The Afterlife according to Swami Vivekananda

This body is made of particles which we call matter, and it is dull and insentient. So is what the Vedantists call the fine body. The fine body, according to them, is a material but transparent body, made of very fine particles, so fine that no microscope can see them. What is the use of that? It is the receptacle of the fine forces. Just as this gross body is the receptacle of the gross forces, so the fine body is the receptacle of the fine forces, which we call thought, in its various modifications. First is the body, which is gross matter, with gross force. Force cannot exist without matter. It must require some matter to exist, so the gross forces work in the body; and those very forces become finer; the very force which is working in a gross form works in a fine form and becomes thought. There is no distinction between them, simply one is the gross and the other the fine manifestation of the same thing. Neither is there any distinction between this fine body and the gross body. The fine body is also material, only very fine matter; and just as this gross body is the instrument that works the gross forces, so the fine body is the instrument that works the fine forces.

From where do all these forces come? According to Vedanta philosophy, there are two things in Nature, one of which they call akaslia, which is the substance, infinitely fine, and the other they call prana, which is the force. Whatever you see, or reel, or hear, as air, earth, or anything, is material, -the product of akasha. It goes on and becomes finer and finer, or gross and grosser, changing under the action of prana. Like akaslza, prana is omnipresent, and interpenetrating everything. Akasha is like the water, and everything else in the universe is like blocks of ice, made out of that water, and floating in the water, and prana is the power that changes this akaslza into all these various forms. The gross body is the instrument made out of akasha, for the manifestation of prana in gross forms, as muscular motion, or walking, sitting, talking, and so forth. That fine body is also made of akasha, a very fine form of akasha, for the manifestation of the same prana in the finer form of thought. So, first there is this gross body. Beyond that is this fine body, and beyond that is the Jiva, the real man.

Just as the nails can be pared off many times and yet are still part of our bodies, not different, so is our gross body related to the fine. It is not that a man has a fine and also a gross body; it is the one body only the part which endures longer is the fine body, and that which dissolves sooner is the gross. Just as I can cut this nail any number of times, so millions of times I can shed this gross body, but the fine body will remain. According to the duellists, this Jiva or the real man, is very fine, minute. So far we see that man is a being who has first a gross body which dissolves very quickly, then a fine body which remains through aeons and then a Jiva.

This Jiva, according to the Vedanta philosophy, is eternal just as God is eternal. Nature is also eternal, but changefully eternal. The material of Nature, prana and akasha is eternal, but it is changing into different forms eternally. But the Jiva is not manufactured, either of akasha or prana; it is immaterial and therefore will remain for ever. It is not the result of any combination of prana and akasha, and whatever is not the result of combination will never be destroyed, because destruction is going back to causes.

The gross body is a compound of akasha and prana and therefore will be decomposed. The fine body will also be decomposed, after a long time, but the Jiva is simple, and will never be destroyed. It was never born, for the same reason. Nothing simple can be born. The same argument applies. That which is a compound only can be born. The whole of Nature comprising millions and millions of souls is under the will of God. God is all-pervading, omniscient, formless, everywhere, and He is working through Nature day and night. The whole of it is under His control. He is the eternal Ruler. So say the dualists; Then the question comes, if God is the ruler of this universe, why did He create such a wicked universe, why must we suffer so much?

They say, it is not God's fault. It is our fault that we suffer. Whatever we sow we reap. He did not do anything to punish us. Man is born poor, or blind, or some other way. What is the reason? He had done something before he was born that way. The Jiva has been existing for all the time, was never created. It has been doing all sorts of things all the time. Whatever we do reacts, upon us. If we do good, we shall have happiness, and if evil, unhappiness. So the Jiva goes on enjoying and suffering, and doing all sorts of things.

What comes after death? All these Vedanta philosophers admit that this Jiva is by its own nature pure. But ignorance covers its real nature, they say. As by evil deeds it has covered itself with ignorance, so by good deeds it becomes conscious of its own nature again. Just as it is eternal, so its nature is pure. The nature of every being is pure. When through good deeds all its sins and misdeeds have been washed away, then the Jiva becomes pure again and. when it becomes pure, it goes to what is called Devayana. Its organ of speech enters the mind. You cannot think without words. Wherever there is thought, there must be words. As words enter the mind, so the mind is resolved into the prana and the prana into the Jiva. Then the Jiva gets quickly out of the body, and goes to the solar regions, this universe has sphere after sphere.

This earth is the world sphere, in which are moons, suns, and stars. Beyond that there is the solar sphere, and beyond that another which they call the lunar sphere. Beyond that there is the sphere which they call the sphere of lightning, the electric sphere, and when the Jiva goes there, there comes another Jiva, already perfect to receive it, and takes it to another world, the highest heaven, called the Brahmaloka, where the Jiva lives eternally, no more to be born or to die. It enjoys through eternity and gets all sorts of powers, except the power of creation.

There is only one ruler of the universe and that is God. No one can become God; the dualists maintain that if you say you are God, it is blasphemy. All powers except the creative come to the Jiva, and if it likes to have bodies and work in different parts of the world, it can do so. If it orders all the gods to come before it, if it wants its forefathers to come, they all appear at its command. Such are its powers that it never feels any more pain, and if it wants, it can live in the Brahmaloka through all eternity. This is the highest man, who has attained the love of God, who has become perfectly unselfish, perfectly purified, who has given up all desires, and who does not want to do anything except worship and love God.

There are others that are not so high, who do good works but want some reward. They say they will give so much to the poor, but want to go to heaven in return. When they die what becomes of them?The speech enters the mind, the mind enters the prana, the prana enters the Jiva, and the Jiva gets out, and goes to the lunar sphere, where it has a very good time for a long period. There it enjoys happiness, so long as the effect of its good deeds endures. When the same is exhausted it descends, and once again enters life on earth according to its desire. In the lunar sphere, the Jiva becomes what we call a god, or what the Christians or Mohammedans call an angel. These gods are the names of certain positions; for instance, Indra, the king of the gods, is the name of a position; thousands of men get to that position.

When a virtuous man who has performed the highest of Vedic rites dies, he becomes a king of the gods; by that time the old king has gone down again and become man. Just as kings change here, so the gods, the Devas, also have to die. In heaven they will all die. The only deathless place is Brahmaloka, where alone there is no birth and death.So the Jivas go to heaven, and have a very good time except now and then when the demons give them chase. In our mythology it is said there are demons who sometimes trouble the gods. In all mythologies you read how these demons and the gods fought, and the demons sometimes conquered the gods, although many times, it seems, the demons did not do so many wicked things as the gods. In all mythologies, for instance, you find the Devas fond of women. So after their reward is finished, they fall down again, come through the clouds, through the rains, and thus get into some grain or plant and find their way into the human body, when the grain or plant is eaten by men. The father gives them the material out of which to get a fitting body. When the material suits them no longer, they have to manufacture other bodies. Now there are the very wicked fellows, who do all sorts of diabolical things; they are born again as animals, and, if they are very bad, they are born as very low animals, or become plants, or stones.

In the Deva form they make no Karma at all; only man makes Karma. Karma means work which will produce effect. When a man dies and becomes a Deva he has only a period of pleasure, and during that time makes no fresh Karma; it is simply a reward for his past good Karma. When the good Karma is worked out, then the remaining Karma begins to take effect, and he comes down to earth. He becomes man again, and if he does very good works and purifies himself, he goes to Brahmaloka and comes back no more.

Extract from Hinduism by Swami Vivekananda (ISBN 81-7120-001-X)