Death is not Frightening

If the current of Ganga-knowledge, if the current of devotion, if the picture of purity and piety reaches inside, then the nectar will appear, will splash, will be seen up to the last moment of life and show that the man has a true and noble spirit. Otherwise in the end man dies, looking with crossed eyes, rubbing his heels, getting angry, fretting, fuming, and crying. Kabir said:

Jis marne se jag dare mere man anand

Mar kar ke hi paayenge puran parmanand

 If you want to have the complete and consummate joy of the closeness to Parameshwar, God, then you will have to throw away the costume of this body.

Here the most important thing to understand is this: once you have comprehensive knowledge and have translated it into real, practical life then death is not frightening. That is why it is said if Ganga once enters inside a man the death then does not frighten him. Further, he says that Yama does not, in any way, harm a person who has talked and discussed Murari, who has prayed and worshipped him. It is said that death visits some people towards their feet whereas it visits some others on their heads.

It is possible that some great men pass the last few days or months of their lives on their sickbed. But, for this fact, it cannot be said that he underwent punishment for some sin. Many people say that the account has been cleared. But in the present society, a man does not undergo punishment for his own mistakes but for the misdeeds of others also. You may be anywhere, but if a tire is being burnt nearby then its foul smell comes your way too. If someone is burning chilies in an open fire in his house, then its irritating smoke can be carried by the wind elsewhere also.

If someone has cultured a colony of mosquitoes then a few of them will reach your house too because you live in a society or communities. You do not live alone. Only cats and mice live alone. If it is a bird or a dog it will go alone and sit or lie down. Human beings, however, live in groups. That is why the author of the Mahabharata says: Ekah Papani Kurute Phalam Bhukte Mahajanah – One man commits a crime, and many people suffer due to it. If a man of senses goes to the mad persons’ group, he must suffer in their midst. It is said he is ignorant.

Once in a village or a town, there was a petty king. The village had only two wells. One well was for the king the other was meant for the villagers. One magician came there. He mixed some magical powder in the water of the well-meant for villagers. As a result, all the persons of the village became mad. The mad persons did not see their own madness, but they did see that the king had gone mad. Now all of them shouted saying that the king had gone mad and was acting in a very strange and incomprehensible manner. And then, it did not take long to form an organization of the mad persons. If someone says that the community or the religion is in danger, then people unite very quickly in the face of the danger. The smaller the community, and the bigger the danger shown to them, the shorter time it takes to unite; then it does not take long for people to raise the slogans “Death to Devil, or Devil Murdabad.’ A man holds a flag very soon and holds it aloft. All the villagers united raised their flags and shouted that their king was mad, and he does not understand what we say to him.

They decided that they would have to change the king. The minister also did not drink water because he lived in the king’s court and drank water from the king’s well. Who will make these mad persons understand the reason? The minister advised the king to rush and drink water from the villagers’ well otherwise they would come to teach him a lesson and you will have to live as a mad man amidst madmen. The minister was a clever man, he rushed to the villagers’ well, drank water from it, and joined them. The king was thinking about whether he should drink or not from the villagers’ well. But when he saw that the villagers were out to upturn everything he too went out and drank water from the villagers’ well. A small streak of madness began to build up in the king.

In the meanwhile, the villagers organized a meeting and thanked God that their king had recovered, otherwise his mind was distorted. Whenever a sensible person came to the community of mad persons then the people tried to prove him wrong, blamed him in many ways, hurt him in numerous forms. He was suppressed and annihilated in all possible ways. He had to bear the punishment of the sins of all others. But despite this he did not complain to the world or to the Master of the world. He continued to be in his own peace, own unique joy. He lived in peace and departed from the world in the most peaceful, unprotestingly manner.