The person maintains his identity, his characteristic traits and personality on all planes of existence. Transitions from one plane to another have no effect on one’s personality; a person continues living the way he was, adapting to his new form and environment. The transition of a soul from the physical matter to the astral, which is referred to as “death” by earthly standards, is in fact anything but death. In this transition, the soul, for the first time after being imprisoned for so long in the physical confinements, is now free, and feels a gush of life coursing through its being. The transition restores health and well-being, and sets the soul free to move and live without any restrictions. It is like a fresh new lease of life being bestowed upon it. How can this possibly be termed as “death”?
The
word “death” is a misnomer for a person who transcends earthly life for
his spiritual abode. Death denotes stagnancy, destruction and darkness.
To refer to those who live on the other side as “the dead”, is an abuse
for “the dead” are not at all dead in any way; they are more alive,
more active, more alert, and more healthful in every way, than their
earthly brothers and sisters. Dead are those who are still existing on
Earth but have no enthusiasm, no aims and ambitions, those who live day
after day in total submission to the negative forces that possess the
minds of men; they who live as slaves to their lower desires that obsess
them to the point of total spiritual exhaustion; dead are those who do
not exercise their mental faculties to co-create wondrous experiences in
life, dead are they who live in abject spiritual poverty, trapped in
the vicious web of materialism that brings with it much sorrow and pain.
You
may wonder what dramatic changes take place once a person crosses over
to the other side. The only change that takes place is that the
individual finds himself in a different garment made of astral substance
– the atoms and molecules of the astral counterpart. This releases him
of the gross physical vesture so that he now lives unrestricted from any
physical hindrances, with heightened awareness. There are no sudden
changes in one’s personality the moment the soul detaches itself from
the earthly confinements to move into the astral. There is a
misconception among mankind that the death of a loved one means the
person has now become an angel or some holy, celestial being. This is an
erroneous belief. The spiritual progress of a soul is very slow,
gradual and arduous yet through various stages of progress, the soul
does not lose its identity. It takes thousands of years for man to
transform into a perfected, immaculate being. One needs to go through a
lot of pain and hardships in order to refine his soul.
Man
is like a rough, unpolished diamond whose light is trapped within the
obscurity of dirt and impurity. The rough edges must be smoothened out
and the surface scrubbed and polished to high degree so that every facet
of the diamond sparkles, reflecting brilliantly the light that is
within him. The tools and implements to bring out the sparkle must be
sharp, and these come in the guise of life’s terrible ordeals that
wrench the heart and squeeze every drop of tear from the eyes. The
process of perfection is indeed very grilling, and there is no other way
to bring out the best in you.
Yet,
life does not stop once you attain your Christhood. From there on you
go on striving to be more. No matter what level of perfection you may
reach desire to be more is eternal. Life never does stop at any stage.
No perfected Being has reached ultimate perfection, because there is no
thing as ultimate perfection in the vast eternity. There is no end to
being more, and this is the goal of all beings in all of cosmos. All
spiritual realms and universes, even God Himself is eternally being
MORE.
Even
in the seemingly stagnant lives of the spiritually-impoverished people,
whose only focal point is materialism, life is progressing, but at a
snail’s pace. Though outwardly there is no improvement, at the core, the
soul is being tamed with all kinds of experiences that the various
conditions of one’s own inner state of consciousness puts it through.
The spark of light, which is the Seal of God in every being’s heart,
does not ever extinguish completely but continues to smoulder
in the deep recesses of the heart, under several layers of dross that
man defiles himself with, irrespective of how evil he may be. This is
why God condemns no man ever, but has bound him to the Law of Karma
which is merciful, and not condemning as man thinks it to be.
A
sinful man limits himself to his own darkened state of consciousness,
which confines him to the lowest of all realms where he can experience
the suffering that he caused others, and where he is made to live like a
beast. While man looks upon this condition as God’s anger and revenge,
God, who is all Love, only wants what is best for His children. There
comes a time of realization in every darkened heart when he will begin
to see his mistakes, and beg God for forgiveness in true penitence. At
that moment he will be thrown open to the great Light of God, and with
that he embarks upon his journey into the Light, onward and upward.
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