Life after death : EXPLAINED
The early Vedic people believed in afterlife. The universe was simple, which consisted of a few worlds or planes of existence. For example, the Taittiriya Upanishad envisages a simple universe consisting of the earth (prithvi), the mid-region (antariksham), the heaven (dyauh), four quarters (disah), four intermediate quarters (antardisah), the sun (aditya), the moon (chandrama), and the constellation of stars (nakshatrani). The same Upanishad also mentions a four tier universe consisting of the earth (bhuh), the mid-region (bhuva), Indra’s heaven (svah) and the immortal heaven (maha).
The universe consists of multiple worlds, layers and planes of existence, some known and some unknown, some within the field of awareness and sensory knowledge and some much beyond. These worlds are inhabited and controlled by different powers, beings, objects, energies, deities and mysterious events. Just as there are gross and subtle bodies, there are gross and subtle worlds. It is difficult to specify how many such worlds are identified by the scriptures. They are indeed many. Just as the mind can envision many worlds and objects in its infinite inner space, Hindu cosmology envisages a universe of infinite dimensions and innumerable possibilities.
The Bhagavad-Gita mentions two paths, which the embodied souls (jivas) may follow upon leaving their bodies, depending upon the time of their death and the nature of their deeds. They are the path of light, also called the path of devas and the path of the night, also called the path of the pitra devas or ancestors. The first one leads to the immortal world of the sun where the stay is permanent and the second one to the ancestral world of the moon where the stay is temporary. The scripture also mentions that those who indulge in heinous deeds and accumulate very sinful karma, do not qualify to follow either of these two paths, but go down and descend into fiendish hells where they suffer for a long time until they are cleansed and purified.According to the Bhagavad-Gita going to either hell or ancestral heaven has its own limitations. Beings who go to them are bound to return to the earth once the merits or demerits of their previous karma are exhausted. Life in these worlds is also not permanent and secure as they are also subject to change and flux, besides unprovoked attacks from the evil beings of the darker worlds who are always looknig to conquer the light filled worlds and spread chaos.Hence, the scripture suggests that human beings should look for a permanent solution by aiming for union with Brahman, the Supreme Self, through control of their minds and bodies, detachment, renunciation, devotion to God and performing actions as an offering to him.
According to it the body of an embodied soul is made up of five elements, known as mahabhutas namely the earth, fire, water, air and space. Further, it is also made up of five sheaths (kosas) namely the food body, the breath body, the mental body, the intelligence body and the bliss body. Of them, the first one is gross and the rest are subtle.It is said that after the death of a being, the gross body dissolves into the gross elements of the earth, which are basically the earth, fire, water and air, while the subtle bodies (Jiva constituting prana, manas and Vijnana) go to the subtle or ethereal worlds along with the soul. After exhausting karma in each of these planes and shedding the respective bodies there, the soul returns again to earth with a few retentive memories, desires,and latent impressions (samskaras) to undergo further spiritual evolution and transformation.
According to the Upanishads when a person is about to die, his senses are withdrawn into the mind, the mind into the breath. The breaths (pranas), together with the subtle senses (devas) then gather around the souls and enter the subtle heart which is connected to the entire body through various energy channels called nadis and nerve centers. At this state the soul carries with it a small residue of the mind (karana citta) consisting of dominant desires and tendencies as latent impressions (samskaras). They become the blueprint for the soul's next birth. In the final stages when the person becomes totally unconscious and loses sight of everything, the soul along with the breaths, the subtle sense, the subtle bodies and the residual mind travels upward from the heart through the upward breathing channel (Udana) and reaches the head region. There through a subtle opening in the skull, it escapes into the air and reaches the mid-region (antariksha). Once the soul leaves the body, the person becomes lifeless. The body is then cremated and its elements (mahabhutas) are returned to the elements.Upon leaving the body, the departing soul along with the remains of the subtle bodies, the residual karma (karana citta), the breaths (prana) and the divinities (subtle senses) ascend into midregion (antariksha) ruled by Vayu, the wind god. There, the breaths and the divinities separate from the soul and enter their respective sphere. The soul with remaining parts travels to the ancestral world located in the moon. From there they descend still higher, depending upon their karma. The ancient verses from the Vedas suggest that just as the humans use animals as food, the gods use the humans, who enter the ancestral world, as food. They feed upon their astral bodies and in the process cleanse part of their karmas. The path by which they travel is known as the path of the ancestors (Pitrayana) or the southern path (Dakshinayana).
This path is explained in several Upanishads, including the oldest, namely Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads. The following verse is quoted from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (6.2.16), which explains the journey in some detail: "Now, those who win the worlds by sacrifices, charity and austerity they pass into the smoke, from the smoke into the night, from the night into the fortnight of the waning moon, from the fortnight of the waning moon into the six months during which the sun files southwards, from these months into the world of ancestors, from the world of ancestors into the moon." A similar idea is presented in the following verse from the Chandogya Upanishad (5.10.3): "But those who live in villages, who practice sacrifices to fulfill their desires and indulge in acts of public good and charity, they enter smoke, from smoke to night, from night to the darker fortnight, from the darker fortnight to those six months in which the sun moves southwards.The same verse from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad mentioned above describes the existence of the souls in the ancestral world: "Upon reaching the moon, they become food. There the gods enjoy them, just as the priests enjoy the drink of Soma watching the moon wax and wane." The smoke mentioned here denotes the impurity surrounding the soul. When the soul is enveloped in impurities, it enters an impure world. The ancestral world is better than the mortal world because the souls enjoy a better existence in that world. However, still it is an impure world, compared to the world of the Sun.
In the moon you have light, but it is not as bright or pure as that of the sun. Besides, the moon is subject to waning and waxing. Therefore, it is not permanent either. There, the enjoyment of souls is similar to the enjoyment of the domestic animals we keep in our farms. Compared to the animals in the wild, the farm animals get food, water, shelter and protection from harm. Yet, they are cared for because they provide us with food as milk, ghee, and even the meat. For the gods, humans serve the same purpose. In the ancestral world, they become food to gods. Their astral bodies are gradually worn off as gods feed upon them and cleanse them partially by ridding them of some of the impurities. They also become weak as their descendants tend to forget them, or neglect them without offering ritual food. When food is offered ritually to the ancestors, they use that offering to build their astral bodies. When those offerings cease, they become weak and gradually fall off the ancestral world.
This path is explained in several Upanishads, including the oldest, namely Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads. The following verse is quoted from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (6.2.16), which explains the journey in some detail: "Now, those who win the worlds by sacrifices, charity and austerity they pass into the smoke, from the smoke into the night, from the night into the fortnight of the waning moon, from the fortnight of the waning moon into the six months during which the sun files southwards, from these months into the world of ancestors, from the world of ancestors into the moon." A similar idea is presented in the following verse from the Chandogya Upanishad (5.10.3): "But those who live in villages, who practice sacrifices to fulfill their desires and indulge in acts of public good and charity, they enter smoke, from smoke to night, from night to the darker fortnight, from the darker fortnight to those six months in which the sun moves southwards.The same verse from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad mentioned above describes the existence of the souls in the ancestral world: "Upon reaching the moon, they become food. There the gods enjoy them, just as the priests enjoy the drink of Soma watching the moon wax and wane." The smoke mentioned here denotes the impurity surrounding the soul. When the soul is enveloped in impurities, it enters an impure world. The ancestral world is better than the mortal world because the souls enjoy a better existence in that world. However, still it is an impure world, compared to the world of the Sun.
In the moon you have light, but it is not as bright or pure as that of the sun. Besides, the moon is subject to waning and waxing. Therefore, it is not permanent either. There, the enjoyment of souls is similar to the enjoyment of the domestic animals we keep in our farms. Compared to the animals in the wild, the farm animals get food, water, shelter and protection from harm. Yet, they are cared for because they provide us with food as milk, ghee, and even the meat. For the gods, humans serve the same purpose. In the ancestral world, they become food to gods. Their astral bodies are gradually worn off as gods feed upon them and cleanse them partially by ridding them of some of the impurities. They also become weak as their descendants tend to forget them, or neglect them without offering ritual food. When food is offered ritually to the ancestors, they use that offering to build their astral bodies. When those offerings cease, they become weak and gradually fall off the ancestral world.
As time goes by in the ancestral world, the souls lose their subtle bodies partly because they are consumed by the gods and partly because they do not get enough nourishment from their descendants who live upon earth. By serving the gods, they also exhaust part of their impurities and sinful karma. When they lose their bodies, it is time for the souls to return to the earth. In the concluding part of the verse the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad describes the return journey. "Upon reaching the moon, they become food. There the gods enjoy them, just as the priests enjoy the drink of Soma watching the moon wax and wane. When that ends they enter into space, from space into air, from air into rain, from rain into the earth. Then they are again offered in the fire of man, and from there into the fire of a woman so that they can go again to the other worlds. Thus, they keep rotating." When the souls fall down upon earth, they enter the plants through water. Some of the plants are consumed by animals. When both the plants and animals are consumed by men, they become part of their semen. This is explained in the Chandogya Upanishad (5.10.5-7): "There upon, exhausting the wealth of their karmas, they return again, by the same path by which they go, to space, and from space to air. Having become air, they become smoke; and having become smoke, they become mist. Having become mist, they become clouds, having become clouds, they rain down. Then they are born as rice plants and corn plants, as herbs and trees, as sesame and bean plants. From here on their escape becomes difficult. For whoever person may eat the food, and begets offspring, he henceforth becomes like unto him. Those whose conduct was pleasant will attain pleasant wombs, such as the wombs of Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, or Vaisyas; and those whose behavior was evil, will attain the wombs of the evil and the impure ones."The Upanishads present several alternatives available to the souls after their departure from here.
Their journey to the ancestral world is the most predominant idea. However, they also suggest that some souls may travel to the world of gods alone and stay there. For example the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.5.16) declares that the human life is obtained by son, the ancestral world by sacrificial actions and the world of gods by knowledge alone. The idea that the human life is possible only through son is based on the early Vedic belief that a man is born again upon earth through his own son. Before his death a father passes his knowledge and name to his son through a transference ceremony. After death and after returning from the ancestral heaven, he enters his son through water and is born again as his son. Whatever knowledge he passed on before his death, he reclaims again from his son. The tradition thus continues as his son, who is now his father, is again born through him.
The Kaushitaki Upanishad (1.2) suggests that those who depart from here go to the moon. In the bright half of the moon the moon deals with them affectionately, but in the dark half of the moon it sends them back again. When a departing soul reaches the moon, it asks him some questions. If he answers properly, he is allowed to stay. Otherwise, he is to return to earth to be born "again as worm, or as an insect, or as a fish, or as a bird, or as a lion, or as a boar, or as a snake, or as a tiger, or as a person or as someone else in different, different places, according to his deeds, and according to his knowledge."The Vedas suggest that those who commit grave sins do not go to the ancestral world. Instead they go to the world which exists beneath the earth, from where they return to take birth as worms, insects and animals.
In the Puranas the concept was further elaborated to suggest that the sinners went to the hell ruled by Yama, the Lord of Death, who is mentioned in the Katha Upanishad, as a great teacher and personification of righteousness. Yama is not a demon, but a god who represents the best of divine qualities. Yama, is the god of the dead. The story goes that he was the first being to experience death on earth. His twin sister was Yami. According to the Rig Veda, she approached him to make a child. He refused this incestuous union on moral grounds. So he died childless. Then he became the first to enter the afterlife and became the feared God of death.He punishes the souls according to their deeds. The Garuda Purana describes the various brutal punishments meted out to various sinners. The epics and the Puranas also suggest that those whose karma is a mixture of good and bad deeds, may also visit the hell to spend sometime there undergoing punishments before they are sent to the heaven of gods or to the ancestral world.
Their journey to the ancestral world is the most predominant idea. However, they also suggest that some souls may travel to the world of gods alone and stay there. For example the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.5.16) declares that the human life is obtained by son, the ancestral world by sacrificial actions and the world of gods by knowledge alone. The idea that the human life is possible only through son is based on the early Vedic belief that a man is born again upon earth through his own son. Before his death a father passes his knowledge and name to his son through a transference ceremony. After death and after returning from the ancestral heaven, he enters his son through water and is born again as his son. Whatever knowledge he passed on before his death, he reclaims again from his son. The tradition thus continues as his son, who is now his father, is again born through him.
The Kaushitaki Upanishad (1.2) suggests that those who depart from here go to the moon. In the bright half of the moon the moon deals with them affectionately, but in the dark half of the moon it sends them back again. When a departing soul reaches the moon, it asks him some questions. If he answers properly, he is allowed to stay. Otherwise, he is to return to earth to be born "again as worm, or as an insect, or as a fish, or as a bird, or as a lion, or as a boar, or as a snake, or as a tiger, or as a person or as someone else in different, different places, according to his deeds, and according to his knowledge."The Vedas suggest that those who commit grave sins do not go to the ancestral world. Instead they go to the world which exists beneath the earth, from where they return to take birth as worms, insects and animals.
In the Puranas the concept was further elaborated to suggest that the sinners went to the hell ruled by Yama, the Lord of Death, who is mentioned in the Katha Upanishad, as a great teacher and personification of righteousness. Yama is not a demon, but a god who represents the best of divine qualities. Yama, is the god of the dead. The story goes that he was the first being to experience death on earth. His twin sister was Yami. According to the Rig Veda, she approached him to make a child. He refused this incestuous union on moral grounds. So he died childless. Then he became the first to enter the afterlife and became the feared God of death.He punishes the souls according to their deeds. The Garuda Purana describes the various brutal punishments meted out to various sinners. The epics and the Puranas also suggest that those whose karma is a mixture of good and bad deeds, may also visit the hell to spend sometime there undergoing punishments before they are sent to the heaven of gods or to the ancestral world.
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