Death and
the Afterlife
The Times of
India 2011-01-06
Everyday in your sleep, nature provides you
a tiny glimpse of death. Death is akin to sleep. Sleep provides you
deep rest. Sleep heals you, comforts you, and makes you fresh for
the next day. Similarly, death provides rest to your soul. What is
death? It means dropping the past. You drop one body and get into
another body. Everything in this universe is changing; everything
is dying.
Death creates a void. When someone dies a
vacuum is created suddenly, and being totally with that vacuum you
know that you also are that vacuum. What are you? What is your
life? It's a total void. Not only is death a void, but life too is
a void. This realisation is Nirvana.
Buddha said that life is a void and void is
truth and that forms are illusive and they have no existence. The
formless is the only existence and it governs the form. The mind is
formless, and is it not the mind that is ruling your body? For
example, is the body or the mind moving a car? It is the mind. If
the mind is not in the body, the body alone cannot do anything…
There is a greater formlessness overseeing entire Creation. You are
the centre of that greater formlessness; whatever you call
it.
In ancient days people were asked to
meditate in burial grounds. This gave a sense of dispassion, a
feeling of void so your mind did not wander. In meditation you
realise that you are not just the body, but you are more than the
body. This realisation annihilates the fear of death.
Some are afraid to go to bed. They fear
they may not wake up. Knowledge of death will improve the quality
of your life. It makes you stable and strong and roots out fear.
The Self is beyond death; the knowledge makes you immortal -
rather, you become aware that you are immortal and that there is
something in you which never dies. The first law of thermodynamics
says that 'energy can neither be created nor destroyed'. Our mind
is energy and thus it cannot be destroyed…
Why are some people born in violent
environments and others in comfortable environments? These come
from previous impressions. It doesn't matter how your life has
been, but the last thought is very important. You might have
noticed the last thought in your mind before falling asleep will be
the first thought when you wake up. Similarly, your last impression
will be the first impression in your next life.
At the last moment, all we did in life will
come to us in a flash. If you always do things that are
life-supporting, the same impressions will carry on. That is why
all human values, like friendliness and compassion are given great
importance; they are investments for the future. The human body is
precious because in this body you can carry as well as erase all
negative impressions.
No one knows when their last moment is.
When it comes, you cannot have a new impression; the last or
strongest impression is what will pop up. In the Gita, Krishna
says: Look Arjuna, you don't know, you never know when the last
moment comes, so don't wait for the last moment. All the time, keep
me in your mind, and meditate to make that as the strongest
impression. So don't wait for the last moment to have a good
impression.
(Discourse: Sri Sri Ravi
Shankar)