Die Before You Die

Suffering is inevitable as long as one identifies with mind and body, as long as one is unconscious, spiritually speaking. Suffering is not only due to external agents. Feelings of resentment, hatred, anger, depression and jealousy are forms of suffering. And every pleasure contains within itself the seed of pain: each an inseparable opposite, which will manifest in time. We know from experience how easily and quickly an intimate relationship can turn from being a source of pleasure to a source of pain. Seen from a higher perspective, both negative and positive are two sides of the same coin. There is no past or present in the transcendental spiritual realm. Due to the dimension of kaala, time, there is past and present in the material world. Our mind tends to dwell in the past or the future. The mind, to ensure that it remains in control, seeks continuously to cloak the present moment with past and future; our real self and consciousness become engulfed by time; our true nature becomes obscured by the mind. We begin to act as per our thoughts and, accordingly, our actions are connected to the thoughts of our mind living in the future or in the past. Due to misidentification of self with body, mind and false ego, we always feel incomplete and insecure. All mundane possessions and attachments will have to be relinquished sooner or later. Death is a stripping away of all that is not us. The secret of life is to ‘die before you die’ and find that there is no death.

Source: Economic Times, 31/01/2019