Life After Death PART XV (Death: End of the Beginning)

Death is the final frontier. As we know, we all are destined to die. Everyday part of us is dying slowly but surely. “Dying is an integral part of life, as “Death belongs to life as birth does. The walk is in the raising of the foot as in the laying of its down.” - Tagore
When studying older cultures and people, we are impressed that death has always been distasteful and will probably continue to be so. Earthquakes, wildfires, floods, drought, tornadoes are all incorporated into the equation. In all those things lies the “FEAR”, a much known fear, the fear of death. “Who will die first?” (White Noise, 15) This question in Jack’s life comes up from time to time. “ I stared into the dark, realizing I’d experienced the more or less normal muscular contraction known as the myoclonic jerk. Is this what it is like, abrupt, peremptory? Shouldn’t death, I thought, be a swan dive, graceful, white-winged and smooth, leaving the surface undisturbed?” natural and predictable as being born.” When we sleep, all our sensory perceptions are shut down and when we wake up, they all come back, just like birth. Ashes are carried or sent to India if you live outside of your homeland, for deposition in the Ganges or placed them in an auspicious river or the ocean, along with garlands and flowers. The thumbs are tied together, as are the big toes. Water is sprinkled on the ash; the remains are collected on a large tray. The soul, the Vedas (sacred texts of earliest phase of Indian religion, 3000 years ago) declare, is immortal. This practice of naming the newborn after the dead reconfirms the core belief of Judaism. The body is then kept embalmed until a fixed date of departure. “Tibetans believe there is a transitional state between death and rebirth. The belief in Karma and Samsara form the basis for the Hindu’s religious worldview. It has been central to Hinduism for thousands of years, and as a result forms a major part in the philosophical thinking of many Hindu’s today. The ideas of Karma and Samsara are evident in almost all of the great Hindu scriptures, being touched on in the Veda’s, but first properly introduced in the Upanishads. When the idea of Samsara was first introduced it led to a quest for liberation through the practice of austerity or meditation or both. To be released form this life the Hindu’s needed to wipe out the effects of their past actions or Karma. It is this set of beliefs that formed the background of many of Hindu’s religious movements and beliefs.
Karma is the belief according to which a person’s future life is determined by past and present actions. Every action, bodily, intellectual or ethical, good or bad, big or small will have its effect. Nothing other than the effects of earlier actions has determined the present state of affairs and nothing other than the present actions will determine the future circumstances. The law of Karma allows no room for chance or divine intervention as everything is inevitably determined by it. The brahmins (the religious leaders) stressed the importance of the sacred act of sacrificing which was supposed to have a bearing on man’s fate in the next world, and consequently the Satapatha Brahmana 11. These periods of evolution and devolution were called days and nights of Brahma, which convert into Billions and Billions of human years. The ideas of Karma and Samsara have justified the unequal Caste system, which has been an integral part of Indian society for hundreds of years.