Prologue to Mahashoti

We came from the astral world and we shall return to it.

"Does life exist beyond earth in outer space?" It is a fascinating question for humankind. With all of the countless billions of stars, planets, and moons in the vast universe, there is a possibility of life existing elsewhere beyond Earth. Many people have claimed to see Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) and aliens from outer space that looked different from people on earth. However, there is no evidence for this yet.

From time immemorial, the question of the existence of life after death has always attracted the interest of humankind and made them inquisitive for getting the answer. For thousands of years, religions all over the world have taught that life does not end at death. Holy books of most religions are rife with graphic descriptions of heaven and hell. Many people in different parts of the world claim to have seen or heard from the dead, while others have remembered past lives under hypnosis. Still, others have experienced death and have returned with remarkably similar stories to tell. It is hard to ignore the stories of out of body experiences. Even in the modern age of science, we hear about guardian angels, spirits, and ghosts. Yet the skeptics, the agnostics, and the atheists have challenged the notion of an afterlife.

There are many stories on these topics. The novel titled “Mahashoti’ narrates one such story.

The Beginning of Journey

Incredible though it may seem

It was real and not a dream

Her soul came out and went up high

To a new world up in the sky

Shriti was a young girl who lived with her parents in a small village. Her father worked as the priest in a village temple and her mother sold flowers, earthen lamps, incense, and such other items that people needed in the worship. Shriti spent her time in nature, with the trees and blossoms and birds. She liked to wander along the banks of the river and listen to the ripple of the water as it flowed over the pebbles. Sometimes she sang. Whoever heard her sing was enchanted by her melodious voice.

One day in the early morning, as part of her daily routine, Shriti was chanting the holy hymns by looking at the morning sun. It looked beautiful and cool. Suddenly she saw a beautiful figure of a girl emerge from the sun and came floating towards her.

The figure that was floating slowly in the beginning suddenly came whizzing by at great speed. It headed straight for her. Shriti felt as if struck by lightning. She felt getting separated from her body and viewed what was happening from another perspective.

Shriti saw her body lying on the floor. Shriti felt as if she was being pulled away from her body. It occurred to her that she has died. She knew what was going to happen. Her body would be carried away and cremated. But suddenly she saw some movement in the body. She saw her parents around her body. The body was very much alive. It drank the water that Shriti's mother gave to her. Then she saw her parents helping her body onto her bed.

The incident happened in the morning. But Shriti's first visual memory was seeing total darkness and then a brilliant beam of light coming towards her from a distance. The radiant glow looked as if a hundred stars had come together to form a magnificent moon rising from the horizon. She felt herself floating in the beautifully bright and cool light. There were two standing figures in the light, shaped like a normal human form. They were escorting her with full honor towards some particular destination. Shriti did not feel threatened, rather she felt protected and safe.

Gradually she was moving away from the earth towards a bright, new, beautiful world. It was beautiful beyond imagination! Suddenly she was aware of being in the most beautiful garden she had ever seen. She heard celestial music clearly and saw vividly colored flowers, like nothing seen on earth, gorgeous greenery and trees. She stood in a glory that she thought could only be heaven.

Shriti saw a pedestal decorated with flowers. On this pedestal, a girl was lying on a slightly raised podium. Shriti felt herself being drawn towards the pedestal. She was heading towards it and being pushed into that girl. The next moment the girl was gone and Shriti found herself lying on the podium. She got up and saw all the people greeting her and shouting 'Shimoyi Janu Mahashoti, Ashoti, Ashoti!'

While such greeting and cheering was going on, a beautiful chariot descended from the sky. Two beautiful girls came out of it. They escorted Shriti to the chariot and seated her. Then the chariot took off. Shriti was now sitting comfortably in a chariot and flying in the sky towards her destination. It was the beginning of her journey to a new realm.

The above narration is taken from the book ‘Mahashoti’ by Ashok Mohanty. It is about ‘out of body’ experience of a young girl in outer space in different planets and about her extra-ordinary past life among aliens, demons and ghost.

Could such things have happened? It may seem too incredible to be real yet too real to be imaginary.