About Death And the Astral

[Jitendra Hy-do-u-no-us?]

From Little Birds notes at Yogananda.net




Understanding the Mystery of Life and Death

Brother Bhaktananda


There was an Indian doctor who had his practice near a jungle and it was not uncommon for him to treat people who had been mauled by tigers or bitten by cobras. But they all said the same thing – they felt no pain and no fear. Nature takes care of us. Those in tune with God don't have fear.

Dr. William Hunter, a physician and scientist, whispered to a loved one at death, "If I had strength to hold a pen I would write down how easy and pleasant a thing it is to die."

At death, the life force – the energy - leaves the muscles, the senses, the nervous system, and retires to the brain, and finally at the moment of death the energy leaves the body through the top of the head. This same retirement of the energy into the brain happens also every night as we sleep. During sleep there is no energy carrying messages from the body to the brain and so we feel no pain…

At death we go to a realm of light in the astral body. Evil people go to the darker regions of the astral – they have a choice and they choose darkness, because that is what they want. The astral plane is beautiful. Atheists think death is the end of existence, but boy are they going to be surprised! (Laughter) We may meet friends, or astral beings of light who give us information we need. We will be in great light. There is nothing to fear - it's like moving from one city to another. Saint Paul said, "There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body." He was speaking of this body of light, the spiritual body, or astral body.

Everything is light – there is water, but you can't drown; fire but you can't burn; because it is all light. This material world seems like paper mache, dull and lifeless, after experiencing the astral which is so vibrant. Thomas Edison whispered as he neared death, "It's beautiful over there." There is no pain, no bills to pay, no slaving eight hours a day, no limitations. Anything you want is always available so you don't have to store things.

Loved ones who leave us at death are sad only because we who are left back in the physical are grieving – they don't like those painful vibrations they receive from the loved ones they left behind. There is a story of a man, a novelist, who lived so high on the hog that he was always financially broke. He even tried to borrow money from his uncle. Finally, his uncle died and left him a good sum of money. The man wrote to his friends, "Last night my uncle and I passed onto a better life." (Laughter)


There is much rejoicing in heaven – nothing but happiness. There is a saying, "There are two things we cannot escape – taxes and death", but Will Rogers added to it, "…but death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets." (Laughter)

Master said that many devotees have seen proof of life after death by the appearances of Lahiri Mahasaya and Sri Yukteswar to them after they had already left the body. After Master left the body, in Germany there was a woman walking down the street and she noticed the unusual sight of a Hindu approaching her. Then some time later she read Master's autobiography, and recognized it had been Paramahansa Yogananda she had seen on the street.

… Our guru gives us a great consolation, "When a sincere devotee calls on me at the time of death, I or one of the gurus will come and will usher you consciously into the astral at the time of death – even if you are not highly developed."