What Happens After Death
(The article is based on Upanishads. There is no book better than Upanishads on the subject.)
The union of body and soul makes a life, and their separation is death. Soul is a living and knowledgeable entity, but the body itself is neither living nor knowledgeable. It is the soul not the body who feels pain and pleasure. Body is the medium through which soul does all its activities and feels pain and pleasure. When the soul leaves the body, the body can neither do any activity, nor can feel pain or pleasure.
At the time of death when soul leaves the body, the mind also goes with the soul. When the body dies the mind does not die. The impressions of all our actions are saved in the mind and they do not vanish at death. Therefore the mind that goes with the soul at the time of death has stored in it impression of our innumerable lives.
Soul, alongwith mind, remains in the control of God after death until it goes to the womb for next birth. During that period soul remains unconscious. In this position, being without body, the soul neither does any activity nor eats or drinks and nor feels pain or pleasure. God being omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent and controller of the universe, he knows all our actions. Therefore, according to the knowledge and deeds of the soul, he gives a new life to it at the appropriate time and place. Some time may elapse after death before going to the womb.
After birth the new parents arrange for food and living of the offspring. God creates milk in mother’s breast as soon as the baby is born and that milk is the most beneficial to the baby. Therefore donating food, clothes, shraadh etc. after the death of a person for his/her use is useless. Moreover, after the death of a human being, it is not necessary that he/she will get the next life of a human being. According to the deeds done while in human life one can get the next life of an animal, of an insect as well. While in human life if the good deeds are more than the bad deeds one gets the next life of a human being, if bad deeds are more than the good deeds then one has to go to other lives. It all happens according to God’s Justice system because God does only justice.
Some people think that at the time of death God’s agent named ‘Yam’ comes and takes away the soul from the body. But it is not true, ‘Yam’ means the one who arranges just fruits for the actions of all the living beings and the one who never does injustice. Therefore ‘Yam’ is one of the various names of God. So it is only God who enters the soul into the body and takes it away from it. God does not need any agent or peer – pagember or avtar etc. to do His job. He is omnipotent. He is capable of doing all His works by Himself.
Some people have fear of Bhoot, Pret etc. in their minds. This fear is based on falsehood. When a person dies the dead body is called Pret in Sanskrit language. Something that existed before but is no more now is called Bhoot. Therefore there are no living beings by the name of Bhoot or Pret. Therefore such fears are baseless.
People are befooled by saying that after deaths the soul keeps wondering aimlessly for twelve days. This also is not true. It has already been written that after death the soul remains in the full control of God until it goes to the womb for the next birth. In this state the soul is completely unconscious.
People are told that there are eighty four lakh i.e. eight point four million different animal species in the world and only after going through all those different lives one gets a human life. No one knows whether there are eighty four lakh or more of less different species in the world. But it is not true that when a human being dies he/she gets another human life only after going through all those lives. We have come across many examples when a person dies and becomes a human being again in the next life. Moreover, God is completely just. He gives the next life of a human being to a person who does good deeds. God sends a person who does bad deeds to to other lives after death. After one bears the fruits of one’s bad deeds in those other lives he/she is sent back to human life.
Some people think that a baby is in extreme pain while in the mother’s womb and prays to God to take him out of there soon. This is not true either. A baby has no specific knowledge or a feeling of pain or pleasure while in the womb. The story of Abhimanyu of Mahabharat that he learnt how to enter the Chakravyu while in mother’s womb is not right. People make such stories for their entertainment. It is possible that he leant that during his childhood.
After death, one person goes to heaven and another goes to hell – this concept also requires clarification. There are no particular places named as heaven and hell. A person who is in specific situation of happiness is said to be in heaven and the one who is in specific miserable situation is said to be in hell. All this happens as a consequence of one’s own actions. Good deeds of welfare of others bring happiness and bad deeds which hurt others bring miseries. Some of the deeds bear fruit in the present life and others’ fruits are left for the later lives. This is the definition of heaven and hell.
Talking about God and soul – there is only one God. The same one God runs the whole universe. Souls are infinite in number. Every living being has a different and independent soul in it. Soul is not a part of God. God and souls are always present there. They are never born nor they ever die. God is the biggest. He is omnipresent. Soul is the smallest entity. According to Upanishad, if you make ten thousand equal party of the end of a hair, the soul is smaller than even one part of that. As a matter of fact soul is not a physical entity. Therefore, soul has no weight. When the soul leaves the body. Pran (air) also leaves the body. That air has weight.
Soul by itself is neither masculine, nor feminine and not even third gender. What ever body it gets it is said to be of that gender, as water has no color if its own and whatever color is put in it, it is said to be of that color.
Gita says “arms cannot cut a soul, fire can not burn it, water can not spoil it nor air can dry it.” Something more – As a man puts off old torn clothes and wears new ones, similarly a soul sheds of the body which has been rendered useless and adopts a new body.
After cremating a dead body there is no work left due to that person. Any donations etc. made after the death of a person do not good to him/her. Third day after cremation the ashes and bones should be picked and buried somewhere in the cremation ground. It is useless to go to Haridwar or somewhere also to put those in the river there. Whether a person gets good life or bad life after death depends upon his/her good or bad deeds and not on the donations made on his/her behalf after death. Donations bring you happiness only if you make those for good cause and they bring you miseries if made for bad causes.
Krishan C. Garg
0172-4010679
kcg831@gmail.com
