Swami teaches...Death

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Light and Love

 

Swami teaches... (7 January 2005)

 

Death

 

Man has known about everything else, except death. Why should a person die?

The answer is: in order that he may not die again. He is born, so that he may

not get born again. Having been born, man earns and acquires land, riches,

materials, grain, articles of comfort and luxury, which he feels will give him

happiness and which therefore become the object of his struggle. But, the

object of realising God is forgotten. You are listening to Me and what do you

get when you so listen? Well, what do you give Me in return? Give Me the

Aacharana (following, observing) of what I am telling you; practise what I

teach, that is enough.

 

Man should not die like a cat or a dog. He should leave the world better and

happier than when he came into it. He must get away, full of gratitude for the

chance given to him to see God in everything that he saw, heard, touched, smelt

and tasted. He must remember the Lord, with his last breadth.

When you are engaged in the various duties and obligations of the world,

never allow your attention to stray away from God, the Goal. Be always

attentive to the signs of His glory and His mercy and His omnipresence. So,

cultivate the habit of remembering the Lord with every breath; then only can

you remember Him with the last breath.

Death will not give any advance intimation, or say, 'Ready' and wait until

you are ready. Therefore, be ready always, so that you may produce a good

impression with His name on your lips and His form in your cleansed heart.

 

Death is considered as something to be afraid of; as something that should

not be spoken about in happy circumstances! But, death is neither good nor bad.

You have no choice in the matter. You can't get it sooner if you welcome it; nor

can you avoid it if you condemn it as bad.

 

Each body has the Purusha [He who is in this Pura (fortified town), body] in

it and the entire universe has the Purushotthama immanent in it. What dies is

the body, not the occupant of the body, the Purusha. The faith that you have,

the Purusha in you, will cleanse the mind of all evil and the senses of all

evil propensities. The vessel too must be clean, not merely the drink.

(Extracts-compilation by Reet* from: The Divine Discourse Bhagawan Sathya Sai

Baba, "Purusha and Purushotthama," 20 October 1963, Prashanthi Nilayam).

*In fact, name is not essential. It is added as there is a responsibility to

work with Swami's texts. I am aware of this responsibility.

 

Namaste - Reet