No matter who houses a bad thought —
A desire-man or an aspiration-man —
A bad thought is a dire challenge
To humanity’s progress-life.
Sri Chinmoy, Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, part 24, Agni Press, 1984
/Is death the end?/
Death is not the end. Death can never be the end. Death is the road. Life is the traveler. The soul is the guide. When the traveler is tired and exhausted, the guide instructs the traveler to take either a short or a long rest, and then the traveler's journey begins again.
Unfortunately, most of us cherish wrong conceptions about death. We think death is something unusual, something destructive. But we have to know that right now death is something natural, normal and, to some extent, inevitable.
/Is there life after death?/
Yes, there is life after death. Death is not and can never be the end. To me, life and death are like two rooms. During the day I work in the living room; death is my resting room. I equally need both in order to love, serve and please God.
/Is it possible for a man to learn what death is while still living, by actually entering into death?/
What death actually is one can easily know when one is in the very highest stage of meditation.
Sometimes we can actually follow a soul when the soul leaves the body, and then we can get the full experience of death while remaining in the body.
/When we are dying, what is the best thing to do?/
For a spiritual person, the best thing to do is to remember the presence of his Master. The near and dear ones should place a picture of his spiritual guide right in front of the seeker, and let the Master be with him spiritually when the seeker breathes his last. Let the Master be inside the very breath, the very last breath of the seeker. Then it is the duty, the responsibility of the inner guide to do what is necessary.
/Is death painful?/
It depends on the individual. If the individual has not prayed and meditated and has not followed the spiritual life, then it is really painful to part with this life because he does not want to surrender to God's Will. First of all, it is not in him to know or feel what God's Will is. Also, he does not feel God's conscious Protection, Guidance and Concern, so he feels that he is totally lost.