rahula
11th December 2005, 10:01 AM
“Death” – this word would be the last word to talk about, this word is the most fearful word in the entire language, and yet this word is the universal truth.
If I ask why do we don’t want to talk about death? Probably because this is ‘what we don’t want’ and this is ‘what we are fearful about’. But still why should we don’t talk about it? Neither by talking nor by not talking – it will come to us and it can come to us any time or any moment – whether we want it or not, whether we talk about it or not, whether we know it or not. Then why should we don’t talk about it?
In my opinion, we should talk about it and must understand what actually death is? Because by knowing the real nature of death we can understand it and by knowing and understanding it – we can ‘come out of the fear of death’ in spite of the fact that one day we all have to face it! Then why not face it courageously rather than succumb to it fearfully? Secondly, by knowing it we can make our life more meaningful, beautiful, and understand the importance of the life and we have very less time in hand! How long? No answer. One can live from this very moment to 100 years, 80 years, 70 years, 10 years, or 1 year, or few months, or few weeks, or few days, or few hours, or few minutes, or few seconds or less than a moment – no one knows!!!
Especially on auspicious occasions such as Birthday or New Year it is considered that mentioning this word would bring bad luck or an earlier death! But in my opinion, one should reflect often on death even more on auspicious occasions because during such reflections we can take stock of our life, reassess our position and see whether we are going in the right direction or not – as each New Year or each Birthday brings us one year closer to grave.
We all know, as a matter of fact, what is death? In fact, death is no stranger to us!
This is the ultimate end of the life. Poets may say it poetically the end of the drama of life or the fall of the curtain or whatever. We all in our lives must have seen death of relative, friend, colleague, parent, children, pet etc. Daily we see people die from accidents, fights, suicides, etc. So death is no stranger to us. Still do we really know death? What is it? What is its true nature? I will try to elaborate these points as far as I can.
Conventionally, death means “end of the life-span”. This is applicable to all living beings – humans, animals, plants, insects, etc. If we see from scientific standpoint, an individual takes birth, grows, lives his life, and finally dies. This death is applicable not only to the individual as a whole but also to the individual body system, organ, tissue, and also to the individual cell. The entire material body is made up of cells and each cell dies. This death at the cellular level may be due to external noxious agent or internal programmed death. As per this concept, an individual dies either due to programmed cell death – aging or due to external noxious agent causing disease. So scientists are trying hard to prevent both these factors – aging and disease – and they believe if that is possible then death is preventable! A wonderful concept to make us feel happy as then no one will die but till date this is nothing but science fiction (and it will remain so!).
If we see from the religious viewpoint, two theories are common. One is the theory of soul – that there is an immaterial soul within our body and when this soul leaves or departs from the body – the individual dies. And another is the theory of rebirth – that is an individual dies and take birth, then again dies and again take birth and the cycle of birth and death continues. These two theories are common in most of the religions of the world. But the question comes to my mind that these are mere theories, as hardly any one has seen the soul or the rebirth phenomenon. So, in my opinion, we are not very much sure whether there is any soul or not? And whether after death the person takes rebirth or not?
In spite of all these theories and viewpoints, the fact remains tall – DEATH IS INEVITABLE! So even if we could not infer how one dies or why one dies, still we can take advantage of the fact that – one does die! Death is certain. No one has ever escaped death. Father, mother or any other all have to die. The suffering of death and separation is bound to come. All the money, possessions, accolades, dear ones will remain here. Not even a single penny we can take with us.
But if we see our life deeper then we see that death is no stranger to us. Every moment we are dying. Every moment we are taking rebirth. If we see inside with insight, we experience the death every moment. Every moment the sensations are arising and passing away, every moment the consciousness is arising and passing away, every moment the thought is arising and passing away. This is very much evident with insight. No viewpoints are needed – neither scientific nor religious. What is needed is just an insight. You see within and this phenomena of arising and passing away or birth and death are evident. Because we don’t know this true nature of life and death, we are fearful of death. We see death as a one-time phenomenon. We see death as the end. Conventionally it is true but not the reality. We see ourselves as solid unchangeable entity and so death is fearful. Do we remain the same from birth till death? A child of one month, a boy of five years, a man of thirty years, a man of eighty years. Is it the same entity? Apparently Yes but in reality No. We are fearful of death because we don’t see ourselves as changeable entity which is in a constant flux! This is the sole reason why we fear death. And when a person with insight sees this ultimate reality, the fear of death disappears. And when fear of death disappears all other fears disappear automatically.
When we contemplate on death in these terms, we see that death is nothing but extinguishing. Like disappearance of flame of the candle. If we see the flame of the candle with insight we see it as constant arising and passing away of burning particles with great rapidity. And finally when nothing is there to burn the flame extinguishes. And this is for sure no flame can remain there for eternity. Similarly no life can remain for eternity. Therefore, our contemplation on death should be that this flame of life can extinguish any time or any moment. So make best use of the remaining time in hand. Do good as far as possible, speak good as far as possible, think good as far as possible, help others as far as possible, donate generously as far as possible. Thus simply by contemplating on death even on auspicious occasions we can make our life beautiful and meaningful. And when death comes we can say: “Death, do your worst, I know you and I can smile”.
If I ask why do we don’t want to talk about death? Probably because this is ‘what we don’t want’ and this is ‘what we are fearful about’. But still why should we don’t talk about it? Neither by talking nor by not talking – it will come to us and it can come to us any time or any moment – whether we want it or not, whether we talk about it or not, whether we know it or not. Then why should we don’t talk about it?
In my opinion, we should talk about it and must understand what actually death is? Because by knowing the real nature of death we can understand it and by knowing and understanding it – we can ‘come out of the fear of death’ in spite of the fact that one day we all have to face it! Then why not face it courageously rather than succumb to it fearfully? Secondly, by knowing it we can make our life more meaningful, beautiful, and understand the importance of the life and we have very less time in hand! How long? No answer. One can live from this very moment to 100 years, 80 years, 70 years, 10 years, or 1 year, or few months, or few weeks, or few days, or few hours, or few minutes, or few seconds or less than a moment – no one knows!!!
Especially on auspicious occasions such as Birthday or New Year it is considered that mentioning this word would bring bad luck or an earlier death! But in my opinion, one should reflect often on death even more on auspicious occasions because during such reflections we can take stock of our life, reassess our position and see whether we are going in the right direction or not – as each New Year or each Birthday brings us one year closer to grave.
We all know, as a matter of fact, what is death? In fact, death is no stranger to us!
This is the ultimate end of the life. Poets may say it poetically the end of the drama of life or the fall of the curtain or whatever. We all in our lives must have seen death of relative, friend, colleague, parent, children, pet etc. Daily we see people die from accidents, fights, suicides, etc. So death is no stranger to us. Still do we really know death? What is it? What is its true nature? I will try to elaborate these points as far as I can.
Conventionally, death means “end of the life-span”. This is applicable to all living beings – humans, animals, plants, insects, etc. If we see from scientific standpoint, an individual takes birth, grows, lives his life, and finally dies. This death is applicable not only to the individual as a whole but also to the individual body system, organ, tissue, and also to the individual cell. The entire material body is made up of cells and each cell dies. This death at the cellular level may be due to external noxious agent or internal programmed death. As per this concept, an individual dies either due to programmed cell death – aging or due to external noxious agent causing disease. So scientists are trying hard to prevent both these factors – aging and disease – and they believe if that is possible then death is preventable! A wonderful concept to make us feel happy as then no one will die but till date this is nothing but science fiction (and it will remain so!).
If we see from the religious viewpoint, two theories are common. One is the theory of soul – that there is an immaterial soul within our body and when this soul leaves or departs from the body – the individual dies. And another is the theory of rebirth – that is an individual dies and take birth, then again dies and again take birth and the cycle of birth and death continues. These two theories are common in most of the religions of the world. But the question comes to my mind that these are mere theories, as hardly any one has seen the soul or the rebirth phenomenon. So, in my opinion, we are not very much sure whether there is any soul or not? And whether after death the person takes rebirth or not?
In spite of all these theories and viewpoints, the fact remains tall – DEATH IS INEVITABLE! So even if we could not infer how one dies or why one dies, still we can take advantage of the fact that – one does die! Death is certain. No one has ever escaped death. Father, mother or any other all have to die. The suffering of death and separation is bound to come. All the money, possessions, accolades, dear ones will remain here. Not even a single penny we can take with us.
But if we see our life deeper then we see that death is no stranger to us. Every moment we are dying. Every moment we are taking rebirth. If we see inside with insight, we experience the death every moment. Every moment the sensations are arising and passing away, every moment the consciousness is arising and passing away, every moment the thought is arising and passing away. This is very much evident with insight. No viewpoints are needed – neither scientific nor religious. What is needed is just an insight. You see within and this phenomena of arising and passing away or birth and death are evident. Because we don’t know this true nature of life and death, we are fearful of death. We see death as a one-time phenomenon. We see death as the end. Conventionally it is true but not the reality. We see ourselves as solid unchangeable entity and so death is fearful. Do we remain the same from birth till death? A child of one month, a boy of five years, a man of thirty years, a man of eighty years. Is it the same entity? Apparently Yes but in reality No. We are fearful of death because we don’t see ourselves as changeable entity which is in a constant flux! This is the sole reason why we fear death. And when a person with insight sees this ultimate reality, the fear of death disappears. And when fear of death disappears all other fears disappear automatically.
When we contemplate on death in these terms, we see that death is nothing but extinguishing. Like disappearance of flame of the candle. If we see the flame of the candle with insight we see it as constant arising and passing away of burning particles with great rapidity. And finally when nothing is there to burn the flame extinguishes. And this is for sure no flame can remain there for eternity. Similarly no life can remain for eternity. Therefore, our contemplation on death should be that this flame of life can extinguish any time or any moment. So make best use of the remaining time in hand. Do good as far as possible, speak good as far as possible, think good as far as possible, help others as far as possible, donate generously as far as possible. Thus simply by contemplating on death even on auspicious occasions we can make our life beautiful and meaningful. And when death comes we can say: “Death, do your worst, I know you and I can smile”.