To
help ease the minds of the countless people who worry about death and
dying, or the death of a loved one, a few things need to be explained.
First
off, death is not the tragedy that everybody thinks it is. It's simply
another part of life. It's just a transition from one place to another;
from this physical world, to a non-physical world. Physical death is
meaningless, it's arbitrary, it's a joke, it's irrelevant. The physical
body is nothing but a temporary vehicle or tool that
Consciousness/Awareness/Spirit uses to temporarily experience this
physical world. The key word there is "temporarily". Billions and
billions of physical bodies have died in the past, and billions more
will die in the future. One way, or another, sooner, or later,
everybody and everything dies. It's not a big deal. That's just the way
this physical world is. It is a world of change and evolution. Nobody
can avoid physical death. Nobody. When it's time to leave this physical
world, it's time to leave. Do you know of anybody that hasn't died, or
that won't die? Then what's the point of getting all upset about it?
We
see our mother, father, or some other loved one dying, but the physical
body you are worried about dying isn't even your "mother" unless you
have the limited perception that the physical body is what she is. You
are not the body, and neither is she. You are IN the body, but you are
not the body. If you can watch the mind and its thinkingness, then you
aren't the mind and its thinkingness. You aren't the experiencer, you
are the silent observer. Spirit/Consciousness/Awareness doesn't have a
sex; it's not male or female. It doesn't even have a shape. It's
non-physical, it's formless, it's timeless, it's eternal, it's
infinite. The soul is eternal. In other words, it is never born, and it
never dies. It is a timeless foreverness. It cannot be harmed or
threatened in any way whatsoever, so worrying about death is a complete
waste of time and energy.
"You speak sincerely, but
your sorrow
has no cause. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead."
- Bhagavad Gita 2:11
So
yes, sometimes the body
suffers, but it
really doesn't matter because that's not what we are. We only think and
believe the body is "me" because we're unaware of the truth, and we're
unaware of the truth because we continue to identify the body and mind
as being "me" instead of simply observing and being aware of them. But
now that you are aware of the truth, there shouldn't be anything to
worry about. The body you see suffering is just that; a body. That's
all, nothing more. That body is not your "mother" or "father" because
you are not your body either. The real you was never born and it can
never die. Never.
"You were never born; you will
never die. You
have never changed; you can never change. Unborn, eternal, immutable,
immemorial, you do not die when the body dies." - Bhagavad Gita 2:20
According
to the incredibly accurate muscle testing (kinesiology) for determining
truth from falsehood done by Dr. David Hawkins, the exact time of
physical death is already pre-determined at the time of one's physical
birth. The exact moment is pre-determined but the means by which is
not. If one doesn't look after their health, then it will probably
happen by malnutrition and degenerative disease. If one has serious
negative karma from this life or a past one, then it will probably
happen in some other "negative" manner. If one lives selflessly for the
sake of others, then one might die for the sake of others. So the big
question is what if you have another 20 years to go? Are those 20 years
going to be spent in a state of suffering due to malnutrition and
emotional stress, or is it going to be spent in a state of inner peace
and well-being?
You simply live your life to the
best of your
individual ability, for the sake of others, every single day, and then
there are no regrets, and there is no reason to fear death. When one
lives a life of meaningful purpose for the sake of others every single
day, one wouldn't even care if they died the very next day because
there would be nothing to regret. When your physical time comes to an
end, your time comes to an end. That's not your decision. That's the
decision of God/Love/Universe. Nobody gets to decide when the physical
body dies so there is no sense worrying about it.
Now
this may
bring to mind the topic of suicide. Well, to forcefully interfere with
the play of life like that just carries heavy karmic consequences. To
think you can simply end your karma just like that by purposefully
bringing about physical death is another limited perception. Karma does
not, and never will, end this way. One will simply be born into yet
another physical body, but now one has the automatic karmic effects of
that suicide that has to play out. The only way out of personal karma
is surrendering personal will (including thinking and thoughts) to that
of
Love/Selflessness/God/Nature/Universe/Buddha/Self. This is what we call
"non-volitional living" and going with the flow.
One
physical
life is just a continuation of where one left off in the last physical
life. What you see in the mirror is your karma. Everybody is born into
the exact physical body and life circumstances that suit their
individual karma perfectly. There are no accidents, co-incidences,
random events, luck, or chaos in the universe. Absolutely every tiny
little detail that's happening is karma, whether it's individually or
collectively in a group of people. It's all karma, all the time, and
there are never exceptions.
"As the same person
inhabits the
body through childhood, youth, and old age, so too at the time of death
he attains another body. The wise are not deluded by these changes." -
Bhagavad Gita 2:13
Recommended
reading: The Bhagavad Gita
Translated by Eknath Easwaran
Articles
> Overcoming the Fear of Death
