Death is a traumatic and certain event of life and with the Covid-19 pandemic, it has brought it closer home to everyone. ANIL K RAJVANSHI attempts to explain the phenomenon of death in this article, condensed from a larger essay on the subject
Death is inevitable. Yet we behave as if we are immortal and death does not enter our scheme of things. In a way that is good, because the fear of death may not allow us to be bold enough to do lots of things in life. Nevertheless, if we understand it, we will welcome it as a friend.
In almost every society, religious and spiritual writings are about preparing humans for death. They contain intricate details of heaven and hell. Some scriptures make hell so frightening so that people may change their behaviour to avoid it. Scriptures are about living properly so that one can escape the cycle of birth and death. The underlying philosophy is of the continuity of the soul through reincarnation.
The Egyptians believed in resurrection and had elaborate mummification rituals for treating the dead body.
In the Indian Yogic tradition, the transition of the soul from body to body is like changing into new clothes once the old ones are worn out. The soul goes through all the living species and evolves towards godhead after its karmas are resolved through various births. Katha Upanishad, Patanjali’s Yoga Darshan and the Brahma Sutras talk about the rebirth of the soul in human form and how it can also be transformed into various species. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras says, “The transformation of one species into another is caused by inflowing of nature. Good or bad deeds are not the direct cause of this transformation, but only act as a breaker of the obstacles to natural evolution – just as a farmer breaks down the obstacles in a water course so that water flows by its own nature”.
Direct evidence of continuity of soul has come from people with near death experiences (NDE). NDE seems to happen when a person is declared clinically dead but after some time, returns to life. Nearly all descriptions of NDE are similar. People talk of getting out of the body, going through a dark tunnel and then encountering brilliant white light. The person then sees their chosen deity. Agnostics or atheists, feel tremendous warmth and happiness in the presence of white light.
People say that during NDE, their whole life flashes by. Then somehow, the self is told that his/her time to die has still not come and the person “wakes up” in the body, which is being resuscitated. In a majority of cases, tremendous change in attitude towards life and death takes place in people who experience NDE. They consider dying as a pleasurable experience and are not afraid of death anymore.
A detailed treatise on death and dying is in the Tibetan book of Living and Dying. The book has a good description of what happens to the soul after death till it gets a new body. Tibetan Buddhist Lamas call this transition state as Bardo.
Karma and the Fear of Death
Karma is a Sanskrit word meaning action and embraces the whole meaning of living. The law of karma says our actions or deeds, good and bad, decide our future in this life and in the next. Karma occupies a central position in Indian philosophy.
The law of karma is deterministic. One is born according to karma and things happen in your present birth because of your past karmas. Hence one cannot change the present life. This, however, negates the whole basis of Yoga which claims that one can change the Sanskars (memories) and hence one’s life.
Each one of us is born with a unique genetic makeup, which provides a basic template for our general behaviour. This behaviour is modified by the surroundings that one encounters in life. I believe that each of us has the power to change our destiny and memories by our actions in this life and change the neural pathways in the brain that then guides us to our future course of action. Individually, we have a free will to create our own destiny but collectively, we may be guided towards mankind’s evolution.
Each of us are like individual molecules moving “randomly” in the sea of humanity and according to the forces of opportunity act on us. But all of us together may produce a “dissipative structure” which is the evolution of mankind.
According to the Indian Yogic system, the time of death is governed by our karma. When the karma’s course is finished, death takes place. It is not clear how one can find out what constitutes karma, its duration or how many karmas a person accumulates in a lifetime. Patanjali’s Yoga Darshan simply states that Sanyam(exercising self-control) on karma makes it possible for the Yogi to calculate the exact time of his death. This also suggests that a Yogi has no control over his death. However, there are many instances of great Yogis who have left their body by their own will. However, in pandemics, wars and large-scale upheavals on earth, the person’s karma becomes irrelevant since these external forces are far more powerful.
Though all living entities are afraid of death, the desire to know how and when death will take place is strong. The first impulse on sensing danger is to protect oneself and survival is the cornerstone of the Darwinian evolutionary theory for all living entities. Possible reasons for fear of death include:
1. The experience is traumatic and is accompanied by loss of identity and sometimes with physical pain.
2. The living being does not know “instinctively” what will happen to its “memory” or form or whether it will find a new body or be fixed in space for a long time. There is fear of the unknown. We are wired in such a way that we are afraid of losing our body and our identity.
3. The process of learning or moving to a higher level of consciousness is delayed. For example, 20-30 years or more are believed to be lost in the process.
4. The living entity loses its ability to change “memory”. This ability comes with the brain attached to the body and with death, the body ceases to exist.
Since the soul clings to the body, the shedding of lifetime memories at the time of death is painful. That is why the Yogic system stresses the liberation of the soul so that the painful cycle of birth and death is stopped. Yogis believe that reduction or elimination of pain during death removes its fear. Yoga aims to make the body and mind powerful enough so that the pain is reduced or removed.
The author’s complete essay on death can be sourced here: https://nariphaltan.org/pandeath.pdf
Anil Rajvanshi is an IIT Kanpur graduate. After getting his Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from USA he came back to rural India to run a rural NGO, Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute, in Western Maharashtra. Besides his technology work he is also interested in spirituality and likes to be called a spiritual engineer.
Readers can contact the author at anilrajvanshi@gmail.co
Featured image by Tumisu from Pixabay
Image of meditator by Bodhio Foundation from Pixabay
A very beautiful analysis of Life & Death, more so about Death which as such remains as a fear factor in every mind deeply etched.
In our Upanishad also, especially in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, transmigration of soul is quite beautifully explained suggesting good action in lifetime for a higher level of attainment in afterlife.
Going one step further Adi Shankaracharya suggests to attain the realisation of Ekatvam or Oneness in this life so that one attains the state of Oneness in afterlife. He says in Vivekachudamani:
जीवतो यस्य कैवल्यं विदेहे स च केवलः।
यत्किञ्चित्पश्यतो भेदं भयं ब्रूते यजुःश्रुतिः॥
One who attains the state of Oneness here also remains One here after, banishing the fear factor altogether.