A physical body becomes useless once the life force is gone. The same body, which was lovable to everyone, becomes a liability after death. Everyone wants to dispose it as early as possible as keeping a dead body at home is considered a bad omen.
During the transfer of dead body from one place to another nobody wants to keep the body in a vehicle other than a harsh van whose job is only to carry dead bodies. No family will be willing to carry the dead body of a person in a car in which the deceased person has been traveling or driving for years.
May be for any reason, health or rituals, once you touch a dead body you are required to take a bath before you commence your daily routine.
Within a matter of hours in absence of life force, the physical body starts disintegrating and in matter of days, it shows signs of self-destruction and purification.
This vital force is nothing but the Soul, Atman, Brahma, Spirit or Consciousness described in different Vedic texts.
Aadi Shankaracharya in his book Bhaja Govindam shloka 6 says:
yávat-pavano nivasati dehe
távat-pøcchati kuùalam gehe,
gatavati váyau dehápáye
bháryá bibhyati tasmin káye.(6)
“Till the life force remains in the body, people come and enquire about your welfare. But, the moment the life force goes out, even your wife is afraid of coming anywhere near your body”.
Life force can be equated to the network of information in computer, radio, television or mobile phone. All these gazettes without a energized information are useless and are thrown away. This silent data retrievable by operational and application software represent the life force or soul of these electronic gadgets.
Shankara says that as one does not give importance to a computer without data one should not give importance to the physical body. It is the life force within the body which is respected and cared for and that is what real “I” or “We” are. All glories of the body are only until the life force remains in it. In Bhagavad-Gita, Lord Krishna in Chapter 2 (2.23) says about this life force or ataman “fire cannot burn it, weapon cannot cut it, water cannot wet it, air cannot dry it, it is immortal”.
The most defined relationship in Vedic text is between husband and wife. The very fact even a wife after the death does not want to touch the husband signifies the importance of life force.
The life force has no dimensions: height, weight, colour or image. It is immortal, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. The weight of a live and a dead body immediately after the death is the same.
It is the same life force, which dwells in everybody and during life is modified by the action, memory and desire cycle. If one gets attached to any of the three one starts getting detached from the soul or the life force. People who are in touch with their life force all the time attain peace and happiness and die young in old age.
Most Vedic mahavakyas talk about, that it is the same spirit, which dwells in everybody and hence every person in the society should be welcomed and treated with equal importance. Ahambrahmasami, tatwamasi, Vasudeva kutumbakam, etc. are a few of the examples.
According to Aadi Shankara one can achieve non-duality only by seeing God in everyone. Athithi-devo-bhava is also based on the same principle.
