All World
Gayatri Pariwar

Living with the awareness of death

The Eighth Chapter puts forward a thesis that the thought uppermost in mind at the time of death prevails over others in the next birth. When we start on a journey, we carry some provisions with us to sustain us on our journey. The thought uppermost in mind at the time of death, which is the essence of what has been earned in this life, is the provision with which we start our journey in the next birth. We begin a new day with the previous day’s gains in hand. Death is like a long sleep, after which we begin the new life with the gains of the previous birth. End of this life is the beginning of the next birth. Hence one must always be aware of the inevitability of death, while conducting oneself in this life.

This is necessary also to enable us to face the dread of death and find ways and means to counter it. There is a story from the life of Saint Eknath. A gentleman once asked him, “Sir, your life is so simple and pure. Why our’s is not so?  You never lose temper or quarrel with anybody. How serene, pure and kind-hearted you are!” Eknath said, “Leave me out for the time being. Let me tell you that I have come to know something about you. You are going to die after seven days.” Who would disbelieve Eknath? Only seven days of life left. The gentleman rushed to his home. He could think of nothing else. He started entrusting his affairs to others and making preparations for the end. He was taken ill and got confined to bed. Six days passed.

On the seventh day, Eknath went to him and enquired, “How are you?” The man replied, “Sir, I am about to leave this world.” Eknath asked, “Well, how many sins have you committed in the last six days. How many evil thoughts crossed your mind” The gentleman replied, “Sir, where was the time for that; Death was always there before my eyes.” Eknath said, “Now you know the reason why the lives of people like me are sinless.” How can mind entertain evil thoughts when death is standing before you, ready to pounce on you like a tiger? Even for committing sin, mind has to be free from anxieties. Constant awareness of death is the means to be free from sin. If death is staring in the face, who can muster up courage to commit sin?

But man always evades the thought of death. French philosopher Pascal has written a book titled ‘Pensees’ (Thoughts). It contains his stray thoughts. He observes therein that although death is always looking over our shoulders, we continually try to forget it; how to live with the awareness of death in mind is never our concern. Man detests even the very mention of the word ‘death’. If somebody utters this word while taking meals, he is immediately admonished. Nevertheless, we are continually moving towards death. Once you board a train to Mumbai, it is bound to take you there even if you just keep sitting. The moment we are born, we have booked a ticket to the destination of death. Whether we run or keep sitting, death is bound to come. Whether you think of it or not, you cannot avoid it. Whatever else may be uncertain, death is certain. The sun sets everyday, taking away a portion from our life.

Life is continually being gnawed at. It is continually withering away. Still man takes no notice of it. Jnanadeva exclaims, “Kautuk distase” (How curious!). He wonders how man could be so thoughtless and unperturbed in such a situation. Man is so frightened of death that he cannot even bear the thought of it, and tries to evade it like an ostrich burying its head in the sand. Soldiers going to the front play dance or sing or smoke to forget death. Pascal wonders how they lose themselves in eating, drinking or singing to drown the thought of death even when death is literally hovering around!

We are all like those soldiers. We try to keep a smiling face, apply creams to hide wrinkles, dye our greying hair. We are ceaselessly trying to brush aside the thought of death even though it is just around the comer. We talk about anything but death. Ask a boy who has done his matriculation about his future plans. He will reply, “Don’t ask me now; I have joined the college just now.” If you put the same question next year, he will reply, “Let the second year of college pass. I shall think of the future thereafter.” So it goes on. But should not one think of the future in advance? One should plan the next step beforehand; otherwise one will land oneself in a ditch. But the student shirks this task. The education that the poor fellow receives is so full of darkness that he has little idea of what is in store for him. He refuses to visualize the future, since he sees only darkness ahead. But there is no escape from the future; it is bound to catch him by the neck.

The Professor of logic teaches in the college, “Man is mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore, Socrates is mortal.” Why does he not give his own example? The professor too is mortal. But he would not say, “All men are mortal. Therefore I, the Professor, am mortal and dear students, you too are mortal.” He gives the example of Socrates, since Socrates is already dead and is not there to protest howsoever we use his name! Students and teachers talk of the mortality of Socrates, but, conveniently keep mum about their own. Perhaps they feel that they are fully secure from death.

In this way, people everywhere are continually making deliberate efforts to forget death. But does that ward off death? It makes its presence felt when someone dear to us passes away. But still man does not think of death fearlessly and summon courage to overcome its challenge. A deer chased by a tiger finally gets exhausted, although it is swift and agile. Death in the form of the tiger continues to pursue it. Imagine the condition of that poor creature. It cannot look at the tiger. It closes its eyes and buries its antlers and face in the ground and helplessly waits for death. We too cannot dare to look at death. But howsoever we may try it is bound to pounce on us.

And when death finally comes, man begins to take stock of what he has in balance at the end of his life. A dull and lazy student in the examination hall just looks here and there and whiles away his time. Dear chap, is Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge, going to come down from heaven to write answers for you? He keeps the answer-book blank or at best scribbles a few lines and submits it when the time is up. Our condition is no different. But, keeping in mind that life ultimately ends in death, we must constantly practice throughout our life the means by which we can make the last moment pure, sacred and happy. From this very moment, we should be concerned with having the best of the samskaras. But who cares?

On the contrary, we are constantly training ourselves in bad ways; we are constantly teaching our sense-organs to behave in a perverse and wayward fashion. Mind must be trained in a different way. It should be led to what is good and should be encouraged to get absorbed in it. The moment we realize that we have erred, we should start taking corrective steps. Once we realize that we have made a mistake, should we go on repeating it? The moment you come to realize your error is the moment of your rebirth. It should mark a new beginning in your life. Look at it as the dawn of your new life. You are now truly awake. Now you should critically examine your life day and night. You should become alert; lest you should slip again; lest you should go back to practicing bad ways.

A few years ago, I had gone to meet my grandmother. She had grown quite old. She would say, “Vinya, I don’t remember things these days. I go to fetch the ghee but return empty-handed.” But she could vividly describe an incident about her gold ornaments that had occurred fifty years ago. She could not remember what had happened before five minutes, but the strong samskara imprinted on the mind fifty years ago was still fresh. What could the reason be? She must have narrated the incident again and again. Hence it clung to her memory and became a part of her being. I said to myself, “O God! Let grandma not remember her ornaments at least at the time of death!”              


[Reproduced with kind permission of Paramdham Publication, Pavnar from   Chapter 8 of ‘Talks on The Gita’ by Sant Vinoba Bhave, 16th edition (Jan 2005)]

To live remains an art which everyone must learn and which no one can teach.