Stepping Out: Demystifying Death -2 | Journey Beyond Death | HG Vaiśeṣika Dāsa | 22 Jan 2022

Sound Bhakti

One of the most profound conversations I heard was once when I was driving somewhere, hopefully to the temple, and I was listening to one of Prabhupada's conversations. It stuck in my mind so much that I thought I'd pass it on to you, and it goes like this: It was in Honolulu, 1976. Devotee: "So if we have to wake again, then there's no reason, why should we have to stop birth and death?" Prabhupada had been describing that dying is like going to sleep for some time. So the devotee was playing devil's advocate. Prabhupada: "So, you have no experience. Do you sleep perpetually, whole day and night? Why do you wake up? Is it not your experience that you sleep at night and wake up at daytime?" Devotee: "Yes, but if I'm going to wake up again, then why should I want to stop it? I go to sleep, I wake up." Prabhupada: "No, but you're waking up like a dog. That is the privilege. You sleep perpetually, not perpetually, for seven months, and then you wake up as a dog. The body is changed, and you go on barking—that you do not know. That is ignorance." Devotee: "Krishna, that's amazing. You go to sleep in a human body, and you wake up in a dog's body." Prabhupada: "Ah, that's it." Devotee: "When I wake up the next morning, I'm not afraid to go to sleep because I know that I will wake up. So if I'm going to die, and I know..." Prabhupada: "Die means you sleep as a man and wake up as a dog—that is dying." The part that stuck in my mind was when the devotee exclaimed after Prabhupada said that. He said, "Oh, you go to sleep as a man and wake up as a dog." It reminded me of a story I read in my childhood about a man who wakes up as a cockroach. It quite alarmed me, actually—was it a cockroach, or maybe it was a centipede? Somebody can check on that, but he was trying to figure out all his legs and arms—a famous author. There's a stark reality to death, and that is, it's not a joking matter or something to be taken lightly. When you do go to sleep or you die, you transfer to another body, and at that point, it's out of your hands. A devotee who had been arrested for trespassing and solicitation (a pretty common offense amongst devotees) he recalled being put in the back of the paddy wagon after having been handcuffed. There's this sense, once your hands are behind your back, and you're being pushed into a paddy wagon—where am I going? Don't worry about it. You're just going, and there's nothing you can do about it at that point. He recalled to me the feeling of helplessness that he had at that point. It's like, now it's out of my hands. Previously, I could have done something about it, but now it's out of my hands. So although death isn't final in any way because we're eternal, still there's a finality to the destination that we're going next. The only time that we can do something about it is before we go into the death throes. Even then, it's a little late because whatever we've cultivated throughout our lifetime will generally manifest quite strongly in the last days. It's hard to turn it around, so to speak. That is our habits, our way of thinking, and what we're attracted to at the last moment. Just as Prabhupada this morning brought up about taking a test, when you go in, you don't do it two minutes before they tell you to put everything away and pick up a number two pencil. You do it weeks before, months before. Hopefully, you're on track when you walk in. It's like a final exam, and Prabhupada brought our attention to this again and again, talking about how serious it is or how seriously we should take it because that's the final exam. (excerpt from the talk) To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/