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Chapter 6: The Experience of Death and Life in the Subtle Bodies
The soul resides within two bodies – the subtle body and the gross body. At the time of death, the gross body dies. The body which is made of earth and water, the body which consists of flesh, bones and marrow, drops, dies. Subsequently, the body comprised of subtle thoughts, subtle feelings, subtle vibrations, subtle filaments, remains. This body, formed of all these subtle things, along with the soul, once again proceeds on a journey, and again enters a gross body for a new birth. When a new soul enters the mother’s womb, it means this subtle body enters.
In the event of death only the gross body disintegrates, not the subtle body. But with the occurrence of the ultimate death, what we call moksha, the subtle body disintegrates along with the gross body. Then there is no more birth for the soul. Then the soul becomes one with the whole. This happens only once. It is like a drop merging into the ocean.
Three things have to be understood. First, there is the element of the soul. When the two types of bodies – the gross and the subtle – come in contact with this element of the soul, both become active. We are familiar with the gross, the physical body; a yogi is familiar with the subtle body, and those who go beyond yoga are familiar with the soul.
Ordinary eyes are able to see the gross body. The yogic eye is able to see the subtle body. But that which is beyond yoga, that which exists beyond the subtle body, is experienced only in samadhi. One who goes beyond meditation attains samadhi, and it is in the state of samadhi that one experiences the divine. The ordinary man has the experience of the physical body, the ordinary yogi has the experience of the subtle body, the enlightened yogi has the experience of the divine. Godliness is one, but there are countless subtle bodies and there are countless gross bodies.
The subtle body is the causal body; it is this body that takes on the new physical body. You see many light bulbs around here. The electricity is one, that energy is one, but it is manifesting through different bulbs. The bulbs have different bodies, but their soul is one. Similarly, the consciousness manifesting through us is one, but in the manifestation of this consciousness, two vehicles are applied. One is the subtle vehicle, the subtle body; the other is the gross vehicle, the gross body.
Our experience is limited to the gross, to the physical body. This restricted experience is the cause of all human misery and ignorance. But there are people who, even after going beyond the physical body, may stop at the subtle
body. They will say, “There are an infinite number of souls.” But those who go beyond even the subtle body will say, “Godliness is one, the soul is one, brahman is one.”
When I referred to the entering of the soul, I meant that soul which is still associated with the subtle body. It means the subtle body the soul is enveloped in has not disintegrated yet. That’s why we say that the soul which attains to the ultimate freedom steps out of the cycle of birth and death. There is indeed no birth and death for the soul – it was never born, nor will it ever die. The cycle of birth and death stops with the end of the subtle body, because it is the subtle body that causes a new birth.
The subtle body is an integrated seed consisting of our thoughts, desires, lusts, longings, experiences, knowledge. This body is instrumental in taking us on our continuing journey. However, one whose thoughts are all annihilated, whose passions have all vanished, whose desires have all disappeared, who has no desire left within him, there is no place for him to go, there is no reason left for him to go anywhere. Then there is no reason for him to take birth again.
There is a wonderful story in the life of Ramakrishna. Those who were close to him, who knew him to be a paramahansa, an enlightened one, used to be deeply troubled about one thing. It bothered them greatly to see an enlightened person such as Ramakrishna – one who had attained samadhi – craving food so much. Ramakrishna used to become very anxious about food. He would often enter the kitchen, asking his wife Sharda Devi, “What’s cooking today? It’s getting so late!” Right in the middle of a serious talk on spiritual matters, he would get up abruptly and rush toward the kitchen asking what was being cooked, start looking for food.
Feeling embarrassed, Sharda would politely chide him, “What are you doing? What must people think – dropping the talk on brahman so suddenly and starting to talk about food!” Ramakrishna would laugh and remain silent.
Even his close disciples remonstrated with him. They would say, “It’s giving you a bad name. People say, ‘How can such a person have attained knowledge when his desire for food is so overwhelming?’”
One day his wife Sharda got very upset and reproached him. Ramakrishna told her, “You have no idea, but the day I show an aversion to food, know that I shall not live more than three days afterward.”
Sharda asked, “What do you mean?”
Ramakrishna said, “All my desires and passions have disappeared, all my thoughts are gone – but for the good of mankind I am deliberately holding on to this one desire for food. It’s like a boat tied down with one last rope. Once
that rope is cut loose, the boat will move on to its endless journey. I am staying on with effort.”
Perhaps those around him did not give much thought to this at the time. But three days before Ramakrishna’s death, when Sharda entered with a dish of food, Ramakrishna looked at it, shut his eyes, and lay with his back turned toward her. In a flash she remembered Ramakrishna’s words about his death. The dish fell from her hands and she began to weep bitterly. Ramakrishna said, “Don’t cry. You wished I should not crave for food – your wish has come true.” Exactly three days after this incident Ramakrishna died. He was holding on with effort to just a little bit of desire. That little desire had become the support for the continuation of his life journey. With the disappearance of that desire,
the entire support ceased to exist.
Those whom we call the tirthankaras, those whom we call the buddhas, the sons of God, the avatars – they hold on to only one desire. They keep the desire solely out of compassion, for the good and well-being of all mankind. The day this desire is lost, they cease to live in the body and an endless journey toward the infinite begins. After that there is no more birth, no more death. After that there is neither one nor many. What remains after that cannot, in any way, be counted in numbers; hence those who know don’t even say, “Brahman is one, the divine is one.” To call it “one” is meaningless when there is no way to follow it with “two,” when one can’t count any further in the sequence of two and three. Saying “one” is meaningful only as long as two, three and four are also there. “One” is significant only in the context of other numbers. That’s why those who know don’t even say brahman is one; they say brahman is non- dual, he is not two.
They are saying something quite remarkable. They are saying, “Godliness is not two; there is no way you can count godliness in terms of numbers.” Even calling it one we are attempting to count it in terms of numbers, which is wrong. But to experience that one is still a long way. Right now we are still at the level of the gross body, of the body which endlessly takes multiple forms. When we enter this body we find another body – the subtle body. Going beyond this subtle body, we attain that which is not a body, that which is bodiless – the soul.
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