It was said of Prophet Mohammed that God wanted him to be an example of how to live peacefully among others like a simple man, to nurture a family, to work for a living and to accept equally the joys and sorrows of life.

But there are some who, while professing loyalty to Islam, are actually doing more harm than good. For instance, Osama bin Laden's brand of "Islamic jehad" is utterly un-Islamic and goes against all tenets of Islam. In Islam, taking an innocent life is equated to killing the whole of humanity.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Peace on Earth: Peace Is Life, War Is Death

The Jiva or the individual soul along with Pranas, the mind and the senses leaves his former body and obtains a new body. He takes with himself Avidya, virtues and vicious actions and the impressions left by his previous births.

The death and dying and the life after death has always fascinated man. This is an excerpt from the book What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Prana: Soul’s Journey After Death

The stoic philosopher Seneca wrote a short manifesto in AD 49 against dawdlers, procrastinators and other 'time-killers' that seems as fresh and relevant today as it was 2,000 years ago.

He began with what in those days was a common complaint: That we are cursed with too short a life span, which often seemed to end just when we were getting ready for it.

(See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Life and Death: Perfecting The Art of Killing Time

Ordinarily in most cases the soul is not willing to take birth in the lower Yonis (wombs) for the salient reason that it has done good works in the physical body as a human being in the past incarnation. No human being is out and out an incarnation of Lucifer. Certain good qualities and actions prompted by such good qualities always outweigh the bad qualities and their actions and the human being steps into another birth either low or high out of the same species for the future evolution of the soul.

The death and dying and the life after death has always fascinated man. This is an excerpt from the book What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Reincarnation: Reincarnation In Lower Births

The greatly effulgent assembly-hall of Vaisravana (Kubera) is one hundred Yojanas in length and seventy Yojanas in breadth. It was built by Kubera himself by his ascetic powers. It is like the peak of Kailasa (mountain) and it outshines the brilliancy of the moon herself. Being supported by the Guhyakas, it looks as if it is attached to the firmament. Being adorned with celestial-made large palaces of gold, it displays great beauty.

The death and dying and the life after death has always fascinated man. This is an excerpt from the book What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Lokas Or Planes: Kubera Loka

This physical body is composed of five great elements or the Mahabhutas, namely, earth, water, fire, air and ether. The Devas or gods are endowed with a divine or luminous body. The fire Tattva is predominant in them. In man the earth Tattva is preponderating. In the case of aquatic animals the element of water predominates. In the case of birds the element of air predominates.

The death and dying and the life after death has always fascinated man. This is an excerpt from the book What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » What Is Death?: Dissolution Of Elements At Death

Death perhaps is the only certainty in this world. Yet, the fear of death stalks most people. Literature — western and Indian — regards the fear of death as an intriguing and ubiquitous part of human life. We know we are mortals, yet we are afraid of the inevitable. We know we will die one day; yet we continue to behave as though we believe we are going to live forever. However, for people of knowledge, for the wise, death is the door to liberation, the passage to moksha.

Read more here: » Spiritual Inspiration: Moksha - Break Free from Fear of Death

"Hey, I'm in Nirvana!" We talk like this when we feel good. But what is it like to actually attain nirvana, otherwise known as moksha or self-realisation?

Self-realisation is the goal of life. Vedic rishis found that everything in the world that blooms is also subject to ultimate decay. Are we here just to live a brief life and then pass away? They reasoned that life cannot be devoid of some higher purpose.

(See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Life and Death: In Search of the Real 'Me'

At the time of death when the breathing becomes difficult the Jiva or the individual self that is in the body goes out making noises. Just as a cart heavily loaded goes on creaking, so does the Jiva creak while the Prana departs.

The death and dying and the life after death has always fascinated man. This is an excerpt from the book What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Soul’s Journey After Death: How Soul Departs After Death

Hells are not imaginary fiction as ordinarily conceived of by the modern rationalistic mind. The empiricist believes only in experience of sense-contact and feels himself unable to rise above the dictates of the intellect. But it does not mean that man has reason to overlook facts beyond his comprehension

This is an excerpt from the book What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Lokas Or Planes: Hell Or Naraka

Buddhism: Origins of Buddhism

Legend has it that the Buddha to be, Siddhartha Gautama, was born around the 6th century BCE. His birthplace is said to be Lumbini in the kingdom of Magadha, in what is now Nepal. His father was a king, and Siddhartha lived in luxury, being spared all hardship.

Read more here: » Buddhism: Origins of Buddhism

Student—Tell me now, in one word, what shall I be after my death? And mind you, be clear and precise.
Philosopher—All and nothing.
Student—I thought so. I gave you a problem and you solve it by a contradiction. That’s a very stale trick.
Philosopher—Yes, but you raise transcendental questions, and you expect me to answer them in language that is only made of immanent knowledge. It’s no wonder that a contradiction ensues.

The death and dying and the life after death has always fascinated man. This is an excerpt from the book What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Soul After Death: Schopenhauer’s Views On The ‘After-Death State’

We live in a world of opposites where gain and loss, good and bad, pleasure and pain, life and death are as inevitable as the two sides of a coin. Yet, there is an underlying unity between the two contrasts.

One of the principal polarities in life is the one between the male and female side of human nature. The sublime union between these two aspects is symbolised by Lord Siva's depiction as a dynamic unification of the two, as the half-male, half-female Ardhanareeshwar.

(See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Life and Death: Pairs of Opposites and The Golden Mean

Scriptures by themselves cannot make a person enlightened. They give knowledge, not wisdom. But the Ashtavakra Gita is different. This scripture negates every facet of life, except supreme consciousness.

Sage Ashtavakra says to Janaka: "My son, you recite or listen to countless scriptures, but you will not be established within until you can forget everything"(16.1). He stresses the import of knowing one's own self. A person may quote extensively from the Bhagavad Gita or the Upanishads. But only through self-knowledge can he even begin to discover the stainless truth.

(See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Life and Death: All that Exists is Total Awareness

The reason why people are keeping themselves so busy, so entangled with life is not because they have fallen in love with life. It is just to avoid the inner struggle. Many of them, if they don't get married and produce children, if they don't start businesses and don't get into all the mess that they are getting into on a day-to-day basis, they would be simply lost within themselves.

(See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Life and Death: The Whys and Hows Of Life on Earth

Many people study religious scriptures profusely - which is a good thing. But they feel that the 'scriptural word' is enough. That is a mistake. A scripture is like a map. And a map is not the territory.

What may appear as a beautiful mountainous range on paper could well turn out to be a treacherous obstacle in real life. Similarly, a river painted in brilliant hues of blue on a map, might be infested with snakes and crocodiles in reality.

(See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Life and Death: How to Identify a Modern Saint

Limited availability of resources and their limited potential is everybody's concern. But the Self within a human being has unlimited potential. That's why the concept of self-management is of utmost importance.

Self-management improves efficiency; it bestows peace, cheer and equanimity and equips us to handle the many complexities of life well. Jainism advocates overcoming pesky vices like krodha or anger, mada or vanity, kama or sex and lobha or greed. Jainism recommends the practice of five principal virtues: Ahimsa or non-violence, satya or truth, achaurya or non-covetousness, Brahma-charya or celibacy and aparigraha or non-possession.

(See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Life and Death: The Art of Self-Management

Non-dualism is the highest Vedantic truth. Only Brahman exists. The pluralistic world as we experience it is merely a figment of the imagination. An illusion.

At the highest level Vedanta does not encourage any discussion on the nature of the world and its cause. That would merely be emphasising the reality of something which does not exist. It focuses on the direct experience of Reality.

(See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Life and Death: Illusion And Reality

Often what you call success is judged by others as failure. This was G D Birla's philosophical reply to reporters who asked him to comment on his success in building one of the largest business houses in the country.

When you look back and attempt to analyse what you really achieved in life and whether you could call yourself successful, you will find that you are unable to define "success". That's because with every new stage in life, your perception of success changes.

(See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Life and Death: Assess Success With Internal Auditing

The most well-known mystery in Christianity is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. It is said that three men died on crosses in occupied Palestine sometime during the fourth decade of the Christian era. The carrying out of a death sentence in this manner was a relatively routine matter. In this case, all three were convicted as disturbers of the Roman peace.

(See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Life and Death: Central Mystery of Christian Faith

It is believed that the entire creation was manifested with the sound of Om, the Nada Brahman. Om is a combination of So and Ham. This sound vibrates every moment of our life till there is life in our body, till life continues to flow through the Kundalini.

When the sound travels through the various bodies it gets refined and the vibration ultimately merges in Om. It is constantly chanted within us and is thus called the highest mantra, the Mantra Maheshwara. Ham beejam, says the Guru Gita, which means the sound of Ham is the seed of the entire consciousness which pervades us.

(See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Life and Death: Science of Life - Soham or Hamsa

Dark night of the soul, spiritual crisis, spiritual madness, spiritual emergency, divine madness, holy madness... these are various phrases that have been used to describe a unique experience - a profound test of faith and spiritual endurance - that seems to be a necessary part of walking the path home to God. You cannot find the Light unless you enter the darkness.

Read more here: » Dark Night Of The Soul: Spiritual Crisis - The Dark Night Of The Soul