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Summary of Question:	what happens after death?
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Wednesday, 3/01/2000 7:12 PM MST

ok, i am not a sikh, but, i am doing a web page dedicated to sikhism for a school project. i have gathered much information from many sources, but i still haven't found out what sikhs believe to happen after death. maybe i am just not looking hard enough, but, i would greatly appreciate it if someone would help me. thank you very much.

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For the purpose of brevity this answer is generalized.
There are several possible routes for the soul.

If the person has no idea that they are created and are very attached to the earth, the soul will have trouble leaving the earth plane. It will hang around in a confused state as a ghost. There are uncounted millions of them that we don't see. Only rarely does someone actually see one of these.

If the person is aware that earthly life is temporary, is a continual spiritual journey through many incarnations, that person will generally move to one of the 7 levels of the Blue Ethers. The first 3 levels are where the soul resides to digest the experience of life and prepare to reincarnate and continue the journey. We call those levels Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. They are NOT permanent. Levels 4 - 7 are for souls that have advanced to the point that they no longer need to incarnate in a physical form. If you meditate and chant a lot, your soul will automatically go to the level that matches your vibratory frequency. That is why chanting Sat Nam, Wahe Guru, etc. is recommended constantly in the scriptures. Those sounds automatically match you to the highest level of the Blue Ethers.

If the person has come to a teacher or path that can offer liberation (from the cycle of births) and decides they don't want out of the cycle yet, they will return to the beginning of the cycle to start over, usually in plant form. There will be 8.4 million incarnations in plant, animal, then human form until they reach back to a teacher or path that can liberate them. These are the people that will turn negativley against their own higher consciousness and be seen to reject it.

There are lots of variations on this since each soul is unique, but that's the general idea. Every soul is exactly where it is supposed to be as God made it. There is no better or worse, no judgement about where someone may be in their evolution. That is up to the individual. All we can ever do for another is to serve them.
LSK