Death and the

After-Death States

Levels of ConsciousnessVehicle Function

Higher Self (Spirit; Atma)

Spark of the Divine; True Self within

Spiritual Consciousness (Buddhi)

Seat of spirituality and true intuition; where illumination and enlightenment occurs

Higher Mental Abstract thinking; formless

Lower Mental Concrete thinking; with forms

Emotion Seat of feelings

Physical Etheric Dense

The double; vehicle of prana or ch’i Physical, liquid and gaseous

Life After Death

Physical body

Etheric double

Mental-emotional body (Kama Loka; Hades)

Causal Body (Devachan; Sukhavati)

First death

Second death

• Upon death, the physical body, etheric double and its prana get separated from the higher bodies.

• The silver cord is broken

• Both the body and double gradually decompose

Apparitions of the Dead

• The apparition is oftentimes the projection of the mayavi rupa or the illusory body.

His Mayavi rupa may be often thrown into objectivity, as in the cases of apparitions after death; but, unless it is projected with the knowledge of (whether latent or potential), or, owing to the intensity of the desire to see or appear to someone, shooting through the dying brain, the apparition will be simply — automatical; it will not be due to any sympathetic attraction, or to any act of volition, and no more than the reflection of a person passing unconsciously near a mirror is due to the desire of the latter. (ML70-c)

Mayavi Rupa or Illusory Body

If a man thinks intensely of another at a distance, his Māyāvī-Rūpa may appear to that person, without the projector knowing anything about it. This Māyāvi-Rūpa is formed by the unconscious use of Kriyāśakti, when the thought is at work with much intensity and concentration. It is formed without the idea of conscious projection, and it is itself unconscious, a thought body, but not a vehicle of Consciousness.

Nothing can hurt the Māyāvi-Rūpa–no sharp instrument or weapon––since, as regards this plane, it is purely subjective. It has no material connection with the physical Body, no umbilical cord. It is spiritual and ethereal, and passes everywhere without let or hindrance. It thus entirely differs from the Li‰ga-Śarīra, which, if injured, acts by repercussion on the physical Body.

This is why the phantoms are often seen in such cases in the clothes they wear at the particular moment, and the image reproduces even the expression on the dying man’s face. If the double of a man bathing were seen it would seem to be immersed in water; so when a man who has been drowned appears to his friend, the image will be seen to be dripping with water. The cause for the apparition may be also reversed; i.e., the dying man may or may not be thinking at all of the particular person his image appears to, but it is that person who is sensitive. Or perhaps his sympathy or his hatred for the individual whose wraith is thus evoked is very intense physically or psychically; and in this case the apparition is created by, and depends upon, the intensity of the thought.

Brown lady of Raynham Hall, England, 1936

by photographers Captain Provand and Indre Shira while shooting for Country Life magazine; purports to show a ghost descending a staircase at England's historic Raynham Hall which is said to be haunted by the ghost of  Lady Dorothy Walpole who once lived at the Hall. She is known as The Brown Lady due to reports of the spirit being seen wearing a brown brocade dress. She officially died of smallpox, but rumors have it that she was pushed down the stairs by her husband after learning of an affair.

This picture was taken in 1959 by Mrs. Mabel Chinnery  apparently no one was in the backseat when the picture was taken. Mrs. Chinnery  recognized the person in the backseat as her dead mother whose grave she was just visiting!!! She staked her reputation on the authenticity of the photograph.

This picture was taken by  Tony O'Rahilly in 1995, as Wem Town Hall, Shropshire, England, burned down. The  girl in the doorway was not seen at the time the photo was taken. When examined by photographic expert Dr. Vernon Harrison, former president of the Royal Photographic Society the photo was deemed genuine, in that it was not tampered with.  In 1977 there was another fire in this place, started accidentally by a young girl by the name of Jane Churm. Is this her ghost?

This photo was shot at Boothill Cemetery in  Tombstone Arizona by Terry Clanton cousin of the legendary Clanton Gang who shot it out at the OK Corral with the Earps and Doc Holliday. Clanton, also the webmaster of TombstoneArizona.com says  "This is the photo that changed my opinion about ghost photos." He insists no one was in the background when the picture was shot. Pictured is a friend of Clantons, the picture was made to look like a old west type photograph.

The Death Process

• The last organ to die is the brain

• There is a recollection of one’s life in its smallest details.

• Lucidity at moment of death, even if cannot speak. Speak then in whispers.

• The cord is broken.

• The etheric double dies with the physical body.

• Enters into a state of unconsciousness in Kama-Loka.

• Enters into a gestation period (except for exceptions: those who die of suicide, murder or accident, and children who die before 7 years old)

Levels of ConsciousnessVehicle Function

Higher Self (Spirit; Atma)

Spark of the Divine; True Self within

Spiritual Consciousness (Buddhi)

Seat of spirituality and true intuition; where illumination and enlightenment occurs

Higher Mental Abstract thinking; formless

Lower Mental Concrete thinking; with forms

Emotion Seat of feelings

Physical Etheric Dense

The double; vehicle of prana or ch’i Physical, liquid and gaseous

The Death Process II• The ego is in Desire Body (Kama-rupa). After a period which varies from a few hours to years, there is a second recollection of the memories of the last life, and the soul undergoes the “second death” where the desire body (kama rupa) is separated from the Causal Body

• There is a struggle between the higher and lower regarding the mental matter. Part of it goes to the Atma-Buddhi and part of it goes to the desire body (kama-rupa).

• When the personality had been extremely selfish and evil, there is a tendency for the manas to be drawn to the desire body. In this case, one becomes a “lost soul,” because without the mind, the Atma-Buddhi can no longer function in future incarnations.

Life After Death

Physical body (decomposes)

Etheric double (disintegrates)

Mental-emotional body (in Kama Loka and becomes a shell)

Causal Body (in Devachan)

First death

Second death

Does Hell Exist?• Deep within us, we feel that Eternal Hell cannot exist because it would be unjust to punish UNLIMITEDLY people who commit LIMITED sins.

• Many people commit crimes or sins not because they are essentially evil people, but because that is how they were brought up since childhood. (But they will still have to face the karmic consequences of their actions.) Is it entirely their fault? The parents, the teachers and society are also at fault.

• Mark Twain: “If God were half as merciful as my mother, he would never send me to hell.”

• The afterdeath state is the Kama-Loka or the Hades of the Greeks and New Testament (limbus, purgatory). Hades is the abode of the dead and not hell.

• “Hades has surely never been meant for Hell. It was always the abode of the sorrowing shadows or astral bodies of the dead personalities.” (CW 7:178fn)

Kama-Loka (Desire World)

• Kama-loka is an astral locality, the limbus of scholastic theology, the Hades of the ancients

• It is the lowest of the three known stages of the after-death state: Kama-loka, rupa loka (lower mental), and arupa loka (higher mental)

• It is at this stage that a gestation period occurs. It is from this that the concept of purgatory was derived.

• The soul is generally unconscious during this stage and hence cannot be contacted. There are exceptions to this.

The Astral Shell• The astral shell “having been magnetically and unconsciously drawn toward a medium, it is revived for a time and lives in him by proxy, so to speak. This "spook," or the Kama-rupa, may be compared with the jelly-fish, which has an ethereal gelatinous appearance so long as it is in its own element, or water (the medium's specific AURA), but which, no sooner is it thrown out of it, than it dissolves in the hand or on the sand, especially in sunlight. In the medium's Aura, it lives a kind of vicarious life and reasons and speaks either through the medium's brain or those of other persons present.” (KT Sec. 9)

Devachan• Only the pure parts of the mind go into Devachan. Thus there is no unhappiness in Devachan.

• The happy memories and circumstances are recalled. Unfinished researches and endeavors are continued, but only based on the experiences of the past life.

• Devachan is a subjective state, hence an illusory one just like in dream state.

• Devachan is a state where the effects are reaped.

• This is different from the concept of heaven in Christianity and Islam. Devachan is a state of consciousness and not union with God yet.

• Adepts do not enter into Devachanic state anymore, since they are beyond the dream state.

How Long Does It Take?Kama Loka From a few

minutes to a number of years

Gestation State “Very long”, proportionate to the Ego’s spiritual stamina

Rupa Loka of Devachan

Lasts in proportion to the good Karma

Can We Contact the Dead?

• Spiritualists believe that they are able to contact the dead.

• The Mahatmas state that what is being contacted are the shells of dead people (with certain exceptions)

• In Kama Loka, the soul is unconscious and hence cannot be contacted

Exceptions are (1) during a few days that follow death and (2) the period prior to entry to Devachan.

At the last moment, the whole life is reflected in our memory and emerges from all the forgotten nooks and corners picture after picture, one event after the other. The dying brain dislodges memory with a strong supreme impulse, and memory restores faithfully every impression entrusted to it during the period of the brain’s activity.

That impression and thought which was the strongest naturally becomes the most vivid and survives so to say all the rest which now vanish and disappear for ever, to reappear but in Devachan. (ML93B)

Near-Death ExperiencesA near-death experience, or NDE, is a common pattern of events that many persons experience when they are seriously ill or come close to death. Although NDEs vary from one person to another, they often include such features as the following:

• feeling very comfortable and free of pain • a sensation of leaving the body, sometimes being able to see the physical body while floating above it • the mind functioning more clearly and more rapidly than usual • a sensation of being drawn into a tunnel or darkness • a brilliant light, sometimes at the end of the tunnel • a sense of overwhelming peace, well-being, or absolute, unconditional love • a sense of having access to unlimited knowledge • a "life review," or recall of important events in the past • a preview of future events yet to come • encounters with deceased loved ones, or with other beings that may be identified as religious figures • The experience is often life-changing

Near-Death Experiences• feeling very comfortable and free of pain • a sensation of leaving the body, sometimes being able to see the physical body while floating above it • the mind functioning more clearly and more rapidly than usual • a sensation of being drawn into a tunnel or darkness • a brilliant light, sometimes at the end of the tunnel • a sense of overwhelming peace, well-being, or absolute, unconditional love • a sense of having access to unlimited knowledge • a "life review," or recall of important events in the past • a preview of future events yet to come • encounters with deceased loved ones, or with other beings that may be identified as religious figures • The experience is often life-changing

Our physical life has a certain duration depending upon the quantity of life energy available for this life. When it is exhausted then one will die. But if not, then the person will not die except for premature deaths:

• Suicide

• Murder

• Accident

In these cases, one becomes an earthbound soul until the time of normal death comes.

Premature Deaths

“In the case of suicides and those who die a violent death in general . . . One of such Egos, for instance, who was destined to live, say, 80 or 90 years, but who either killed himself or was killed by some accident, let us suppose at the age of 20 — would have to pass in the Kama Loka not “a few years,” but in his case 60 or 70 years, as an Elementary, or rather an “earth-walker”; since he is not, unfortunately for him, even a “shell.”

Premature Deaths in Kama Loka

And woe to those whose Trishna (thirst) will attract them to mediums, and woe to the latter, who tempt them with such an easy Upadana (clinging). For in grasping them, and satisfying their thirst for life, the medium helps to develop in them — is in fact the cause of — a new set of Skandhas (aggregates to constitute the self), a new body, with far worse tendencies and passions than was the one they lost. And now, you may understand why we oppose so strongly Spiritualism and mediumship. (ML 68)

Premature Deaths in Kama Loka

Dying Memory dislodging from physical brain -- review.

Just After Death

Ego goes unconscious -- loss of 3 lower Principles -- loss of perceptive objective faculties forever; loss of spiritual powers of cogitation and volition, for the time being.

Mayavi-rupa may appear to loved one

No possibility of an EGO, other than a premature death, communicating with the living, even through a medium during this period.

Death Struggle

Ego unconscious in Kama-Loka -- in Earth's atmosphere -- struggle develops between 4th and 5th Principles (Lower Duality and 6th and 7th Principles (Higher Duality).

Gestation Ego unconscious. Egoic "butterfly" developing in "chrysalis" of 4th and 5th Principles. Process of "Assimilation" of spiritual content of 5th Principle into 6th Principle.

Entry into Devachan

Second review of previous life memories. Consciousness slowly returns. An epitome of personal memory retained.

4th and 5th Principles sloughed off to become "shell". Dim consciousness and personal memory returns to “shell.” "Shell" can now be attracted to seance room.

Devachan Subjective dream state. All the scenes and population of Devachan are as the Ego would most like them. The Ego cannot communicate with people on Earth even through a medium and knows nothing of what is going on on Earth.

Persons "en rapport" with Devachanees can, by raising their consciousness, feel to be "communicating" with them.

Rebirth Ego goes unconscious at end of Devachan period prior to rebirth

New personality will give expression to the Skandhas, the residual tendencies and characteristics of previous lives.

How do we prepare for death?

• Acquire a more accurate knowledge about death and dying from the accumulated wisdom of the ages and from scientific researches.

• Be aware of any automatic fear of death, and use fear processing to remove this reaction pattern

• Live fully with awareness and without being imprisoned by fear and social pressure

• Prepare for any eventuality and do your best• Complete your relationships