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Question: How do we know that the mind accompanies us after death? I doubt that anything like a soul survives death. I feel everything ceases.
Answer: Spiritual truths such as these have to be experienced. Repeated experience alone can be the teacher. In science something is proven true only when it is observed by different scientists under different conditions. Same goes for spiritual truths.
Question: But the dead do not come back and do not speak. We can’t really trust near-death experiences (NDEs) either.
Answer: Well, we are not relying on testimonies such as NDEs. The reason we know that the mind accompanies the soul after death is ONLY because our rishis have experienced these truths.
Not just one rishi but numerous rishis from ancient times to modern have experienced the SAME reality – just like present day scientists do.
Our rishis even while living could leave their bodies and roam about astrally in the subtle realm. They could return to their body and tell us about their experiences. Numerous rishis practiced the same yogic techniques to observe this truth.
About Adi Shankaracharya it is famous the he could leave his body at will. Once he left his body and entered the body of a dead king. He learnt many lessons and returned to his own body after 6 months. How could he do so if his mind did not accompany his soul after he left the body?
In our recent FAQs on Spirituality Podcast titled: “Can We See After Death?”, I discussed how Paramahansa Yogananda has explained that when a yogi leaves the body to travel astrally, his body is as good as dead.
Yoganandaji too could travel astrally and observe the happenings in the ground floor of a restaurant. That is why he has shared the knowledge that the mind accompanies the soul after death. How else could he observe the happenings in the restaurant if his mind was absent?
Knowledge is power and we must develop a rational understanding regarding spiritual truths.
Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Brahmananda too could do the same. Once Swami Brahmananda went to see his dying devotee in a far away town, but his body never left Belur Math. I discuss such incidents in our Yogic Powers podcast.
Swami Brahmananda travelled in his subtle body to visit his disciple. Then he returned to his physical body much to the surprise of the disciple. When we do not know subtle truths we get shocked and think it is something miraculous or super natural. But it is not so. These yogic powers are just natural abilities that accrue from conquering the ego.
Pandit Shriram Sharma too could leave his body at will. He would travel astrally to meet devotees far away. When he left his body once his disciple Lilapat Sharma mistook him to be dead and went into a terrible panic.
These yogis are not lying about their experiences. They are established in truth. So how can they lie? Moreover their experiences are remarkably consistent across time – from ancient to modern.
Furthermore they are NOT asking us to become credulous and superstitious. They do not want us to abandon rationality and scientific thinking and believe in their statements blindly.
Swami Vivekananda has said – “Truth has first to be heard, then understood, then experienced (realized).”
So our rishis are merely explaining the truth. They are telling us that there is more to reality than what science has currently discovered.
What’s more they say that we too can experience the subtle realities that permeate the Universe PROVIDED we practice the process of yoga i.e. we train to detach our consciousness from the mind, body and ego. Meditation, devotion to God and inner self-refinement are the tools to do so.
Direct experience is the only reliable test of truth. The more we can detach ourselves from the ego the subtler and subtler truths can we experience until we progress all the way up to the Ultimate Sat Chit Ananda. When we can conquer the ego entirely, then we can stand alone as the pure unborn, undying, infinite consciousness.
I have started the FAQs and the Yogic Powers podcasts mainly to acquaint you with the higher realities that lie beyond the perception of modern science. We explore these realities and dive deep to understand them rationally.
Your didi
Pulkit Mathur
Trustee, The Spiritual Bee Foundation
spiritualbee.com
What kind of yogic powers do God-realized sages possess? How are they able to help devotees even after giving up the body? Find out by subscribing to our Yogic Powers Newsletter on the Spiritual Bee Academy App.
