There is no escape from death for anyone. True peace lies in discovering the mystery of life & death, writes Sant Rajinder Singh

Alexander the Great had conquered a good part of the world during his lifetime and amassed tremendous wealth from the countries he had plundered, and yet the time came when he had to face death. He asked the doctors to extend his life, and they told him that it was impossible. He offered his doctors all his wealth if they would but help him live for a few minutes more. They told the ruler that life and death were not in their hands, and that no one could help him, not even for all the riches in the world. Alexander the Great then wondered of what use was all his conquest if he still had to die.

There is no escape from death for anyone. How, then, can we truly be peaceful when the sword of death hangs over our heads? Can anyone truly be peaceful when they know they must one day die? At some point in our lives we become restless to know the answers to the questions: Why are we here? What is our purpose in life? Is there God, and is there soul? Once these questions stir within us, we cannot rest until we find the answers. True peace lies in discovering the mystery of life and death.

One of the wonders of modem medicine is that we can revive a person who is clinically dead in certain cases. This technology has uncovered for doctors and scientists a wealth of information gained from those who were clinically dead for some moments before being brought back to life. What we have is a body of literature over the last twenty years on near-death experiences. This remarkable information reveals that millions of people experienced being separated from their body and experienced a realm beyond this world. They did not know of each other, nor did they hear of each other’s experiences, yet their accounts bear striking similarities.

Those who have had near-death experiences describe being able to float out of their body, past walls into waiting rooms or to relatives’ houses where they could hear conversations that were later confirmed as true. They were pulled through a tunnel in which they emerged into a world of Light more beautiful than any in this world, but it was not scorching. They met a Being of Light who embraced them with more love than anyone on earth had ever done before. Some experienced a life review in which they saw all the good and bad deeds they had done. The loving being helped them see that what is valued in the worlds beyond is how loving we were and how helping we were to others.

These people came back permeated with a tremendous peace. They then knew what lay beyond the world because they had experienced in life what awaits them after death. They realized that there is no such thing as death and that their soul lives on past the demise of their physical body. What greater peace could one ask for in life?

These near-death experiences parallel accounts given in the various scriptures about what lies beyond this world. The Bible speaks of heavenly realms. The Muslim scriptures describe paradise. The Buddhists describe various stages through which the soul passes at the time of death. The Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs speak of various planes of creation. The Masters of Sant Mat describe the inner journey that awaits us when we leave the physical world; they speak of the astral region, causal region, supracausal region, and the ultimate region of SachKhand.

Those who begin to ask questions about the mysteries of life and death may come across accounts of these inner regions. They may read the accounts of those who had near-death experiences. Somehow, though, just reading or listening to talks about the inner journey does not satisfy us. We want to experience these regions ourselves.

The great saints and mystics have spoken about a method of meditation in which we can see the Light of God and hear the Celestial Music of God. This method of meditation is a simple one that does not require any difficult postures or rigid positions. The method is one in which we sit comfortably in a relaxed state. We close our eyes and concentrate our attention at the single or third eye, a point located between and behind the two eyebrows. Then, we repeat the Name of God to help keep the mind engaged so that thoughts do not distract us from focusing within. Like all other gifts of God such as sunlight and air, this meditation technique is given freely. Today there are over millions of people practicing meditation on the inner Light and Sound. It is a great blessing that there is a technique available to us so that we can transcend body-consciousness and see for ourselves that there is no death. The process of meditation gives us experimental knowledge of the beyond. Through meditation we are able to separate our soul from the body and journey beyond. What greater peace is there? We have within us a number of layers of consciousness known as inner regions. We are now conscious of the physical region. We also have the astral region, the causal region, the supracausal region, and the purely spiritual realm of SachKhand. These realms are regions of more Light, more consciousness, and more bliss than we can ever dream of on earth.

Let us consider whether we wish to find answers to the mysteries of life and finally find eternal peace. If so, the offer to learn meditation is available. We have an opportunity to commit ourselves to a study in which we can have first-hand experience for ourselves of whether there is Light and Sound within us. By finding the Light and Sound, we can travel on that current back to God. Then, we will have solved the mystery of life and death and will know for certain that our soul lives after the demise of our body! By learning meditation, peace in the heart, peace in the soul, and peace in the world are possible.

The writer is a spiritual leader