FROM THE WRITINGS OF H. P. BLAVATSKY AND HER TEACHERS

“At the solemn moment of death every man, even when death is sudden, sees the whole of his past life marshalled before him, in its minutest details. For one short instant the personal becomes one with the individual and all-knowing Ego. But this instant is enough to show to him the whole chain of causes which have been at work during his life. He sees and now understands himself as he is, unadorned by flattery or self-deception. He reads his life, remaining as a spectator looking down into the arena he is quitting; he feels and knows the justice of all the suffering that has overtaken him.

“Does this happen to everyone? Without any exception. Very good and holy men see, we are taught, not only the life they are leaving, but even several preceding lives in which were produced the causes that made them what they were in the life just closing. They recognise the law of Karma in all its majesty and justice. . . . the man at the moment of death has a retrospective insight into the life he has led, . . .” (H. P. Blavatsky, “The Key to Theosophy” p. 162-163)

“That feeling which is the strongest in us at that supreme hour; when, as in a dream, the events of a long life, to their minutest details, are marshalled in the greatest order in a few seconds in our vision, — that feeling will become the fashioner of our bliss or woe, the life-principle of our future existence. . . . That vision takes place when a person is already proclaimed dead. The brain is the last organ that dies. . . .

“The experience of dying men — by drowning and other accidents — brought back to life [i.e. Near Death Experiences, of which there were seemingly far less prior to the 20th century, the increase being due to major medical developments being able to revive more people than ever from the point of death], has corroborated our doctrine in almost every case. Such thoughts are involuntary and we have no more control over them than we would over the eye’s retina to prevent it perceiving that colour which affects it most. At the last moment, the whole life is reflected in our memory and emerges from all the forgotten nooks and corners picture after picture, one event after the other. The dying brain dislodges memory with a strong supreme impulse, and memory restores faithfully every impression entrusted to it during the period of the brain’s activity. That impression and thought which was the strongest naturally becomes the most vivid and survives so to say all the rest which now vanish and disappear for ever, to reappear but in Devachan [i.e. the temporary and self-created “Heaven” state, a condition of consciousness enjoyed by good and loving individuals between Earth lives]. No man dies insane or unconscious — as some physiologists assert. Even a madman, or one in a fit of delirium tremens will have his instant of perfect lucidity at the moment of death, though unable to say so to those present. The man may often appear dead. Yet from the last pulsation, from and between the last throbbing of his heart and the moment when the last spark of animal heat leaves the body — the brain thinks and the Ego lives over in those few brief seconds his whole life over again. Speak in whispers, ye, who assist at a death-bed and find yourselves in the solemn presence of Death. Especially have you to keep quiet just after Death has laid her clammy hand upon the body. Speak in whispers, I say, lest you disturb the quiet ripple of thought, and hinder the busy work of the Past casting on its reflection upon the Veil of the Future.” (Master K.H., “The Mahatma Letters” p. 127-128, 170-171)

“We create ourselves our devachan [see explanatory note in preceding quote] as our Avitchi [i.e. an ultimately temporary hellish state experienced by some after death; the word also has a greater significance] while yet on earth, and mostly during the latter days and even moments of our intellectual, sentient lives.” (Master K.H., “The Mahatma Letters” p. 127)

“Thus any one of the thousand little daily events, and accidents of a long life would seem capable of being recalled to the flickering consciousness, at the supreme moment of dissolution. A long life, perhaps, lived over again in the space of one short second!

“. . . that last flash of memory that displayed before him, as in a retrospective panorama, all his life, . . . did not emanate from his physical brain alone, but rather from his spiritual memory, that of the Higher Ego (Manas or the re-incarnating individuality). . . . The EGO is almost omniscient in its immortal nature. . . . Occultism . . . traces all such remembrances to the thought-power of the individual, instead of to that of the personal (lower) Ego. . . . That which the public in general calls “soul,” we speak of as the “reincarnating Ego.”

“The fact is that the human brain is simply the canal between two planes – the psycho-spiritual and the material – through which every abstract and metaphysical idea filters from the Manasic down to the lower human consciousness. . . . Thus while the records of even important events are often obliterated from our memory, not the most trifling action of our lives can disappear from the “Soul’s” memory, because it is no MEMORY for it, but an ever present reality on the plane which lies outside our conceptions of space and time. “Man is the measure of all things,” said Aristotle; and surely he did not mean by man, the form of flesh, bones and muscles! . . .

“Yet, while physical memory in a healthy living man is often obscured, one fact crowding out another weaker one, at the moment of the great change that man calls death – that which we call “memory” seems to return to us in all its vigour and freshness.

“May this not be due as just said, simply to the fact that, for a few seconds at least, our two memories (or rather the two states, the highest and the lowest state, of consciousness) blend together, thus forming one, and that the dying being finds himself on a plane wherein there is neither past nor future, but all is one present? Memory, as we all know, is strongest with regard to its early associations, then when the future man is only a child, and more of a soul than of a body; and if memory is a part of our Soul, then, as Thackeray has somewhere said, it must be of necessity eternal. Scientists deny this; we, Theosophists, affirm that it is so.” (H. P. Blavatsky, “Memory in The Dying”)

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FROM THE MAHAYANA BUDDHIST SUTRAS

“Upon dying, one’s consciousness replays clearly from memory all the actions one has done throughout one’s life. At this time, both body and mind are under stress.” (Mahayana Sutra of Consciousness Revealed)

“At the moment of death, before the warmth has left the body, all the good and evil deeds of one’s life suddenly appear to one’s consciousness.” (Shurangama Sutra)

“When a person is going to die and faces the greatest of sorrows, the relatives gather around, weep, and are lost in sorrow. The person himself is in fear and knows of no help. He has his five sense-organs, but the sense-function does not work. His limbs shake and he indeed cannot maintain his own body. The body is empty and cold, and warmth is about to depart. He sees before his own eyes all the karmic results of what he has done.” (Mahaparinirvana Sutra)

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In the past few years, scientific research has repeatedly confirmed those words of the Master Koot Hoomi, written in the 1880s – “At that supreme hour . . . as in a dream, the events of a long life, to their minutest details, are marshalled in the greatest order in a few seconds in our vision, . . . That vision takes place when a person is already proclaimed dead. The brain is the last organ that dies.” – and some contemporary news reports and investigative articles about this include:

The new science of death: ‘There’s something happening in the brain that makes no sense’ – from The Guardian, 2024 (includes a scientist’s assertion that “I think in 50 or 100 years time we will have discovered the entity that is consciousness. It will be taken for granted that it wasn’t produced by the brain, and it doesn’t die when you die.”)

First-ever recording of a dying human brain shows waves similar to memory flashbacks – from the University of Louisville School of Medicine

Burst of brain activity during dying could explain life passing before your eyes – New study hints at how consciousness can continue after the heart stops – from the journal “Science,” 2023 (includes the finding that “Although death has historically been medically defined as the moment when the heart irreversibly stops beating, recent studies have suggested brain activity in many animals and humans can continue for seconds to hours.”)

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How awful it must be to vividly and clearly see and realise – with greater significance and awareness than ever – all of one’s wasted moments and neglected opportunities for spiritual progress, when one has become powerless to do anything about it due to being right on the verge of death! How heartbreaking it must be to see the full weight and karmic resonance of all those moments where one decided to choose hatred instead of lovingkindness, bitter resentment instead of forgiveness, cold-hearted passivity instead of compassion, and unrestrained sensual indulgence instead of wholesome self-control, self-purification, and self-mastery! Do not let your “life review” be a traumatic experience; this very moment you have the opportunity to earnestly begin the needed transformations, difficult though they may be. Any of us may be dead by the end of today. None of us know when the hour will strike. Do not waste this moment!

~ BlavatskyTheosophy.com ~

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