WE ARE AFRAID OF "WHAT IS NEXT?"
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When Socrates was about to be poisoned to death, he was asked are you not afraid. He said: why? Either I live after death in another form if there is something called another life, in which case I shall live on in another form and name, or I will be erased completely, and I am not going to be around in any form. Either way what is there for me to worry?
Fear of death is just the fear of continuity or discontinuity. We are afraid of what next. That's why we live not in houses, but in graves, full of security. Complete security is only death. Life is never secure. In a grave yard you have to worry about nothing, nothing to pay, no one to bother you. What worse can happen?
IT IS POSSIBLE TO
CONQUER DEATH!
Katopanishad talks about death. A young boy wants to die and goes to meet death. For 3 days he waits for death to come to him. Death was not there when he goes to meet death. Death is a frightening experience when it comes to you, not when you go to death without fear, voluntarily, consciously. This is not committing suicide. We are talking about facing the psychological fear of death. Nachiketa, the young lad, was finally received as a guest by Yama, God of death, and given boons and the knowledge of Death.