All living beings desire to be happy always, without any misery. In everyone there is observed supreme love for oneself. And happiness alone is the cause of love. In order therefore, to gain that happiness which is one’s nature and which is experienced in the state of deep sleep, where there is no mind, one should know oneself. To achieve this, the Path of Knowledge, the inquiry in the form of ‘Who am I’ is the principal means,” says the author and goes on to explain life at the physical and other planes of phenomenal development.
Based on the teachings of sage Sri Ramana Maharashi, Anil Sharma’s Life Beyond Death is basically about what happens after the death of the body that is beyond the physical plane. A devoted follower of Sage, the author has personally experienced through meditation the life at all levels and spiritually attained knowledge about the meaning of life. An electrical engineer by profession, he is a man in search of truth and wisdom and this is clearly reflected in this book. Experiencing the higher state of consciousness through meditation and his travel across India for a period of three years, the book is a guide for people in search of spiritual knowledge as well as philosophical bent of mind.
The book begins with a brief biographical sketch and teachings of the Sage and then goes on a journey to the realms of death where the author describes death in detail, the varying experiences, the sleep cycles and the moments after death. “Death is transitory and self identity is preserved after death. Death becomes another phase of being. The events that follow after death can be known and need not be feared as death is but the other side of life,” the author sketches the understanding of death in simple terms.
After this, the book describes the Astral World where human beings now souls come into contact with other souls who held the same religious beliefs and what happens in this realm all depends on one’s desires and thoughts. Anil Sharma in the third chapter on the Mental World says experiences on the mental plane are far more real than on the physical material plane and depends on one’s pure thoughts and unselfish feelings. His take on reincarnation is that a soul is reborn because it desires for further experiences and opportunity for un-foldment. Many souls choose rebirth to be of service to humanity.
Dealing with what happens to the human beings in the after life, of their mode of ‘living’ and characters of their existence, of their ‘possibility’ of re-union with dear ones, this book is an attempt to answer some questions that bugs everyone some time or the other : of what will become of a human being after death.
Usually faith in India comes with religion as from the start of life, one is exposed to such aspects like life in this world and life after death but this rarely goes beyond the stages of aspirations. Those who are of a religious turn of mind are easily led into beliefs of the immortality of the soul by a simple appeal to their religious sentiments.
But those with an intellectual bent of mind, they demand facts, as this is the only way to prove the immortality of soul. This is what the book tries to explains in detail and makes an interesting read especially for people seeking salvation.
A must read for all those who want to understand life in a better perspective.