THE SELF AT DEATH

Sometimes it can happen that one has to pass through this condition for days together. It is not that everyone passes through the same condition. Every person’s manner of death is different from that of others. But here the Upanishad gives an idea of the normal way in which people pass away from this world. Rarely do people like to leave their body. It is very dear to them. If someone were to say, ‘you have to die just now’, one would not be easily prepared for it. Whatever be one’s experience that is going to be in the future, even if it is to be better, one cannot imagine it. There is a natural clinging to the body and a feeling for this present life, due to which there is a reluctance to depart from this body. But, because of the pull from the other world, there is a tension one feels at that time. You do not want to go, but you are forced to go, and naturally you can imagine what you would feel at that time.

The Upanishad gives a comparison. Just as a bullock-cart which is heavily loaded with material, almost beyond its capacity, dragged by two powerful bulls, creaks and groans because it is heavily loaded and moves slowly and reluctantly because of the weight, somewhat in a similar manner, this individual about to expire moves out of the body reluctantly like a heavily laden cart, pulled by forces which belong to the other world, with creaks and groans caused by the weight of attachment that he still has to this world. That weight does not allow him to go freely. So he makes a kind of ‘creaking’ sound as it were. There is difficulty in breathing, or hard breathing. The Pranas depart; they are about to leave the body. In sleep, the Pranas do not leave the body.

Though the mind is withdrawn from the body, the Pranas are not withdrawn. So there is no death in sleep. Life is still present, though the mind is absent. But in the death condition, Pranas also are withdrawn. So, there is no connection between the subtle body and the physical body at the time of death. In sleep the connection is maintained, and so you return to waking life once again through this body only.

But when the Pranas are withdrawn, the last connection that obtains between the subtle body and the physical body is snapped, and the two are separated. At that time of the separation of the Pranas from the physical body there is inordinate breathing. What kind of breathing it is will differ from person to person. When a person is about to depart, indications will be seen in the physical body as well as in the mind. The person becomes emaciated and weakened in every respect.

The mind wakes up again into world-consciousness after going through the dream experiences. This waking up into world-consciousness is of two kinds. One is the experience we have when we rise up from dream and sleep. Everyday we have this waking up into the world of objects. We go to sleep everyday, we dream and go to sleep and we get up. The other kind of waking is rebirth. The condition through which one passes at the time of death is supposed to be something like the dream state. When a person is about to pass away from this world, his waking consciousness in the sense of his awareness of the sense-world, the consciousness of people outside and the feeling of the presence of things around etc. etc. diminishes in intensity, gradually. He cannot think as other people think. Then he will be in a state of dream, as it were.

Though it is of a different kind, yet it is supposed to be something like dream. It is not exactly similar to our normal dreams of daily life in every respect, in every minute detail, but it cannot be compared to any other state. It is a dream-like experience because it is not intense like waking perceptions of the world, nor is it a complete obliteration of consciousness like in sleep. It is not abolition of all feeling. There is some sensation. And they say, when you are about to pass away from this world, you have some perceptions of the other world also. You will begin to see certain things. The feelings will indicate where you are going. The other world will begin to reveal itself in some modicum.

Just as when you cross the boundary of one country and enter into another country, you will see the police of this country as well as that country. This police will see what you are taking out of this country, and the other police will check up what you are bringing. Both will be seen. You have to be checked up by two kinds of police when you are crossing from one country to another country. Likewise, at the time of passing, the conditions of life in this world will be pulling you in the outward direction towards objects of this world, due to the attachments you had earlier.

The love of body, the love of relatives, the love of wealth, the love of position, and various types of loves - they pull the mind back to this earth, and so you feel a sort of unhappiness as you know these have to be left behind. Then there is the pull from above, which tells you, as it were, ‘here your stay is finished; now you must come away’. That intermediate state through which one passes is said to be a kind of preparation for waking into another world altogether, which you call ordinarily, rebirth. Rebirth does not necessarily mean coming back to this world. It is an awakening in any realm whatsoever, according to the nature of your desires, the actions that you performed in this world.