| The book contains 20 chapters , Total length 3 hrs 15min
Yogi Ramacharaka
The Life Beyond Death
1909
• Chapter I… ………………………………………… “The Other Side”
• Chapter II…………………………………………“There Is No Death”
• Chapter III……………………………………………The Planes of Life
• Chapter IV…………………………………………… The Astral Plane
• Chapter V………………………………………………… After Death
• Chapter VI………………………………………… The Soul‑Slumber
• Chapter VII… ……………………………… The Soul’s Awakening
• Chapter VIII……………………………… Astral Plane Geography
• Chapter IX……………………………………… Primitive Soul‑States
• Chapter X…………………………… Astral Religious Experiences
• Chapter XI………………………………… Astral Heavens and Hells
• Chapter XII… ……………………………… Astral Self‑Expression
• Chapter XIII……………………………… Astral Plane Occupation
• Chapter XIV………………………………… Astral Companionship
• Chapter XV… ………………………………“Spirit Communication”
• Chapter XVI……………………………………… Earth Bound Souls
• Chapter XVII……………………………………………… Astral Shells
• Chapter XVIII… …………………………… The Second Soul-Sleep
• Chapter XIX…………………………………………………… Re-Birth
• Chapter XX… ……………………………… Beyond Reincarnation
Chapter I
“The Other Side”
One of the questions most frequently asked the teachers
of the Wisdom of the East is this: “What do you teach
regarding ‘the other side’ of the river of death?” To the
trained and developed occultist, this question never seems to
lose its strangeness. To such, it would seem as the question:
“What do you teach regarding the ‘other side’ of the street?”
would seem to the ordinary man on the street. The latter would
naturally feel surprised that there should be any question of
“teaching” on the subject, for the inquirer would have but to
use his own eyes to obtain the answer to his query.
The Oriental teacher never fails to wonder at the many
evidences of the result of mere theory and dogmatic teaching
on the part of the majority of the teachers and preachers of
the Western world. These so‑called teachers are like the “blind
leading the blind,” for they have no means of verifying their
statements, and merely pass on what they have blindly received
from others, who, in turn, have received their own instruction
in the same way. In the Orient, on the contrary, one meets with
so many persons of developed higher psychic and spiritual
sense, to whom the phenomena of “the other side” is as familiar
as is the phenomena of “this side,” that the “other side” seems as
real and actual as does the ordinary environment of earth‑life.
Among developed Orientals “the other side” is no uncharted
sea, but has its currents, depths, islands, and general facts as
clearly stated and understood as is the Atlantic Ocean by the
Western mariner. Moreover, every educated Oriental is taught
from youth that the phenomena of “the other side” need not
be taken on faith, but may be actually known to those who will
expend the time and study required for developing the higher
senses which are possessed by all of the race.
But, from the same reasons, the developed Oriental occultist
finds himself confronted with a most perplexing, not to say
discouraging task when he attempts to convey his knowledge
on this subject to Western students. The Western mind
instinctively refuses to accept truth in the manner of the mind
of the Oriental student. Not having realized by actual experience
certain fundamental psychic and spiritual facts, which serve as
a basis for the detailed teaching, the Western mind naturally
demands “actual proof” of these basic facts before being
willing to proceed further. Inasmuch as these facts must first
be experienced to be known, no amount of argument ever
serves to bring that conviction of truth which should serve as
the fundamental basis for the detailed teaching. Consequently
by the Western student, the general basic statements of the
teacher are accepted either purely on faith, or else regarded as
mere guesses or speculation on the part of the teacher. And, as
there are thousands of such guesses and speculative theories
advanced in the Western world, the student may well be
excused from refusing to accept any of them as truth, for, as he
often argues, “one guess is as good as another.”
In the presentation of the facts of “the other side” to which
the present volume is devoted, the student must realize from
the beginning that there can be no actual physical proof
afforded him, in the absence of a highly developed state of
his higher psychic and spiritual senses. In his case, the proof
demanded is akin to that asked of the blind man, who demands
proof of scarlet or any other color of the article; or like that
asked by the deaf man, who demands proof of the existence
of harmony in music. From the very nature of things, the
proof cannot be afforded in such case. Imagine the attempt
to explain the sensation of the taste of sugar to one who had
never experienced the taste of anything sweet. How and where
could one begin? How, and where could one proceed?
So let us understand each other thoroughly, teacher, and
students.
Let us understand that the teachings of this book are
not offered as proof of the phenomena of “the other side,” but
merely in the spirit of the traveller returned from some new and
strange country, and who tells the tales of his journeying and
the sights seen therein. As we said to the students of our first
lessons, given to the Western world nine years ago: “We do not
mean that the Eastern teachers insist upon the pupil blindly
accepting every truth that is presented to him. On the contrary,
they instruct the pupil to accept as truth only that which he
can prove for himself, as no truth is truth to one until he can
prove it by his own experiments.
But the student is taught that
before many truths may be so proven, he must develop and
unfold. The teacher asks only that the student have confidence
in him as a pointer‑out of the way, and he says, in effect, to the
student: “This is the way; enter upon it, and on the path you will
find the things of which I have taught you; handle them, weigh
them, measure them, taste them, and know for yourself. When
you reach any point of the path you will know as much of it as
did I or any other soul at that particular stage of the journey;
but until you reach a particular point, you must either accept
the statements of those who have gone before or reject the
the whole subject at that particular point. Accept nothing as
final until you have proven it; but if you are wise, you will profit
by the advice and experience of those who have gone before.
Every man must learn by experience, but men may serve others
as pointers of the way. At each stage of the journey it will be
found that those who have progressed a little farther on the
way, have left signs and marks and guide‑posts for those who
follow. The wise man will take advantage of these signs. I do not
ask for blind faith, but only for confidence until you are able to
demonstrate for yourselves the truths I am passing on to you,
as they were passed on to me by those who went before”
The skeptical Western student may object that we offer no
“scientific proofs” of the phenomena of “the other side.” If by
“scientific” he means the proofs of physical science, we agree
with him. But to the advanced occultist, the term “scientific”
has a much broader and wider meaning. The person who
expects to weigh, measure and register spiritual things by
physical standards has nothing but disappointment and failure
before him, for he will never receive the proof he seeks. Physical
apparatus is intended for physical objects only—the world
of spirt has its own set of apparatus, which alone is capable
of registering its phenomena. Therefore we wish the matter
clearly understood by the reader who is undertaking the study
of this book. No physical proofs are offered. There are none
such, strictly speaking, to be found anywhere. Moreover, there
is no attempt at argument—for there is no basis for argument
between the seers of “the other side” and those whose vision is
limited to the earth‑plane.
But this does not mean that we are offering you a mass of
irrational statements, and insisting that you take them on faith.
Far from this is our intent. For while the reason alone can never
hope to pierce the veil separating the two sides of Life‑Death,
nevertheless the reason, if allowed to follow its own reports
divested of prejudice and blind adherence to teaching, will
perceive a certain reasonableness in a true statement of the facts
of the unknown—it will seem that the teachings square with
other accepted facts, and that they explain in a reasonable way
phenomena otherwise unexplainable. In short, the reason will
seem that the teachings of truth reconcile apparently opposing
sets of facts, and join together many obscure bits of truth
which one finds accepted by his reason, but which, heretofore,
he has not been able to place together and join in a connected
structure of mental concept.
The student is urged to suspend judgment until he has read
carefully, and then as carefully considered, what we have to
say. Then let him re‑read, and re‑consider the book as a whole.
Then let him ask himself the honest question: “Does not this
seem reasonable and probable.” If he can do no more than to
accept it all as a “working hypotheses,” by all means let him
rest satisfied with that position—although to us the term may
evoke a smile when we realize that the teaching is built upon
the experience and testimony of the wise of the ages. But, if
the teaching is carefully read and considered, it will prove to be
regarded as more and more reasonable as the years pass by with
the individual. Fact after fact will be seen to fit into the general
teaching, and, as older conceptions are discarded from time to
time, these teachings will be found to take their place. It is not
easy to escape from a truth, once it has been presented to you.
It has a way of itching your mental ear, once it has lodged there.
For behind that ear is a part of you, hidden though it may be,
by many sheaths, which knows—which Knows! Deny it though
you may, you cannot escape from Truth once its seed has been
lodged within your consciousness, for it will draw sustenance
from your subconsciousness, and will in time sprout and put
forth leaf and blossom.
So, after all, it matters little whether or not the student
can fully grasp the teaching at this time. For Time is long, and
one has all the time there is in which to master the lesson. All
teachings, at the last, is but a process of seed‑sowing.
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