Our Duty at the End of Life

Our Duty at the End of Life

Five thousand years ago on the bank of a holy river in India the King Parikshit was sitting surrounded by an assembly of great sages. He had been cursed to die in seven days by a foolish brahmana boy. Because he was a powerful devotee he could have counteracted the curse. But he decided to accept it as Krishna's mercy and thus renounced his kingdom, seating himself on the bank of the river in preparation for his imminent death.

He asked the assembled sages what is the duty for one who is about to die, but they had many different opinions. Just as different doctors have different ways of treating a disease, the sages had different prescriptions as to what should be one's duty at the end of one's life. There was no clear consensus.

But then when Sukadeva Goswami appeared on the scene it became clear to everyone, because of his great spiritual advancement, that he should be the one who should answer the king's inquiry. Such is the potency of Srila Sukadeva Goswami. He was immediately offered the presidential seat at the assembly and then began instructing the king.

tasmad bharata sarvatma
bhagavan isvaro harih
srotavyah kirtitavyas ca
smartavyas cecchatabhayam

etavan sankhya-yogabhyam
sva-dharma-parinisthaya
janma-labhah parah pumsam
ante narayana-smrtih

"O descendant of King Bharata, one who desires to be free from all miseries must hear about, glorify and also remember the Personality of Godhead, who is the Supersoul, the controller and the savior from all miseries. The highest perfection of human life, achieved either by complete knowledge of matter and spirit, by practice of mystic powers, or by perfect discharge of occupational duty, is to remember the Personality of Godhead at the end of life."---Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.1.5-6

Then for seven days up until the moment of Maharaja Parikshit's death, Sukadeva Goswami explained to Parikshit Maharaja the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This description is known as the Srimad Bhagavatam. The king was so totally absorbed in hearing the Srimad Bhagavatam from the lips of Sukadeva Goswami that he did not eat, sleep, or even drink water for the entire seven days.

So what is our position? Can we gaurantee that we will live even for another seven minutes? No. In this dangerous, uncertain world we cannot. We have to understand that we can die at any minute and that we must therefore always be absorbed in Krishna consciousness. This same science of always remembering Krishna is described by Krishna Himself in the Bhagavad-gita just as it is described in the Srimad Bhagavatam by Sukadeva Goswami.

We must arrange our lives in such a way that we can remember Krishna at every minute. This will guarantee that we can remember the Lord at the time of death and that we can therefore be qualified to enter into His eternal abode, never to take birth again in this miserable material world.

By the influence of maya, the illusory energy, we tend to think that we will live for a very long time. Because of this we feel that there is no urgency to absorb ourselves in the thoughts of the Lord. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have to be thoughtful and sober and always remember that at any moment this body can be finished. Therefore we must always somehow connect everything that we are doing with Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna …

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