(Photo by Mikhail Peace, courtesy of Pexels.)
Everybody has to die one day or another. Nobody can avoid death. That’s why we should know what death means. In death, we simply lose our body, that’s all. But the real you is never born and never dies. It is only the body that dies. Of course, we all should try to keep the body in as good shape as possible. But, even with all of our care, some part may become old or worn out for some reason.
Like parts of a car, body parts also get worn out. And when they do, we can try to get spare parts or refurbish them. But for how long can you do that? One day or another you may have to let it go. When you cannot repair anymore or it becomes too old and it can’t run, you have to junk it.
Everybody and every body will die one day or another. But, the body is not the essence of a person. People live in a body. They use a body to move around the round in this world. We use the body, like we use a car to get around in. If your car was to break down because of the long usage or because of an accident, wouldn’t you discard it by sending it to the junkyard and getting a new model? In the same way, when a person loses their body, which we call dying, they get a new body.
There are many reasons why we lose the use of the body. Sometimes, we abuse our bodies by working too much. Again, we can compare the body to any type of machine. If you overwork the machine it will get worn out very quickly. We see this happen in the lives of athletes who overwork their bodies. By training, overtraining, straining, and abusing the body, it soon gets worn out. I am not saying that we shouldn’t exercise the body. I am only suggesting that whatever exercise that you do, do it in moderation.
At the same time, we should also know what kind of fuel our special vehicle requires in order to work with maximum efficiency. That is why I recommend a healthy, well-balanced, vegetarian diet. But even with all the right rest, proper exercise, healthy foods, and so on, there is still a time limit to the life of the body. Aren’t our cars also made in the same way? The manufacturers build them in such a way that they may run well for ten years or so. No matter how good care you take of the car, if you use it regularly it won’t last beyond a certain time and usage.
Our vehicles—our bodies—are also made for a certain time limit. And if you take the optimal care and perform all the preventive maintenance they can last for 100 years or so. If you don’t take such good care of them, they may begin to disintegrate sooner. But eventually, they will all disintegrate.
We should always remember that dying means only losing the body. You will get a new body. Isn’t it nice to get a new car? You don’t always want to use an old car. So, when you die you can get a brand new car. If people knew this they won’t be so fearful of death. So, when the time comes that the body has to die, accept that.
There is also a deeper understanding of the meaning of death when viewed from a spiritual perspective. First, we should understand why we were born. Is there a purpose to our lives? I would say that there is. All the souls are in the process of growth and evolution. When you are born, you are given a body to live in to enable your soul to have various experiences. Then when your soul has completed that learning, it will drop the body and move on. It is something like students who enroll in the university. When they are there as students they will study and learn and when they have completed their courses they will graduate.
Then if you want to go on to graduate school what happens? You transfer over to another school. In the same way, if the soul wants to continue its journey it will get another vehicle. Don’t think that this is the one and only body we will ever have.
When the soul has gained all the knowledge that is to be gained through this body you are using in this life, then the body is no longer needed. This is similar to the idea of the fruit ripening process. Until it is ripe, the fruit sticks to the tree. In the same way, the soul sticks to the body in order to further its ripening process. When it’s all ripe it drops out of the body and the body dies. If we really understand what death means we won’t be so afraid of death.
The South Indian sage, Thiruvalluvar, said: “The soul is like a bird still inside the egg. When the time comes it breaks the egg and flies away.” A soul wants to soar but the body is a fetter. We are all confined in these shells. Because we have gotten used to this life in the body, we think this is all there is. We become attached to this physical body and life on this earth. We don’t want to leave it and go when our time here is completed.
That is what you call “maya.” It is the veil of ignorance that falls over us and makes us believe this is the only life there is and that the Self is not eternal. We are hypnotized by the belief that we have only lived one life and that we are here for no other purpose than what we see before our physical eyes. This lack of understanding causes us to limit ourselves.
Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, a young man went to visit a very wealthy friend. The friend was a rich woman who lived in a beautiful, palatial house and had a parrot as a pet. Inside the spacious living room, he saw a beautiful golden cage that was the home of the parrot. As he entered the room, he heard the parrot crying, “I want freedom! I want freedom! I want freedom!” But he couldn’t do anything to help the parrot because he was just a guest in the house. It would not have been his place to go and open the door of the cage and let the parrot out. But yet, his heart was moved by the parrot’s predicament.
Late at night, after everyone had gone to bed, the man slowly snuck out of his room and went into the living room. He quietly unlatched the door of the cage leaving it wide open so the parrot could fly out. Then the man went to sleep. The next morning, he was happily looking forward to seeing the cage empty. But, to his great surprise, when he went near the cage he saw the parrot still there. The bird began crying, “I want freedom! I want freedom!” No one was stopping the bird from flying away. But it stayed put. In the same way, the soul gets attached to the body and even when the door opens, we cling to that.
We get deluded by all the so-called worldly pleasures, the physical pleasures of this world. We get very attached to this physical plane of existence and even when it comes time for someone to move on, we don’t want them to let go and we don’t want to let go of them. We hook them up to all kinds of life support. I am not saying that we should not do what is possible to help someone regain their health, but not to unnecessarily prolong the life artificially.
We seem to be living in a sort of upside-down world. When the soul comes into the body it is as if the soul has gotten stuck in a cage or prison. But what do we do when the soul comes into the world, when the baby is born? We laugh and celebrate. When the soul drops the body and is completely free, what do we do? We cry and mourn. So, when they come crying, we laugh. When they go laughing, we cry! What kind of sanity is that?
We don’t have to be in a hurry to drop the body either. But there is no need to be fearful about death. The body is given to us to have certain kinds of experiences in life. As long as the body is there we will experience these things. When we experience everything that is to be experienced by this soul, then the body itself will drop or decompose. That will happen naturally. There is nothing we need to do to speed up that process; we should not. Let it take its time, but don’t be afraid of death. Never have fear or worry about dying.
