From the time we are little we come to fear death. We try not to think about it because the very topic invokes our deepest fears. Do we cease to exist? Will we be judged and punished?
The Katha Upanishad tells the story of Yama, the lord of death and a very curious boy named Nachiketa. Nachiketa visits Yama because he has questions about death. When the boy arrives, Yama is gone and Nachiketa has to spend three nights alone without food or water. When Yama returns, he apologizes for his absence and offers Nachiketa three boons.
Nachiketa was still feeling his father’s anger when Nahiketa questioned his father’s offering of only his unhealthy cows in a ritual fire sacrifice, and so as a first boon he asked that his father not be angry with him. Yama agreed. Next the boy asked for the necessary and proper elements of the fire sacrifice, to which Yama agreed to explain.
Then Nachiketa asked what happens after the death of the body, to which Yama objected, saying ask me for longevity, wealth or progeny, but do not ask me this question! Nachiketa was insistent, saying he did not care about any of those things, which are ephemeral in nature. Only when Yama was satisfied that Nachiketa wanted nothing else did he agree to answer Nachiketa’s question.
Yama then embarks on an exposition of the nature of the Self–who we truly are–that which is beyond death and rebirth. Some of the text of his speech is quoted below:
“Fools dwelling in darkness, but thinking themselves wise and erudite, go round and round, by various tortuous paths, like the blind led by the blind. The hereafter never reveals itself to a person devoid of discrimination, heedless and perplexed by the delusion of wealth. ‘This world alone exists,’ he thinks, ‘and there is no other.’ Again and again he comes under my sway.
Many there are who do not even hear of Atman [i.e. the Self]; though hearing of Him, many do not comprehend. Wonderful is the expounder and rare the hearer; rare indeed is the experiencer of Atman taught by an able preceptor.
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That Self hidden in all beings is not obvious to our perception; but It is seen by subtle seers through their one – pointed and subtle intellects.
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Arise! Awake! Approach the great and learn. Like the sharp edge of a razor is that path, so the wise say – hard to tread and difficult to cross. Having realized Atman, which is soundless, intangible, formless, undecaying and likewise tasteless, eternal and odorless; having realized That which is without beginning and end, beyond the Great and unchanging – one is freed from the jaws of death.”
Upon finally realizing who we truly are, there is nothing to fear in death, as it is simply the dropping of the body–the vehicle that we inhabit during our incarnation on earth.
Knowing who we truly are and realizing our immortal nature also puts our life in a new perspective. That which may previously have been important to us no longer holds any attraction and simply falls away.
Most importantly, we find new purpose in our living and learn how to be a source of joy not only to ourselves but to others as well.
