JVB NJ ►Acharya Tulsi ►Inspiration Vol 12 ● News

Where does life end?

Many viewpoints are at work in order to define and discuss life. It is necessary, therefore, to keep in mind those viewpoints, while discussing the end of life. If the definition of life that is based on seven levels like the body, the senses, etc., is accepted, then it can be said that the combination of the body and the consciousness is life, and their separation is the end of life. Even after the disintegration of the physical body, the soul attached to the world remains tied to the subtle bodies. The subtle bodies, once again, create the physical bodies and the journey of life resumes. Life that is sustained by bio-potential and vital energy is also restricted within a definite time span. At one point the capacity of the body-power and the vital breath gets exhausted. This process continues until the soul or consciousness attains the state of purity.

 

Whose life can become Philosophy?

The life of those, who live an exceptional, artistic, and enlightened life, becomes philosophy. Among the individuals whose life has become philosophy, Mahavir is our ideal. He determined a goal in his life. He adopted the path suited to that goal, and followed it with complete faith. His life became philosophy. 

Mahavir was not born in any unusual manner. His childhood was spent like an ordinary child till he entered his youth. There was nothing extraordinary in his life. He lived one kind of life for twenty eight years. However, his life in the following two years strengthened the background of his determined goal. He gave a new turn to his life at the age of thirty years. Turning his back to his family, royal palace, grandeur of the royal life, he wandered alone for twelve years. His aim was to practice the “Samayik Sadhana”. Samayik is the practice of equanimity in all situations. He lived his life with equanimity. Later Mahavir said: “When the individual maintains his equilibrium in the five mutually opposite situations, gains and loss, happiness and misery, life and death, condemnation and praise, respect and insult, his life becomes a philosophy.” Again he said, “When the individual is free from the apprehensions regarding this life and the other life, when he regards the tranchet and the anointment of sandalwood as the same, and is indifferent whether he gets his meal or not when he is hungry, his life becomes a philosophy.”