It is a common occurrence for dying persons to manifest a consciousness of what is occurring in a room at another place. Clairvoyance frequently accompanies the approach of death, the dying person being conscious of sights and sounds in distant places.
There are also many instances recorded of a dying person being able to so strongly project his personality that friends and relatives at a distance have actually seen his form and, in some very rare cases, been able to converse with him.
A careful comparison of time shows that these apparitions, in nearly every case, appeared before the actual death of the person rather than after it.
There are of course cases in which a strong desire of the dying person has caused him to project his astral body into the presence of some one near to him, immediately after death, but these cases are far rarer than the ones just mentioned.
In the majority of these cases, the phenomenon is caused by a process of thought-transference of such a high power and degree that the visited person became impressed with the consciousness of the presence of the dying friend or relative even while the individual life force of the latter remained in the body.
In many cases, the dying person became psychically conscious of a nearness to loved ones who had passed on before.
This however does not necessarily mean that these persons are actually present on the scene.
One must remember that the limitations of space are largely wiped out on the astral plane and that one may come into close rapport with the individual life force of another without there existing any space relationship.
In other words, while the two individual life forces may not be in what may be called a nearness in space, they may nevertheless enjoy the closest relationship in mind and spirit. It is very difficult for one still in the flesh to realise this.
On the physical plane, we are governed by the laws of space. Telepathy gives the key to the phenomena of the other side.
Two persons in the flesh may be on opposite sides of the world and yet experience the closest relationship by means of the communion of their mental principles.
In the same way two individual life forces may enjoy the closest communion and communication without the question of space nearness coming into question.
The dying person frequently enters into soul communion and communication with those already on the other side, and is greatly cheered thereby.
This is a beautiful fact attending what we call death. It is also possible that one was a person of deep faith and devotion and the great master towards whom one was devoted is present in some glorified form to help one upwards.
—The article is taken from the book Life Beyond Death by Anil Sharma