When the Soul / Atma leaves the Ephemeral Body.

January 11, 2007 at 10:11 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

I have seen many deaths.  The very first one was that of my kid brother, not many know this among my age group in our extended family, and I was then a small boy of about 5 or 6 years or so.  The child was very sick and our family doctor with a squeaky voice, a man from Kerala, was visiting the child at our house and administered some medicines.  After he left, later on the same day, the child died leaving the whole family mourning, each in his/her own way.  I particularly remember my great grandmother who rolled all over our long hall, crying, sobbing, moaning, wimpering, shedding copious tears all the time, stopping now and then to curse the doctor and  all his family members too for murdering the child.  He was a chubby, big boy and had he lived  would have grown into a great fellow overshadowing my puniness.  Another time a sister of mine, a small baby of around 2 years, died of some contageous disease.

Later on in life, I have seen many deaths, sudden death by heart attack etc., untimely deaths of people in road, rail, air accidents, and in seas, also by fire, drowning and hypothermia.  Deaths by asphyxia, strangulation, physical wounds like stabbing, shooting with firearms, gory deaths caused by bulls, wild animals, being swallowed by great sea creatures, pythons, death by poison, physical and mental shock, due to lightning, atom bombs, radiation, volcanoes, tornadoes, floods, tsunami etc.  Some are witnessed in real life, some reported in the media, and some learnt through word of mouth.

Life forming is always a gradual process.  Evolution of life is a planned graded process.  I know next to nothing about Divine Creation.  Creation can be predicted, expected and awaited.  But death and destruction is an unknown identity.

On a few occasions I have seen life slowly ebbing out of a living being.  I have witnessed the last few hours of the death of my mother, though I did not witness my father’s death first hand.  I saw the last stages of my wife’s going away as a continuous process spread over six seven years, and particularly the last two months I never left her side any time.  I saw a man with a heart problem, sitting just before all of us, suddenly exclaiming “What is this”, and the next moment he was no more a living being.

We all know that our cells are in a continuous process of regeneration until the process peaks and again the retrogression process begins, and all systems start ticking down, and when the heart and brain cease their functions and blood stops flowing through the veins, a creature is pronounced clinically dead. (I may be wanting in the technical aspects  as I am a total layman to science)

But what leaves the body to leave only an inert unfeeling mass behind, which is called either a corpse or carcass as the case may be.  Does this parting ends the journey of the soul or spirit? Or does it continue its journey eternally either as a wandering soul, atma or spirit, or does it reenter a new creation in a womb to enliven it.  Does it have a ‘vasna’ as the Hindus call it.  Is this spirit a part of the Great Soul, Paramatma, or is it distinct as a Jivatma.  Does a spirit hover in the astral plane for ages and ages if doesn’t enter a body again, or does it find Salvation.  Does it eventually go to Heaven or Hell, or do they become aspects of the Superentity, like the Peacock which is the wagon of Muruga, or the Bull the wagon of Shiva. 

Is it really possible to evoke the spirits like the mediums do, or control as the magicians do.  Do they develop good and evil characters on their own, or are these characters ascribed by vested human beings?  Some religions believe in transmigration of souls and some don’t.

I loved my wife and she loved me equally.  But the moment she left us, she has never returned to me even in dreams.  I imagine her benign presence  around us all the time but I know that it is only my imagination.  Even if I ever come across any mediums in my life any time, I will never seek their intercession to contact my wife’s spirit.  She is no more. Period.