[Interviewer] Acharya Shree, are near-death experiences true or false?
More or less everyone has near-death experiences.
But for a few people near-death experiences are true.
Even though they are not in the real sense true.
Sometimes people are in accident, they almost die, sometimes they go into a coma.
When they
Somebody drowned in the water or there are many accidents that happen in life, or they simply die and they are declared dead.
And as soon as you take them to the funeral or to burn the dead body, they suddenly sit up.
And they tell you what really happened. And whatever they are telling, they are not telling a lie.
That's what their experience is. Let me tell you:
If HIndu dies and he wakes up in the funeral, he will have totally different experience than a Muslim.
Or than a Christian. He will experience their is a Dharmaraja. Dharmaraja is someone who takes care of your all...it's kind of accountant.
Takes care of all your account of karma. So Hindu will see that.
But Jain will have totally different experience. He will see an angel or he will see the king of the heaven, Indra.
And if a Christian, he might see Jesus or he might see an angel too.
But a Muslim never will see an angel. He might see Allah.
Or he might see Prophet Muhammad.
Or anybody else. So why they are experiencing different things?
Because they see what they believe. Hindus believe in Dharmaraja, they will see Dharmaraja.
Christians believe in Jesus, or angels, they will see angels or Jesus.
It has nothing to do with the reality.
Reality is totally different thing.
I can say it is a product of mind. It is an illusion.
But that illusion can be very true. In my hometown it happened.
A person died - a Hindu guy. And they took him in the funeral to burn his dead body.
And he suddenly sat up.
Everyone was amazed. They brought him home.
It just happened last year.
And the whole town is witness to what he said.
They asked, "Why did you come back?"
He said, "The Dharmaraja told me. Told his messengers that you brought the wrong person."
"Same name, but he lives in the other neighborhood. Bring that person". They asked, "What did you ask him?"
People were curious.
He said, "I asked him, 'When is my turn?'. He said, 'After 3 days'. And as soon as I am here a person has to die."
And the other person died, he had the same name but distant neighborhood.
Same town. People begin to believe.
Whatever he said it is true. And they wanted to make sure after 3 days what happened to this guy.
And after 3 days he was smiling, he was happy, he was eating whatever, he invited all of his relatives, friends.
And he died.
So now people believe that whatever he experienced it is true. Yes.
It is true because when person dies, soul is in that state, the mind is in that state of consciousness of that being that whatever you see it is better than a dream.
And many dreams can be true. That experience can be true.
The person in the real sense doesn't die. They just become fully unconscious.
And the doctor can declare him dead.
So these experiences in the reality, not true, they are false, they are product of the mind. They are like a dream.
But for that person it is real. So you have to understand, people in the real sense, person doesn't die.
Even person drowned in the water can stay couple of hours alive.
If the water is clear. So but in that meantime he can experience lot of different experiences he can go through.
So I will suggest to you near-death experiences, a person can learn a lot of things.
A person can maybe see his or her soul seperate from the body.
And that is the best experience they can have because then they can see that the soul can see without eyes.
Soul can hear without ears. Soul can taste without mouth. Soul can smell without nose.
Soul can touch without body. And it happens to the rare people.
That near-death experience, that is real, because now you can see your soul seperate from the body.
But near-death experience, what they see, they see only their kind of what they believe.
And that is a product of mind. That is false.
Even though it seems very true. Near-death experiences can happen different way too.
It can connect you to the previous life. It can connect you to the thousand lives earlier even, previous.
Like 1,000 lives ago you might connect suddenly.
Or in near-death experience a person might all of his or her ancestors.
And that is true for the person. Because in that state of being, he can meet all of his ancestors.
Fathers, forefathers, mothers, grandmothers, grand-grandmothers, all of that, he can see in that state of being.
According to Hindu mythology, that is called Pretaloka.
When person dies, he goes to that loka and he experiences that he meets everyone there. It is a special place.
To meet. So a person can also meet his or her own ancestors in that state of being.
It depends what kind of experience person is experiencing, happening.
So they can be false, and they can be real. It depends on the person.
If a person was a spiritual seeker, truth seeker, can be very very real and true experience.
For him or her. For others, it will be false product of mind.