________________
CHAPTER 7
DEATH AND BEYOND
Death is an important event in every person's life. Is death complete or is it merely a transitional experience? Who can know for sure? In these stories, it is assumed that death is at least transitional and for some persons, problematic, since they are caught between this world and other dimensions of reality.
Guruji taught that if you are attached to the things and experiences of this world, then life, death, and whatever is beyond, will be problematic. Of course, it is unlikely that any form of existence or consciousness in a bodily form, can be completely problem free except for the enlightened ones.
Death is alluded to in many of Guruji's stories. In the two that follow, ghostly yogis and others appear to be stuck in places against their own will. Since Jainism teaches the possibility of final liberation or moksa, from this world of suffering, ghosts do not appear in a favorable light here.
What do you think is the truth about ghosts, death, and the possibility of moksa? Are these fictions or real experiences that humans can have? Guruji himself never completely separated fiction from experience.
119
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
