Jamuna Prasad
(this was scanned in, it is hard to read in parts, will clean it up more later)
Every human being has the awareness and knowledge that death is inevitable. But when and where death will occur is a great secret. Once this awareness about death arises, the person starts searching for the meaning of death. Death is decidedly a grief inducing element within the experience of our human family. Various religious and philosophical traditions of the world have distinct concepts regarding death. In this chapter the Hindu view of death is presented.
The Hindus believe that birth and death are the jugglery of Maya. There is birth for the body alone. Five elements - earth, water, fire, air, and ether-combine to form the body, while the Aiman is birthless and deathless. These elements are dissolved after death and go back to their sources. In reality, no one is born and no one dies. Death is only the casting off of the physical body, a deep slumber or sleep. It is like the separation of the soul from the physical body.
Swami Shivanand in his book what Becomes of the Soul After Death (1979) writes:
He who is born begins to die. He who dies begins to live. Birth and death are merely doors of entry and exit on the stage of this world. In reality no one comes, no one goes. Bratina or the External alone exists.
Head and Cranston in their book Reincarnation: The Phoenix Fire Mystery (1977) have pointed out that in the last the life of a person is like a pilgrimage, not merely from the cradle to the grave, but also through the vast period of time stretching from the beginning to the end of this period of evolution until he or she unites with God.
The Vedas and the oldest Hindu scriptures speak of the elements of reincarnation. Eminent philosopher and scholar Dr. S. Radhalrrishnan, in his Commentary on the Rhagroat Gift; writes that
The passage of the soul hum the body, its dwelling in other forms of existence, its return to human form'. the &te'tmination o( futaup ~jst ~ the P~flap'Ie of Karma are all mentioned in the Vedas. ence
The Vedas dearly show that the ancient Hindu believed in the
immortality of the soul. In Bhagavad Gita, Chapter II, Shlokas 23-24, it is said that: "The soul of man is indestructible, is cannot be pierced by sword, flit' cannot burn it, air cannot dry it, water cannot moisten it:' After reading Gita, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a poem entitled Bmhma, a verse from which is quoted below. It sets forth the Hindu concept of death as viewed by Emerson:
If the red slayer thinks he slays,Or if the slain thinks he is slain,. They know not well the subtle ways
I keep, and pass, and turn again.
Swami Abhedanand (1973) in his book Reincarnation has affirmed that the ancient Hindus believed in a heaven which they called the Brahmhalok or the kingdom of Bramha, the creator and the father of the Universe. Then gradually, as the idea of right and wrong became strong in their minds. the Hindus started believing that those who performed good and virtuous deeds in this life, with the hope of getting a reward, go to the realm of the fathers, that is, the Pifralotti, and stay as long as the results of their good works have not been accomplish~e.Aft%rreipinjfiwe~frThis of all their good and virtuous works, they ~w bound 46 return to the earth, according to the desires and actions of their past births. But those who do good works, not for the purpose of getting any reward, nor seeking anything in return, and who live the life of purity and righteousness, will go to the Brnhmaloka, the realm of Lard Bramha. There they will stay in all glory until the end of a cycle of evolution.
The Bha~avad Gita, popularly known as "The Song of the Divine'S is, according to the Hindus, the most cherished work in all the world's religious literature. This book is an appropriate gateway into the distinctive understanding of death found in the Hindu traditions; In the great battle of Mahabharta, the warrior Ariun lost his equipoise, became indecisive, and refused to fight and kill his own kith and kin in the battlefield. Inid Krishna imparted wisdom unto Ariun and revealed the greatest philosophy of life and death. The lord said that there was never a time when we did not exist, neither Aijun nor his kith and kin. That which is nonexistent can never come into being, and which is can never cease to be. The innermost reality is the Atman, which is both changeless and eternal. How can it die with the death of the body?
According to the Upanishads, Aiman is the bridge between the eternal and the temporal. Over that bridge, there crosses neither day nor night, nor old age, nor death, nor sorrow. Atman is real, true, and has continuity. The self is illusory.
Hindus believe in the trarismigration of the soul, in accordance with Kanivel, and that one must do everything possible to attain emancipation. Tiansmigration means not lust another birth; it means another death also. The doctrine of Ktiniia plays an important role in the second birth. James Came in his book Dm11: £:::i Existence (1980) has said that the Karmic burden is the existence one has from the beginning of life. That burden is removed by the full expression of the self. In cj1i1aridoswa upanisfiad. Chapter V, Shioka 107 we find the preachings of God that
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CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES
Those whose conduct during the previous life has been good presently obtain good
birth, such as the birth of a flr:ahmin, a K5lIefriytl or a litisli; those whose conduct
has been bad presently obtain some evil birth such as that of a dog or a pig.
The Smritis say that the soul is born with residual Karma.
According to Hindu philosophy, the concept of Brahma is synonymous with Vimfa, viz, an ocean of energy eulogized as Shakil, out of which the soul emerges as the Brahma so ordains. After casting off the mortal body on completion of its earthly sojourn, it aspires to merge again with Brahma and, if it is successful, it is liberated from the cycle of birth and rebirth and attains salvation or Moksha, failing which it takes another body and is reborn.
In the doctrine of Karma our deeds play an important role. Human beings are rewarded or punished for the deeds performed in their past lives. For this purpose, human beings are born again and again. Then the question arises of how the soul merges with the ocean of energy. The Rhagewad Gita says that deeds performed selflessly without any motive or expectation of return but by considerations of duty alone, that is, actions perfOrmed Nislikam, gradually lead people to a stage when they will not be born again but will be merged with Binlima, the Almighty, and be freed from this world and finally attain Nirvana, as pointed out by lord Buddha.
The doctrine of Karma determines the chain of rebirth. It is in the process of evolution that we learn to distinguish between Sakama and Nislikani Karma and try to achieve the cherished ideal of performing duty selflessly, without any expectation of return which finally leads to the attainment of Moksha.
As regards the fear of death, Becker in his book The Denial of Death (1973) writes that fear responses usually derive from some threat to survival and that of all things that move people the principal mover is fear of death. Thteat of death haunts the human mind more than anything else.
No doubt death is considered inevitable by all. But why do the Hindus who believe in life after death reveal death anxiety? What is the cause for this? The two factors that have been identified as affecting this in all religious people, whether they believe in death being the end of life or a doorway to another life, are as follows:
One is the process of dying, including all the suffering and pain through which a person has to pass in order to die; and the other is the separation anxiety, that is, the fear of parting forever from near and dear ones.
The philosopher Jacques Choran (1963) in his book Modern Man and Mortality delineated three components to the fear of death: the fear of dying, the fear of what happens after death, and the fear of ceasing to be. On the basis of psychological scrutiny of these dimensions of death, James B. M&arthy in Death and Anxietv (1980) pointed out that
The fear of dying and ceasing to be, involved myriad factors extending from a fear
of pain, sufferin& belpIessn~, dependency, aid loss of control of One's physica'
and menbi abilities at One end of a continuum, to fear of abandonment and of
being separated from loved ones, and loss of one's own love for others at the other
end.
Fear of death according to R. Schulz (1978) has elements of both physical and psychological suffering. These elements may arise because of the deterioration of the body that is sometimes a consequence of a fatal disease, such as cancer. An individual who has lived an active and vital life can be flabbergasted by such events and may get frightened. Fear of separation may arise because near and dear relations will be lost.
Philosophers R. Kastenbaum and R. Aisenberg, in their book The Thychotogy ot Death (1974) have discussed the unwelcoming prospects of suffering in relation to one's fear of death. Dying becomes an aversive event because of the physical suffering attached to it.
In the words of Dorothy Rowe (1982), people build comfortable surroundings; they work in this environment regularly, !)ut they always run the risk that these comforts may disappear at any time, and punishment may begin. Pain and suffering may have to be faced, which may ultimately lead to death. Hence, the fear attached to death is basically the apprehension regarcling the suffering Of life.
The Reig-½da (1.25.1,2) shows sin to be the violation of divine law with deatJi as the penalty: "Whatever law of thine, 0 God, 0, Varuna, as we are men, day after day we violate, give us not as prey to death to be destroyed by thee in wrath I"
Actually death is not a punishment. It is part of the sequence of life; it is the end of the present life and the beginning of the next life. In spite of the fact that Hindus believe in reincarnation, they perceive the encounter with death as an unpleasant experience that provides a massive shift in the way one lives in the world. It destroys the physicality of an individual. Moos (1977) points out that the stark irrefutable reality of death makes this confrontation a unique challenge.
When individuals become aware that they are about to die, they feel helpless and perceive the abandonment of their hopes and dreams and the necessary parting from cherished family and friends by being cut off by a force over which they have no control. The nature of this personal challenge is determined by several factors, including the characteristics of the disease involved and the degree of discomfort, disfigurement, and deterioration. Fear of all kinds, such as of the unknown, of being abandoned or rejected by loved ones, of physical degeneration, of dependency, of pain, crowd into the mind of the person wilt) is facing death in the near future.
The suffering of the dying, in the opinion of James B. McCarthy (1980), is augmented by the helplessness they feel in combating physical illness and in not being in control of the time and circumstances of their deaths. The fear or helplessness also plays an important role in the fear of death. The fear of death is also interlocked with the fears of separation and abandonment.
Dr. A. Kashyap in her doctoral thesis has expressed the view that ilic ft'".';
88 CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES
related to death are not diminished by belief in an afterlife. Rather, it is the intensified fear of death that increases belief in an afterlife. An individual who is beset with fear and anxiety may espouse cosmological beliefs as an anxiety-reducing defense mechanism; The greater the fears, the more firmly he or she would embrace the protective beliefs. The findings 6f I. L. Alexander and A. M. Adlerstein (Mss) as well as those of M. 0. Sarchuk and S. Tatz (1973) also suggest that subjects escape death anxiety by espousing the satisfying concept of an afterlife.
Although the Hindus believe in the continuity of life after death, they are not able to overcome the fear of death. The possible reason for this may be their inability to see that continuity. Some of the Hindu sages and seers claim that by practising Sadliana or Y)ga one can acquire powers to see one's past and foresee one's future, that is, one can become Trikaldarshi. If one can achieve such powers, one's ability to see the continuity of life will certainly lessen one's fear of death. It must, however, be emphasized that in order to acquire such powers one has to practice the highest ideals of righteousness with complete devotion, dediction, and surrender to Brahma, the mighty creator and protector of this universe.
REFERENCES
Swami Abhedanand. 1973. Reincarnation, Calcutta: Ramkrishna Vedanta Math.
Alexander, I. F., and Mierstein, A. M., 1958. Affective Responses to the Concept of Death in a Population of Children and Early Molescents. frarnal of Genetic Psychology
93:167-177.
Becker, B. 1973. The Denial of Death. New York: Free Press.
Carse, J. 1980. Death and Eristence. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Choran, 1.1963. Modern A4in and Mortality. New York: MacMillan.
Head, J., and Cranston, S. L 1977. Reinaunation: The Phoenir Etyt Mystery. New York: Julian Press/Crown Publishers.
Kashyap, A. 1973. 'A Study of Certain Determiners of Perception of ~Theat!' Unpublished doctoral thesis.
Kastenbaurn, R., and Aisenberg, R. 1974. The Psychology of Death: london: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd.
McCarthy, 1. B. 1980. Death and Anxiety: The bss of Self New York: Gardner Press Inc.
Moos, R. H. 1977. Q~ng with Physical Illness. New York: Plenum Medical Book Company.
Osarchuk, M., and Tatz, S. 1973. Effect of Induoed Fear of Death on Belief in After Life. Jonnial of Ptrsonality and So~ itychology 27:256-260.
Radhakrishnan, S. 1977. Onflinenby on the Rhagruat Gita, 6th C'L Bombay: Blackie and sons.
Radhakrishnan, S. (1927)1940. Indian Philosophy. Bombay: Blackie and Sons.
Rowe D. 1982. The Consinction of Lifi and Death. New York. John Wiley & Sons.
Schulz, R. 1978. The flwchology of Death, Pying and &rMmnWI Reading Mass.:
Addison~VNk~iey.
Swami Shivanand. 1979. frYhat Beco,ne5 of the Soal After De'dh Then Garwhal, V.P India:
The Divine Life Society.
Yalom, L D. 1980. &isknh· q/ Psyc&g4~~~, New York: Basic Books. l~