Chapter from “Forever with Master” vol. II (p. 78), section “Leading a life of perfection” — by Dr. Harbhajan Singh
Kabir Sahib says that all men are asleep.
“Man awakes only when the hammer of death falls.”
When the end comes and the soul is leaving the body,
then man begins to realize:
“What have I done? What is happening?”
But then it is too late; what can be done at that late hour?
If while living he had learned about the Lord’s ways —
how to rise above the body consciousness
and go into the other realms within —
he would not have been in that ignorant position.
As a Conscious Co-worker of the Divine Plan,
one’s coming and going is finished,
but as it stands at present one must pay debts,
which means coming again and again to the world.
We eat the poison and lament over it;
but we go on eating it. (28)
— Kirpal Singh
Kabir says, “The human body, is but for four days; when there are not even, the five elements, where are then Ida, Pinghala and Sukhmana?”
When the body is gone, then where is the world? When the string is broken, the kite is lost. Oh man, there is only God who unites the five elements and brings you into the world, not for the world but for the very purpose which you never fulfilled.
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Death has terrified the whole world but not the Gurmukh. He is gifted by his Master and he carries the panacea for all the diseases of the mind and helps others to use the panacea and get rid of the tentacles of the death. He helps in leaving the body at will.
❊
He remains detached from the world by all means, to serve the cause of his Master. He has crossed the barriers of death many times during his life-time. His physical departure is an eternal wish of his Master. (Master wants their eternal union.) He drinks the sweet elixir of Naam and understands his wish of life. In the world he is the light of the Lord, and after the physical departure he abides in the house of his Master and serves the Master in the same capacity.
❊
The Gurmukh does not retire from the services of his Master, rather he does it more loveably and effectively by the advancement of his age. The faultless nature of work done by the Conscious Co-worker of the Divine Plan makes him more energetic. His will gets so much power that it can easily be done and well in time. He takes his physical departure as a momentary change and does not forget the pending work of his Master.
❊
For a man on the level of senses, the awareness of the dreadful death affects him more than his real life. If the awareness of the life takes the foremost and highest place, the awareness of death will disappear. The conscious people leave the body but are not forced to leave the body. Leaving the body is more enjoyable for them than to stay in the body. For them death is not the final phase of their life, rather it is the beginning of the eternal life.
References:
(28) Sail on the Satguru’s ship, SSE 11/71