The grandmother & the tree

This is my friend's experience, an engineer from India's top institutions.

"

I am from Dharwad. I was a kid. I had just lost my grandfather.

We noticed our grandmother acting strangely. She would sometimes tie up her Sari like a man's dhoti, the way my grandfather used to wear. Her gait would also change to a manly gait, just like my grandfather's. Her voice would also sometimes become more deep, with the diction of my grandfather.

My uncle had interest in the supernatural. After consulting with my parents, he came to my house one day. He performed some rituals with lamps.

Then, he asked my grandmother her name. She responded with my grandfather's name.

He asked my grandfather what he was doing here. He responded that he was greatly saddened by the anguish shown by the entire family on his demise. So, he decided to stay behind, so that he could look after the family.

My uncle then told him that everyone grieved and will get over their grief with time. His staying behind will simply cause more problems to the family. Everyone would be ok. It was time for him to leave & move on.

My grandfather agreed.

My uncle asked him: 'Can you show me a sign that you will be gone forever"?

My grandfather responded: 'When I leave, a branch from the tree outside will break. You will hear it.'

My uncle asked him to leave.

Immediately, we heard a loud crack outside the home. We all ran outside. A branch on the tree outside had broken & fallen.

I was a kid & I was completely terrified witnessing all of this.

However, after this episode, my grandmother was normal.

"

What can we infer from this?

The primordial human question is: "What happens when we die?"

There are fundamentally three beliefs. Atheism says: "Once dead, always dead". Abrahamic religions say that the dead remain dead until raised on Judgment Day. Indic religions say that only the body dies.

In this story, only the grandfather's body had died, he still remained alive.

What surprised me most in this story was the breaking of the tree branch. How did someone without a material body manage to break the branch of a tree? Why was the branch breaking shown as a sign?