From a human experience...

One of the most inevitable phenomenons of life is Death which has always been deciphered as a taboo. Whereas death is a realization of life, it gives us a perspective on our human existence. 

Have we ever become conscious of the fact that we are dead and alive at the same time? Despite our feeling absolutely healthy while reading this article, millions of cells in our body is dying. The sub atomic particles of the cells in our body zoom in and out of our existence all the time. 98% of atoms in a human body are replaced annually. The stomach lining partly packs up every time we eat food and rebuilds it about every 5 days. The skin, nail and hair cells are dying all the time and are made afresh every month. And do we know why? These individual cells die and renew frequently so the whole (our body) can live on. Similarly, we are small part of the bigger whole (the universe) and we die and renew to keep the bigger whole alive!

Restating the Law of conservation, the total amount of energy in a system remains constant. Have you ever thought when we eat an apple or when it falls from a tree, does it die? No. The essence of that apple doesn’t disappear. When we eat it, its nutritious elements get transformed into energy inside our body. And when it falls from a tree, it decomposes into soil, perhaps can convert into a new tree too. Similarly, an adult is once a child which in turn was once a fertilized egg. Through all these forms, the only constant is the underlying consciousness. All external appearances are impermanent- the only thing eternal is the formless consciousness which manifests in different forms from time to time.

This energy (consciousness) is unborn and undying and irrespective of death of life in human form, we remain this conscious. So while we die in the physical plane, we never die in spiritual one. Once we realize this we can appreciate the fact stated by Rajiv Vij “We are not human beings having spiritual experience but spiritual being having a human experience.” And this gives us the perspective on the purpose of our existence! As we see the ephemeral nature of our sensual experiences, we start to realize the futility of our pursuits of titles, power, money and external success. Hence when we are even slightly prepared for death, we can appreciate each moment of life’s beauty in a better way. The purpose of reflecting on death is not to fear it but to live in awareness of the fragility of our existence. It can guide us towards focusing on how we want to dedicate our lives towards more meaningful objectives.

People may also fear if they involve themselves in this, they may lose interest in life in general, including their work and family. This fear makes them cling to the worldly attachments. However, when we do reflect on these issue deeply, we conduct ourselves with an attitude of let go and surrender, our productivity at work goes up and our relationships blossom further.

Sadly enough this wisdom about self consciousness begins to dawn on us only when we grow old. That’s when people start to realize the impermanence of their egoistic pursuits and meaningless acquisitions. That’s when people tend to become more compassionate and focussed on serving others. Seneca, the roman philosopher said “Are you not ashamed to reserve for yourself only the remnant of life and to set apart for wisdom only that time which can’t be devoted to any business? How late it is to begin to live just when you must cease to live.”