A brain surgeon has given some insight into life after death as he spoke out about hearing heavenly music and seeing waterfalls.

A brain surgeon recalled the moment he heard “heavenly music and saw waterfalls” after experiencing life after death.

Dr Eben Alexander, author of Living In A Mindful Universe: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Heart of Consciousness, spoke of the how he was in a coma for a week in 2008 before his doctors told him he would die.

During the seven days, he plunged into the deepest realms of consciousness and came to understand the profound truths about the universe we inhabit.

In his book, he published with Karen Newell in 2017, he said: “I was in a coma for a week, suffering from meningoencephalitis – a brain infection – of such severity that my odds of survival were estimated at 2%. After a week, my doctors gravely told my family that it was time to let me die.”

Then when the now-63-year-old was placed on a ventilator, he described how a “light came slowly down from above”.

He added: “It was a circular entity, emitting heavily music that I called the Spinning Melody. The light opened up like a rip.

“And I felt myself going through the rip, up into a valley of lush and fertile greenery, where waterfalls glowed into crystal pools.

“There were clouds, like marshmallow puffs of pink and white.

“Behind them, the sky was a rich blue-back, with trees, fields and animals and people.”

Dr Eben continued: “There was water, too, flowing in rivers or descending as rain. Mists rose from the pulsing surfaces of these waters and fish glided beneath them.”

Working as a scientist, neurosurgeon and an academic who taught brain science at Harvard Medical School, Dr Eben believes the evidence of the afterlife is increasing.

He added: “The evidence for near-death experiences is overwhelming. But the evidence for how they occur is virtually non-existent.”