Srila Prabhupada showed us that a Vedic way of life is more consummate than its counterpart -modern urban lifestyle. Vedic lifestyle means regulated sense enjoyment versus endless enjoyment (urban lifestyle).
Death, therefore, was always discussed and part of one’s plan making from a Vedic perspective. I think it is the most natural and healthy thing to do. To think about death as a reality is actually easy on the mind when we actually face it and hence we will be well-prepared to focus on Krishna and not be bamboozled by “untimely” death. When was the last time you heard death to be timely?
If you think about it, we think about college and course of interest when we are in school. When we are in college, we think about getting a good job. When we have a job, we think about family, house, assets etc. When we obtain all of that, we think about retirement, and maintaining a healthy life. When we approach the end, we start to meditate on death as a reality. What happens at that late stage, it is something like the feeling one gets when one does not study for the exams (rather spends time playing) and on the day of the exam, we have an eerie feeling in the stomach (utter depression). A feeling of uncertainty, anxiety, unwillingness all culminating in fear. This fear is the unhealthiest way to approach death.
Vedic lifestyle keeps life simple yet real. It always reminds us that we do not belong here…in this temporary tottering platform. Rather there is an eternal place full of happiness. Modern urban lifestyle promotes the opposite sense of eternity right here…which we all know is illusion.
Srila Prabhupada took so much pain to re-introduce Vedic paradigm in an increasingly urban world/consciousness. Srila Prabhupada was our good teacher who took so much effort to teach us how to prepare for the exam and pass it. That exam is death and if we follow in his footsteps, we can pass the inevitable exam – death!
Please chant Hare Krishna and triumph over death.
For my part, I will say
Hare Krishna!
No comments:
Post a Comment