{"id":3765,"date":"2013-07-13T01:51:05","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3765"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:51:05","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:05","slug":"19-purpose-and-process-of-death-and-rebirth-vol-02-second-series-1949","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/letters-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-second-series-1949\/19-purpose-and-process-of-death-and-rebirth-vol-02-second-series-1949","title":{"rendered":"-19_Purpose and Process of Death and Rebirth.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\nSECTION FIFTEEN <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPURPOSE AND PROCESS OF
\nDEATH & REBIRTH <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nNecessity of Death<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nDEATH is there because the being in the body is
\nnot yet developed enough to go on growing in
\nthe same body without the need of change and the
\nbody itself is not sufficiently conscious. If the mind
\nand vital and the body itself were more conscious
\nand plastic, death would not be necessary. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n3-12-1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nImmortality of the Body<\/i><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHERE can be no immortality of the body without supramentalisation; the potentiality is there in
\nthe Yogic force and Yogis can live for 200 or 300
\nyears or more, but there can be no real principle of
\nit without the Supramental. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nEven Science believes that one day death may be
\nconquered by physical means and its reasonings are
\nperfectly sound. There is no reason why the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 523<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nSupramental Force should not do it. Forms on earth do not last (they do in other planes), because these
\nforms are too rigid to grow expressing the progress of
\nthe spirit. If they become plastic enough to do
\nthat, there is no reason why they should not last. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nMarch, 1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nImmunity from Death<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIMMUNITY from death by anything but one’s own will
\nto leave the body, immunity from illness, are things
\nthat can be achieved only by a complete change of
\nconsciousness which each man has to develop in himself,\u2014there can be no
\nautomatic immunity without that achievement. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nThe Evolving Soul and the Unborn Self<\/i> <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is necessary to understand clearly the difference
\nbetween the evolving soul (psychic being) and the
\npure Atman, self or spirit. The pure self is unborn,
\ndoes not pass through death or birth, is independent <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 524<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nof birth or body, mind or life or this manifested 
\nNature. It is not bound by these things, not limited,
\nnot affected, even though it assumes and supports
\nthem. The soul, on the contrary, is something that
\ncomes down into birth and passes through death\u2014
\nalthough it does not itself die, for it is immortal\u2014
\nfrom one state to another, from the earth plane to
\nother planes and back again to the earth-existence.
\nIt goes on with this progression from life to life
\nthrough an evolution which leads it up to the human
\nstate and evolves through it all a being of itself.
\nwhich we call the psychic being that supports the
\nevolution and develops a physical, a vital, a mental
\nhuman consciousness as its instruments of world-experience and of a disguised,
\nimperfect, but growing self-expression. All this it does from behind a veil
\nshowing something of its divine self only in so
\nfar as the imperfection of the instrumental being will
\nallow it. But a time comes when it is able to prepare
\nto come out from behind the veil, to take command
\nand turn all the instrumental nature towards a divine fulfilment. This is the beginning of the true spiritual
\nlife. The soul is able now to make itself ready for a
\nhigher evolution of manifested consciousness than
\nthe mental human\u2014it can pass from the mental to
\nthe spiritual and through degrees of the spiritual to
\nthe supramental state. Till then there is no reason <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 525<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nwhy it should cease from birth, it cannot in fact do
\nso. If having reached the spiritual state, it wills to
\npass out of the terrestrial manifestation, it may indeed
\ndo so\u2014but there is also possible a higher manifestation in the Knowledge and not in the Ignorance. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nYour question therefore does not arise. It is not
\nthe naked spirit, but the psychic being that goes
\nto the psychic plane to rest till it is called again to
\nanother life. There is, therefore, no need of a Force
\nto compel it to take birth anew. It is in its nature
\nsomething that is put forth from the Divine to
\nsupport the evolution and it must do so till the
\nDivine’s purpose in its evolution is accomplished.
\nKarma is only a machinery, it is not the fundamental cause of terrestrial existence\u2014it cannot be,
\nfor when the soul first entered this existence, it
\nhad no Karma. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhat again do you mean by "the all-veiling
\nMaya" or by "losing all consciousness?" The soul
\ncannot lose all consciousness, for its very nature is
\nconsciousness though not of the mental kind to
\nwhich we give the name. The consciousness is
\nmerely covered, not lost or abolished by the so-called Inconscience of material Nature and then
\nby the half-conscious ignorance of mind, life and
\nbody. It manifests, as the individual mind and life
\nand body grow, as much as may be of the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 526<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nconsciousness which it holds in potentiality, manifests
\nit in the outward instrumental nature as far as
\nand in the way that is possible through these instruments and through the outer personality that has
\nbeen prepared for it and by it\u2014for both are true\u2014
\nfor the present life. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI know nothing about any terrible suffering
\nendured by the soul in the process of rebirth; popular beliefs even when they have some foundation are
\nseldom enlightened and accurate. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n2-9-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nRebirth and Personality<\/i><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE being as it passes through the series of its
\nlives takes on various kinds of personalities and
\npasses through various types of experiences, but it
\ndoes not carry these on to the next life, as a rule.
\nIt takes on a new mind, vital and body. The mental
\ncapacities, occupations, interests, idiosyncrasies
\nof the past mind and vital are not taken over by
\nthe new mind and vital, except to the extent that
\nis useful for the new life. One may have the power
\nof poetic expression in one life, but in the next not <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 527<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nhave any such power or any interest in poetry.
\n<\/b>On <\/b>the other hand, tendencies suppressed or missed or imperfectly developed in one life may come out in
\nthe next. There would be therefore nothing surprising in the contrast which you noted. The essence
\nof past experiences is kept by the psychic being
\nbut the forms of experience or of personality are
\nnot, except such as are needed for the new stage
\nin the soul’s progress. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe being in its long course of experience may
\npermit for a time the search after sensual pleasure
\nand afterwards discard it and turn to higher things.
\nThis can happen even in the course of a life-time,
\na fortiori<\/i> in a second life where the old personalities
\nwould not be carried over. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n22-7-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nRole of the Central Being (Jivatman)<\/i><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE central being is the being which presides over
\nthe different births one after the other but is itself
\nunborn, for it does not descend into the being but
\nis above it\u2014it holds together the mental, vital and
\nphysical being and all the various parts of the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 528<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\npersonality and it controls the life either through the
\nmental being and the mental thought and will
\nor through the psychic. If it does not exercise its
\ncontrol, then the consciousness is in great disorder
\nand every part of the personality acts for itself so
\nthat there is no coherence in the thought, feelings
\nor action. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nSoul’s Journey after Death<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAT the time of death the being goes out of the body
\nthrough the head; it goes out in the subtle body and
\ngoes to different planes of existence for a short time
\nuntil it has gone through certain experiences which
\nare the result of its earthly existence. Afterwards it
\nreaches the psychic world where it rests in a kind of
\nsleep, until it is time for it to start a new life on
\nearth. That is what happens usually\u2014but there
\nare some beings who are more developed and do
\nnot follow this course. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n3-12-1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 529 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nMemory of Past Lives\u2014
\nRetrograde Movement of the Soul<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAFTER leaving the body, the soul, after certain experiences in other worlds, throws off its mental and vital
\npersonalities and goes into rest to assimilate the
\nessence of its past and prepare for a new life. It is
\nthis preparation that determines the circumstances
\nof the new birth and guides it in its constitution
\nof a new personality and the choice of its
\nmaterials. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe departed soul retains the memory of its past
\nexperiences only in their essence, not in their form
\nof detail. It is only if the soul brings back some
\npast personality or personalities as part of its present
\nmanifestation that it is likely to remember the details
\nof the past life. Otherwise, it is only by Yogadrishti
\nthat the memory comes. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Karana-purusha is what is called the central
\nbeing by us, the Jiva. <\/b> It stands above the play, supporting it always. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThere may be what seem to be retrograde movements but these are only like zigzag movements,
\nnot a real falling back, but a return on something
\nnot worked out so as to go on better afterwards.
\nThe soul does not go back to animal condition; but
\na part of the vital personality may disjoin itself and <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 530<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\njoin an animal birth to work out its animal propensities there. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThere is no truth in the popular belief about
\nthe avaricious man becoming a serpent. These are
\npopular romantic superstitions. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n22-9-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nPassage through Vital-World after Death<\/i> <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHERE is after death a period in which one passes
\nthrough the vital world and lives there for a time. It is only the first part of
\nthis transit that can be dangerous or painful; in the rest one works out under
\ncertain surroundings, the remnant of the vital desires and instincts which one
\nhad in the body. As soon as one is tired of these and able to go beyond,
\nthe vital sheath is dropped and the soul after a time
\nneeded to get rid of some mental survivals passes into
\na state of rest in the psychic world and remains there
\ntill the next life on earth.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nOne can help departed souls by one’s good will
\nor by occult means, if one has the knowledge. The
\none thing that one should not do is to hold them
\nback by sorrow for them or longing or by anything <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 531<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nelse that would pull them nearer to earth or delay
\ntheir journey to their place of rest. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n31-10-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nHell and Heaven\u2014Memory of Past Lives<\/i> <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE movement of the psychic being dropping the
\nouter sheaths on its way to the psychic plane is the
\nnormal movement. But there can be any number
\nof variations; one can return from the vital plane
\nand there are many cases of an almost immediate
\nbirth, sometimes even attended with a complete
\nmemory of the events of the past life.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHell and Heaven are often imaginary states of the
\nsoul or rather of the vital which it constructs about
\nit after its passing. What is meant by hell is a painful
\npassage through the vital or lingering there, as for
\ninstance, in many cases of suicide where one remains
\nsurrounded by the forces of suffering and turmoil
\ncreated by this unnatural and violent exit. There
\nare, of course, also worlds of mind and vital worlds
\nwhich are penetrated with joyful or dark experiences. One may pass through these as the result of
\nthings formed in the nature which create the necessary <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 532<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\naffinities, but the idea of reward or retribution
\nis a crude and vulgar conception which is a mere
\npopular error. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThere is no rule of complete forgetfulness in the
\nreturn of the soul to rebirth. There are, especially
\nin childhood, many impressions of the past life which
\ncan be strong and vivid enough, but the materialising education and influence of the environments
\nprevent their true nature from being recognised.
\nThere are even a great number of people who have
\ndefinite recollections of a past life. But these things
\nare discouraged by education and the atmosphere
\nand cannot remain or develop; in most cases they are
\nstifled out of existence. At the same time it must be
\nnoted that what the psychic being carries away
\nwith it and brings back is ordinarily the essence of
\nthe experiences it had in former lives, and not the
\ndetails so that you cannot expect the same memory
\nas one has of the present existence. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nA soul can go straight to the psychic world but it
\ndepends on the state of consciousness at the time of
\ndeparture. If the psychic is in front at the time, the
\nimmediate transition is quite possible. It does not
\ndepend on the acquisition of a mental and vital
\nas well as a psychic immortality\u2014those who have
\nacquired that would rather have the power to move
\nabout in the different worlds and even act on the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 533<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nphysical world without being bound to it. On the
\nwhole, it may be said that there is no one rigid rule
\nfor these things, manifold variations are possible
\ndepending upon the consciousness, its energies,
\ntendencies and formations, although there is a general framework and design into which all fit and take
\ntheir place. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n16-12-1934 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nPosition of the Psychic World\u2014Psychic Emanation\u2014Time of Soul’s Determination
\nof Future Birth and Entry into New Body<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n1.  THE psychic being stands behind mind, life and
\nbody, supporting them; so also the psychic world
\nis not one world in the scale like the mental, vital
\nor physical worlds, but stands behind all these and
\nit is there that the souls evolving here retire for the
\ntime between life and life. If the psychic were only
\none principle in the rising order of body, life and
\nmind on a par with the others and placed some
\nwhere in the scale on the same footing as the others,
\nit could not be the soul of all the rest, the divine
\nelement making the evolution of the others possible <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 534<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nand using them as instruments for a growth through
\ncosmic experience towards the Divine. So also the
\npsychic world cannot be one among the other
\nworlds to which the evolutionary being goes for
\nsupraphysical experience; it is a plane where it
\nretires into itself for rest, for a spiritual assimilation
\nof what it has experienced and for a replunging
\ninto its own fundamental consciousness and psychic
\nnature. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n2.  For the few who go out of the Ignorance and
\nenter into Nirvana, there is no question of their
\ngoing straight up into higher worlds of manifestation. Nirvana or Moksha is a liberated condition
\nof the being, not a world\u2014it is a withdrawal from
\nthe worlds and the manifestation. The analogy of
\nPitrvyana<\/i> and Devayana<\/i> can hardly be mentioned in
\nthis connection. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n3.  The condition of the souls that retire into the
\npsychic world is entirely static; each withdraws into
\nhimself and is not interacting with the others. When
\nthey come out of their trance, they are ready to go
\ndown into a new life, but meanwhile they do not
\nact upon the earth life. There are other beings,
\nguardians of the psychic world, but they are concerned only with the psychic world itself and the
\nreturn of the souls to reincarnation, not with the earth.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 535<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n4. A being of a psychic world cannot get fused
\ninto the soul of a human being on earth. What
\nhappens in some cases is that a very advanced psychic
\nbeing sometimes sends down an emanation which
\nresides in a human being and prepares it until it
\nis ready for the psychic being itself to enter into
\nthe life. This happens when some special work
\nhas to be done and the human vehicle prepared.
\nSuch a descent produces a remarkable change of
\na sudden character in the personality and the nature. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n5.  Usually, a soul follows continuously the same
\nline of sex. If there are shillings of sex, it is, as a
\nrule, a matter of parts of the personality which are
\nnot central. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n6.  As regards the stage at which the soul returning
\nfor rebirth enters the new body no rule can be laid
\ndown, for the circumstances vary with the individual. Some psychic beings get into relation with
\nthe birth-environment and the parents from the time
\nof conception and determine the preparation of the
\npersonality and future in the embryo, others join
\nonly at the time of delivery, others even later on in
\nthe life and in these cases it is some emanation of
\nthe psychic being which upholds the life. It should
\nbe noted that the conditions of the future birth
\nare determined fundamentally not during the
\nstay in the psychic world but at the time of death\u2014<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 536<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe psychic being then chooses what it should work
\nout in the next terrestrial appearance and the
\nconditions arrange themselves accordingly. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nNote that the idea of rebirth and the circumstances of the new life as a reward or punishment
\nfor punya<\/i> or papa is<\/i> a crude human idea of "justice"
\nwhich is quite unphilosophical and unspiritual and
\ndistorts the true intention of life. Life here is an
\nevolution and the soul grows by experience, working
\nout by it this or that in the nature, and if there is
\nsuffering, it is for the purpose of that working out,
\nnot as a judgment inflicted by God or Cosmic Law
\non the errors or stumblings which are inevitable
\nin the Ignorance. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n9-7-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nJivanmukta’s Return to Earth\u2014Guardians of the
\nPsychic World<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is difficult to give a positive answer to these
\nquestions, because no general rule can be laid down
\napplicable to all. The mind makes rigid rules or
\none rigid rule, but the Manifestation is in reality
\nvery plastic and various and many-sided. My <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 537<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nanswers therefore must not be taken as exhaustive of
\nthe subject or complete. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n1.  He (the Jivanmukta) can go wherever his
\naim was fixed, into a state of Nirvana or one of the
\ndivine worlds and stay there or remain, wherever
\nhe may go, in contact with the earth-movement
\nand return to it if his will is to help that movement. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThis (going direct from the world of the soul’s
\npresent highest achievement to a still higher world)
\nis doubtful. If originally he is not a being of the
\nevolution but of some higher world, he would go
\nback to that world. If he wants to go higher, it is
\nlogical that he should return to the field of evolution so long as he has not
\nevolved the consciousness proper to that higher plane. The orthodox
\nidea that even the gods have to come to earth if
\nthey want salvation may be applied to this ascension
\nalso. If he is originally an evolutionary being
\n(Ramakrishna’s distinction of the Jivakoti and
\nIshwarakoti may be extended to this also), he must
\nproceed by the evolutionary path to either the
\nnegative withdrawal through Nirvana or some positive divine fulfilment in the increasing manifestation
\nof Sachchidananda. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAs to the impossibility of return, that is a knotty
\nquestion. A divine being can always return\u2014as
\nRamakrishna said, the Ishwarakoti can at will <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 538<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nascend or descend the stair between Birth and
\nImmortality. For the others, it is probable that they
\nmay rest for a relative infinity of time, shashwatih
\nsamah,<\/i> if that is the will in them, but a return cannot
\nbe barred out unless they have reached their highest
\npossible status. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nNo, that (return to the psychic world before a
\nnew birth) is part of the evolutionary line only, not
\nobligatory for divine returns. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n2.  An advanced psychic being may mean here
\none who has arrived at the soul’s freedom and is
\nimmersed in the Divine\u2014immersed does not mean
\nabolished. Such a being does not sleep in the
\npsychic world, but may remain in his state of blissful immersion or come back for some purpose. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe word "descend" has various meanings according to the context\u2014I used it here in the sense of the
\npsychic being coming down into the human consciousness and body ready for it; that descent might
\nbe at the time of birth or before or it may come
\ndown later and occupy the personality it has prepared
\nfor itself. I do not quite understand what are these
\npersonalities from above\u2014it is the psychic being
\nitself that takes up a body. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n3.  No, the psychic being cannot take up-more than
\none body. There is only one psychic being for each
\nhuman being, but the beings of the higher planes<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 539<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ne.g., the Gods of the Overmind can manifest in
\nmore<\/i> than one human body at a time by sending
\ndifferent emanations into different bodies. These
\nwould be called Vibhutis of these Devatas. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n4.  These (the Guardians of the psychic world)
\nare not human souls nor is this an office to which
\nthey are appointed nor are they functionaries\u2014
\nthese are beings of the psychic plane pursuing
\ntheir own natural activity in that plane. My word "guardian" was simply a phrase meant to indicate
\nby an image or metaphor the nature of their action. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nJuly, 1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nPsychic Being’s Choice and Formation of
\nNew Personality<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE psychic being’s choice at the time of death does
\nnot work out<\/i> the next formation of personality, it
\nfixes<\/i> it. When it enters the psychic world, it begins
\nto assimilate the essence of its experience and by
\nthat assimilation is formed the future psychic personality in accordance with the fixation already
\nmade. When this assimilation is over, it is ready for
\na <\/b>new birth; but the less developed beings do not <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 540<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nwork out the whole thing for themselves, there are
\nbeings and forces of the higher world who have that
\nwork. Also, when it comes to birth, it is not sure that
\nthe forces of the physical world will not come across
\nthe working out of what it wanted\u2014its own new
\ninstrumentation may not be strong enough for that
\npurpose; for, there is the interaction of its own energies and the cosmic forces here. There may be frustration, diversion, a partial working out\u2014many
\nthings may happen. All that is not a rigid machinery,
\nit is a working out of complex forces. It may be
\nadded, however, that a developed psychic being is
\nmuch more conscious in this transition and works
\nout much of it itself. The time depends also on the
\ndevelopment and on a certain rhythm of the being
\n\u2014for some there is practically immediate rebirth,
\nfor others it takes longer, for some it may take
\ncenturies; but here, again, once the psychic being is
\nsufficiently developed, it is free to choose its own
\nrhythm and its own intervals. The ordinary theories
\nare too mechanical\u2014and that is the case also with
\nthe idea of puny a<\/i> and papa<\/i> and their results in the
\nnext life. There are certainly results of the energies
\nput forth in a past life, but not on that rather infantine principle. A good man’s suffering in this life
\nwould be a proof according to the orthodox theory
\nthat be had been a very great villain in his past <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 541<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nlife, a bad man’s prospering would be a proof
\nthat he had been quite angelic in his last visit to earth
\nand sown a large crop of virtues and meritorious
\nactions to reap this bumper crop of good fortune.
\nToo symmetrical to be true. The object of birth being
\ngrowth by experience, whatever reactions come to
\npast deeds must be for the being to learn and grow,
\nnot as lollipops for the good boys of the class (in the
\npast) and canings for the bad ones. The real sanction for good and ill is not good fortune for the one
\nand bad fortune for the other, but this that good
\nleads us towards a higher nature which is eventually
\nlifted above suffering, and ill pulls us towards the
\nlower nature which remains always in the circle of
\nsuffering and evil. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n30-7-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nReturn from Higher Worlds and
\nLiberation from Cosmic Existence<\/i><\/font><\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is quite possible that the sloka refers to a going
\nup into higher worlds of felicity and light and this
\ncan be called a liberation or release. In later times
\nthe idea was strong that from all these higher worlds <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 542<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nreturn is inevitable and it is only the release from
\nall cosmic existence that gives mukti.<\/i> The Vedic
\nRishis seem to have looked to an ascent into a luminous world or state above the falsehood and ignorance. In the Upanishad the sun is the symbol of
\nthe supramental Truth and it is said that those who
\npass into it may return but those who pass through
\nthe gates of the sun itself do not; possibly this means
\nthat an ascent into the Supermind itself above the
\ngolden lid of Overmind was the definitive liberation.
\nThe Veda speaks of the Truth hidden by a Truth
\nwhere the Sun looses his horses from his car and
\nthere all the myriad rays are drawn together into
\none and that was considered the goal. The Isha
\nUpanishad also speaks of the golden lid hiding the
\nface of the Truth by removing which the Law of the
\nTruth is seen, and the highest knowledge in which
\nthe one Purusha is known {so’hamasmi)<\/i> is described
\nas the ‘kalyanatama’<\/i> form of the Sun. All this seems
\nto refer to the supramental states of which the Sun
\nis the symbol. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n10-7-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 543<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nTransmigration into Animal Body\u2014
\nMemory of Past Lives<\/i><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHESE words do not necessarily refer to the animal
\nbirth, but it is true that there has been a general
\nbelief of that kind not only in India but wherever
\n"transmigration" or "metempsychosis" was believed
\nin. Shakespeare is referring to Pythagoras’s belief in
\ntransmigration when he speaks of the passage of
\nsomebody’s grandmother into an animal. But the
\nsoul, the psychic being, once having reached the
\nhuman consciousness cannot go back to the inferior
\nanimal consciousness any more than it can go back
\ninto a tree or an ephemeral insect. What is true is
\nthat some part of the vital energy or the formed
\ninstrumental consciousness or nature can and very frequently does so, if it is
\nstrongly attached to anything in the earth life. This may account for some
\ncases of immediate rebirth with full memory in
\nhuman forms also. Ordinarily, it is only by Yogic
\ndevelopment or by clairvoyance that the exact
\nmemory of past lives can be brought back. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 544<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nCommunications with the Dead in Spiritualist Seances<\/i> <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE psychic does not give up the mental and other
\nsheaths (apart from the physical) immediately at
\ndeath. It is said that it takes three years on the whole
\nto get clear away from the zone of communicability
\nwith the earth\u2014though there may be cases of slower
\nor quicker passage. The psychic world does not
\ncommunicate with earth\u2014at any rate, not in that
\nway. And the ghost or spirit who turns up at seances
\nis not the psychic being. What comes through the
\nmedium is a mixture of the medium’s subconscient
\n(using subconscient in the ordinary, not in the Yogic
\nsense) and that of the sitters, vital sheaths left by the
\ndeparted or perhaps occupied or used by some
\nspirit or some vital being, the departed himself in
\nhis vital sheath or else something assumed for the
\noccasion (but it is the vital part that communicates), elementals, spirits of the lowest vital physical world
\nnear earth, etc. etc. A horrible confusion for the most
\npart\u2014a hotch-potch of all sorts of things coming
\nthrough a medium of "astral" grey light and shadow.
\nMany communicants seem to be people who have
\njust gone across into a subtle world where they feel
\nsurrounded by an improved edition of the earthly
\nlife and think that that is the real and definitive
\nother world after earth\u2014but it is a mere optimistic <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 545<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nprolongation of the ideas and images and associations
\nof the human plane. Hence the next world as
\ndepicted by the spiritualist "guides" and other
\nseance communicants. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nSeptember, 1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nAutomatic Writings and Seances<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAUTOMATIC writings and spiritualistic seances are
\na very mixed affair. Part comes from the subconscious mind of the medium and part from that of
\nthe sitters. But it is not true that all can be accounted
\nfor by a dramatising imagination and memory. Sometimes there are things none present could know
\nor remember; sometimes even, though that is rare,
\nglimpses of the future. But usually these seances
\netc. put one into rapport<\/i> with a very low world of
\nvital beings and forces, themselves obscure, incoherent or tricky and it is dangerous to associate with
\nthem or to undergo any influence. Ouspensky and
\nothers must have gone through these experiments
\nwith too "mathematical" a mind, which was no
\ndoubt their safeguard but prevented them from <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 546<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ncoming to anything more than a surface intellectual view of their significance.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n10-11-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nGhosts<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWHAT do you mean by a ghost? The word "ghost" as used in popular parlance covers an enormous
\nnumber of distinct phenomena which have no
\nnecessary connection with each other. To name a
\nfew only:\u2014 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(1)   An actual contact with the soul of a human
\nbeing in its subtle body and transcribed to our mind by the appearance of an image or the hearing of a
\nvoice. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(2)   A mental formation stamped by the thoughts and feelings of a departed human being on the
\natmosphere of a place or locality, wandering about there or repeating itself, till that formation either exhausts itself or is dissolved by one means or another. This is the explanation of such phenomena
\nas the haunted house in which the scenes attending or surrounding or preceding a murder are repeated over and over again and many other similar phenomena. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 547<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n(3)   A being of the lower vital planes who has
\nassumed the discarded vital sheath of a departed
\nhuman being or a fragment of his vital personality
\nand appears and acts in the form and perhaps with
\nthe surface thoughts and memories of that person. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(4)   A being of the lower vital plane who by the
\nmedium of a living human being or by some other
\nmeans or agency is able to materialise itself sufficiently so as to appear and act in a visible form or
\nspeak with an audible voice or, without so appearing, to move about material
\nthings, e.g., furniture or to
\nmaterialise objects or to shift them from place to
\nplace. This accounts for what are called poltergeists,
\n<\/i>phenomena of stone-throwing, tree-inhabiting bhutas,
\n<\/i>and other well-known phenomena. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(5)   Apparitions which are the formations of one’s
\nown mind and take to the senses an objective appearance. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(6)   Temporary possession of people by vital beings
\nwho sometimes pretend to be departed relatives etc.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n(7)   Thought-images of themselves projected,
\noften by people at the moment of death, which
\nappear at that time or a few hours afterwards to
\ntheir friends or relatives. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nYou will see that in only one of these cases, the
\nfirst, can a soul be posited; and there no difficulty
\narises. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 548<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nAfter-Death Connections<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is a very intricate and difficult question to tackle
\nand it can hardly be answered in a few words.
\nMoreover, it is impossible to give a general rule as
\nto why there are these close inner contacts followed
\nby a physical separation through death\u2014in each
\ncase there is a difference and one would have to know
\nthe persons and be familiar with their soul history
\nto tell what was behind their meeting and separation.
\nIn a general way, a life is only one brief episode in a
\nlong history of spiritual evolution in which the soul
\nfollows the curve of the line set for the earth, passing
\nthrough many lives to complete it. It is an evolution
\nout of material inconscience to consciousness and
\ntowards the Divine Consciousness, from Ignorance
\nto divine Knowledge, from darkness through half-
\nlight to Light, from death to Immortality, from
\nsuffering to the Divine Bliss. Suffering is due first
\nto the Ignorance, secondly to the separation of the individual consciousness
\nfrom the Divine Consciousness and Being, a separation created by the Ignorance
\n\u2014when that ceases, when one lives in the Divine
\nand no more in one’s separated smaller self, then
\nonly suffering can altogether cease. Each soul follows
\nits own line and these lines meet, journey together
\nfor a space, then part to meet again perhaps hereafter <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 549<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\u2014they meet once more to help each other on the
\njourney in one way or another. As for the after-death period, the soul passes into other planes of
\nexistence, staying there for a while till it reaches its
\nplace of rest where it remains until it is ready for
\nanother terrestrial existence. This is the general
\nlaw, but for the connections of embodied souls, that
\nis a matter of personal evolution of the two on
\nwhich nothing general can be said, as it is intimate
\nto the soul stories of the two and needs a personal
\nknowledge. That is all I can say, but I don’t know
\nthat it will be of much help to her as these things
\nare helpful usually only when one enters into the
\nConsciousness in which they become not mere
\nideas but realities. Then one grieves no longer
\nbecause one has entered into the Truth and the
\nTruth brings calm and peace. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n27-6-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nThe Meaning of Soul-experiences in Successive
\nLives<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nEACH person follows in the world his own line of
\ndestiny which is determined by his own nature <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 550<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nand actions\u2014the meaning and necessity of what
\nhappens in a particular life cannot be understood
\nexcept in the light of the whole course of many
\nlives. But this can be seen by those who can get
\nbeyond the ordinary mind and feelings and see
\nthings as a whole, that even errors, misfortunes, calamities are steps in the journey,\u2014the soul gathering
\nexperience as it passes through and beyond them
\nuntil it is ripe for the transition which will carry
\nit beyond these things to a higher consciousness
\nand higher life. When one comes to that line of
\ncrossing, one has to leave behind one the old mind
\nand feelings. One looks then on those who are
\nstill fixed in the pleasures and sorrows of the ordinary
\nworld with sympathy and wherever it is possible
\nwith spiritual helpfulness, but no longer with
\nattachment. One learns that they are being led
\nthrough all their stumblings and trusts to the
\nUniversal Power that is watching and supporting
\ntheir existence to do for them whatever for them
\nis the best. But the one thing that is really important
\nfor us is to get into the greater Light and the Divine
\nUnion\u2014to turn to the Divine alone, to put our
\ntrust there alone whether for ourselves or for others. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n27-2-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 551<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nAttitude of the Spiritual Seeker towards Death<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\n(1) .<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI CAN understand the shock your wife’s catastrophic
\ndeath must have been to you. But you are now a
\nseeker and sadhak of the Truth and must set your
\nmind to rise above the normal reactions of the
\nhuman being and see things in a larger greater
\nlight. Regard your lost wife as a soul that was
\nprogressing through the vicissitudes of the life of
\nIgnorance\u2014like all others here; in that progress
\nthings happen that seem unfortunate to the human
\nmind and a sudden accidental or violent death
\ncutting short prematurely this always brief spell
\nof terrestrial experience we call life seems to it
\nespecially painful and unfortunate. But one who
\ngets behind the outward view knows that all that
\nhappens in the progress of the soul has its meaning,
\nits necessity, its place in the series of experiences
\nwhich are leading it towards the turning-point
\nwhere one can pass from the Ignorance to the
\nLight. He knows that whatever happens in the
\nDivine Providence is for the best, even though it
\nmay seem to the mind otherwise. Look on your
\nwife as a soul that has passed the barrier between
\ntwo states of existence. Help her journey towards <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 552<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nher place of rest by calm thoughts and the call
\nto the Divine Help to aid her upon it. Grief too
\nlong continued does not help but delays the journey
\nof the departed soul. Do not brood on your loss,
\nbut think only of her spiritual welfare. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n15-9-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(2) <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWhat has happened must now be accepted calmly
\nas the thing decreed and best for his soul’s progress
\nfrom life to life, though not the best in human eyes
\nwhich look only at the present and at outside
\nappearance. For the spiritual seeker death is only
\na passage from one form of life to another, and
\nnone is dead but only departed. Look at it as that
\nand shaking from you all reactions of vital grief,\u2014 that cannot help him in his
\njourney,\u2014pursue steadfastly the path to the Divine. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 553<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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