Conquest Of Death: Seek The Immortal

By Sri Swami Sivananda

O man! what have you to do with wealth, bungalows and gardens? What have you to do with friends and relatives? What have you to do with wife and children? What have you to do with power, name, fame, position and prestige? You will surely die. Everything is uncertain here but death is certain. Seek the immortal Atman or the Imperishable Self which is hidden in the chambers of your heart.

Spiritual wealth is real inexhaustible wealth. Divine knowledge is real knowledge. Find out the way to conquer Death. Realise the Eternal Atman and attain freedom and perfection, eternity and immortality.

The happy-go-lucky worldly man does not care for religion and higher transcendental matters. He does not worry about God, doctrine of reincarnation, Immortal Soul, Yoga Sadhana, the four means. He knows two things well viz., to fill his pocket and to fill his belly. He eats, drinks, jokes, sleeps, procreates and dresses himself in different costumes.

Some cross the seas to get University degrees. Some practise alchemy to turn copper into gold. Some practise Pranayama to live for hundred years. Some do banking and business to amass immense wealth. If you reflect deeply for a while you will find out these people do two things only viz., eating sumptuously and sleeping. Nothing more than this.

But their eyes are opened a bit when their dearest relative dies, when they get an incurable disease, when they lose their wealth. They get a temporary disgust for worldly life. They ask: “What is life? What is death? What is there on the other side of death? Is there any life beyond? Where shall we go after death?” The dispassion soon vanishes as they have no discrimination.

Man tries to find happiness in sensual objects. Too much sensual indulgence wears out the senses and brings disgust, sickness, and disease of all kinds. The more sexual pleasures he enjoys, the greater the passion becomes. He learns bitter lessons. He learns that his happiness does not lie in satisfying the desire of the body and the senses.

At last he seeks to find happiness in his own Atman within.

If you oppress a man you will suffer oppression in another life and reap the fruit of the seed you have sown in this life. If you injure the eye of a man your eye will be injured in another life. If you break the leg of a man your leg will be broken in another life. If you feed the poor, you will have plenty of food in another life. If you build rest-houses you will have many houses in another life. Action and reaction are equal and opposite. Such is the law of Karma. Such is the law of birth and death. Such is the circle through which you must pass on your way.

Many people are rich but they do not enjoy their life properly. They have plenty of money. They have many bungalows and yet they are unhappy. Their life is very miserable. They suffer from several chronic diseases. Their sons are vagabonds. They are miserly. They are disliked by their friends and relatives. How do you account for this? They craved for money in their previous births and so they had it in this life but did not use it well. They were selfish and cruel in their past life. They had no character in their previous births. So they suffer in this birth.

Do good actions. Entertain sublime, divine thoughts and build your character. Have one, pure, holy desire, the desire for liberation from the wheel of birth and death.

Your character is built by your thoughts. As you think, so shall you become. If you think nobly you will be born with a noble character. If you think badly you will be born with a bad character. This is the immutable law of nature.

Desire determines which sort of objects you will have in your next life. If you desire wealth very much you will get it in your next life. If you desire power very much you will get it in your next life. But money and power cannot give you eternal bliss and immortality. You must be very careful in your choice. Entertain one strong desire, the desire for Moksha or the final emancipation. Shun worldly desires ruthlessly. You will soon be freed from the round of births and deaths.

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This was an excerpt from the book What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Sri Swami Sivananda.

The death and dying and the life after death has always fascinated man. We want to now the truth behind near death experiences and become certain that there really is a life after death.

Many books have been written on the subject of death, but most of the works deal mainly with the astral or other spirit world. It has mostly been the study of the conditions in the Pretaloka which is merely one among the numerous supramundane planes or lokas beyond the grave. Spiritualism, seance and the testimony of recognised mediums have for most part featured prominently in all such works.

What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj is a departure from the usual line in that it is based, to a great extent, upon authoritative scriptural texts and upon knowledge derived through reasoning, deep reflection and personal meditation. It throws a flood of light upon all aspects of life after death not adequately dealt with in other works. The book also gives valuable information about the different beliefs on this subject, of the various races and religions.

The book is dealing with rebirth, the soul, reincarnation, moksha, heaven and hell, karma and different lokas. It even includes death poems and death poetry, giving a complete picture and a new face of death. For more material see this link: What Becomes Of The Soul After Death.

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