"Just like a person discards an old garment and puts on a new one, a soul discards the old body and acquires a new one. "
-The Gita



   Some people call death a mysterious phenomenon, some call it horrible, while according to very few, death is beautiful! What follows is a comprehensive description of this universally dreaded eventuality based on the accounts of those who have gone through NDE (Near Death Experiences), messages received from the souls migrated to higher dimensions, talks of enlightened ones verified with the descriptions of the scriptures.

    Stages From Death to Rebirth

   The journey of a soul from death to rebirth could be divided into four stages:


   1. The Actual Process of Death
   2. Transition from Physical Plane to Astral Plane
   3. Suffering the Consequences of Past Karma
   4. Proceedings on the Astral Plane
   5. Rebirth


STAGE I : THE ACTUAL PROCESS OF DEATH


   The process of death is a ‘switch-over’ process rather than a ‘shut-down’ process, contrary to the prevalent beliefs and perceptions. When the soul starts dissociating from the body, the following physiological changes are observed.


i. The sensation of smell is lost at first.
ii. The sensation of taste is lost next.
iii. Next to go is the ability to see or recognize things. The body starts becoming cold.
iv. Loss of touch sensation follows. The dying person cannot be aroused by touching him but he may respond to a call.
v. The sense of hearing is lost at last.

                                                       ⬇
   The soul evacuates the gross body in the form of subtle body or sukshma deha. Manomaya kosha, vijnanamaya kosha and anandamaya kosha together constitute a subtle body. (For details refer Vedantasara by Sadananda) The soul is usually unwilling to leave the gross body, it is said that the emissaries of the God of Death, Yama, pull the soul out of the body. In the case of the evolved souls, angles are the emissaries.

                                                       
   Even when the soul is out of the body, the activity of the heart and the brain goes on because it is still connected to the body with an astral cord. Once this cord gets severed, the detachment is complete but the soul is still on the physical plane (dimension). 

                                                       
   The soul hovers over his dead body. He can’t believe it! He feels like the same entity as he used to when he was in his gross body. He tries to console his ailing dear ones by shouting out loud, “I am still here, look up.” But alas! He is no more heard and he accepts that he is now dead for the world.

                                                       
   His attachment to his body, the fantastic vehicle which has enabled him to enjoy various pleasures when he was using it, is so strong that he follows it till it is cremated or reduced to ashes.

                                                       
   For the next few days, the soul visits his favorite places or the places he was attached to when he was in his body like his bank account, his farm, his real estate or lingers over the place where he had buried gold or precious ornaments.

                                                       
   Frustrated over his repeated attempts to take possession of these things, he is convinced that he will have to renounce those things in order to embark on his journey ahead. Those who die of unnatural death like suicide or murder or accident, remain attached to this plane for years together. They can possess other souls and torture them. Their condition is too painful to describe, they can neither go up, nor come back to the corporal level.

                                                        
   Against the pull of his unfulfilled desires, the soul is constantly being sucked into an unknown territory, often described as a dark tunnel.

STAGE II: TRANSITION FROM PHYSICAL PLANE TO ASTRAL PLANE



   Overcoming multiple impediments like guilt, jealousy, attachment to loved ones and money, unfulfilled desires, before a soul enters the dark tunnel is too difficult a task. Renouncing these things mentally is more difficult than renouncing them physically. In Hindu religion, there are certain rituals which ensure that the earthbound spirit is released with minimum distress.
                                                              
   The soul enters a dark tunnel and soon realizes that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

                                                              
   As soon as the soul emerges out of the dark tunnel, he is greeted by his loved ones who had passed away when he was alive. They greet him, embrace him and welcome him! The soul is now on an astral plane in a timeless state.

STAGE III: SUFFERING THE CONSEQUENCES OF PAST KARMAS



   Now is the time to suffer the consequences of good deeds and bad deeds performed on the earth plane. There are seven higher dimensions and seven lower dimensions. The soul is sent to the higher dimensions to enjoy the fruits of virtuous or honest deeds he has performed. He is sent to the lower dimensions to suffer the consequences of evil or dishonest deeds. This state is again time-bound.
                                                         
   From the time-bound state of dimensional existence, the soul comes back again to the timeless state of the astral plane.

STATE IV: PROCEEDINGS ON THE ASTRAL PLANE



   On the astral plane, the soul holds serious discussions with his spiritual guides.
                                                         
   To allay the blows caused by the painful past events, the soul is sent to spend some ‘time’ in the healing chambers.

                                                         
   In a completely neutral, unprejudiced state of the mind, the spiritual guides reveal the complete overview of his past life to the soul. The soul reviews his life, he is made to ponder over what he was sent for and what he has achieved.

                                                         
   The soul is delighted when he finds that he has evolved spiritually and is ashamed when he comes to know that he has disgraced himself by getting involved in reckless and immoral karmas. There are universities, too, on the astral plane to impart spiritual wisdom.

                                                         
   Now, the soul is asked to choose the next chance to lead a physical life back on the earth. The acquisition of the type of physical body depends upon the strongest desire which dominates in the soul at the time of his death. Thus, few souls choose to incarnate as insects, some as trees, some as birds, while some others as animals. The scriptures mention that 84 lakhs of different kinds of bodies exist.

                                                        
   If the soul is spiritually inclined, he is by default bestowed a human life. Even if the soul is not spiritually inclined, he is still given a chance to incarnate in human form sometime or the other by the grace of the Divine to enable him to evolve further.

                                                       
   Life is always a mix of pleasurable as well as painful events. The more trials a soul opts for to go through, the higher the chance to evolve on the spiritual scale. If he chooses a life full of enjoyment, his chances to evolve spiritually are minimal.

                                                        
   The soul chooses his place and time of birth, the people he will be living with, the places he will be visiting, the individual/s he will be marrying, his offspring, good and bad events and also, the place and time of his death. 

   Thus the soul signs off the agreement for the next life.

STAGE V:  REBIRTH



   An ordinary soul enters the mother’s womb between the 42nd and 48th day after conception. Higher souls enter late; they also have the option to leave the womb if they don’t like. The memory of past lives and spiritual agreement is still intact during this period.
                                                            
 The process of birth is a very painful one. During this process, the memories of all the past lives are again pushed back into the subconscious mind, but they are still there. There are exceptions to this rule and few individuals are still able to carry the memories of their past life in the present one as you will see in Anne Frank’s case described below. 
                                                         
   Human life is governed by the law of karma (This is the specialty of human life). In between the predestined life events, there is much time to perform good and bad karmas as per the universal law of free will, just the in the school pupils are given enough time to study before an examination. 

                                                          
   The future course of the soul’s life is determined by the type of actions that the person performs. Human life is so precious that in this life a soul can exercise the option to make efforts to get rid of the endless cycles of births and deaths to achieve liberation or an eternal life full of bliss.


REINCARNATION OF ANNE FRANK AS BARBRO KARLÉN

                                         (1945)                                    (1954)
REINCARNATION OF ANNE FRANK AS BARBRO KARLÉN

ANNE  FRANK

   Anne Frank, the writer of the world-famous book The Diary of Anne Frank died at the tender age of sixteen in the Nazi concentration camp at Bergen Belsen, Amsterdam. It is the second most popular book in the world after the Bible.

   In June 1942, Anne, with her family, was forced to hide in a concealed place to protect them from the Nazi prosecutions. Anne had an aptitude for writing from her childhood. In those times of uncertainty, with a sword hanging over their heads all the time, Anne regularly kept an account of the events, her girlish sentiments and her aspirations in the backdrop of all this scenario. She wrote that she wanted to become a journalist…….. and that, she wants to go on living even after death………! She also wrote that she won’t allow anyone to read her diary………!!


   News of Frank's hide-out somehow leaked and their place was raided by the German Police in August 1944. The family was arrested and then deported to Nazi concentration camps. In a series of brutal persecutions and epidemics of diseases that followed, Anne, her mother and her sister met their death.


   Anne’s father survived the devastation. A few months after the war, Otto returns to Amsterdam. There he finds Anne’s diary. Moved by her frequent wish to become a writer, he published that diary in June 1947.
The probable period of Anne’s death is around early 1945.


   "I have derived much encouragement from the diary of Anne Frank. Her struggle against Nazism is similar to my struggle against apartheid". 

                                                                                                 - Nelson Mandela

BARBRO  KARLÉN

   Barbro Karlén, the author of nine books, was born in Sweden in 1954. Her first book, The Man on Earth was a poetry book, published when she was just 12.

   As she started to grow up, she kept on questioning everybody why they called her Barbro when her real name was Anne Frank. She couldn’t understand who sent her to this house of unreal custodians who claim to be her real parents. She used to have visions of her previous life in her dreams.


   Annoyed and confused, Barbro’s parents take her to a psychiatrist when she was six. The psychiatrist declared that there was nothing wrong with Barbro. When Barbro realized that nobody was interested in her narratives and urgings, she became withdrawn, but she didn’t stop asking questions of birth, death and past life.


   When Barbro came in contact with the fascinating world of books in her school, she was stunned to know that Anne Frank was a real person!


   At the age of ten, Barbro’s family happened to visit Amsterdam when they were on a trip to Europe. Barbro’s parents were bewildered when she refused to take a cab and instead, took her parents to Anne Frank’s house with an accurate description of the landmarks, sign-posts, trees and roads etc! When she entered the house, she was so overwhelmed by the memories of her past life that she started trembling. She accurately described the changes which had taken place in and around the house over the past few years. 


   Everyone was stupefied and watched dumbfounded as Anne commented on the minute details of the place.

   The word about Barbro’s story of reincarnation reached Anne Frank’s cousin, Buddy Elias, who was the acting president of Anne Frank’s Foundation. He invited Barbro for dinner. The moment he saw her, both fell in each other’s arms and cried. Buddy, who never believed in reincarnation of a soul, says, “It is unbelievable. Anne and Barbro are not two, but a single soul.”

   Stephen Sakellarios, who himself is Matthew Franklin Whittier incarnate of the 1800’s, has conducted extensive research on 'past life and reincarnation' for the last 40 years. He interviewed Barbro Karlén a few years back. I am very thankful to Stephen Sakellarios when he sent me the link to this interview with Barbo Karlén when he came across the above article.

   ➠ Barbro Karlén's interview by Stephen Sakellarios

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"Lord, I don’t say that please do not give me hardships. I pray to you to give me enough strength to bear those hardships. "
– Rabindranath Tagore