---

By Manisha Sharma

This story is about my Aunt Rama (my mom’s elder sister), who lived close to our house in Delhi, India, and who left us forever in the first week of July 2016 after a brief hospitalization. She was very dear to us, a very loving and selfless soul to whom my mom and I were quite attached.

Aunt Rama had been hospitalized off and on for the last few years due to an ongoing illness, but we always expected her to get well and come back home. This time, however, she did not come back. Her death came as a terrible shock to me, my mom and her own family. This was compounded by the fact we had not been permitted to visit her in hospital, as she was in the ICU (intensive care unit).

Afterwards, thoughts of her never seemed to leave us, even for a moment. The very mention of her name or sight of her photograph brought tears to our eyes.

Afterwards, thoughts of her never seemed to leave us, even for a moment. The very mention of her name or sight of her photograph brought tears to our eyes. It was difficult to believe that she was no longer with us. But a few days after she passed away, I saw her in my dreams in a blue saree (the traditional dress of Indian women, which is made from a six-metre-long piece of fabric). Even though she had died of illness, she looked quite radiant and healthy in my dream and was sitting next to me. I recognized her and the dream ended.

The blue saree seemed familiar but I could not recollect where I had seen it. Again a few days later, while I was meditating and had almost fallen asleep, I saw her standing close in that same saree, smiling. I wanted to call to her and speak with her but I could not move. Just as in the dream, she looked radiant and happy. For some moments I felt as if I had really been with her, and it felt very peaceful. This vision lasted a few seconds until I was wide awake.

It would take some time for me to understand the meaning of this happening and of my dream before that.

A few days later, I was surfing through Facebook and found a photograph of my Aunt Rama in that same blue saree. In the photo she was with her son (my cousin) with whom I am very close. She was smiling with that same sweet radiance I had seen and felt in my dreams. Then I remembered taking that photograph myself a few years earlier during a visit to her home.

As years passed, I stopped missing her so much, and her memories remained as a beautiful thought of someone far but near.

As years passed, I stopped missing her so much, and her memories remained as a beautiful thought of someone far but near. I stopped seeing her in my dreams or thinking of her so often. I feel that the dream and later vision were a message that my Aunt Rama is well and happy, that we should not worry about her and only remember her smiling and happy face. These experiences have helped me recover from the shock of her passing away so suddenly and have helped me to accept the reality of her sudden death

Last week, however, after almost four years, I saw her once again in my dreams in that same blue saree. I got up wondering what message she was trying to give me this time. I immediately called her family and spoke to my cousin, who told me that my uncle (her dear husband), who feels unhappy without her presence, was not keeping well and had undergone a minor surgery the day before. A few years before her death, my aunt and uncle had celebrated their 50^th marriage anniversary. I feel her being in my dream was a message that she remembers her family and wants us to be there with them, especially with her husband.

Seeing Aunt Rama in my dream again after four years makes me believe that those whom we love never go away, though they may not be physically present.

---

The Meaning of Forever Project continues to accept stories of comforting experiences with loved ones who have passed on, and of near-death experiences that have helped to show the continuation of life beyond the physical body. You can email your story to us atthemeaningofforever@gmail.com and you can find more about our project on our Facebook page, and our Meaning of Forever Website.

---

By Marlene Chapelle

My mom and I were never really close.  We were always at odds with each other.  She was that way with my sister as well.  My two brothers had children and she would go to their houses for visits.  I had to trick her into finally coming to visit with my three children for a birthday.  I did not want her to die without resolving this difficult situation.

Many, many years passed.  She was seventy-one when, one day, she phoned to say she was losing weight and couldn’t keep any food down.  She said that her doctor suggested she go to the emergency ward of her local hospital.  I went that night to keep her company.  I did not know that she would live for only three more weeks.

The first week the doctors did testing.  She was fully conscious that first week.  My sister, two brothers and I visited each day.  By week two, she was in and out of consciousness.  The doctors finally told us she had pancreatic cancer and was dying.  My brothers stopped coming to visit because they wanted to remember her as she had been and not the gaunt woman she had become in the hospital. 

If she had not been so cold and distant with me, I would not have become the person I am so proud to be today.

From week two onwards my sister and I would visit our mom each day.  She was mostly unconscious now, but while attending to her that second week, I realized something: If she had not been so cold and distant with me, I would not have become the person I am so proud to be today.  I knew the adversity had made me strong.  And as I sat by her bed one afternoon, she woke up. This gave me the chance to tell her she was the best mom I could ever have had.  She said she did not know I felt that way. 

Days passed and by week three, my mom’s organs began shutting down.  She was now completely unconscious and on pain medication.  By the end of that week, both my sister and I sat at her bedside every evening.  One night a relative came to visit.  It was almost closing time for visitors when my sister said that he needed to say good night and let our mom sleep. 

The relative left quickly and my sister told me that our mom was about to pass on.  When I asked how she knew, she said Mom’s breathing had changed and was slowing down.  It was now time for us to begin preparing spiritually for our mother’s death. We sang the word HU, an ancient name for God, and I closed my eyes to see what was happening inwardly. 

I saw my mom and me standing beside a semi-transparent curtain.  In the distance through the curtain, I could see her relatives and friends.  My dad, who had died five years earlier, was also there.  I told my mom she could go through the curtain and be with him, but she did not move.  She was afraid. 

Her deep love had overpowered her fer and taken her through the curtain.

Then I saw her old dog, Perky.  I pointed to him on the other side of the curtain and, right then and there, she made a beeline for her beloved dog.  Her deep love had overpowered her fear and taken her through the curtain.  As she moved towards Perky, she became younger and younger.  Then the relatives, my dad, Perky and my mom turned, walked into the distance and disappeared.

I came out of that experience so excited.  There was life beyond death! I had proof now.  My mom did not die; only her physical body died. I now knew that her essence, Soul, lives on in the inner worlds, just like my dad, Perky and the relatives who were there to greet her.  I told my sister what I saw, and she told me what she heard at the moment of our mother’s death:  a whooshing sound that came out of Mom’s body, then zoomed upward and away. 

Now we both had our proof that there is life beyond death.

---

The Meaning of Forever Project continues to accept stories of comforting experiences with loved ones who have passed on, and of near-death experiences that have helped to show the continuation of life beyond the physical body. You can email your story to us at themeaningofforever@gmail.com and you can find more about our project on our Facebook page, and our Meaning of Forever Website.