Each Gita Talk session with Manoj churns up reflection and contemplation on the stuff he touched upon, for at least a day or two after. The last few talks on Wednesdays however, when the subject matter was on death and after death, the churning it invoked in this mind was intense as it provoked much inner thought and contemplation on death throughout the day, especially when there was a lull in active doing and thinking. For clarity and for the purpose of smrithi for this self, I would like to put some words down on my understanding at this point of what was shared, at least the parts that excited this mind and got it churning for days.

According to the teachings, one can only ascend up the levels of universal consciousness though gaining wisdom, self-realization and practice during its lifetime as a human. As humans, we are born with the capacity to discern and it is this capacity of discernment which distinguishes us from other living beings whose actions in their lifetimes are predominantly motivated by survival.

Now it may take many lifetimes to ascend up the levels towards universal consciousness, but it is in the understanding that in each lifetime, we have the chance to gain wisdom and practice dharma (live in a way which upholds the laws of the universe), and at the end of each life cycle, our buddhi (which traverses through our many lifetimes) gets a bit closer to its goal of oneness or convergence with the universal consciousness.

It is not always the case that one will become more ‘conscious’ with each lifetime. If one lives its life without engaging much of its buddhi, without gaining any wisdom, and is motivated predominantly by material gains in the manifested world with disregard of dharma rules, one may be rebirth into a similar circumstance in its next human life with another chance to gain wisdom and lift itself to the next level,… if one is lucky enough to be rebirth as a human.

So, to be reborn as a human is a gift and much coveted in the spirit realm as it is only through human life cycles that one has a chance to ascend towards the universal consciousness. But before one is reborn into the next human life, where does the soul go? This is where it gets interesting.

According to the teachings, the un-manifest singularity of the universe is churned out into the many-ness of manifestations through the chakras (spiralling energy vortexes). This mind’s ‘understanding’ from the many years of listening of Manoj’s explanations, is that the singular un-manifest energy becomes singular manifestations (each one of us) as energy is ‘refined’ and churned out though the spinning chakras, starting from the higher chakras downwards. Hence in this manner, when one’s buddhi is connected to the higher chakras, it is more connected to a feeling of one-ness to all. And the opposite is true for when one’s buddhi is preoccupied or ‘stuck’ within the lower chakras, it is inclined towards a feeling of separateness.

In the latest Gita talks when Manoj started touching on death and post death subjects, what’s interesting to note is that one doesn’t have to restart its ascension up the consciousness ladder from the beginning at each lifetime. When rebirth as a human, one gets to start at about the same point where one ended at the last life.

Just a couple of days ago, Dennis was telling me about how he and his friend used to play an arcade game called Time Crisis 2 as college students in Sweden. Over months, they ascended many levels, but their character lives would end up being killed and to continue the game from the level where they were killed, they would have to insert more tokens. Many tokens and many hours and months were spent, but their progress through to the upper levels was slow and they never got close to finishing the game. The breakthrough was when they were backpacking in Australia, and there was an arcade place that allowed unlimited 2-hour plays where they could continue from the level their characters were killed without any adding of tokens. After just a couple of days of unlimited play, they were able to go through all the levels to the end of the game. To this day, the feeling of accomplishment they got from ending the game was the only strong memory they have of Surfer’s Paradise (forget the beach and the ladies on the beach)!

When he recounted this story to me (again, eye roll) recently, after Manoj’s talk on death, I felt the analogy of the video game is much like the many lifetimes our buddhi and soul needs to go through to ascend and become one with universal consciousness that is us (the end game). Just like when characters were killed, if one puts in a token, one can continue from where one left off in the last lifetime. The token is the gift of being reborn as a human, with another chance of a lifetime to ascend the levels. And after many rebirths, may we be one with universal consciousness.

But what happens between death and rebirth, in the realm where souls are between manifestations? In last week’s teaching, Manoj explained that death will feel like a dream to the soul which occupied the body, except it will feel like a dream it cannot wake up from. It will be in shock, it will feel lost and it will want desperately to wake up from the dream of death and get back to the life it was living. The length of time it is stuck in this phase of desperation (of trying to get back) depends on the cumulative wisdom its buddhi has achieved in its lifetime or lifetimes of existence. Once the buddhi ‘remembers’ the teachings that lifetimes are for us to learn and ascent, it will stop trying to get back into the previous life, and instead turn around and look towards being gifted with a rebirth, which is another chance to continue its ascension towards universal consciousness in the next lifetime.

The take back in this for me is, yes be grateful for this manifestation and this life we are living. Let’s try to be more conscious in our living (practice dharma) and may our buddhi gain elevation to the next level of consciousness in this lifetime. And when this lifetime ends, may we remember that this life we had and the living we did, was but a means to an end, to essentially be with the universal consciousness that we are.  Also important is the realization that some of our loved ones who have left us may be currently ‘stuck’ in a state of trying to ‘wake up’ from the ‘dream’ of death, still desperately clinging on to hopes of getting back to their last life. To help them, may be sound out to them in our thoughts and prayers, to let go and to stop trying to connect back to the old lives, but instead to turn around and await the gift of token to be rebirth in a new life, and a new chance to ascend in the elevation of universal consciousness.

Looking forward to the next talk.

Join us for ongoing Gita Talks on Wednesdays with Manoj. Book your spot via manojkaimal.com