Why Death

Date: Sun 04 Oct 2009 08:57:21 -0000
To: AM-GLOBAL  
From: "Jawaharlal Thakur"  
Subject: Why Death Baba 

"Toma'r katha' bheve bheve din ye cale ja'y..." - P.S. 1703 

Purport: 

Baba, my days are passing thinking about You. In Your ideation, in Your sadhana, in Your dhyana. In that deep contemplation, my mind goes on floating towards its origin. But I never reach to the shore-- the terminus. In this vast cosmic creation, my value is just like one tiny drop in the huge ocean. In spite of this, I have longing for You and I have the full conviction that I will get You. By Your grace I will always be ensconced in Your longing. I do not know when the culmination of my dhyana is going to happen. And when You will accept me; or when Your divine form will become effulgent in the core of my heart. This only can happen when You grace me. Baba, in Your longing, my days are passing-- thinking and ideating about You... 

== WHY DEATH ==

Namaskar, In many communities and religions, death is looked upon as one dark, looming cloud that is hovering over us. For many, death is totally horrifying. It is "the end", "judgment day", "doomsday", and so many frightening things. But in AM, it is not at all like that. Baba has graciously removed all the fear from the prospect of dying. Below are His rational and loving explanations about the role of death. Plus Baba clearly states that in just 15 or 20 years, every sadhaka in AM can realise Him - thus gaining an eternal place on His Lap.

OUR VIEW OF DEATH

In simple language, Baba clearly explains what is death. Baba says, "Do you know what death is? Death means a change of form. A boy of five years became a young man – now, the body of that boy underwent death. That young man became old – the body of that young man underwent death. That old man died and he again came here in the form of a little boy – the body of that old man underwent death. Death means a change of form.

Va'sa'm'si jiirn'ani yatha' viha'ya nava'ni grhn'a'ti naro’para'n'i;
Tatha' shariira'ni viha'ya jiirn'a'nya'ni sam'ya'ti nava'ni dehii.

“Just as you change the old cloth for a new cloth, similarly you change the old body and you reappear in this world in a new body.” This is what death is." (SS-24)

Thus death is nothing but a change in shape or form where one exchanges their old body for a new one. Death then is not the end, but rather a bridge to a new beginning. It is a needed avenue for continued growth. We can also think of it this way. It is just like if we have a radio that we use for a long time and then one day it breaks. Then any sensible person will go and purchase a new radio. That is the way it works.

Similarly, we are His tools - we are His hands and feet. And when our bodies become too old and broken down to execute their tasks, then He simply exchanges our physical body for a new one. It is as simple as that. It is just like if we are operating a bicycle renting business. When one bicycle can no longer function then we just exchange it for a new one. In His divine liila, Parama Purusa is doing the same thing. There is no difference.

DEATH IS JUST CHANGE, NOTHING MORE

Here Baba explains further about the nature of death.

Baba says, "We should explain what maran'a [mortality, death] is. Maran'a means change. Death is nothing but a change. A five-year-old child is transformed in due course into a fifteen-year-old boy. In ten years the child becomes the boy. Thereafter you will never be able to find the body of the five-year-old child. So the child’s body has certainly died. So maran'a means change."

"Because of the physical transformation, the earlier body has become difficult to trace. Likewise, after another ten years, the boy will be transformed into a youth; after some time more, the same youth will become a middle-aged man. And still later he will become an old, infirm man. The same one entity has moved through a series of transformations, and in the process every earlier form has undergone change, metamorphosis, some kind of death. When finally the physical body of the old man undergoes a still more radical transformation, he will be reborn as a new baby. This stage of radical transformation we call death."

"The previous changes we did not consider death, because we could link the earlier stages to the later stages. We could say that the fifteen-year-old adolescent had grown up into a twenty-five-year-old youth. We could find the link. But when an old, infirm gentleman becomes reborn as a child, we cannot find the link. That is why we give the last change of the body of the old man the name “death”. The rest of the changes we do not call death; but in fact all the changes qualify as death." (SS-21)

In His above teachings, Baba explains how death happens all the time. But we do not consider those changes death because we can trace the continuum of one's human growth. We only consider it death when one gives up their physical body entirely. But in the true sense, what we call death happens all the time. It is only because we lose the link from one body to the next that people feel so frightened by physical death and feel it is something permanent.

But in AM, we know it is all His loving liila, so we understand that death is merely one process that is needed for one's continued growth and development. It allows human beings to take new birth and continue their journey towards Him. At the same time, as AM sadhakas, for us this one life is enough to attain Him. More about this is written further down in this letter.

DEATH OCCURS ALL THE TIME

Here again, Baba explains how death is a most ordinary and common phenomenon.

Baba says, "In every post-exhalation pause, there occurs the death of the unit being. But after gathering vitality for the second time from this death or state of pause, the unit being comes alive again during the next inhalation. If, after the full cycle of inhalation and exhalation, the physical mechanism is unable to gather vital force from the state of pause, further inhalation becomes
 impossible and what we commonly call death occurs. Actually, the unit structure dies thousands of times every day, after every exhalation." (HS-2)

So death is as commonplace as breathing. It is only when one cannot trace the link from the final exhale in one body to the first inhale in the next body that makes death so scary for some people.

REACH THE GOAL IN THIS LIFE

So, death is really nothing but a change - from one body to the next. And in various discourses Baba has revealed that it does not take long for the body to be reborn. It can happen relatively quickly within just a few years, or even less. It is His wish. In the past, the yogis of old would string together two or three lifetimes to complete their mission. By His grace they would receive the same mantra in their next birth by one siddha microvita. And their journey would continue from one life to the next. No longer is it so difficult.

Baba says, "The people of today do not have to labour quite as hard as Vaishishta and Vishvamitra had to do in order to discover the way to move ahead, because modern science and philosophy today are valuable aids to human progress. The people of today are able to realize the Supreme Entity in one life, or maybe in 15 to 20 years, for which they had to practice penance for lives together in the past." (AFPS-3)

By His grace, every initiated and practicing Ananda Margii can reach the Supreme Goal in just a short span of time. Thus there is no question of death and rebirth to complete the journey. By His grace the sadhaka can bask in eternal bliss in a short period of time, eternally remaining on His lap.

DEATH IS NEEDED, NOT SCARY
 

To review, most find death to be a scary phenomenon because they lose the link from one life to the next. Or they think that death is the end. Materialists fall in this category. With our AM spiritual outlook, death is something most ordinary, no different from breathing or getting older. It is just a point of transition, where one continues their spiritual journey. It is one needed element because the body has become too old and a new one is needed by the sadhaka to fulfill their essential duties. That is all.

Death then is nothing but a special opportunity to gain new form and complete the journey. Even then, even more special, is that with AM sadhana, one need not see death as a change in form. Rather it is a time to remain eternally one with Baba. Because with the highly specialized practices of Ananda Marga, one is sure to reach the Divine Goal in a short span of time. By doing service and sadhana we can complete the journey. That is Baba's supreme edict and divine guarantee.

BABA'S BLESSING

By His grace, Baba has removed all the mystery and fear surrounding death and at the same time given us the key to reaching Him in this very life.

Baba says, "So the very purpose of our human creation is to follow the true dharma; is to maintain spiritual practices in this very life, and to become one in Him. So dharma sa'dhana' [means that] by following dharma we follow our sa'dhana', we follow our spiritual practices. By following the spiritual practices we become one with Him. That is the final victory... Realize that Supreme Being within you. This is your dharma, this is your path; and let this path be yours, and victory will surely be yours." (AV-31)

Namaskar,
Jawaharlal

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Special Creation

Baba says, "There is one defect in jinanis. Two jinanis cannot agree on any point. Among them, many jinanis believe that agreeing means accepting one's defeat. Indeed there are some godly qualities in jinanis. Such as they can speak in flowery language. Or that with their grandiloguence they can prove day as night, and night as day. If in daytime one jinani tells to anyone that it is night, or if during the night they tell that it is day, and if the next person does not accept what the jinani is telling, then the jinani will use the their logic and reasoning to prove that person as a top-grade fool. And he (the jinani) will make it look like this one simple thing the next person could not understand. Because of this in the sciptures is it said, 'Mathitva...' Meaning, that if an unfathomable amoung of milk is turned into butter and whey, then jinanis argue and quarel about the whey and in so doing the butter gets rotten and destroyed." (Varna Victira (H), p. 49-50)

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