For most persons the second period is the longest. For the initiated, the first period lasts longer. Leary divides the psychedelic experience into three periods as does the Book of the Dead. Timothy Leary‘s psychedelic pattern was based on the use of LSD to reach these higher states of consciousness and was based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. If not, the lights of the six dimensions of the universe appear again and into one of these dimensions the soul is reborn into the world. The soul can attain liberation here, as well, if it recognizes its oneness with the light.
In the third bardo, the soul is judged by the “ Lord of Death” who holds up to the soul the “Mirror of Karma” which reflects all the soul’s deeds.
If not, it will descend to the third bardo. If the soul realizes these lights stem from the soul’s own mind and self, it will be liberated. In the final stage, if the soul has not attained liberation, it encounters a number of great angry light beings. If at any time, the soul realizes the light is from the soul’s own mind and self, it will be liberated. When the soul encounters one of these light beings, if the soul is attracted to the light of one of these beings, it will inhabit the dimension associated with that light being. In the first stage, the soul encounters a number of great peaceful light beings one at a time along with lights from the six dimensions of the Buddhist universe. The second bardo is divided into two stages. If the soul is not liberated at this stage, it will descend to the second bardo. If the soul does not recognize the Clear Light as one’s own mind and self, it is pulled down by the weight of its karma into the second stage of the first bardo, called the “ Secondary Clear Light“. If the soul recognizes this fact and acts in a way to remain in this state, it has been liberated from the cycle of birth and rebirth on Earth and can stay in this condition in the highest dimension for eternity called Nirvana.
The first period after death called the “ first bardo.” At the very moment of death, there dawns the “ Clear Light of Ultimate Reality” which is the soul’s own mind and self. The Tibetan Book of the Dead ( Bardo Thodol), composed in the 8th century by the guru Padmasambhava, identifies six realms ( bardos) of existence, namely three good realms ( heavenly, demi-god, human) and three evil realms ( animal, ghosts, hellish). What one experiences after death is based on a wide variety of factors including religious beliefs (or lack thereof), cultural influences, personal experiences and perspectives, education, etc. Note that everyone’s experience in the afterlife is not the same. Having them all in one article allows you to compare and analyze them for yourself. The following article contains summaries of afterlife realms from a variety of sources profiled on this website.