There is an almost hypnotic power behind the routine matters of life. It keeps us in a illusion that life will go on. As childhood innocence blossoms into youthful vibrancy filling every moment with the highs and lows and then rushes towards a midlife when we momentarily pause due to some or the other challenge, tumbling towards older age, we do not take the certainty of passing over very seriously. Culturally we are conditioned to be sad about death and do not give the process much thought. The commotion of life and its demands takes us away from the overall picture. In the first informal gathering of the year 2012, a senior citizen asked a series of questions which seemed to come out of concern for his time ahead. It also served as a gentle reminder to all of us.

“Namaste Guruji. My first question is that when the time comes for me to leave my physical body in this incarnation, will my Astral body come out and contract into a small ball of light or will it contract in my physical body itself, exit from a certain point and then expand to regain some shape?”

“The Astral body first separates then the silver cord gets severed following which it shrinks. Amara had once explained that the Astral body begins to roll out like a calendar before it comes out.”

“My next question - what will be the shape and size of the Astral body after death?”

“Usually it will be the size of a fist.”

“And will this fist size remain the same throughout my stay in the Astral plane?”

“I think so, yes.”

“Does the silver cord get disconnected exactly at the time of death or afterwards?”

“Death occurs at the moment when the silver cord is disconnected.”

“So, what happens to the cord after death? Since it is elastic, does it disappear in the Astral body or does some part of it remain visible outside the Astral body?”

“The silver cord remains with the Astral body.”

“The Vital body is likened to glue which keeps the Astral body in the physical. Now, in the case of a natural death does the glue start to loosen itself sometime before the actual death or does it loosen instantly at the time of death?”

“All of these steps happen almost simultaneously. When death occurs and Astral body separates the Vital body returns to the Sun.”

“Does it return as a cloud of Prana?”

“I don’t know.”

“When I am still in the physical body at which points between the physical and Astral bodies are the two ends of the silver cord attached? Also, at the time of death how can I leave my body consciously?”

“I have not experienced this so far so I do not know…..”

All those gathered exploded into laughter. It was meant in good jest so the student laughed along. It took quite some time for everyone to settle back into listening mode.

“….seriously I will try to understand all these and will let you know.”

This assurance from Guruji resonates with his deep sincerity to guide his students with exact knowledge. His passion for guidance stems from his unconditional love; this showed in an anecdote he mentioned from 1990 during the course of the discussion.

“If you love a person a lot then naturally you will be concerned about them, there will be a deep connection. If that person is not well then you might even feel the symptoms. In 1990 I had a few students who were very close to me. One morning, around 10AM, I had a lot of pain in my finger. I could not attribute it to anything. Later in the day my student met me and I saw a bandage on his finger! Even this is a beautiful experience I would say, such incidents are like messages from the Universe that love is at work.”

Ms. Vidya Vishwamitra spoke next, “Guruji, this is regarding my own Meditation, when I started I used to find it difficult to sit for long, I used to feel heaviness in my head. I just loved Meditations and I would see others sit so comfortably then I began pushing myself to sit for longer durations every day. Now I can sit without the heaviness.”

“That is very good indeed. I remember all the phases that you have undergone in the last two years. I usually instruct students to meditate regularly and as much as possible, to you I had instructed to meditate less. You see there are many Spiritual processes that are set in motion during Meditations. Each meditator absorbs energies in different quantities. You tend to absorb more and that explains the heaviness in your head. Your body system needed time to adjust to the intense energies. But now you are established in Meditations and are in the safe region. I am glad about that.”

She narrated another of her inspiring mystical experiences. “After the last eclipse for three days I was in an energy heavy state. I felt a lot of energy was pumped into me. When I tried to call someone I could barely open my mouth. The experience I had due to these energies was so unique I have never had the same during Meditations.”

Guruji’s response gave us a new insight into the workings of the Spiritual Masters. “This happened due to the energies from the eclipse. The Light Masters chose some people from all over the world and experiment with new energies on them. The Rishis receive the energies from the eclipse, add new energies to them, combine with old ones and create new energies. They see how the reactions to these energies are. There are so many such things which go on in the background.”

“What I found particularly touching is that when such things happen” Vidya said, “there is someone in the background who consoles us and says that it is okay. And after three days the heaviness was gone.”

Guruji smiled and said that it was a Rishi who was monitoring her all the while.

Mystical experiences from students throw up many questions which take a lot of time to understand. Ms. Nagamani Chandrashekhar spoke about how during Meditations she found herself in the Cosmic Tower, Kundalini Hall, Sapta Rishi cave and RA Temple at the same time. She wanted to know if this was her Chaya Purusha which was multi-locating.

Guruji’s answer – “It is not Chaya Purusha for sure, I will need some time to understand and explain. It is a very complex process. Write to me about this.”

We have learnt from Guruji that our energy shields can guide us and that we can communicate with them as well. Ms. Mala Suresh gave an example of this, “While practicing Shield strengthening technique I heard it say to me that it was now time to practise Shambala Principle number one.”

“It is a wonderful experience,” Guruji said, “Shields have their own intelligence. They guide us sometimes about our emotional state, about our behavior, etc. But most of the times we ignore. Most are still stuck at the horizontal level of life with all the gossips and trivia, a lot of energy, time and emotions are wasted on such matters. Somehow we have to withdraw from all this and keep ourselves at a slightly higher level. Be alert of all that you cannot see, like the energy shields. Become aware of it, talk to it, thank it, treat it like an entity and establish a beautiful relationship with it. Shields can even receive knowledge and pass it on to you. You had a very good experience.”

Many other points were discussed during this Session. The article will continue in the next upload.