Swami's
thoughts on Death
Following are
some quotes on the topic of Death, picked from
the Divine discourses of Swami.
The baby weeps
as soon as it is born because the individual
being has no desire to get entangled in the
objective world once again. Science describes it
as the process of breathing for the first time
and clearing of the air passages. But why should
it weep? The process can be started by some
other way, say, shaking or shivering, is it
not?
This life
which begins with a wail must end with a smile.
When you were a little baby, all around you
smiled though you kept on wailing. But when you
die round you weep at the loss, you should smile
in peace and quiet resignation.
Reduce your
wants. Minimize your desires. When death
deprives you of resistance, your kith & kin take
off the nosestud and in their haste, they may
even cut the nose to retrieve it. If you go on
heaping desire upon desire, it will be
impossible to depart gladly when the call comes.
Do not attach
yourself too much to the body or to the things
that bring comfort to it. You earn three friends
in this life:
-
The first:
the riches you accumulate, which refuse to
come with you when you move out of this
life.
-
The
second: the kith & kin who accompany your
body only up to the burial ground or
cremation ghat.
-
The third:
the merit and demerit you have earned, which
accompany you to the last.
When once
Brahma asked sage Naaradha what was the most
amazing thing he noticed on earth, Naaradha
replied, 'The most amazing thing I saw was this:
The dying are weeping over the dead.'
Those who are themselves nearing death every
moment are weeping over those who have died, as
if their weeping has an effect, either to revive
the dead or prevent their own death!
Grief sends
you to God. When a child dies, ask yourself the
question, 'Is it for my sake that he was born?'
He had his own destiny to fulfil, his own
history to work out. Gauthama Buddha's father
was so overcome with grief when he saw his son
with a begging bowl in the street, that he told
him thus: 'Everyone of my ancestors was a King.
What misfortune is this that a beggar was born
in this line?' Buddha replied 'Every one of my
ancestors had a beggar's bowl, I know of no king
in my line.'
Feel that you
are born with the dawn of every day; that you
nestle in the lap of death when your eyes close
in sleep. For, what happens in deep sleep? The
body, the senses, the mind, the intelligence –
all is negated and there is no trace of
awareness of the world. Know that waking from
sleep is but birth and going into sleep is
death.
Forgetting the
primary goal of life, man wastes his time. Time
is precious. Death is dangling its sword over
every head. Our life span is fast diminishing,
like water leaking through a broken pot or a
melting block of ice. Death overtakes man even
before he realizes his mission in life.
When we want
to go to a cinema, or for an evening walk, we
get ready by putting on our shoes. When we want
to visit a nearby town, we pack our clothes in a
bag. But what preparations do you make for the
ultimate journey, the voyage of death?
All are
beggars at the gate of God. The hero is he who
does not beg or cringe or flatter or fawn. He
knows that the Lord knows best.
Source:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/saibabanews/message/7078