Death: The Ultimate
Reality? A Life Perspective and POV
I had closed the
previous article in this series on Death with a statement that both beliefs –
rebirth and no-birth, are correct; it is just a matter of how you look at it,
combined with your self-education attempts, plus your faith. From this
perspective, both statement –Death is the ultimate reality, and that Death is
only the beginning stand as correct & accurate. For this article, let us
examine this seeming contradiction in a little more detail.
WHAT IS
LIFE? THE 3 POVs
We cannot understand
Death without first understanding Life; how you define life, how you look upon
life determines your outlook towards and meaning of Death. Look into yourself,
and try and what life means for you – the answer to this question is the
answer, the key to an entire journey. If you don’t
get an immediate answer – don’t fret; the fact that you are thinking of this
question is itself the start of a journey. Don’t
push it – the answers will come to you all by themselves, if you don’t give up.
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| Image Source : Unsplash, edited & text added in Paint |
In my opinion,
there are two ways to look at this; 3 if you are more nuanced. The first is an
outward look; the second is an inward look – and the third is a balanced look.
No method or POV is wrong or incorrect; the POV is the way it is. How you take
it forward is your call, and will determine your destiny, so to speak. The three
POVs of defining Life need to be understood for what they are, if we are to
properly understand and define the concept of what the world calls “Human Life”
THE
EXTERNAL POV
This is the
external world – your body, your family, your friends, your job, your legacy,
your desires, your ego, your ambition, even the nature of your faith, your community – society – nation. In this
definition, you are born, get educated, get a job, a family, excel in the job,
get material benefits, children, their marriage, a home, a car – that is life. This
view is that of love for your close ones, of ego & desire & ambition to
acquire material benefits; to succeed; to grow professionally. It also deals
with your love of the nation, your attachments towards it and its people and
so. These attachments can also exist in
other POVs, so read on to place this in a more detailed view.
This dwells totally
on the external world, and its sensory stimuli to our senses, that kindle a
response in us, for the most part. These external stimuli interact with our
ambitions, desires, ego to kindle greater ambitions- success, money, love and
more. In this view, the tool / stimulus becomes both the object and the subject
of our life. Instead if it being a part of a path {as in the other 2 views},
here it is the entire path. In this path, the Humans does actions for the sole
objective of sensory satisfaction, material existence. Even the relationships that
exist in this view – they may be pure non-transactional relations, people you
are close to genuine & care about; - but your love or care for them is
paramount, overpowering That are the express purpose, of part of the express
purpose, of your Life. This is, in a nutshell, the external view of Human Life.
GOING
DEEPER INTO THE EXTERNAL POV
In this sensory
world, most of our actions are reactionary, in that they are reactions to the
external world and the stimulus they throw in our path. You desire that job as
it pays well, allowing you to maintain your family in comfort. Thus, the tool &
stimulus becomes allied to and welded to the purpose of your existence on the
planet. Nearly 100% of us have this view. Here, for example, the tool is the
Job, The education for it; the stimulus is the knowledge that it exists, and the knowledge that others have acquired comforts
using this Job. But, in making it central – the path gets converted to the destination.
Another example –
you have a family, a spouse. You work hard to give him or her comfort, as he or
she is your wife, sister, child, brother, parent etc. You take pride in
providing this for them. You do your utmost, genuine utmost, so that they can
live happily. Nothing wrong in this, so long as your actions are moral, ethical and legal. Admirable, in fact. But
look closely – these relations, rather than being a path become the subject of
your life, their comfort an objective to be achieved. Rather than being companions on a path, they transpose into being the subject and the object of the path.
CONCLUDING
REMARKS
This,then is the
sensory POV of life, wherein the external sensory triggers stimulate action,
which are born out of love, desire,ambition, ego. They set goals and objects to
be attained in material terms. When we
die, all of these cease to exist. That
is an absolute. In this POV, you are actually not re-born, there is no
punarjanm or rebirth, as Smrutis
{memory} are not passed on to the next life. Thus, your entire world,
your entire being ceases to exist. And this is a scary prospect, let us admit
it.
Since all we know and have experienced of the world exists due to
external realities / perceptions, there is nothing else.
Here, Life is identified with external connections, is
defined and is limited to external realities. Since the individual in this POV has identified the self totally with
these external triggers, and has made their attainment collection &
enjoyment the sole objective of the passage of life, Death becomes a final reality. When the
soul transmigrates to a new body, the start is fresh, as the existence itself is new, with new
stimuli, new relations and new objects of indulgence. There is no anchor, and
further, the path is also new given the objects & subjects as described
above are new. In the next articles in this series, we shall look at
the other aspects or POVs of Human Life… stay connected
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