Universe: Meaningful living and dying

Water always runs downhill. It is impossible that it will ever run uphill. Almost without our noticing it, our lives run out. Those of us who accept the value of spiritual practice may think about our future lives, but in our hearts we focus principally on the purposes of this life. This is how we become confused and entrapped in the cycle of existence. We waste our lives. Right from the time of our birth, we are approaching death. Yet, we spend our lives mainly amassing food, clothing, and friends. At the time of death, we have to leave all of this behind. We have to travel to the next world alone, unaccompanied.

The only thing that will benefit us is if we have undertaken some spiritual practice and have left some positive imprints within our minds.

If we are to stop wasting our lives and provoke ourselves to do spiritual practice, we have to meditate on impermanence and our own mortality — the fact that from the moment of our birth, our bodies are naturally impermanent and subject to disintegration.

Engaging in spiritual practices is not meant to just benefit this life, but to bring peace and happiness in the lives after death. One thing that hampers our practice is our tendency to think that we will live for a long time.

On the other hand, the person who is more concerned about his or her life after death is like a person who wants to travel. A traveller makes preparations to meet every eventuality and successfully reach his or her destination. As a result of death meditation, a practitioner becomes less obsessed with the affairs of this life — name and fame, possessions, social status.

Awareness of death can be developed through both formal and analytical meditation. You must first understand the certainty of death intellectually. It is not some obscure theoretical issue, but an obvious and observable fact. Our world is believed to be some five billion years old, and the human race has been in existence for the past 1,00,000 years. Over such a long period of time, is there even one human being who did not have to face death? It makes no difference who you are; you have to die.

The advantage of developing an awareness of death is that it will help you make your life meaningful. You need next to think about how unpredictable it is. We all know death will come one day. The problem is that we always think it will be sometime in the future. Death does not follow any rule or order. Anyone can die at any time, whether they are old or young, rich or poor, sickly or well. We hold this human body dear, believing that it is strong and will last a long time. But reality defies our hopes.

Your own body has been your most reliable, firmest companion since your very conception. You have done all you can to give it the best care. You have fed it so that it will not be hungry; you have given it drink when it was thirsty. You have rested when it was tired. You have been prepared to do anything and everything for the care, comfort, and protection of your body. In fairness, your body has also served you. It has always been ready to fulfil your needs.

But when death strikes, your body gives up. Your consciousness and your body separate, and your precious body becomes simply a dreadful corpse. Thus, in the face of death, your wealth and possessions, friends and relatives, and even your own body can do you no good. The only thing that can help you face the unknown is the virtue you have planted on the stream of your consciousness.

— As told to Rajiv Mehrotra

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