BREAK FREE FROM
THE FEAR OF DEATH...

By Niranjan Mundhra

DEATH perhaps is the only certainty in this world. Yet the fear of death stalks most people. Literature, scriptures—Western and Eastern—regard the fear of Death as an intriguing and ubiquitous part of human life. We know we are mortals, yet we are afraid of the inevitable. We know we will die one day; yet we continue to behave as though we are going to live forever.

In Shakespeare's “Julius Caesar”, Caesar is surprised to find that people are frightened of death, which is, after all, an end that comes when destined. In Mahabharata, Yudhishthira in his renowned dialogue with Yaksha, expresses with greatest surprise that so many people die everyday, yet we, human beings, want to somehow avoid it. However, for people of knowledge, for the wise, death is the door to liberation—the passage to Moksha or Salvation, as goes the saying:

“Bina khud mare,
swarag nahi milta.”
(To go to heaven, one must die).

Of the four purusharthas (goals), Moksha is the noblest. The other three, dharma (right-ousness), artha (wealth), and kama (passion) are sought by ordinary people. Moksha ensures liberation from all limitations and attachments that bind us, and is the goal only of the wise. This road to liberation is to be found only in the correct knowledge of one's true nature, and that which is 'absolute'. Salvation lies in merging with this Absolute and the doorway to this is Death.

But there are several hurdles: Ignorance and incomplete knowledge of the concept of death as the beginning of the final journey. And to come out of this ignorance, spiritual inspiration is required as it motivates self-realisation, which, in turn, develops self-control and leads to freedom from attachment by switching off mental-preoccupation.

Abandonment of the sense of 'I' is essential as 'I and mine, you and yours' is Maya (delusion), captivating all human beings. One has to get out of this web spun by delusion and live in one's own divine nature. Indifference to objects of pain and pleasure helps make the mind steady. This is the crucial stage of sthitapragya [steadfastness].

I refer to an experience of watching a potters's wheel. However common the sight, it is an interesting parable of life to watch a potter shape a pot on his wheel as it 'utters' some of the most clinching eternal truths. An ordinary clod of mud behaves so obediently in the potter's hands and almost swiftly and magically gets imbued in type to assume a perfect shape.

The potter has to break the mud clod, make it slushy and trample upon it. Then he has to knead the clay to make it pliable. Saint Kabir sees an irony in this act. The earth, the potter is trampling upon, humbly cautions him:

'Maati kahe kumhar se
tu kya ronde mohe,
Ek din aisa aayega
mei rondugi toi.'
(You maul me today. But mind you, a day shall come when i shall likewise maul you...)

Kabir compares the potter to a guru and the pot to a pupil. The potter beats the pot with one hand to mend it, even as his other hand guards the pot from inside. The guru's admonitions, likewise, have an undercurrent of love for the pupil.

The quality of living is of more importance, says Montaigne:

'The advantage of living is not measured by length, but by use. Some men have lived long and lived little. Attend to it while you are in it. It lies in your will, not in the number of years, for you to have lived enough...'

The following verse illustrates this concept well:

'O build your ship of death....
            O build it now, for you will need it,

For the voyage of the oblivion awaits you.'

I mention herewith a teaching by Sri Ramakrishna:

'Flies sit at times on the sweetmeats kept exposed for sale in the shop of a confectioner; but no sooner does a sweeper pass by with a basketful of filth than the flies leave the sweetmeats and sit upon the filth. But a honeybee...always sucks honey from flowers. The worldly men are like flies. At times, they get momentary taste of divine sweetness, but their natural tendency for the filth soon brings them back to the dunghill of the world. A god-man is, however, always absor-bed in the beatific contemplation of divine beauty.'

Let us all endeavour to become a clod of mud in the hands of our potter, Satguru, and do away with our tendency of being 'flies', to enhance the quality of living rather than the quantum of living. Also worth-mentioning is an inspiration from the well-known poet H.W. Longfellow:

        'Life is real ...
        Life is earnest ...
        And the grave is not its goal;
        Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
        Was not spoken of the soul.'

Let us pray with folded hands to our master of the time, Satguru, to lead us ...

From unreal to real,
From darkness to light
From death to immortality.

As George Santayana says:

'There is no clue for life and death save to enjoy the interval...'

And this interval can be enjoyed by basking in the glory of the Master, as only he can bless us with the stamina and strength required to break free from the clutches of deadly death, before it overpowers us.

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