Part One – The Moment of Death

Life after death; a topic of great importance to many. Some simply want to know what happens when the body dies. Others want to see where their loved-ones have gone and some want to realize the purpose of death and the reason behind existence in general.

In fact, almost all of the great spiritual systems and great religions do believe that there is a life after death. The belief is, God made man in his own image. God being God, is immortal, which imposes man to be immortal as well.

So, now the question is, what happens after death!

Based on Theosophy, as the hour of death approaches, life-forces of the body get withdrawn from the extremities and gather in the heart center, which can be seen as a glowing focus of light at the heart. When this happens, the sensation in the lower limbs diminishes to a high extent. As the moment of death draws nearer, the life-forces are withdrawn still further and are focused this time in the middle of the head. Pineal gland in located at the center of the head, that is the center of soul-consciousness during physical life and has a great spiritual significance in many spiritual practices, including Master Choa Kok Sui’s Arhatic Yoga. It is often known as the gateway or terminal to the inner world.

When this moment arrives, the dying person may or may not be physically conscious anymore. If unconscious, such as in the case of a coma patient, he will be seen by clairvoyants out of his physical body.

The body that a dead person uses, is finer than ether and is often called the astral body as it is built of self-luminous matter that glows, as if lighted from within. This body is surrounded by an atmosphere, visible as light in constantly changing colors.

These colors correspond to states of consciousness and change with every change of feeling and thought.

“A rush, of sympathy for someone in pain or trouble, for example, suffuses the aura with green; intellectual effort suffuses it with yellow.”

– Geoffrey Hodson

In this case, the aura of the dying patient will be floating outside his physical body and is joined to it by a stream of flowing forces between the head of the physical and astral bodies that shine with a delicate silvery light. As long as the flow continues, there is always a possibility of physical awakening.  Once it is broken, there will be no longer possibility of return!

Sometimes the dying person return to his body temporarily. In this case, when he opens his eyes he may see some of the phenomena of the inner world, including people who are no longer physically alive.

When the actual moment of death arrives, the “silver cord” breaks. This will make man rise as though released from a gravitational pull. So man gets freed from his body.

In most cases, the dying person is unconscious of dying process as of falling asleep. He generally gets involved in a process of reviewing the events of his life, good and bad.  He will see all the activities in a clear perspective; the causes and effects, the successes and their results, the failures and their outworkings. The review is of great importance for from it a certain wisdom will be distilled. We will focus on the process of review in the next article of Life after Death.

Any disturbances, excess grief or crying in the chamber of death affects the process of dying and therefore hurts the dying person. As much as possible the place should be kept physically, emotionally and mentally quiet to allow the person peacefully follow the process of death and move on to higher subtler bodies.

When the dying person leaves the physical body, he now lives in the astral body, also known as emotional body, which is highly sensitive to the forces of thoughts and emotions. Therefore any negative thought or emotion from the family members and friends will highly disturb him.

Our feeling towards him should be of love and compassion. Blessing and invocation can be used at this time to fasten his progress inward to the inner world with calmness and self-control.

Many spiritual teachings, including Theosophy and Arhatic Yoga, recommend us not to dwell on our loss, but to focus on the transcendent gain of the dying person who is now freed from the limitations of the physical body.

References

1. Besant, A. (2010). Death and After and Memories of Past Lives. Kessinger Publishing.
2. Hodson, G. (1958). Clairvoyant Research and the Life After Death. Theosophical Publishing House.
3. Master Choa Kok Sui. (2005). Achieving Oneness With The Higher Soul. Institute for Inner Studies.