What Happens when we die:

Death is a lovely experience. When we die and become free of our physicality, our overall understanding changes fundamentally. When we are in a body, our position is that of a “start” and an “end”. Everything in our life starts at a certain point and ends at a certain other point. We are born and at some other point of time we die. Overall, we have a linear sense of time. However, after death the sensory perceptions are over and direct perception replaces it. That is when we realize that, in reality, “time’’ does not exist in a linear sense. Jesus had said it categorically to his disciples, “In the kingdom of my father, there shall be time no longer!”     

Another fundamental change in the realm of reality is end of “fear”. In the earthly life fear is a major denominator. It is because right since the day of our birth, we are exposed to judgement by others. We are described as either fair or dark, chubby or skinny, playful or crying, good or bad ....our world is a world of definitions. Actually, when a child is just born, it is ego-less. Gradually however it forms an image of her/him which is a reflection of what it receives from its surroundings. And a false center, namely, the ego is born. Ego is always susceptible to judgement either by others or by ourselves and it is afraid of losing its ground per se. Hence we humans living through our egos resort to various defense mechanisms. After death however, the ego is finished and judgement is over hence the very concept of fear or possibility of being scared does not arise.

Related to being fearless is the possibility of being joyful. Fear kills the joy. After dying we come to realize that pure joy is unconditional. And we are rather perplexed as to why we didn’t realize it earlier?  All our life we pursue happiness and hope to get it upon certain condition being fulfilled. Only after dying we realize that conditional happiness is no happiness at all. It is opposite to being fearful. The pure happiness or pure joy is without any cause or condition and we are made of it. It is our very essence.

Third major realization comes in the form of “connectivity”. When we are ego-less we are connected and in fact unified with everything else in the universe. Actually separation in earthly life is because of separate egos.  After death the original substance, the ‘essence’ takes over. This is an all together different, a ‘love-like’ substance and within its jurisprudence, everything is fundamentally “one” i.e. everything is inter-connected. Hence people who come back from NDE (Near Death Experience) are full of love towards one and all, unconditionally. In our earthly life the unconditional love is rare as there is a sense of “difference” amongst one another. Hence our love is always with an agenda. At the most we can empathize with others but we cannot become others. This condition changes after we die as everything and everyone is “us” only.

And the ultimate of all is the realization that there is no other place to go to. Since time stops existing in a linear fashion everything is here and now. Since a state of pure joy is experienced (which is without fear and full of connectivity), heaven or any other state of being is just not needed. Everything is so perfect and heavenly here and now. This is our home.    

We take our life very seriously because we think this world and this life is real and it is the only dimension there is to it to the existence. We have forgotten our ‘essence’ and ‘magnificence’ because our perception is limited by our senses.  A true Yogi is one who has transcended sensory perception in this very life and tasted the elixir of pure “being”. He is called “dwij” or twice-born. He is the true Bramhan ! 

Above article was published in The Times of India , column Speaking Tree on 5th Aug 2016

Dying to be me: By Anita Moorjani
There was once a time in my life when I used to read 10-20 books a month on an average. Finishing 2 or 3 books in a day was a frequent feature. I had certain questions about life as a subjective phenomena and I needed an answer for them badly. This quest took me to a wide spectrum. From शेखर - एक जीवनी n नदी के द्वीप to erstwhile Paulo Coelho!...From Sigmund Freud n Erich Bern to M Scott Peck....from J L Nehru n Will Durant to Straight up to Spinoza..and finally from Paramhans Yoganand, Osho to Shri Shri....I tried to find solace and in the process got into Yoga and Spirituality. But the beauty is I didn't find any answers...instead the questions dropped themselves ! Life is to be lived and not to be understood! That's what came to me as a realization. As a consequence..hardly 4 or 5 books are read by me over an year these days. Some books beckon..as if they would love to come to me as much as I would love to go through them. One such book I finished yesterday night. Dying to be me by Anita Moorjani. Oh! What a wonderful book. It's her account on her NDE (Near Death Experience) when as a final stage cancer patient she went into coma and experienced "Dying" first hand! 😊Oh! What a wonderful expression! Cogent, clear and free of any dogma whatsoever. Anita tells you lucidly exactly how the bigger picture is. How you are transformed fundamentally when you have tasted the energy in the other(?) realm. The real dimension...more real than our current dimension which we call life. Anita explains, without terrifying or sensationalizing how extremely loving 😍 , timeless, unconditional n all encompassing the reality is. I immediately recalled the word द्विज (the twice born) ..our philosophy says the real Brahmin is one who has reborn in this very life..that is one who has experienced death( through yoga) while living and thus reborn. I was also reminded of Baba Gorakhnath's famous quote म रौ हे जोगी मरौ, मरन है मीठा । तिस मरणी मर दीठो, जिस मरणी गोरष मर दीठा See the death the way Gorakh has seen.. It's joyful beyond your wildest expectations!
When Anita came back she was 'sorted', full of joy and hope personified. Doctors had in fact declared her 'over' already so her coming back was a miracle in itself. However what was truly spectacular was that the cancerous tumours spread all over her body simply vanished within a weeks time leaving no traces whatsoever. How could this be? People asked Anita , " what is that one fundamental change that you have exexperience that has brought you healing of this nature? ". Anita replied, " prior to my NDE, 'fear' was the centre from where I operated. However, after NDE,' Unconditional joy' is what drives me. That has brought all the change.
Please mind the word 'unconditional ' here. 80% of us are driven by fear as a motivator in life. Balance 20% find joy but that is also a conditional joy. As a result by n large we remain entangled. The real freedom is unconditional joy, which if you have experienced even once changes you forever. I think that is the reason why Buddha said, " enlightenment is end to all your sufferings".
Anyway, the final message from Anita is , " love yourself unconditionally and express yourself fearlessly!". And you get thoroughly convinced with this by the time you finish the book.
Highly recommended to all the fellow seekers. 🙆