The Science behind Life after Death
Dr K K Aggarwal
President Heart Care Foundation of India
In the month of January I lost my father (17th) and father in law ( 6th). Most people ask in this day what happens after death. This is what i wrote sometimes back.
As per Chhandogya Upanishad
death is not instantaneous but an active process. The first to stop functioning are
the five Karmendriyas. They are elimination (payu or excretory organ),
reproduction (upastha or sexual organs), movement (pada or the locomotor
organ), act of grasping (pani or the organ of action the hands) and speech (vak
or the speech organ).
As per Upanishad, when
these five Karmendriyas stop functioning, it is called 'Vakvriti'. They
stop functioning in sequence and speech is the last function to go.
In medical science,
the first question we ask is " can the person speak?". If
yes, the process of death has not started yet.
The next to go are the
five sense organs called Gnanendriyas. They are smell (ghrana or
nose), taste (rasana or tongue), vision (caksu or eyes), touch (tvak or skin)
and ability to hear (srota or ears). The Jnanendriyas also stop
functioning in sequence and the last to go is hearing,
In medical sciences,
the next question to be asked is whether the person can hear or not.
Once the ability to
hear has gone, the next to go is 'Manas" which includes mind, Intellect,
Memory & Ego.
When both the
Jnanendriyas & Manas stop functioning, the situation is called 'Manovriti'.
In this phase, the person cannot speak, hear and think.
Once the vakvriti and
manovriti stop functioning, the next to stop functioning are the five
Pranas. Prana Vayu (the upward moving force of the chest region
responsible for respiration); Apana Vayu (the downward moving energy of the
sacral region connected with the functions of excretion and reproduction),
Samana Vayu (the laterally moving energy helping in digestive functions); Udana
Vayu (the energy that compress and causes deglutition and separates physical
body from astral) and finally the Vyana Vayu (the energy moving in
circles in the entire body and responsible for circulatory system).
These 'Vayus' too
cease functioning with the 'Vyana Vayu' being the last to cease. Once all five
Vayus cease to function it is called "Pranavriti".
Therefore, medically
the third question to be asked “is the patient breathing?”
and if yes, is the circulation on.
The above sequence
also explains the difference between the “brain stem death” and “death”.
In brain stem death the Prana Vayu cease to function but other vayus continue
to function.
Once the Prana stops
functioning, the Pranavriti merges with Tej (Tejas, lose control of temperature
regulation) and these merge in Sat (Sath). With that life comes to an
end.
The “Sat” may be taken
as a state when the consciousness or the life force leaves the body.
At any stage, before “Tejas” merges with 'Sat" death is
reversible. Before pranavritti by
putting a person on ventilator and at Teajs by creating therapeutic
hypothermia.
In Ayurveda there
are three terms called Prana, Tejas (Tejesvi Bhava) and Ojhas (Ojhasvi Bhav).
They represent the life forces and are consistent with the above observations.
The nearest
equivalent to Tejas is control of metabolism and temperature regulation. Till
the tejas is under control, life force cannot cease to function.
Medically or naturally
if hypothermia develops, Pranavriti cannot merge with the Tejas, the life force
can be kept preserved for a long duration. A person can be revived later by
bringing back the body to a normal temperature and with proper resuscitation.
In modern
medicine it is called
therapeutic hypothermia.
A person whose
functioning of Karmendriyas, Jnanendriyas, Mans and Prana have stopped and if
put in a state of therapeutic hypothermia, can be revived later after
re-warming and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
The above sequential
process also can explain the “near
death” experiences. They depend at which stage the person was revived.
For example, if a
person gets revived at a stage of vakvriti he or she may recall experiences
related to the motor organs. If the person gets revived at a stage of
Manovriti, he or she may recall experiences of both motor and sensory organs as
well as experiences related to mind, intellect, memory and ego and if the
patient gets revived at the stage of Pranavriti, he or she may recall the near
death experiences linked to motor organs, sensory organs and breathing.
The process of death
therefore is Vakvriti merging into Manovriti, Manovriti merging into Pranavriti
and Pranavriti taking the heat of the body (Tejas) and merging into 'Sat' and
the 'Sat' merges into “Brahamand” in the atmosphere. [Chandogya Upanishad
6.15.1]
Samadhi
Samadhi is a state of
oneness in body mind and the soul. The process of Samadhi also involves the
above process starting with control of Karmendriyas, then Jnanendriyas,
followed by control of the mind (manas), then the control of prana and finally
the control on metabolism (tejas) and lowering of body temperature. At this
state the life force can be preserved for a long period and the person can
revive back even after months. Samadhi has been practices by Rishi Munis in
Vedic literature but in natural environments on the hills.
Food is Brahman
Motor organs, sensory
organs, Prana, (the life force) and all formed by the food we consume.
When Ghee & oil in
the food gets digested, it gets divided into three parts: The “crude” part
makes bone, the middle part makes bone marrow and the subtle part makes the
Karmendriyas (Vak).
When the nonfat part
of the food is digested, it too gets divided into three parts: The “crude” part
makes the feces; the “middle part” Manas and the “subtle” part
Jnanendriyas.
When the liquid part
of the food is digested, it also gets divided into three parts. The “crude” part
gets converted into urine, the “middle” part into blood and “subtle” into
Prana.
This explains the
process of fasting. A person can live without air for three minutes, without
water for three days and without food for three weeks. The first effect of
fasting unto death is cessation of speech then hearing and then the prana.
The above is true in non-Samadhi
state. In the state of Samadhi your metabolism may be so slow that you may live
longer without food. Even today many Jain Munis live without food for months.
Life after death
As per Upanishads the
‘Sat' or the life force, called consciousness remain in the atmosphere.
After a variable
period of time it will fall on to the earth through the rain drops when (the
RNA & DNA) gets taken up by the food grains. Therefore, the term “food is
Brahman”.
When the appropriate
father & mother eats that food, the life force enters in the ova & the
sperm and from there the new life begins. (Soul never dies Bhagavad Gita 2.20]
This process of new
birth is just the reverse of the process of death. In the process of death, the
first to go is Vakriti or speech and in the process of birth the last to come
is Vak or speech.
This, explanation,
though is difficult to explain in terms of modern science.
The science of Karma:
Karmas in Vedic
knowledge are described in three terms: Sanchita Karma, Prarabdha
Karma Agami Karma.
Every action result in
a reaction. Action & the resultant reaction together is called a
Karma.
The end result can be positive
or negative, depending upon the resultant reaction.
As per Vedic
literature, the net negative Karmas get accumulated and needs to be neutralized
either in this birth or in the next birth. At the time of death, all the
resultant accumulated negative Karmas, which remains to be neutralized,
constitute Sanchita Karmas.
If the Sanchita Karmas
has a high burden, then some of them, as an installment, gets constituted as
Prarabdha Karmas which one needs to neutralize in the coming birth.
Therefore, when a
person is born, he is born with pre-defined Prarabdha Karmas. These need to
be neutralized and faced in this life and the left over Sanchita Karmas to be
faced in subsequent birth unless some of them are neutralized by this birth by
good positive Agami Karmas.
Agami Karmas are
day-to-day Karmas of this birth. If the net result of positive & negative
Agami Karma is positive, they can neutralize the Sanchita Karma that form the
basis of Vedic saying and recommendation of keep doing the good job. It
also resolves the myth that if one’s destiny is pre-defined in terms of
Prarabdha Karma, why should one do good jobs.
According to Buddhism,
one is born to suffer as per the number of Prarabdha Karma at the time of
birth. Buddhist Philosophy says that suffering exist, there is a
reason for that suffering and one can live and make modifications to enjoy that
suffering.
The purpose of life,
therefore, should be to live our Agami Karma in such a way that they not only
neutralize our Prarabdha Karma, but also the Sanchita Karma.
According to Bhagavad
Gita, whatever you think throughout your life, will be your thinking at
the time of death and whatever is the thinking at the time of your death, will
be the type of womb you will get in the next birth [Bhagavad Gita 8.6, 8.7].
As per Prasna Upanishad [3] whatever one's thinking,
with that one enters into prana. Prana joined with fire (udana), together with
the soul, leads to whatever world has been fashioned by thought.
The thinking at the
time of death decides which Karmas will form the installment of Prarabdha
Karma. Therefore, thoughts at the time of death decide the destiny of
birth in the next generations.
So as per Bhagavad
Gita, one should be in a positive state of mind at the time of death. If
spontaneous positive thinking is not possible, then every effort should be
made to convert negative into positive thinking.
According to Bhagavad
Gita, the best time to die is Uttarayana, before full moon in a day light or in
an atmosphere of Yagna. The bad time to die is Dakshinayana, before Amawasya,
in the night or in the dark.
To convert bad into
good timings, the process of death should take place at home, in a lighted
environment (artificial Dias, in the vicinity of Vedic hymns) in the company of
positive thinking people. In that situation, the chosen Prarabdha Karmas out of
the Sanchita Karmas will be positive and the life force with positive aura will
enter into the womb of parents who are positive. In this way, even if you
are born to suffer, you will suffer and yet not suffer.
Note: [ The views written
in the forward are my personal views and interpretations based on my literature
search and knowledge acquired t after interaction with many spiritual Gurus
over the last many decades]
