What survives death of the physical body? Does it travel? How? And what happens at death for an enlightened person who has broken free from the cycle of rebirth? Q&A Series #16
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If you die of natural causes, your breathing stops first, and that deprives the organs in your body of oxygen, causing them to shut down one by one. But surprisingly, your brain will continue to function for just a few more minutes before it, too, shuts down. People who were lucky enough to be revived during those few minutes report various kinds of near-death experiences, like traveling through a dark tunnel towards a distant source of light. But if you're not revived in those crucial few minutes, your brain will soon cease to function, and all activities of your mind will stop.
And then what? According to the rishis, the sages of ancient India, you'll actually continue being aware. You'll be aware of the complete absence of any physical sensations or mental activities. Like standing in a perfectly dark closet with your eyes wide open. You don't lose your power of sight in the closet. You can see, but there's nothing to be seen. In the same way, at death, you don't cease to be aware, but there's nothing left to be aware of.
The ancient rishis discovered that your true, essential nature is awareness, pure consciousness, consciousness that's eternal, never-ending. They called it atma, the true self, the inner divinity that exists independently of your body and mind.
But then, what about reincarnation? What is it that leaves the body at death and travels on to be reborn? According to doctrine of karma, it's the sukshma sharira or subtle body that leaves the physical body at death and acquires a new one.
After death, what happens to the sukshma sharira, the subtle body, for someone who has attained enlightenment? Enlightenment is the result of discovering that your true self, atma, is pure consciousness and not an agent of action. When you're enlightened, you'll know that the agent of action who commands your body and directs your mind is the ego, a mere thought that says, "I am."
For an enlightened person, the ego is negated; it's nullified or falsified. In Vedanta texts, the falsified ego is said to be like a dagdha-bija, a burnt-seed. When mustard or cumin seeds are roasted, they still exist, but they can no longer germinate. In the same way, when the ego is falsified, it still exists, but it can no longer produce karma, nor can it reap the results of past actions. Since a falsified ego cannot reap the results of past actions, the laws of karma will no longer preserve the sukshma sharira with the ego from decaying after death. In a manner of speaking, the powerful karmic glue has nothing it can stick to.
And, according to the doctrine of karma that says, just like a person undergoes a cycle of life, death and rebirth due to karma, in the same way, the entire universe undergoes a cycle of creation and dissolution due to karma. The karma that drives the cycle of creation is called samashti karma, the collective karma of all living beings. Each new cycle of creation begins when it's triggered by samashti karma. And then, after all that karma has been exhausted, the universe enters a state of dissolution and remains in an unmanifest condition until the next cycle begins.
Swami Tadatmananda is a traditionally-trained teacher of Advaita Vedanta, meditation, and Sanskrit. For more information, please see: www.arshabodha.org/