The Clear Light

During the first hour after death where speeds are the fastest, the soul and the spirit leave the physical form and are in the electronic universe or Swaha. It is in this hour that the consciousness of the person who has died can experience the state of pure light. In yoga, this state comes after hard practice but here it happens automatically. The atma or the spirit is left in this loka or universe. The soul, covered by an astral body, falls to the Bhuvaha loka or the molecular universe.

This falling happens in three stages. Just as a ball bounces up and down, the soul leaves the spirit and starts falling towards Bhuvaha loka. (Please visualise this as the slowing of speed rather than real falling). It then bounces up again, starts falling, then bounces back and finally leaves Swaha to spend about 55 days in Bhuvaha. Thus the soul sees the light three times. In the first it sees it directly, in the second there is a thin translucent film covering the spirit. This is the causal body. In the final viewing, it cannot see the light directly but sees the colours of dawn and infers there was light. All this happens in the first hour after death.

Now the soul, covered with an astral body, sojourns in the dream world for 55 days. If the person has practised holding consciousness in his dreams, then it is very possible that his consciousness will come to meet him at this stage and he will pass through this period awake. For most of us, it is just another dream and we are in a swoon.

The Tibetans have again divided this period into 49 days, where the soul passes through seven chambers each with seven divisions. It passes through all its collected patterns or samskaras which come in seven forms - ego, greed, desire, anger, temptation, envy and self-love. If at this stage we are conscious, then we can change each form and samskara as it arises. Otherwise, we just pass through good and bad dreams. We pass through life without consciousness of our psychic states which open up in various forms. (More next week)