“Be ashamed to die, until you’ve scored some victory for humanity.” But why would anyone be ashamed to die? Why does it matter whether you’ve “scored a victory” or not? Life isn’t a baseball game, life is something to enjoy and be intrigued by. Even if your life has been miserable, that’s no reason to be ashamed of dying. Dying with regret and disappointment maybe, but not with shame. nick recently posted..One thousand!
I wholeheartedly underwrite your sentiment, Nick. What I’ll be ashamed of is that, despite my hopes and aspirations not to, I will die at all. Bloody hell.
It’s just a figure of speech, Nick. It just means try to do something worthwhile while you are still around to do it. To the best of my knowledge, there’s nothing you can do to change things once you’re dead and gone. It probably sounds a bit judgmental and forceful, but I got the point. Maria recently posted..The Supernatural
The worldly desires coupled with the fear of the unknown, often complicate the process of death and make it a suffering–even physical and mental torture, specially when the person on deathbed is admitted to hospitals. Only by chitta-shuddhi–purifying the mind, this attachment can be eased.
Here is a Vedic shloka to guard against such durmaraNam/akAla maraNam–violent/untimely death:
anAyAsena–AyAsa means trouble, stress, fatigue etc. anAyAsa is the opposite of that. anAyAsena means without trouble, or pain; maraNaM–death; vinA dainyena–dainya is poverty. vinA means without. vinAdainyena is without poverty; jIvanaM–life;
dehi me–grant to me; kR^ipayA–out of compassion; shambho–addressing shambhU–shiva–one who is the source of happiness; tvayi–in you; bhaktiM–devotion; acha~nchalaM–unwavering.
I don’t fear death either, though hope the final process of getting there is not too complicated. My husband simply went to sleep one night and didn’t awaken the next morning — a very peaceful serene look on his face when I found him. My mother always said she didn’t fear death either, but didn’t want to die for the simple reason she didn’t want to miss anything. I was with her and she did cease life fairly easily. That’s pretty much how I feel to as there’s so much happening in the world and I want to know what’s next whether it’s science, technology, or other. Will we ever learn to appreciate the differences in one another, eliminate poverty, stop wars, inhabit outer space, discover intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, etc.? I’ve always enjoyed Tyson.
My attitude towards death is to hope for one like your late husband had. Please see my response to Cheerful Monk. That is one of the most profound and beautiful prayers that many Hindus use daily including me.
The transition from life to death can be pretty traumatic. I observed that in my late father in law and also in my mother, who died just six months ago. It can be very moving, to stand at the doorway between life and death. Bringing a child into the world gives a similar awe, although usually a much more joyous one. I always pray for protection from violent and untimely death for myself and whoever it’s within my power to pray. Maria recently posted..The Supernatural
That, my friend, is one of the reasons Dr Tyson is the person I admire most
shackman recently posted..A nice break from all of the insanity!
He is one of my favourite persons too.
“Be ashamed to die, until you’ve scored some victory for humanity.” But why would anyone be ashamed to die? Why does it matter whether you’ve “scored a victory” or not? Life isn’t a baseball game, life is something to enjoy and be intrigued by. Even if your life has been miserable, that’s no reason to be ashamed of dying. Dying with regret and disappointment maybe, but not with shame.
nick recently posted..One thousand!
I wholeheartedly underwrite your sentiment, Nick. What I’ll be ashamed of is that, despite my hopes and aspirations not to, I will die at all. Bloody hell.
U
Ursula recently posted..The eye of the beholder
Nick, I think that it is the context in which he says that, which is relevant and not the content which is literal translation.
It’s just a figure of speech, Nick. It just means try to do something worthwhile while you are still around to do it. To the best of my knowledge, there’s nothing you can do to change things once you’re dead and gone. It probably sounds a bit judgmental and forceful, but I got the point.
Maria recently posted..The Supernatural
I don’t fear death, but I hope the transition won’t be too hard!
Cheerful Monk recently posted..Animal Rescues
The worldly desires coupled with the fear of the unknown, often complicate the process of death and make it a suffering–even physical and mental torture, specially when the person on deathbed is admitted to hospitals. Only by chitta-shuddhi–purifying the mind, this attachment can be eased.
Here is a Vedic shloka to guard against such durmaraNam/akAla maraNam–violent/untimely death:
अनायासेन मरणं विनादैन्येन जीवनं
देहि मे क्रिपय शम्भो त्वयि भक्तिं अचन्चलं
anAyAsena maraNaM vinAdainyena jIvanaM
dehi me kripaya shambho tvayi bhaktiM achanchalaM
anAyAsena–AyAsa means trouble, stress, fatigue etc. anAyAsa is the opposite of that. anAyAsena means without trouble, or pain;
maraNaM–death;
vinA dainyena–dainya is poverty. vinA means without. vinAdainyena is without poverty;
jIvanaM–life;
dehi me–grant to me;
kR^ipayA–out of compassion;
shambho–addressing shambhU–shiva–one who is the source of happiness;
tvayi–in you;
bhaktiM–devotion;
acha~nchalaM–unwavering.
I don’t have anything at this point to say – I still have a lot of living yet to do
Amen!
I don’t fear death either, though hope the final process of getting there is not too complicated. My husband simply went to sleep one night and didn’t awaken the next morning — a very peaceful serene look on his face when I found him. My mother always said she didn’t fear death either, but didn’t want to die for the simple reason she didn’t want to miss anything. I was with her and she did cease life fairly easily. That’s pretty much how I feel to as there’s so much happening in the world and I want to know what’s next whether it’s science, technology, or other. Will we ever learn to appreciate the differences in one another, eliminate poverty, stop wars, inhabit outer space, discover intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, etc.? I’ve always enjoyed Tyson.
My attitude towards death is to hope for one like your late husband had. Please see my response to Cheerful Monk. That is one of the most profound and beautiful prayers that many Hindus use daily including me.
The transition from life to death can be pretty traumatic. I observed that in my late father in law and also in my mother, who died just six months ago. It can be very moving, to stand at the doorway between life and death. Bringing a child into the world gives a similar awe, although usually a much more joyous one. I always pray for protection from violent and untimely death for myself and whoever it’s within my power to pray.
Maria recently posted..The Supernatural
I shall correspond separately and privately with you on this subject later.