46. *Death is the greatest teacher*

There is an Upanishad called Katopanishad, which is the wonderful dialogue that a child had with Lord Yama – the Lord of Death. In Hindu mythology, the presiding deity for death is Lord Yama.

There was a famous King by the name of Uchaishravas. He was suddenly possessed by a desire to control the entire world and so he performed a Vaajapeya yaga – a fire offering that is done when one wants to rule the whole world.

According to the rules of this offering, one has to give away as offering, all valuable things that are of great attachment to them. Only then, one can get the position of the lord of the world.

Kings are always good businessmen. They have to be, otherwise they cannot be kings and have control over such vast property. They will see what minimum they can give and what maximum they can get out of it.

This king started offerings things such as cows that were at the fag end of their lives, that had given all the possible milk they could give for a lifetime, and that had given birth to as many calves as possible in their lifetime and ready to die. He was offering all such worthless things.

His son, Nachiketa, about 7 years of age, was watching what was happening.

Nachiketa is the hero of this story.

He knew that his father was not doing the right things but he did not know how to tell him.

You see, children are very sharp and intelligent. You can't cheat them. Society has not yet corrupted and conditioned them.

He was watching his father carefully. He finally went up to him and said, 'Father, you have to give away all your highly priced possessions. I am one of your highly priced possessions. To whom are you going to give me as an offering?'

The king understood that his son was digging at him for what he was doing; but his ego didn't allow him to give way.

He continued with his worthless offerings.

Once more, the boy asked him the same question and the king kept quiet.

The third time, the boy shook his father and asked him to whom he was planning to offer him.

The king got very angry and blurted out, 'I will give you to Lord Yama. You go to Yama.'

An ordinary boy would have said, 'Why should I go? You have lived a full life, so you go!'

But Nachiketa was a very sincere and committed boy.

Commitment and honesty possessed him like a ghost.

To respect his father's words, he decided to go and meet Lord Yama.

Remember that the first and the last person on planet Earth to go and meet Yama was Nachiketa. Normally only Yama comes to meet people, but for the first time, Nachiketa went to meet Yama.

He reached the abode of Yama, but Yama was not there! He had gone out.

For three days Nachiketa waited.

Understand one thing here: A great truth is established at this point of the story. When we go in search of death, or we have the courage to face death, death will not be there as we know it!

Anyhow, Yama returned after three days.

His servants told him about the young boy who was waiting for him.

Yama rushed to see Nachiketa.

He apologized for not being there to receive him.

He further told him, 'For having made you wait for three days, I grant you three boons. You may ask for any three boons, and I will grant them to you.'

For Nachiketa, death turned out to be a God that granted him boons!

He asked for three boons.

The first boon was, 'My father should not be angry any longer. He should recognize me and receive me with love when I return.' Nachiketa asked for this boon out of the deep love for his father so that he does not suffer from the consequences of consigning his son to death.

Yama granted him the boon.

The second boon was, 'Instruct me in the fire sacrifice that leads to heaven, for there is no fear in heaven, nor old age nor death.'

This boon was also granted and Yama led Nachiketa through the fire sacrifice, and then named it Nachiketa Agni. This was a fire which could raise one¹s consciousness to a heavenly experience; an experience of pleasure.

The third boon was, 'Please teach me the truth of Existence, of life and death. Do I exist after death or not. Please tell me this!'

Yama was shocked at Nachiketa's question.

He told him, 'Please do not ask me this question. You are asking the very secret of death which I cannot deliver to you. I will give you immeasurable wealth if you wish, but please don't ask me this question.'

But Nachiketa was insistent.

He said, 'Even if I take all this wealth from you, I will be a mere trustee to your wealth for about 100 years to 1000 years, that's all. I still have to come to your abode once that period is over! It is not going to be of any use to me. So please tell me the secret of death instead.'

Yama saw the maturity and commitment of the boy to know the truth.

He decided that he should give Nachiketa the truth. The experience he took the boy through became the experience of the soul for the boy and Nachiketa flowered and became enlightened.

This is a beautiful story from the Upanishad. Don't analyze whether this story is a fact or not. Don't start looking for dates and history. It conveys the truth – that is enough. Use it as a ladder to reach the truth, instead of clinging onto the ladder and missing the truth.

What is the difference between an ordinary person meeting Yama and Nachiketa meeting Yama?

When an ordinary person meets Yama, Yama takes away his family without his permission. Yama takes away all his pleasures. Finally he takes away his life itself. All the things he covets like family, pleasures and life he takes away suddenly without his consent. Also an ordinary person never goes to Yama. It is Yama who comes to him as an unwanted guest. But Nachiketa went to Yama and Yama gave him back his family in the first boon. Through the second boon, Yama gave him the experience of heavenly pleasures, and finally in the third boon, Yama gave him enlightenment.

Four things need to be understood from this wonderful story. The first thing is that when we go in search of death, when we face death, it will not be there as we thought it would be. This is symbolized by Yama being absent when Nachiketa goes to meet him. Secondly, even if death is there, it is not the terrifying thing that we think it is; it is loving and giving. This can be seen from the way Yama greeted and spoke to Nachiketa. The third thing is that death is our greatest teacher ever. That is why Yama taught Nachiketa many things. Lastly, death can give us the ultimate gift – enlightenment, which Yama did!

For most of us, life never goes beyond the fear of death. We live and die between desires and fear*.* We don't know any other way of life. Or we don't have the courage to take on any other way of life.

In earlier times, people lived without the life security that we have today. There was no vaccination available against fatal diseases. There was no satellite-based advance warning of natural calamities and there was no security against famine or floods. Therefore, people were always mentally prepared for struggle, even for death. Especially the warrior class had to be ever-ready for death.

The Samurai warriors of ancient Japan knew the way to face death calmly.

Conscious death experience

We all live in constant fear of death. We are ready to escape it at all cost. Death is seen upon as our greatest enemy.

A small story about Socrates, the Greek philosopher:

Socrates was killed by being forced to drink the juice of the poisonous herb called hemlock.

Just before he drank the poison, one of his disciples asked him, 'Master, are you not afraid of dying? You appear to be so calm.'

Socrates replied, 'Why should I be? I know that only two things can happen after death. Either I will continue to exist, in some other form or name, or I will cease to exist after death. In the first case, there is nothing to worry about. In the second case, who will remain to worry? So either way, there is nothing to fear!'

Socrates was fearless of death purely because he had a clear understanding of death and its consequences. Death is always looked upon as a 'discontinuity' and that is why people suffer when they see death.

Death is never a discontinuity. It is either continuity in some other form, or simply liberation, that's all. When man understands this, he will realize how foolish it is to suffer on this account.

Man is very attached to the physical form and that is why he suffers so much. The body is a mere vehicle for the soul. This has to be understood very clearly.

Although the only certain thing on planet earth for man is death, he is always taken by surprise when it actually happens! This is the most surprising thing about man.

A small story:

A lady was celebrating her 100th birthday. Her entire family was there for the occasion. They were opening all the gifts and reading all the cards that had been received from family and friends. They showed the lady one card that had been sent by her 94-year old friend. The lady shrieked, 'God! She is still alive!'

We are able to apply death to everyone else except us! Everything in life we are prepared for except our own death. The irony is, everything in life is so unpredictable except death. The only certain thing in life is death. But the last thing we would like to be told is that sooner or later we are going to die!

Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi, the enlightened master from India, became enlightened through a conscious experience of death.

When Ramana was a young boy, one day he was just lying on his bed in his uncle's house in Madurai in South India.

Suddenly he got the feeling that he was going to die! He felt that death was coming upon him.

He had two choices – either to resist the feeling, or to accept it and go through it.

Usually people resist, so they pass into coma and leave the body in a state of unconsciousness.

99% of us leave the body in a state of unconsciousness.

Though we know from the moment of birth that our life will culminate in death, we never try to visualize it. We never try to actualize the possibility; we never try to welcome it.

At least once if you go through it with consciousness, you will lose your fear for it automatically.

Ramana was courageous enough to choose the second path. He co-operated with the feeling.

He allowed death to happen. He decided to see what would happen during death.

He saw clearly one by one, the parts of his body dying.

Slowly, his whole body was dead. He saw his body turn into ashes.

Suddenly he realized that something remained even after that; something which cannot be destroyed. He suddenly realized that he was pure consciousness, beyond the body and mind. He was simply a witness to his own death!

That knowledge was tremendous and it never left him and when he came back into his body, he was Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi – an enlightened master.

When you conquer the fear of death, you conquer death itself, because death is just one more imagination! Just like how our greed makes us imagine the world to be more beautiful than it actually is, here our fear makes us imagine death to be more frightening than it actually is.

We wear glasses of greed and fear, which do not allow us to see reality. When you experience death psychologically, you release the energy that has been locked in the fear energy center called the swadhishtana chakra in your body, which is located between the mooladhara and the manipuraka (navel center). When this energy center is activated, the whole quality of your life changes.

Because of your capacity to accept death as just a continuity in another form, your capacity to enjoy life is transformed. Your whole body relaxes; your consciousness expands; your living capacity expands. By understanding death and fear of death, your life will turn out to be rich; not wealthy maybe, but rich. Richness is what is really important in life.

But if I tell you all this now, you will not believe me. You will think that I am talking about impractical things.

A small story:

A man who had been born blind was promised a cure by a doctor.

The doctor assured the man, 'After this operation, you will get your vision back! You won't need to use your stick anymore!'

Hearing this, the blind man became afraid.

He said, 'Doctor, I understand that I will get my vision back. But how can I possibly walk without my stick?'

The stick had become such an integral part of the blind man that he could not even understand that he would be able to walk without the stick! How can you explain to a blind man that once he gains his vision, he simply won't need the stick? Right now he is too afraid. So all you can do is, perform the operation, and let him see for himself, that's all. He will throw away the stick on his own!

In the same way, even if I tell you that all your fears are only the ultimate fear of death, and that your self is immortal, that it is only your body which perishes, you will still hold onto your own ideas of fear, because you haven't experienced it.

Unless death becomes a conscious experience, the fear will never leave you. But you can do one thing. Repeatedly listen to these words. Develop a conviction about them. Try to see how your minor and major fears are actually related to the fear of dying. Bring some clarity into all your day-to-day fears. See how interrelated all your fears are. Bring awareness into your fears. Then you will steadily evolve and come closer to the truth.