the other-worldly destiny and destination of the departed being if its consciousness has progressively developed in the earthly body. We shall also succinctly touch upon the process of "passing away" of the Yogis and Jivanmuktas and their final destination after the dropping of their bodies. Such is the programme of our proposed discussion.

Let us remind our readers once again that all that follows is entirely based upon the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother: the present writer has not tried to smuggle in any of his own concocted ideas or speculations.

First Line of Movement

(The Movement of the Soul or the Psychic Being)

It goes without saying that there is great variety and difference in this particular line of movement. In fact, a separate course is arranged in the case of each departed being, depending upon many factors, the principal one being the stage and quality of development of the consciousness. Still, one can venture to say that in most of the cases there is a common line of progression. While describing this common line, Sri Aurobindo has said:

After the 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

Page 85

discards the no-more-necessary elements of the superficial and temporary personality of the individual in his preceding embodiment. The physical elements acquired and functioning in the physical part of a man's being are left behind in the physical world; the vital elements in the corresponding vital world; and the mental elements in the mental world. Just as the soul first drops its physical sheath at the moment of so-called "death", it discards too its vital and mental sheaths after some time, short or long, depending on many variable circumstances. But that does not mean that nothing will accompany the psychic being in its journey to the psychic world. The essence of all the experiences of the physical, vital and mental parts 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 and constituent of the new body, vital and mind in its next embodiment upon earth.

The psychic being will at last go to the psychic world and rest there in a profound "pregnant trance". It will await its new embodiment under the guidance of those great Beings whom Sri Aurobindo has called "guardians of the psychic world". There, in the psychic world, will take place the proper assimilation of the past experiences of the individual being and the preparation for its next earthly life.

Such, then, is the general line of movement. But in the case of those individuals whose consciousness has not yet been sufficiently developed, who are tied down to the pleasures and enjoyments of the physical world, or whose principal preoccupation has been with their vital life, and who did not want to leave the previous earthly life and were almost forcibly dragged away from there, in their case the psychic being may possibly take a different decision. It may not want to retire to the psychic world and unduly waste time there. Instead, it may provide these undeveloped individuals with new physical bodies as soon as possible, may be at times immediately after the dissolution of the just preceding body, so that they may continue their needed development.

Such is the case with the undeveloped beings. But the general line may be infringed and another line followed even in the case of those individuals whose consciousness is sufficiently evolved.

Page 86

For example, in the case of those who have been able to centre their whole being around their soul, through a process of advanced sadhana, the psychic being may adopt many different courses after the dropping of the physical body at death:

(i)Instead of spending time in the other worlds, the psychic being may assume a new physical body on the terrestrial plane as soon as possible in order to maintain its spiritual adventure uninterrupted there.

(ii)There is also an alternative course of action: 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 this combined action.

(iii)Or, the psychic may retire to the psychic world and remain immersed there for many many years in a supremely delightful preparatory repose.

We may very well imagine that our readers may have had a shock of surprise to know of the second alternative course just now mentioned above. But because of lack of space and time we cannot discuss this exceptional procedure in more detail here. However, the interested readers may refer to the Mother's evening conversation of 24-10-56 for greater information about this occult phenomenon.

Second Line of Movement

(The Movement of the Ego-centred External Being)

The consciousness and nature of most human beings is not at all integrated and homogeneous. It presents the picture of an ill-assorted amalgam of many independently functioning elements and tendencies. Real individuality has not yet developed there.

Yet, that a particular person, during his stay in a physical body, thinks and feels himself to be a separate and unique individual, is due to the fact of his false self-identification with a fictitiously centralising device of ego-sense and ego-idea.

Now, after the dissolution of the physical body at death, these

Page 87

different constituent elements of the being, his physical, vital and mental beings, get disbundled 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 other.

Then, a day 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 the individual's life-time. For, we have already indicated that what travels in an uninterrupted way, from birth to birth, from body to body, is the psychic being of the individual, and not at all his "ego". The physical-vital-mental personalities of this "ego-being" are created for a single life to serve some temporary purpose of the evolving soul. At the termination of that life, these separate constituent 'beings' wander about for some time in the supraphysical other-worlds and then vanish into thin air. And such is their normal destiny.

But this need not be their invariable destiny. For, 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. For, as this developed vital being will remain always plastic to the touch or influence of the psychic being, it need not be rejected as something inert and ossified and therefore serving no further useful purpose for the progress of the individual being.

The same principle applies to the case of the mental being of a person. And if any one wants to preserve his personal identity through the succession of rebirths he has no other go except to fulfil this essential, indispensable pre-condition; that is to say, he has to centre his entire personality in all its parts around his psychic being and put it under the psychic's governance as a most pliable vehicle of soul-manifestation.

Page 88

We forgot to mention another characteristic of these vital and physical beings of a human being. During the time they 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 on their own wishes and hopes and fears and other previously established personal saṅskāras. These heavens or hells have, of course, no ojective reality, but the experiences the disembodied being actually undergoes there after death are very very "concrete" and tangible for his consciousness. We have something more to say on this point later on.

Third Line of Movement

(The Movement of the Sheaths and their Residues)

After the dissolution of the body at death, the three instruments of self-expression of the Spirit, the physical, the vital and the mental, generally get broken up into different fragments. It is obvious that when an individual physical body is cremated, a part of the body-matter may mingle with a nearby pool of water; another part may get absorbed in the soil underneath, and a third part may get converted into carbon dioxide gas, pass on to the leaves of the trees in the cremation ground or mount up to vanish in the atmosphere. And such is the destiny of the first instrument called the material body.

The same rule holds good in the case of the other two instruments, the vital and the mental. After the death and dissolution of the physical frame, they too get disintegrated in time into many fragments and these different constituent elements (such as desires, impulses, passions, etc.) follow their separate independent courses and seek to fulfil 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 appetites. A single extract from Sri Aurobindo's writings will suffice to make the point clear:

Page 89

"It is when the vital gets broken up, some strong movements of it, desires, greeds, may precipitate themselves into animal forms, e.g., sexual desire with the part of the vital consciousness under its control into a dog or some habitual movement of excessive greed may carry part of the vital consciousness into a pig....

"The fragments [of a dead person] are not of the inner being [which goes on its way to the psychic world] but of his vital sheath which falls away after death." (Letters on Yoga, p. 446)

Let us now mention what happens after the mental sheath, in its turn, gets broken up. 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 some time in the invisible realms of the earthly atmosphere after the physical death of the person concerned, and try to seek out appropriate vehicles of self-expression. And 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 Mother has discussed this point in sufficient detail and given some striking examples derived from her own personal experiences. The case of the French musical composer, Berlioz, and the celebrated German musician, Beethoven, falls in this category. Readers will come to know many interesting things if they go through the records of the Mother's conversation of September 16, 1953. (Vide CWM, Vol. 5)

Here ends our discussion of the nature of death and of the movement, the destiny and the destination of the departed being after his physical death, - of course, in the case of the general run of not-so-developed human beings. Let us now mention in brief what happens in the special case of advanced Yogis and mystics. It needs no saying that the Jivanmuktas and other liberated souls enjoy complete freedom of choice and are in no way bound by any particular rule or procedure. They can, after the shedding of their physical body, travel to any particular supraphysical world of their choice, may come back to the terrestrial plane in another human

Page 90

embodiment, or may not do so but stay permanently in any desired supernal world such as Brahmaloka, Vishnuloka, Sivaloka, etc., or crossing the bounds of all cosmic manifestation may pass beyond time and space and merge in the Transcendent Absolute. To quote Sri Aurobindo:

"[The Jivanmukta] can go wherever his aim was fixed, into a state of Nirvana or one of the divine worlds and stay there or remain, wherever he may go, in contact with the earth-movement and return to it if his will is to help that movement. (Letters on Yoga, p. 441)

This is as regards the "post-mortem" destination of the Mahayogis. But how do these Yogis "exit" from their earthly-physical embodiment when the time comes for that?

Sri Aurobindo has mentioned at one place that the Jivatma passes out of the body at the time of death through the "Brahmarandhra". The statement is rather obscure and puzzling for the proper comprehension of most of our readers. The scriptural accounts about the process of death of the Mahayogis is not less obscure. After all, they pertain to the domain of occult practices and experiences. Still, we cite these accounts here for all they are worth:

When a spiritually wise man dies, his life-energy (prana-shakti) pierces the Brahmarandhra and passes out of the body following the Murdhanya or Sushumna Nadi. Thus, we read in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (IV. 4. 2):

"Hṛdayasyagraṁ dyotate, tena pradyotena eṣa ātmā niṣkramati cakṣustho va mūrdhṇo vā..."

"The heart centre gets illuminated at the moment of death and the Atma takes help of that light to pass out of the body mostly through the eyes ."

Some other scriptures state that at the time of death the Sushumna Nadi of the Yogin, which is his gateway of liberation (Moksha-Dwara), gets developed. The Yogi, by the application of his Yoga-Shakti, finds the path of his Brahmarandhra unusually

Page 91

illuminated, exits from the body through that way, supports himself upon the solar rays, and moves away along the "Archimarga".

The second chapter of the Second Book of the Bhagavata states: "While leaving his body, the Yogi withdraws his life-breath (Prana-Vayu) from different limbs of the body, concentrates it first in the six 'Centres' (Chakras) and finally raises it to the Sahasrara. He then controls the other seven 'holes' (two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and the mouth) and leaves the body through the Brahmarandhra.''

In order to bring out the characteristic difference between the death of ordinary unspiritual persons and that of a spiritually "realised" Yogi, one scripture has this to say:

"An ordinary death and extinction of the body-consciousness culminates in an atmosphere of blind darkness. Now, when a great Yogi approaches his moment of departure from the body, he puts out all the lights of normal consciousness and takes a plunge in that blind darkness. Coming from light to 'darkness', the realised soul employs his inner power of vision (dṛk-śakti) which has no dependance upon outer light, and discovers a new ineffable luminosity to which light and darkness, knowledge and ignorance, vidyā and avidyā are both outer veils or coverings. This plunge signifies a new way of dying which has no kindredness to ordinary death. It is the 'vaivasvata mṛtyu', the 'solar death', of the ' āvṛttacakṣu dhīra' of the sage who has turned his eyes inward."

Let us now terminate our long discussion of the issues of death and the other-worldly journey of the soul. But one small question remains which demands some answer here. The question is: How long does the "departed being" remain in the supraphysical worlds after the death and dissolution of a body and before it assumes a new physical body at rebirth? According to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, there is no invariably fixed rule in this matter. 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,

Page 92

or a few years, or even a 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. And 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 moment for its re-embodiment.

And, if it so wishes, it may not come back again to an earthly embodiment. For the Mother's discussion of this topic, readers may consult her evening conversation of 16-3-55. (CWM, Vol. 7)

Before putting a finis to our chapter let us come back once again to the uncanny field of "psychical research". It must have been made clear to our readers by this time that it cannot be a fact that the soul or "jivatma" of a dead person with all its human personality and its attributes and mannerisms remains bound to its old accustomed habitat for an indefinite length of time. Therefore, it is a sheer superstition to believe that a little tinkering with a planchette or taking recourse to the so-claimed extraordinary power of a "medium", will force the soul to appear as if from nowhere and tell all sorts of consoling words or furnish the required information to the seance-sitters. This is simply an absurd idea. For, as we have already indicated, the psychic being of a departed person retires to the psychic world after death, and the physical-vital-mental sheaths disintegrate after some time. Then, who or what is there left behind to claim to be the soul of the dead man and appear before the planchette or the "medium"? But still the question remains: What is, then, the explanation for this well attested phenomenon of planchette "communication"?

The real fact is that these so-claimed "voices" and "messages" and "communications" arise from the subconscient of the "medium" and of those who attend a planchette seance.

Besides, as we have had occasion to point out before, many small vital entities of dubious intentions are swarming in the lower vital world of the supraphysical regions. These entities may grab at times the fragments and residues of the discarded mind and vital of the dead person, and covering themselves up with these instrumental residues, pose as the soul of the person concerned and try to deceive the credulous relatives and friends.

Page 93

Instead of going any further with this discussion of the strange and striking "psychical" phenomenon of "seance communication", let us quote here a part of an important letter of Sri Aurobindo, which will shed ample light on this tricky issue. Sri Aurobindo says that what is actually "contacted" may be, depending on the case,

"1. An actual contact with the soul of a human being in its subtle body ...

2.A mental formation stamped by the thoughts and feelings of a departed human being...

3.A being of the lower vital planes who has assumed the discarded vital sheath of a departed human being or a fragment of his vital personality...;

4.... formations of one's own mind... [taking] to the senses an objective appearance.

5.Temporary possession of people by vital beings....

6.Thought-images of themselves projected often by people at the moment of death..." (Letters on Yoga, pp. 459-60)

It is thus clear that the whole thing is a jumbled-up affair. Of course, it cannot be gainsaid that a contact and communication can sometimes be established with the departed beings themselves but that belongs to a much higher stage of occult-spiritual development on the part of the seance-guide: only great "realised" yogis can do that. For a person of ordinary consciousness, to be unduly curious about and engaged in "planchette" and "medium" communications is not a healthy affair. It may even bring positive harm to the person who does that.

Now a last question and we come to the end of our chapter on death. The question is:

Almost every religion speaks of heavens and hells. Do these heavens and hells really exist anywhere in the worlds beyond death? And is every departed being bound to go to these heavens and hells to enjoy or suffer the consequences of his meritorious or demeritorious deeds done in a living human body upon earth? Both the Mother and Sri Aurobindo have discussed this issue in great

Page 94

detail, A very brief summary of their observations in this regard is given below:

In the vital and the subtle-physical worlds on the other side of our physical realm, there are regions of happy and pleasant experiences but there are regions too which offer very unpleasant and painful experiences to the wandering being. An individual, discarding his gross physical sheath at death and then pursuing his course of other-worldly journey, may have to come at some stage to these so-called "heavens" and "hells" and be acquainted with their corresponding delightful or painful experiences. But these will come about solely in the interest of the soul's progress in its spiritual journey and surely not as "rewards" and "punishments" for the being's so-judged "merits" and "demerits". We shall have occasion to discuss this question in more detail in our next chapter.

But... Yes, there is a big 'but' here which we have to mention in this connection. The departed being may at times come across some sort of imaginary 'heavens' and 'hells' which lie outside of the main itinerary of the other-world. Sri Aurobindo has named these regions "annexes of the supraphysical worlds".

But these are not actually existing objective worlds: these are rather created by the "dead" person himself according to his accustomed ideas and beliefs and hopes and desires. But, although these so-called "heavens" and "hells" are the products of imagination of the departed being himself, the experiences, negative as well as positive, that he undergoes there are very much concrete and intense for the subjective consciousness of the being. But, hopefully, the departed being has not to stay there for long. Because of the constantly exercised spiritual pressure coming from the central psychic being, these imaginary, subjectively fabricated "heavens" and "hells" evaporate after some time and the departed being comes out of this self-created prison-house and begins pursuing its real other-worldly journey.

It must have become by now quite clear to our readers that the whole thing about the post-mortem supraphysical other-worldly movement and the ultimate destination of a "dead" person is not at all a simple affair which can be easily comprehended. One should not entertain the illusion that one somehow "dies" one day and

Page 95

that that critical moment of transition is invariably followed by an eternal silence and peace and repose.

No, not at all. The other-worlds too have their own organisation: there is scope there of an infinite variety of feelings and experiences, not all of which are, of course, happy and pleasant. And what is of greater relevance and importance is the fact that many of these experiences of the supraphysical other-worlds are shaped and determined by the quality of the consciousness the departed being possessed and the deeds he did while he was still in his earthly physical body.

It is thus incumbent upon every living person to prepare himself properly even from now if he expects to have a really auspicious death and a spiritually fruitful other-worldly journey.

And the best preparation in this regard is to organise and harmonise all the parts of one's consciousness around the central psychic being so that they can be pliably moulded and governed at all times and in every way by one's divine centre. 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 all be arranged for him by the luminous guidance of the divine powers of light.

Here is one last but not the least important point we should always remember while living our life upon earth. The obstacles and difficulties we seek to avoid and bypass in our earthly physical existence, will confront us once again in the other-worlds for their proper settlement and solution and that in more intractable situations. 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 their painless elimination. This is no more than an illusory false hope; and sooner we give it up, the. better for us, better for the present life itself and for the life hereafter.

Let us conclude this long chapter on the mystery of death by quoting a significant passage from the Mother's writings wherein she recommends the right attitude that a sadhaka of the Integral Yoga should always adopt vis-à-vis the body's death:

Page 96

'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 a 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 realising 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'être of your being, and in all things see this spiritual ideal and never come down into the sordidities of the material life.

'If you can do so, you will find that whenever 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.' (Adapted from the record of the Mother's talk of April 23, 1951)

Such should be the nature of death befitting a sadhaka of the Integral Path. It will come then at its proper time as a very necessary step in the unending journey of the "Jivatman" towards its destined goal, the perfect and permanent union with the Divine.

Page 97