To Overcome Fear, Chant The Name of God

[Guest guest]

THE SPEAKING TREE: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1492316.cms

SWAMI MUKTANANDA

 

I did a great deal of sadhana in

cremation grounds. These are good for sadhana, for realisation. Whenever

I saw all those dead bodies, I would tell myself that eventually, this

was going to be my state.

 

There, gazing at the grounds, I would

recollect Kabir's verse: "What is so remarkable about his body?/ What is

so remarkable about this mind?/ What is so remarkable about your wealth

and everything else that you have?/ As you are watching these things,

they fade into dust./

 

Look at your own life/ As you are

watching it,/ it just withers away". We cling to wealth, we cling to the

mind, but in the end, none of these matter; they leave us when we die.

We fear death for no good reason.

 

We are going to die anyway, so why not

accept it with courage? Very few are happy about dying. People know that

they are going to die eventually but they never want to die right now,

in this moment.

 

When a person is about to die, all his

actions — good or bad, virtuous or sinful — appear as images before him.

There are two paths after death. One filled with light and joy, and the

other with darkness and fear.

 

If you have been virtuous on earth, you

will attain heaven. But just as the pleasures of this earth pass, so do

the pleasures of heaven. As long as one has a fund of merits one can

enjoy these pleasures, but the moment one's merits are spent one must

leave heaven and be reborn.

 

One who has committed many sins will

suffer in hell. But once he has undergone the consequences of his bad

actions, he is reborn. When a person dies, he has to abide by the

judgment of God.

 

We reap the consequences of our

actions that are governed by the law of karma. The ways of karma are

unfathomable but the fruits always correspond to the actions. When an

individual dies, the soul leaves his body and adopts the next form

according to his karma.

 

Therefore, one must meditate.

Bhartrihari said: "As long as the body is healthy,/ As long as old age

is far away,/ As long as your senses are strong,/ You should remember

the Lord".

 

To wait until one is dying is like

trying to dig a well when one's house is on fire. There are two things

one must remember all the time; God and death. Whatever a person thinks

of when he leaves his body, that alone he attains.

 

Therefore, whatever is in one's mind at

the moment of death is significant. Holy chants keep rever-berating

inside us. Those who remember God constantly in this way will attain the

state of God at the time of death. They have no fear of death.