Bhaktisandesam / Why do we fear death?

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How to Approach Death:

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from Gyan Rajhans, M.Sc. (Eng.), P.Eng,CIH,ROH

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" Death is not extinguishing the light; it is putting out the lamp

because dawn has come. "

~ Rabindranath Tagore

 

As I am growing older, I am beginning to think of life after death.

The fear of death is founded upon the love of life, which is the

deepest instinct in human nature. I am talking about death as a

natural phenomenon; death as it makes its presence felt through

disease and through old age, is hugely different from deaths due to

accidents and natural calamities, for the latter is a totally

different directive process, which I am yet to understand.

 

The Fear Factors

Let us first accept the fact that most of us loathe death because of

the uncertainty of its time and place. Failure to survive when the

time comes is the basic fear. The unwillingness to face this fear

with proper understanding is due to the emphasis we lay upon the

physical body.

 

It is also based upon an innate fear of loneliness due to the loss of

those we have been familiar with during our worldly existence.

Loneliness After Death

The thought of loneliness after death establishes the fact that there

is life after death. Simply put, there are now many evidences in

favor of the existence of soul consciousness after death based on

reams of anecdotes of " out-of-body " experiences.

 

As Francis Bacon has said in one of his aphorisms: " It is as natural

to die as to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as

painful as the other. " Yet, the loneliness after death is nothing as

compared to the loneliness at birth. At birth, the soul finds itself

in new surroundings and in a body which is at first totally

incompetent to take care of itself or to establish intelligent

contact with surrounding conditions for a long period of time. The

child at birth has no recollection of identity of the family members

with whom he finds himself in relationship. This loneliness only

disappears gradually as he comes in contact with those who are

congenial to him and eventually becomes his friends and families.

 

Afterlife Consciousness

After death, however there is no loneliness. The person after death

finds those who he knows and who have been connected with him in

physical plane. They may be his parents, his relatives and his

friends who died before him. Moreover, after death the person is also

conscious of those friends and family members who are still alive. He

can see them, he can tune in on their emotions, and also upon their

thinking. (Read the biography of Sir Mackenzie King, the ex-Prime

Minister of Canada, a devout Christian, who believed in an afterlife

and communicated with his dead relatives in séances.)

 

Can We Welcome Death?

One must accept the fact that the consciousness remains the same

whether in physical body or out of it. This consciousness continues

to develop with even greater ease than when limited and conditioned

by the brain consciousness while in physical body. Death releases the

individualized life into a less cramped and confined existence.

Therefore, one has no need to fear death or anything that lies beyond

it. In fact, one should welcome it, because one will be making a

transition to a higher consciousness. Freedom from the limitations of

the physical body is of real beneficence.

 

Let the Soul Live On…

The Bhagwad Gita talks about the eternal soul and the necessity for

that soul to live spiritually, constructively and divinely within the

physical body. So, why not make our physical existence as pleasant as

we can for others so that they will remember us for years afterwards?

What have we to lose?

 

Become Soul Conscious!

We brought nothing with us when we came, and would take nothing with

us when we leave this world. In fact, we will leave a little extra

behind if we lead a life of goodness and philanthropy. If we become

soul-conscious, death will be an " ordered " process, carried out in

full consciousness and with understanding of cyclic purpose.

 

Once understood, the fear of death ceases. It gives us a certain

power to control our passing over to the other side of the veil. Let

us approach death with as much normalcy as we can manage.

 

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Jai Shree Krishna !