Know God At The Time Of Your Death🔗

Authored by

THE SPH NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM

अर्जुन उवाच । किं तद् ब्रह्म किमध्यात्मं किं कर्म पुरुषोत्तम । अधिभूतं च किं प्रोक्तमधिदैवं किमुच्यते

Life and death are the two siodes of the same coin.

Our understanding about death impacts our understanding about life. Understanding that life is eternal gives freedom from the need to accomplish everything in one lifetime.

Understand, the Sanskṛit language is that it is not only linguistic, but also has importance at the phonetic level. Just the vibration of the words can transform our whole inner space. The sound changes the energy of the place and the inner space of those who hear it or are chanting it. We should understand the concepts called padā and padārtha.

For example, when I say the word ‘cow,’ immediately a figure appears in our mind— an animal with four legs, a tail, head and two horns. The word is called padā, the figure is padārtha. What happens in our mind when we hear the word is padārtha. In all languages the distance or gap between padā and padārtha is significant.

In Saṁskṛit the connection is immediate; the result is instantaneous. That is why I tell people to listen to Saṁskṛit devotional verses for at least 10 minutes a day. It does not matter whether you understand it or not.

Just listen to any Saṁskṛit verse — whether it is Viṣṇu Sahasranāma, Bhagavad Gītā, Śiva Sahasranāma or something else. Even if you don’t understand the meaning of the verses, the very energy of the vibrations will purify your body.

TATTVA

The Saṃskṛit language strengthens the śabda tattva that converts air into sound or words. This is why it does not matter whether or not we understand it. Listening to the sound, the very vibration, has an effect on our being. Modern day research proves that the vibrations of the verses can straightaway remove impurities. This is why masters ask us to offer different types of worship as a means to chant Saṃskṛit verses. We simply heal ourselves.

These are two different energies of Lord Viṣṇu; one manifested as Arjuna and the other as Kṛṣṇa. The whole drama happened so that the Gītā took shape to enrich humanity! Otherwise, even the disciple with the least consciousness would not have asked so many questions, again and again.

People ask me, 'Swamiji, why should I know about death? Knowing about life is enough; after all I am still young.' The word 'death' creates fear in people. When it comes to death, they are not ready to listen.

They think, 'Why should we know about death? If we know about life, it is enough. Please be very clear, our understanding about death impacts our understanding about life. Life and death are two sides of the same coin. Understand one thing: In the East, all religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, talk about many births or reincarnation. Most Western religions talk about a single birth.

This concept of reincarnation has influenced Indian society so deeply that nobody bothers about time! In India, people do not bother about time. They are so relaxed. Till 10 o'clock in the morning, people sit in teashops! If we ask for anything, they say, 'Not today, tomorrow; if not tomorrow, next birth!' They have eternity in front of them because somewhere they know they will come again. They are in no hurry and therefore do not run behind anything. Indian people are utterly and completely relaxed.

In the West, whatever they desire to achieve, they must finish achieving within 75 to 80 years. They do not have time. They either live now or never because there is only one birth according to them. That is the reason why people run and run! Please be very clear: Our understanding about death influences our whole social structure.

YAMA DHARMA RAJA

The moment we realize the truth of death, if we experience even an intellectual understanding of death, it is enough to transform our whole way of thinking. That is why the moment we think of Yama Dhrama Raja, god of death, our whole life has yama, or discipline.

❖ What is the phonetic importance of sanskrit?

❖ What is śabda tattva, the principle of sound?

❖ How can sanskrit chants energize the speaker?

DEPICT DEATH

MATERIALS NEEDED:

PROCEDURE

Draw a still life painting depicting death.

INFERENCE

Ask the kids to think of all the characteristics they associate with death and incorporate them into their art. Death is an inevitable reality. We can observe and contemplate on death to understand life.

Let us narrate a historic incident: Once Vyāsa, the ancient sage of India attended a function. After having a feast at the function, on his way back, he came to a river, which he had to cross in order to reach his ashram, his monastery. He stood before the river and said, 'If I am sincere in my ekādasi fasting, let this river give way so that I may cross over.' Ekādasi refers to the eleventh day of the moon's cycle when normally people fast. The moment Vyāsa uttered those words, the river gave way. Vyāsa crossed it followed by his devotees and they reached the ashram.

PROCEDURE:

Encourage the children to contemplate on this story

WORKSHOP OF THE DAY:

VAAKYARTHA SADHAS

Topic of discussion is " Is Death the end of a soul's Journey ?"

Conclusion: Whether we understand life or not, it remains the same. But the moment we understand death, the whole quality of life changes and our consciousness changes.

BOOK VIII, VOLUME II

Authored by

THE SPH NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM

श्रीभगवानुवाच ।

Bhagavān says: The indestructible, transcendental living entity is called Brahman and his eternal nature is called the self. Action pertaining to the development of the material bodies is called karma, or result based activities.

POWERFUL COGNITION

Whatever samskaras or desires we bring, we bring enough energy to live them out and enough power of energy them also.

Physical nature is known to be endlessly changing. The universe is the cosmic form of the supreme Lord, and I am that Lord represented as the super soul, dwelling in the heart of every being that dwells in a body.

Everything, whether living or non-living, is an embodiment of the Supreme Soul.

Whatever you consider the highest ideal of your whole life, only that comes to your mind when you leave the body.

Whatever you consider the highest ideal of your whole life, only that comes to your mind when you leave the body.

When we came down to planet Earth, we came with enough energy to work out and complete our root thought patterns, saṁskāras. Listen! God never sends us empty handed. He sends us with everything. He sends us with our inner powers, but we have forgotten that we even have these great powers.

Your four inner powers are: the power of words or vāk śakti; the power of thoughts or mano śakti; the power of feeling or prema śakti; and the power of living or ātma śakti. Please listen! Karma refers to the unfulfilled desires that we create over many births, which pull us back again to take birth and fulfill them. We have three types of karma—sañcita, prārabdha and āgāmya.

Sañcita karma is our complete bank of unfulfilled karmas like our safety deposit or the files archived in our office vault. Prārabdha karma are those karmas that we have brought and come in this life, like files in filing cabinets which we access and work on regularly. Āgāmya karma are like the new files on our table that we keep creating — new karma that we create in every life.

We must exhaust all three types of karmas to experience enlightenment. Sañcita karma is all that we have accumulated over many births. Prārabdha karma is karma that we brought with us to work out in this life. Āgāmya karma is what we acquire newly in this birth.

KARMA

Understand that if we have lived 70 years, at the end of our life, when we leave our body, the whole scene, the whole 70 years appear before us as a flash, as a fast-forward movement. The whole thing appears in our consciousness again so that we can make the decision about our next birth.

I want to give you one more understanding: karma or saṃskāra means any desire that is not completely experienced by you. By nature you are a fulfilled complete being. But whenever you do not fulfill any action completely, with totality, you create a hangover.

But if you have completed with that pattern by living a single saṁskāra totally, completely, that saṁskāra leaves you! It drops from your being; you are liberated from it. Completion directly liberates you from karma. Completion directly leads you to experience the Truth.

Social conditioning divides everything into pleasure and pain. Even this decision — 'What kind of life will I choose in my next birth? What kind of body will I take?' - is based upon your social conditioning. You decide to achieve whatever you think is the highest thing in life. You automatically run behind whatever is kept as an ideal in front of your eyes.

Whatever you consider the highest ideal of your whole life, only that comes to your mind when you leave the body. What you remember at Death, So you attain Kṛṣṇa says, 'Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O Kaunteya, that state he will attain without fail.'

What exactly happens at the time of leaving the body? We should understand that. When a person leaves the body, he goes through seven layers of his being.

The first and the outermost layer is the physical layer.

When a person leaves the body, it creates tremendous pain in his whole system, what the Upaniṣads liken to 'thousands of scorpions stinging at a time.'

There will be tremendous pain at first. We may ask, 'Why pain?' It is because our being wants to stay in the body, but the body cannot host the being anymore.

The next layer we cross in the process of death is the etheric body. Here, all the painful experiences that we had in life are stored. These four layers are hell.

When the energy crosses these four layers: physical body, prāṇic body, mental body and etheric body, the being undergoes hell. Understand that hell is. not situated in a place above our heads, but in these four layers, comprising all our desires, guilt and painful experiences.

ONLY SiN

LAYERS CLEAN

PUNYA AND KARMA

That is what Kṛṣṇa says: This is the path on which a man can easily leave and liberate himself, and also the path on which he can suffer and destroy himself. Both ways are now shown by Kṛṣṇa. These are the major obstructions when we leave the body. After these first four layers, the three inner layers where all our blissful memories are stored are called heaven. Even if we are stuck there, we need to move on. Please be very clear, even our puṇya, merits, are karma. Even that will not allow us to become enlightened. We may feel good, ecstatic, for a few days. After that our mind takes that also for granted. In the case of heaven also, we will take it for granted after a few days. When you take it for granted, you have to come back to take another body, another birth.

To understand what happens when we leave the body.

❖ What is the sequence of events at the time of death?

DRAW YAMA, THE GOD OF DEATH

MATERIALS NEEDED:

PROCEDURE

Make a stylized (abstract) drawing of "Yama - the God of Death". Feel free to be innovative and make your own unique "Yama". While you make your masterpiece, let us tell you a story about Yama:

One story goes like this: There was a king who lived for a hundred years. Then Yama, the god of death comes and tells him, 'Your life is over, O King, come now, it is time, let us go.' The king says, 'What is this? You gave me such a beautiful kingdom, such a beautiful life, such wonderful wives, kids; you have given me everything. 100 years is too short to enjoy this life. Please bless me with 100 more years.'

DRAW YAMA, THE GOD OF DEATH

PROCEDURE

Yama explains that no extension is possible. The king continues to plead, 'No, please bless me with another 100 years.' Yama says, 'Alright, if one of your sons gives his life, I will extend yours as an exchange offer.' Somehow one son agrees to give his life for his father and the king gets 100 more years.

After 100 years when Yama appears again, the king does not realize that his time is up and says, 'What is this? I asked for 100 years and you have come so soon.' Yama tells him that 100 years are over. The king pleads again, 'Please help me somehow; I did not realize that 100 years are gone. Please give one more extension.' Yama tells him it is too much and that a second extension is not possible. However the king begs Yama to let him live a few more years. Finally he gets one more extension.

DRAW YAMA, THE GOD OF DEATH

PROCEDURE

The next time when Yama comes, again the king is in the same mood. Now Yama gives a beautiful teaching. He says, ‘By pouring oil on it, you can never put out the fire. Now it is time, you must come.’ The king understands and follows Yama.

INFERENCE

By chasing our desires, we can never feel fulfilled. Only more desires will come up. By fulfilling our desires, we can never hope to have contentment. When we acquire more and more desires from the outer world, we naturally feel that life is not sufficient, that we had not been given time or resources to fulfill these desires. We must understand the nature of desire. It is like a fire that can never be satiated. Unconsciously giving into desires without restraint leads to a feeling of discontentment.

THE DAY:

PROCEDURE:

Let us contemplate upon the four inner powers we hold, namely:

Let us try to remember at least one incident from our lives, where we, intentionally or accidentally, demonstrated the power of any one or more of these shaktis and the life events of your choice simply manifested without any effort!

THE DAY:

PROCEDURE:

THE DAY:

INFERENCE:

Topic of discussion is: “What exactly happens at the time of leaving the body?” What kind of experiences surface as the soul passes through each of these seven layers of the being ?

Start the discussion from the First Layer or sthula sharira (gross body), Second Layer or prana sharira (pranic body), Third Layer or mana sharira (mind), Fourth Layer or vijnanamaya kosha (intellect), Fifth Layer or karana sharira (causal body), Sixth Layer or ananda sharira (bliss), Seventh Layer or atman (consciousness), corresponding to experience of bodily pain, desires, guilt, painful memories, unconscious state, happy memories, and consciousness awareness respectively.

Conclusion: what Kṛṣṇa says: This is the path on which a man can easily leave and liberate himself, and also the path on which he can suffer and destroy himself. Both ways are now shown by Kṛṣṇa.