The understanding of death could be from different perspectives:
Death is essential to Nature
Death is an essential aspect of Nature, intricately woven into its very fabric. It is not merely an end, but a necessary event for life itself to sustain and flourish. But for death there’s no life, for in every meal, one eats something that was alive. This demonstrates that life is perpetually dependent upon death.
Death serves as an integral part of Nature’s mechanism to remain vibrant and alive. It is not a loss, but a transformation—an undiminished transfer of energy from one form to another. This principle is captured in the law of conservation of energy, which states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed but only changed in form. Nature operates in a continuous cycle: a form is born, it grows and develops, eventually decays and dies, paving the way for a new form to emerge. This ongoing process is Nature’s unique system to maintain its freshness and vitality.
The human body, like every other entity, is merely one manifestation of Nature. Its existence is made possible by the death of other forms through the food consumed. Even while alive, the body serves as sustenance for countless bacteria and viruses, highlighting that every living form is intricately linked to the process of death and renewal.
It is, therefore, just an ignorant and a foolish expectation to be immortal in this body. Welcome death when it comes but live life fully till then.
Death as per Isavasya Upanishad
This Upanishad is about celebration of life and experiencing truth through seeing divine in everything. In that context it mentions death in 3 verses in different perspectives. Here we will explore just one verse, the Verse 3:
असुर्या नाम ते लोका अन्धेन तमसावृताः ।
तांस्ते प्रेत्याभिगच्छन्ति ये के चात्महनो जनाः ॥ ३ ॥
asuryā nāma te lokā andhena tamasāvṛtāḥ |
tāṃste pretyābhigacchanti ye ke cātmahano janāḥ || 3 ||
“Demoniacal are called those worlds that are covered by blindness, by darkness. Those people that kill the Self go to them after giving up this body.”
There could be two interpretations of this verse.
The first one is that those who slay their body are destined for demonical worlds characterised by darkness and blindness. Here the emphasis is on the preciousness of this life, and no one should sacrifice that by self-destructive actions. Instead, life is seen as a chance to realise a greater purpose, which must not be squandered.
The second interpretation is that “Atma Hana” does not mean physical death but rather to the figurative killing of one’s “True Self”, by living a life with just body/mind focus. It is wasting one’s life in seeking to fulfil desires of sensual pleasures and ego needs of name, fame, wealth, power etc. The understanding that there is a greater purpose to life, does not even exist. Such individuals, blinded by ignorance, are said to enter worlds of darkness. This can be understood as the pain and suffering they bring upon themselves even in their current life. If interpreted in the context of future births, it suggests that their next existence may be marked by further pain and suffering.
Death of the “Ego”
For the “I” thought or the “Ego” to be at play, there must be something other than itself. In this dynamic, the Ego acts as the subject, and the other becomes the object. The Ego relies on the presence of thoughts, feelings, emotions, and perceptions—whether experienced individually or in combination—to establish its presence. Each of these elements is directed towards an object. As a result, without an object to focus on, the Ego has no possibility of existence.
Is Ego an ever-present and continuously existing entity? Something to ponder about. If the Ego depends on an object for its existence, then logically, each Ego would be specific to that particular object it interacts with. Furthermore, the Ego would only exist for the duration of its interaction with that object. So, there is a time and object limit for the Ego. The Ego arises when an interaction with a specific object begins, exists as long as that interaction is at play and dies when the interaction ends. A new ego is born for a different interaction with a different object or an interaction with the same object at a different point of time.
Therefore, Ego = Subject + Object. The perception of an object confirms the existence of the Ego. In other words, the presence of an object is essential for the Ego to experience the feeling of “I exist”.
Let’s look at few examples:
- Even if one is alone in a room, the chair you are sitting on or the clock on the wall you are seeing are confirmation of one’s existence. The interaction with these objects affirms the presence of the Ego.
- If one is talking to one’s wife and later turns to one’s daughter, they are two different “I”s. The combination of the person with the wife forms one Ego, while the combination with the daughter forms another. Thus, with every change in interaction, a distinct Ego is manifested.
How can we be certain that the Ego requires an object to exist? The most compelling example is the state of deep sleep, where there is no perception of the body, mind, or any object. During this state, the ego sense does not exist. Similarly, when a person is in a coma or in the state of Samadhi, there is no perception of objects, and the Ego ceases to exist for that period In conclusion, the Ego is not a single, unbroken entity. Instead, it is born and dies multiple times throughout the day, each time an interaction with an object begins and ends
