WHAT IS DEATH:- Rebirth & Evolution of Man**** The question of rebirth, of life after death, has remained an enigma through the ages. Human knowledge is hardly capable of answering all the problems that life foreshadows, & Gautama Buddha would say, “In this world of forms & illusions created by our senses according to our illusions, a man either is or is not, either lives or dies, but in the true & formless world this is not so, for all is otherwise than according to our knowledge, & if you ask, does a man live beyond death, I answer No, not in any sense comprehensible to the mind of man which itself dies at death, & if you ask, does a man altogether die at death, I answer No, for what dies is what belongs to this world of form & illusion.” Yet, human mind would not allow itself to be puzzled by a mystic answer without a definite conclusion, & the age of implicit belief in what the wise had said once upon a time is long past. Today we have a perpetual demand for concrete evidence en masse, not of solitary prodigies. But if such be the attitude on a profound mystery like the soul’s transmigration, the obvious answer has to be, “Better wait until you die, & then you can conclusively know.” There arises, therefore, the necessity of a cool, rational, dispassionate & impersonal consideration. Death Is Not the End of Life:- the individual souls or Jivas build various bodies to display their activities & gain experience from this world. They enter the bodies & leave them they become unfit to live in. they build new bodies again & leave them again in the same manner. This is known as transmigration of souls. The entrance of a soul of a soul into a body is called birth. The soul’s departure from the body is called death. A body is dead if the soul is absent. Process of Death :- Vasishtha says in the Yoga-Vasishtha:**************** “When on account of the diseases of the body its Nadis lose their vigour & thus cecome unable to expand & contract in order to exhale or inhale air, the body loses its harmony & becomes restless. The inhaled air does not then properly come out, nor does the exhaled air re-enter the body. So respiration stops. Respiration stopping, the creature becomes senseless & dead. All the desires & ideas of the individual then withdrawn within himself. The individual with all his Vasanas (desires or previous impressions) within himself is called a Jiva. When the body dead, the Pranas of the individual with the Jiva within, come out of the body & roam in the air. The atmospheric air is full of a number of such Pranas which have Jivas within them; these themselves having their respective world-experiences potentially existing within them—I can see them. At that time the individual with all his Vasanas within him is called Preta (gone to the other world.) What Is Soul?:- There are two kinds of souls, viz., the individual soul or Jivatman or the human soul, & Supreme Soul or Jivatman or the human soul, & the Supreme Soul or Paramatman. The individual soul is an image or reflection of the Supreme Soul. Just as the Sun is reflected in different pots of water, so also the Supreme Soul is reflected in different minds of different persons. Soul is spirit. It is immaterial. It is intelligence or consciousness. It is Chaitanya. Individual soul is reflected Chaitanya. It is this individual soul that departs from the body after its death & goes to heaven, with the senses, mind, Prana, impressions, desires & tendencies. It is endowed with a subtle astral body when it proceeds to heaven. RESURRECTION & JUDGMENT:- Resurrection****************************** Resurrection is rising again from the dead. resurrection, judgment by God, reward or punishment are the three important tenets of Mohammedanism, Christianity & Zoroasrianism. The Jews, who lent this doctrine to the Christians & Mohammedans, themselves borrowed it from the Presians. According to some writers the resurrection will be merely spiritual. The general opinion, however, is that both body & the soul will be raised from the grave. It may be asked how will the body which has been decomposed rise again? But mohammed has taken care to preserve one oart of the body to serve as a basis for future edifice, or rather a leaven for the mass which is to be joined to it. He taught that a man’s body was entirely consumed by the earth, except only the called Al Ajib or the coccygis or rump bone. It was the first-formed in the human body. It will also remain uncorrupted till the last day as a seed from which the whole is to be renewed. SOUL AFTER DEATH:- After death the soul goes to the intermediate world (Hamistaken) which corresponds to Purgatory of Christianity. The soul of the righteous meets a beautiful maiden, the embodiment of his pure thoughts, pure words & pure actions. He crosses safely the bridge of the Judge (Chinavat bridge) which is the seat of judgment & reaches heaven. The bridge offers an easy passage for the righteous. The soul passes to ‘Ameshspentas’ the golden seat of Ahuramazda. The soul of the wicked meets a hideous hag, the embodiment of his evil thoughts, evil words & evil actions. he fails to cross the bridge & falls into fire or Hell. The bridge narrows to the size of the edge of a sword for the wicked. What Does the Gita Say on Life After Death:- The Blessed Lord said: “Many births have been left behind by Me & by thee, O Arjuna, I know then all, but thou knowest not thine, O Parantapa. “This eternal individual Jiva, the world of Jivas, is a ray of Myself & at the time of leaving the body he draws round himself the various senses, that is, the sense of hearing, sense of sight, sense of touch, sense of smell & senses of taste, with the mind as sixth sense, all these having their abode in Prakriti i.e., the world of matter, as distinguished from the Purusha, who is the Paramatman. When He acquires a body, & when He departs from the same, the Isvara takes these & goes out, even as the wind is laden with fragrance gathered from flowers & other sources. Verily, the perverted & the deluded do not perceive Him, who thus leaves the body, or who resided & enjoyed in the body in conjunction with the senses; but the Sages, endowed with the eye of wisdom, do perceive Him.