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Namah Vol. 32, Issue 4, 15th January 2025
even a kind of trust in destiny, then generally harming a beautiful inner movement that
one copes with the enigma of death with is building up. Sometimes the best help is
courage. On the other hand, when we are not to interfere, the best thing to do is not to
too identified with the body, then death do anything, apart from gently assisting the
comes as a cruel blow. None experience departure.
death until they die, rarest of rare yogis
u
apart (the Mother, for example) and hence Let us then close with some sutras on old age
the fear of the unknown looms large like a from the Mother.
shadow. At its bottom, it is an extreme form
of ignorance, the fear of the Unknown. And “Only those years that are passed uselessly
then there are all kinds of stories associated make you grow old.”
with it. The simplest way to cope with it is “A year spent uselessly is a year during which
to learn as much as possible about death, no progress has been accomplished, no growth
through books of course. Knowledge is in consciousness has been achieved, no further
always empowering. The Mother, a supreme step has been taken towards perfection.
occultist, has revealed many details about
death, the reason, the mechanism, the process, “Consecrate your life to the realisation of
the journey thereafter and eventually the something higher and broader than yourself
return. All that is too vast a knowledge to be and you will never feel the weight of the passing
compressed here. But the important thing years.”
to remember is that death is a moment of
intense concentration and if we know, we “From birth to death, life is a dangerous thing.
can use that moment, through concentration “The brave pass through it without care
upon the Divine, into a means to leap beyond for the risks.
lives. The only problem is that the people “The prudent take precautions.
around keep reminding the person of their “The cowardly are afraid of everything.
physical miseries or display sorrow even “But ultimately, what happens to each one
while the person is withdrawing. We need to is only what the Supreme Will has decided.”
understand that the sharp distinction that
we make between the living and the dead “Some of the living are already half-dead. Many
is really not so. There is a time, over nearly of the dead are very much alive (5).”
24 hours, when the consciousness of the
person is lingering around the dead body References
and we need to respect that. Secondly, we
should be careful that sometimes our so- 1. The Mother. The Collected Works of the Mother,
called help, such as rushing to the ventilator Volume 3. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram
or pushing a host of medicines that stun the Trust; 2003, p . 238.
consciousness, is not necessarily a help. We
have seen people suffering from dementia, 2. Sri Aurobindo. The Complete Works of Sri
having that little soul spark in their eyes as Aurobindo, Volume 2. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo
well as the psychic smile upon their face. Ashram Trust; 2009, p. 216.
In our over-eagerness to treat, we end up
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