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Flora Teckie A Bahá’í Perspective —
WE often wonder what happens to our loved ones after their death. According to the Bahá’í Writings, “When the body dies the soul lives on” and “as at the time of death, the real and eternal self of man, his soul, abandons its physical garment”.
Our lives start at conception, when the soul associates itself with the embryo. After its association with the body draws to a close, the soul will continue to progress in an eternal journey towards perfection.
Bahá’u’lláh wrote, “It will manifest the signs of God and His attributes, and will reveal His loving kindness and bounty”. The soul and the body which together form a human being come from different origins and their relationship lasts only for the span of our mortal life.
When this relationship ceases the body goes to the world of dust, where it had originally come from, and the soul goes to its origin, which is the spiritual worlds of God. When the soul is freed from ties with the physical body and the surrounding physical world it begins its progress through the spiritual world.
“The nature of that spiritual world is essentially different and superior to our earthly life here,” say the Bahá’í Writings which also give this clear example: “The relation of this life to the next life being like the child in the womb; it develops eyes, ears, hands, feet, tongue, and yet it has nothing to see or hear, it cannot walk or grasp things or speak; all these faculties it is developing for this world. If you tried to explain to an embryo what this world is like it would never understand – but it understands when it is born, and its faculties can be used. So we cannot picture our state in the next world. All we know is that our consciousness, our personality, endures in some new state, and that, that world is as much better than this one as this one is better than the dark womb of our mother was.”
The soul grows and develops through the individual’s relationship with God, as mediated by His Messengers. The relationship is fostered through prayer, knowledge of the Scriptures revealed by these Divine Teachers, love for God, moral self-discipline, and service to humanity.
The condition of the soul after death depends upon the extent to which it has acquired divine virtues in this life. In the same way as in mother’s womb the child develops eyes and ears, lungs and limbs in preparation for life in this world, while we are in this world we need to prepare for the next world.
To enjoy life on this earth fully the child needs to develop its limbs before it is born. To be close to God and happy in the next world we need to acquire spiritual qualities while we are in this world. It would greatly help if, as stated in the Bahá’í Scriptures, we bring ourselves to account each day before we are judged, because death comes unexpected, and we shall be asked to give account for our deeds.
Cultivation of life’s spiritual side has several benefits. First, the individual increasingly develops those innate qualities that lie at the foundation of human happiness and social progress.
Such qualities include faith, courage, love, compassion, trustworthiness and humility. As these qualities are increasingly manifest, not only the individual, but also society as a whole advances.
Describing the characteristics of the soul after death, the Bahá’í Writings further state that, “The soul retains its individuality and consciousness after death, and is able to commune with other souls. This communion, however, is purely spiritual in character, and is conditioned upon the disinterested and selfless love of the individuals for each other.”
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Tinaye Agere
Online Reporter