Ba and ka were non-physical in nature and the two main elements survived after death. Egyptians believed ka was formed at birth but materialized as a mirror of the living individual after death. Ba was believed to have been similar to what we consider individuality and was separated from the body at death. The ba was represented in Egyptian hieroglyphics by a bird, the stork, and was thought to have flown from the grave, to the afterlife to be with the ka. Before doing so it would hover over the dead waiting for the akh, spirit, to pass through the land of the dead.
Records indicate that all men regardless of wealth or social status had a ka.
The ka can be compared to our modern day version of the soul. The first night following one s burial was a tenuous one in which the akh, one s spirit, would travel to the land of the dead to be judged by the gods. The gods would often test the akh to see if it was fit to pass through to paradise on the other side. An individual was expected to be a moral, upright citizen and live according to the various religious texts given to them by the god Osiris. The book used by the Egyptians to protect the dead in the afterlife was the Book of the Dead, or The Book of Coming Forth by Day as it was also called.