“If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.”
Two months ago, I had visited a small town in South India for a few days. As I was on my way to this place from the airport, a funeral procession carrying a dead body crossed right in front of me. Just halfway through my stay, as I was sitting beside a shop, out of the blue another death procession crossed inches away from me. What's more interesting is, as I was leaving this town another death procession crossed my way. I was thinking - "Oh God, what is the message for me!". The story doesn't end here, as I reached Goa, a friend of mine who came to pick me up gave me another news of the departure of one of our congregation member's mother-in-law. That same night, another elderly congregation lady and a close college friend of mine passed away. The message was very clear - Death can come at any moment.
Two months ago, I had visited a small town in South India for a few days. As I was on my way to this place from the airport, a funeral procession carrying a dead body crossed right in front of me. Just halfway through my stay, as I was sitting beside a shop, out of the blue another death procession crossed inches away from me. What's more interesting is, as I was leaving this town another death procession crossed my way. I was thinking - "Oh God, what is the message for me!". The story doesn't end here, as I reached Goa, a friend of mine who came to pick me up gave me another news of the departure of one of our congregation member's mother-in-law. That same night, another elderly congregation lady and a close college friend of mine passed away. The message was very clear - Death can come at any moment.
The story doesn't stop here either - the news of death keeps happening everyday, everywhere. And what to speak of the countess animals, insects, birds and reptiles that keep dying at every moment. No wonder, the scriptures call this world as "martya loka" - the abode of death. It may sound pessimistic but it is actually realistic. It doesn't require great intelligence to see this reality, just a little sincerity is enough. In fact, we can learn most lessons in life just by observing things around.
WISDOM FROM A KING
But, even after knowing that death is the reality of this world, we feel that we will somehow escape it as the famous episode from the Mahabharata goes, in which an Yaksha asks King Yudhishtira - "What is the greatest wonder in this world?". Yudhishtira answers it brilliantly by saying -
ahani ahani bhutani,
gachantiha yamalayam,
sesa sthavaram ichanti,
kim ascaryam atah param
"Day after day countless creatures are meeting with death, yet those that remain behind believe themselves to be immortal. What can be more wonderful than this!"
Isn't this really astonishing - we feel, we will be the only exception to this rule of death. What an illusion! We may wish after wish but the reality has not changed and will not change. The question is never, "whether death will come to us?" - the question is only "when it will come to us?". We may bury our head in the ground of illusion just like an ostrich buries it's head in the ground seeing a tiger approaching to kill it. Neither the ostrich will be spared nor us. Intelligence, is to align ourselves with this reality and try to make use of the bad bargain. We can never break the law, we will only break ourselves against it. As they say - life is a preparation and death is the examination.
If a student denies the reality of exams and lives in his fantasy world, it's not going to help him or her. Best is to know that exam is a reality of his or her college life and that he or she needs to prepare well to pass it. Similarly, this life is given to us to prepare our consciousness well so that when the final exam in the form of death arrives, we can pass it with flying colours and reach the spiritual world - a place of no exams - a place of pure fun with the Lord of fun. This type of living is called - "living with the end in mind". That's the most intelligent way of living. The Bhagavad-Gita and the Srimad Bhagvatam hints of this kind of living as the true success of human existence.
The Bhagavad-Gita 8.5 mentions -
anta-kāle ca mām eva
smaran muktvā kalevaram
yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaḿ
yāti nāsty atra saḿśayah
"And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body remembering Me alone at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt."
And the Srimad Bhagvatam 2.1.6 further encapsulates this point so beautifully in this most classic of all verses -
etāvān sāńkhya-yogābhyāḿ
sva-dharma-pariniṣṭhayā
janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ puḿsām
ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtih
"The highest perfection of human life, achieved either by complete knowledge of matter and spirit, by practice of mystic powers, or by perfect discharge of occupational duty, is to remember the Personality of Godhead at the end of life."
WISDOM FROM A SAINT
The difference between the exam of death and any other exam is that - this one is a surprise test. You just don't know when it will come and catch us off-guard. Have you ever wondered - "how our last day will look like?" The answer is simple - "like any other day."
Here is one my favourite story of Radhanath Swami, a story that even Radhanath Swami loves to speak - a simple but profound anecdote that explains how we can't afford to be complacent in life and take life for granted.
Radhanath Swami as a young spiritual seeker while hitchhiking to different holy places in India reached Prayaga, praised as the king of holy places. This was home of the Kumbha Mela, the largest gathering on earth where up to twenty million pilgrims gather every twelve years to meet saintly people and take a religious purification bath. Prayaga is situated at the confluence of three rivers: the Ganges, Yamuna, and Saraswati. Radhanth Swami walked barefoot in the unbearably hot sand, and arrived at the confluence where he saw the river Yamuna embracing Mother Ganges—Yamuna with her complexion of deep blue, Ganges with hers of white, and the transparent Saraswati joined them from below.
Sitting on the sandy bank, he gazed into the sky and saw a hawk plunge headlong into the Ganges. There, a frantic underwater skirmish ensued until the hawk emerged with a flapping fish, about a foot long, pierced in the grip of his talons. Squirming desperately, the fish was carried overhead and into a nearby forest. Looking on Radhanath Swami reflected:
“The unsuspecting fish, who knew nothing but a life in the river, went about its routine like any other day, but in an instant was ripped out of its reality to meet with death. Like that fish, we routinely live our lives hardly aware that, at the least expected moment, the yellow-eyed hawk of fate in the form of crises, tragedy, or even death, may wrench us out of our comfortable environment. We regularly hear of it in the news or see it around us but rarely take seriously that it could happen to us. Perhaps the lesson here is to guard against complacency and give higher priority to our spiritual needs. If the fish swam deeper, the hawk would not be able reach it. Similarly, if we go deeper into our connection to God, we will find an inner reality so deep and so satisfying that it lifts the consciousness to a place where we could deal with the effects of unforeseeable fate with a stable, detached mind.”
In this material world, there is danger at every step and death could come at any time. Therefore a spiritualist spends every moment remembering God so that during the eventual moment of death, he is fixed in an inner state of bliss, ready to enter the divine realm of God. As Radhanath Swami puts it, “A spiritualist doesn’t let a breath pass without remembering God.” Although this may appear presently impractical, our goal is to attain that state of constant remembrance. Radhanath Swami often quotes the phrase - “To forget God is worse than death.”
For a spiritual seeker death is not the end, rather it’s a beginning of entrance into a realm of eternity, knowledge and bliss. For a materialist, death is simply the end of everything he or she identifies with. Therefore a God lover doesn’t mind getting old or nearing death, because he knows that as the body is coming closer to death, the soul is getting closer to the eternal spiritual youthful form.
But, even after knowing that death is the reality of this world, we feel that we will somehow escape it as the famous episode from the Mahabharata goes, in which an Yaksha asks King Yudhishtira - "What is the greatest wonder in this world?". Yudhishtira answers it brilliantly by saying -
ahani ahani bhutani,
gachantiha yamalayam,
sesa sthavaram ichanti,
kim ascaryam atah param
"Day after day countless creatures are meeting with death, yet those that remain behind believe themselves to be immortal. What can be more wonderful than this!"
Isn't this really astonishing - we feel, we will be the only exception to this rule of death. What an illusion! We may wish after wish but the reality has not changed and will not change. The question is never, "whether death will come to us?" - the question is only "when it will come to us?". We may bury our head in the ground of illusion just like an ostrich buries it's head in the ground seeing a tiger approaching to kill it. Neither the ostrich will be spared nor us. Intelligence, is to align ourselves with this reality and try to make use of the bad bargain. We can never break the law, we will only break ourselves against it. As they say - life is a preparation and death is the examination.
If a student denies the reality of exams and lives in his fantasy world, it's not going to help him or her. Best is to know that exam is a reality of his or her college life and that he or she needs to prepare well to pass it. Similarly, this life is given to us to prepare our consciousness well so that when the final exam in the form of death arrives, we can pass it with flying colours and reach the spiritual world - a place of no exams - a place of pure fun with the Lord of fun. This type of living is called - "living with the end in mind". That's the most intelligent way of living. The Bhagavad-Gita and the Srimad Bhagvatam hints of this kind of living as the true success of human existence.
The Bhagavad-Gita 8.5 mentions -
anta-kāle ca mām eva
smaran muktvā kalevaram
yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaḿ
yāti nāsty atra saḿśayah
"And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body remembering Me alone at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt."
And the Srimad Bhagvatam 2.1.6 further encapsulates this point so beautifully in this most classic of all verses -
etāvān sāńkhya-yogābhyāḿ
sva-dharma-pariniṣṭhayā
janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ puḿsām
ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtih
"The highest perfection of human life, achieved either by complete knowledge of matter and spirit, by practice of mystic powers, or by perfect discharge of occupational duty, is to remember the Personality of Godhead at the end of life."
WISDOM FROM A SAINT
The difference between the exam of death and any other exam is that - this one is a surprise test. You just don't know when it will come and catch us off-guard. Have you ever wondered - "how our last day will look like?" The answer is simple - "like any other day."
Here is one my favourite story of Radhanath Swami, a story that even Radhanath Swami loves to speak - a simple but profound anecdote that explains how we can't afford to be complacent in life and take life for granted.
Radhanath Swami as a young spiritual seeker while hitchhiking to different holy places in India reached Prayaga, praised as the king of holy places. This was home of the Kumbha Mela, the largest gathering on earth where up to twenty million pilgrims gather every twelve years to meet saintly people and take a religious purification bath. Prayaga is situated at the confluence of three rivers: the Ganges, Yamuna, and Saraswati. Radhanth Swami walked barefoot in the unbearably hot sand, and arrived at the confluence where he saw the river Yamuna embracing Mother Ganges—Yamuna with her complexion of deep blue, Ganges with hers of white, and the transparent Saraswati joined them from below.
Sitting on the sandy bank, he gazed into the sky and saw a hawk plunge headlong into the Ganges. There, a frantic underwater skirmish ensued until the hawk emerged with a flapping fish, about a foot long, pierced in the grip of his talons. Squirming desperately, the fish was carried overhead and into a nearby forest. Looking on Radhanath Swami reflected:
“The unsuspecting fish, who knew nothing but a life in the river, went about its routine like any other day, but in an instant was ripped out of its reality to meet with death. Like that fish, we routinely live our lives hardly aware that, at the least expected moment, the yellow-eyed hawk of fate in the form of crises, tragedy, or even death, may wrench us out of our comfortable environment. We regularly hear of it in the news or see it around us but rarely take seriously that it could happen to us. Perhaps the lesson here is to guard against complacency and give higher priority to our spiritual needs. If the fish swam deeper, the hawk would not be able reach it. Similarly, if we go deeper into our connection to God, we will find an inner reality so deep and so satisfying that it lifts the consciousness to a place where we could deal with the effects of unforeseeable fate with a stable, detached mind.”
In this material world, there is danger at every step and death could come at any time. Therefore a spiritualist spends every moment remembering God so that during the eventual moment of death, he is fixed in an inner state of bliss, ready to enter the divine realm of God. As Radhanath Swami puts it, “A spiritualist doesn’t let a breath pass without remembering God.” Although this may appear presently impractical, our goal is to attain that state of constant remembrance. Radhanath Swami often quotes the phrase - “To forget God is worse than death.”
For a spiritual seeker death is not the end, rather it’s a beginning of entrance into a realm of eternity, knowledge and bliss. For a materialist, death is simply the end of everything he or she identifies with. Therefore a God lover doesn’t mind getting old or nearing death, because he knows that as the body is coming closer to death, the soul is getting closer to the eternal spiritual youthful form.
Therefore, we all know that in all spiritual traditions be it from the east or the west, meditation on the temporariness of this world is important to be focused on the path of the truth. We can achieve the permanent world only when realize the impermanent nature of this world. But, what we may not know is that how "living with the end in mind" works extremely well in navigating our material life as well. How? By bringing things to perspective and shedding light on "what is important" rather than "what we think is important".
WISDOM FROM A CEO
Here is another excerpt from a talk, not of a spiritual guru but a business guru, an entrepreneur par excellence who left has left his mark in the world for a long time to come. This is an excerpt from the talk of the late Steve Jobs, the founder and CEO of Apple Inc. and Pixar animation which he gave at the Stanford university in 2005. This talk is probably one of the most seen talks in history, the all-time favorite of many including mine. In this talk, he speaks three simple but profound stories from his life. Here is a section of the third story that he mentions. You will be left to wonder if this is a spiritual tycoon speaking or a business tycoon speaking.
"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
Wow! That was amazing, isn't it. Simply, mind blowing and to the point. You see, whether you want to be successful in your material life or your spiritual life, the principles remain the same - only the application changes. Very grateful to Steve Jobs for this bold presentation of his. His life was definitely a huge success in one sense but if only he could have channelized this understanding of life and death to practice spirituality, he would have made it big in this life and the next. As they say - he would have had the best of both worlds. But nothing to lament about, I am sure God will award him higher wisdom for his sincerity where ever he may be because, death is not the end, it is just a start of another life.
In any case the lesson is clear for all of us as to how "living with the end in mind" is one of the most intelligent and efficient way of living in this world to attain success both in this life and beyond. Death is considered to be the ultimate filter because it separates "the unwanted" from "the wanted", "the essential" from "the superficial", "the temporary" from "the permanent" and "you" from "that which is not you".
Let us therefore try to this live this life with the end in mind so that we can end this game of "ends" to attain a state of pure living with no end.
- Achyut Gopal Das
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