Baba ji says that the emotion which is predominant in our lives is also the one which prevails during our last hours i.e. at death. Elaborating on this, he says that if we have kept with us the emotion of resentment and dissatisfaction in life, cursing others for not doing as much for us as we have done for them, this emotion adds to the agony during death and is carried with the karmic baggage in the next life.
Doing sadhna and steering the mind towards divinity thus becomes essential during one’s lifetime so that the predominant emotion when we are fully awake and alive turns to that of divine bliss. In such a scenario, while at death like while alive, one knows that the worldly existence was a temporary one as per our karmas and that our sojourn on the planet is up and we are heading towards the infinite Shiva, Who is our place of origin and ultimate destination.
When we practice meditation all our lives and become the purest being, after death the soul will enter an equally pure dimension.
The soul leaving the body is like a meditation session, requiring silence, peace and tranquility. However, the customs, practices and traditions which exist today result in inconsolable weeping, mourning, delirious crying, bereavement and unending sorrow when someone dies. The tussle to cry is so much that people have come to think that the one who cries the most, loved the dead person the most.
Contrary to helping the soul, we disturb the process of introspection and the process of readying for soul departure that the body is undergoing which includes, sucking out of life force energy from all organs, exit of the 4 bodies, rise of the Kundalini and the attempt by the inner and outer self to understand the Ultimate Truth.
In the final few hours, efforts must be made to create a convivial and conducive atmosphere for the soul to leave for its Higher Abode. This should be done either by chanting or playing of the Om Mantra, any other Mantra or the Guru Mantra so that all the focus of the departure is towards the real destination without thinking about the worldly relations, wealth, fortune, cravings, desires and attachments.
Baba ji explains that sleep is in a way akin to death. When we sleep and are in the dream state, our subtle bodies navigate in various dimensions as per what we consciously do, as per the impressions in the sub conscious mind and the level of consciousness we attain through what we do. In death too this occurs. The difference however is that the invisible ‘Spiritual cord’ that connects all our 4 bodies with the physical body remains tied in dreams so that after the sleep they come back and retain their position. In death however, nature snaps and cuts this cord and that astral bodies don’t come back to align along the physical body.
Now when we know that in dreams too our body travels in various dimensions, Baba ji affirms that it is for this reason that dreams must be peaceful and positive. To experience this, there is nothing better than Shree Vidya sadhna before sleeping which works on multifarious dimensions and its omnipotent mantra enters our sub conscious, leading to a divine dream journey and cosmic light illuminating our inner self to wake up all energized.
Baba ji elucidates the phenomenon of death by likening it to sleep. He says that the astral bodies venture out even while sleep as they do during death, the difference being in them being tied to the physical body in sleep through the spiritual or silver or etheric cord roughly near the region of our belly button.
At the time of departure, the soul first snaps out the supply of Life Force energy or Prana to various organs one by one. The Prana is the driving force of our physical organs as it provides the fuel in the second body or Pran Shareer which in turn regulates the Sthool shareer or the physical body. As the process of sapping Life force energy from the organs occurs, the 4 bodies try to align themselves and the consciousness turns inwards i.e. it tries to ignore the physical surroundings and happenings around the person at that time, in its efforts to reach to the Sehastrasar chakra.
The aim of all meditative processes, chanting, good deeds throughout our lives is spiritual growth which is measured by the level of consciousness. The consciousness is the Kundalini Shakti which is present in the Base chakra or Mooladhar chakra. Through regular sadhna and by leading a life in conformity with the Guru’s teachings, what we indirectly do is to pull the consciousness up from the Mooladhar towards the Sehastrasar chakra to attain the end of karmas or the state of Siddhatwa or the state of Self Realization or Moksha.
When a person has not been imparted the knowledge of the real purpose of birth and death, he supposes and assumes that his real identity is the body. So, such a person at the time of death thinks that someone is pulling out his breath. He tries to fight back in the scramble to stay in the body. It is in such a context that the real Wisdom of the Art of Dying becomes so essential.
We are not permanent on this planet. As humans it is just a short journey on this planet to clear our karmic debts, to forgive, distribute love, through meditation burn all our accumulated karmas of this and previous births and finally merge with the Supreme Shiva which is the Infinite.
Our real identity too is not this body. The real ‘I’ is the soul. The body is just a vehicle of this soul. The soul cannot clear its karmic baggage in its raw state. It requires a body of 5 elements. It requires 4 astral bodies to go with a physical body.
Source: Shiv Yog Foundation
