When the learning process moves into the region of some paranormal phenomena, it helps us lead a life of order, dignity and love. It would also aid our passing on phenomenon - be it our own or of our dear ones - to be met with peace and insight.

Freedom from the Self-created Prison
People whose minds revolve within the customary cocoon of habitual thoughts remain unaware of the vastness of life and the immensity of consciousness. It is then inevitable that they are caught in the net of self-centered neurology, be it in the name of religion, politics or just ‘I want more money’ kind of down-to-earth desires. Those involvements are not entirely out of place; however, the poison sets in when they usurp all the hours of one’s waking consciousness. It is possible to have those involvements and yet move towards organizing one’s life based on the messages from the ‘Other Side’. This is because those messages can take us far beyond the narrow prison of thoughts within which most people spend most of their time. If you are reading this article with some interest, it means that you are not in that ‘most people’ group! You are an exception to that general rule because you have opened your gates for the ‘Otherness’ to come in.

In this article, we refer to the messages from near death experiences (NDEs) and actual death experiences. Here we bring in the death-bed visions that people have shortly before the actual death. They all belong to a set that deals with the vaster consciousness. Paying attention to them, we breathe a sigh of relief and gradually bring in order and dignity into our lives.

The Life Review
It is well known by now that most people who have NDE go through what is known as the Life Review. In it, the events of the life just finished are shown like a rapid movie placing the entity in the position of those who received his kind or harsh treatment.

The two NDEs of Dannion Brinkley [Ref. 1], among others, can be quite educative. The first one happened after a lightning struck a power-line and went to him through the telephone. Fourteen years later, he had the second experience during a heart attack.
Dannion says that he was very self-centered and not nice to people before his first NDE. During the life review of that NDE, he felt all the pain, anguish and frustration that he caused to the others. The message had made significant impact on him to the effect that he changed his ways in the years that followed and made people feel good in his presence. The remorse had brought in inward transformation. As a result, in the review of his second NDE, he got a chance to meet everyone he had ever helped and feel all the joy, love and kindness he shared with them. This shows that we have a chance to correct ourselves and get an “A+” before we graduate to the other side!

Dannion also remarks that as a result of those NDEs, he has come to the following conclusions:
“Who we really are” does not die! We not only do not die, but there is a systematic process by which we leave this world. Near death experiences and the process of dying are not what religious fundamentalists or authoritarian institutions say they are. The system of leaving this world is built on Love. And once we have experienced that Love, our lives are changed forever.”

Sectarian religious practices cannot obviously be part of this turn of mind characterized by unqualified love, because they encourage hatred amongst its adherents towards those of other religions. People have to re-evaluate their religious involvements to see if those involvements help them understand true religiosity or merely entrench them in feeding the ego, which is quite often the case.

Paying attention to the messages from yonder helps us understand the true purpose of life. We sense the fact that we have been There long before we came Here and that we will continue long after we leave our mortal coils. We would begin to understand that, as Dannion says, we are not poor, pitiful, stupid human beings but we are all great, awesome and mighty spiritual beings! Our values turn towards paying true attention to others and oneself. They are no longer based on ego satisfaction and security, but on soul-oriented application imbued with care and tenderness as if everyone and everything is like a child in difficulty. That kind of supportive attitude would spread an atmosphere of joy and enrich one’s own life.

A Real World Situation
The above mental disposition would make us feel abundantly for those who will be leaving this world soon. From our understanding of the messages of pre-death visions, we perceive our exalted responsibility of sitting and listening to those people. They may have guilty feelings, anxiety about the ending of life and similar disquieting thoughts. We can provide the psychological balm by talking sensibly to them – even make them laugh by dwelling on their fun times or anything for that matter. If they are eager to understand the afterlife, we may share with them our sincere feelings and perceptions along those lines. Their ending would certainly be so much the better. The tenderness we feel towards them on those occasions is based on the understanding of the visions and messages of paranormal phenomena, such as NDE and close-to-death encounters, and not on any belief systems.

Related matters are covered in the author’s website http://spirituality.yolasite.com
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Reference 1. Eliot J. Rosen. Ed. Experiencing The Soul. First Indian Edition by Motilal Banarasidass, New Delhi, 2006

Author's Bio: 

Gopalakrishnan T. Chandrasekaran was born in Madras (now Chennai), India. He received his doctoral degree in Coastal Engineering from the North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA in 1978; served on the research and teaching faculty of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, the North Carolina State University and the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait.

Aside from his professional involvements, he was interested in the philosophic issues of life for the last forty years or so. This led him to the messages of Ramana Maharishi, Lao Tzu, J Krishnamurthy, UG Krishnamurthy, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Eckhart Tolle, Marcus Aurelius and similar Masters. His book entitled “In Quest of the Deeper Self” is the outcome of his reflections on those and his wish to share the outcome with others.

Gopalakrishnan is a member of the International Association for Near Death Studies, Durham, NC, USA. He lives in Kodaikanal, a hill town in the southern part of India, with his wife Banumathy. Blog: http://nde-thedeeperself.blogspot.com