9.What after Death?

What after Death?

Death, a word of fear. An undeniable and unavoidable truth that no one can deny. Death, an uncertain & inevitable stage for every human being to balance with the nature. Death is still the fascinating topic of for we humans. Throughout centuries there have different beliefs, folklore, myths & mythologies who had different opinions & conclusions about death. But still no one knows what after death? Are there any things like reincarnation or rebirth? The concepts of heaven & hell are true or any human created fantasies? If it’s true, then where? The existence of spirits, ghosts, vampires & all supernatural beings are still a mystery.

The question is still the same. What after death? Science has his own theories to explain & scriptures & myths have different explanation. Indian mythology has different scriptures about number of things. “The Garuda Purana has different aspects about death & after death. Garuda Purana describes specific issues of Hindu Philosophy connected with death, funeral rites and reincarnation.

Every philosophy moves around only two major concepts: Hell & Heaven. Soul is a mystical energy that inhabits in human body without physical existence. The human body only acts through the soul or the spirit. Without soul the human body is just the bulb without electricity. The belief is, soul is invisible & immortal entity or some energy which lives in the human body & when it leaves the body. Human body is just corpse without soul. I don’t know exactly but according to bible soul & spirit both are different things. But still this is not the answer of what about death.

The Garuda Puran is the conversation between lord Vishnu & the Garuda. Hindu & Buddhist both mythologies describe Garuda as the legendary bird with the head & wings of eagle & the rest body is of man. According to it, Yamraj is the King of death & lives in Yamlok. Yamraj take the souls to Yamlok & punishes them according their sins. It describes different brutal punishment which sinners has to suffer & how would we know if the person is going to die. All these different concepts have mentioned in it.

As mentioned in Garuda Puran, in very last moments the person who is going to die is not able to speak. In his last moment the person generates a power inside him through which understands the world & with that eventually all of his senses gets destroyed. all the world appears as a one to him. The saliva drips out of mouth & person goes stiff. The Yamraj sends two solider of death (“Yamdut”) to take the soul from body. The Yamduts are described as creepy, as black as crows, horrible & ugly faces with erect hairs, tall, terrifying & dark in look & naked. They use noose with rods to take the soul forcefully. They bound the noose around the neck & forcefully drag the soul from body. They take them to the Yamlok & beat them & torture them about the sins they have made.

The way of yamlok is full of torments for the wicked soul. The soul has to suffer as the sins & misdeeds they have done. The way to hell is full of terror & pain & the soul is tortured by hunger, thirst and unbearable pain. The soul is shelter less & powerless unless they will lead to the king, Yamraj. Then the Yamraj weighs the virtues & vices of the being and passes the judgement. According to their sins they are sending to the Hell or Heaven. After their punishment period they are again reborn as the human as higher or lower beings as per their merits.

It is mentioned that there are twenty-two different hell exist & the wicked soul has to suffer from each one of it. The Bhagvata Puran as beneath the earth, between the seven realms of underworld(“Patala”) and the Garbhodaka Ocean, which is the bottom of the universe. It is located in the south of universe. According to another reference the hell is described as the bottomless pit of darkness where souls are trapped for infinite looped for eternity.

We live in the world of science. So, these all things might be amusing to us. I don’t know whether all these texts are reality or some absurd creation of someone. I just believe that everything is in the moment we are living, in the present. Our virtues only lead us to heaven. If it’s true somewhere then, this is the place where we rule our life. So build it in a way that after death we don’t have to follow their rules.