Death is an occasion for celebration. It is homecoming. The separated soul returns to the source. What can be more joyful? Life, in Sikhism, is an opportunity given to the soul to find its bearing and its way back to the fountainhead of life. Death is the culmination of life. The quality of death describes what the quality of life might have been. Those who suffer in pain and weep on the sorrow of parting at the time of death have not lived their life as it should have been lived. If you eat a hearty meal, you get up from the table satisfied. It is only those who could not enjoy the spread before them, who get up hungry and longing for more.

There is a clear demarcation between the two levels of existence — the physical and the spiritual. At the physical level, it is repeated time and again that the journey on this earth beginning with birth and ending in death is a passing phase, a rare opportunity to work towards a union and to go back home in flying colours. The fact that you have been granted a human form is recognition of your evolution. You have earned it over several lives. There is nothing random in nature; each blade of grass is in place. So, life in the human form is a well-deserved reward for your deeds in previous lives. If you waste this chance, you may not get another for ages; you will keep coming again and again, and in many forms to earn the opportunity. It is only in this form that you can strive to achieve more than what is prescribed for you. All other creatures are limited by their parameters except man. Even gods and goddesses, a stage considered higher than human, are bound within their boundaries. They do not have the freedom that man has. They long for the human frame to be able to attain salvation.

Death is a reminder of the transience of life. It provides the context in which life must be lived. If you know that your stay here is short and temporary, you will give it the importance it deserves and not more not less. You don’t get emotionally attached to the room in the inn where you are going to spend one night. Over indulgence of the physical form and the material world is having your priorities misplaced.

Life at the material plane is a dream; you wouldn’t invest your time and energy in it if you knew that the moment you open your eyes, it will vanish without a trace. It is like a wall made of sand; it will collapse in the first rain. So, the pleasures of the world are enchanting but temporary. Why get entangled in them and waste a rare opportunity? But within this transient world there is that which is permanent, eternal, immortal. Look for that. All you need to do is shift the focus. Give as much importance to the body and the material world as it deserves. It is by no means less important. It is the vehicle to reach the destination. Without the union of the body and soul life is not possible. So, the body has its importance. It is the temple of the living god. Treat it as sacred; take care of its needs. Austerities that destroy the natural health are futile; they defeat the very purpose. Similarly, indulgence in pleasures ruins the health. Both the extremes are best avoided. The body is like a musical instrument; its strings have to be tuned to create beautiful music. If the strings are too tight, they will break; if they are too loose, there will be no music.

The art of living centers round one thing only: how to find the permanent in the transient? Since both exist simultaneously, it is natural for man to go astray and lose the way. Since the natural tendency is to look outward, it is no wonder that most people do not see the inner world. The eyes see the alluring world of the senses; the ears hear the captivating sounds of the world. All the senses are directed outwards and they report matters as they experience them. But, these matters are made of stuff as dreams are made of. All that is visible is an illusion. All that can be seen with physical eyes is temporary; it is like a line on water. You see it all right, but before you can register it, it is gone.

There is another world more authentic, more real and much closer to you. It is the inner world. This is where you will find the permanent. This is the world that remains untouched by all that goes on in the external world. Just as you would not have the slightest scar even if someone stabs you with a knife in your dream, if you know the real, you will not be disturbed by that which is illusory.

Once upon a time there was a great emperor who had a vast empire but only one son and he too was very sick. The doctors had given up hope and the boy lay on his deathbed. The king and the queen sat by his bedside the whole night. Exhausted by fear and anxiety, the king’s eyes closed and sleep overpowered him. He dreamt that he was a farmer who found a pot of gold in his field. He bought a dozen cows with the gold and soon they multiplied into hundreds. Then he bought lands and made more money. One day the ruler of the neighboring village attacked him and he fought and conquered him. Subsequently, he conquered all the neighboring states and ruled over them. He had ten sons; all them worthy of his legacy. Just then his wife screamed. He woke up with a start. Their only son had died. But, he was unperturbed. The queen asked him why was he not sad at the loss of their only son. He said, “I don’t know whom to mourn for — this one son or the ten sons that are no more.”

The catchword is that he woke up. He woke up to a profounder reality that there is very little difference between this world and the dream world. And, waking up is the technique to find the permanent in the temporary. It is a question of who you identify with. If you identify with the dream, you will live in the dream world. And, if you identify with the real, you will find the way. You will get there in fact instantly, because there is no gap between the understanding and the attainment. When you ignite a match stick in a dark room, the moment it sparks, darkness is dispelled. There is no gap. Similarly, the switch over from the dream to wakefulness is instant. The moment you are awake the dream has vanished. And, in your sleep and your dream, you have no awareness of the world that surrounds you.

And, there is also not the question of this or that. You are not expected to choose either to live in the world or to renounce it. Indeed, it is by living in this world only that it is possible to attain. But live like the lotus in the pond – untouched by the water or the filth in which it is rooted. Renunciation does not imply leaving the world and going into the forests or mountain tops. They are as much the world as the hustle and bustle of the cities and the maddening crowds. You carry your world with you wherever you go. You take your deafening noise to the serene mountains. You carry your marketplace into the temples. So, changing of places does not help because you remain what you are.

So, renounce attachment with things and people. Renunciation is not giving up material goods and feeling proud of your sacrifice. It is like bringing in the cat to kill the rat. Then you will have to bring in the dog to get rid of the cat and so on and so forth. The world is beautiful; enjoy it but stay detached. As long as it is there, make use of it. When it is gone, enjoy that too. Once, a king invited a great sage to his palace. The sage came readily. The king was pleased. He offered him the royal delicacies, and the sage ate them with great relish. The king was surprised. He took him to his chambers and offered him the royal bed. The sage slept on the soft bed immediately. The king wondered whether there was any difference between him and the saint. The king tested him in many ways and felt more and more disappointed. One day, he took him out for a walk. He posed the question that was troubling him. He said, ‘You are no different than me. You enjoy all the worldly pleasures like I do.’ The sage kept quiet. When they reached the outer gate of the city they paused. The king said, ‘We should go back now.’ The sage said, ‘Thank you for your hospitality. Now, I am on my way.’

Everything in nature is offered to man for use. Along with it, man is the only creature who is blessed with the ability to choose. This puts a heavy responsibility on his shoulders to choose judiciously. The right choice involves enjoying every moment of life without getting attached. Renouncing the world in the sense of giving it up means discarding and disregarding the beautiful creation. Renunciation is going against nature, and that is the root cause of all problems. For instance, when you are hungry, you eat food and forget about it and move on. But, if you try to suppress the appetite by fasting, you will see that the thought of food keeps haunting you. So, it is obvious that renunciation of anything only increases the desire for it. The human body-mind has certain natural needs that if satisfied can be transcended. Fasting and celibacy are therefore not recommended nor is overindulgence.

Thus, if at the physical level life is lived fully, wisely and judiciously, then death becomes as full, as enjoyable and as fruitful as life has been. There is a very thin line between indulgence and indifference. That line has to be drawn with full consciousness. This determines what death will mean to you. If the lust for life is still there, you will want to cling to life and the prospect of death becomes painful. The fact that people are so scared of death shows that they have not lived their life well. On the other hand, if you have lived life to the brim, you would welcome death as you welcome sleep after a hectic day.

Remembering death is a great technique to become detached while living life to the brim. The concept of ‘the living dead’ refers to the ability to remember death every moment of life. This is best illustrated by another story. Once, a terribly disturbed man came to a sage and said that he wanted to commit suicide because of all that had happened to him and he described his miseries in detail. The sage listened to his story and said, ‘You really don’t have to take the trouble of killing yourself because I just saw your hand and you are going to die within a week in any case.’ The man was crestfallen. He went home without another word. In the face of death he looked at all his problems one by one. He was surprised how small and insignificant they appeared. He forgave the people whom he thought had harmed him; he went to his tormentors and begged forgiveness; he settled all his accounts. Then he waited for death to come. But, a week passed and another. He went to the sage and asked him why his prediction had not come true. The sage asked in return, ‘What did you do in this week?’ He told him everything. The sage asked him if he still wanted to commit suicide, and he said no. Then the sage told him that he had made it all up to give him a shock so that he would come to his senses.

The concept of ‘the living dead’ also refers to the ability to take all joys and sorrows of life with equanimity. What happens is that we get so swayed by the world and its changing colors that we forget what we are. One moment you feel on top of the world, and the next moment you are down in the dumps. All because you identify yourself with whatever is happening to you. The secret is in viewing these things from a distance. Create a distance between the thought or emotion that is overpowering you. Watch it as if you are standing outside your skin and looking at it. This is what is meant by:

‘The man who sees no difference between joys and sorrows

He sees no distinction between joy, love or fear

And considers gold and mud alike

He is disturbed not by praise or calumny

Nor lets greed or vanity touch him

He remains aloof from happiness and misery

He remains indifferent towards the worldly pains and pleasures

Lust and anger don’t touch him

In the heart of such a man lives God.

With the grace of the guru he realizes this truth

Nanak says he blends with the divine

Like water in water.”

Death is a reminder that brings you to your senses. All the squabbles and quarrels that take away a chunk of our life just fade away in the memory of death. After all, they are no better than tempests in tea cups. He who forgets death is likely to get entangled in such petty squabbles. So, at the practical level, death is a great reminder that helps you find the thin line between indulgence and indifference. It helps to live like a lotus in the pond, untouched, unsoiled by the bedlam around. ‘Jeon ki teon dhar deenee chadariya’ says Kabir meaning that I am returning with the spotlessly clean shawl (body-mind) that I had brought with me. I have not let it get soiled in this world.

Death is a natural phenomenon. The body-mind composed of five elements is decomposed and each element returns to its source. Death is inevitable. That which is born must die. That which was united to create a form must disintegrate to become formless.

The five elements are air, water, fire, earth and sky. Air dissolves in air; earth returns to earth. And the light, the spark of divinity, returns to the divine. Then, who has died? This is a natural, smooth transition from one stage to the next. Think for a moment. What happened to the newborn babe that you once were? Other than photographs preserved in family albums there is no trace left of the infant. Would you say that the infant died to become a toddler? Or the child died to become the handsome youth? Just as man goes through various stages of life death is another stage, the final stage in this cycle.

This is easy to understand because of memory. You may not have memory of your infancy but there are people around you who have memory. And they keep you informed about the different phases of your life. You are ready to believe that the same helpless little infant with undefined features was what you were when you were born. But it is difficult or impossible to comprehend that the old man who died some time prior to your birth could be the newborn babe. Eh toh chalat bhaya. Whoever has come must go; and who goes will come back again in one form or the other. Life moves like a wheel, and it goes on and on. Continuity and change are the basic characteristics of life.

So, the only difference between the other stages of life and death is that of memory. Your own memory or the memory of others around you convinces you that you are the same person who looks so different in each phase. In the absence of this collective memory, you would not know who that infant or toddler was. Since the memory starts from the time of birth and lasts till the time of death, life is defined within these two milestones. But, milestones are indicators of the path and the journey; they have nothing to do with the beginning or the end. Life was there before birth and will continue to be after death.

Yes, you will change your clothes — you will take on another form. And, since you identify yourself with the physical form, you will change your identity too. Gurbani analyzes the entire phenomenon thus:

In this musical instrument made of earth

The wind played and created sound

O wise men, think and contemplate

And say what has really died.

Memory, conflict and ego have died

But that which saw through your eyes

And lived through your body is still alive.

It hasn’t died because it cannot die.

Death occurs at the physical level. And, in the practical world, it is an inevitable reality. If this is remembered it gives a perspective to life in terms of identification, attachment and indulgence. Like a mirror it reflects the material world as it is in all its enchanting beauty and its momentary splendor. It helps to remain detached even as you enjoy every bit of it.

Death is a social phenomenon. It happens in the eyes of the others, the near and dear ones, the onlookers and the spectators. But as far as you are concerned, the real you remain in tact. That which was living through the body continues to live. It has moved out of one house and will find another house. Only the name and form have been dropped, nothing else. Even the account of your deeds goes with you. According to your karma, your fate is decided. Whether you will find a place close to the source or you will be hurled back into the same cycle, depends on your karma. Karmi aapo apni ke nere ke door.

What is the account about? Man leads his life driven by the dictates of the senses. These are the five thieves that steal consciousness away. In the lure of the wonderfully tempting world, the senses lead you away. And, you forget the purpose of your life, the source of your existence and who you really are. This is the account you will be asked to explain, and at that time, you will stand alone while the five thieves will have run away. The senses were dropped with the name and form; they belong to the physical plane; they were acquired with the body and they must go with it. So, on the Day of Judgment you stand alone to give explanations.

Kabir says:

“Kabir says, Baba! I don’t want to live in this village

I am obliged to account for every moment I live

I am asked how often I remembered thee

When Dharam Rai asks for my account

All else will outweigh remembrance

The five thieves that led me astray have fled

I am left alone in chains in the divine court

Kabir prays please forgive me just once more

Cancel my account so I don’t have to come here again.

The criterion of evaluation is not the so-called good and bad deeds. These are accounted for on this plane in this life itself. The law that governs this world in which man spends his life is: as you sow so shall you reap. Thus, the good that you do comes back to you manifold in many ways, and the bad comes back in many shapes and forms. These are games of the dream world and are dropped with it. Contrary to the common notion that the account of good and bad deeds goes with you, the criterion of judgment that Kabir refers to is of remembrance and forgetfulness of the source and the purpose of life. (Kayith chetu naon)  The five senses that allured you to go astray are nowhere to be found and you have to answer for your forgetfulness. Simran or remembrance is of utmost importance. It is a matter of life and death. Aakhan jivan visereh mar jao. (I live in remembrance; I die in forgetfulness). Your life at the spiritual plane rests on remembrance. Depending on your remembrance or forgetfulness your fate is decided. Kabir prays for mercy so that he doesn’t have to come into the cycle of birth and death.

Everyone wonders about death. It is a mystery that baffles one and all. No one knows how it is going to be and in what form it will come when it comes. However, if the remembrance of the divine is rooted deep in the heart, the moment of death will be easy. The whole world is scared of death and would like to prolong life as much as possible. However, with the grace of the Guru and acceptance of the divine will, if you can become the living dead, you will attain true life, that is life at the spiritual plane. Jeevat marhe refers to living like the lotus in the pond, untouched and unsoiled.

Life is lived in two directions — horizontally and vertically. Horizontally, one lives at the plane of the body, in the practical world of men and women. Vertically, one lives in tune with the divine. Let the body-mind work in the practical world but reserve the whole heart for simran. Living without getting bound by the world is the definition of freedom. It is said that once a man came to Sheikh Farid and said, “Show me the path of freedom. The hold of the world is so strong it is impossible to get out of its grip.” Sheikh Farid listened to him attentively, and then got up and wrapped his arms around the pillar. The man asked what was he doing. He kept tightening his grip on the pillar. Finally, he said, “The pillar won’t leave me. How can I be free?” The man was intelligent. He understood what Sheikh Farid wanted to tell him. The world is the pillar you are clinging to; it is not the pillar that is holding you. You are tightening your grip on the pillar with every passing phase of life. The child clings to his toys and as you grow older the toys become more and more real, alive and irresistible. By the time death knocks at your door, you have accumulated so many toys that parting with them is extremely painful.

For death to be painless and peaceful all you need to do is take an about-turn and shift the focus from the outside world to the inner world. However, this needs some practice and patience. In the beginning you will find this exercise very difficult and even futile, because all you see inside is a whole lot of nonsense piled up over the years. Looking inwards is very much like digging a well. First you will encounter huge rocks and then smaller stones and pebbles, then the mud and finally the water will spring up. There is much garbage inside and you have to remove it painstakingly to ultimately hit upon the water. Even a glimpse of the spark of that reality is transforming; it has an electrifying effect. Once you see the rope in a flash of lightning, you can never mistake it for a snake again even if the night is dark again.

The snake is dead once and for all. And so it is with death; it dies once and for all. Death is not. It is the proverbial snake that existed as long as the rope was not realized. Once you know the rope for a rope, the question of the snake does not arise. Similarly, once you encounter that which is alive in you, the question of death does not arise.