Esoterics what happens to the soul after death. Where does the soul go after a person dies?

The first nine days are very important both for the soul of the deceased and for the living. We will tell you what path a person’s soul takes, what it experiences, and whether the relatives of the deceased can alleviate its fate.

When a person dies, his soul overcomes certain boundaries. And this happens after 3, 9, 40 days after death. Despite the fact that everyone knows that these days it is necessary to organize funeral meals, order services in churches and pray intensely, few people understand why. In this article we will tell you about what happens on the 9th day to a person’s soul, why this day is so important and how the living can help the soul of the deceased.

According to Orthodox tradition, a person is buried on the third day. In the first days after death, the soul has enormous freedom. She is not yet fully aware of the fact of death, so she carries all the “baggage of life knowledge” with her. All the hopes, attachments, fears and aspirations of the soul pull it towards certain places and people. It is believed that these days the soul wants to be near its body, as well as near people close to it. Even if a person died far from home, the soul longs to be with loved ones. The soul may also be drawn to places that meant a lot to it during life. This time is given to the soul so that it gets used to and adapts to incorporeal existence.

As soon as the third day arrives, the soul no longer has the freedom it once possessed. She is taken by angels and escorted to heaven to worship God. For this reason, a memorial service is held - living people say goodbye to a person and his soul completely.

After worshiping God, the soul is shown Paradise and the righteous who live in it. This “excursion” lasts for six days. During this time, according to the Fathers of the Church, the soul begins to be tormented: on the one hand, it sees how beautiful this place is and that Paradise is the main goal of human existence. On the other hand, the soul understands that it is unworthy to be among the saints, since it has many vices and sins. On the ninth day, the angels return for the soul and accompany the soul to the Lord.

What do you need to do these days alive?

We should not hope that the walk of the soul is an otherworldly matter that does not concern us. On the contrary, the soul needs our support and all possible help for 9 days. At this time, the living can hope more than ever for the relief of the suffering of the soul and its salvation. This can be done through prayer in church and at home. After all, even if a person was a sinner, they pray for him, this means that there is something good in him, something because of which the soul deserves a better fate. Of course, it is advisable to order a service in a temple, but prayers for the 9th day should also be personal, from yourself. In addition, you can help the soul of a loved one with good deeds, such as donation and alms.

This may seem strange, but the ninth day in Orthodoxy even has some festive connotations. And all because people believe that after staying in Paradise, even as a guest, the soul will be able to adequately praise God. And if a person was completely righteous and led a pious life, then it is believed that after 9 days the soul can be transferred to a Holy place.

Content

According to Christian beliefs, after death a person continues to live, but in a different capacity. His spirit, having left the physical shell, begins its path to God. What is ordeal, where does the soul go after death, should it fly away and what happens to it after separation from the body? After death, the spirit of the deceased is tested by trials. In Christian culture they are called “ordeal.” There are twenty of them in total, each more complex than the previous one, depending on the sins committed by a person during his lifetime. After this, the spirit of the deceased goes to Heaven or is cast into the Underworld.

Is there life after death

Two topics that will always be discussed are life and death. Since the creation of the world, philosophers, literary figures, doctors, and prophets have been arguing about what happens to the soul when it leaves the human body. What happens after death and is there life at all after the spirit leaves the physical shell? It just so happens that a person will always think about these burning topics in order to know the truth - turn to the Christian religion or other teachings.

What happens to a person when he dies

Having completed his life's journey, a person dies. From the physiological side, this is the process of stopping all systems and processes of the body: brain activity, breathing, digestion. Proteins and other substrates of life decompose. Approaching death also affects a person's emotional state. There is a change in the emotional background: loss of interest in everything, isolation, isolation from contacts with the outside world, conversations about imminent death, hallucinations (past and present are mixed).

What happens to the soul after death

The question of where the soul goes after death is always interpreted differently. However, the clergy are unanimous in one thing: after a complete cardiac arrest, a person continues to live in a new status. Christians believe that the spirit of the departed, who lived a righteous life, is transferred by angels to Paradise, while the sinner is destined to go to Hell. The deceased needs prayers that will save him from eternal torment, help the spirit pass tests and get to Paradise. The prayers of loved ones, not tears, can work miracles.

Christian doctrine says that man will live forever. Where does the soul go after a person dies? His spirit goes to the kingdom of heaven to meet the Father. This path is very difficult and depends on how a person lived his worldly life. Many clergy perceive their departure not as a tragedy, but as a long-awaited meeting with God.

Third day after death

For the first two days, the spirits of the dead fly around the earth. This is the period when they are close to their body, to their home, wander through places dear to them, say goodbye to their relatives, and end their earthly existence. Not only angels, but also demons are nearby at this time. They are trying to win her over to their side. On the third day, the ordeal of the soul begins after death. This is the time to worship the Lord. Relatives and friends should pray. Prayers are performed in honor of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

On day 9

Where does a person go after death on the 9th day? After the 3rd day, the Angel accompanies the spirit to the gates of Paradise so that he can see all the beauty of the heavenly abode. Immortal souls stay there for six days. They temporarily forget the sadness of leaving their body. While enjoying the sight of beauty, the soul, if it has sins, must repent. If this does not happen, then she will be in hell. On the 9th day, the Angels again present the soul to the Lord.

At this time, the church and relatives perform a prayer service for the deceased with a request for mercy. Commemorations are held in honor of 9 angelic ranks, who are protectors during the Last Judgment and servants of the Almighty. For the deceased, the “burden” is no longer so heavy, but very important, because the Lord uses it to determine the future path of the spirit. Relatives remember only good things about the deceased and behave very calmly and quietly.

There are certain traditions that help the spirit of the departed. They symbolize eternal life. At this time, relatives:

1. They perform a prayer service in the church for the repose of the spirit.
2. At home they cook kutya from wheat seeds. It is mixed with sweets: honey or sugar. Seeds are reincarnation. Honey or sugar is a sweet life in another world, helping to avoid a difficult afterlife.

On day 40

The number “40” can be found very often in the pages of the Holy Scriptures. Jesus Christ ascended to the Father on the fortieth day. For the Orthodox Church, this became the basis for organizing commemorations of the deceased on the fortieth day after death. The Catholic Church does this on the thirtieth day. However, the meaning of all events is the same: the soul of the deceased ascended to the holy Mount Sinai and achieved bliss.

After the spirit is reintroduced before the Lord on the 9th day by the Angels, it goes to Hell, where it sees the souls of sinners. The spirit remains in the Underworld until the 40th day, and appears before God for the third time. This is the period when a person’s fate is determined by his earthly affairs. In posthumous fate, it is important that the soul repents of everything it has done and prepares for the future correct life. Remembrances atone for the sins of the deceased. For the subsequent resurrection of the dead, it is important how the spirit passes through purgatory.

Six months

Where does the soul go after death six months later? The Almighty has decided on the future fate of the spirit of the deceased person; it is no longer possible to change anything. You can't sob and cry. This will only harm the soul and cause severe torment. However, relatives can help and ease the fate with prayers and remembrances. It is necessary to pray, calming the soul, showing it the right path. Six months later, the spirit comes to her family for the penultimate time.

Anniversary

It is important to remember the anniversary of death. Prayers performed before this time helped determine where the soul would go after death. A year after death, relatives and friends perform a prayer service in the temple. You can simply remember the deceased from a heartfelt heart if it is not possible to attend church. On this day, souls come to their families for the last time to say goodbye, then a new body awaits them. For a believer, a righteous person, the anniversary gives a start to a new, eternal life. The annual circle is the liturgical cycle after which all holidays are permitted.

Where does the soul go after death?

There are several versions of where people live after death. Astrologers believe that the immortal soul ends up in space, where it settles on other planets. According to another version, it hovers in the upper atmosphere. The emotions that a spirit experiences influence whether it goes to the highest level (Heaven) or the lowest (Hell). In the Buddhist religion it is said that having found eternal peace, a person’s spirit moves into another body.

Mediums and psychics claim that the soul is connected with the other world. It often happens that after death she remains close to loved ones. Spirits who have not completed their work appear in the form of ghosts, astral bodies, and phantoms. Some protect their relatives, others want to punish their offenders. They contact the living through knocks, sounds, the movement of things, and the short-term appearance of themselves in visible form.

The Vedas, the sacred scriptures of the Earth, say that after leaving the body, souls pass through tunnels. Many people who have experienced clinical death describe them as channels in their own body. There are 9 of them in total: ears, eyes, mouth, nostrils (separately left and right), anus, genitals, crown, navel. It was believed that if the spirit came out of the left nostril, it went to the moon, from the right - to the sun, through the navel - to other planets, through the mouth - to the earth, through the genitals - to the lower layers of existence.

Souls of dead people

As soon as the souls of deceased people leave their physical shells, they do not immediately understand that they are in a subtle body. At first, the spirit of the deceased floats in the air, and only when he sees his body does he realize that he has separated from it. The qualities of a deceased person during life determine his emotions after death. Thoughts and feelings, character traits do not change, but become open to the Almighty.

Soul of a child

It is believed that a child who dies before the age of 14 immediately goes to the First Heaven. The child has not yet reached the age of desires and is not responsible for actions. The child remembers his past incarnations. The First Heaven is the place where the soul awaits rebirth. A deceased child is awaited by a deceased relative or a person who loved children very much during his lifetime. He meets the child immediately after the hour of death and escorts him to the waiting place.

In the First Heaven, a child has everything he wants, his life resembles a beautiful game, he learns goodness, receives visual lessons on how evil deeds affect a person. All emotions and knowledge remain in the baby’s memory even after rebirth. People who live nobly in ordinary life are believed to owe these lessons learned and experiences in First Heaven.

Soul of a Suicidal Man

Any teaching and belief states that a person does not have the right to take his own life. The actions of any suicide are dictated by Satan. After death, the soul of a suicided person strives for Paradise, the gates of which are closed to it. The spirit is forced to return, but it cannot find its body. The ordeal lasts until the time of natural death. Then the Lord makes a decision according to his soul. Previously, people who committed suicide were not buried in the cemetery; suicide items were destroyed.

Animal souls

The Bible says that everything has a soul, but “they are taken from dust and will return to dust.” Confessors sometimes agree that some pets are capable of transformation, but it is impossible to say exactly where the animal’s soul ends up after death. It is given and taken away by the Lord himself; the soul of an animal is not eternal. However, Jews believe that it is equal to human meat, so there are various prohibitions on eating meat.

Video

Death is only realized by those lives that are self-aware, and is sadly misunderstood only by human beings.

What is there behind the veil, if there is another life or everything ends here? These eternal questions are asked by millions of generations of people, and each of them receives exactly the answer that is worthy of his level of awareness of eternity. For some, death is the end of everything, but for others it is just another stage in their personal evolution. Death for most people, regardless of their worldview, is simply an inexplicable phenomenon that brazenly invades their personal lives and destroys all their plans for the future.

What is death? And why is the overwhelming majority of people so terrified of death that they are ready to do anything to delay it even for an hour. What is the reason for such primal fear? There are two main reasons, although Alice A. Bailey in her treatise “On the Seven Rays” indicates as many as seven of them, but still I would classify only two of them as the main ones, because they are inherent in the vast majority of the inhabitants of planet Earth. The first and main one is the horror of the unknown and uncertain that awaits us after death. More than one mortal has not yet returned from behind the veil of death, and this unknown frightens us. And the second is that we identify ourselves with this physical body.

The loss of our physical body gives us an animal fear that along with the body we will lose our individuality and cease to exist as individuals. What we have saved with such difficulty all our lives can disappear for us in one moment. The fear of this loss makes us cling so vainly to our worthless life. Our fear of death is generated by our terrifying ignorance, our complete ignorance of the truth that death hides. This happens because most people consider themselves to be the external body that they possess and therefore think that with the destruction of this physical body they will also cease to exist. Many, knowing the beginning and seeing only one end, live their lives aimlessly, wasting years on trifles and wasting incredible energy on accumulating illusory and unnecessary values.

Death will inspire its ancient horror in such people as long as their consciousness identifies itself with this body. But as soon as we realize that we are a soul, we will understand: that there is no death, there is only a temporary transition to another plane of existence in the process of the eternal evolution of our soul. Alice A. Bailey, in her treatise on the seven rays, writes; “Death occurs for a specific person, in the usual sense of the word, when the will to live leaves the physical body and the will to separate takes its place.” I completely agree with this interpretation of death, although I admit that it cannot be one hundred percent suitable for all cases of death. After all, there are also cases of sudden death, when the will to live is still quite strong, but here completely different karmic laws are already in effect, very difficult to understand due to the fact that we do not know the reasons for their action. As a rule, these reasons are hidden in past lives and are inaccessible to the understanding of the vast majority of people, so such deaths seem unfair to them. Although the law of karma is absolute and fair, even if a three-year-old child is killed, no matter how cruel it may sound, he deserves it.

Death remains the same inevitable truth now as before. She stands behind each of us, and no one can escape from her or escape her cold breath. Death is the reverse process of birth. Birth is the embodiment of consciousness, death is its disembodiment, but in both cases consciousness passes from one state to another. Having barely been born, we are already condemned to die, for birth is the first step towards death. The movement towards death is inexorable. It never stops. We begin to die from the moment we are born. There was one question I liked to ask people back in the day; “What is the cause of death of all living beings”? The majority named the generally accepted reasons, old age, illness, accidents and the like, and only a small minority could give the correct answer. Although the answer itself is so obvious that it lies on the surface and when I named it, all people agreed with it and were amazed how they themselves had not thought of it. The answer itself is very simple; "The cause of death is birth."

After all, no one will argue with the first obvious fact that we were all born, as well as with the other obvious fact that we will all eventually die someday. These two things are obvious to all people, regardless of their age, race, religion, everything else can change. Only birth and death will remain unchanged as long as humanity exists. Perhaps these concepts will soon acquire different meanings, but people will still be born and die. In one of the most ancient religious treatises, Bhagavad Gita (chapter 2, art. 27) it is written; “He who is born will certainly die, and after death he will certainly be born again. Therefore, one should not indulge in grief while performing one’s duty.”

For the vast majority of people, consciousness is blocked at the moment of their transition, that is, they cease to remember their past incarnations. Their life experience does not disappear, but it moves from the area of ​​the conscious to the area of ​​the subconscious, and in a new incarnation it begins to be realized at the level of instincts and talents. Only a few of the adepts can consciously maintain clarity of mind at the moment of transition - this is true immortality. This is exactly how Don Juan the magician and sorcerer describes real immortality from the books of the famous mystic Carlos Castaneda. Trying to make the physical body immortal is absolute stupidity; you cannot stop the flow of time. Maintain clarity of consciousness at the moment of transition, and you will become truly immortal. It was precisely this kind of immortality that the greatest initiates of the earth strove for. For those who, while still alive, have unraveled the mystery of death for themselves, conscious dying is an Initiation, which gives the ability in further existence to consciously control the processes of Birth (manifestation) and Death (disembodiment).

There are a lot of legends about the so-called “immortality pills,” although you yourself understand perfectly well that a physical immortality pill does not exist in nature. In Laya Yoga there are teachings called “kaya kalpa” and “rasayana” that help yogis preserve the life of their physical body for many years and even millennia, but they still cannot make them immortal. According to the teachings of the Taoist sages, true immortality consists in melting the “immortality pill” within oneself, that is, maintaining clarity of consciousness at the moment of death. The famous Tibetan treatise “Bardo Tedol” or as it is also called “Tibetan Book of the Dead” can help you with this. There are also more ancient sources on the rules of dying, for example, the Egyptian Book of the Dead. True, they are all written in esoteric language and for the most part will be incomprehensible to the majority of readers. Yes, this is not required of them, for they were written for the elite, for those who wanted to understand the essence of death. Most people deliberately avoid talking about death because the mention of death evokes in them real feelings of their own demise. It seems to them that by talking about death, they are bringing their own death closer - this is, of course, stupidity. Talking about death does not bring your death closer, but it does make it clearer - that's a fact.

Modern science knows quite a lot about the processes associated with dying, but it still cannot give an answer: what happens to our consciousness after the death of the physical body? The moment when most of the body’s functions cease to be measured by instruments is usually called the “moment of Death,” but this applies only to the physical body, but what happens to our soul at this moment? Dr. Raymond Moody's book, Life After Life, attempts to answer this question. It describes enough post-mortem experiences to make most readers think about it.

Now let's talk a little about death itself. There are several signs of imminent death, they are of two types, psychological and physical, all of them are quite well described in books such as “Zhud-Shi”, “Bardo Tedol”, “The Art of Dying”. We will consider only those that most people can identify. Let's start with the most important psychological thing - the lack of desire to live. The process of death is controlled by our desire, just like other life processes. It is an obvious fact that in the absence of the will to live, death is inevitable. Lack of the will to live triggers the mechanism of death. Some do it deliberately, others are simply tired of living.

There is one interesting parable for this case. Alexander the Great asked the court sage; “How long should a person live,” and he answered: “A person should live until he considers that dying is better than living.” And it’s true, everyone chooses for themselves the line to which they want to live. As long as you have a purpose in life you will live. Look at the example of some parents, they live while their children or grandchildren need their help, but as soon as such help is no longer needed, they quickly fade away. This happens because they cannot change their priorities. They had one goal in life - their children, and when it is gone, they cannot find another, and being left without a goal, they lose the will to live and quickly die.

The code of Bushi-do, the code of honor of the Japanese samurai, is very interesting in the sense of accepting death. There is a special section called “Facing Death.” I will give only a few statements, but this will be quite enough to understand what deep meaning is hidden in this section; “True courage is to live when it is right to live, and to die when it is right to die. Clinging to life when death has come is unworthy of a true warrior. Making clear final statements is the duty of a true warrior. In everyday affairs, remember death and keep this word in your heart. When your thoughts constantly revolve around death, your life path will be straight and simple. Those who hold on to life die, and those who are not afraid of death live. Everything is decided by the spirit. If you are ready to kill, then you are ready to die. Bushi-do - The Way of the Warrior - means death. When there are two paths to choose from, choose the one that leads to death."

And so we have decided on the main psychological sign of death - this is the lack of desire to live. For the sake of symmetry, let's look at a few physical signs of death. They come in two types, distant and close, that is, those that occur immediately before death, and those that appear some time before death (from a month to six months). Distant signs include facial symmetry. In the vast majority of people, both halves of the face are not symmetrical, that is, they have slight differences. If, looking in the mirror, you notice that your face has become symmetrical, this means that it is time to prepare for the transition. Among other external signs of approaching death, one can note the disappearance of the sensation of light or color while pressing fingers on the eyelids of closed eyes on the first day of each month. If, after pressing on your eyes, you do not feel any changes in color sensations, then your Death is already close.

The same can be said regarding the sensation of the subtlest ringing or resonance in the ears - if it is no longer felt, then one should begin one’s preparation for dying. An unusually pale tip of the nose, foreshadowing death a few days before it, can also tell a knowledgeable person a lot. There are also closer signs, three of them are main: 1) a feeling of heaviness in the body - “earth in water” 2) a feeling of cold, as if the body was in water, which gradually turns into feverish heat - “water on fire” 3) a feeling , as if the body is being torn into tiny atoms - “fire in the air.” Each symptom is accompanied by external changes, such as: loss of control over the facial muscles, loss of hearing and vision, intermittent breathing before fainting. I will not describe the signs further, but if they interest you, you can turn to specialized literature; Oris’s book “The Art of Dying” is very good in this regard.

Unlike the Tibetan and Egyptian “Books of the Dead,” it is written in modern, understandable language with a minimum of Sanskrit terms and is essentially a practical reference book on “necropedia,” a kind of textbook on preparing for the experience of real, real death. A person dies only once in his life and therefore, having no experience, as a rule, dies unsuccessfully. Books about death will help you gain the necessary experience. They, of course, do not guarantee one hundred percent success, but they can help you understand the basics of the processes that happen to you during death. Knowing these processes will help you not be confused at the moment of your own death. According to all religious teachings, the moment of death is one of the most important moments in our evolution. Because it is he who determines the conditions of our further existence. It is not for nothing that in all religions, at the moment of death, the presence of a spiritual mentor is necessary to facilitate the process of death and direct the soul in the right direction. Unfortunately, modern urbanized society does not pay due attention to this process. It is rare that a confessor is called to a dying person, although not only a clergyman can act as a confessor. The confessor can also be a relative of the dying person, and this is even preferable, because such a person is more trustworthy.

Dying is a process of contact with Eternity. Pythagoras spoke in his mysteries; “Earthly birth is death, death is resurrection from a spiritual point of view.” The moment of death is no different from any other. This is another life experience that needs to be met while awake. The change of both lives is necessary for the development of the soul, where is it better to die, the answer is clear: of course, at home in the circle of family and friends. I know that the process of death is not very pleasant for others, because it reminds them of their own death. Many people try to get rid of their dying relatives by putting them in the hospital - this is absolutely wrong. Think, you, too, will have to die someday, how you would like this to happen, and draw the appropriate conclusions. And you must also remember that everyone chooses the moment to which they want to live. It happens that we all see that treatment is useless, but a person asks us to treat him. What to do in such cases, the answer is clear; if you have the opportunity, you need to treat. You may lose in material things, but you will gain infinitely much in spiritual things. It is not for us to judge a person, and if he asks for help and we have the opportunity to help, we must help, no matter how difficult it may be for us. It is also impossible to impose treatment on a person if he decides to leave - it is his right to die as he wants. I am not a supporter of euthanasia; everyone should try to fully atone for their karma, no matter how difficult it may be.

The death of the traveler Thor Heyerdahl is very indicative in this case. When he was diagnosed with cancer, he said: “I lived well, and I want to die well,” and refused treatment, although he had enough money to continue treatment. He preferred to die with dignity than to continue his existence at the cost of incredible material and moral costs. Not many in our world are capable of such a decisive step, and he did not commit suicide, he simply gave it the opportunity to fade away naturally. In this context, a few words about suicides. From an evolutionary point of view, this is absolute stupidity. You cannot avoid your karma in this way; by such actions you only postpone it for a while. In your next incarnation you will be forced to start from where you left off in your previous life. So what is the point in such a delay? Suicide is not only a manifestation of cowardice, but also a step back on the path of soul evolution.

Most of us cling to our miserable lives, with shaking hands, spending colossal material resources on this in order to extend our lives at least a little. Which you can’t even call life, so much as a worthless existence in a hospital bed. We must honestly admit that doctors are largely to blame for this; they give us unrealistic hopes, even if they see that the end is inevitable. This is the problem with all Western medicine, which treats to the last. Some unscrupulous doctors take advantage of this and extract the last pennies from the dying and their relatives. In the east a completely different concept has been adopted; there, if a doctor undertakes to treat a patient, and he dies, he is a bad doctor and they will try not to contact him again. But if a doctor refuses to treat a patient, citing the fact that he cannot help in any way and the patient will soon die, no one will condemn him, but on the contrary, he will gain respect in the eyes of his patients and their relatives. This difference in approach is based on the different understanding of the meaning of life for Eastern and Western people. Western people are more pragmatic in their perception of the material world and less spiritual, while the Eastern type, on the contrary, is more spiritual and less material. We ourselves see this very well, material progress comes from the West, the material standard of living is higher in the West than in the East. The East offers us a spiritual path of development, as opposed to material well-being. Now these two concepts of world perception are cooperating with each other, and a new concept of world perception is entering the world stage, but this is a topic for another conversation.

And so, let's look at the dying process itself in a little more detail. First: keep the room silent. All this crying and lamentation does not help the dying person, but rather distracts him. When people understand the true meaning of death, then the whole ritual of death will not have such a sad connotation; it will rather resemble a solemn farewell ceremony. After all, all this sadness and longing for the departed is due only to our ignorance of the true processes of life. The silence can only be broken by the reading of funeral prayers, and even better, instructions about death, if any. Now about the position of the dying person’s body: the crown of the dying person’s head should be symbolically directed to the east, and his arms and legs should be crossed. It is in this position of the body that the soul leaves it most easily.

The dying process itself can last from a few minutes to several hours, and you must have the patience to see it through to the end. You should think only positively about the dying person, and it is better to remember the most pleasant moments of your life together. Keep in mind that the dying person may not hear you, but he will perceive your thoughts very well. The world of the dead interacts with the world of the living, much better than we living interact with the world of the dead. Therefore, do not anger the dying, so as not to create a problem for yourself. It’s not for nothing that they say: either only good things are said about the dying, or nothing at all. Over time, the influence of the dead on the living weakens, but at the first stage it is very strong, keep this in mind. Don’t make the mistake of some who, having spent money on treating relatives, begin to publicly regret it after their death. Such hypocrisy can offend the deceased, and he can create problems for you on the spiritual plane. It is better to refuse treatment while the dying person is alive than to regret the money spent after his death. Don’t be a hypocrite, be honest with yourself and those around you, find the strength in yourself to refuse the dying person, but remember, we will all die someday, and so will you.

Now a few words about how best to die. Most want to die quickly and in their sleep. According to Vedic knowledge, death in a dream is not the best option, because it does not happen consciously and there is a very high probability of ending up in not the best conditions of your next existence. It is better to die conscious and in the presence of loved ones. It is very important for a dying person to forgive all the grievances that the survivors caused him; he should not carry the burden of grievances with him into the afterlife. The same applies to the living, forgive the dying person all the insults that he caused you, he still will not be able to correct them, and the burden of unforgiven insults will drag him to the ground for a long time, preventing him from achieving liberation. The same Vedas claim that the harder a person dies, the more karmic consequences he carries with him. If this happened to you, find the strength to go through this path to the end. Don’t try to avoid them, it’s not possible, you can only stretch out the consequences over time, but what if this makes sense? Only the righteous die quickly and beautifully, of whom there are not so many. We all have some sins to one degree or another, so don’t worry. Only great initiates can disappear in front of thousands of people, whose bodies are so cleansed of karmic consequences that they can dissolve right before their eyes like fog. We are mere mortals and will die as we deserve, but while we live we must remember that with good deeds we can deserve a more pleasant death.

Now about what is best to do with the body, cremate or bury the remains. Christian tradition prefers burial of the body in the ground, although cremation of the body is still preferable. There are many reasons for cremation, starting with the fact that it is more hygienic and takes up less space. But the most important thing is that this will allow us to very quickly enter the stage of posthumous existence due to the accelerated release of the subtle conductors of our body. With cremation, this occurs within a few hours, instead of several days when the body is buried in the ground. Which method to choose is up to you. And keep in mind all these huge monuments and marble busts of the dead are useless. As Diderot Denis said; “Rot under marble or underground, it still rots.” In ancient times, all these signs were placed on graves with only one purpose: to remind us of the dead. In our time and in our country, this takes on hypertrophied forms. Walk into a cemetery and you will see people competing to see whose monument is cooler and bigger. At the same time, forgetting about the deceased themselves and remembering them, at best, on the day of obedience. For the deceased, the main thing is our memory of them; material attributes no longer concern them. So think about it: an expensive monument is a tribute to the deceased or a tribute to your vanity: “That’s how cool I am, I can do it, but they can’t.”

Personally, I try to perceive death as a kind of transition to another plane of existence. I prepared a tombstone for myself in advance with the inscription; “Life has passed, here’s the result: I lived not as I wanted, but as I could.” By the way, it was customary in Rus' to prepare for death in advance long before Christianity appeared here. And in small villages this custom has been preserved to this day; they prepare a coffin for themselves in advance. I remember how, as a child, I was shocked by a coffin in the attic of my friend’s house in the village. The guy himself took the coffin quite calmly: “This is my grandfather,” he told me; but what struck me most of all was that his grandfather was a quite cheerful old man and had no intention of dying at all. I in no way encourage you to buy a coffin and place it in the hallway of your two-room apartment and thereby scare your friends, just be mentally prepared and that’s all.

Don't be afraid of death, it will still come to you, just prepare for it and then it won't take you by surprise. Although this is also very doubtful, because death always comes unexpectedly, even if you expect it. Let me remind you of the words of Woland from Mikhail Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita”: “Yes, man is mortal, but that would not be so bad. The bad thing is that he is sometimes suddenly mortal, that’s the trick.” Remember: only immature souls fear death, be mature.

Question: What are the doctrines of rebirth and karma?

Answer: Rebirth and karma are the main doctrines of Buddhism, but they also existed in some other systems of esoteric philosophy, in particular in the Pythagorean and Platonic schools. The doctrine of rebirth assumes that a person lives on Earth not once, but many times. He returns here until he has perfectly mastered every lesson that our world has to teach him.

According to the doctrine of karma, everything that happens in nature is subject to the law of cause and effect. When applied to a person, this law means that everything that happens to a person is an aspect of universal justice. Each person is in the place that he himself deserves. Everyone does what they have the right to do. No one suffers for other people's mistakes - only for their own. Thus, the only path to happiness is to live correctly, thereby setting in motion constructive cycles of cause and effect. If we want to become wise, we must earn wisdom. Every person living on earth is in the place that he has earned through his actions in this or past lives.

The average number of lives through which a person passes in a cycle of evolution is about eight hundred. By the eight hundredth time a person returns to this world, he usually already knows which way of life is correct. Rebirths make perfection accessible to everyone, and each person the master of his own soul. The doctrines of the atonement sacrifice and the condemnation of infants to eternal damnation may be forgotten forever. A person lives in a fair world, where success can only be achieved through honesty with oneself. The doctrines of rebirth and karma are the only teachings worthy of a philosopher that explain the meaning of existence and the ultimate goal of life.

Question: What is death?

Answer: In the metaphysical interpretation, death is the separation of the higher principles of a person from the lower ones. A living being is a complex organism consisting of superphysical principles, manifested through a material body, which, in turn, consists of elements of the so-called physical nature. Superphysical principles constitute a true living personality, and the body is only a carrier through which a superphysical person is able to manifest himself in the material world. The spiritual “I” dwells in the body, just as a person lives in a house. However, an ordinary person never realizes that a house is not yet its inhabitant, that there is a significant difference between them. Plato says that man lives in his body like an oyster in a shell, and Indian philosophers call the body the vestment or clothing of the superphysical “I.”

The spiritual man controls the material body and endows it with signs of life through the nerve centers and the system of endocrine glands. Thus, it is not the body itself that is animated, but the spiritual man who inhabits it.

The light of the Inner Self shines through the body like fire shining through the glass of a lamp. The difference between the properties of the inner man and his outer body is exactly the same as between the flame in a lamp and the material from which the lamp is made, glass and iron.

In the symbolism of Greek philosophers, the body was assumed to be the temporary abode of the Inner Self. A true spiritual person is like a wanderer wandering through the desert of life. The inner “I” lingers for some time in one house, then moves to another, and from there to the next. Every time the ego builds a new house, it turns out even better; as the Persian poets wrote, the soul each time sews for itself more and more beautiful outfits from wealth, beauty and understanding of the Inner Self. The essence settles in the body, but the latter, obeying the laws of the material world, ages, wears out and becomes unsuitable for life. When, due to illness, accident or natural decrepitude, it is no longer possible to maintain life in the body, the ego leaves it. This departure is death.

Death does not mean the death of the “I,” the end of the spirit’s existence, or the achievement of its ultimate goal. This, on the contrary, is a continuation of life, simply the mind, soul and knowledge leave worn-out clothes, a house no longer fit for habitation. Plato says that the spirit rises from the crypt of the body. In the Bhagavad Gita, the beautiful mystical book of the Brahmins, it is said that the spirit throws off its shabby clothes and prepares to put on more magnificent attire.

The corpse is essentially the natural state of the body. After death, the earthly elements return to an inanimate state. In its own way, a dead body is like a glove from which the hand has been removed. However, this empty glove is not proof that the hand is also dead. When we find empty shells on the seashore, we tend to believe that all life ends in the grave. But life never perishes. Only bodies die, but life is eternal. Death is a spirit that throws off the shackles of the flesh and exists for some time in the invisible world, in order to then build itself a new vehicle for material manifestation. So, despite the fact that death seems to the ignorant to be a terrible tragedy, the philosopher perceives it as a majestic spiritual experience, the highest journey of life - the return of the spirit to its original state, the liberation of inner greatness from the limitations of unfit flesh.

Question: Describe the state after death.

Answer: Over the years of life in the material world, a person accumulates vast experience. In the course of life, this experience is not fully assimilated and is not subject to systematic ordering. The interval between births is a period of assimilation, when the entity absorbs the experiences of the past life into the nature of its soul and turns them into sources of inner strength. During the interval between lives, the entity does not undergo new development or growth, for its subjective experiences do not extend to the sphere of phenomena.

The state after death is described in the religious systems of the world by various symbols, but we will discard the symbolism and briefly describe the general essence of the state of life between incarnations.

Having left the material body, the entity functions for some time in its etheric double, that is, in a body woven from the fifth element. This body quite accurately repeats the appearance of the material shell, but consists of subtle, superphysical substances. The entity remains in this body for only a few days - except in cases of extreme attachment to the earthly world or suicide. In the first case, it lingers in the etheric body until the connection with the earthly world weakens; in the second case, the essence remains in him until the day when natural death should have occurred. The consciousness of the etheric body is almost identical to the physical consciousness, and therefore the deceased often do not immediately understand that they have died. The etheric body is truly the counterpart of the material: after the essence passes into the internal aspects of nature, the etheric body is slowly destroyed. Until its final decomposition, it retains its outline for some time and represents a so-called ghost. It is the ethereal shells that are the ghosts that susceptible people sometimes see in cemeteries.

After a short stay in the etheric double, the entity passes into the astral world, the sphere of desires and emotions. She sheds the etheric shell, which dissolves in the etheric world, and now functions through the astral body. The astral world is called the sphere of rewards and punishments. In this aspect of existence, the entity experiences the emotional reflexes of its material life as real facts. The ancients say that the main thing in this experience is that, according to some mysterious law of nature, the entity becomes a victim of everything bad that it caused to others during life. The Catholic Church calls this period of correction a stay in “purgatory,” that is, a place of cleansing from sins. It is in this world that a person puts his emotional life in order and builds the core of his future emotional nature. Having completed the account of the sins of the body, the entity passes into the higher sphere of the emotional world, where its creative emotions build aesthetic values ​​into permanent consciousness. Having re-experienced constructive emotions and selected the best from them, the entity leaves the astral body and moves on to its mental nature.

The mental body represents the sphere of thought. It is also divided into destructive and creative plans. After base thoughts are expiated and a record of them is built into the consciousness, the entity ascends to the higher, constructive mind, where the rewards for correct mental actions become the core of a more developed integrity of thinking in the hereafter. Having finished functioning in this mental sphere and working with the substance of the mind, the entity leaves the mental body and, inactive and unaware of anything, plunges into a state of waiting. After some time, a new chain of bodies begins to be built for the next life.

The cycle of experiences after death varies depending on the stages of evolution. Representatives of primitive peoples, whose individuality is underdeveloped, experience very short-lived experiences and are reborn almost immediately. For beings of the ordinary, average level of the fifth root race, the interval between incarnations ranges from eight hundred to two and a half thousand years. The length of stay on different planes of the astral and mental spheres depends on the intensity of feelings and thinking, as well as on the volume of records accumulated during earthly life. Highly developed souls remain in a disembodied state for many millennia. Because of their depth of thinking, they spend most of this time on the mental plane.

Children who die at too young an age are usually reborn almost immediately (like animals), since there are still almost no important records in their ego-consciousness. There is never a strictly defined interval between incarnations, but usually these intervals for each entity are quite regular; In addition, gender alternates at birth. Philosophical doctrine rejects the concepts of heaven and hell, since these terms correspond to cycles of posthumous reward and punishment. In philosophy there is no eternal damnation, no unchanging heaven - there is only endless growth, changing cycles of experiences that man calls life and death.

Question: Explain how the process of rebirth occurs.

Answer: Rebirth is the descent of a superphysical person into the elements of the material world. The ancients symbolically described this process, using the image of a great staircase along which the souls of people ascend to heaven and descend to earth. The Eleusinian Mysteries, held in Attica for more than a thousand years, included nine magnificent ceremonies, symbolizing the nine states through which the soul passes when it leaves its heavenly home and takes up residence in the mortal frame.
The Chaldeans explained the cycle of rebirth in the myth of Ishtar. This goddess descended through the seven gates, leaving the guardians of each gate with symbols of her royal power. Finally, having lost all signs of her greatness, she entered the house of Sin, the god of the Moon, or, as the Greeks defined it, the sublunary sphere. In the domain of Sina, Ishtar was subjected to torture and humiliation. All sorts of misfortunes befell her. This episode reflects the position of the soul in the material world. Ishtar then managed to escape from the god of darkness, climb the ladder of the spheres and receive signs of her divinity from the gatekeepers. By this ascent is meant the return of the soul to its original greatness through philosophy.

According to Plato, the human soul is drawn into our world by its inner desire for material embodiment. In other words, having believed in the reality of the material, the soul is transferred to the sphere of its illusions under the influence of its own conviction. As the consciousness frees itself from earthly preoccupation, the "gravity" of matter weakens - until the soul is stripped of all illusions about the material state and ascends from the body to union with the blessed gods.

The law that re-involves the spiritual essence into physical life is karma. All causes operating in the material world must receive their consequences and culminate in experiences. Man, chained to the generative plane by his perceptions, emotions, feelings, desires and aspirations, must subdue these urges and instincts, otherwise the cycle of physical rebirth will not end. As the Buddha taught, nirvana, or liberation, is achieved only after the fire of emotions and sensations has died down. The Greeks believed that the soul is filled with a natural craving upward, towards the light of Truth, but the imperfections of its base components drag it down against its will. The symbol of the soul is a sphinx with a human head and an animal body. A similar image is represented by Persephone, whose life is divided between the heavenly and hellish worlds. The biblical analogue of the Greek allegories is the parable of the prodigal son, who leaves his father's house for the meat pots in Egypt and then returns in repentance.

Having made the experience of previous incarnations an integral part of consciousness, the soul becomes a fusion of experiences and karma. Something has been learned, but much remains to be accomplished - and the soul is irresistibly drawn back to the sphere of unfinished deeds.

Descending from its own super-substantial nature, the soul builds around itself an intellectual essence, a mental body. Then, clothed in mental robes and already somewhat constrained by the limitations of thought, she descends into the sphere of feelings, where she acquires a body of desire, which further weakens her luminosity. Clothed in thoughts and desires, the soul descends into the sea of ​​moist ether, which the Greeks considered the connecting link between the invisible and visible world. Raw ether is the ocean of life, ruled by Poseidon (Neptune), whose trident is the pitchfork of Satan, with the help of which the prince of darkness drives souls into the lower world. Ether is also called the water of oblivion, the inexhaustible spring of Lethe. Plunging into the ether, the soul forgets about its divine origin; her eyes close and no longer notice the glory of her own source. Finally, from the ether the soul descends into physical form. In Greek legends, souls waiting to appear in the material world are likened to a flock of sheep, and Hermes is their shepherd. One of his names is Psychopomp, "Driver of Souls." Here this god personifies cosmic law, especially in the aspects of rebirth and karma, the force that plunges the human essence into the circumstances of physical life that best suit its needs.

According to the laws of physical nature, bodies in the material world acquire gender. The soul is given a body according to its merits. It is transferred into bodily form at the moment of the first movement of the fetus. From this moment until the time of birth, superphysical principles gradually achieve power over the material body. At the moment of birth, the composite essence passes into independent existence. During periods of growth the soul brings some of its faculties into objective manifestation through the body: the physical principle is expressed at birth, the vital at about the age of seven, the emotional at about fourteen years of age, and finally the mental at about the age of twenty-one. Thus, by the time of final maturity of the material body, the soul already manifests its subjective bodies with corresponding objective inclinations.
Life then continues until the pattern is interrupted, either by death or by adherence to philosophy. The wise “grow” out of their bodies while still alive, while the ignorant person is violently pushed out of his body when his physical form dies.

Question: Is it possible to enter into communication with the deceased and should this be done?

Answer: One of the greatest Greek adepts, Pythagoras of Croton, told his disciples that the living can enter into communication with the dead. He warned them, however, about the dangers of the art of necromancy, since it has no creative or good purposes. Spiritualism mainly attracts people who are lonely and suffering from loss. There is no reasonable reason to doubt that some of the psychic phenomena actually occur, but those who devote themselves to mediumship and other forms of spiritualism often fall prey to their gullibility.

Turning to the deceased for advice is not philosophical. Those who have already left our world are unable to give recommendations to those who continue to live here. In addition, the living should not desperately reach out to friends and loved ones who have left our sphere. It takes courage to free the deceased from attachment, but it is even wiser to simply leave him alone - it will be better for everyone.

There are secrets in the psychic world that are understood only by rare people, and those who play with the subtle forces of the invisible universe are likely to regret their folly. Most of the news coming from the other side of the veil of death is vague, banal and ambiguous; Misconceptions are not uncommon. Carefree entertainment with the psychic world has ruined many lives. Those who listen too often to the whispers of "ghosts" may discover that their angels are actually demons covered in masks. I personally know many people whose lives have been hopelessly ruined by dabbling in the mediumistic arts. Humanity knows about the mysterious forces that exist on the border between the living and the dead, but this knowledge is incomplete. Until a person knows more, it is better for him to leave alone these forces, which can only lead to madness.

The Ouija board, or planchette, called the "devil's iron" in Europe and despised in most civilized countries, is a Ouija toy that has contributed to many tragedies in the lives of mere mortals. Automatic writing - a mysterious and exciting pastime - can end in numerous misfortunes. Addiction to spiritualistic practices awakens forces that corrode the mind and soul, and therefore those who strive for wisdom in its highest, true form must avoid the hopeless dead end of spiritualism. The great French magician Eliphas Levi said that the astral sphere is a beautiful garden of illusions, replete with rare and fragrant flowers; around each stem, however, a poisonous snake is wrapped in rings, and whoever plucks the flower will receive a deadly sting.

The wise student recognizes the reality of psychic phenomena. He understands that communication between worlds is possible, but he is firmly aware that spiritualistic fun is not for him. He does not crave communication with spirits, does not want to fall under the influence of disembodied voices and does not seek truth in a magic crystal. The path of true wisdom is finding truth and power within yourself through exploration and experience. This simple and life-affirming process does not require the participation of larvas and elementals from the world of disembodied entities.

A death may become public knowledge when it is reported in a newspaper's obituary column, but it is still a highly private event. There are two concepts that are extremely private, intimate: death and dreams. No one will die for me, and no one will dream for me.

Osho believes that a person’s understanding of the phenomenon of death plays an important role in his spiritual development.

Life and death are viewed in the West as antagonists, as two mutually exclusive concepts. Death is a source of fear, it is a taboo, people prefer not to talk about death.

A theology professor once said, “Today, sex is openly discussed, but death... is vulgar.”

Many Western philosophers have thought about death, especially the existentialists. Jean-Paul Sartre's point of view represents a typical Western view of death: "Death never gives meaning to life; on the contrary, death is what deprives life of all meaning."

Osho has a completely opposite point of view. He says: “Death does not contradict life, it does not mean the end of life, it only brings life to a beautiful peak. Life continues after death. It existed before birth, it will continue after death. Life is not limited to the short interval between birth and death; on the contrary, birth and death are small episodes in the eternity of life."

The West tends to view death as evil; it attributes extremely negative traits to it. Life and death represent conflicting sides. This point of view is based on the Aristotelian postulate “either-or, but not both”: A is equal to A, and what is not A becomes anti-A.

According to this dualistic concept, anyone who is not anti-abortion is automatically anti-abortion. Likewise, death is seen as the negation of life.

The result of this approach was every exaltation of youth; people began to feel embarrassed about their age and apologize for their age.

The Eastern approach to death is dynamic, based on the premise of wholeness, that A equals A plus something else. The East is of the opinion that nothing is absolute, everything is relative, everything is in motion.

Modern science, new discoveries in medicine, the interdisciplinary approach of the social sciences... everywhere we find today confirmation that it is correct to consider reality as "together" and not "either-or".

Osho explains that in the East, life is not considered separately from death. He emphasizes: in order to understand life, in order to truly live, and not exist, a person needs to know death. There is no need to be afraid of her, but there is also no need to strive to defeat her. You just need to know it, and this “knowledge” itself will reveal the true meaning of death.

Osho views life and death as parts of one higher cosmic Life. With every inhalation we live, with every exhalation we die, but both inhalation and exhalation, says Osho, interact harmoniously.

He argues that we begin to die from the very moment we are born, from the very beginning of life we ​​are approaching death. The seed gives rise to the flower. We call this growth. Similarly, birth leads one to death.

Life and death are inseparable; they are two sides of the same coin.

Osho believes that death is not in the future, it comes every moment. Anyone who claims that death is connected with the future is simply hiding from reality and continues to live in illusions. We postpone death until the future because our ego is unable to accept its own death. But Osho explains that we can understand death by refusing to recognize the ego as the center of our life; the center of our life is consciousness. Death is not able to destroy our consciousness, it is eternal. Moreover, death destroys selfishness, which becomes the driving force in human life.

And here we are faced with the paradox of death: on the one hand, there is no reality higher than the reality of death, everything in the world is mortal. On the other hand, there is nothing like death in the sense that even after the death of the ego and physical body, our consciousness does not die and continues to live.

Is it possible to experience death without dying?

Osho answers in the affirmative. For this he recommends meditation.