If people are aware of their journey through life, they become serious about finding out what lies beyond the apparent. They see that the conventional way of living – getting lost in earning ‘more money’, occupied with some self-centered activity including those based on religion, functioning with emotional attachments to people etc – gradually depletes the freshness of the mind. So, they ask, “Is there a way of living differently?” – a vibrant life in which there is abundant respect for everything and everybody irrespective of man-made divisions, being in a job that one loves to do, having reverence for the flow of life no matter what it chooses to bring, involving oneself in a spiritual quest, etc.For the people who are thus inclined, life presents quite a few avenues of exploration. Being on those avenues gives them the feeling that there is a great deal more to life than just being caught in the conventional rigmarole. One such avenue of exploration is the issue of the ending of life. One of the reasons for the associated fear is the ending of oneself as projected by thought. Because thought is accustomed to continuity, it is unable to sense what would happen if that continuity ends. It is this uncertainty that comes up as fear. People use religion as a shield against that fear but that does not lead to the understanding of it.
There are occasions when a human being comes close to one’s ending and actually crosses the border between life and the ‘Beyond’ for a short period. On those occasions, awareness of the afterlife takes place due to severe conditions of physical suffering, serious illness or heart attack. It coincides in time with the period when both the EEG and ECG are flat indicating that the person has left his mortal coils. That is usually referred to as a NDE.
What makes NDE valuable is that, by making us imbibe a wider perspective about life, it opens a vista of holistic application leading to wholesome living. The incomparable Divine compassion in which one is bathed during NDE, no matter how small the duration of the experience, seems to be the key factor in giving great depth and beauty to that experience. It is clear from the responses of both children and adults who have had NDE that the experience has a touch of a catharsis. The person is never the same on the lee side of the NDE. No experience due to a drug or hallucination ever remains in memory for that long nor do they make the person have a firsthand experience of that infinite compassion. It is understood that there is no punishment on the other side and that, in essence, the soul is immortal.
Not all of us can have an NDE but, just reflecting on the statements of those who have had the experience, we can understand certain spiritual truths and hence imbibe the transforming qualities of their messages to a good extent. It is an ocean and drinking even a drop from it can perform wonders. Those who feel drawn by an inner call to the esoteric side of life will find NDE an exciting and rewarding subject.
NDE and associated topics are dealt with in the book “In Quest of the Deeper Self”. For details visit http://spirituality.yolasite.com