Humanity suffers from illusions -
Greatest of them is Death ! by Dada J P Vaswani - Appeared in Speaking
Tree post on June 21, 2011
Let me quote an
incident from the Life of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa. When he passed away on
the night of 15th August, 1883 at the age of fifty, his wife Sharadamani, who
is regarded as the Holy Mother, felt that she had become a widow and had no
right to wear the bangles on her arms. In those days widows were not supposed
to wear any bangles on their arms. She had worn these bangles at the age of
five when she had got married to Sri Ramakrishna who was twenty three at that
time. In the meantime her wrists had grown. She could not take her bangles off.
She applied soap and other things but the bangles wouldn’t slip out of arms.
She said to herself, ‘’I have no choice but to break these bangles.’’ She took
a hammer in hand to break them and when she was about to strike she heard a
voice. It was the voice of Sri Ramakrishna and she heard him say, ‘’Sharda,
what are you doing? I have not died. I have but passed from one room to
another.’’
That is what death is.
Only a movement from one room to another. Death to me is very much like
sunset…The sun appears to set, but you know that the sun never sets. What is
sunset here is sunrise elsewhere.
What is death here is
birth somewhere else. Death should be taken as a ‘connect’ between this world
and the next. And to such next which is better, nobler, happier and more
beautiful, more radiant than this world also.
We do not really need
to have any fear of death. Accept it as a passing phase and to empower yourself
with strength of facing it, sing the name of God. Sing it with every breath
that you take in and send out. As you sing the name, breathe out the
aspiration, ‘’The sea is vast my skiff is small; But Thy name I know will take
me across!’’
As you sing the name
in love and in faith, all fear of death will vanish from your heart as mist
before the rising sun. You will learn to look upon death as a bridge between
you and your beloved. And thus you will long for the day when you may be called
upon to cross the bridge. And you will exclaim in the words of St. Francis,
‘’Welcome, sister death’’! Death then will lose its sting. Death will become a
door entering which you may behold the beauteous face of the Beloved and abide
in His presence forever and ever more!
Lastly to summarize
the path to deliverance from death I say we must take note of three truths:-
·
One, know that transient are all earthly things and forms.
·
All that you see around you, will, one day- perish. - Everything carries
within it the seed of decay. The potter makes earthen vessels: They must all
break, one day. Such is the life of man. A man lives a hundred years or longer,
yet must he, one day depart. The rich and the poor, the young and the old, the
wise and the unwise are subject to death. This too you should know that there
is no escape. When the hour arrives, not all the armies of kings and conquerors
can save you from death. So it is that while friends and relatives helplessly
look on and shed tears, their dearly loved ones are snatched away by death.
·
With this knowledge the wise do not grieve over the dead. - Grief and
lamentation do not bring the dead to life. Rather they add to our suffering and
rob us of our richest treasure - peace of mind. The wise ones aspire to peace.
They grieve not, nor do they lament. They walk the way of acceptance. They
accept whatever comes - discomfort, disease, death and thus overcome suffering
and sorrow. And having overcome sorrow, freed they enter into the peace that
defies description. They are the truly blessed ones.
