Death is certain for one who has been born, and rebirth is inevitable for one who has died. Therefore, you should not lament over the inevitable.
Bhagwad Gita 2.27
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The Mahabharata war, the war between Rama and Ravana, and the First and Second World Wars took place because they had to take place. What is so great about death? In fact, what is great about birth either? Insects, mosquitoes, dogs, cats and donkeys breed, and so do humans. Why do you try to avoid that death which is unavoidable? Why do you lament over death? Even great thinkers and philosophers wail over death. Death should not cause grief. Death is the romance of life. One has to take death in one’s stride.
Swami Satyananda Saraswati (Bihar School of Yoga)
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No Mourning after Death
Gurbani teaches us not to weep over the death of anybody. We should submit to the will of the Lord and pray that the departed soul may rest in peace. Gurbani says people cry not for the dead but how it affects them:
Let no one weep for me, after I die. That is not at all pleasing to me'.
'Finally the True Guru said," When I am gone, sing the praise of the Pure Lord."
'One who is eased with the Lord's will is a devotee, the True Guru and the sublime person'.
Baba Sundar - Sri Guru Granth Sahib: 923
'Kabir, death, of which the whole world is terrified, is pleasing unto me;
as it is in death alone, that one is blessed with the Supreme Bliss.'
Bhagat Kabir - Sri Guru Granth Sahib: 1365
'People say it is good to live forever, but without dying (living humbly), there is no life.'
Bhagat Kabir - Sri Guru Granth Sahib: 655
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If we cannot celebrate death as we celebrate birth, we will not know life.
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
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Death is not as terrible as you think. It comes to you as a healer. Sleep is nothing but a counterfeit death. What happens in death we can picture in sleep. All our sufferings vanish in sleep. When death comes, all our mortal tortures cease; they cannot go beyond the portals of death.
Paramahansa Yogananda
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In Patanjali’s Yog Darśhan, abhiniveśh, or the instinctive urge to survive at all costs, is mentioned as a trait of the material intellect. But for one who has taken birth, death is inevitable. So when something is inevitable, why lament over it?
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Fear not, O learned one, there is no death for thee; there is a means of crossing this sea of relative existence; that very way by which sages have gone beyond it, I shall inculcate to thee.
There is a sovereign means which puts an end to the fear of relative existence; through that thou wilt cross the sea of Samsara and attain bliss supreme.
Reasoning on the meaning of the Vedanta leads to efficient knowledge, which is immediately followed by the total annihilation of the misery born of relative existence.
Vivekachudamani
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In the Krishna Yajur Veda, Katha Upanishad, Yama, Lord of Death, explains: “Death is a mere illusion which appears to those who cannot grasp Absolute Reality. The soul is immortal, self-existent, self-luminous and never dies.”
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