MAN THE UNKNOWN:

MIND IN DEATH, REBIRTH AND LIBERATION 

 What happens to the mind at the time of the death of the individual? Does it survive or perish along with the body as such? Indian sages have discovered that it is only the gross body composed of the seven ingredients namely marrow, bones, fat, nerves, flesh, blood, skin and consisting of parts such as legs, arms, head, chest and back which are the products of the five fundamental elements namely space (ākāṡa), air (vāyu), energy (Tejas), water (Apah) and earth (pṛthvi) that perishes at the time of death. The subtle body composed of the five great elements which have not undergone grossification, and consisting of the five sense organs, the five organs of action, the five prāṇas, the mind and the intellect, survives death and destruction to be carried to the next life.

Incessant cogitation of the mind regarding the objects of desire prompts generation of intense desire for them and results in the execution of various activities to fulfil such desires. These actions, reactions and impressions of the unfulfilled desires create impressions (vāsanas) in the subtlest recesses of the body called causal body and this is the cause of transmigration of the soul to other bodies, in other words the cause of rebirth.

 

The Bṛhadāranyaka Upanishad vividly describes the process of detachment of the subtle body from the gross body at the time of death (4..5-6). The Upanishad brings out the essential difference between death and deep sleep very clearly. In deep sleep although the mind and senses are withdrawn from the gross body to the subtler realms, the prāṇas remain in the gross body so that it is kept alive whereas in death, along with the mind and senses, the prāṇas are also withdrawn from the gross body. The gross body is completely separated from the subtler body and there is no connection whatsoever between the subtle and the physical bodies at the time of death. In sleep this connection is maintained and the individual returns to the waking life once again through this body. The sensation one feels in the body is the sensation conveyed through the agency of the physical body to the subtle body whose ‘presiding deity’ is the mind. In death the mind is withdrawn along with the prāṇas from the gross body.