What is Death ???

[krsna 3]

Death is going to sleep and then waking up in the morning to face the same unresolved problems - unless you wake up in Krsna's abode, having solved all your problems before going to sleep .

 

Hare Krishna

 

krsna das

[krsna 3]

For sure

that day will come

when i'll leave this carcass

going beyong the image of this blurred computer screen.

 

The wake up call of the morning rise

 

as i stand and watch the whole world

 

of make believe faces of lust ,anger and greed.

 

Yes?

 

krsna das

[theist 1]

Help me remember a quote. It was something to the effect that "hell is doing the same thing over and over and expectng a different result"

 

Close to that I think. Krsna,do you know the exact quote and the person who said it?

[Guest guest]

In my opinion, Hell is nothing but taking repeated birth on earth, where we are subjected to face different tortures, While Heaven is Goloka.

There is no permenant Hell as per our Hindu shastra

Raghavan

[mahak 0]

 

EDITORIAL

November 11, 1998 VNN2487

 

The Death Phenomena

 

 

--

BY mahaksadasa

 

EDITORIAL, Nov 11 (VNN) — Haribol, dear VNN readers and writers, PAMHO. This article is written for those who feel impending doom, either from speculations about wars, or from dabbling in the likes of Cayce, Scallion, Morton, and other seers. We should not give absolute truth status to the versions of the empiric scientist, but we need not reject them, either. Srila Prabhupada did not expect us to remain infants forever with overprotection.

 

We question and defeat them all, but their versions are not unfounded. Do we reject tornado warnings, do we stay on the beach just because a meat eater weatherman says the hurricane is coming? No, Srila Prabhupada raised practical children.

 

I have been cursed since birth with uncanny clairvoyance, it only gives me joy playing around with sports-page fascinations shared with my karmi friends at work, at other times, not so much joy seeing the future of Kali. Just more and more deterioration, more demoniac activity, more misinterpretation, more chaos, quarrel, and confusion. My work mates ask me, "Is it the volcano, the tornado, the solar ejecta, the tsunami, the comet, the earthquake, the nuclear holocaust? Tell us." The answer is "all of these things". The answer is that a noble green skinned mahajana in red robes, with matted hair riding on a buffalo carrying a silver thread to retrieve a soul under his jurisdiction follows our every move, because catastrophe is there. The answer is that Lord Sri Yamaraja, similar to us at work in our jobs, would like to sluff off, now and then, if given the opportunity, and we can help him in his desire by removing ourselves from his dutiful jurisdiction and becoming his friend instead. He is cent-percent pure Vaisnava acarya, so much so, that he is one of the twelve authorities on devotional service. Probably most of the readers here have read all of Srila Prabhupada's books, and a very nice project is to seek out the words of Sri Yamaraja (as well as his partial manifestations, Sri Vidura and Sri Yudhisthira) to find DHARMA. He is the first mahajana we deal with on the other side, and he would rather engage in joyful Krsna Consciousness with us at that time than just do his occupational duty, because He knows, He is the first created being to die.

 

This is not a doomsday scare story, just a realization of mortality given to me another, who is not of Vaisnava persuasion, yet possesses Vaisnava qualities in her own right, that I cannot describe, nor properly understand. She is not interested in impending doom of the Ross Ice Shelf separating from Antarctica and raising global sea levels two-hundred feet, she cares not to hear of Popocatepetyl Volcano ready to give the earth a ring like Saturn. She tells me that I only got a few years, max, as do we all, so get with it.

 

Srila Prabhupada does not teach doomsday science, he does not teach us how to die. He teaches us how to live. He shows us that, if at all possible, even in an incapacitated condition, we should desire to circumambulate Sri Govardhana Hill in Remembrance of Sri Govinda, this act of life, and living, is what gives both the living entity and the stalking Lord Yamaraja transcendental happiness, destroys the time (and place, too) effect temporarily affecting our lives. The death phenomena is ONLY (my favorite word that Srila Prabhupada uses often) phantasmagoria, a will o' the wisp. I am remembering a dear friend, Bhava devi dasi, removed from our presence by the chemotherapy. She was young, full of life, and, though apparently only 80 pounds of dying flesh, taught fellow hospital patients in the same condition how to be pleasing to Yama, by pleasing his dear Sri Govinda.

 

Point is, when the lava flows and the water rises, the joy of performing bhakti yoga as taught by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada does not diminish. Because the word YOGA appears, all ideas of being ALONE are also phantasmagoria, a celluloid manifestation, illusion. Even as the body bursts into flames and the mind is disturbed by seeing such an event happen, Sri Govinda approaches, protects, rescues, never abandons. No artificial behavior influenced by loneliness is required, no need to place a picture of Krsna in front of the eyes. Srila Prabhupada teaches the facts that this process of devotional service is descending to us from the Groves of Goloka Vrndavana, our job is to take the wonderful gift only.

 

Some of us have lost a few as described, headed by our beloved Guru Maharaja himself, as well as dear disciples of his like Jayananda, Visnujana, Sudama, Gauragovinda, Bhava devi dasi, Tusta, et al., yet we know Srila Prabhupada's Science (at least theoretically), therefore we do NOT say they are dead, and in some cases, imbued with advanced devotional symptoms, we do NOT even feel that they are away. The reason for this phenomena is the gift described, that bhakti yoga is SPIRITUAL LIFE, transcendental to both Samsara cycles and threefold miseries. So, though faced with doom, (collectively as I see in lucid dreams or appropriately as wonderful reality facing the individual), we can all take courage and give praise, again and again, for the fortune of association with the great gift-giver, Srila Prabhupada.

 

Haribol, your servant in exile, mahaksadasa

 

 

 

[krsna 3]

Help me remember a quote. It was something to the effect that "hell is doing the same thing over and over and expectng a different result"

 

Close to that I think. Krsna,do you know the exact quote and the person who said it?

 

***************************************

 

No,I'm not familiar with that quote. Sorry.

 

But the one that comes to my mind at this time is from that French existential philosopher Jean Paul Satre who is often quoted as saying that 'Hell is other people'.

[theist 1]

He must've been big at parties.

[Guest guest]

Hey theist, haribol. (BTW I concur with the praise on the othger topic, I just didnt want to inflate you =;-) Well, this party animal wrote a book called nausea where he contemplates an open sore, I bet he was a gas.

 

Hope yer well, hare krsna, yo lovin leftie, mad mahax

[theist 1]

Sarte was French. That is all I need to know. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

Just kidding a little. Bhaktas are always the exception. I worship the feet of all bhaktas, even French ones.

[krsna 3]

 

By the grace of the Lord, if a devotee, at the time of death, can simply chant His holy names -- Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare -- simply by chanting this maha-mantra, he immediately surpasses the great ocean of the material sky and enters the spiritual sky. He never has to come back for repetition of birth and death. Simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord, one can surpass the ocean of death.

Srimad-Bhagavatam (4.10.30)

[krsna 3]

 

Maharaja Bharata thought of his dear deer !

 

/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

[SubashRao 0]

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How do other people know what the dying person is thinking at the time of death?....

[Guest guest]

Death has no mercy (jerry Garcia said that). Death comes like a thief in the night (jesus Christ said that). At the time of death when one gets run over by a truck he may be saying "aw ----". But for a devotee, the inopportune event is not a cause for worry.

 

A devotee does not have to artificially place a picture of krsna before his mind. Devotee means that a reciprocal relationship with krsna is built, and both are constantly thinking of each other. A devotee may not think of krsna at the time of death, or even chant his name, but krsna is thinking of his devotee and chanting the name of that devotee, and what better position can one be in?

 

Life is when one should concentrate on building the relationship with the Supreme Person. Take part in the feast of devotional service, in practice (sadhana bhakti), while alivew, and death will be just fine, even if a few cuss words come, or during a stupid dream we have no control over, or shot to death by a goon squad of jack-bootin politicos.

 

Remember, even the picture of maharaja bharata is a story of a greatly protected pure devotee of the supreme lord, As a deer, he was just fine, and just as much as a devotee he was as a great king, and after that deer died, he became Jada Bharata, a Bhajananandi Avadhuta, one of the most HEAVY stories in Srimad Bhagavatam. (Of the 16,108 Heavy stories).

 

Bottom line, we cannot control the mind in life, what makes us think that we can control it in death. Surrender all controls to the supreme Lord, this is devotional service, without arrogance, without presumption, and watch out for that truck, Oh ----!

 

Hare Krsna, ys, mahaksadasa

[krsna 3]

 

I agree .In many ways most people are already dead.(no rasa with Krsna)However we will try to wake up from Death to eternal life of Krsna bhakti rasa.

 

"What is play to you is death to me."

 

"Whatever spiritual progress one makes in life will be tested at the time of death." (Bengali proverb)

[krsna 3]

Vrindavana, India

 

November 11th, 1976

 

 

 

Another recent arrival has been a mother and daughter, Antardhyana dasi and Manisa dasi. Manisa is initiated even though in her early teens, but she is terminally ill with leukemia. Having given up any hope of a cure, they have come here so that Manisa can leave her body in the holy dhama. They requested a darsana with Srila Prabhupada, and he received them this morning just before his massage. When they came in, Manisa burst into tears as they explained her condition and prognosis. She is frightened by the prospect of imminent death and is clearly not mentally prepared for it. Despite the girl's weeping, however, Srila Prabhupada was firm and spoke rather strongly, focusing in on the reality of her condition. Rather than offering sympathies with some sentimental, body-based words of solace, Srila Prabhupada cut through the fear and doubt shrouding his disciple's mind and intelligence and met the problem head-on. "Everyone is going to die," he said. "Who is going to live? Who is here? Can you show me anyone who is going to live? Can you show me?" Antardhyana shook her head. "No. Everybody's going to die.So today or tomorrow, everyone will die," he affrmed. "So where is the anxiety? Die or not die, tomorrow or today, but one should chant Hare Krsna, that's all. Why one should be depressed? And everyone is going to die. I am going to die tomorrow, he is going to die day after tomorrow -- everyone will have to die. Who will live here? So what is the anxiety? Chant Hare Krsna. That's all."

 

 

 

Jagadisa told Srila Prabhupada that she had come to die in Vrndavana. "Nobody will live," Prabhupada repeated. "Don't be in anxiety. That's all. Anyone who has come to this material world will die. One is going to die today; another is going to die tomorrow. It is a question of first and second, but everyone will die. So before death one should be complete in Krsna consciousness. That is success of life. The tree is standing for thousands of years. So what is the use of living like that? A tree cannot chant Hare Krsna but lives for thousands of years. Do you think that kind of living is very worthy, standing in one place, cannot move even, and what to speak of chanting? So you have got the chance to chant Hare Krsna. Utilize that. Don't be anxious that 'I am going to die.' Who is going to live? Why don't you understand that? Nobody is going to live. So before death one should be complete in Krsna consciousness. That is success."

 

 

 

Prabhupada's direct and practical words helped Manisa focus. She stopped sobbing and regained her composure. But still she had a fear. "But if one is not, Srila Prabhupada, what will happen?" Prabhupada didn't quite understand her query and I repeated it. "If one is not complete in their Krsna consciousness then what will happen?She will get again birth in a human body," he assured her. "That is guaranteed so that he'll get again chance of chanting. That is also great gain. Ordinary person, he does not know what body he is going to get, next body. But a person who is in Krsna consciousness, chanting, he is guaranteed. Sucinam srimatam gehe (Bg. 6.41) -- he is guaranteed to take birth as human being in a very sacred family like brahmana and very rich family." Because he had other commitments, Prabhupada had to end the darsana at that point. "So I have to go." Despite the meeting being so short, however, Manisa was visibly relieved and thankful. His words had struck home. "Thank you, Srila Prabhupada," she said. "Hare Krsna. Nobody is going to live here," Prabhupada told her again as he rose from his seat. "Everyone is going to die. Before death, chant Hare Krsna." With a compassionate smile of reassurance to his young disciple, he added, "Don't be worried." Manisa's mother, though, still sought some further comfort. "She is worried, Prabhupada, about... What is the worry?" Prabhupada interjected "I have already said everyone is going to die." Antardhyana managed to be very specific. "She is worried about seeing the Yamadutas. This is what she is worried about." Prabhupada addressed Manisa directly and repeated the practical formula for overcoming death. "Chant Hare Krsna. Always think of Krsna. That's all." Manisa nodded, accepting his words as the proper solution. "Yes, Srila Prabhupada.This is our business," Prabhupada concluded. "The cats and dogs cannot do this. That is the advantage of human form of body." Both the mother and daughter were grateful and happy to get a few words of encouragement and guidance. Manisa left feeling heartened by her first personal meeting with her spiritual master, and the two of them will reside in the guesthouse until her departure.

 

 

 

Hari Sauri Dasa

 

 

 

From A Transcendental Diary, Volume 5. Just released in March 2005. This volume covers Srila Prabhupada's activities during October and November 1976, in Aligarh, New Delhi, Chandigarh and Vrindavana-dhama.

 

[krsna 3]

[krsna 3]

 

"Chant Hare Krsna. Always think of Krsna. That's all.":pray:

 

 

 

[Shaktidevi 0]

 

Help me remember a quote. It was something to the effect that "hell is doing the same thing over and over and expectng a different result"

 

Close to that I think. Krsna,do you know the exact quote and the person who said it?

I hope Krsna knows, but if I may intrude, I have seen that same line as follows:

 

Neurotic behavior is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

[Guest guest]

Death means end of one body...