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<\/p>\nThe most important moment of life is, in a very true sense, its last moment. For death is when we take our final exam. The thought uppermost in the mind at that time will determine whether our future takes us upward, or sideways, or downward: upward, toward greater spiritual clarity and freedom; sideways, toward further involvement in desires and worldly attachments; or (the least fortunate) downward, toward greater darkness, confusion, and ignorance. The Bhagavad Gita, India\u2019s best-loved scripture, says that if our last thought is of God, it is to Him we will go; if that thought is of family and relatives, it is to them we will go; if the last, lingering thought in the mind is of regret for the mistakes we have made in this life, our direction will be downward toward a lessened ability to pass similar tests in the future; and, finally, if that thought is of attraction to those mistakes, our downward motion will be farther and more rapid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who worship the lower gods go to their gods,\u201d says the Bhagavad Gita. \u201cThose who worship Me come to Me.\u201d This is one of the most important statements in that great and timeless scripture.<\/p>\n
Although the time when we approach the end of life is when we should make a special effort to prepare ourselves for life\u2019s final exam, we should remind ourselves throughout life of the impermanence of everything on earth. Someday, whether late or soon, we must all confront that moment. Instead of dreading the inevitable, wouldn\u2019t it be wiser to accept its inevitability? We should embrace it, then, with an attitude\u2014one that we should hold throughout life\u2014that affirms, \u201cWhat comes of itself, let it come; and let it come whenever it comes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foolish indeed is he who lays up for himself treasures here on earth. Money, savings and checking accounts; home; cherished possessions; family members both near and distant; the reputation, and even the fame, for which we may have labored so arduously; the pleasures and delights of the senses; our fond attachments to things and to people; familiar scenes and localities; the memory of happy parties and good times; our neighbors and acquaintances, both near to us and distant; the skills we\u2019ve patiently honed; the language or languages we\u2019ve spoken; the books we\u2019ve read; the knowledge we\u2019ve acquired and stored assiduously on mental shelves; the fond memories we\u2019ve garnered over the years; dear friends and shared understandings; our unfulfilled hopes; the events on which we now gaze back with nostalgia; the laughter and happy moments; the bright certainties of future fulfillment: All these must be swept away in a moment, as though they had never been.<\/p>\n
Has Mozart, relatively little known as he was during his lifetime, realized since his death that the whole world has come to love his music? Does Vincent Van Gogh, who during his lifetime earned hardly fifteen dollars from his great paintings, know now the fabulous worth each one of them has acquired today? How many great men and women of history have become aware, since they lived, of the influence their lives have had on world events? Very few, one suspects. Life is like a tiny puff of wind on a few grains of sand. It may end, moreover, at any moment.<\/p>\n
Wouldn\u2019t it be a good practice, even now, to prepare for our final \u201cDay of Reckoning\u201d?<\/p>\n
Certain practices will help you not only to prepare for that exam, but also to meet your present daily responsibilities most effectively. Such practices will help you also to prepare for what might be called life\u2019s \u201cintermediary exams.\u201d An attitude, for example, of non-attachment, so necessary for attaining final freedom after death, will also be a much surer attitude for attaining success in this world than would eager anticipation of success, and excessive dependence on results.<\/p>\n
Here, then, are a few practices I recommend:<\/p>\n
Make it a point, every night before you fall asleep, to check the feelings in your heart. See whether any burrs of attachment still cling there, affixed by desires you may have developed during the day. If you find any such \u201cburr,\u201d mentally build a fire and cast that burr into it. Watch with a smile of relief as each burr disintegrates to ashes.<\/p>\n
Every time you take a bath, think as you wash, for example, an arm, \u201cThis will not be my arm forever. Someday it will be ashes, or dust.\u201d And then affirm, \u201cThis is not what I am, in my true Self! I am Spirit! I am bliss! I am ever free in God!\u201d<\/p>\n
Attachment is not only binding: It is also blinding. It stirs up the heart\u2019s feelings with emotions of fear, hesitation, and confusion. In anything we do, excessive concern for the outcome of that action saps our energy and concentration, both of which are necessary for success in any undertaking. Non-attachment, far from signifying an attitude of indifference, frees one to devote oneself wholeheartedly to whatever project he attempts. If a person can detach himself emotionally from everything he does, he will find himself capable of living completely in the moment. Everything tried, then, will be done more efficiently.<\/p>\n
What is non-attachment? It means not accepting anything as truly one\u2019s own. Everything that you may think of as your own is yours only on loan. When, nightly, you build that mental bonfire that I suggested, cast into it, from your heart, every branch and twig of thought of possessing anything. Try to burst out of the cocoon of self-definitions, of personal associations in life. Tell yourself, \u201cEverything in my life, even my very self, belongs to you, O Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n
Non-attachment above all means, in a practical daily sense, the principle of nishkam karma, defined in the Bhagavad Gita as giving to God the fruits of everything one does, and everything to which one even aspires. However, \u201cgiving\u201d is a tricky word. In the sense usually understood, whatever we give, we give away. Don\u2019t give your life to God in the sense of abandoning to Him all further responsibility for what you do. Act always in a spirit of being committed to what should be, for all that, impersonal duty. Thus, when offering the fruits of an act to God, don\u2019t relinquish further interest in it, but offer only the outcome to Him, giving Him the final decision in the matter. Meanwhile, share with Him everything you do.<\/p>\n
When saying \u201cgrace\u201d before meals, offer your food up to God not in the sense of giving it away: share with Him, rather, your enjoyment of it. When you see something beautiful, share with Him the joy you feel in that beauty. His joy within you will, in time, become your very definition of every experience.<\/p>\n
One lifetime passes by so quickly. The wheel of rebirth turns slowly, however, and is studded with nails of sorrow and grief. Many incarnations are required for the soul to pass through this \u201cvale of tears\u201d ere one attains freedom at last in the Infinite. Meanwhile, the Law of Karma works hand-in-hand with another principle: dwaita, duality. Every fulfillment is sooner or later canceled out by a disappointment; every success, by a failure; every joy, by a sorrow; every \u201cup\u201d by a corresponding \u201cdown.\u201d Isn\u2019t it ironic, that even after countless incarnations we can never win this game? The sum total of all our striving ends always\u2014must end\u2014in that final cipher: ZERO!<\/p>\n
Why cling so desperately to what must be lost anyway? All things pass in time. You alone, in your soul-essence, are what remains eternally. Why not live more, from today onward, in your inner Self? All else is only a dream. Life follows life, each one seeming so real\u2014until the \u201cgrim reaper,\u201d death, comes to end it. Death, too, moreover, wakes us only from that fleeting \u201cdream within a dream\u201d: it doesn\u2019t wake us from the dream of delusion. Why not make a serious effort, now, to awaken from the eons-long sleep of cosmic delusion? Realize that nothing of this world holds any lasting significance\u2014not for you; not for anybody.<\/p>\n
Old age, and also lingering illness at any age that bears the possibility of death: these are the best times, for those who have been dilatory in their self-preparation, to start \u201ccramming\u201d for that final exam. At these times, particularly, people may tend to withdraw passively into themselves. In the astral world after death, such a negative withdrawal prior to death produces \u201cpostmortem\u201d passivity. If, owing to your good deeds (especially to whatever meditation you\u2019ve practiced), you are conscious enough to enjoy your astral sojourn, that process of sinking into the death sleep will leave you incapable, even after you\u2019ve re-awakened in the astral world, of making further spiritual progress there. You will enjoy that existence, if your soul rises, but your sojourn there will endure only as long as permitted by your good karma. You will not be able to engage actively enough in that existence to make a positive effort toward spiritual advancement. Or, perhaps, you will simply not feel the incentive to develop further, since life on that plane will seem to you so idyllic, as a temporary visitor, that you will feel no aspiration toward anything higher.<\/p>\n
It may be mentioned here, incidentally, that desires for beautiful and uplifting sensory experiences, such as inspiring music and bucolic earthly scenes, can be fulfilled also in the astral realm.<\/p>\n
I once read about the near-death experience of a would-be suicide, who (fortunately for her) failed in that attempt. She revived from that experience, but described a very different world from anything like heaven. Until then, she had always enjoyed \u201crock\u201d music. During her temporary sojourn in the other world, however, she found herself in a place where the predominant vibration resembled that of rock music. She beheld everyone around her steeped in a self-enclosed darkness and misery. Shafts of loving light from above bestirred one soul or another from time to time. Many, however, had been there in that astral dungeon for a very long time\u2014centuries, even, judging from the clothing they wore.<\/p>\n
This woman, after her revival, devoted herself to traveling about, warning people no longer to indulge their taste for rock music. Any music that projects a low vibration\u2014not only rock music, but any dance or other music that emphasizes a heavy downbeat, affirms ego-consciousness. Rock \u2019n\u2019 roll, particularly, vibrates with certain lower astral regions. It is easy to see that indulging the taste for it can suck one down after death to heavily ego-affirming regions.<\/p>\n
Enjoyment in the higher, beautiful astral realms also may last for many earth years, even for centuries. It depends on a person\u2019s good karma. When this period of karmic respite ends, however, any latent material desires one has will reawaken in him, and will draw him to be reborn here on earth, or on some other planet in the material universe.<\/p>\n
A belief common in some parts of the world is that the soul\u2019s return to earth can be quite haphazard. One may, according to that belief, be reborn in other-than-human forms: as animals, birds, or even insects. (\u201cDon\u2019t for heaven\u2019s sake squash that spider: It may have been your mother!\u201d) Paramhansa Yogananda, fortunately, declared that the likelihood of coming back as anything other than human is so remote as to be almost discounted, especially by one who is spiritually aware enough to be concerned about this matter. Admittedly, rebirth in a lower form can happen, but it occurs only to those with very heavy materialistic karma. When it does occur, the fall, usually, is only for one lifetime, and involves only a short, not a long step downward in evolution.<\/p>\n
Deeper falls are much rarer, and occur only in the case of very hardened sinners. Those who are sufficiently evolved to have lived a heavenly existence before returning to earth are reborn into a good family, whose influence will help to hasten the soul\u2019s upward evolution.<\/p>\n
Every return to human life is, however, fraught with woeful uncertainties. The discriminating person, dreading the danger of any further delay, will do everything he can to break out of his earthly fetters now and forever. Indeed, consider just one danger: Even for reincarnated yogis, there is always the possibility of a karmic detour. Consider, moreover, the time one wastes spiritually while passing through infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and afterward perhaps getting enmeshed in further worldly involvements! These alone are major hazards on the course of life! Sooner or later one\u2019s good karma draws him back to the spiritual quest, but how soon? or how late? We have every incentive to start as early as possible, while still we inhabit these present bodies, to prepare for our \u201cfinal exam.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout life, and particularly in old age or during prolonged illness, but whenever a person feels a special impetus to start \u201ccramming\u201d for his own exam, he can do certain things to make his present existence spiritually fruitful. From this point on, therefore, I\u2019m going to address you, the reader, as much as possible in the second person, for my hope is to inspire you to take very personally the thoughts I offer here.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1. Life Review:<\/strong> Go over your life up to the present moment. Concentrate on the happy times, rather than on the sad, since positive expectations will be more likely to attract you to a happy state after death. Still, do not avoid reflecting on the mistakes you may have made. Try, instead, to view those mistakes positively. Bear also in mind the following important points:<\/p>\n a)<\/strong> Feelings of guilt will hinder you from making further progress, acting as affirmations of failure. Cast guilt, therefore, from your heart. You might even say to God frankly, \u201cIt\u2019s You who set up this shadow show! It isn\u2019t entirely my fault that, through inexperience, I didn\u2019t know where the pitfalls lay!\u201d<\/p>\n A certain Catholic saint (I forget her name) had many visions of people \u201con the other side.\u201d Often those she saw, unknown to her, were later verified as having actually lived here on earth. What struck me particularly about her visions was the astonishingly large number who had gone to hell, or purgatory, for what seemed to me trivial faults. Some of them had been nuns on earth, living spiritually dedicated lives. How could such devout souls have possibly sunk so low? That saint said it was because they held feelings of guilt. Yet in each case I read about, the guilt was for some surely minor sin, an example being disobedience to a monastic superior! How could such a \u201csin\u201d have brought such people of clear spiritual commitment to that low state? The explanation can only be that they\u2019d been so shamed and shunned for their \u201csins\u201d that they died feeling overburdened by this guilt.<\/p>\n I remember a student of Paramhansa Yogananda\u2019s, Mr. Ernest Brockway, a very dignified gentleman, a retired architect. I visited him in the hospital only days before his death. As he lay helpless, his outward awareness waning, I heard him mutter sadly, \u201cI\u2019ve done many wrong things in my life!\u201d Later I mentioned those words to my Guru, who responded sadly, \u201cHe shouldn\u2019t have said that.\u201d<\/p>\n I have another sad recollection of that hospital episode: a hospital orderly burst briefly into the room, \u201cIs there anything you\u2019d like, Ernie?\u201d To me, a friend of the patient, his name was, \u201cMr. Brockway.\u201d It appalled me to hear him addressed so familiarly by a virtual stranger. It seems to me, as much so now as it did then, that we should all behave toward one another\u2014and toward ourselves as well\u2014with dignity. Are we not divine souls, made in God\u2019s image? Our true status is forever holy.<\/p>\n Confession and final absolution may be a good thing, if they leave the penitent feeling truly released from his sins. What worries me about this death rite is that it may leave some persons reflecting on their past sins, newly brought back to their remembrance, and old familiarity with them reaffirmed, rather than soaring in the feeling of mental release. Indeed, is one not likely to think, afterward, \u201cDid I remember to confess all my sins? And was I, in every case, sufficiently contrite?\u201d Doing so would make him, again, dwell on negative issues in his past instead of helping him to soar into the inner light.<\/p>\n Surely it is better to make one\u2019s confession to God, and to ask Him directly for His forgiveness. Even then, I wonder how adequate it is to seek forgiveness. God is stuck with us anyway\u2014one might say, whether He likes it or not! We are a part of His eternal consciousness. Why not say to God, simply, \u201cTake me as I am, Lord. I know, now, that I want you alone.\u201d<\/p>\n My Guru once scolded a disciple, who then asked him, \u201cBut Sir, you will forgive me, won\u2019t you?\u201d The Master replied with astonishment, \u201cWhat else can I do?\u201d<\/p>\n One time, fearing the possibility that the soul may experience eternal destruction, I questioned my Guru on this point. His answer was categorical: \u201cThe soul is a part of God. No part of God can ever be destroyed.\u201d The soul simply cannot be damned either, for all eternity! Our final destiny is immutable: Sooner or later, we must all be saved, even if it takes us aeons.<\/p>\n OF COURSE God forgives you! Your need is only to forgive yourself!<\/p>\n Go over your past mistakes, then, and mentally offer them up to God. Don\u2019t view them as \u201csins,\u201d for they were committed in ignorance of the true state of things. God alone dreamed your existence, and infused into you from the beginning the delusion of ego-identity. View whatever mistakes you\u2019ve committed as having been made by Him, through your own dream-existence!<\/p>\n Here\u2019s one way to do it: Think of everything that seems to you attractive. Next, withdraw your energy from that attraction, and concentrate inwardly on the superior appeal of soul-bliss. Bliss is the higher, the true alternative to every outward attraction. In soul-bliss\u2014yes, even in the anticipation of it\u2014notice how sensory attractions, by comparison, simply disappear. You will find it relatively easy, at this point in your reflections, to offer up lesser attractions to God.<\/p>\n If you remember having ever hurt anybody, or perhaps having acted unjustly toward him, mentally send him blessings. Visualize him (or her) floating in the ocean of God\u2019s bliss.<\/p>\n If ever you\u2019ve desecrated your own higher self-image, face that memory frankly, but calmly and dispassionately. Don\u2019t seek justification for your mistakes. And don\u2019t beat yourself mentally and emotionally for having done wrong. Rather, say to God, \u201cIt was You, Lord, acting through my ignorance. Come fully, now, into that experience. I want to share it with You, that I may understand fully that it was, really, You: Your energy, which I directed wrongly by my folly. I won\u2019t cling to that folly any longer. I release it! I watch it evaporating in skies of Infinite Bliss! Help me to see the truth: Compared to Your light, my folly has been empty darkness, forever foreign to my true Self.\u201d<\/p>\n If ever you have spoken or acted inconsiderately toward another human being, even perhaps only in haste, recreate that scene in your mind, and then ask God to bless everyone whom you may ever have hurt. Project rays of love and bliss outward from your heart to all who have ever had to bear the brunt of your anger, impatience, unkindness, or cruelty.<\/p>\n If ever you\u2019ve held a negative thought toward anyone, send him blessings to replace those disturbing vibrations. Raise your feelings to a level where you find yourself thinking of that person with kindness. Don\u2019t imagine it is sufficient merely to forgive him, with the lingering thought that he needs forgiveness. Send him supportive thoughts, rather, and tell him mentally, \u201cIt is your job, not mine, to work out whatever problems you have. For my part, I wish you strength, happiness, and wisdom, for we are fellow pilgrims on the long journey to eternal bliss in God, our common Father.\u201d<\/p>\n If in any way you\u2019ve ever cheated anyone or deprived him of his just dues, ask God to bless that person; send him also your own blessings. It might even help both of you to pray that he be reimbursed out of any store of good karma you have accumulated, yourself.<\/p>\n If ever you\u2019ve spoken critically of, or mocked anyone, even mentally, offer him now your heartfelt kindness and good wishes for his eventual wisdom and inner freedom.<\/p>\n If ever you\u2019ve acted in any such way as to cause you embarrassment, laugh happily with God, now, over that moment of folly. Share it with Him as a good joke. Tell Him, \u201cI\u2019ve learned something from that experience. Please though, Lord, don\u2019t let me make such a fool of myself ever again!\u201d<\/p>\n b)<\/strong> Remember this: Every desire must be fulfilled. My Guru once made that statement to me. I asked him, \u201cEvery desire? Even for something so trivial as an ice cream cone?\u201d His answer surprised me; it was quite definite, delivered without even a smile. \u201cOh, yes!\u201d he insisted. Don\u2019t try, however, to search out every fleeting wish you may have had. (That process might take forever!) Rather, make a sweeping overview of your life, and say, simply, \u201cIt is all Yours, Lord. I want only Thee now, nothing but Thee!\u201d<\/p>\n As a new monk at SRF, I heard about a fellow disciple who, at the end of her life, was blessed to be able to linger on consciously for two weeks. That respite gave her the time she needed to review her life carefully, and to let go of everything, mentally. Years later, someone who had known her told me, \u201cI could see her telling herself day after day, \u2018This desire doesn\u2019t matter to me anymore,\u2019 and, \u2018I no longer feel that attachment.\u2019 Every day she looked freer, more centered in the Self. At the moment of death she cried out with deep joy, \u2018Swamiji is here!\u2019 [Swamiji was what the disciples used to call our Guru.] At that point, she left her body.\u201d<\/p>\n Go mentally over every desire in your heart, and offer it to God. Think of the higher, spiritual counterpart of the fulfillment promised by that desire. If, for instance, you\u2019ve had a desire for a car, don\u2019t merely tell yourself, \u201cI won\u2019t be needing a car anymore where I\u2019m going.\u201d Say, rather, \u201cNow I will be flying in heavenly freedom through vast skies of eternal bliss!\u201d<\/p>\n If your desire was for\u2014yes, let\u2019s say it, for an ice cream cone!\u2014remember these words, addressed to me by Anandamayee Ma (a wonderful woman saint whom I knew in India). Speaking with a radiant smile, as she was giving me a little box of sweetmeats, she said, \u201cSabsomoy mishti khao\u2014Always eat only sweetness!\u201d<\/p>\n If your desire was for a mate, offer that desire up to God and pray for the supreme bliss of eternal union with Him.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve ever desired to go anywhere or to see anything, tell God, \u201cLet me soar in Infinity, enjoying Thee everywhere, and in everything!\u201d<\/p>\n If your desire was to do something, tell God, \u201cIn infinite consciousness, I will accomplish everything!\u201d<\/p>\n Mostly, dwell on happy thoughts. Tell yourself, and tell God, \u201cThis life has been a dance in Your bliss. Even the hard tests You\u2019ve sent me have helped me. I\u2019ve learned so much from them; I\u2019m grateful for all of them; they have given me priceless insights. But now, Lord, I offer everything up to You. It was Your life I lived, not mine. Let me rest eternally, from now on, in Your love.\u201d<\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> If you feel any attachments, visualize a cord leading out to them from your heart. With a sharp knife mentally sever that cord, or\u2014if it seems thick\u2014hack at it with an axe. Feel every attachment being cut off, leaving you with the blessing of inner freedom.<\/p>\n 3.<\/strong> Dwell on the thought of that freedom: freedom from all delusion, all desire, all attachment, and at last of every self-definition. Above all\u2014if you are able to do so\u2014rid yourself of the thought of any personal, separate, individual identity. You are a ray of God\u2019s light. See your little sense of reality becoming absorbed in His infinite bliss.<\/p>\n 4.<\/strong> Listen, when you can, to spiritual recordings, whether of music, of lofty, God-affirming mantras, or of God-reminding thoughts. Listen to someone\u2019s voice chanting AUM, or reciting selected scriptural passages. Select voices that seem, to you, to express higher consciousness.<\/p>\n 5.<\/strong> Dwell on thoughts of God\u2019s eternal love for you, and for all creatures. Dwell more on His forgiveness: on His utter acceptance of you as, through all eternity, His very own.<\/p>\n 6.<\/strong> Pray for all beings. Bless them in God\u2019s light. Send them His love. Reflect that everyone on earth, no matter how deeply deluded he may be, is, in his own way, seeking eternal bliss. Reflect also that it is everyone\u2019s destiny to find that bliss, no matter how long a journey it is. All beings, equally, are children of the same one Light, Love, and Bliss that Jesus Christ knew, and Krishna (Christna), and Buddha, and all saints and masters. It is the underlying nature of YOUR OWN, ETERNAL SELF!<\/p>\n Q. Is the \u201cpostmortem passivity\u201d you mentioned necessarily a bad thing?<\/strong><\/p>\n No, not necessarily bad. It gives souls the rest and respite they need, if that is all they want. If you want to keep on advancing spiritually, however, your consciousness must be fired with determination. It cannot be passive.<\/p>\n Q. If someone sinks into a coma, or seems perhaps dead already, might it help him to chant AUM in his presence?<\/strong><\/p>\n SK. Yes, definitely. Chant softly, especially in the right ear. Yogananda said the sense of hearing is the last to go. A person may appear dead, but may not yet have withdrawn completely from the body. By chanting AUM, or by calling to him in the right ear, you may actually bring him back to life. Q. Is there anything else we can do to help someone who is dying?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes. Place your finger on his forehead at a point midway between the eyebrows. This is the seat of will power, concentration, and ecstasy in the body. Direct energy through your finger to that point, and try to draw that person\u2019s energy up in focus there. Q. How much effort should be expended toward keeping a dying person alive?<\/strong><\/p>\n It is, of course, right to try to save him. I consider it a wrong, however, to resort to what are termed \u201cheroic efforts\u201d to save people. Q. Many people, when they die, are in great pain. The doctors give them pain medication, but as a result the patients, often, are only barely conscious. Is that a good thing, or a bad?<\/strong><\/p>\n I would say that the greater the extent to which a person is able to retain his consciousness, without requiring sedation, the better.<\/p>\n Q. What about people who go into a coma before they die? Will they necessarily go out unconsciously?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think it depends primarily on the spiritual effort a person has made during his lifetime. If his effort has been deep and sincere, that final coma will be only temporary, for its cause will be merely physical. As soon as he leaves his body, he will wake up again in his astral form.<\/p>\n Q. If desires are what bring us back to be reborn on this plane, is it not a mistake also to desire to know God?<\/strong><\/p>\n Of course not! Uplifting desires cannot hold one down. It is desires for the things of this world that keep one bound. Non-egoic desires are called \u201cdesireless desires\u201d; they help one to free himself from ego-consciousness, lifting him toward freedom in God. Q. What effect does grieving for a departed person have on his soul?<\/strong><\/p>\n Grief is born of attachment. It can hold the soul back and keep it tied to this earthly plane of existence. Try, instead, to help others on their way by sending them blessings and love, that they soar in divine freedom.<\/p>\n Q. Will the disciples of a true guru see him on the other side?<\/strong><\/p>\n Our Guru said to a group of us one day, \u201cThose disciples who stick it out to the end\u2014not for just \u2018sticking it out,\u2019 but for the love of God\u2014I myself, or one of the other gurus, will be waiting to welcome them on the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n Q. Is it a good thing to donate one\u2019s bodily organs to help others who are still living?<\/strong><\/p>\n In a somewhat abstract sense it would be, of course, a good thing. Death, however, is a sacred occasion. I myself would not want anyone \u201cmucking about\u201d with my organs at that time. A dying person\u2019s consciousness doesn\u2019t withdraw immediately from his body. The fact that his physical organs still have sufficient vitality in them to be useful to someone else means that the life force has not yet fully withdrawn from them.<\/p>\n Q. Which is better: cremation, or burial?<\/strong><\/p>\n Generally speaking, cremation is better. In fact, it actually happens occasionally that people return to outward awareness after they\u2019ve been buried. Think of the horror of waking up in your own coffin, underground! The expression, \u201cHe would turn over in his grave if he heard that,\u201d is based on the actual fact that corpses have sometimes been found, on exhumation, to have turned over in their graves. I know suicide is considered a sin. Are there any extenuating circumstances when it might be a virtue?<\/strong><\/p>\n Of course there are! A person may sacrifice his life for a high cause, or to save others, or in expiation for some sin he himself has committed. This last rationale, however, should be reserved for persons of spiritual realization. And it depends always on the motivation behind the deed.<\/p>\n Q. Can it help those who have died to pray for them?<\/strong><\/p>\n Indeed, yes. It may be good also to pray to them. I recall a time, years ago, when it had been my intention to pray for my departed mother on her birthday. When that day came, however, I suffered a sudden episode of very rapid, irregular heartbeats. I found myself praying to my mother, instead of for her. Help came inwardly, and instantaneously. My mother was a very spiritual woman, but I believe that others who have gone before us may be able to help us also, if we will but ask them.<\/p>\n Q. Should one, especially as one grows old, be vigilant about superficial distractions?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes, certainly so. Many old people waste their days before the television, or playing cards. Television is especially pernicious. I myself never watch it. The thought of all those worldly personalities invading my home and my consciousness with their foolish opinions, attitudes, and vibrations: what an absurd distraction! Yogananda referred to television, in fact, as \u201csatanic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The most important moment of life is, in a very true sense, its last moment. For death is when we take our final exam. The thought uppermost in the mind at that time will determine whether our future takes us upward, or sideways, or downward: upward, toward greater spiritual clarity and freedom; sideways, toward further involvement in desires and worldly\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/anandaeurope.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/the-final-exam-sky.jpg\")
<\/p>\nQuestions and Answers<\/h3>\n
\nYogananda told of two students of his during his early years in America. One of them, a young woman, died, at least apparently. Her brother, also a student of this path, urgently called to her in her right ear: \u201cSister, come back! I\u2019m not ready for you to leave me. I need you. Please come back to me!\u201d
\nA minute or so later she actually opened her eyes. \u201cI heard you calling to me,\u201d she said, \u201cas if from a great distance!\u201d She continued to live a long time.<\/p>\n
\nAt death, people usually sink back passively into unconsciousness. Thus, they leave their bodies, as they first entered them, through the medulla oblongata. Next, they pass through what the Greeks called \u201cthe waters of Lethe\u201d: forgetfulness of this life. Remembrance may return to some extent later on, but generally speaking people simply pass on from there to a new life.
\nYogananda said also that our loved ones may come to us in dreams. He shared with us an account of the mother of a disciple of his who had died of breast cancer. He sought this soul out in the astral world. As he related to us later, \u201cI saw her being led away by an angel. She was pausing for a moment, admiring a beautiful flower. I called to her, and she turned around. At first she didn\u2019t recognize me. I touched her on the forehead, and then she exclaimed, \u2018I remember! I remember! Oh, I\u2019ll never forget you again.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMy own father suffered a heart attack one year before his actual death. At that time he was mentally adjusted to the thought of going. He said to me, \u201cI\u2019ve had a good life. I have no regrets. I\u2019m ready to go now, whenever the time arrives.\u201d
\nThe doctors, however, then went to \u201cheroic\u201d lengths to keep him alive. That last year, alas, was the most unhappy of my father\u2019s life\u2014perhaps the only really unhappy time. He could hardly see; his hearing was almost gone; his sense of taste and smell almost vanished. Even his sense of touch was greatly dimmed. How much better it would have been had he died after mentally giving his consent to death!
\nOn the other hand, a friend of mine once asked me, \u201cHow much effort should I put forth to remain alive? I feel ready to go at any time.\u201d I replied, \u201cThink of what a job it is to be reborn and come back again as a baby, then to grow up, and then take who knows how many years before you remember your spiritual aspiration once again, and decide to take that responsibility seriously. Think of the risks involved, also, of further detours and of consequent pain! I suggest that, as long as you feel able to make a spiritual effort, you do your best to stay alive now and keep working toward your salvation.\u201d Fortunately she took my advice, lived several years thereafter, and found that time important for her spiritual growth.<\/p>\n
\nIt is bondage to ego that makes one\u2019s desires wrong. They also strengthen one\u2019s overall delusion. Specific desires, moreover, determine to a great extent one\u2019s next state of existence. As Yogananda put it, \u201cIf you die with an attachment to curried food, you may be reborn in India. If as you leave your body you hanker for apple pie, you may be reborn in America.\u201d He was speaking also, of course, in a spirit of light humor as well as seriously.
\nI remember seeing a friend eating curry who had often told me he didn\u2019t like it. He explained to me quite seriously, \u201cMaster said if we like curry we\u2019ll be reborn in India. I\u2019d like to be reborn there, so by eating I\u2019m trying to overcome my distaste for it.\u201d I commented, \u201cSuch things are determined by many factors. I wouldn\u2019t place so much emphasis on this one factor alone!\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe mother of Robert E. Lee \u201cdied\u201d temporarily when still a young woman. The coffin in which she\u2019d been placed was still above ground when she returned to outward consciousness. Beating desperately on the wood, she was heard and hastily rescued. It was, in fact, after that event that she gave birth to Robert.
\nCremation helps also in breaking attachment to the body. On the other hand, it is better not to cremate enlightened saints. Their physical bodies retain high vibrations that will help anyone praying to them later at their tombs. My Guru said Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s body should not have been cremated, even though he was a householder. (Usually, the bodies of swamis are buried, the rationale being that they\u2019ve been \u201ccremated\u201d already at the time they took their sannyas vows of renunciation.)<\/p>\n