Soul After Death: Belief Of The Ancient Egyptians

By Sri Swami Sivananda

The Egyptians believed in a ‘double’ which was like a shadow of the body. This double remained as long as the body remained. The soul was only a double. It had no individuality of its own. It was never able to do away with its connection with the body. If the body was injured in any part the double or soul was also injured. Hence they preserved the bodies to keep the soul intact. They took recourse to mummification of the bodies of the dead. They wanted to preserve the dead bodies for a very long time in order to make the departed soul immortal.

The double remained only so long as the body remained. If the corpse is destroyed, the departed soul also must perish. The soul after death wandered about freely all over the world, and returned to the place where the corpse was kept with intense thirst and hunger.

The Chaldeans also believed in a double which would be destroyed if the body were destroyed. They expected a resurrection of the corpse again to life. They could not conceive of a state without this physical body.

The ancient Egyptians or Chaldeans could never entirely dissociate the idea of the soul from the corpse of the departed or the place of burial. Some of the Christians expect a resurrection of the corpse. Hence they embalm and bury the dead. They do not cremate the dead bodies, just as the Hindus do. They still believe that the body will rise after death.

The Hindus do not wish that departed souls should hover round the body even for a minute.

The departed soul is always extremely desirous to enjoy life once more. It wishes to enter a physical body to fulfil its desires. The Hindus do not wish that the souls be earth-bound. They wish that the souls should march quickly towards their abode of happiness. That is the reason why they cremate the dead bodies at once.

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This was an excerpt from the book What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Sri Swami Sivananda.

The death and dying and the life after death has always fascinated man. We want to now the truth behind near death experiences and become certain that there really is a life after death.

Many books have been written on the subject of death, but most of the works deal mainly with the astral or other spirit world. It has mostly been the study of the conditions in the Pretaloka which is merely one among the numerous supramundane planes or lokas beyond the grave. Spiritualism, seance and the testimony of recognised mediums have for most part featured prominently in all such works.

What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj is a departure from the usual line in that it is based, to a great extent, upon authoritative scriptural texts and upon knowledge derived through reasoning, deep reflection and personal meditation. It throws a flood of light upon all aspects of life after death not adequately dealt with in other works. The book also gives valuable information about the different beliefs on this subject, of the various races and religions.

The book is dealing with rebirth, the soul, reincarnation, moksha, heaven and hell, karma and different lokas. It even includes death poems and death poetry, giving a complete picture and a new face of death. For more material see this link: What Becomes Of The Soul After Death.

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