Dead and Gone-Part 2

Often the entity or person that is supposedly dead is also the one that you loved very much. For instance, and just for instance as an example, it could be one of your parents.  Sorry for this rather stark analogy but it serves the purpose of Awakening you. You loved your mother a lot when she was alive.  For all your life, you assumed your mother was the body that she represented. You saw that same body change continuously just like yours. The change could be called deterioration of the body.  Perhaps, the change in the body was minimal and the so called 'death' came suddenly. In any case, the object of your love suddenly seemed to have vanished into thin air. Precisely, into thin air.  For, if indeed she was the body, the body was still there after the so called 'death'.  So, you may ask "where did my mother go?".

If you pause to think over this carefully, you may wonder who was it that was your mother? She certainly could not be the body for it is lying there in an inert condition and refusing to respond to any stimuli from the external world.  Despite your crying for her, she refuses to respond. You are in dismay, for the object of your love, the body, is suddenly refusing to respond to your show of emotion and love.  So, who is it that you loved if not the body? Who is it that you called "mom" and where is she now?

In some cultures and traditions, the dead body is cremated leaving behind the ashes. After all the body is merely a product of the five elements (earth, water, fire, air and space) and all that is left now is the ashes i.e carbon, which is a product of the earth. Is it possible that all along you were loving this carbon ash? Certainly not!  Is it not the entity (or non-entity to be more precise) that animated your mother's body that you actually loved? THAT which is responsible for the animation of your "mother's body", would that not be the same for "your body"?  THAT which gives rise to the sense "I am" to your mother, would that not be the same for "your body"?  Now that your mother is "dead", she no longer has the Knowledge of Being i.e. she is no longer able to say "I am" or for that matter "I am not" either.   So, all along what you thought you loved (as a personality i.e. your mother) was none other than that I AM(the Beingness), which is also WHO YOU ARE (I AM). So, in fact you were loving your own Self all along except that you viewed that body as someone else i.e. your mother. You had failed to see the substratum that animated the gross body.  You had failed to see the Beingness- the same Beingness which animates "your body". Call IT by whatever name or label you want, but there should be no doubt that what you loved all along was none other than your own Self.

So, you can see that pondering over concepts like birth and death can open up avenues to know your True Nature. Now that you Know, keep meditating on that Beingness.

Dead and Gone- Part 1

We have so much  to learn from death. In fact a close scrutiny or investigation of death as an event, may in fact give the answer to who you really are or the Truth. There are lots of questions which arise when someone close to you dies. Once the process of grieving is over, it may be an opportunity to investigate further into this matter, if one is so inclined. Assuming that all those who read this blog are already well ingrained in the philosophy of Advaita, one does not have to wonder where this is leading to.

In all languages, when someone dies, it is common to say that so-and-so "is dead and gone". Which brings to the question as to WHO is it that is dead. And further, TO WHERE HAS THE DEAD PERSON GONE? In that case, is it not appropriate to ask as WHO is it that is born in the first place. Alternatively, where did the person come from? For, if one has to be gone, it is assumed that one has firstly got to come from somewhere. You cannot go anywhere unless you have come from somewhere.

Merely having a discussion on this subject is not at all enough. Most discussions would involve what you have heard or learnt from someone. Depending on your upbringing,  you may come up with answers that were told to you by someone or the other. A dead person is certainly not going to be of much help either! So, the answer has to come from you itself.

So, where should one begin? It would be most appropriate to begin with birth since there cannot be death without birth. There cannot be life without death and death without life or birth. But, if that seems like too much and you want to stick to the topic of death, so be it.  Since, so far  you have associated yourself with being the body, it should be assumed that the body is the one that is dead. Well, the body does not go anywhere after death, does it? The body is still there in the coffin. The only thing is that it has stopped responding to its name being called out.  The body does not say "I am dead". So, who is it that has died and gone if it is not the body? Keep your mind pondering over this question. Of course, you can accuse the author of not giving the answer since it would be so much easier. But, in that case, you can also accuse the author of providing the answer based on the author's viewpoint and therefore brush it off as yet another philosophical concept. More so, if the answer is given here then it would be similar to all other indirect knowledge that you have so far accumulated. But, don't feel abandoned. Keep pondering over this and the answer shall come to you from within your own self.

The next point to ponder over is "where did he/she come from?" if he/she has died and gone. Find out who or what is the personality that arrived in this world so spontaneously and left so spontaneously. If it is not the body, then why do you say that your birth day is the day the body came out your mother's womb? Can  you deny the fact that the body was already there in the womb prior to its exit out of the womb? Also, is there not something fundamentally wrong in saying that birth is the appearance of the baby body from the mothers womb, but that death is not the disappearance of that same body. Or to put it more bluntly, if birth=appearance of body, then death should be =disappearance of the body. But you know that it is not how it is. The body remains right where it is after so called death.  So, obviously, whoever it is that is born is certainly not the body. Then, who is it that is born and and who is it that dies, if it is not the body? In fact, is there anything like birth and death? Or is it yet another delusion that you have fallen for?

Ponder over this carefully till you get the answer from within. You will be amazed when you get the answer.