Question: After a person leaves the body, during the 11 or 13 days after that, is the soul still around in the material world around his previous family or is he already taken to other worlds for jurisdiction based on karma? Why is there the 11 day period of abstinence from deity service?

Jayapataka Swami: 11 days is prescribed for brahmanas, and for sudras it is 13 days. For other varnas it is in between. So one thing is that we should not be lamenting when we go before the Lord. And it is a fact that brahmanas have a more spiritual outlook therefore,...