Srila Prabhupad

From "Conquering Death" booklet:

I exist…I will always exist
I am the eternal spark of life
Only temporarily in this mortal frame
The body will die
But I will never die

If you erroneously identify yourself with your body, you will conclude that your existence will end with the destruction of your body. But if you know that you are the eternal self within the body, you know that your existence will not end when your body dies. (p. 1)

Your body has a beginning and an end; your body is subject to birth and death, but you, the spark of life within the body, are eternal. You have no beginning, nor will you have an end. The material body will cease existing, but you will never cease existing. (p. 3)

There is nothing in the world more inevitable than death; and there is nothing that causes nearly as much misery. The dying person suffers, and those who are attached to the dying person suffer. Yet all this suffering is unnecessary; it is due to ignorance. (p. 4)

Our bodies are dying-from the moment of birth. As our bodies grow, we gradually realize that death is inevitable, but we try to keep the thought out of our minds. We carry on as if we will be in this world forever-in this body forever. We diligently and conscientiously build our little kingdoms; then, as middle age sets in, most of us experience a crisis, realizing that our age of youth is gone forever-that time is moving, and moving fast. We become increasingly aware of our mortality, but we try hard to forget it. We continue to live here as if we will always live here. We want to exist. (p. 4)

So we try to keep death out of our minds. We try to think that only other people die that only other people have fatal accidents, get cancer, and so on. We try to live a happy life, free from anxiety, but fear of death is always in the back of our consciousness. Thus, we are always in anxiety, usually without even knowing why. (p. 5)

If you are ignorant, you will cling to your body. You won’t want to give it up. Even when the body is wracked by cancer or some other disease, you will cling to it as if it were the most precious thing. (p. 6)

Even if we want to hold on to the body, we will never succeed. Have you ever tried to stop yourself midway in a descent down a very steep, slippery slide? It’s almost impossible to cling to the slide. Attempts to cling to the body are infinitely more futile. Once you’re on the downward slope of death (which begins at conception), there’s no way you can stop it. Scientists know this. The best they can hope for is a slight extension of the length of the slide. They call this “life extension.” (p. 6)

While living in the body, we become attached to people and things. At the time of death, we experience great suffering because we are ripped away from everyone and everything we love. The cessation of existence also means the cessation of all relationships. After all, a relationship can only exist where the relating entities exist. So when we are on our deathbed, we feel great sorrow that all relationships will soon be over. (p. 7)

Our suffering is not limited to our anxiety throughout life and our sorrow on our deathbed. It continues even after we have been pronounced “dead.” We get kicked out of the body just like a tenant gets kicked out of an apartment by a cruel landlord. This makes us totally bewildered, confused, and afraid. We don’t know who we are (since the body we identified with is gone), where we are, why we are, or where we are going. Since we did not prepare for the journey-indeed, since we didn’t even know that we would still exist-we are like an orphan lost in the wilderness. And just as, while “alive,” we were pushed around by the forces of material nature on the gross physical level, so after “death” we continue to be pushed around by the subtle material forces. (p. 7)

If we are attached to a dying person and identify that person with his body, we also suffer greatly. Thinking the person we love will soon cease existing, we feel great sorrow. Macho men, conservative women, friends, relatives-we all cry unrestrainedly at the beds of our dying loved ones. (p. 8)

The suffering of those who identify the bodies of their loved ones as being their loved ones is beyond description. Those who have experienced such suffering know it. Those who haven’t experienced it don’t know it. It’s as simple as that. (p. 9)

So much suffering is connected with death; yet death is not the real cause of the suffering. The real cause is ignorance-the false identification of the body as the self. (p. 9)

But just as great as the suffering caused by this ignorance is the joy that naturally arises when the shackles of ignorance are removed. The heavier the burden, the greater the feeling of relief when that burden is removed. The removal of fear and anguish from the heart creates the experience of real freedom, real liberation. Just as the suffering caused by ignorance can never be described adequately, neither can the joy born out of wisdom. (p. 9)

He who knows that a person or self is actually an eternal, indestructible particle of the element life, which is only temporarily in the material body, cannot be conquered by either his own “death” or the “death” of loved ones. (p. 9)

So although realizing one’s eternal spiritual nature is liberating, many people don’t want this realization…to most people ignorance is bliss. If you accept that you are an eternal spiritual spark, you will have to remold your whole pattern of life, your false lordship over others, your pride in your life’s accomplishments, your view of yourself as greatly learned. You have to give up all of this. And what for? For an eternal but uncertain future. (p. 15)

To know that you are not going to die solves many problems, but it opens the door to new questions. For example: Since I am eternal, what is my eternal function? Since I am not material in essence and therefore cannot find happiness in material sense gratification, where and how can I find satisfaction? (p. 15)

You’re afraid of your continued existence after death because you don’t know what it will be like. You don’t know the nature of your future existence, so you fear it. (p. 16)

But no matter how mch you want to cease existing you never will. And the sooner you give up your wishful thinking, the sooner you can start working on the questions regarding the reality of your eternality. (p. 16)

The search for perfect wisdom is an ongoing eternal challenge – and it is real. Thus, only the most courageous people will actually accept this challenge. The ignorant, the fearful, and the lazy will remain as they are. (p. 24)

From "Transcending Old Age" booklet:

The beginning of human life is when a person asks, “How come I, who am now in this body which is very old, used to be in a body which was very young? Why is it happening? Why am I suffering like this? What is the solution?” Human life begins when a person inquires how he can conquer old age, diseases and death. (pp 13-14)

The human form of life is meant to achieve self-realization. It is meant to understand one’s relationship with God. (p. 19)

Now the reason a person is experiencing this suffering [of old age] by God’s arrangement is so that he can learn and experience that this world is not his real home. (pp 21-22)

If a person wants to go to God, he has to realize that he must love God and not this world. There is no question of his entering into the spiritual world with a material body. (p. 22)

You are not the body. You’re the person within the body. According to God, Who is the Supreme Authority, you are His part and parcel. Just like the ray of the sun is a spark of the sun, you are the same essence as God Himself. You are spiritual, not material. You are not the Supreme Spirit Soul; you are not God. But you are an eternal part and parcel of God Himself. (p. 24)

You must know, “Aham brahmasmi. I am brahman. I am spirit, not matter. I am not this body. My body is old but I am not old. My body is falling apart like an old car falls apart. But I am not my body.” This is wisdom. It is with this wisdom that you can transcend old age. (p. 24)

Ignorance can be transcended with wisdom. When you transcend ignorance with the realization of your true identity as spirit soul, then you’ll be elevated to a platform of real freedom. Freedom from old age means realizing that you will never become old because you are the eternal part and parcel of God. This is the most wonderful realization. (p. 25)

You should not waste a moment of your life. Whether your body is young or old, it doesn’t matter. Death can come any moment. But if your body is old, then you have this warning. (p. 25)

Spend your time remembering your true identity…[by] regularly hearing and repeating the pastimes, names and glories of God. Spend your time doing this and you will be perfectly fixed in God consciousness and wisdom. You’ll be able to leave your body peacefully. Oh death, where is your sting? Oh old age, where is your sting? With wisdom, you remove the sting of old age and death. (p. 26)

From "18 Pearls of Vedic Wisdom"

Cosciousness, or if his throat is choked with mucus he may not be able to chant the name of the Lord.

A person who is young and healthy may assume that he will find it easy to remember God at the time of death. But this is arrogance; he does not fully appreciate the condition of a dying man. If one is struck suddenly by death (the New Testament describes death as “a thief in the night”)--for example, if one is in a car accident, or gets attacked in the street, or chokes on a piece of food–there’s no time to prepare for leaving the body. If one dies of old age or disease, it is similarly difficult to remember the Lord. In such a state, the mind can easily become very cloudy. In short, at the time of death, a person is often in quite a helpless condition.

Feeling helpless, a devotee turns to God for help…The devotee fears that he may not be able to remember the Lord. He therefore humbly begs the Supreme Person to do the remembering: “My dear Lord, I am afraid that I may not be able to remember You–so I beg You to please remember me.”

The subject of remembrance is central to spiritual life and to physical death. The aim of life is to be so lovingly attached to the Supreme Person that one will automatically remember Him at the time of death. And those who do remember the Lord at death go to Him. This is the Lord’s promise.

Engage your mind always in thinking of Me,

offer obeisances and worship Me.

Being completely absorbed in Me,

surely you will come to me.

-Bhagavad-Gita 9:34

Whoever at the time of death quits his body remembering Me alone,

at once attains my nature, of this there is no doubt.

-Bhagavad-Gita 8:5

Yet even if–for some reason or other–the devotee cannot remember the Lord at death, still the Supreme Lord remembers His devotee. In other words, even though it is not possible for the pure devotee to forget the Lord even for a moment–still, even if it were possible the devotee would not be in a dangerous position. This is because the Lord remembers and protects His devotee under all circumstances. That is the Lord’s promise in the Bhagavad-gita:

O son of Kunti, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes.

-Bhagavad-Gita 9:3

If a person does not remember the Lord, that too is due to the Lord’s mercy. For, as the Lord states in the Bhagavad-Gita (15:15), both remembrance and forgetfulness come from Him. So in all circumstances, a person who wants to go to God is dependent upon God’s mercy.

A person can only remember God at the time of death if he really knows Him, and has surrendered his heart, body, and mind to Him in love. After all, how can a person remember what he doesn’t really know? He can only remember what he really knows. So only a person who has a confidential relationship with the Supreme Person, who really knows Him, can really remember Him.

The point is to come to know God before death approaches. It is foolish to think that one can live a self-centered, materialistic life and then try to know God just before death. A person’s life will determine the nature of his consciousness at death.

So we must ask, “How do I come to see or know the Supreme Lord?” Since the Lord is the supremely conscious entity, we cannot “see” or “know” him unilaterally. In other words, we can see Him if He kindly allows us to see Him; we can know Him if He allows us to know Him.

Excerpt from 2016 talk on helping one another in life and death:

Love each other and help each other now. Help each other to remember Krishna. When it comes right down to it, nothing else matters. Getting rich, having big houses, being a famous surfer, having a beautiful wife or a perfect husband - none of these things are ultimately going to be worth anything! No material gain or happiness is ever going to take you out of the graveyard, because all that is within the walls of the cemetery.

So, we need to recognize that our real life is loving Krishna and, connected with that, loving others. This is life. We can be with Krishna here and now. Your consciousness now will be your consciousness in the future. It’s not like you can be in a certain materialistic consciousness now, and then, abracadabra, all of a sudden in the future your consciousness will be different, and you’ll be a lover of Krishna.

Don’t put off love for Krishna. If you just keep putting off love for Krishna until the future, that is a mistake. Be a lover of Krishna now. Taste the nectar of love for Krishna now.

The nature of the present determines the nature of the future.

Take seriously the cultivation of love for Krishna. Find that little bit of love for Krishna that is within your heart and grow it by constantly hearing and chanting the Names of Krishna. Do what you need to do to grow that love and do what you need to do to protect it from being obliterated by offenses or stifled by materialistic life.

This world and everything in it quote:

This world and everything in it is the property or the energy of the Supreme Energetic. But unfortunately most of us have forgotten the connection between ourselves, the world and the Lord. We falsely identify ourselves with the material body we temporarily live in, and due to our identifying with matter, we seek fulfillment in the material world.

Thus, we falsely lay claim to God’s property and endlessly compete to exploit each other and the environment. This continuous exploitation makes our hearts harder and harder and it is thus a great rarity for a person in this world to feel real love and compassion.

Therefore, kindness is rare, friendship is rare, honesty is rare, and simplicity is rare and happiness and humility are rare. But fear is not rare, nor is international, interracial, interfaith, and intersexual warfare.

But bitterness is of no necessity. There can be a new society. But the outer can change only by changing the inner. The nature of our place of residence is determined by the nature of our mentality or consciousness. Thus, our destiny is in our own hands.

—Jagad Guru