Life Beyond Death Lectures of Swami Abhedananda A Great Yogi and Direct Disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Life Beyond Death – lovingly restored by The Spiritual Bee An e-book presentation by For more FREE books visit the website: www.spiritualbee.com Dear Reader, This book has been reproduced here from the Complete Works of Swami Abhedananda, Volume 4. The book is now in the public domain in India and the United States, because its original copyright has expired. “Life beyond Death” is a collection of lectures delivered by Swami Abhedananda in the United States. Unlike most books on the subject which mainly record encounters with ghosts and other kinds of paranormal activities, this book looks at the mystery from a soundly rational and scientific perspective. The lectures initially focus on providing rational arguments against the material theory of consciousness, which states that consciousness originates as a result of brain activity and therefore once death happens, consciousness also ends and so there is no such thing as a life beyond death. Later in the book, Swami Abhedananda also rallies against many dogmatic ideas present in Christian theology regarding the fate of the soul after death: such as the philosophies of eternal damnation to hell, resurrection of the physical body after death and the belief that the soul has a birth, but no death. In doing so Swami Abhedananda who cherished the deepest love and respect for Christ, as is evident in many of his other writings such as, “Was Christ a Yogi” (from the book How to be a Yogi?), was striving to place before his American audience, higher and more rational Vedantic concepts surrounding life beyond the grave, which have been thoroughly researched by the yogi’s of India over thousands of years. As Swami Abhedananda himself expresses in this book: “There is no other nation in the world, which has so perfect a knowledge in these lines as we have in India.” Since this book is a compendium of different lectures given by Swami Abhedananda, readers will find many concepts repeated across various chapters. The footnotes found in this book (except those on pages 47 and 58) have been painstakingly detailed by Swami 1 Life Beyond Death – lovingly restored by The Spiritual Bee Prajnanananda in the Complete Works, Volume 4. I have reproduced them here, though at times in an abridged form. So for the complete set of notes and appendices, please refer to the Complete Works, Volume 4. Wherever possible I have also provided links to the numerous books detailed by Swami Prajnanananda, all of which can be downloaded for free. Kind regards, Pulkit Mathur | Founder, The Spiritual Bee • • • About Swami Abhedananda Swami Abhedananda was one of the 16 direct monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna and a spiritual brother of the famous Swami Vivekananda. He was an intellectual giant and a person of extraordinary spiritual realizations. This is evident not only from the depth of his incredible writings, but also from his own initiation experience under Sri Ramakrishna, which he documents in his autobiography: “One Sunday morning, I reached the temple garden at Dakshineshwar where I met the great yogi, Ramakrishna Paramhamsa. After reading my past life he said: ‘You were a great yogi in your past incarnation.’ Then he initiated me and gave me instructions in concentration and meditation. He touched my chest and aroused my Kundalini, the ‘Serpent Power’ at the base of my spinal column, and I went into Samadhi, the state of superconsciousness.” During his discipleship years under Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Abhedananda became a trusted spiritual brother of Swami Vivekananda and the two often engaged in many intellectual discussions on Vedanta philosophy and metaphysics. In 1897 Swami Vivekananda, invited Swami Abhedananda to the United States and entrusted the reins of the Vedanta Society of New York, in his capable hands. After Swami Abhedananda delivered his first public lecture in the West, Swami Vivekananda was overjoyed and remarked: “Even if I perish out of this plane, my message will be sounded through these dear lips and the world will hear it.” The truth of these words will be obvious to anyone who reads Swami Abhedananda’s voluminous writings on Vedanta Philosophy. Kind regards, Pulkit Mathur | Founder, The Spiritual Bee 2 Life Beyond Death – lovingly restored by The Spiritual Bee TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page 1. Modern Science and Higher Spiritualism…………………………………….. 4 2. Does the Soul Exist after Death……………………………………………….. 8 3. The Scientific View of Death…………………………………………………… 21 4. The Soul after Death……………………………………………………………. 32 5. Rebirth of the Soul……………………………………………………………… 39 6. The Soul and Its Destiny……………………………………………………….. 50 7. Pre-existence and Reincarnation……………………………………………… 56 8. Pre-existence and Immortality…………………………………………………. 67 9. Science and Immortality………………………………………………………... 74 10. The Spiritualism…………………………………………………………………. 85 11. Spiritualism and Vedanta………………………………………………………. 96 12. Spiritualism and Ancestor-worship……………………………………………. 108 13. The Spiritualistic Mediumship…………………………………………………. 114 14. The Automatic Slate-writing……………………………………………………. 122 15. What is There Beyond the Grave……………………………………………... 126 16. Questions and Answers – Set 1………………………………………………. 141 17. Questions and Answers – Set 2………………………………………………. 145 149 Appendix: Experiences with Spirits…………………………………………… 3 Life Beyond Death – lovingly restored by The Spiritual Bee CHAPTER I MODERN SCIENCE AND HIGHER SPIRITUALISM During the last sixty years spiritualism has made considerable progress, convincing many scientific minds who have been earnestly seeking for the truth of man’s survival after death. The experimental spiritualism began in America in 1870. In the following year, Sir William Crookes, a scientist of great reputation and a man of extraordinary genius, began his investigations with the aid of the medium Mrs. Florence Cook. It will be needless to go into the details of Sir Crookes’ experiments which lasted for three years with that celebrated medium. During this period, he took all precautions against the possible fraud or trickery imaginable and he employed the scientific methods of observation and experiments with delicate instruments. The seances were held in his own house with honest friends who were equally eager to discover whether there was any truth in the spirit phenomena. Many Americans became familiar with the name of Katie King, the spirit-control of Mrs. Florence Cook. She materialized herself, her pulsations were recorded, her heart-beating was heard and was photographed, and she distributed the locks of her materialized hair to those who were present there. We remember that all these happened under strictly test conditions in his own rooms, where electric wires with bells were fixed on the walls so that the least little intrusion from outside could be instantly detected. Sir William Crookes was at first ridiculed by the scientific-world, but he had the courage of his convictions which led him to publish the reports of his experiments, and he kept on experimenting ever since. Sir W. Crookes was also aided by another celebrated medium, Mr. D.D. Home who was more powerful than Mrs. Florence Cook in withstanding antagonistic influences, and most of his seances were not in darkness, but in the bright light. For the scientific study of the phenomena of spiritualism, the Society for the Psychical Research was established in London in 1885, under the auspices of the eminent men of science in England. It is commonly known as S.P.R. The records of this Society have shown how marvellous were the scientific patience and conscientiousness of men like Edmund Gurney, Dr. F.W.H. Myers, Frank Podmore and their successors. Those who have read Myers’ great work entitled Human Personality and Its Survival after Bodily Death 1, will realize the truth of this statement. 1. Human Personality and Its Survival after Bodily Death, by Dr. F.W.H. Myers – Volume 1 & Volume 2. 4 (Free Download) Life Beyond Death – lovingly restored by The Spiritual Bee Other scientific thinkers like Alfred Russell Wallace, Robert Dale Owen, Prof. Aksakof, Richard Hodgeson, William James of Harvard, and Sir Oliver Lodge, the Principal of the University of Birmingham, England, have spared no pains to make the correct investigations under test conditions regarding the truth of the spirit manifestations. Well has it been said by Maurice Maeterlinck, referring to their labourious task: Not an incident is admitted that is not supported by unimpeachable testimony, by definite written records, and convincing corroboration; in a word, it is hardly possible to contest the essential veracity of the majority of them, unless we begin by making up our minds to deny any positive value to human evidence.1 We are all familiar with the fact that Prof. Myers, who was the President of S.P.R. for many years, promised his friends that he would come back after his bodily death in a decisive manner. He kept his promise and a month after his death, he communicated with Sir Oliver Lodge through the noted medium Mrs. Thompson while she was entranced. Myers’ identity was recognized by the first few words he spoke, and it was really he and no one else. He said that it was very difficult for him to convey his ideas through the mediums. He said: “They were translating as a school boy does his first line of Virgil 2”. Referring to his present condition, Myers said that he groped his way as if through passages before he knew he was dead. He thought that he had lost his way in a strange town, and even when he saw the people who, he knew, were dead, he thought they were only visions.3 Dr. Hodgeson, who was the Secretary of the American branch of the S.P.R., of which William James was the Vice President, promised to come back after his death, and a week after his departure, he came back and communicated by the automatic writing through Mrs.