About death an early mystic wrote: "They will have you know that life, not death, is the destiny of man, and that the sweet thing you have named death is no longer dark and terrible, but the beauty of all existence, the freedom from all slavery, the triumph over all vanquishment and the gate beyond the walls of all those human limitations within which you live, leading to the celestial and eternal city, where all are free in the light of their wisdom and love."
It is time for men to stop thinking so gloomily about death. In fact, there is no death at all. There is simply a shifting of the scenes, an awakening into a new environment.
The masters have broken the seal of death, and so to them and their disciples there is no more death. And this is positive knowledge. It is neither speculation, nor guesswork, nor the interpretation of any book. The whole world has been accustomed to thinking that no. man knows, or can know, what lies beyond the portals of death. They assert, with apparent finality, that death lands us upon some mystic shore from whose destination no traveller ever returns. Some of them even assume that death puts an end to the individual existence of man .
In fact, death is a glaring deception. The masters and many of their disciples know precisely what death is and what lies beyond it. They know it is only an appearance. They have crossed the great divide many times, and they can tell us all about it. But they find it difficult to get people to believe them. The whole world has for ages shuddered at this ominous but inevitable fate which hangs over all. Humanity dreads it because it does not understand it. It is like a child crying in the dark. The child is afraid because it cannot see what is there. People fear death because they do not know what it involves and what lies beyond its gates.
In most cases, if a man thinks at all, he regards sleep with wonder and death with terror. Sleep and death guard two portals. Through one, man passes in and out every day; through the other he passes once, to return no more. The saints assert that we can know the mysteries or death while living. They deny that death is the end of existence and tell us that we may pass in and out of the doors of death while still alive and fully conscious. They say that after death we will surely leave this body of clay. Therefore we should try to escape from this earthly prison before we die. The real self lives without a body, so we need not fear the going out of the soul from the body.
Death acts as a fine sieve, through which, by the perpetual flow of the laws of Mother Nature individuals are passed on to their true stations in higher regions. The squares in
the death-sieve are so exceedingly fine, that only certain powers and principles can go through, while on the earth-side is peeled off and cast down a lifeless mass of bones and fleshy corruption.
Though the ordinary man looks upon death with dread and sadness, those who have reached the threshold of death have all declared it to be a wondrous experience of peace and freedom.
Every one of us is going to die some day, so there is no point in being afraid of death. We do not feel miserable at the prospect of losing consciousness of our body in sleep; we accept sleep as a state of freedom to look forward to. So it is with death; it is a state of rest a pension from this life. There is nothing to dread. When death comes, we should accept it without fear. Death is only an experience through which we are meant to learn the great lesson of life, and that is: We cannot die.
Our real self, the soul, is immortal. We may sleep for a little while in that change called death, but we can never be destroyed. We exist, and that existence is eternal. The wave comes to the shore, and then goes back to the sea; it is not lost. It becomes one with the ocean, or returns again to the shore in the form of another wave. This body has come, and it will vanish; but the soul essence within it will never cease to exist. Nothing can terminate the eternal consciousness of that everlasting entity that is the soul.
As science has so well proved; even a particle of matter or a wave of energy is indestructible. The soul or spiritual essence of man is also indestructible. Matter undergoes change; the soul undergoes changing experiences. Radical changes are termed death, but death or a change in form does not change or destroy the spiritual essence.
The body is only a garn1ent, a covering. We change our clothing in this life so many times, but we do not say that we have changed. Similarly, when we cast off this body dress at death we do not change. We are still the same an immortal soul, a drop of the Absolute, a child of God.
The word 'death' is a great misnomer, for there is no death; when we are tired of life, we
simply take off the overcoat of flesh and leave this physical world.
The Bhagavad Gila illustrates beautifully the immortality of the soul:
Never was the spirit horn; never shall the spirit cease to be;"
Never was the time when it was not; End and Beginning are dreams!
Birthless and Deathless changeless remained the spirit forever;
Death hath not touched it at all. dead though its house seems.
Death is not the end; it is a temporary emancipation, given to us when karma, the law of cause and effect, determines that our present body and environment have served their purpose, or when we are too weary or exhausted by suffering to bear the burden of a physical existence any longer. To those who are suffering, death is a resurrection from the painful tortures of the flesh, a new awakening to peace and calmness. To the elderly, it is a pension earned by years of struggling through life. For all, it is a welcome rest.
When we reflect that this world is filled with death, and 'that our body has• to be relinquished one day, God's plan seems very cruel. We cannot imagine that this is the decree of a merciful God. But when we look at the process of death with the eye of wisdom, we see that after all it is an auspicious change. It is our emancipation from the nightmarish prison called mortal life into the blissful freedom of returning back to the Source. Saint and sinner alike are given freedom at death,-to a greater or lesser degree • according to their merit. In the plane to which souls go at death, •they enjoy a freedom such as they never knew their earthly life. So do not pity the person who is passing through the delusion of death, for in a little while he will be liberated. As soon as he gets out of this deception, he realizes that •his mortality was just a dream and rejoices that no fire can bum him, nor can any water drown him; for now he is totally free and safe.
In this new consciousness he comes to realize that all things co-exist in mutual helpfulness, rather than in antagonism. All forms of resonance function in harmony with one another. All forces live in peace and conscious benevolence. In this new awareness there are no calamities, no violence. Souls live in mutual co-operation, breathing not oxygen, but the joy of the spirit.
Why do we cry when our dear ones die? Because we sorrow for our own loss. If our loved ones leave us for training in better schools of life, we should rejoice instead of being selfishly sad, for we may keep them earthbound and hamper their progress by broadcasting our own selfish wills. The Lord is everlasting and by his infinite wisdom, through death, he keeps each created object, each living being, ever manifesting and transfom1ing itself into a fitter vehicle for his limitless expressions. Death comes to dutiful men as a promotion to a higher state. To those who so foolishly squandered their' lives, it comes to give them lives, it comes to give them another chance in a different environment.
When a highly evolved teacher lay dying on his bed, his wife was unable to control her grief and burst into tears. He said to her, "Why are you crying? My whole life we lived was live that might learn how to die."
The after-death state is variously experienced by different people in accordance with their modes of living while on earth. Different people vary in the duration and depth of their sleep. Similarly, they vary in their experiences after death. The good man who works hard in the factory of life goes into a deep, unconscious, restful sleep for a short while. He then awakens to life in some region in the higher planes. As Christ said: "In my Father's house are many mansions."
Death is not the end or things, but a passage from physical experiences in the domain of gross. changeable matter to purer joys in the finer realms of multicolored lights.
In spite of the general ignorance about death, the masters know what death means and they are ready to impart their knowledge to all those who will listen to them.
The masters and many of their disciples pass daily through the 'gates of death.' Hence they know all the problems connected with the process. They have explore worlds upon worlds beyond the gates of death. All of this they do in full consciousness as a direct result of their spiritual practice.
This accomplishment lies within the power of anyone who is under the guidance of a perfect master. He requires only the knowledge of how to go about it, and then application to the task and perseverance.
After one is able to leave the body voluntarily, not only is there no more death (in the ordinary sense of some dreadful catastrophe), but there is not even a moment of unconsciousness or a shadow of darkness. One steps out of this body at will and in full awareness. Such a one knows exactly what he is doing and remains• always in full control of the process. The' master and all his disciples leave their bodies for. good when the time comes for them logo. _When that time comes, they go just as they did before, except that they sever all collection with the body and discard it for the last time. Then they depart as liberated souls rising on wings of power and light. They step out of their bodies and leave, as easily as one would step out of a dark, stuffy room into a beautiful sunlit garden.
The big question now is: What comes to pass after death? Where do we go and what happens to us? In this process, mankind is divided into two distinct classes or groups; and the reason for this division is that each of these two groups meets with a different sort
of experience after death.
The first class includes all those who have no master, or spiritual teacher. This constitutes, of course, the great bulk of mankind. All of these are obliged to meet the emergencies of death unsupported, unescorted, absolutely alone and helpless under the law of their own karma. They are now to receive payment in full for what they have earned in their just their determinate earthly life. Of them the messengers of death ask not when they shall come. They operate under the orders of their master, the negative power, whose duty it is to administer absolute justice with no favoritism. No matter to what religion they may belong, all must face 'the dark angel'. Kings and peasants, good and bad, must all go wherever he leads them. They must go when the hour strikes, whether they are ready to go or not. Their individual wishes are not consulted. There is no remedy, no escape. When the inevitable moment arrives, no man can stave off the hand of death. All must face death alone and deal with it alone.
In that court of justice, there is impartiality, which is beyond both mercy and clemency. There is no question of appeal and no possibility of release on probation. If a person has been very bad, living a selfish life, indulging his negative passions, then his sentence will send him to some region of remedial and disciplinary punishment. There will be no attorney for the defence'. Each one is judged according to his own record, and the sentence is pronounced in strict conformity with the law.
A person who has lived a better life will be sent to a better environment, to some sort of paradise where he may enjoy the good, which he has earned. There he will rest and recuperate until the time arrives for him to return to earthly life once more.. But in each and every case, which receives exactly what he has earned and then he must sooner or later return to be born once more on this or some other planet.
At the solemn moment of death, every man, even when death is sudden, sees the whole of his past life marshaled before him, in its minutest details as if on a cinema screen. For one short instant the personality becomes one with the individual and all knowing soul. But this instant is enough to show him the whole chain of causes, which have been at work during his life. He now sees himself as he is and understands himself, unadorned by flattery or self-deception. He reads his life, like a spectator looking down into the arena he is quitting. He feels and knows the justice of all suffering and calamities that have overtaken him during the course of his life.
The second class is those people who were initiated by a living master, followed the instructions given by him and meditated regularly as directed by him, but have not yet attained sainthood themselves. All of this class knows the day and the hour when they are to go, long before it comes. The master meets those disciples at death; that is, he makes himself visible to them and he tells them that their time is up and they must go. They respond with joy. They fear nothing. They have no regrets at having to leave their families and the world. The entire process of death is under their control, and there is never a shadow of difficulty or distress during the process of passing over the threshold of death. They pass out of the body as easily as one would lay off an old garment. In their daily practice, they have already gone through that process many times, so the whole performance is quite familiar to them. Many times already they have visited the region to which they are now to pass. It is just like-going back home.
The only difference between their former visits to that region and this final exit from the physical world is that now they break the silver cord and release themselves forever from the shackles of the body. Separation from the body is now complete and they are free to go wherever they wish without restrictions of any sort. Their master escorts them directly to the region that will be their abode until they are ready to go higher. Of course, the master is with them during all of this process. They make the transition in great joy and of their own free will. There is no compulsion of any kind. They have absolutely nothing to do with the dark angel of death or with the king-judge. It is a time of joyful homecoming.
Those in this class do not return to earthly life again, unless it is so willed and ordered by their master. Generally, they are taken on up region by region until they reach the highest. It is extremely fortunate for any disciple if he has been able to reach the highest region before he leaves the physical body. This achievement is open to all if they do the required work. In actual practice, few ever accomplish so much during a lifetime, but all disciples of a master arc under his sole direction and jurisdiction.
No matter if they live ten thousand miles away from the master, he is there in a form visible to them, to receive them and go with them at the time of death. He comes to them in his astral Radiant Fon11. As soon as they leave the physical body, the master himself takes them to that region or locality which they have earned. There he places them in a sort of training school where they make good progress under his directions. They then continue in their training school until the time comes when they are fit to go higher.
In no case docs a disciple of a true master ever go before the king-judge, nor does the black angel of death ever approach him at the time of death. He cannot approach a disciple of a real saint. The master himself is there to take care of his own. The master is always lord of the situation. There is no power above him. He is the embodiment of the Supreme One, and as such he has power to do whatever he likes, and no one can obstruct his path.
The following few lines written by a medieval Christian Saint (de Chardin) embody the feelings of those who understand this human death: Lord, since with every instinct of my being and through all the changing fortunes of my life, it is You of whom I have ever thought, You whom I set at the heart of all universal matter, it will be in a glorious brightness which shines through all things and in which all things are ablaze that I shall have the felicity of finally closing my eyes.
Lastly, Hazur in his usual simple and lucid way sums up the whole subject by saying: Life does not begin with birth and end with death. We are an expression of infinite life, which has no beginning and shall never come to an end.
