Yoga Philosophy Part I: Is there life after death?
Is There Life After Death?
What makes us think there is life after death? Did people simply make it up so death doesn't feel so scary?
God and afterlife are concepts in many religions and traditions. God exists as the creator of the universe and decides our fate. Religions like Christianity and Islam see this fate as either eternal happiness or doom. But the afterlife has had many other meanings. For example, in Finnish paganism, people believed the souls of the dead were taken by a bird (Soul bird, Sielulintu) to travel to Tuonela, the land of death.
Today, atheism is common in many western countries. Life is a straight line: we are born, we live and we die. No god exists and there is no afterlife -- end of the story.
Stephen Hawking, who defined himself as an atheist, didn’t believe in god but in physics. He said: “God is the name people give to the reason we are here. But I think that reason is the laws of physics rather than someone with whom one can have a personal relationship. An impersonal God.”
In eastern countries, where Hindu and Buddhist beliefs are common, life is seen as a cycle. We are born, we live, we die -- and then we are born again. Samsara is the name of this cycle of life and death in Sanksrit. You can break the chain of Samsara through gaining enlightenment. In Buddhism, no god exists, only oneness, the pure consciousness. Similarly, in the Samkhya Philosophy of Yoga, god is not recognized as someone or something outside of us.
Impermanence of the physical body
Human beings are a complex formation of a physical body, emotional body, mental body, mind, spirit, soul and consciousness. Hindu tradition divides the body into five sub-bodies, or koshas. These koshas create a part of the constitution for our existence. When we die, all bodily functions slowly stop working. As the life disappears from organs, the body starts rotting and slowly transforming into compost. But we are much more than just the physical body. Physics proves all matter is energy.
Humans are made of energy.
Where does our energy go after death?
In many religious traditions the soul travels to a realm of the dead. However, in Hinduism, the soul energy is reborn into a new body. Past actions from the previous life determine conditions for the new life. Therefore, if we live a life which creates suffering for ourselves and others, our next life will be more challenging. However, if we live life with good intentions and actions, our next life will be one of happiness and peace. In other words, our personal karma determines our future lives.
Buddhism has a similar concept for energy circulating from life to life, but a different process. There are no individual souls, no permanent personalities or characters, but oneness as an ocean of energy. After the body has died, we merge together into the universal consciousness. We are drops of water, blending back into that ocean, then separating again to be born into new life.
Tibetan Buddhist monks study and practice dying and death as part of their spiritual practice. If you asked one of these wise monks about death, they would likely tell you pleasant and beautiful stories about dying, having experienced it many times. Their spiritual studies are to transcend the earthly mind and prepare the consciousness to be present throughout the whole process of death. Through that, they are able to experience death as the most beautiful and peaceful happening in their life.
Next time you are asked, "What makes you think there is life after death?”, why not ask back, ”What makes you think we live only once?" Questioning the afterlife is a limited assumption so many have! Even though we cannot be sure, as there are no people to tell us they've lived only one life. However, we have many stories, books and examples of people who have experienced death and many lives before this present one.
Yoga Philosophy series by Anni Rainio
- Is there afterlife?
What makes life suffering
Reincarnation vs. Rebirth
Do our present actions affect our future life?
Transcending the fear of death
How to find life purpose
Acting from compassion
Process of dying according to Tibetan Buddhism
Process of dying - Perspectives from Hindu philosophies
Breaking the cycle of samsara
Enlightenment - Is there afterlife?
- What makes life suffering
- Reincarnation vs. Rebirth
- Do our present actions affect our future life?
- Transcending the fear of death
- How to find life purpose
- Acting from compassion
- Process of dying according to Tibetan Buddhism
- Process of dying - Perspectives from Hindu philosophies
- Breaking the cycle of samsara
- Enlightenment
Recommended readings on life, death, and the afterlife
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
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About the Author
This blog post is written by Anni Rainio, Doron Yoga Teacher -alumni, who is doing her 300h yoga teacher studies at Doron Yoga & Zen Center. She wrote a thesis about process of dying and rebirth from the yogic and Buddhist perspectives. This series of Yoga Philosophy blog texts are giving tastes of her theoretical studies. Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts either here or to annirainio@gmail.com.
