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Rh penetrated. The grave where his last remains were deposited, they thought, was his natural abode where he lived the life that he hitherto led, but only invisibly. Naturally enough he hungered and thirsted, worked and rested, loved and hated, as he did while alive. So also did the Babylonians believe that the dead departed to the subterranean regions and lived their invisible lives.

The Indo-Iranians came to believe at an early age that at death man leaves behind all that is mortal. His mortal tenement perishes but the imperishable part of man, his real personality, his soul survives his bodily death. Yama was the first to discover the path of the dead and won for himself the empire of the dead. Yama welcomed the soul of the dead to his abode where it was met by its kith and kin that had preceded it.

Zarathushtra systematically speaks of two different worlds, this one and the next. The present, or the earthly world, is called astvant, 'corporeal,' and the other or the heavenly world is called manahya, 'spiritual,' literally, 'of thought.' Body and soul are the two main constituents in the formation of man. These two have their respective organs and other spiritual and material essentials. So long as these work in unison man lives, and lives for the best in this world. The Evil Spirit has introduced death in the world, which brings the dissolution of these diverse elements. The soul exists for the short span of its life on earth in the tenement of the body. When the material frame crumbles into dust it flees heavenward. The bodily death does not mean the death of the soul, for that is immortal. Death is not the end of man's life, for he lives in heaven in spirit and he lives upon earth in posterity. The present life is a prelude to the future life. It is a pilgrimage to a higher life. Man should therefore bethink himself to prepare for the journey to the next world when he departs from this life. He will get in heaven what he craves for in vain upon earth. He will have for actual experience in heaven the best and perfect condition which he visualizes but imperfectly in thought on earth.

The belief that he will one day meet the dear departed lightens man's burden of bereavement. Death casts the greatest gloom around us. Time, in its fulness, softens the sorrow of the bereaved, wipes away his tears, and heals the wound in-