Maraṇasati: Preparing for the day of death
I was reminded of a conversation that happened with Yudhishthira (Eldest of Pandavas in Mahabarata Epic) and a Yama (God of death) disguised as a Yaksha (benevolent nature spirit).
Nakula, the fourth of the five Pandavas, in thirst went near to a river to drink water, a Yaksha interrupted, but because of thirst he didn’t listen and drank water and died. Although the water was sparkling clean, it was a punishment for not getting permission from the Yaksha.
Followed by Nakula, others went searching for him and died by drinking water from the same lake. Worried Yudhishthira comes to find his other brothers, only to find all his other brothers dead nearby the lake. Yudhishthira goes to quench his thirst in the lake, he was interrupted by the Yaksha.
The Yaksha says that he can drink water only after answering his questions. Although there are 125 questions asked by the Yaksha to Yudhishthira, one question actually intrigued me.
Yaksha: Of all things in life, what is the most amazing?
Yudhishthira: That a man, seeing others die all around him, never thinks that he will die.
Although we have witnessed a lot of different kinds of death, like an accident, old age death, heart attack, cancer, etc., and with the recent covid deaths, But, we still don’t think that we will be dead one day and we should be prepared for it. Death comes once in our lifetime and we should always be prepared and welcoming it. Just like how the priority is given to birth, death is an amazing event in one's life.
Doesn’t mean that you should be worried about it every moment. The most important part is how are you going to say that you actually LIVED? The thought of death will make you think better every day, brings you closer to the truth that nothing in this world is permanent, not even the world.
Obviously, just because death is awaiting me one day in the future, doesn’t mean that I can take my life today. It’s a natural process, let it happen on its own, you don’t own the control over it and you don’t have to take control of it. Instead, take control and use the opportunity of life, that happens once or many, who knows how many lives that we had earlier, do we remember any? we remember none. All that matters is that what we are living right now.
You don’t need to be scared of the unknown, let alone your spirit handle it if it exists. Worried about nothingness after death doesn’t matter, all that matters is the existing life that you are currently living.
You might question what’s all this sham? I don’t understand any of this, why life? why death? what is this world? who is this fellow furry cat? what is this universe? why is this universe? and billion more questions. But the importance is that you touch as many lives around you as you can, they do have all those questions and confusions, some are lost on the sensory elements of life, some mongers powers, some die in poverty.
The moment you touch many lives around you, the lives that are struggling to cope up with this world on a daily basis, struggling emotionally or financially, it doesn’t matter “how”, the answer for it is a helping hand to elevate the lives around you. Give them love, help them to grow and that will make them help others.
Doing so, you help them pat themselves on their back that they LIVED their life in happiness and well-being by helping others to get elevated. In turn, you pat yourself on your back for helping those. It’s all a looping amplification, helping each other with love & happiness to reach the state of satisfaction one day.
On that day, that you will never know and will never need to know if you are on track touching lives around you. That’s how you can say that you actually LIVED your life.
Oh, wait! what happened to those people in the story? are they really dead? Actually, after all those questions and answers, the Yaksha reveals himself as a God of Death and brings all his brothers back to life. Just because all of the answers given by Yudhishthira, showed his virtues of non-violence and equality as higher than profit and pleasure.
Maraṇasati
Translated to mindfulness of death, death awareness. It is a Buddhist meditation practice of remembering that death can strike us at any time to develop a sense of spiritual urgency.
A short guided meditation here. (It’s quite intense, so do it only if you can take it)
