Namah Shivay, I always had this question in my mind about the apparent paradox in various Spiritual books like the Vedas, Upanishads etc and also among the various schools of Vedanta like Advaita, Dvaita, etc. The Question is: Some books says that on Death Consciousness(Atma) leaves the body and goes to either heaven or hell and takes birth etc and some say that the Self(Atma, Consciousness) is everywhere. Now, if Self is everywhere then it must also be in the Dead Body which means it is alive. Then why does the body becomes lifeless and rotting process starts. If Self is the only true being and there is only 1 Self and it is present in Living as well as lifeless objects like mountains, stones etc. as per Advaita then how come it is not in the dead body. That means there is atleast 1 place where Self/Consciousness does not exists and all spiritual books are lying. But then atoms are vibrating even in a dead body….how? what is truth? How can I resolve this Paradox? So I asked this to my Guru, our beloved Babaji once in my Meditation and here is what I got to know:
“The Self or the Consciousness is everywhere incl. non-living objects like stone, water, paper etc. But it still does not mean it is alive…alive as in moving, breathing the way living beings are. For you, alive means it must move or grow but that is your definition and not of nature. This is the prime distinction which helps us know that XYZ thing is a living thing or no. Besides the Consciousness, there is also a key tatva called the Mind(which I often refer to the Divine Mind in my blog). This Mind dictates everything that an object does including its life span, emotions, events, karma etc. ”
Further, Babaji elaborated that “it is only when the Consciousness and the Divine Mind meet that anything can be formed. Thus from this union, the World that we know of is formed incl. you and me and all and everything around us. Now coming to dead body, see when a person(or any living being for that matter) dies, it is this Mind body that leaves the attachment to that body thereby starving it of any action, movement, life force energy which eventually results in stiffening and later into rotting of the body if not burnt or buried quickly(under normal circumstances). The Mind that I am referring to is the Divine Mind.
You can say it is the same for you as well as the whole Universe and beyond(There is no duality). In order to accomplish its wishes, the Divine Mind, created numerous objects(living or non-living) to satisfy itself. Since the Divine Mind is Infinite, so are its forms. Moreover, the Divine Mind, creates numerous layers of Mind which we refer to say Manomaya kosh, Universal Mind, Ego-Pure and adulterated Ego, Super Conscious mind, Sub-Conscious mind, conscious mind etc.. The Mind never dies and this is what leaves the body. The Consciousness remains everywhere. This drama of coming and going is only for this Mind till the time, it realized the futility of this tour and merges with the Self which is what is called as Self Realization.”.
“The Mind can gain peace only when it learns to concentrate about itself on its Self. There comes a moment when it realizes its fallacy of Ego and automatically merges with its Self and attains the Divine Peace or Happiness-Sat Chit Anand”
“This Consciousness is referred to in Shastras as Shiva and Divine Mind as Shakti. Shakti has numerous forms and moods and so is the variety in Nature. She is Infinite and so are forms, events, etc in the Universe. Shiva is the soul of Shakti. Without Shiva, Shakti cannot do what it can do. Even if she tried, it would be destroyed the very moment it is created. Shakti requires aadhar which is Shiva. Shiva is aadhar of All-Living and Non-Living being.
Thus if you see, there is no Paradox.”…and I come out of Meditation…relived.:)
Dear Readers, did you ever have such questions in your mind?
Namam Shivay
All is One, One is All 