Once you said, "The astral body is like a cordless telephone." What does that mean?

The physical body (sharira) is like the base of the telephone, which has to stay plugged into the wall. The astral body is like the handset, which can travel anywhere and exchange information. But sooner or later it has to come back to the base to recharge.

Many people experience this in dreams. When we dream of flying, it means the astral body is flying out of the physical body. It is still connected (people call this connection 'the silver cord'), so it can come back.

What if the astral body doesn't come back?

Occasionally the cord gets broken, and the person dies in their sleep.

Why does the astral body need a base?

It becomes very uncomfortable without a physical home to come back to. It needs the base, the nest, for security. Otherwise it feels very irritated and frustrated.

What about "astral beings?"

They have a different base, made out of more subtle matter. They do not need gross food. They inhale the fragrance of flowers, food, fruit, wine, etc. In the temple, sometimes there are some astral beings who take the fragrance out of the food. Their bodies are invisible to us, and they can float in the air, effortlessly, like a fish floating in water. So their base is more subtle than ours, but otherwise it is the same.

What happens to the astral body when a human dies?

The astral body is our real body. It is what we feel and experience in, all the time. At death, you don't feel like, "My astral body is leaving me." You feel like, "My physical body has dropped away." When we die, we fly away in the astral body, which accompanies the soul.

Can we help our ancestors, and can they help us?

In the Hindu culture each year there is a big celebration which lasts nine days, during which we remember our ancestors and give them food and gifts, and they help us and we help them. This is called 'Shradha'.

Just think good thoughts about your ancestors, imagine them feeling peace. Send peace to them, pray for them to be peaceful. Then, in whatever base bodies they may have now, human or animal or astral-being bodies, their astral bodies will feel peace and will feel connection with you. Then they will come in their astral bodies to visit and help you. If they knew art or mathematics or anything like that, they will come and help you with it.

What are "lost souls"?

These are people in astral bodies who have no base. They are like homeless, vagrants. Eventually they can adjust to being without a physical base, but in the meantime they like to hang around us. Some of them learn to borrow our bodies.

How did they get lost?

Usually by an untimely death. If a person dies young, or dies suddenly or violently, this can happen.

What are their options?

If they meet an older soul who teaches them how, then they can enter a body such as an animal's, or a body of someone else who died and left it. For example, if one enters a horse's body, he has the same sort of control that a horseback rider would.

Rarely, they learn the skill of constructing a new physical body from physical matter. There was a true story of a young woman who died and became a ghost. She was so fond of her husband that she would not leave him. So she learned to make a physical body that looked just like her old one, though it had more powers. She could come and go, disappear. It was a solid body, it felt normal. She could even kiss her husband. One night they were in bed kissing, and he wanted to turn out the light. She said, "Don't get up." She made her arm long enough to reach across the room and turn off the light. The husband panicked and ran away!

Can "lost souls" be useful?

Yes, some can, although more often they cause problems. Some like to tease and play tricks, like vandalizing. Others are just confused, like someone who has come into the wrong house. But some of them can also be useful and help with art and so forth.

What about "channeling entities" who help people with books and art?

Usually these are 'astral beings' who have comfortable base bodies of their own, made of subtle matter. Their base is invisible and can fly and so forth, but still it is matter. Just more subtle matter. They can also be ancestor spirits who now have human or animal bodies, and come in their astral bodies just to pay a short helpful visit. Usually, the "lost souls" are too confused or upset to be of much help, and are more likely to try to move in to your body and cause trouble.

How can we contact the right kind of astrals?

If your ancestors were artists, you can pray to them, send them peace. Then they will come and guide your hand and show you how to paint. Many helpful astral spirits will come if you are relaxed and thinking positive about them. In meditation class, often, when people relax, some helpful spirit comes and does some healing. I have often seen this, a monk in white comes and sits by someone. Then when she gets up, I tell her, "You are healed."

If a person is in an accident and sees that he is about to die, can he avoid becoming a "lost soul"?

If you are relaxed and aware of what is happening, and you see there is no alternative, then you can accept death voluntarily. You can relax and be aware, and not feel attachment to the body you are leaving. Mentally you can feel relieved of attachment, of possessiveness of this body. When you die without attachment, then you do not become a "lost soul". It may be one or two years before you get a new body, but in the meantime you are not uncomfortable. You are in a place we call 'prait yoni', which means 'waiting room'. It is a comfortable place, you can visit with your ancestors there and all exchange your stories.