 | Soul’s Journey After Death: Process Of Detachment By Sri Swami Sivananda
It has already been stated that the self completely detaches itself from the body and the organs at the time of death. When the self becomes weak and senseless the organs come to it. It is not the self that becomes weak; it is the body. But the weakness of self is figuratively spoken of. The self being formless can never by itself become weak. So is the case with senselessness. The state of helplessness noticeable at the time of death, which is caused by the withdrawal of the organs, is attributed by people to the self. So they say, “Oh, he has become senseless!” When the man is about to die, the various organs withdraw themselves into their original sources and help no more the function of the organs. In death there is a complete withdrawal of the organs into the heart or the heart-lotus or Akasa of the heart. But in the state of dream the organs are not absolutely withdrawn. Here lies the difference between sleep and death. In the case of the organ, eye, the being associated with the eye, who is a part of the Sun, goes on helping the functions of the eye, as he lives. When he dies he ceases to help the eye and is merged in his own self, the Sun. In like manner, all the organs merge themselves in their respective presiding deities e.g., speech in Fire, the vital force in Vayu etc. The respective organs together with their presiding deities occupy their respective places when the man takes another body. This merging and reappearing take place every day during sleep. When the presiding deity of the eye turns back from all sides, the dying man fails to notice colour. At this time the self completely withdraws the particles of light, as in the dream state. Every organ becomes united with the subtle body of the dying man. It is then, people at his side say of him, “He does not see now.” Thus when one by one all the presiding deities of organs withdraw and merge into the cause, the respective organ stops functioning. Then the dying man hears not, sees not, smells not, speaks not and becomes senseless. He loses his consciousness forever. He never remembers he is Mr. So-and-so and that he belongs to such-and-such a caste, etc. He loses his understanding, memory and waking consciousness. The external world becomes void for him. The organs are then united in the heart. In the subtle body the self-effulgent intelligence of the Atman is always particularly manifest. It is because of this limiting adjunct that the self comes under relative existence involving all such changes as birth and death and going and coming. * * * 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. * * * |
