114. Death of Man - Its Order and Process

DISCOURSES ON

RADHASOAMI FAITH

BY

MAHARAJ SAHAB

Pandit Brahm Sankar Misra, M.A.

114. DEATH OF MAN - ITS ORDER AND PROCESS

            176. As the destruction of all the material covers, whether they be coarse or subtle, which an entity has assumed in the third grand division, is a necessary condition for the occurrence of death, it is clear that, in the case of an entity whose spirit-plane corresponds to that of the top sphere of the third division, it must be drawn up into Brahmanda in order to eliminate the various material covers it has become associated with in this word. This withdrawal, or the order of death, so to say, is issued from Sahasdal Kamal, the presiding deity of which is Narayana or Niranjana. He is accordingly the Kala Purusha (God of death) also, besides being the lowest form of the Lord God of Brahmanda. The three lowest spheres of Brahmanda, viz, those of Vishnu, Brahma and Mahadeva, like their reflex images in the navel, the reproductive organ, and the rectum, are mainly engaged in the proper maintenance of the material portion, so to say, of lower Brahmanda. It would, therefore, appear that they are concerned, directly or indirectly, only with the preservation, regeneration, and the elimination of effete matter which hinders the first two processes. They are, thus, precluded by their constitutional powers from ordering and effecting the complete dissolution of the microcosm. Those orders are issued by Jyoti and Narayana, as they are the Universal Mind and the Desire, and they alone can regulate destinies. Similarly, in the microcosm it is the individual mind and desire which order an act.

            177. We have stated in Article 92 that the first current (i.e. Kala) which emanated from the spiritual regions was full of very high energy but void of the power of forming centre, while the second current (i.e. Adya) was endowed with the faculty of creational nucleus, being an offshoot of the spirit-current of the first grand division. The first current (i.e. Kala) accordingly directs and immediate subversion of such conditions as form material covers of the spirit-entity, while the other current confers spirituality for the manifestation and development of the hidden germs. At the time of death, accordingly, a destructive current descends from Sahasdal Kamal and destroys the covers of the human entity. When this has been effected, the other current attracts the entity upwards to its presence. At the third Til, a deity known as Dharam Rai, the angel of judgment, is stationed, and he carries out the mandate of the Kala Purusha in the manner indicated above. More precisely speaking, he is the focus through whom the current of Kala performs its work of destruction.

            178. The dissolution of the physical body, we have referred to, removes the material covers of the spirit-entity; but the mind with its desires is not affected by it at the time of death, as it is an emanation of Kala Purusha from Brahmanda. Accordingly all subtle desires, subtle senses, and the mind accompany the spirit in its withdrawal to the Brahmanda. If they are full of worldly thoughts and ambitions, and the worldly ties and affections have not been eradicated from the innermost quarter, they constitute, as it were, a great burden over the spirit, and during its passage through an immensely subtle aperture that exists at the portal of Brahmanda, the spirit is subjected to awful extortions for the purpose of rendering it subtle enough to obtain an ingress into Brahmanda. This is the first punishment accorded at the time of death. It does lighten the spirit considerably of its evil doings, but does not effect such a punctuation as is necessary for a location in Brahmanda. The most subtle germs of worldly affections and ties pass eventually with the spirit into Brahmanda. As soon as the spirit reaches Brahmanda, it gets a vision of Jyoti, but it is not allowed to remain there for any length of time, if it has carried with it the germs of the affections and ties of the third grand division. The spirituality of Jyoti immediately infuses life into those mundane germs and they forthwith manifest themselves. In consequence of the creational unsuitability of the germs for Brahmanda, their appearance is immediately followed by a powerful hurl downwards. This downward push casts the spirit with its material tendencies and desires and the mind into the expanse which is at the bottom of Brahmanda, where shorn of its kinetic functions, it lies unconscious for some time, and then is assigned a location in accordance with the orders passed by Dharma Rai at the time of death. The Laws which regulate the allocation referred to will be described and explained in the chapter devoted to individual acts, i.e. Karmas and their effects.