When somebody dies, we say this person is ‘no more’ – that’s not true. That person is ‘no more’ the way you know them, but they still very much exist.
See when you say I’m a human being, the outermost periphery is the physical body. In yoga, we look at everything as body because it is easier for you to understand that way. So we see the body has five dimensions, or five sheets. Physical body is known as annamaya kosha. Annamaya kosha means, anna means the food. This is food body. Next one is called manomaya kosha. That means it’s the mental body. The third one is called pranamaya kosha, which means the energy body. Physical body, mental body, energy body – all these three dimensions are physical. They are physical existence. Physical body is very gross, mental body is subtler, energy body is even subtler. But all these three are physical.
When somebody dies, we say this person is ‘no more’ – that’s not true
Now, the next two dimensions are called vignanamaya kosha and anandamaya kosha. Vignanamaya kosha is non-physical but related to the physical. It is like a transient state. Anandamaya kosha is completely non-physical. And for all this, the karmic structure is the strings which hold these things together.
So when a person dies, obviously the physical body is something that you borrowed from the Earth. This body is just Earth, isn’t it? Physical body will fall apart. The mental body, and the pranic body, depending upon the strength of your karma, goes on. If the karmic structure is very intense, unfinished, then it has to finish it. If the karma has become weak because it has run its course, then it very easily finds another body. If it has to find another body, the intensity of the structure should come down, it should become passive. If it is very intense, it cannot find. It has to hang. So this is what you are referring to as ghosts. Somebody is dead, his karmic structure is still intense, because it’s not over. Now he needs much more time to find another body, he still exists.
If you dismantle the karmic structure 100%, now you merge with the existence
And the more intense his karmic structure is, the more visible he becomes, are more experientially available to people. There are innumerable such beings all around you. Whether you know it, or you don’t know it. But most of them you won’t feel, because their karma is dissipated. They’re just waiting for more dissipation, before they find another body.
Now if you dismantle the karmic structure 100%, now you merge with the existence. This is what is referred to as mukthi mahasamadhi. In Hindu tradition it is referred to as mukthi. In yogic tradition it is referred to as mahasamadhi. In the Buddhist way it is called as mahaparinirvana. Generally in English we are saying liberation. Liberation means becoming free from the very process of life and birth and death.
