Are You Living or Dying

Almost everyone is afraid of death. Be it animals, insects, or humans, the most basic instinct in every living creature is to avoid death. Therefore, even nature provides the mechanism of using certain hormones in the body to protect itself from harm.

If you observe closely, even in your own body, millions of cells die daily. So in a way, a part of your body dies every day. However, you still survive because millions of new cells get added as well. If the number of cells that get replaced every day is more than those that die, the body grows. Otherwise, the body starts to deteriorate and become old until it eventually dies. Therefore death is the moment when the body becomes lifeless.

Regardless, every living creature’s body is destined to die one day. Therefore no matter what you do, we are closer to our death as every moment passes.

So are we living or dying at this moment?

Hindus have always believed in the cycle of births and rebirths. And, according to every Hindu scripture, the Atman, our soul is eternal. Therefore, when one dies, that person’s soul moves from one body to another. In other words, the real you are eternal. The soul never dies. Many enlightened Yogis in India attest to this cycle of births and rebirths from their own experience. The enlightened Yogis can remember all their past lives.

According to Vedantic teachings, the soul, our true consciousness, is nothing but Brahman Himself. Therefore, when the ignorance about one’s consciousness is removed, they find that they are Brahman and nothing else. Realizing this fact is what is termed enlightenment.

There is no difference between the nature of our consciousness and that of the enlightened ones. We have not realized that nature yet. But consciousness, or soul or Atman, whatever you call it, is the same in everyone. It is eternal.

Therefore, the real you never die! There is no death. It is the life that keeps moving from one body to another till one attains moksha or liberation.

You might hear the enlightened ones often say that there is no rebirth. They mean that rebirth is possible only after one is no more. But, our true Self is eternal, that never dies! Therefore, there is only life. There is no death of life. Only the physical body one day becomes incapable of keeping the life within itself.