What happens after death? Is there a life after death? The easiest way to answer these question would be to wait till death to find out. The actual question is: After whose death and whose life? The physical body is one point of reference. But everyone knows that it perishes after death. What happens to that entity which is other than the physical body, known in Vedanta as jiva or soul? The jiva is the mind and intellect, the manifestation of consciousness, occupying the body and dealing with the world.
Does the journey of the soul continue after death of the body? The Bhagavad Gita (15.8) says “…just as the breeze carries the fragrance from the flower, the jiva is carried from the body.” A person with faith in the scriptures believes that the jiva will take up another body. He sees life as a journey, which ends when the jiva discovers his true nature. Others will need logic to convince them.
Tarka or logic is based on the laws of cause and effect. How do we explain birth and all the differences that we see around us? How do we explain the differences between children of the same parents? There can be no effect without a cause.
Logically, we have to accept the existence of something other than the physical body, which is taking up different bodies.
Thus, according to his/her karmas and the last thought of the jiva, the future path and the body to be taken up is determined. As you think so you become. On the scale of evolution, it may go up or go down.
Now, the third factor is the Truth Absolute. This is called the real self. “Na jayate mriyate va kadacit” (It was never born, nor does It die or decay). When we use the word “I” it refers to my body. The same “I” also refers to my mind. But behind these ever-changing phenomena, there has to be something changeless and immutable, This reality is referred to as brahman.
There is no more birth or death for the individual soul that has realised his true self. If the jiva remains ignorant, then pushed by desire, it is born again in the field, which will fulfil that desire.
Therefore, we should try to purify and cultivate good karmas, make dharma our friend and gain this knowledge of the self, realise and abide in it. If we do this, everything is automatically taken care of. In this journey, our best friend is no one but the Lord alone. In the Gita (5.29) Shri Krishna states, “I am your friend and I am always with you”.
