Ask The Master: 19 Nov 2007

What Is Death?

The concept of our understanding of death can be broadly classified into 2 categories: there are people who believe in life after death and those who do not believe in rebirth. Of course, there are many who don't come under either of these two categories. They neither talk nor analyze about death. They want to be deliberately ignorant. Their attitude is, 'Let it come when it has to come and we will handle it at that time. Why should we even think about it or discuss about it now?' They prefer to take the route of escapism.

In western philosophy, there is no concept of rebirth. Their logical mind does not allow them to believe in it. There are no proofs of rebirth. Even the near-death experiences are only experiences of certain people. There is still an element of doubt about what really death is. Is it just the end of the physical body? Why does it really happen at the time it happens to every person? Many scientists are still working on this mystery. They have not been able to come to any decisive conclusion.

That is why, in the West, people want to live their lives fully. They feel that they don't have a second chance to fulfill their dreams. So, they are in a hurry to fulfill all their desires as soon as possible. This has created an anxiety in man. This concept or belief of a single life is what has given birth to science. Man started to search for the maximum comforts, joy and juice from the outer world. Man wants to extract the maximum that he can, at whatever expense to him and others, during the limited period that he knows instinctively is all that he has in this world.

This belief of just one life has also given rise to the sense of pleasures of life and the concept of God in the more serious and introspective humans. For most people, God is just a concept. They have not experienced Him. God is just a vague concept in your life till you get enlightened. In fact, if you see, even the idea of God was created only when this question of death was raised.

Many people have tried to answer these questions. In that process, they have created theories, philosophies and religions. Even the idea of God was created during this process. The question of death is the most mysterious question according to me. From time immemorial, so many people have tried again and again to answer this.

Every person who tried answering this question created a new religion, a new cult. All the religions are born out of this question.

What actually happens after death? What is death? It is the most mysterious thing!

Why should we analyze death? (to be contd.)

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Beyond Life And Death