The soul never dies or changes; man is, in essence, the soul and not the body. If this is realized there would be no fear of death.
~ Liberation from Karma and Rebirth, Sat Guru Keshavadas
The following morning, I found myself leaving this world. The next thing I was experiencing was that I was being directed to a strong light ahead of me. ‘It must be heaven’, I thought! The light was so bright it was brighter than daylight. I wasn’t aware of my physical body, but understood I was going forward into a journey moving ahead. I looked at this light staring straight ahead without difficulty, and wasn’t afraid at all. Then, the female voice asked, “Are you ready? Are you ready to go into the light?” As I assessed my family’s wellbeing, I was able to know that my elder brother in life would die at fifty-six. This came to pass as my brother Rich died in 2003.
I realized that I was dying, but since I was a child of five, felt comfortable with dying. Children typically will show signs of knowing the ‘other side’, and will tend to not fear as adults would in experiencing later years of life. The next thing I was experiencing was being directed to a strong light ahead of me. “It must be heaven”, I thought! The light was so bright it was brighter than daylight. I wasn’t aware of my physical body, but understood I was going forward into a journey moving ahead. In his book, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche, says:
When I came to the West, I was shocked by the contrast between the attitudes to death I had been brought up with, and those I now found…I learned that people today are taught to deny death, and taught that it means nothing but annihilation and loss. That means that most of the world lives either in denial of death or in terror of it.
I heard someone say to me to come and face the light and stand in front of it, and to walk closer to it. I looked at this light staring straight ahead without difficulty, and wasn’t afraid at all. Then, the female voice asked, “Are you ready? Are you ready to go into the light?” I hesitated and thought about family, about how they would be without me. As I assessed my family’s wellbeing, I was able to know that my elder brother in life would die at fifty-six. This came to pass as my brother Rich died in 2003. Thus, the awakening into the Light of Silence continues.
