Afterlife

[Guest guest]

Further to the question posed to the list earlier as under: ---

 

>I am a Religious Studies teacher helping two pupils on their A Level

>coursework. They are comparing and contrasting the differences between

>Hindu and Christian approaches to Death and the afterlife. Can you help

>with some modern day points of view? It would be great if you can give them

>any advice at all.

>

>Thank you,

>

>Mr C Bembridge

 

The list will find the response from Swami Yogeshananda interesting:-

 

From Swami Yogeshananda

 

Down the centuries details have been filled in to satisfy the curiosity of

the human mind, by the scriptures, the sages and artists. Some say that,

dying, we are not immediately reborn, but remain for awhile in a heaven or

hell. The Hindu idea of these is different from the Christian. These are

stopping places merely, or stages of consciousness, where we remain so long

as our good or bad karma allow, and return to earth. In " heaven " we make no

spiritual progress-simply experience the fruits of labors past.

On the other hand, hell is also not everlasting; no soul can be forever

damned. Some say that men can regress and be born in lower strate; another

view is that once we have climbed to the human level we do not regress

below that.

HOW LONG IS THE JOURNEY?

So long as it takes us to wake up and discover ourselves. Time and again

the chariot breaks down, the horses wear out, still we do not wake up, but

go on taking new bodies as person will change worn-out clothes. " The Hindus

say that life on this earth is an absolute condition for the freedom of the

soul. And this is why they believe in reincarnation; there is no other way.

The very fact that the soul has come into this body shows there is a

purpose in it, and unless this is an altogether cruel universe with no

provision for kindness, it is but natural to think that the soul should

have the opportunity to come here again and again, fulfilling its desires,

and awakening to its higher nature. This is what life on earth is for, "

says Swami Vivekananda.

WHAT IS IT, EXACTLY, THAT REINCARNATES?

Surrounding the soul, as it were, is an invisible vestment of experience

and action to be worked out, constituting the wisdom and character we have

as individuals. Dying means to shuffle off the slough of the physical body

given us by heredity and environment, along with the lower layers of the

mind closely bound to it; then the individual soul (jiva), accompanied by

this higher mind moves on --to a higher or lower transit world, and

eventually back here to earth for a new and appropriate covering. So say

the sages.

ANY PROOFS?

Yogis have reported the memory of past lives by way of proof. But here it

is important to remember that our own lack of memory does not prove

anything. There are many periods in our childhood equally forgotten. And

perhaps we might not care to recall all that we have lived through before.

Although the reincarnation explanation also raises questions, probably it

answers more than it raises. There are also more persons today who find

that it makes more sense than other doctrinal solutions, like the hell and

and heaven of Judgement Day, which in the West has prevailed for some

centuries. The Catholic amendment, a purgatory where the soul is " fitted "

for heaven, is evidence of the unresolved nature of this solution. Dubious,

ultimately, all the proofs must be; for let us recall our first fundamental

is that the true nature of the soul is unchanging. When, by pursuing Truth

relentlessly, we shall see Spirit face to face, will we need to ask proof

of its coming and going? Birth and death will be fairly tales.

OTHER WAYS TO LOOK AT IT

So far we have taken reincarnation pretty much at face value. But other

interpretations are also possible.

It reflects the cyclic nature of time. Each morning of our day, symbolized,

is a new birth, a new world and new opportunity. Night punctuates, with

rest and episodes of heaven or hell (dreams). Again the new day dawns, for

it is the ego of the waking state, the conscious mind, which makes--and

must make-- further evolution. As Macbeth says, " Sleep; death of each day's

life.... "

From another standpoint, however, it makes a great deal of difference how

we view ourselves in the journey of life. Think how it must feel to

consider those you love as evolving souls with whom you may have been

linked for many lives past and may be linked again; the attitude toward

your own children when you look on them not as products of your own

creation, but as pilgrims entrusted to your care for the space of this

life's childhood. Think of the effect on your ethics and on the fabric of

society, when you see this life, not as most of us in the West do, an

opportunity to enjoy the evolutional heritage or technological comforts,

but as an obligation to push forward, both individually and collectively,

with the business of further evolution toward divinity; when you view all

other beings as the ascending descendants of Spirit.

Then too, there is the obvious, almost self-serving satisfaction of

maintaining a world ecologically sound and environmentally protected for

one's re-entry!

Reincarnation is a stepping-stone to the realization that the all are in

One and the One is in all. " The fear of death, " says Swami Vivekananda,

" can be conquered only when man realizes that so long as there is one life

in this universe, he is living. "

 

--------Eterneral Quest <yogeshananda