The Greatest Wonder
Pujya Gurudevshri awakens us to death, the reality of life, and explains how that awakening can change the quality of this life...
The fortunate, the intelligent, and the powerful have all returned tothe soil; there is no trace of them. Death has not spared emperors like Alexander and Napoleon either. Despite such a long history, no one awakens to death. Man continues to believe that it will not happen to him somehow. He will escape or awaken before death, but no revolution is seen in his life.
While wandering in the forest, the Pandavas encountered a yaksha. Yudhisthira successfully answered the yaksha’s five questions. Of those five, the most important one was, ‘What is the greatest wonder in the world?’ Yudhishthira said, ‘The greatest wonder is that every day we see people dying but we don't believe that we will also die.’
This is the greatest wonder of the world! It is not the Taj Mahal, Egyptian Pyramids or the Eiffel Tower. One does not think it is important to reflect on death, that it will come to me as well, and how I should prepare for it.
Living in Illusion
Man lives in the delusion that he can defeat death. No one has been able to conquer death. One can only awaken to death. And there is no death for the one who becomes enlightened! Death is like darkness. How can anyone defeat darkness? Only by lighting a flame will the darkness vanish. By lighting the flame of meditation, on attaining the nectar death ceases to have its hold.
If only one gives up his awe for the world, realises its hollowness and reduces the importance of worldly events will there be room for self-reflection. Sadly, one wastes his life by giving significance to petty things and taking pride in them. He becomes old and tired, but does not stop running.
Can’t Stop Running
The Russian writer Tolstoy writes about a relative visiting a farmer who informs about an attractive land offer in Siberia. ‘Sell your land here and get thousands of acres there.' The farmer becomes tempted. He sells his land and leaves for Siberia. He meets his relative’s friend at Siberia. The friend tells the farmer to leave all his money with him and instructs him to start walking at sunrise. The stretch of land that he can cover would be his! The only condition is that the farmer has to return to the starting point by sunset.
The farmer, in excitement, could not sleep that night. He got ready at sunrise and started running. He thought he would begin to return at noon to reach the starting point by sunset. In the greed to cover more land, he did not even stop to have food or water. Hungry and thirsty, he kept running.
He thought, ‘Today is the day to work hard! I will rest later.’ But his plan did not work. Hunger for more and better fertile land drove him forward. At four in the evening it struck him to turn back. He started running very fast. But, due to lack of sleep, fatigue, hunger, thirst, etc., his body was left with no strength. With the end in sight, he collapsed.
This is not just the farmer's story. Everyone runs thinking, ‘Let me run a little more, then I shall rest’. But exhausted in life, everyone eventually dies.
Repetition of the Same Mistake
Wise ones warn time and again that you do not know how to live. You don't awaken even if you make the same mistake repeatedly! If you examine your mistakes, you will realise that it is the same mistake again and again – with a different person, different thing, on a different occasion, in a different situation, with different intensity… and so you get the illusion of making a new mistake, a different mistake every time.
If someone went to Lord Mahavir for guidance, He would enlighten him about his previous lives and make him realise that he has been repeating the same mistake in different lives. If one who is running after a new desire, a new experience introspects, observes the events and the results, he will soon realise this fact.
One becomes angry, then repents, even apologises and yet returns to anger. What is the reason for this? From one extreme to another – the movement does not stop. What was the tendency within him, what was the pain, dissatisfaction, desire, etc., that made him angry? If he finds the reason, resolves, and uproots it only then he won’t repeat the anger, otherwise, the anger will continue to arise. Similar is the cycle of lust. This happens only because one is not awakened to death.
Awakening Transforms Life
Those who awaken to death have transformed their lives. They don't run; they become still within. Their wandering stops. They develop acceptance for what is received and do not crave for more. At the understanding of death, one’s focus changes. He begins the search for the eternal.
Zhuang Zhou was one of the great mystics of China. While passing through a crematorium, his feet hit a skull. He picked it up and kept it with him to remind himself that one day his skull too would be in the crematorium and get kicked by people. If so, why do I breed ego? Why should I react or be angry with someone who attacks me? Anyways this skull is going to get hit around for centuries. Thus, through the skull, he would awaken his disciples to death as well.
In this period, in our circumstances, there is no need to carry a skull with us. Remembering the skull will awaken the awareness of death and change your way of thinking, standing, sitting, talking, walking. The way of life will change.
Awareness Brings Urgency
Westerners are far more time-conscious than us in the Eastern world. Their commitment to punctuality is greater than ours. Why so? This is because they do not believe in rebirth. And so whatever they want to do, whether follow worldly or spiritual pursuits, they have only this life. Thus, they make full use of the time they get. While people in the East believe in reincarnation and so they think that they have ample time and opportunities; if not in this life then we will do it in the next! And so they do not nurture awareness of making the most of the time available.
That is why it is said that only after awakening to death you shall understand the value of time. Life will seem fleeting, you will hurry on the path of Dharma , you will know the futility of passions and the worthlessness of sense-gratification. Thereafter, you shall not suffer in defeat or feel excited by victories because both success and failure will seem irrelevant. Equanimity will arise. The state of witnessing will manifest.
By: Pujya Gurudevshri
The fortunate, the intelligent, and the powerful have all returned tothe soil; there is no trace of them. Death has not spared emperors like Alexander and Napoleon either. Despite such a long history, no one awakens to death. Man continues to believe that it will not happen to him somehow. He will escape or awaken before death, but no revolution is seen in his life.
While wandering in the forest, the Pandavas encountered a yaksha. Yudhisthira successfully answered the yaksha’s five questions. Of those five, the most important one was, ‘What is the greatest wonder in the world?’ Yudhishthira said, ‘The greatest wonder is that every day we see people dying but we don't believe that we will also die.’
This is the greatest wonder of the world! It is not the Taj Mahal, Egyptian Pyramids or the Eiffel Tower. One does not think it is important to reflect on death, that it will come to me as well, and how I should prepare for it.
Living in Illusion
Man lives in the delusion that he can defeat death. No one has been able to conquer death. One can only awaken to death. And there is no death for the one who becomes enlightened! Death is like darkness. How can anyone defeat darkness? Only by lighting a flame will the darkness vanish. By lighting the flame of meditation, on attaining the nectar death ceases to have its hold.
If only one gives up his awe for the world, realises its hollowness and reduces the importance of worldly events will there be room for self-reflection. Sadly, one wastes his life by giving significance to petty things and taking pride in them. He becomes old and tired, but does not stop running.
Can’t Stop Running
The Russian writer Tolstoy writes about a relative visiting a farmer who informs about an attractive land offer in Siberia. ‘Sell your land here and get thousands of acres there.' The farmer becomes tempted. He sells his land and leaves for Siberia. He meets his relative’s friend at Siberia. The friend tells the farmer to leave all his money with him and instructs him to start walking at sunrise. The stretch of land that he can cover would be his! The only condition is that the farmer has to return to the starting point by sunset.
The farmer, in excitement, could not sleep that night. He got ready at sunrise and started running. He thought he would begin to return at noon to reach the starting point by sunset. In the greed to cover more land, he did not even stop to have food or water. Hungry and thirsty, he kept running.
He thought, ‘Today is the day to work hard! I will rest later.’ But his plan did not work. Hunger for more and better fertile land drove him forward. At four in the evening it struck him to turn back. He started running very fast. But, due to lack of sleep, fatigue, hunger, thirst, etc., his body was left with no strength. With the end in sight, he collapsed.
This is not just the farmer's story. Everyone runs thinking, ‘Let me run a little more, then I shall rest’. But exhausted in life, everyone eventually dies.
Repetition of the Same Mistake
Wise ones warn time and again that you do not know how to live. You don't awaken even if you make the same mistake repeatedly! If you examine your mistakes, you will realise that it is the same mistake again and again – with a different person, different thing, on a different occasion, in a different situation, with different intensity… and so you get the illusion of making a new mistake, a different mistake every time.
If someone went to Lord Mahavir for guidance, He would enlighten him about his previous lives and make him realise that he has been repeating the same mistake in different lives. If one who is running after a new desire, a new experience introspects, observes the events and the results, he will soon realise this fact.
One becomes angry, then repents, even apologises and yet returns to anger. What is the reason for this? From one extreme to another – the movement does not stop. What was the tendency within him, what was the pain, dissatisfaction, desire, etc., that made him angry? If he finds the reason, resolves, and uproots it only then he won’t repeat the anger, otherwise, the anger will continue to arise. Similar is the cycle of lust. This happens only because one is not awakened to death.
Awakening Transforms Life
Those who awaken to death have transformed their lives. They don't run; they become still within. Their wandering stops. They develop acceptance for what is received and do not crave for more. At the understanding of death, one’s focus changes. He begins the search for the eternal.
Zhuang Zhou was one of the great mystics of China. While passing through a crematorium, his feet hit a skull. He picked it up and kept it with him to remind himself that one day his skull too would be in the crematorium and get kicked by people. If so, why do I breed ego? Why should I react or be angry with someone who attacks me? Anyways this skull is going to get hit around for centuries. Thus, through the skull, he would awaken his disciples to death as well.
In this period, in our circumstances, there is no need to carry a skull with us. Remembering the skull will awaken the awareness of death and change your way of thinking, standing, sitting, talking, walking. The way of life will change.
Awareness Brings Urgency
Westerners are far more time-conscious than us in the Eastern world. Their commitment to punctuality is greater than ours. Why so? This is because they do not believe in rebirth. And so whatever they want to do, whether follow worldly or spiritual pursuits, they have only this life. Thus, they make full use of the time they get. While people in the East believe in reincarnation and so they think that they have ample time and opportunities; if not in this life then we will do it in the next! And so they do not nurture awareness of making the most of the time available.
That is why it is said that only after awakening to death you shall understand the value of time. Life will seem fleeting, you will hurry on the path of Dharma , you will know the futility of passions and the worthlessness of sense-gratification. Thereafter, you shall not suffer in defeat or feel excited by victories because both success and failure will seem irrelevant. Equanimity will arise. The state of witnessing will manifest.
By: Pujya Gurudevshri
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