Question:

Dearest Ektaji, My first boss and mentor who became a very good friend just died this morning. I have known him since 1985. Part of me feels ignorant/lost and part of me feels thirsty. I feel Lost because I do not have good knowledge about death and thirsty because I feel a strong need to get the correct knowledge about death. Part of me is content and centered another part of me just wants to scream as loud as I can. Yet, another part of me just wants to cry out loud. Please guide/help me with this situation.

Answer:

It is just because of the fear of Death that emotions come up.

Is Death scary? Painful?

NO! There is really nothing to fear. Death is nothing to be afraid of. Nobody is going to fry you in Oil. All that only happens in comics and story books. Drop this unfounded fear!

What is Death?

Death is just a process of discarding this piece of Prakriti(human body) that one has adopted. The people who you leave behind are the ones that miss you because of their own attachment to your piece of Prakriti. But you are not affected at all. You just simply move on because you are not that piece of Prakriti that you call body. It is just the covering!

Then why is the fear of Death so predominant in all?

The small mind is afraid of losing the samsara of people, situations and things. That’s why it creates the fear of death as if the fear will push the ‘time of death’ away. It doesn’t matter whether you fear the time of your own death or the time of death of your close ones. It is the same. It is the same tendency of the mind because it feeds on this samsara. It feeds on the thoughts of this samsara. Recognize this poor tendency of the mind. It imagines losing its identity at Death because the naive mind makes you feel that you are the body and all that is real is only this ‘fake samsara’.

Only people with a small mind get stuck in such thoughts. You make your Viveka stronger than the mind. Don’t get stuck in its smallness. You become BIGGER than this mind. Drop this poor tendency and stand up tall. The wise one laughs at his own little mind. Just laugh at the weird emotions that come up. Be BIGGER than the mind. Stand up tall….. Open your arms and embrace life courageously as it is, without a desire for it to be otherwise!

And then at the time of your own Death, embrace Death with wide open arms too! Because you are indestructible!

Jise Shastra Kaate, na agni jalaye, galaaye na paani, na mrityu mitaye! Wahi Aatma satchidananda MAI hoon! Shivo hum! Shivo Hum! Shiva swarupo hum –

Listen to this bhajan and be a witness to all that is happening! Birth and Death are just milestones in this very long journey. You don’t stop at Death….. The journey continues! Charetveti! Charetveti! Keep moving! Keep moving!