Death

[Guest guest]

why is death so scary even thought it is the most natuaral thing?

[livingentity]

should not be scary to devotees because of understanding that the body is not the true self but only the temporary carrier.

 

Those without this understanding are afraid of death.

[theist]

It is scary because it is unnatural. We are life by nature. Death is the antithesis to our very being. Unnatural to the core. so naturally the concept is abhorrent to any soul that feels threatened by it.

 

The self realized know it has no meaning for them and therefore do not fear death.

[livingentity]

Up until I started reading and studying Prabhupada's books etc I had an incredible fear of death - almost paralyzing fear. I think this came from losing relatives at a very young age and not really understanding what was going on.

 

Prabhupada has helped me to get over this intense fear but I still have the fear hit me every so often. It is a weird feeling as it just suddenly hits me - like a sudden jolt - a wake-up call of sorts. I am better at fending it off now with chanting etc.

 

 

[theist]

I am uncomfortable with the thought. I keep having the same vision of myself having just 'died' and I am surrounded by higher beings and feeling really embarassed that I blew so many oppurtunities to get it together. A sense of shame is upon me as I realize i never really helped anyone come closer to God and just prefered to waste time in nonsense pursuits.

 

What I do have is a real fear of is being forced again into another womb/tomb. I see them as similar and think of fetus life as a form of being buried alive. Freaks me out to think about it.

 

Then to take birth and go through this whole miserable thing again.

 

God please help me!

[armisael108]

Funnily enough for me it was the inverse. Before reading Prabhupada's book I hoped for death to come to me. (Not suicidal though) Everytime I heard someone died closed to where I lived I felt, "Shucks I wasn't there in that person's place."

 

I foolishly thought that death was going to be the end of my mental miseries. I was a voidist. Prabhupada is slowly but surely saving me from this disease of voidism. Like the second pranali prayer to Prabhupada. "He came to deliver people from impersonalism and voidism."

 

Jaya Srila Prabhupada!!

[livingentity]

Prabhupada has greatly eased my fear - helping me to understand more about what death really is or is not.

 

Like Theist, I am not thrilled with the thought of having to come back to this again though. Birth itself is painful and traumatic enough but then to have to go through this material life process is just too much sometimes for me to even think about.

 

One other thing that I attribute to my past intense fear of death is that I did basically die as an infant from double pneumonia. My family still wonders at how it is that I am still here as they were told by the doctors that I was dead. I think that deep in my sub-conscious I remember this incident. I totally freak whenever I get a chest cold!! Serious freak out sometimes and the old fear becomes harder to control.

[theist]

LE, you say infant so do you remember anything consciously of the event?

[livingentity]

No, I do not consiously remember any of it. I was not even a year old when this happened to me.

 

Oddly enough, I have tears in my eyes now from this.

[theist]

I can identify with it in a way. I remember a recent past death. Somehow I fell over a steep cliff and to this day I can't go near any high edges. I get very anxious, tight and dizzy near rooftop edges and the like.

 

This whole process sucks. Nightmare; nothing more or less.

[livingentity]

I also remember a past death of drowning. I have an incredible fear of the water and can not even look at films of divers or anything under the water. My heart pounds so hard I feel like I am going to pass out and I have to leave the room. I can not go on a wharf unless it is very large and I can stay from the edge. Boats - forget it.

 

I asked my family about this as they are all "water people" types and they tell me I have never been in an accident etc (in this life at least!) on water.

 

I also have just as intense fear of driving!! I mentioned in another thread my recurring dream of dying in a car accident involving going off of a bridge. One note of interest about the dream - I am a man!! Because of this I have never gotten a driver's license and I am 50 years old!!

[armisael108]

Pasts deaths, no experiences, but death in dreams I've experienced so often that I get bored of them and don't wake up anymore (from the so-called trauma). The amazing thing is to be 'reborn' in the dream itself. Scary... trust me, you get used to some set of senses in the dream, then in the next 'birth' you have a completely new set of mentality and senses.

 

[theist]

And now you live in the dessert. Myself I feel for some reason that I MUST live by water, specifically an ocean. I don't go out on it but take some comfort knowing that I am close to it.

 

No drivers license? Now their are two of us in the world. I'm 51 and never had a license either. Although I have had several cars for short periods when I was forced to.

 

When I was a teenager I had a learners permit and a Chevy. I picked up a hitchhiker one day and we both witnessed a dumptruck collide with another car and we helped push it off this woman that was smashed against a pole. Horrible.

 

I sold my car to the hitchhiker and never wanted to drive again. I have this fear of running over some innocent person.

 

Maybe that wreck brought to the surface some time when I hit someone out of negligence and I still feel some buried guilt. I don't know, but I think so.

[theist]

armiseal, I think that is very rare. I kinda remember one dream where I died when I was young. I had heard when you died in a dream you then really died so I was surprised to be alive in the morning. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

But to then be reborn in the same dream is wild. First I have heard of that.

[I_love_krishna_]

We are usually afraid of the Unknown...

 

I am afraid of the dark (no laughing please /images/graemlins/crazy.gif ) when the power went out like 2 weeks ago I freaked out , because darkness makes everything in front of me disappear out of my site and it is basically my mind's version of the "unknown".

 

Thats why we are also afraid of Ghosts and UFOs and what not , because they are all a mystery and are part of the "unknown" /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

It is the same thing with Death, death is the "unknown" , so we are afraid of it.

 

[livingentity]

Wow, that was a tramatic experience! I know it is my recurring dream that keeps me from getting my license. I go year after year and renew my permit (it is almost a joke now at the DMV!). I have driven but it is just too much for me to handle. I have to gear myself up too much and then I almost have heart failure the whole way. Much easier to use public transport!! Sure accidents can still happen but I will not have the guilt of being responsible.

 

 

[livingentity]

that is normal. It is really dark out here at night and if I have to go outside I get very apprehensive about it. I have a big spotlight that I use instead of a flashlight!! I could land planes with it!! /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[I_love_krishna_]

I have a big spotlight that I use instead of a flashlight!! I could land planes with it!

--------------------------

 

Can you send it to me as a birthday present /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[livingentity]

I don't remember where I got it but the beam reaches several acres because there is nothing here to block the beam( at least 10). It is 1,000,000 candle power and you would blind yourself if you look at it! It is totally cool!

 

I think I could communicate with UFO's with it! /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Guest guest]

Our strong attachment to the body is the most important reason for our fear of death. We are so used to enjoying the material world that, we cannot imagine to do away without such an enjoyment. And soul needs this body for enjoyment, even though, it is known not to last long. Even though, crores of people are dead, and they are definitely reincarnated somewhere, but we do not know, where and in which form. Thus, the uncertainity of getting human form again also haunts us. These are the main reasons for the fear of death, I feel.

[Sadhna4God]

You are totally right in stating that people fear death because they are attached to their physical body. Just as Arjuna in the Gita people too fear death. Not only dying themselves but also watching people die. However Lord Krishna tells Arjun and explains to him in the first chapter "

[mahak]

The Birth of Death, as told by mahaksadasa 1999

 

In the beginning of time, the human beings lived in the clear air, and as their sustenamce, they moved within the air without effort. The Earth was then made of pure honey, and, first a few, then many more, descended by the desire to taste the sweet flavor. An addiction developed, and though they did not require the honey, they began to eat more and more. Gradually, the human beings became too heavy to fly any more, and their wings fell off to become the world's mountains. These mountains formed a crust over the Earth's surface as well as harnessed the clouds to deliver the rains and the seeds of vegetation.

 

When the last human had landed to fly no more, male and female forms began to develop as compatible with terrestrial living. These forms developed desire for one another and were thus able to procreate the species.

 

Since at this time, the human beings were immortal, the increase of their kind created an unbearable situation for the Earth. Hearing the cries of the humans on Her surface, the Earth approached Lord Brahma, the creator. Lord Brahma was perplexed, and, finding no solution to the problem, He experianced great anger. This anger began to consume the entire cosmos with the fires of annihilation, and Lord Brahma was thus satisfied.

 

Lord Shiva arrived and immediately bowed to Lord Brahma's feet, begging, "Be merciful, O Lord, do not destroy what You have created."

 

Lord Brahma: "I have no mercy, just anger.

 

Lord Shiva: "If this were the case, I would not have come before You. Your whole creation is blasted with fire, please look upon the human beings in another way."

 

Lord Brahma: "Mata Earth begged for help, crying pitiously, but I cannot solve Her problem. I know why She cries, She is sinking in the Causal Ocean from the weight of Her people, but I have no solution."

 

Lord Shiva: "Then al creation is but ashes."

 

Lord Brahma: "I withdraw all anger and restore everything as before, but the problem remains, I have great doubt."

 

As Lord Shiva was about to leave, assured by the universal restoration, Lord Brahma noticed a being created by His six senses, a woman with red eyes and tanned skin, brilliant in beauty and ornaments. Smiling pleasantly to the Two Lords, She went her own way to the South.

 

Lord Brahma called out to Her, "Wait, Death. Kill all creatures, beginning with idiots and priests."

 

Death replied: "Never. It is cruel, go away from me."

 

She ran away, but Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva tolerated Her insistance, following her and persuading her, to no avail. Death was allowed to wander the creation without taking any life for 100,277,000,008,000 years. Lord Brahma again appeared before Her, Saying, "Death, I have not seen you for a moment, what are you doing?"

 

"I will never kill for You" was Her steadfast promise.

 

Lord Brahma looked at the winsome girl, and replied, "Then I must make them equal. You will not have to kill them, you will never kill gods, demons or human beings. I now create greed, envy, anger, and shame, jealousy and passion. From Your tears, I make war and disease. Do nothing, they will all come to You. You will not be the cause or the prevention of death, but You must greet all who come to You well in their hour. They will kill themselves, and only fools will weep over what none can avoid."

 

Upon hearing this solution to Lord Brahma's delimna, Lord Shiva began to dance, for until this time, though He had raised His foot, He had never put it down.