What happens after death? Man has always wondered about this question. After the body is destroyed, what remains of him? Where does he go? Will he come back? What is death? Hundred similar questions hit man’s head when someone near and dear leaves his body. No clear-cut answer is available anywhere and no proof can be found to any answer.
Death is a mystery. It is a dreadful mystery. Everybody is afraid of death alike, from the minute creatures to the ferocious beast and no being has ever overcome death. Death is most powerful being in the universe because nobody can even face death, leave alone conquer it! The mightiest and the fiercest succumb like an insect before death. Who or what then is death? Who can know death? Before you know him, you will be dead! All you know is that he is the terminator of life. For the fear of death, nobody attempts to know death.
Every creature wants to live. Even the most miserable creature in greatest danger, wants to live never to die! Nobody knows why one has so much desire to live, in spite of the inevitability of death.
Man has spared no efforts to overcome suffering and death. He has discovered medicines, invented equipments, built hospitals, but has only increased suffering and still stays an easy prey to death. When death gets on rampage, it comes in the form of earthquake, tsunami and epidemics and beings offer themselves to death like moths to fire. We have only seen the effects of death, but not death itself.
The effect of death is all well know- body becoming lifeless. Fully active body becomes action-less. The very life giving principle is removed or departs the body. This life giving principle or the entity which holds the key to life and death is called Atma (soul). He is very powerful and at full liberty to enter and enliven a body or leave it dead. Since his presence gives life to any body and his absence makes it dead, he is life himself and therefore cannot die.
So Atma is deathless. His departure from a body makes the body dead. Thus when a man or an animal dies, the Atma leaves the body, never dies. Atma lives in a body, like a man lives in a house. Body is the place of residence of Atma. Just as a man cannot stay without some sort of support, Atma too cannot stay without some sort of support.
If Atma does not die, who dies? May be the body dies. No! Body also does not die. Body was never a living thing. It has always been lifeless. It is constituted out of dead, earthly materials by Atma for its use. Atma lives in the body and imparts consciousness. Due to Atma’s consciousness, body appears to be living. Atma makes the body walk, talk, see, hear, smell, taste etc.
When Atma leaves the body, it withdraws the consciousness from the body and the body falls like dead, incapable of carrying out any activity. The body begins to disintegrate. This cannot be called the death of the body, because it is always an inert matter. The difference is only the presence or absence of Atma. Then why call it death? It is a misnomer out of misunderstanding. Truly there is no death either to Atma or to the body. Then why be afraid of death?
Actually one should be happy to leave an aged and sick body and enter into a new, young, healthy and strong body in rebirth. It is a natural transition from the old to new body. So there is absolutely no reason to fear the so called death. It is going to do only good. Nevertheless, fear of death is found in almost everybody. It is because of the attachment to the body, caused by the atheist belief that the body is Atma.
If and when Atma leaves a body, where does he go? He must enter another body or to go to some other place like heaven. If he takes another body, he is reborn here. If he goes to heaven, then also he has to have a heavenly body and be born here again. Anyway, rebirth is certain.
A question naturally arises. If Atma leaves the body, why don’t we see it leaving? You don’t see it because it is subtle. It is so fine as to be impossible to perceive, detect or recognize. Akasha (space) is subtle and is not perceivable. But Atma is still subtler and the subtlest, beyond the perception of any human sense organs or any instrument.
Human knowledge is limited to the five sense organs, namely sound, touch, form, taste and smell perceived respectively by ear, skin, eye, tongue and nose. Even there, he can receive only within a limited range of frequency, e.g., limited range of sound, limited range of light etc. He is unaware of what is beyond the capability of sense organs. What he can detect by his most advanced scientific instruments or reason out by his highly educated mind are all within the domain of five sense organs, nothing more. Therefore he cannot reason out or build a mathematical model or see through his instruments what is beyond all such scientific tricks.
Atma is out of reach. Therefore Atma cannot be detected in any manner either while living in a body or leaving a body. The presence or absence of life is the indication of the presence or absence of Atma.
Rising Sun must set, and setting sun must rise again. Waking man must sleep and sleeping must wake up! This is the universal law. So is man. Once born must die and the dying one must be reborn.
If an atheist and the scientist cannot detect, it does not mean Atma does not exist. His knowledge and the ability to know are grossly limited. If you ask him (atheist and scientist) who he is, he does not know himself. He only point at a sack of filth (his body) as to who he is. What can he (a sack of filth) know about others and about Atma.
Can a mosquito biting an elephant know anything about the elephant? It only knows to survive on the drop of blood of the elephant, nothing more. Similarly, the atheist draws his life from Atma to survive; without Atma, he will drop dead. He not only draws life from Atma, but also lives and exists only in Atma, the very life principle; even then he who denies Atma is a self denying cheat, a liar. In intense hatred, he indulges in attacking God and in destroying His images made by devotees for worship.
This cruel being slaughters innocent animals in order to fatten his own body. He dares God to come on a fight. But God cannot be provoked. His is so kind, like a loving mother, takes tender care of the rogue, and never even thinks of punishing him, even though in a single stroke, He can terminate him.
Actually none of the abuses made on material plane or challenges reach God, who is on a metaphysical plane. So all the abuses get lost here only; don’t reach the abused. But the wrong doer does not go uncaught. His own karma (of sins) will punish him at the appropriate time. Nobody can escape.
The real enemy of the atheist is himself, not God or somebody else. The atheist’s vision is always directed outside, therefore he sees his enemy in the outside world. If he decides to revert his gaze and see within his own self, then he will be able to see his enemy within, his own ego. That ego has complete control over the man and has become the soul itself. It has become so strong and now claims to be the soul (Atma). The all powerful Atma has now become the captive of the ego. Atma appears to have no strength to free himself from the imprisonment of the ego.
Ego is the real enemy. Man is blinded by the ego. This ego is present in all humans. It is the strongest in the atheist. It covers the intellect and makes him blind. Consequently the man sees himself as the body and claims, “I am God”. Ego is the product of ignorance and is of the nature of darkness; so the egotist is blinded by pitch darkness. The ego is the cause of all strife in the world.
Ego is the substratum for all desires, lust, greed, anger, ambition, etc. and all evil tendencies in man. It is the trouble maker everywhere. It is the cause of conflict and disturbance within an individual mind as well as the cause of universal destruction. Any man who wants to do good for himself must catch this culprit and kill him. It resides safely in the heart of everybody, disguised as soul, well wisher and friend. It is very difficult to catch. Search it with the light of renunciation in the heart, and you will find it.
Man’s own inner self (anthahkarana) keeps an unfailing record of his evil deeds and he cannot but confess and submit himself to penalty. So whether or not man believes in God, soul and rebirth, he is inevitably caught and punished repeatedly until all the sin is purged out of him.
A most powerful man in modern day,with heavy protection for safety, becomes a helpless creature before Death. Stripped bare, he becomes all alone, with no defense. A wealthy and powerful man, in spite of his wealth and power, is seen to have no peace of mind here on earth. Then how can he have peace after death, where he has nobody to help and to look after?
Therefore the only way to have peace of mind is to be truthful, unselfish, compassionate to all life, humble and have faith in God, because those with these qualities are found to be having real peace and happiness.
Aw-SriJa
