Conquer ego, conquer death
We
all think man fears death. But, in reality, he fears himself. The remorses and
repentances of life haunt him. One who has no remorse, nor any ground for
repentance, has no reason to fear death. Death, the most dreaded evil for many,
is not so for those who are spiritually illumined. For them it is of little
concern.
Only
right living can prepare us for safe or even joyous dying. Let us, then, be of
good cheer about death and know this that no evil can happen to a good man
either in life or after death. Death, be assured, is no evil. It is impossible
that a thing so natural, so necessary, and so universal should ever have been
designed by our Creator as an evil to mankind. -- By
J.S. Neki
By
J.S. Neki
A great existential
truth is the certainty and inevitability of death. This frail body is destined
to be overtaken by age. Youth comes, but soon departs; when senility descends,
it never departs — only its victim does. Guru Tegh Bahadur observed, “One might
become anxious should something unexpected happen. But on the worldly pathway,
nothing is stable or permanent”.
Yet, we live in
this world ignoring the transience of life. We want to live it the way our whims
dictate. Even the thought of leaving the world in which we have invested our
desires, plans and programmes becomes a dread for us.
There are cultural
nuances that determine the intensity of this apprehension. Someone has said,
“Life is for the European a career, for the American a hazard, and for the
Indian a holiday”. In the Semitic cultures, one’s soul after death is believed
to wander around in the dark space until the Day of Reckoning. That is a highly
despairing and frightening prospect. In oriental cultures that subscribe to the
theory of reincarnation, death is at once the beginning of a new life. So the
dread is not always as intense.
The Sikh view is
somewhat different. It holds that at death, the body which is but dust, returns
to dust; that which speaks therein is breath and that returns to wind. Then the
question arises: “Who, in reality, dies?” Guru Nanak tells
us:
What perish are
man’s sensorium,
His discords and
his ego.
That in him, which
observes all, perishes not.
And adds
elsewhere:
Don’t think, I have
died — only the demon within me has. The One who pervades all, does not
die.
Guru Arjan Dev, in
fact, believes that since atma (the soul) is imperishable, no one really dies,
no one, really, can die.
No one dies; none
is capable of dying.
The soul dies not,
it is imperishable.
That what you
believe dies, does not even exist.
In the Gurus’ point
of view, not only is life a play, even death is a play. Isn’t watching a good
play until its final drop-scene, simply enjoyable? Should it not be so for life,
inclusive of its exit? Where then is room for mourning? Guru Amar Das
asks:
For whom should we
mourn, O Baba? This world is but a play!
The mourner is
therefore reminded:
The one who now
laments will also arise and depart.
When he himself was
about to depart from this world, Guru Amar Das summoned his family and, as
reported by his nephew Baba Sunder in his famous “dirge”, addressed them in the
following words:
O my children,
siblings and family, reflect in your mind:
The pre-ordained
death warrant cannot be avoided, the Guru is going to be with his
Lord.
And then, the Guru,
in his own sweet will, sat up and further addressed his
kin:
Let no one weep for
me after I am gone. That would not please me at all.
Such a placid
departure can be the outcome only of an insightfully lived
life.
What, then, is
insightfully lived life? Not the one that begun crying, endured complaining and
concluded in disappointment. The aim of insightful life is to be aware —
joyfully, serenely and divinely. It does not hanker after
life.
Hankering after
life also subsumes hankering after commodities. Isn’t that simply a vain
aspiration?
This weeping is all
in vain; the world ignores the Lord, and weeps for maya.
Not distinguishing
between good and evil, one wastes away this life in vain.
Such evils as
ostentatiousness, greed, pride, dishonesty and nepotism sprout from hankering
after things. This enhances our bondage to worldliness and pushes the chances
for our liberation further and further away from us. It is such hankering that
also creates restlessness and generates fear of death. It takes away peace from
life and dignity from death.
Those who do not
cling to life and care not for its commodities remain spiritually blissful. They
not only live a blessed life, but also earn a blessed death. Guru Nanak
said:
The death of heroes
is hallowed, and it is approved by God.
One might ask, who
are the heroes referred to here? Guru Amar Das informs us:
He alone is a brave
warrior, a hero,
Who conquers and
subdues his vicious inner ego.
“Conquering the ego
is conquering the whole world”, said Guru Nanak. This, then, is the requirement
for a heroic spiritual life.
We all think man
fears death. But, in reality, he fears himself. The remorses and repentances of
life haunt him. One who has no remorse, nor any ground for repentance, has no
reason to fear death. Death, the most dreaded evil for many, is not so for those
who are spiritually illumined. For them it is of little
concern.
Only right living
can prepare us for safe or even joyous dying. Let us, then, be of good cheer
about death and know this that no evil can happen to a good man either in life
or after death. Death, be assured, is no evil. It is impossible that a thing so
natural, so necessary, and so universal should ever have been designed by our
Creator as an evil to mankind.
Let us conclude
with these lines from Kabir:
People say it is
good to live forever,
but without dying,
there is no life.
So, what wisdom
should I preach?
Everything worldly
is perishing right in front of me!
— J.S. Neki, a
psychiatrist of international repute, was director of PGIMER, Chandigarh. He
also received the Sahitya Akademi Award for his contribution to Punjabi verse.
Currently he is Professor of Eminence in Religious Studies at Punjabi
University, Patiala.
Source:
The Asian Age, New Delhi
11:02 PM
Sultan Shahin
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