DEMYSTIFING DEATH
It is almost a catharsis. Here Arjuna asks so many questions. However, the main question to Kṛṣṇa is: How does a person who is engaged in practicing Your teachings know You at the time of death? Here starts the whole teaching of Kṛṣṇa. He reveals the secrets of death.
One thing I want to tell you: The West has spent all its energy to understand life. The East has spent all its energy to understand death. Nobody has gone so deeply into, or achieved such deep experiences of death, as our ṛiṣhis, sages have. These masters have done a great service by bringing the knowledge of death to the people who are living.
WHY SHOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT DEATH?
People ask me, 'Swamiji, why should I know about death? Knowing about life is enough; after all I am still young.' The word 'death' creates fear in people. When it comes to death, they are not ready to listen.
They think, 'Why should we know about death? If we know about life, it is enough. Please be very clear, our understanding about death impacts our understanding about life. Life and death are two sides of the same coin. Understand one thing: In the East, all religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, talk about many births or reincarnation. Most Western religions talk about a single birth.
This concept of reincarnation has influenced Hindu society so deeply that nobody bothers about time! In Bharat, people do not bother about time. They are so relaxed. Till 10 o'clock in the morning, people sit in teashops! If we ask for anything, they say, 'Not today, tomorrow; if not tomorrow, next birth!' They have eternity in front of them because somewhere they know they will come again. They are in no hurry and therefore do not run behind anything. Hindu people are utterly and completely relaxed.
In the West, whatever they desire to achieve, they must finish achieving within 75 to 80 years. They do not have time. They either live now or never because there is only one birth according to them.That is the reason why people run and run! Please be very clear: Our understanding about death influences our whole social structure.
UNDERSTANDING DEATH FROM THE RIGHT CONTEXT
Our whole thinking system, our whole mentality can be transformed with the right understanding about death.I gave a single example about how the idea of reincarnation influences Eastern society and how the idea of one birth influences Western society. Thousands of such examples can be given.
The idea and understanding of death is much more important than the understanding of life. Whether we understand life or not, it remains the same. But the moment we understand death, the whole quality of life changes and our consciousness changes.