WHAT HAPPENS AFTER DEATH?
Is there life after death?
What is death?
Is death painful?
What happens after death?
How does rebirth happen?
After death?
These kind of related questions always fill our mind, especially when any of our near or dear ones die. We feel suddenly some relationship has broken abruptly and wish there could be a connection again. In this quest, our journey to find answers to the above questions begins.
So, what happens after death?
The prime question in our minds ‘ What happens after death?’ its actually a very interesting process. People feel death is painful and the journey post is horrifying, where will I go ‘ heaven or hell’ . Read on to understand exactly What happens after death.
Disconnection of the earth sole chakras
Approximately 4-5 hours before death, the earth sole chakras situated below the foot soles get detached, symbolizing disconnection from the earth plane. Hence, if you notice always before a person is about to die, some hours before that you will find his feet cold. Later when the actual time to depart comes, its said that Yama, the God of death comes to take away the person.
The Astral Cord
Actually it just cuts the astral cord, which is the cord connecting the soul to the body. Once this cord is cut the soul becomes free of the body and moves up and out of the body. As a soul always loves the body it held, it gets in the body back and tries very hard to move it and stay in it. If you must have seen there is sometimes a very subtle, slight movement of the face, hand even after the person has died, its actually the soul trying to get in because it cant believe its dead. There is still a feeling of aliveness. But just because the astral cord has been cut, it cannot stay there and is pushed upwards and out of the body. There is a pull from above, a magnetic pull to go up.
End of the physical body
At this stage the soul hears many voices, all at a time. These are nothing but the thoughts of those present in the room. The soul on its part talks to his loved ones like he used to do and shouts I am not dead, but alas it cannot be heard. Slowly and steadily the soul realizes that its dead and there is no way back , then it reaches to approx 12 feet. i.e the height of the ceiling and sees and hears everything happening. Generally it will be there around the body till it is cremated. So, next time if you see a body being carried for cremation, be informed the soul is also part of the procession seeing, hearing and witnessing everything and everyone.
Detachment from the body
Once the cremation is done, the soul is completely of the belief that the main essence of its survival on earth is lost, the body it held for so many years has dissolved in the 5 elements. The soul experiences complete freedom, the boundaries it had while being in the body are gone, it can just reach anywhere by mere thought. For 7 days the soul, moves about its places of interest like its favorite joint, morning walk garden, office, etc..If the soul is possessive of his money ,it will just stay near his cupboard, or if he is possessive of his children, it will just be in their room, clinging on to them. By the end of the 7th day, the soul says bye to his family and moves still upwards to the periphery of the earth plane to cross over to the other side.
The Tunnel
Its said that there is a big tunnel here which it has to cross before reaching the astral plane. Hence its said these 12 days are extremely crucial, we have to carry out the rituals properly and pray and ask forgiveness from the soul so that it does not carry these negative emotions like hurts, hatred, anger, etc at least from the near and dear ones.
All these rituals, prayers act like food for the soul which help it in its onward journey. At the end of the tunnel it sees a huge bright light signifying the entry in the astral world.
Meeting the Ancestors
On the 11th and then the 12th day in Hindus there are homas and rituals through which the soul is united with its ancestors, close friends, relatives and the guides. Its actually the same thing which happens on the upper plane. After the 12th day, all the passed away ancestors welcome the soul to the upper plane and they greet and hug them exactly like we do here on seeing our family members after a long time. The soul then along with its guides are taken for a thorough life review of the life just completed on earth in the presence of the Great Karmic Board. Its here in the pure light that its shown the whole past life.
Life Review
There is no judge, there is no God here. He judges himself, the way he judged others in his lifetime. He asks for revenge for people who troubled him in that life, he experiences guilt for all wrongdoings he did to people and asks for self punishment to learn that lesson. Based on this a complete life structure is created by the soul himself, called the blue print. All the incidents to be faced, all problems to be faced, all challenges to be overcome are written by us in this agreement. In fact we choose all minute details like age, person, circumstances for all incidents to be faced by us. Eg:- a person had severe headache in his present birth, whatever he tried nothing worked, no medicines, no way out. When he did a past life regression he saw in his previous birth he had killed a person with a huge stone by hitting and smashing his head. In the life review, when he saw this he became very guilty and asked for the same pain which the other person suffered to be experienced by him and decided he will have a never ending headache in this life.
Blue print
This is the way we judge ourselves and in guilt ask for punishment. One point to note here is that many say you will have to face 10 times or 20 times of what you did. That’s not true, depending on the amount of guilt in the soul, it will ask for punishment of suffering. If it has more guilt, then for some trouble he gave for 5 months to someone, he will ask for 2 years of suffering. Hence its always said, clear your emotions, because it’s the same thing we carry forward to the other side too. Once this review is done our whole blue print of the next life is formed, then there is a cooling period.
The re-birth
We are born depending on what we have asked for in the agreement. it can take 20-30 years or even more also for a re- birth. We choose our parents and enter the mothers womb either at the time of egg formation or during the 4-5th month or sometimes even at the last moment just before birth. The universe is so perfect ,so beautifully designed that the time, place of birth constitutes our horoscope, which actually is a blue print of this life. Most of us feel that our stars are bad, we are unlucky, in actual they just mirror your agreement. Once we are reborn, for around 40 days the baby remembers its past life and laughs and cries itself without anyone forcing it to. The memory of the past life is completely cut after this and we experience life as though we did not exist in the past.
The agreement starts..
Its here that we are completely in the earth plane and the contract comes into full effect. We then blame God/ people for our difficult situations and curse God for giving us such a difficult life. So, next time before pointing to the Divine, understand that its just helping us complete and honor our agreement which is fully and completely written by us. Whatever we have asked for and pre decided we are getting. Friends, relatives, foes, parents, spouses all have been selected by us in the blue print and come in our lives based on this agreement. They are just playing their parts and are merely actors in this film written, produced and directed by us.
Do the Dead need healing/ prayers/protection?
The dead always need serious healings and prayers for a variety of reasons, the most important one being not to be earthbound, that is stuck up in the earth plane itself. There are many reasons for the soul to be earthbound like unfinished business, excessive grief, trauma on death, sudden death, fear of moving on the astral plane, guilt, one of the most important being improper finishing of rituals, etc. The soul feels it needs a little more time to wait and finish and move. This keeps them hovering in the earth plane itself. But alas, the time is limited. Its very very important that they cross over in the 12 days to their astral plane of existence, moreover as the entry for them to the astral world closes a few days after this.
Earthbound spirits lead a very miserable existence as they are neither in their actual plane nor in a body to lead an earthly life. They may not be negative or harmful but they are stuck up. Hence healings and our prayers are of utmost importance during this period so that the departed soul crosses over to the designated astral plane peacefully. In Hindu religion its said not to visit temples and worship during these 12 days. But prayers are very much necessary by the whole family to help the dead. One more very important aspect to be updated with is the protection of the soul. Like we keep a small pen knife/ nail cutter as protection from evil spirits under the baby’s pillow, we need to protect the dead also to reach its destination- the astral world safe and sound.
Protection, prayers, healings are all extremely essential in these days to say the least. This is the least we can do for our loved ones, who gave all they could in our lifetimes.
Please DO NOT TAKE DEATH LIGHTLY. Today at least around 20% of the souls are stuck up on the earth plane due to various such factors.
Finally, for someone who has lost a near and dear one, don’t feel sad.
‘ We don’t die, we live on, death does not end it, its just a little break before we meet again .'
The above article is taken from Garuda Puranam.
