Jainism Eternal and Universal Path for Enlightenment

Author(s): Narendra Bhandari
Publisher: Research Institute of Scientific Secrets from Indian Oriental Scriptures Ahmedabad

Page 115

Jainism : The Eternal and Universal path for Enlightenment
115
gets the feeling as if he is being swept by a large water body like an ocean or river. Vision becomes hazy and swirling wisps of smoke appear. The next is the turn of the fire element drawing in to air element. Mouth and nose become dry and warmth sweeps from hands and feet towards heart. A steamy heat rises from the crown of the head. Breath is cold and one can not digest or drink anything. There is a memory loss and the dying person can not recognize even people who are known to him well. The mind, sound and sight become confused. One gets a feeling of being consumed by fire and the whole world is being subjected to a holocaust. Hallucinations of fire flies and red sparks become vivid. Thereafter the air element withdraws into consciousness. It becomes hard to breathe. Inbreaths become short and laboured and outbreaths become longer. Intellect dissolves and mind becomes bewildered. At this stage one is ready to fall in a coma. For the dying, a great wind sweeps the whole world. One sees a flame or a red glow. Just a sign of warmth remains at the heart. The consciousness rides on wind so at the time of death, the wind (with consciousness) has to leave the body through any of the openings of the body. The best is the fontanel, the Brahma Randhra in the crown of the head, which enables one to be reborn in a yoni where enlightenment is possible.
The medical or clinical death occurs when the Audrika (physical) and Vaikriya (multi-shape) body has disintegrated and a person is declared dead but at this point the inner death sequence of hraka (conscious), Tejas (energy) and Karman (causal) body begins and follows the sequence opposite to the sequence of conception.
According to scriptures, conception begins when parents sperm and ovum unite and our consciousness, impelled by sanchit karmas, is drawn in. During the development of fetus, our father's essence, a nucleus described as white and blissful rests in the Sahsrir Chakra and mother's essence, described as red and hot, rests in Sw+dhisthin Chakra. During death, the fathers essence from Sahsrir Chakra descends and the mothers essence from Swdhisthan Chakra rises towards heart and the mind starts dissolving. First, the memory of anger, desire etc stored in the mind dissolves and the uniting of the father's and mother's essence gives rise to a kind of total darkness. All thoughts of the mind such as ignorance and delusion disappear. At this stage consciousness or what the Tibetan Mahy'n Buddhists call "ground luminosity" (or mother luminosity) dawns. It essentially means true nature of everything. It's intense clear light”, not to be confused with visible light that we see with eyes, is something undescribable and can only be experienced in meditation. This true nature (e.g. Tripadi (origination, sustenance and destruction of all things, mentioned in Chapter