The Atma Jyoti Blog

Q: How much does the afterlife concern a yogi?

To a yogi, where we go after physical incarnation–which happens many times–is only symptomatic. Where we end up after death (or within this life, since we believe in the law of karma) is just an indication of our interior condition, an indication of our inner status–the development of the consciousness of the individual.

Not only is the material universe evolving, the conscious entities within the universe are evolving as well. To the yogi, salvation is the attainment of perfection through evolution. It is not being “forgiven our sins,” or being classified by God as one of His “chosen.” Rather it is making the grade and graduating from this earth-plane school, having learned the necessary lessons–not intellectually, but through our own evolution beyond humanity, our ultimate goal being divinity.

Having used the expressions “school” and “graduate” I should explain that karma and reincarnation are fundamental realities for the yogi, providing the context in which he lives and acts. They are absolutes. Karma is the absolute law that everything we do must have a reaction–not as a reward or punishment, but for learning. Since we are so slow to learn, and life is so short, it is therefore necessary for us to keep returning to the school of earthly birth for many terms, many lifetimes, until we do learn. This kind of learning is not merely intellectual–in fact hardly so at all–but is a matter of evolving the consciousness to its full potential in the human status. Then we can pass on to the higher worlds and start evolving through and beyond those as well, until our innate divinity is totally revealed.

Further reading:

• The Process of Reincarnation
• The Great Benefit of Looking Toward Life’s End
• Does Hell Exist, and Why?