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Ghosts, Vital Formations and the After Death Experience · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  The Titiria Upanishad describes the process of departure of the
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  soul from an embodiment in the world.
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  Quote the Spirit who is here in a man, and the Spirit who is
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  there in the sun. It is one Spirit, and there is
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  no other. He who knoweth this, when he
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  hath gone away from this world, passeth to this Self which is of
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  food. He passeth to this Self which is
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  of prana. He passeth to this Self which is
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  of mind. He passeth to this Self which is
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  of knowledge. He passeth to this Self which is
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  of bliss. End Quote.
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  Translated by Sri Robindo, The Upanishads, Tituria Upanishad
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  Brahmanandavali, Chapter 8, page 273.
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  The Tibetan Book of the Dead takes the reader through a
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  corresponding process whereby the embodied being departs, the
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  physical body moves into the vital world, eventually either
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  becoming liberated or prepared to take a new birth based on the
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  affinities that have attached to the being, the trend and
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  momentum of the life force that has taken that birth and now
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  departed. There are corresponding worlds
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  that are native to the various elements that make up the being
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  in the Earth life. Those worlds include subtle
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  physical realms, vital worlds, and mental worlds.
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  The corresponding parts of the being can go to the realms to
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  which they are related. Similarly, A formation that has
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  taken a definitive shape may continue to abide within the
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  Earth atmosphere, at least for a time.
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  This has led to the experience of various types of vital
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  presences, including the experience of ghosts.
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  William Shakespeare was deeply familiar with the phenomena of
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  ghosts. In his play Julius Caesar, he
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  has the ghost of Caesar visit Brutus.
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  Ahead of the decisive battle which led to the defeat of
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  Brutus and his death in Richard the Third, King Richard is
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  visited by the ghosts of a number of individuals he had
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  arranged to be murdered so he could ascend to the throne.
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  In Macbeth, the ghost of Banquo appears to pressure Macbeth for
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  his heinous deeds in the pursuit of power.
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  In Hamlet, the story is brought forward by the appearance of the
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  ghost of the dead King, Hamlet's father, to reveal the actions
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  that led to his death by murder carried out by his own brother
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  who desired the throne and the wife of the dead king to become
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  his queen. Hamlet explains the appearance
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  of the ghost to his friend. Quote There are more things in
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  heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your
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  philosophy. End Quote While the idea of
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  ghosts is dismissed by many in the scientific community, it is
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  quite clear that something exists that has provoked so much
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  attention across the entire world and throughout human
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  history. The appearance of ghosts
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  represents A vital or a subtle physical manifestation of a
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  formation that persists for some time after the death of the
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  body, particularly in a well formed vital personality.
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  Shakespeare's ghosts all had a strong vital attachment and
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  unfinished business that kept the formation together.
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  A ghost is not the spirit or soul, despite the confusion that
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  is attached to the word ghost by associating it with the word
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  spirit. Once again we are tripped up by
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  imprecise terminology to conflate 2 vastly different
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  things under 1 concept. Srior Bindu observes quote.
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  The ghost is of course not the soul.
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  It is either the man appearing in his vital body or it is a
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  fragment of his vital that is seized on by some vital force or
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  being. The vital part of us normally
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  exists after the dissolution of the body for some time and
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  passes away into the vital plane, where it remains till the
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  vital sheath dissolves. Afterwards it passes, if it is
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  mentally evolved in the mental sheath, to some mental world,
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  and finally the psychic leaves its mental sheath also and goes
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  to its place of rest. If the mental is strongly
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  developed, then the mental part of us can remain.
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  So also can the vital, provided they are organized by and
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  centered round the true psychic being, for they then share the
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  immortality of the psychic. Otherwise the psychic draws mind
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  and life into itself and enters into an internatal quiescence.
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  End Quote. Reference Srioro Bindo and the
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  Mother. The psychic being soul, its
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  nature, mission and evolution. Section 1.
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  Meaning and Nature of the Psychic Being, page 11.