Why spirituality? To Die better
An unconventional take on the fruits of spiritual growth
Why do we all go through the spiritual path? What is the reason for doing meditations, satsangs, discourses, gaining an understanding of your mind and yourself, and pursuing enlightenment? What is the objective purpose of all this?
These are the common reasons why people follow the path of spirituality:
- To feel less stressed at life and work.
- To live peacefully and happily.
- To have meaning and purpose in life.
- To have a supportive, caring community of like-minded people.
- To feel a sense of self-development and personal growth.
But there is one often overlooked reason I believe for developing spiritually, that is, to avoid dying in terror.
Dying in terror?
What do I mean by that? Most people die in terror — when you are in the last moments of your life, and you realize that this is it, you are at the overwhelming risk of suffering helplessly!
Indeed, if you have never contemplated your death, imagined what it would be like to die, or have had any near-death experiences, I am sorry to break this to you, but chances are that your death will be gruesome!
But thankfully, most people alive have at least thought about their death sometime or the other in their lives, and so they feel prepared more or less to confront death when it comes to them.
The worst scenario
Surely, you wouldn’t want to have a gruesome death for yourself or wish it upon your loved ones, right? Surely you wouldn’t want to die a horrific death, culminating in a horrendous panic attack; or want it to happen to your father, mother, sibling, spouse, son, or daughter when they are in their final moments, would you?
If you are a normal, caring, human being, you wouldn’t by any stretch of imagination want a gruesome death for you or your loved ones, or probably for anyone for that matter. You would at least want them to be prepared for death.
An ecstatic death?
But why settle for being “prepared”? Why not aim to have a peaceful, joyful, even ecstatic death?
Is it possible to achieve that? Can you ensure that when you know you have only a few minutes or seconds perhaps left in your life, that at that moment, you still manage to be joyful, present, peaceful, and caring?
Enlightened beings have done it throughout history. Anyone who has a mind can do it too! That means, you and I, we can choose to have an ecstatic death. How amazing is that! Not having to fear death anymore in our lives? Having the best last moments before death, and dying peacefully? Any sane person would sign up for it immediately.
Challenges
The problems lie in lack of awareness of mortality, lack of spiritual faith, skepticism about spiritual practices, fear and hesitation about confronting death or contemplating death, or sometimes simply, Nihilism.
Whatever the reason may be, the challenge before us, if we want to have a peaceful death, is one that we can overcome, slowly but surely. We can rejoice in the fact that we all have the potential for enlightenment and freedom from suffering in our lives, but also at the end of it!
Namaste
