Life After Death-Part V

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When the subtle body takes the pilgrimage from a given physical body to another, we say "the man is dead." Each one will continue to go to such places as controlled by the desires, demands or cravings. Now I am in the lecture hall and who brought me here in the lecture hall from home? It is my desire only which forced me to come from my home, which is very far away from the lecture hall, and the same desire has forced me to sit continuously for two hours at one place getting the same one experience of hearing the lecture. It is otherwise very difficult to sit at one place even for half an hour.

At present the hall is alive with my presence. After the lecture is over, the hall will be dead of my presence. Now the question arises "where will I go, to the Cinema hall or Coffee house or home ? "It all depends upon my own desire. Therefore, as soon as my demand is met with, I leave that place and go to another place where my next predominant desire is to be fulfilled.

The mind-intellect relationship with the body is something of that of a bird with its nest. The nest is safe as long as the bird visits the nest to feed its little children. As soon as its purpose to visit the nest is over, it flies away, never thinking of the nest and without the bird, the nest perishes. Similarly, until the subtle body is there to exhaust its desires, love and hatred, likes and dislikes, the physical body is safe. No sooner the purpose of the subtle body is over, than it leaves the physical frame. Without the subtle body, the physical body must perish. But you are not perished - you are something other than the body....

Possessiveness or attachment is due to identification. In the waking state you identify yourself with your gross body and, therefore, you are conscious of your body and you realise that happiness and sorrows of the body are your happiness and your sorrows. But when you have withdrawn you identification from the gross body and have identified with the subtle body, there you are in the dream state. You do not experience any happiness or sorrow of the gross body, but you are happy or unhappy as the dream world of experience created by your mind and intellect. But when you have withdrawn your identification from the gross as well as from the subtle body and have identified with your causal body you are in the deep sleep state and you are not experiencing any happiness or sorrow of the gross or subtle bodies. There you are e:x-experiencing your undisturbed peace and bliss. There you are not conscious of your experience of peace and happiness. When you reach the fourth state of consciousness called 'Turiya,' you have conscious experience of Happiness that is your own nature.

Therefore.your fear for death is because of your unintelligent identification of yourself with the gross body and gathering the qualities of the body on your Self. Your identification with the body is so deep that you apprehend destruction of yourself whenever you think of the death of the body.

To be continued

About the author

Swami Chinmayananda

Swami Chinmayananda the great master's lectures were an outpour of wisdom. He introduced the Geetha Gnana Yagna. He wrote a lot of books on spirituality, commentaries to Vedantic texts, children books etc. He then started spreading His teachings globally.....