Domain of Death Explained By Mirra Alfassa

The below commentary extracted from the book 'The Mother,Question and Answers 1954',were Mirra Alfassa answering her disciples,on various mystical question.

10th March 1954

Q : “Domain of death” means what?

A: Every religion has spoken about it differently. The Greeks hadtheir “Elysium”, one crossed over in a “boat”. There are all theparadises, all the hells.

No, not religions

Generally, “domain of death” is the name given to a certainregion of the most material vital into which one is projected atthe moment one leaves one’s body. The part—how to put it?—of one’s life that’s usually the most conscious is projected thereat the moment of death. Well, that region, that material vitalworld is very dark, it is full of adverse formations having desiresat their centre or even adverse wills, and these are very, veryelemental entities which have a very fragmentary life and are likevampires, in the sense that they feed on all that is thrown outfrom human beings. And so, at that moment, from the shock ofdeath—for very few die without a shock, go out consciously, infull knowledge of the thing, there are not many such—usuallyit is an accident: a last accident; well, at that shock of death,those entities rush in upon this, upon this vitality that goesout, and feed upon it. So long as a person is alive, they cannottouch him. For, you have all had the experience of a nightmarein which, when the situation becomes really very dangerous,suddenly you wake up—you come back into your body, forthe body is your protection. In the physical they can do nothingto you but when you are completely outside the physical (andeven this link I spoke about serves as a protection to a certainextent when you go out), but if the links are broken and youare entirely without a body, well, unless you take advantage ofspecial circumstances... as for instance when a person is muchloved by others who are yet alive; if at that moment these peoplewho love him concentrate their thought and love on the departedone, he finds a refuge therein, and this protects him completelyagainst those entities; but one who passes away without anyone’shaving a special attachment for him, either because heis surrounded by people he has harmed and who do not lovehim or by people who are in a terribly unconscious state—heis like a prey delivered to these forces. And that indeed is anexperience that’s difficult to bear. They cannot touch anything else except what belongs to their own domain, that is, the mostmaterial vital—the higher vital escapes them altogether, theycan do nothing there. And so, this material vital goes out butthe other remains; and this higher vital is attacked by otherdangers, simply that. And if it also disappears, themind remains.But behind all this is the psychic being which nothing can touch,which is above all possible attacks, and it indeed is free to gowhere it wants. Usually—unless it has a special opportunityand has reached a state of complete development—it goes torest in the psychic worlds. There it enters into a kind of beatificcontemplation in which it remains, and this is an assimilationof all its experiences, and when it has finished assimilating themand resting, well, it starts preparing to come down again fora new life. That being nothing can touch. But so very few areconscious of their psychic that one can hardly say that it is suchand such a person whom one has known, for people as we knowthem are made of what?—of all their physical experiences, alltheir vital reactions, all their mental formations—that is, thebody, the character, the thought—and with these we have ahuman being! Well, all that cannot persist after death unless itis organised and centralised around the psychic being and tothe extent it is perfectly unified with the psychic. Otherwise allthis mixture is dissolved and the psychic being alone remains,at times just as a flame, at times as a completely consciousbeing.This of course is the general law. Now there are bridges,as it were, “protected passages” which have been built in thevital world in order to cross over all these dangers. There areatmospheres which receive people leaving their body, give themshelter, give them protection. There are all kinds of other conditions;what I have told you just now is the normal state of thosewho die, of ordinary human beings, but as soon as we come toa little higher type of humanity, all these conditions change. Thegeneral law remains unless there is a special higher developmentwithin the being. There are people with so total a cohesion in their being that they no longer depend upon the body—not atall—whether it be there or not there.But all this development does not come about just like that,simply by thinking about it from time to time, desiring it stillless often and forgetting it most of the time—no, it is not likethat that it can happen. These are disciplines, I may say, at leastas arduous as the strictest spiritual disciplines.... Essentially it isfor this that we are on the earth. Truly speaking, human beingswere made for this purpose, to do that work, and it is perhapsbecause they refuse to do it that there is so much chaos in theworld. If they did it truly, things would go much better.

Yourself

Oh, weary heart, laden with earth's weight and care,

Oh, feet, stumbling on the way, bleeding and bare,

Oh, arms outstretched, and hands upheld in prayer,

Oh, back, which so oft has felt the lash and rod,

Oh, soul, which cries aloud for the living God,

Oh, life, struggling to free itself from the clod;

Know this: there is no power from without,

Yourself must answer every fear and meet all doubt

With some divine, indwelling power

Which you yourself, upon yourself, shall shower;

And giving, take, and taking, give

Unto that life which you, yourself, shall live.

-Earnest Holmes

Seven

Behold your Masters,

Behold your Life.

Defeat,the Seven Wrathful Deities below,

Surrender,to the Seven Peaceful Deities above.

Detach,from the Seven Deadly Sins inside,

Seek,the Seven Archangels around.

Vanquish,the Seven realms below,

Awake,in to the Seven Realms above.

And Evolve,through the Seven Ages to come.

To merge in the ocean of wonders,

To become the Divine.

-Vishanth V Panakkal

The Warrior of Light

Each one of us,is a part of an epic journey,our own heroic journey to eternity.Marching-on,confronting,slaying and defeating,demons and monsters.Falls,crawls and finally stands-up to march again.With the sword made of knowledge and the shield carved in fearlessness,we the 'seekers of light' voyages across the universes after universes,to become the 'Eternal Warrior of the beauty and light,So to become the watchful protector and an idle servant to the ever eternal TRUTH.

-Vishanth V Panakkal

Symbols : Good and Evil

The Tai Chi (Yin Yang) This ancient Eastern symbol represents balance between the opposing forces necessary to produce the world of forms. Each carries within it the seed of the other. Male and female, right and left, and good and evil, depend on their opposites for their own expression.

Good and evil, antagonistic forces at large in the universe, are characteristically represented by irreconcilable opposites - beauty versus ugliness, courage versus cowardice, and so on. In Christian symbolism, few tread the straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life, the majority following the broad road to damnation. Good and evil are embodied in the Holy Trinity and Satan, the father of lies (who is sometimes shown with three faces as a way of making the comparison between the two more explicit). In most cultures, the long-term rewards of goodness are symbolized as treasures worth pursuing, while the punishments attendant upon evil are truly horrifying. The Eastern idea of karma is less final in its judgment, allowing unlimited opportunities for redemption. Every human action is a cause that carries an equivalent effect, in this life, in the after-life, or in another incarnation in this world. There is no escaping this law, as it is as much a part of the natural order as old age or gravity.

However, many of the world's great esoteric traditions reject the idea of good and evil as opposites and teach that every action contains elements of both. For example, by cultivating the land a person might disturb the balance of nature, or by saving a life might preserve someone who will go on to destroy others. Conversely, a doctor might inflict pain to treat a wound, or a soldier take one life in order to save hundreds. Everyday existence depends upon the death of plants and animals, without which there can be no life. Thus, good and evil are not in conflict, and indeed depend on one another. This notion is clearly expressed in the Tai Chi symbol above.

The Archangel

Appearing primarily in Western religions, archangels represent aspects of the divine energy. In Christianity, the archangels Michael, Raphael, Uriel and Gabriel carry a sword, a pilgrim's staff, a book and a lily respectively, symbolizing divine judgment, protection, wisdom and mercy.

The Demon

The Greek word daimon (later daemon) originally meant god, before degenerating to represent first a nature spirit, and then an imp of hell. The demon now symbolizes an active force for evil, which can corrupt human behaviour in the service of its master, Satan.

The Monk

Followers of the monastic life symbolize piety, austerity and withdrawal from the world into a life dedicated to spiritual progress. The monk also stands for healing (hospital care was first offered in monasteries), refuge for travelers, scholarship and disciplined work.

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Symbols : Haloes,Masks and Shadows

The Mask: Masks suggest concealment or transformation. They were used to put the wearer in closer touch with deities, spirits and the instinctual wisdom of animals. In the East, the mask is taken as a symbol of the great illusion of existence: the world itself is Maya,the mask of God. In Greek theater and in Japanese Noh plays, masks signal the individual qualities of the characters concerned, and allow the audience to identify more closely with them by depersonalizing the actors.

The halo or nimbus is best known from its appearances in Christian iconography from the 2nd century onward, but was used as a sign of divinity or sainthood much earlier, featuring in ancient Greek and Eastern art. It may represent the aura, the field of energy believed to surround the human body; or it may stand for the sun, and therefore for the divine radiance emanating from the individual. 

Negatively related to the halo is the shadow, the aspect of mankind that interrupts the flow of light from heaven to earth. It is a symbol of our material nature, of the density of form as opposed to the transparency of spirit. The mask can stand for the artificial, public face that conceals a person's true nature - that is, for role rather than reality. However, in shamanism and Tibetan Buddhism, it is believed that the mask can help an individual to go beyond role and relinquish the ego, allowing the spirits of helpful animals or even gods to enter and work through him or her. 

The Shadow

The shadow is the sign of materiality, and it was thought that spirits could be recognized by their lack of a shadow. In Jungian terms, the shadow is the repressed or imperfectly acknowledged part of oneself.

The Halo

 A symbol of divine radiance, the wisdom of the gods and the emanation of life-force from the head. In Christian art, the halo is usually round, and white or golden in colour. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Christ's halo often has a cross within it. 

Variation on the Halo

In some traditions, a square or hexagonal halo indicates that the "wearer" is still alive, while a round halo denotes a dead saint. The halo of God the Father is often triangular or diamond-shaped. 

The Mandrola

The oval mandorla (the Italian word for "almond") is a variant of the halo that surrounds the whole body of a holy person. It symbolizes power as well as spirituality and often appears around the body of Christ in paintings depicting the Ascension. 

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