In this Weekly Wisdom, Gurudev shares wisdom about keeping thoughts, words, and actions pure in the present for the sake of our future lifetimes.
When a spirit leaves the body, one option is it leaves from the mouth. When some die, first, their jaw drops, and prana (subtle life force energy) can escape through the mouth. Or life force can escape through the anus.
Yogis, meditators, and those who have lived a good life usually raise their eyes, and the prana escapes through the third eye.
And then, there are other yogis for whom the prana escapes through the top of the head. It means that one's life and death should be complete when that happens.
From body to body
Death is simply a transition from one body to another body, from one life to an eternal life. And if you’re filled with different impressions, those cause your next life.
You're not compelled to return. You can return if you want to. But if your subtle body is filled with impressions, cravings, and aversions—you're bound to return. You’ve no freedom. But yogis have freedom because they're in a blissful state of contentment.
A person who feels content goes to sleep so nicely, and when they wake up, they feel happy. They're not going to bed with some incomplete agenda.
Your last thought
You can see your last thoughts before sleeping based on your own experience. If you remember the first thought as soon as you wake up, you’ll see that after a good sleep, they merge eventually.
Thought is just one aspect of the mind. Emotions are another, and vibration is a third. They're all linked: thought, emotion, vibration. These are different levels of the same expression of consciousness.
How to leave the body
Now, when a person leaves this body, how should they go? His thoughts shape his mind.
If you’ve been thinking of some vulgar things, only that comes to you. But if you adopt the habit of thinking about the Being, Self, and space deep inside, the spirit assumes that.
What do you need to do? Sit and say, ‘Om!’ Om is closest to infinity.
If you keep thinking about chickens on a poultry farm, you'll wind up there in your next life. You'll find yourself inside an egg.
Wherever you put your attention and emphasis (this is what karma is about) is what manifests. Whatever feelings, thoughts, or intentions you exit the body with will be your next life. You'll attain that.
It’s important to keep your mind in peaceful spaces. You can’t say your life is perfect. Challenges do come. You get upset. It’s part of life. But at least before going to bed, don’t think about failures.
Our grandmothers told us, “Before bed, say a prayer.” Think of God before bed because every night, sleep is a mini-death. Our subconscious mind records those things.
Speak and act with purity
If you use foul and bad words, your subconscious fills with them. So your speech should be pleasant.
All the wisdom you’ve heard includes truth, firmness, and niceness. If we keep saying hurtful things, tomorrow, somebody will throw them at us. Whatever we put out comes back. When possible, keep speech and action pure. When going to bed, be prayerful and think about positive things.
Keep the mind clear. You don’t know when death is coming. But when it does, it suddenly comes so fast that there's no time to think about anything. Whatever impression is already there, only that’ll pop up. Instead of preparing something for the end, start doing it now.
Whatever impressions you’re having throughout life, that appears at the end because that’s in your subconscious mind.
If you regularly think about being with me, then that impression becomes the strongest. “At all times, think of me” is a line from the Bhagavad Gita. It says ‘me’ is pure, vast consciousness deep inside every being and beyond thought.
Again and again, remind yourself. Put your attention on infinity, which is indescribable, formless, and ever-present.
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Editor’s note:
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