Mandukya Upanishad describes consciousness as having four possible states : waking, dreaming, deep sleep and turiya (state of realization). But these states seem to be describing only the state of an ordinary living person and that of a realized soul. What about the state of death? Does not consciousness exist when a person dies?
Usually we say that, after death, the soul goes to heaven or hell depending on its karma. Are heaven and hell some specific locations in space-time where the soul goes to? It is usually believed that the mind is not a spatially localized object, only the physical body is. If this is true, then heaven/hell cannot be physical locations but only states of the mind. Wait! If heaven and hell are only states of the mind, they must pertain to one of the states of consciousness described in the Mandukya. It is usually said that when a soul is in heaven/hell, it enjoys/suffers the fruits of its karma. Among the four states described above, enjoyment/suffering is possible only in two : waking and dreaming. Now obviously heaven/hell cannot correspond to the waking state since it involves the presence of a physical body. So, the only possibility is that heaven/hell are states of dreaming. Sounds very interesting!
What happens when an ordinary person dies is that the mind goes into a prolonged dreaming state which can be pleasurable or painful depending on the person's karma. When the mind wakes up from this dream, it is born again in another body to further work out its karma. A person who has done lot of spiritual sadhana while in the physical body need not go into this dream state after death, but may instead go into a state similar to that of deep sleep. This state is beyond pleasure and pain. And such a person may be born again in a physical form in order to further do sadhana. This implies that the two states of consciousness (dreaming and deep sleep) apply to both life and death.
Why does the mind need to be born in a physical body at all? Why can't it achieve realization in its subtle form itself? The answer to this question lies in the fact that in order to evolve, the mind needs to generate new thoughts. And for new thoughts to be generated, the mind needs sensory input through a physical form in the waking state. Its of course not clear why this should be so! Usually the thoughts in our mind are just memories of the past. But in due course of evolution, through interaction with the physical world, new thoughts start getting generated which eventually lead to a complete expression of the divine being in this physical form. From this point of view, realization is not about an individual turning its gaze inside but the infinite Self trying to manifest itself through a gross body! As Ramana Maharshi once said, "Creation is the mirror for the eye to see itself".
Kushal - Very thoughtful and interesting. It is common to portray the physical self as a mere vehicle for the soul but it has a far bigger importance than that. As you have lucidly elaborated above, the physical self could well be the sensory input port which feed the soul with the knowledge and wisdom of the physical world.
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