Ashtavakra Gita 18.86 -

There is no limit to the kind of introspection Knower can entertain in the field of spirituality. Question is merely how deep his mind and intelligence can work in shaping their contemplation!

Life is experiential, hence mental alone. Even the body is a concept, notion, mind produces and preserves. World also is an idea alone. Equally so birth, death and life. Even time – past, present and future – are products of mere imagination!

Normally we conform to conventional lines of introspection. None thinks of their fundamentals. The cycle goes on. Once enquiry begins, everything changes. What is mind, what is body, what is their relation? Where is world? What happens to one in sleep? What is dream? How is it caused? How does one wake up from it? What happens to dream objects on the dreamer waking up?

What is the lesson it gives about wakeful world? Waker, dreamer and sleeper being same, lesson from any of them is applicable to others as well. So, if dream world is within me, caused and undone by me, waking world also should be alike. Why doubt?

None knows how he was born, and when. None will know when his body would fall. All one has is current awareness, of whatever takes place every hour and moment. He was born into the earth. He thrives on it. His body will fall on the same earth. Ground of his life is the same, not different.

He now draws food substances from earth, drinks water, breathes air, takes heat, which together formed and preserve his body. Body will fall on earth alone. The present absorption process will be reversed. Body will disintegrate. Food, water, air and heat will merge with their sources. Born life grows, declines and ceases to pulsate. Even if it lasts longer, it will fall one day. Let it any time. Nothing to gain or lose!

One day King Aja, Sri Rama’s ancestor, and Indumati, his consort, were strolling in the garden. Suddenly Indumati fell dead. Aja could not bear the separation. He sat by her side, lamenting. None could near him.

Vasishthadeva, his teacher coming to know of the plight, sent a message to the king: “Listen, dear son, for beings death is the natural course; life is unnatural, dissimilar and distorted. So, even if one remains alive for a minute more, he does not stand to benefit the least. His un-naturality will only prolong. Understand this. Reconcile with Indumati’s departure, however unexpected it is (Raghuvamsha 8.87 ).

Aja was enlightened. He got up. Royal team took the dead body for cremation. Yes, knowledge is the supreme power and relief!

As Krishna puts it (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.22.39 ): “death is endless forgetfulness.” Everyday we sleep forgetting everything, but get up later. Death is endless forgetfulness. Nothing more.