In this episode of “5 Minutes,” Dr. Robert Svoboda explores whether immortality is fact or fiction and discusses the traditional understanding of different forms of immortality in Indian traditions. He explains the various ways immortality is described, from beings who have transcended the limitations of the body to practices associated with extending human life.

Now, immortality is a big subject. Certainly, there are individuals in the Indian tradition who are said to be literally immortal, not at all subject to death in any way, including beings like Vibhishana and Hanuman. Hanuman is said to live Yavat Chandra Divakaro, until the sun and moon exist.

There are other beings in a similar condition, and they have been blessed by, in the case of Hanuman and Vibhishana, the Rama Avatara, to experience this. There are other beings who have achieved a similar kind of, we could almost call it absolute immortality.

The rishis, the munis, the naths, and the siddhas have gone beyond the limitations of the body altogether. They have entered into a situation where they can generate bodies when they need to, and they can reabsorb those bodies when they need to. They are totally beyond the capabilities of almost everybody.

But there is another class of beings who experience relative immortality. That is to say, they may be able to survive for hundreds or even thousands of years by doing something to alter the physiology of their organisms.

One way you can do this is with substances that you can obtain externally. For example, Vimalananda used to say that the use of herbs can keep you alive for up to 500 years. But if you use minerals, especially mercury, you may be able to achieve 2,000 years, maybe even more.

This may sound like a long time unless you think about beings such as Kakabhushundi, who is a crow that is said to have lived for several billions of years.

In addition to external things like herbs and minerals, there is said to be a substance called amrta that is present in the human body and also present in the bodies of animals like elephants. If you know the technique, you can extract it from yourself, from someone else, or from an elephant.

But then you have to know how to prepare it, you have to know how to consume it, and it is also not something that is easily available. If everybody knew how to use it, they would already be using it.

There is another method that has become popular over the past few centuries. That is what is called parakaya pravesha, or the movement from one body to another.

You live your normal lifespan in one body, and then you discover you are about to die. You locate the body of someone who died from a disease, for example, that could be corrected by someone like you who has a great deal of personal power. Then you move your consciousness into that body, expend some of your shakti in order to restore that body, and live in that body for a few decades until it wears out. Then you find a new body.

It is said that there are yogis who have been doing this for quite a number of centuries.

Then there is the method, of course, of going into samadhi, like our Guru Maharaj, Rambis Mambadasji, did. You find a way, you are not moving around in the world, but you are sitting quietly, you go into samadhi, and you may remain there.

We do not know how long he was in samadhi, probably several decades before the temple collapsed on top of him. The temple remained collapsed for 200 years before the Archaeological Survey of India discovered him, and then he was alive for another 90 years before he finally decided that he had finished with that body.

So there are many different approaches to living longer than the average human lifespan. And why would you want to do that at all?

You would not want to be limited by the fact that once you get to be 70 or 80, you have really started to understand what it means to be alive. And then if you die, you are just going to have to start again when you are reborn.

So even though immortality is not generally available to most of us, it is quite possibly a worthy thing to aspire to.