Question: What happens after death?
Answer: What happens after death is distinctly related to how we have lived our life. If our life has been very much in the body, very sensuous, perhaps selfish, and materialistic, then we will have a difficult time functioning in the rarified atmosphere of the astral world.
Deprived of a physical body, nervous system, and highly developed brain we will find ourselves falling asleep just as we do each night. The intensity of the death experience, which can include of course some degree of pain or fear may cause us to be hyper alert as we come (reborn, so to speak) into the astral world. At such a time we might meet loved ones or have other experiences such as described by near-death experiencers, But most will that they are unable to sustain conscious awareness without the human body and soon fall into a kind of deep sleep.
Those who in their life on Earth have lived more in the mind and in the more refined feelings of the heart tend to develop an intensity of concentration through prayer, meditation, artistic, or scientific focus are more likely to remain somewhat conscious on the astral plane.
The commonplace image of the heavenly realms as places where we float around happily are exaggerated. The astral realms are incomprehensibly vast with various levels of consciousness. As Jesus said, “In my father’s house there are many mansions.” The after-death spheres range from hellish to heavenly; from gaudy to highly refined. The soul after death does not remain in such realms, hellish or heavenly, for an eternity, however. But those who have left lived very selfish lives, or who have affirmed a negation of life itself perhaps through suicide might find themselves isolated and alone; bewildered and afraid. Haunted perhaps by memories or, in fact, demons. Astral plants and animals, angels and fairies all inhabit the heavenly realms. This sphere is not somewhere else: it is all around us. Such beings can see us, but we, generally, do not see them for the veil that separates us is one of a highly refined vibration, far above that of the body’s five senses.
An excellent description of these astral realms can be found in a chapter in the book “Autobiography of a Yogi” by Paramhansa Yogananda. There is a chapter called The Resurrection of Sri Yukteswar.
In any case, continuing to generalize, most souls fall into a deep sleep just like we do every night. As on earth in a human body, we slumber peacefully and happily until the time of our sojourn there in the astral world begins to come to an end. The length of our stay in heaven is based on our need for rest and other karmic factors. It can be very short, or very long. Then it is time to reincarnate in a physical form. There are countless planets to which we can reincarnate and thus it isn’t always Earth, but nonetheless we tend to assume that’s the case where we return to meet loved ones from the past.
We go to wherever our karma can best be worked on. Towards the end of our astral sleep, we begin (just as we do towards the morning each night on earth) to stir and become wakeful.
There is much more of course I could be said but this is a big topic and it is very individual, so I think we’ll leave it at that for now.
Answered by Nayaswami Hriman