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As your eyesight fades, you lose the peripheral areas first, he points out. “He believes the ‘tunnel’ and the ‘light’ that NDE-ers so frequently describe can be easily explained. Some time ago, Time carried an adaptation from Lisa Miller’s book ‘Visions of Heaven: A Journey Through the Afterlife’ in which she quoted Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist and professor at Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital who has made his reputation studying the brain scans of religious people-nuns and monks-who have ecstatic experiences as they meditate. When it comes to experiences similar to those of my grandmother and other near death experiences or NDEs, passing through a tunnel and seeing a bright light are often recounted. I’ve written earlier about my paternal grandmother who ‘died’ but came back before she could be cremated and narrated how she had to cross a river and other gripping details. It is also mentioned that only the sinful souls come via the southern gate.” Furthermore, while the righteous see it filled with nectar-like water, the sinful see it filled with blood… According to the Garuda Purana, this river falls on the path leading to the Southern Gate of the city of Yama. Wikipedia says that “Vaitarna or Vaitarani river… lies between the earth and the infernal Naraka, the realm of Yama, Hindu god of death and is believed to purify one’s sins. Those with good karma could cross it easily, otherwise they would sink into it. In India, the 47th chapter of the Preta Khanda in the Garuda Purana describes the Vaitarni River which must be crossed by the souls of the dead. The river crossing could only be made in a ferryboat rowed by an old, grizzled boatman named Charon and he in turn would only take a soul if proper funeral rites for the body had been performed on earth.
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In Greek mythology, the Styx river had to be crossed to reach the other world. Many families also believe the river crossing erases or considerably reduces the soul’s memories of its earthly existence and dissolves its earthly ‘personality’, enabling an easier transition to a true spirit form. In India, in many families a ‘diya’ is kept lit for the departed soul for 40 days and it is believed that on the 40th day, the soul crosses the river that separates the world of the living and the world of the dead and the soul’s journey to the other world will henceforth be smoother.
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The motif of the 40th Day is ‘we said good bye to you, no longer come to us, we will come to you.’ After the 40th Day the living can no longer grieve about the departed, they must move on with their lives.” “In Russian tradition, bread and a glass of water is put in the Icon Corner in the house of the departed… It is common to make up the bed for the departed during the 40-day period, donating the bedding to poor on the 40th Day…In some traditions all night vigils with intense prayers are held on the night before the 40th Day. The soul also completes the journey through the Aerial toll house finally leaving this world. For instance, according to Wikipedia, “It is believed that the soul of the departed remains wandering on Earth during the 40-day period, coming back home, visiting places the departed has lived in as well as their fresh grave. As with much else, their significance of course, varies from community to community, religion to religion, family to family. It is fascinating to observe that several common elements, such as 40 days, the crossing of a river, the existence of two worlds-usually Hell and Heaven, the existence of ‘gates’ as entry points to these worlds, etc, link ancient times to the present and feature in almost all religions and community beliefs.
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Again, depending on the belief, the duration of the soul’s astral journey to the other world is contingent upon the kind of soul it is and can range upto a year after death-if one doesn’t become ghost. Depending on the belief, the soul’s journey to the other world begins immediately after death, or three, four days or seven, eleven, twelve or thirteen days or forty days after death. The beliefs-mythological, religious, community and individual-all vary on this, as do the beliefs on when after death this all important journey begins for the soul.