A comment was left on the blog of November 29, 09. It read as follows-" When thinking or discussing this topic, I can't help but be stumped by the idea of death. Even though I may be mistakenly identified with this body, I can only be aware of things through it. So when the body dies, so does sight, hearing, etc. It seems that any consciousness left would be locked in a black box so to speak." Indeed, a great comment!! There is sure to be a lot of questioning that follows such a thought process.
To answer any questions on death, would it not be appropriate to first address the question of birth? Since, most of us assume birth to be a reality and a fact, it is natural to question the event of birth. But, are you really born? That is the first question to be answered. However, before launching off into this question, let us once again try to unravel the idea of a world and its contents. An analogy is called for at this point because the mind needs some comparison to 'things' it already knows and can associate with.
Let us look at water. It has several qualities including clarity, colorless, liquid, gaseous (as vapor), solid (as ice), white (as snow and ice) tasteless when pure, some taste if impure,flow in the liquid form, and visibility in liquid and solid forms, but quite invisible in the form of rarefied vapor, among many other qualities. All these qualities are of the same water, which to science is H2O. So, one can see that the same water is assuming different forms and qualities. Now, the ice in the glacier becomes the stream, which then joins another stream to become a river. So, in terms of appearance, the ice is 'dead' and 'reappears' as a stream. However, the content is exactly the same i.e H2O or water. The water still remains water, although in a different form and appearance. The river runs its course and joins the ocean where the water merges with the water of the ocean and once it merges with the ocean, then there is no question of separation of the water of the river from the water of the ocean- it all becomes one huge mass of water of the ocean. Again, the river 'dies' to merge with the ocean. The water from the ocean evaporates and becomes the clouds. The clouds drop the water as rain, which again becomes the stream or the river. The clouds may drop the water as snow or ice and the glaciers are formed in the mountains. In either case, it is the same water which has gone round and round in a cycle, each time assuming a different form and appearance. Each time assuming a different quality i.e. ice is different from river water or cloud. The whole cycle of ice, river, ocean, cloud, rain, snow, ice and so on is constantly going on at all times. There is no beginning point in a circle. So, one cannot say that the river is the starting point for the ocean. If so, what about the water vapor which becomes a cloud and then is it the starting point for the whole cycle? Again, all of the various appearance in this cycle are but only water!! The water is the WHOLE in this analogy. The H2O is the unchanging substratum in this analogy.
Having understood this analogy, we can apply the same to your True Nature or THAT. You say that you were born on so and so date in so and so year. Is that your experience or was that told to you? Did you experience your birth? Obviously not! If you did not experience your birth, is it not true that what you believe you are now is a product of what you were told by your parents or the society? So, in reality, what is born is a concept in the mind. A concept of a "me" with a name and associated with this form called the body. You believe you are this body with a name and a mind. The dictionary meaning of belief is "confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof". Based on this belief, you have built a concept of an individual- an individual who believes that he/she is born, lives for a length of time and must also die in the end. The mind creates the concept of time and in this concept of time is a beginning, a middle and an end. You have created a beginning called birth, a middle called the journey of life and an end called death. The concept of being an individual, with a body and mind, gets built on and added to and in the end this belief is so ingrained in the conditioned mind, that the individual believes that he/she will eventually die and then wonders or questions, "what happens to me after death?"!! It is at this stage of the conditioned mind that you are now reading this blog!!
So, now you know, that what is born is just a concept and the same concept eventually dies. What is called birth and death is nothing but the birth of a concept and death of the same concept. Your True Nature is always the same, unchanging, never born,never dies, and always present. You are the whole and not a part. There is no beginning and an end in the whole, just like there is no beginning and an end in a circle. The water remains the same, that is water, irrespective of what appearance or form it appears in. Therefore, even after the 'death of the river water', the water is still present as more water in the river or as water in the ocean or as water in the clouds or the snow or rain. It is just a constant flow in the present. In the same way, even after the appearance of the form of a body is no longer seen (so called death of a person), the functioning continues though not as that body but as other bodies and forms. Consciousness does not remain locked up in the box after death, so to speak. On the contrary, it continues to function as the Universal Consciousness. If it makes it easier to understand, you can say that the personal consciousness merges with the Universal Consciousness (or impersonal consciousness), on the death of the body. Consciousness expresses itself through the medium of a body. The body is needed for the expression of Consciousness in the form of functioning. It is the hearer behind the ear, the seer behind the eyes, the feeler, the taster, the thinker etc. However, all this discussion is just to make it easy to understand from the reference point of an individual. In reality, all of this functioning is actually just an appearance on the screen of THAT. Once the appearance is gone, the screen still remains untouched and unchanged as THAT. Appearances come and go, but THAT (screen) remains the same (Yet another analogy!). THAT is the WHOLE and there is no beginning or ending in the Whole. You are THAT!
Another analogy is presented here. The electricity is the one that makes the functioning of various appliances possible. The appliances are variable and the effects of their functioning is variable, but the electricity is the same. Meaning, the same electricity makes the fan move and blow air, the air conditioner change the temperature of a room, a bulb to provide electricity, a motor to move a machine, a furnace to provide heat, a stove to provide heat for cooking, a radio or a stereo to produce sound. Even though all these appliances are variable in their appearance and functioning, the electricity is the same and the background upon which the various appliances function. The cause (electricity) is the same and the effects (functions of various appliances) are multiple. No electricity, no functioning. If the appliance is "dead", the electricity cannot function through that appliance. It does not mean that the electricity is "dead". The electricity is still there. In the same way, there are many forms and bodies in this universe, and although they all appear different in form and function, they all function because of the Consciousness (same as the electricity!). Again, after the "death of a body", the functioning is no longer possible through that body. Yes, only through that body. It does not mean, that which makes the functioning possible (i.e the consciousness) is "dead".
A concept is not real as it can change at any time. For centuries, mankind had the concept that the earth is flat and now we know it is round and upon gaining this knowledge the concept that the world is flat got demolished, so to speak. In the same way, once the Knowledge of your True Nature or who you really, really ARE, gets established, the concept of being an individual, an individual who is born and who will die gets abolished. One KNOWS that he/she is neither born nor dies. One just always IS. So, can there be any fear of death for one who KNOWS his/her True Nature?
