Who remembers you after death?

Who remembers you after death?

What will happen? If I tell you that there is a power in this world that knows you better than you know yourself. She knows what you said, did and even thought in life? When your body leaves this world. When your name slowly starts fading from people’s memories. When dust settles on your photographs. When someone else starts living in your house. And a day will come when perhaps there will be no one left to remember you. Then will your existence really end? Or is there some power in this entire universe that preserves forever your every action, every emotion, every love, every hatred, every unfulfilled desire and every small and big decision of your life. Most of us think that death ends everything. But is death truly the end or merely a doorway beyond which the next chapter of our journey begins? Just look at your life for a moment. Is who you are today just your body? If the body is your identity, then where has that childhood body gone? Where is that face of adolescence? Most of the body’s cells are replaced every few years. Thoughts change, desires change, relationships change. But still a feeling always remains that I believe it. After all, who am I that doesn’t change even in the midst of every transformation? And if the same I continues to exist even after death, does it take anything with it or is everything left here? This is the question that compelled sages, yogis and monks to perform penance for thousands of years. He did not consider death to be merely the end of the body. He called it the door to the greatest mystery of consciousness.

Today science can tell the story of the body until its end. But what happens after that? To find the answer to this question, we have to turn to the ancient texts that made death a subject of knowledge and not fear. In today’s journey, we will try to understand the mystery from the perspective of Kathopanishad, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Bhagavad Gita, Granth Purana and Yoga Vashishtha, which has kept the human mind restless for centuries. But remember this video is only about what happens after death? Will not discuss this. This will ask an even bigger question. If the whole world forgets you, does your soul also forget you? Or is your consciousness itself the immortal witness that keeps your every action, every sanskar and every incomplete story safe within itself even after changing your birth? Let us put all our preconceived notions aside for a while and embark on a journey where death becomes not the end but the first door to the greatest mystery. If death is not the end then this is the first question that arises. Who dies? This was the question that troubled a small boy, Dun Chiketavan, thousands of years ago. He did not ask for money. I did not ask for long life, I did not ask for heaven. He directly asked Yamaraja Kana, the god of death. What actually happens to a person when he dies? This question became the birth of the demon in Kathopanishad. Think how amazing this is. Where most people get scared just by hearing the name of death. There a child is sitting in front of death and asking him the truth. But Yamraj did not answer immediately. He first tested Nachiketa. He offered him immense wealth, kingdom, long life, beautiful chariot, heavenly pleasures and innumerable enjoyments. He said take all these but do not ask the secret of death. Why? Was it because Yamraj wanted to hide the truth? No, but because the ultimate truth can only be given to one who has risen above momentary pleasures. Because the mind which is still entangled in worldly desires cannot understand the eternal truth. Nachiketa replied without a moment’s thought. Whatever you are giving me, it will all end one day. Money will end, body will end, happiness will end. But I want to know the truth that never ends. From here the deepest secret of Kathopanishad begins to unfold. Yamraj says that the biggest mistake of a human being is that he considers himself only a body. The body is born, grows, grows old and one day it dies. But are you the one who is changing? Just look at your life. Your childhood is gone. Youth is changing, face is changing, thoughts are changing. But did you ever feel that the value changed? No. Because I can’t be the thing that changes. Yamraj explains just as a man takes off old clothes and wears new ones. Similarly, the soul leaves the old body and takes a new body. But this is a big mistake most people make. They think that after death the soul becomes completely empty. As if everything was erased. Kathopanishad does not say so. He says that the soul is pure and indestructible. But there’s another thing going on with it that most people don’t see. That is the direction of sanskars. Although the main purpose of Kathopanishad is to explain the nectar of the soul. But it also gives an indication that the way a person lives his life, his consciousness takes the same direction. This is where the first secret of death lies. Death does not destroy the soul. It only separates the body through which the soul was experiencing this world. But the witness who experiences still remains. And perhaps that is why Yamraj repeatedly says that a person who considers only the body as his form can never be free from death. Because he will consider every change as his end. But one who has recognized the witness within himself who is the witness of childhood, youth, old age and ultimately death. Death is no longer a matter of fear for him. It becomes just a change. But if the soul is truly immortal. If she changes bodies then the next question becomes even more mysterious. When the soul moves forward on a new path. Then what really goes with it? Is it just the soul or is there something else that travels with him in every birth? This is the secret which the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is now going to reveal to us. If the soul leaves the body, what then goes with it? Does she start her next journey completely empty or is there something within her that continues to accompany her in every birth? This same Bahadaranyaka Upanishad reveals a secret that changes our entire understanding of karma and rebirth. We often think that our actions are being written somewhere out there. As if there is an invisible book in the sky in which the account of our good and bad deeds is being kept. But the Upanishad says something much more subtle than this. He says that a man is made by his thoughts before his actions. His resolution is formed as per his wish. As the resolution is, so are the actions and as the actions are, so is their next direction. Note, the Upanishad does not say that some external power is writing your destiny within you. He says you are sowing the seeds of your next journey within yourself. Imagine a potter making a pot from clay. After the pot is made the wheel stops. But the shape of the pot remains the same as it was made. In the same way life can end. The body may perish. But the shape of the impressions on the consciousness does not disappear immediately. These sanskars become the direction of the soul’s next journey. This is why two children born on the same day grow up with completely different tendencies. One is compassionate from childhood. The second one is extremely angry. One is interested in meditation without being taught. The other is attracted only by the material world. Is this just a coincidence? The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says. Consciousness never starts from zero. It carries with it the seeds of tendencies that have already been sown. But here a deeper question arises. If the soul carries sanskars with it, does it remember its past lives? The answer is generally no because memory and sanskar are different. Memory remembers events but sanskars influence events. Suppose you do not remember any small incident of your childhood but that very incident sowed a seed of fear, courage, faith or insecurity within you. The incident is forgotten but its impact is still alive in your personality. The Upanishad says that something similar happens after death also. The name changes. The body changes. The family changes. But the impressions imprinted in the consciousness continue their journey. And perhaps this is the power that people call karma. Karma is not just an external action. Karma is the imprint that every thought, every feeling, every decision and every desire leaves on your consciousness. This brings up the most important question of this video. Who remembers you after death? Maybe not the world, maybe not even your own descendants, but your consciousness never forgets you. Every experience of yours, every love, every hatred, every unfulfilled dream, every sacrifice and every attachment remains preserved in that consciousness as a subtle impression. This is why the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad emphasizes inner responsibility more than external justice. Because no one else will bear the burden of your actions. No one else can erase your sanskars. Whatever you sow within yourself today will become your reality tomorrow. But if consciousness continues with its sanskars, what is its journey like after death? Does she immediately take a new birth? Or else she goes through some such stages whose description is considered a mystery even today. From here Garuda Purana opens the door to that next journey. If consciousness moves forward carrying with it sanskars, then what is its journey actually like after death? Does the soul take a new birth immediately after leaving the body? Or there is a journey between him and the next life about which most people know nothing. This is what the Grun Purana takes us to, the journey after death, which has often been viewed with only fear. But if we understand its symbols, the philosophy hidden within it appears completely different. Many people start imagining Yamadutas, punishment and hell as soon as they hear the name of Garuda Purana. But the aim of the Ashis was not just to instill fear. He wanted us to understand that the experiences the soul goes through after death are more a reflection of its own consciousness than any external decoration. Imagine a person accumulating wealth all his life. He believed that was his greatest security. After death, when the body is left behind, the wealth remains there. But where does his attachment to money go? It never ends. It remains with consciousness. Now imagine a person who nurtured only anger throughout his life and another who practiced compassion and forgiveness. Both of them left their bodies. Will the consciousness of both be the same? Garuda Purana says no. The body can be equally exhausted. But consciousness travels according to its state. This is where a deep secret is hidden. The first thing the soul has to face after death is not some external court but its own consciousness. Whatever is inside starts appearing in front. One who has lived in fear all his life will feel more fear. One who lives his life in greed will remain bound by his unfulfilled desires and one who has developed love, truth and detachment, his consciousness will be relatively light and calm. That is why Garuda Purana repeatedly indicates that the experience after death is not imposed from outside. It is an extension of the inner state. Imagine if a person has been living in a dark room for years, then even if he suddenly comes into the open sky, it will take time for his eyes to adjust. Has the sky changed? No. Changed only the ability to see, in the same way death does not change consciousness. It simply removes the covering of the body and when the covering is removed, whatever has been stored inside for years becomes clearly visible. This is why in many traditions so much emphasis is placed on purification of mind, forgiveness, chanting, meditation and remembering God before death. Because no new personality is suddenly born at the last moment. Whatever has been built up within one’s entire life comes out most clearly at that time. But there is another secret here. If the soul moves forward with its sanskars and desires, does it immediately choose the next birth? Garuda Purana suggests that unfulfilled desires, deep-rooted impressions and the direction of actions together draw the consciousness towards the next journey. This attraction is not like a punishment but like a seed that naturally carries within itself the potential for the same tree. The seed of a mango cannot become a banyan tree and the seed of a banyan tree cannot become a lotus. Because every seed already has its own direction within itself. Similarly, every consciousness progresses according to its sanskars. Perhaps this is why the Arshis did not call death the end. They called it a mirror. A mirror in which the soul sees itself for the first time without a body, without a name and without a social identity and only then does it begin to understand what it has actually achieved in life. Not wealth, not position, not fame, but the quality of your consciousness. But now one final and most important question remains. If the direction after death is determined by the sanskars and state of consciousness, then does the creation of the next birth begin after death? Or it is being created right now, in this very moment, with every thought, every decision, and every emotion we make. These great Yoga Vasishtha Abhipana and Bhagavad Gita together reveal the secret which binds both life and death in a single thread. If the journey after death depends on our state of consciousness, then a very important question arises. Is the next life determined after death? Or is it beginning within us right now, at this very moment? This Yoga Vashishtha and the Bhagavad Gita together reveal a secret that almost eliminates the distance between life and death. We often think that death will come one day and that day our future will be decided. But Yoga Vashishtha says that the future is not decided on the day of death. The future is created with every thought. It is made with every wish. is formed with every reaction. It is created with every decision you make alone. Maharishi Vashistha tells Shri Ram that the world is not created outside first. It is first born in the mind. A thought that is repeated over and over again becomes a habit. The tendency gradually becomes a habit. Nature gives birth to actions and actions take the form of destiny. This is why no man suddenly becomes angry and no one suddenly becomes a saint. A world has been forming within both of them for years. Imagine a farmer sowing the same type of seed in his field every day. Years later, when the crop is ready, does he wonder why the same seeds would be there? No. Because that is what he sowed. Yoga Vasistha says. The mind is also a field. Thoughts are its seeds. Emotions are its water and repeated habits are its harvest. Now the Bhagavad Gita gives another depth to this truth. Lord Shri Krishna tells Arjun that the feeling which a man practices throughout his life, that feeling emerges as the strongest in the last moments and his consciousness flows in the direction in which he leaves his body. Notice this verse is often reduced to just the last moment. But Shri Krishna’s message is much deeper than this. The feeling of the last moment is the result of the sadhana of the whole life. If a person nurtures only greed throughout his life, how will detachment suddenly come at the time of death? If someone lives his entire life in fear, how will his mind become fearless at the last moment? And if one has practiced remembrance of God, meditation, compassion and truth for years, then the same sanskars will naturally awaken within him at the last moment. This is why zodiac signs always said that preparation for death does not happen on the death bed. That happens today. It happens now. It happens every moment. When you react to a situation. When you forgive or take revenge. When you choose truth or convenience. When you choose compassion or ego. Because every decision draws a new line on your consciousness. And gradually those lines become the map of your next life. This is where Yoga Vasistha gives another wonderful example. He says that just as a river creates a deep channel for itself by flowing in the same direction for years. Similarly, the mind also creates its own direction by repeatedly flowing in the same type of thoughts. Then it becomes difficult to turn it. That is why the purpose of sadhana is not just to meditate for some time. The purpose of sadhana is to change the current in which the mind has been flowing for years and perhaps this is why there is no new justice after death. Justice continues throughout life. Every thought, every action, every feeling is immediately changing your consciousness. We think we are creating our own actions. But the truth is perhaps deeper than this. Gradually our actions are making us. And when the last moment comes, death does not pronounce any new verdict. It simply furthers the direction we have already created within ourselves. Now the teachings of all five texts have started connecting with each other. Kathopanishad tells that the soul is immortal. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says that sanskars go along with consciousness. Garuda Purana tells that the journey after death takes place according to the state of consciousness. Yoga Vashishtha explained that consciousness is shaping itself every moment with its thoughts and the Bhagavad Gita explained that the ultimate emotion of life is not a coincidence but a natural result of the direction of the entire life. But now the biggest question faces us. If the soul is immortal, the sanskars go with it. The mind creates the world and death is just a change, so does the universe really remember us? Or what we call the universe is our own consciousness that never forgets us. Now look back at the entire journey. We tried to find the answer to the same question by going through five ancient texts. Who remembers you after death? First of all, Kathopanishad tells us that death is the end of the body. Not of the soul. The true I is beyond birth and death. Therefore death is not destruction but only a change. Then the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad tells us another profound secret. The soul does not simply leave the body. She also carries with her her values, her tendencies and the direction of her actions. Every thought sown in life remains safe as a seed in consciousness. After this, Grun Puranavar explained that after death the soul does not reach any strange world. She first meets her own consciousness. The way a person lives his life becomes the first experience of his next journey. Then Anuyoga Vashishthana told that the next birth does not take place after death. It is being created right now, every day, with every thought and every reaction. Our mind is the painter painting the picture of our next reality. And finally Bhagavad Gita Shan completed that picture. Shri Krishna says that the feeling of the last moment becomes the direction. But that final feeling doesn’t come suddenly. It is the result of the whole life’s practice, habits, thoughts and sanskars. Now put these five teachings together. Kathopanishad says that the soul is immortal. Brihadaranyaka says that sanskars are companions of the immortal journey. Garuda Purana says that consciousness experiences its own state. Yoga Vasistha says that the mind is creating the next world every moment. And Geeta says that the direction of life itself becomes the direction of death. So what is the answer to that question now? Who remembers you after death? Perhaps not your name, not your fame, not your wealth and one day not the world. But your consciousness never forgets you. Your every thought, every love, every hatred, every compassion, every unfulfilled desire, every sacrifice and every action lives in that consciousness. Perhaps this is why the Arshis repeatedly said that man is the creator of his own destiny. No external force is writing justice within you. You yourself are writing the script of your next experience every moment. And perhaps this is the biggest mystery of death. Death does not end your story. She simply turns the last page of that chapter. Because the journey still continues. So next time you think about death, do not ask this. Who will remember me after I die? Stop for a moment and ask yourself this. What am I imprinting in my consciousness today? Because this one question may be writing the first line of your next life and perhaps this is why the sages said man is not afraid of death. He is afraid of his own incomplete life. When life becomes conscious, death is no longer the enemy. It simply becomes the door to a new dawn.