-018_Death - The Spirit's Goad and Soul's Opportunity.htm Death - The Spirit's Goad and Soul's Opportunity But is this the only possibility? What about the spiritual man? What about faith and attitudes and beliefs? Well they would arguably modify the stages or even totally surpass them. There are other ways of looking at the phenomenon, which comes with our higher development. The sense of evil and suffering as we have seen comes at a certain stage of human development and passes off at another stage. The purpose that this sense of tragedy serves is to help man seek for a life and Truth that is greater than the sense-bound formula. It is more of a goad and a spur to look beyond the present. T

Killing of Animals This important issue has somehow received scant attention of mankind so far. Though there have been certain individual efforts or even sometimes general efforts guided by religious or humane sentiment, it is only recently that the plight of animals being slaughtered is being noticed. So merciless has been the hand of the killer that some species have come close to extinction. Here we need to remember the spiritual as well as material truth that 'man-animal-plant-material' form a single chain linked by such a oneness that an unenlightened disruption of any part of the whole threatens the entire chain itself. But that apart the issue involves

Appendix V The Ancient Debate (The following excerpts have been taken from 'Life After Life' written by Raymond Moody.) The Myth of Our 3-Dimensional Universe Many people have made remarks to the effect that, "There are just no words to express what I am trying to say", or "They just don't make adjectives and superlatives to describe this". One woman put this to me very succinctly when she said, "Now, there is a real problem for me as I'm trying to tell you this, because all the words I know are three-dimensional. As I was going through this, I kept thinking, "Well, when I was taking geometry, they always told me the

-070_The Scientist's View on Death and Immortality.htm The Scientist's View on Death and Immortality Science has for long now been divorced from philosophy. Therefore it does not even raise the question of why. It simply seeks to find the how. And that it does with utmost perfection. But since the how of things is only a process subservient to something else that is deeper, all means to correct the process alone are likely to fail. Nature will devise fresh means for the final exit. Even if we were to block all material avenues of death by controlling each and every process, yet Nature will create new doors just as new diseases have replaced the old ones. In fact, the scientists have b

Working through grief Working through grief - The Rational-Emotive Way: Modern science however denies for itself the existence of life beyond death or of the soul and therefore follows a slightly different approach. Most therapists trained in the western model essentially serve as facilitators to help one accept death as an unavoidable reality. The emphasis is on empathy from those around as well as from the physician, to allow the patient to speak out and discuss his fears, to help him release his feelings by the supporting presence of a therapist, to treat depression as and when it comes and finally, when he is through with all this and ready, then to ap

Death - A Partner in the Game of Life Another idea about death is that it is a device of nature used as a process of life, albeit complementary to life itself. In other words, individual forms seen in isolation perish but by their death they only go on to strengthen the survival for a larger collective truth. Individual life forms in this view are seen as part of a great unbroken chain of Life or All-life, if we may say so. While the individual suffers the shock and defeat of death, the larger unity grows by this individual sacrifice. Yet the totality of the physical body continues to not only exist but even grow through this process. Take for i

The Dance of Destruction Death is seen as the great destroyer of all things. Men, countries, empires, civilisations, all become a heap of ashes and dust one day. The creative work of centuries, the mighty invincible races, the great and swift moments of life, all slain by death turn into the pages of an uncertain history. Death seems to cast a spell of doom upon all our efforts. But let us ask ourselves if really it is so? Or is it only the forms of men and races and civilizations that perish and from its ashes newer and stronger forms arise, forms more robust, more durable, more plastic in wideness, more adaptable in their circumstances? Thus goes on the

Death - The Passport to Immortality Thus seen we discover that death is not just a senseless passage from one life to another or a meaningless change of form driven by some mechanical law of karma but something much more. It is a forward journey wherein the soul in us breaks free from the chrysalis of one life that it has woven around itself for a certain experience. The crust is left behind but the essence is carried forward. This goes on till the butterfly is formed out of the moth and no longer needs the limiting casing of ignorance for its growth. Then are we freed from the law of death and birth since its purpose is over - the rediscovery of

Out of Body Experiences Out of Body Experiences (OBEs): "Many of us have experienced dreams in which we find ourselves flying. 11.A detailed exposition of these levels would go beyond the scope of this book. The interested reader is advised to refer to the original works of Sri Aurobindo for guidance, especially Letters on Yoga. 12.This of course is a brief statement. For more details on these sheaths and their functions, the reader is advised to refer to the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, especially the chapter on 'Planes and Parts of the Being' as described in Letters on Yoga. Page-193 We rush through walls, cr

The Being of Death All this is he and yet we may ask who he is? Is he real or unreal, is he just a shadow or a palpable being, is he just a formation of the human mind or a person created and deputed by God, is he an original truth or an energy that has deviated from its aim leading to much avoidable confusion? The answers to these questions are the very last ones on death and exceed the limits and scope of the human mind. They belong to the realm of the Spirit, to a domain that transcends the reaches even of our highest mentality. The truth and mystery of death is subtle, one which even the gods know not. So says Death to Nachiketa. Ask not this boon but any