DeMythifying Astral Projection13

The next blog, the last in the series on De-Mythifying Astral Travel, is actually an open-ended topic that has not seen a resolution. I crave your indulgence and time, for it is a much longer blog-article.

Myth 20: Astral projection doesn't prove life after death.

Truth: Well, on scientifically measured parameters, astral travel or projection or out of Body Experience neither proves nor disproves that there is life after death. Well, people who have experienced proper conscious OBEs even once start to strongly believe in life after death. Finding themselves outside their physical bodies and still functioning, still able to see, hear, touch, even smell and taste, still able to do everything and more, how can anyone deny that life goes on?

To learn more about what it is, let us look at what other people have experienced, and say about it .

Where does the soul go when you die? It’s a very short-sighted question, given that the premise is false. Imagine a discussion between a refrigerator and electricity. The refrigerator is plugged in and it’s doing its job, cooling food. Suddenly the plug is pulled and the refrigerator says to electricity, “Where do you go when the plug is pulled?” Electricity says, “What do you mean, ‘where did I go’? Where did you come from? You’re a little box that was just created in the last century; I’ve been around from the beginning of time and I’m everywhere. They created a box to hold me. You’ve contained me. You’ve confined me in your box and you’ve become a cooling agent.”

What Astral Travelers say

Many people have remembered some previous existences so they can attest to the reality of the life after death cycle. But then, there are others who do not remember anything. It’s only logical that they do not believe it to be true.

One traveller says: ‘ I know the Astral is real dimension from multiple investigations and experiments that I have been able to verify through checking locations of physical objects. However, for people who have not done anything like that they would probably find it hard to accept even believe in such higher dimensions.

Another Astral traveller says: ‘After hundreds of experiences I can honestly say that it's either all in my mind (as in daily physical life) or all equally real. Just the very nature of experiencing them begs the thought that questions the reality of your physical life. It isn't much different, you still see you still feel, etc. Just the nature of what you are aware of changes, but the awareness itself is the same in all states.’

In Dr. Andrew Newberg’s Teaching Co. course The Spiritual Brain, he cites the impact these experiences have on those who go through them: “People come away from a near-death experience with a radically altered set of beliefs about themselves, the meaning of life, relationships—everything. They no longer fear death and are more spiritual…one said that the experience was ‘bigger’ than religion, which was not sufficient to help encapsulate the NDE.”

The truth is that there are a multitude of higher components, complexities and existences as part of the universe. People can believe in this or that to their heart’s content but unless they actively look into and investigate such things any position they take is only going to be just another idea.

People want to rely on science to tell them what is real and what is not. However, science is based on observations in the physical world and therefore cannot study what is happening outside of it. The only vehicle that humanity has to access the Astral and spiritual experiences is ourselves. This is why spiritual knowledge and investigations are always referred to as personal quests.

Out-of-Body Experiences

The phenomenon known as an out-of-body experience (OBE) may be a spontaneous occurrence or it could be something the individual wills. Often, it was first triggered by a Neear Death Experience (NDE), but not always.

While this is not a direct indicator of survival of death, it does provide evidence that humans consist of something other than a body: a “spirit” that can separate from it under certain conditions while the body remains alive.

Such experiences have been recorded around the world throughout history, often by shamans who claim to have gone into the “spirit world” to receive guidance. In a study of 70 non-Western groups by D. Shiels for the Journal of Psychical Research in 1978, the core experiences of being able to leave the body voluntarily were very similar, despite major cultural differences.

Scott Rogo, the highly-regarded parapsychologist, had a  hard-headed approach to the field. He was always skeptical about easy explanations for so-called paranormal phenomena. His first book was published at 19 and by the time of his death at 40, he had written 29 others.

One of these was Leaving the Body: A Complete Guide to Astral Projection (OBEs). In addition to recounting many credible experiences of people able to describe distant events as they hovered over them, Rogo had lots of personal knowledge. He had trained himself to leave his body and once while out of town, returned in spirit to his home to find his roommate had someone visiting. He confirmed this when he came back from the trip.

Jerry Gross, a leader in the field of out-of-body explorations, began having spontaneous out-of-body experiences in early childhood. As he grew older, he developed ways to court these experiences, to invite them with greater frequency. So powerful was their impact on his life that he founded Search and Prove, an organization dedicated to bringing the out-of-body experience to mass consciousness. Jerry has proven conclusively, under scientifically controlled conditions that he has been able to astral project himself to a distant location, observe a situation, move an object, and then return to his body with total recall of these events. Jerry teaches that astral projection is a beautiful, fulfilling, enlightening experience that anyone can learn. He believes the out-of-body experience allows all of us to leave our cumbersome bodies and travel in the spirit world ... our true home. Jerry feels that the ability to leave the body is "one of the gifts we are all given at birth, but most of us have forgotten about." 

It is hard not to, with all this background, go back to the roots of our own spiritual heritage in India. Our spiritual teachings have always told us that the body is only a vehicle for the soul or atman.

The Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Text 20, says:

na jayate mriyate va kadacin nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah

ajo nityah sasvato 'yam purano na hanyate hanyamane sarire

For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.

In the Katha Upanisad (Katha 1.2.18), also we find a similar passage which reads:

na jayate mriyate va vipascin nayam kutascin na vibhuva kascit

ajo nityah sasvato 'yam purano na hanyate hanyamane sarire.

The meaning of this verse is the same as in the Bhagavad-gita.

The question ‘Is there life after death?’, thus seems to get subsumed in much larger questions of existence and spirituality, that need much in-depth study.

Meanwhile, I invite you to look forward to the next segment of The Mystic Journey blogs starting next week.