Q: I want to ask you if you know how one can communicate with family members that have passed on, and if you can offer any pointers in that direction.
It is very important–necessary, actually–that after a certain time in earthly incarnation the human being leaves the body and spends time in an astral world so the previous life experiences can be assimilated into the individual’s psyche.
And equally important is the rest and rejuvenation of the person’s astral and causal bodies so in the next life the person will be born in an appropriate body that will be charged with the life force needed for that life. This vital cycle must go on uninterruptedly after death for the sake of what we might call “reincarnational health.”
Two things interrupt and interfere with that needed preparation for a next life.
- Being drawn back from the astral world into this world (though in an astral body) and focused on the past life in its various aspects that the evolving individual needs to leave behind and move forward and prepare for the next life. It is like a level in school. When it is over, it is over and should be moved beyond.
Contact by the departed with loved ones after death can cause anguish at seeing their sorrow over the departed’s absence, and can even in time cause them to be earthbound and unable to go back into the astral world where they should be. As a result they can become wandering spirits, tormented by their inability to communicate with “the living.” - The desire to be with and able to communicate with embodied people can cause them to reincarnate too soon without have gotten the rest and regeneration their subtle bodies needed. As a result in the next life they will be weak in health and susceptible to many physical problems and ailments.
The way things are
The universe is a school which has rules, and those who ignore or break the rules run into difficulties. They are not punished, they just undergo the consequences of not following that which is designed for their continued welfare and happiness in whatever world they may be.
When loved ones leave this world they can experience real distress and mental anguish at the sorrow of those they leave behind, since for a short while they can feel the emotions of the mourners. Therefore those who love them should do their best not to sink into grief, but should rather think of the departed with love and appreciation and pray deeply for the progress of that dear one’s soul. Prayers for the departed are effective means to uplift and free the departed to prepare for the subsequent life.
There is nothing wrong in vividly remembering those who have left the earth plane, but always with love and blessing and prayers for their continued progress. Their absence is sad for us, but they have not died, just gone to another dimension. But a selfish desire to pull them back and be with them as before death is very harmful to us and them.
Freedom to grow is needed in every world in which we may be born and evolve. We must let them go. They belong to God and to the cosmos. Jerry Jampolsky was right: Love is Letting Go.
Further Reading:
To an Indian friend who had to give up a deep personal attachment and was profoundly grieved.
Anandamayi Ma
Q:
This site is inspired by and dedicated to Paramhansa Yogananda, who introduced yoga meditation and the goal of self realization to the American people, and whose writings reveal the underlying unity of original Christianity and original Yoga.
