Osho, Dimensions beyond the
known, HC. 237 pages, euro 16.00
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Osho, would it be
possible for you to describe what happens to the soul after death, where it
moves about, what it does and in what condition it is during the interval
between the giving up of one body and the taking of another?
In this connection, you had previously discussed the freedom of the soul to
take birth whenever it so desired. Please enlighten us as to whether the soul
also has a freedom to choose whether to give up or not give up the body.
It will be easier if we understand two or
three things about the interval between the giving up of one body and the taking
of another. First, the fact is that the experiences of that interval are like
dreams. Whenever one experiences something, at that moment the experience is
that of a real happening. But when one recalls it in memory, it becomes like a
dream; it is dreamlike because there is no use of the senses. Your feeling and
your conviction that a happening is real come through your senses and your body.
If I feel that I am seeing you, but then I
try to touch you and find you cannot be touched, then I say that you are a
mirage: you are not here. If I try to touch this table and if my hand passes
through it without touching anything, then I would say this table is unreal, or
that I am in some illusion, or that it is some hallucination. The test of
reality is in the certificate of our senses.
But after the giving up of one body and before the taking of another we do not
have senses. The body itself is not there, so whatever you might experience in
that state is like a dream, as if you are seeing a dream. When we see dreams, we
do not doubt their reality. This is very interesting. After some time we come to
doubt its reality, but we never doubt it while in the dream. The dream seems
real. That which is real sometimes causes us to doubt whether what is seen is
real or not, but in a dream such a doubt is never created. Why? Because a dream
will not tolerate the slightest doubt; otherwise it will immediately break.
...
In the interval between two births, there are two types of souls. One type is of
evil souls. For them it is difficult to find a womb for another birth. I call
such souls pretas, evil spirits. The other type consists of good souls. Them I
call devas - gods. For such souls also it is difficult to find suitable wombs
for taking another birth.
Between these two are the majority of souls in which there is no fundamental
difference, but only a difference of character, personality and mental make-up.
They are of the same type; only their experiences will be different.
The evil souls return back to earth with
such painful experiences that the remembering of them in itself is hell. Those
who have been able to recollect such memories have described the conditions in
hell. It is just a dreamland; it does not exist anywhere, but one who remembers
having returned from there says that a fire such as he has seen there can find
no comparison in this world, that the violence and the hatred which we find here
are nothing compared to what he has seen there. The experience of heaven is also
the same. The difference is only one of pleasant and painful dreams. This
interval is a full dream period.
This is very philosophical but true, that
it is only like a dream. We can understand what dreams are because we see them
daily. You see a dream only when your senses are exhausted. In a deeper sense,
it means that when your relationship with the senses breaks you sink into dream
life. Dreams are also either of hell or heaven or mixed. Some people only see
dreams of hell, some only of heaven.
...
In Tibet, when a person is on his deathbed,
certain matters are told to him.
At the time of death - while giving up this body for the long period of dream
life that is going to come, after which the soul may or may not take a new body
- a method has been devised in Tibet for creating a dream sequence. They call
this bardo. It is a process in which Tibetans fully prepare a person for the
experience of death and life after death. Any good impulses that have been there
in one's life will be aroused while the person is still living. Also, such
efforts are made throughout life as well.
I told you earlier that after awaking from
sleep your dream is remembered for about one hour. Similarly, after taking a new
birth, for about six months, up to the age of six months, almost everything is
remembered. Afterwards it slowly becomes lost. Those who are very imaginative or
very sensitive may remember a little longer, but those who have made efforts and
who have experimented with being aware during the previous life can remember for
a long time.
Just as in the morning for one hour a
dreamlike smoke revolves around you, similarly, for about one hour before
falling asleep at night, the shadow of a dream begins to overcome you.
In the same way, the shadow of death also
begins to fall upon you during the six months prior to your death. Your death is
predictable during those six months. When the shadow of death begins to surround
you during those last six months, the preparations for death are begun.
That one hour before sleep, when the dream
shadow begins falling upon you, is a very suggestible one. No other time is as
suggestible, because at that time you have a doubt that you are still awake and
the shadow of sleep is overtaking you. That is why all the religions of the
world have decreed one hour before sleeping at night and one hour after awaking
in the morning as the best times for prayers. It is known as sandhyakal - the
twilight time and the time of dawn.
...
When there were civilizations which were very knowledgeable about these things,
then the first six months after birth were known to be very important.
Everything that is important can be given to the child in the first six months
of life. In the first six months the child is suggestible and in its dawn
period. After that, it is not possible and it becomes very difficult.
But we cannot make him understand by
speaking. And because we do not know any other method but speaking, there are
difficulties. Similarly, the six months before death are also valuable. In the
first six months we cannot make a child understand our speech, and we do not
know when the last six months before death have come. Thus, we lose both the
opportunities.
That is why the last six months before
death should be fully utilized for sadhana. The same six months are utilized by
the Tibetans for bardo - for a type of dream training which is given to plan
what you will do after death. This training cannot be given just at the moment
of death. It requires preparation, and only a person who is ready during these
last six months can be trained during the first six months after birth in the
next life; otherwise it is not possible. Those principles which are taught
during these last six months lay the foundation for the training which can be
given in the first six months of the new birth.
All these things have their own scientific
thinking, their principles and their secrets. And everything can be tested as
well. A person who has passed through this training would also remember what
happened in the interval between two births, but this memory is the memory of a
dream; it is not real.
Heaven and hell are also memories of a
dream period. Descriptions can be given. It is only on such descriptions that
concepts of heaven and hell have been evolved by all religions. The descriptions
are different not because the places are different, but because the mental
states of the individuals recalling the experiences are different. Therefore,
when Christianity describes heaven, it will be different from what Hinduism will
describe, because descriptions depend on different states of consciousness.
Thus, the Jainas will describe it still differently and Buddhists also.
Actually, every person will bring back a
different story. It is more or less like when we all sleep in the same room and
then get up and describe our dreams. We have slept in the same room; we are at
the same place, but our dreams will be different. Everything depends upon the
person.
All experiences of heaven and hell are
individual, but broad similarities can be found - that there will be happiness
in heaven and misery in hell, that such and such will be the form and shape of
miseries and such and such will be the form and shape of happiness. All the
descriptions that have been given thus far are, in a way, faithful narrations of
different states of consciousness...
cabd
