मय मृयुयालभीत: पलायन् लोकान् सवान्िनभयम् नायगछत् वपादाजंाय युछयावथ : शेते मृयुरमादपैित Meaning: Fearing the serpent of death, man runs from sphere to sphere, but finds no haven of security anywhere. But Oh! Supreme Being, at last by some good fortune,he comes across thy feet and then living there in absolute surrender, attains peace and death thereupon withdraws from him. (Transalation by Tapasyananda) It is said that death is another name for the body because death is happening continuously in our body. So it is natural (sahajam) for all living beings to be afraid of loosing this body completely to death. At the same time we all know that the fear of death or attempting to run away from death is meaningless. Still the "maranabhayam or fear of death" eats ordinary people as much as death itself eats all of us day by day. When does this "fear of death" cease? Only when we stop identifying ourselves with the body. When does that miracle happen? Answer is in the slokam given above. The only refuge is "sharanagathi" or total surrender at the lotus feet of Bhagavan. Intense fear of death in some people acts as a positive fear promoting them to look inward. Ramana Mahashi had such a positive fear of death when he was just seventeen! Because of the immense grace of Bhagavan, that fear made him realize that he was not the body, he was Aathma or Parammathma Himself. He experienced that death could not touch or do anything to him, where as death is real only to his physical body in which he was housed for some time. Ordinary people like us who are entangled in the web of Mahaamaaya, may understand the literal meaning of " "I am not the body, I am aathma", but as Bhagavatham said, we need the grace or compassion of Bhagavan to come across His lotus feet and stay there in absolute surrender! May Bhagavan bless us to stay close to Him and let the veil of Mahaamaaya be blown away in the overwhelming flow of His compassion!!
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 02:05:11 +0000
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