There are Different Religious views on the Journey of the Soul.
Christians believe in the concept of heaven and Hell. Based on one’s virtues or vices, one move to either heaven or Hell. Heaven is the abode for good and Hell is the abode for evil. They receive rewards and punishments accordingly.
The Parsees, followers of Zoroaster, believe that after departure, the soul goes into the intermediate globe (Hamistaken) that corresponds to Purgatory in Christianity. The spirit of the righteous interacts with a gorgeous maiden, the embodiment of pure thoughts, pure voice and pure action. The soul has to cross the bridge of judgement. The bridge provides a straightforward passage to the righteous. The spirit passes to Amesha-spentas’ who are archangels from the attributes of Ahuramazda, the preceptor. Journey of the soul according to Parsees.
The spirit of the wicked meets a witch, the embodiment of his evil doings. He fails to cross the bridge and drops right into flame or Hell.
The spirit of these dead hovers across the final resting place in the house for three days. Several ceremonies follow for four days in the home. The soul must appear at the Chinavat bridge over the afternoon of the fourth day. In the instance of the righteous, there’s a fragrant breeze, and there appears a gorgeous young maiden. Essentially, the maiden is the consciousness of the dead person interacting on behalf of his life’s pure thoughts, words, and actions.
In the case of the unrighteous soul, there’s a foul-smelling wind and an old ugly witch that reflects his evil actions and impure conscience.
Views of the Bhagavad Gita on Death and After -Journey of the Soul
The Gita or the Song of God, a profound Hindu scripture, is a dialogue between Lord Krishna and Arjuna. It is one of the chapters during the Mahabharata war.
Lord Krishna gives a lot of guidance to Arjuna in this treatise on the righteous way to live. The Lord explains that every individual reflects the Lord and are made in his essence and divinity. However, man is deluded and trapped in the material world of addictions and obsessions. According to the Lord, the jnani endowed with wisdom will ultimately merge with the Lord, whereas the perverted engulfed in the world of sense perceptions will not perceive him.
Through the dialogue, Lord Krishna summarizes the Hindu idea of rebirth, samsara, various types of yoga, the divinity within, the universal soul in everyone and the nature of Self-knowledge.
According to the treatise, One is reborn because of the attachments to people, place and things of the world from past lives; Krishna compares the way the eternal self sheds bodies to the way people shed old clothing.
This soul is neither born nor does it die – it is eternal and immortal
Lord Krishna says that wise beings should not carry any grief for the dead. Krishna says that the soul is eternal and keeps coming back in different bodies. It is the consciousness or spirit of the man that is essential. A man should make all effort towards liberation, to free the soul from the illusions. It is the mind that causes suffering. Journey of the soul as per Bhagavad gita.
The lords further explain that the world is made of perishable and imperishable matter, and the Lord himself is beyond all of creation as the supreme self or Paramatma. A man should work towards merging with divinity. At all times, no matter what work he is doing, he should remember the name of the Lord and abide in his thoughts.
Teachings from the Yogavasistha
In Yogavasistha, it is explained three categories of human beings go through life and face death in different ways according to their conduct of living
- The ignorant or deluded
- One who practices yoga and meditation
- The yogis
According to an individual’s consciousness, he may either go through a painful death or depart peacefully depending on his reservoir of virtues.
Teachings from the Yogavasistha on the journey of the soul
