 The fact of the matter is, you know nothing about it, or in other words, you are stepping into an absolute abyss. The fear is not about death, the fear is lack of light on death. Death is another dimension of life, a dimension which is not in your experience. They say the fear of death is the fear mother of all fears. Why is this so and how can this be overcome? See, in daylight, when you can see clearly, if I ask you to walk from that tree to this tree, you will walk, no fear. Late night, suppose we turn off all the lights and we're just one day off the new moon, so it'll be a dark night. If I ask you to walk from there to here, there may be fear. Why? Because you cannot see where your next step is. You don't know what you're stepping into, that's a fear. The fear is not about the night. The fear is about the lack of light because there is no light, which means you visual apparatus are no use, suddenly there is fear. Because you are unable to grasp where is the next step. When it comes to death, it's a nice day to live and die. When it comes to death, it doesn't matter how many things you have fooled yourself with. Doesn't matter how many books on death you have read, how many things you have heard. Suppose next moment is death, you know nothing about it. The fact of the matter is you know nothing about it. Or in other words, you are stepping into an absolute abyss. You're stepping into a dimension that you're unable to grasp. You can't see it, you can't hear it, you can't smell it, you can't taste it, you can't touch it. That means you have no way of knowing anything about it. Because you're stepping into something that you cannot see, you cannot in any way sense. There is fear. The fear is not about death. The fear is lack of light on death. Now, is this the mother of all fears? When we say mother of all fears, I know this word is being used in many ways. People have used this in terms of mother of all battles. It's a wrong usage in the sense when we say something is a mother of all, that means we're talking about that something as a source of everything or to put it more bluntly, it is that which breeds everything else. So is death or the fear of death? The mother of all fears, does it breed every other fear? Not necessarily the death. It's the unknown. Whatever is not known to you, whatever you're not able to grasp, that brings fear. Death is a classic example of the unknowns of all the things that you may know and not know. Death is one thing that for sure you do not know. Human mind is capable of projecting itself in many ways. It's capable of corrupting everything, but death has remained outside the realm and reach of human mind. Whichever way you speak about it, people will only misunderstand because they're trying to understand it from the context and the dimension in which they are. Death is another dimension of life. A dimension which is not in your experience. If you try to understand, you will only draw parallels with what you already know. So when it comes to death, you should not try to understand. You can only know it by experience and you're not ready for it. It is at least this much you know. Though there are some people propagating that they will rise in death with their body, but any sensible human being knows that when a person dies, the body is left behind because body is not your property. It's mother earth's property. If anybody rises with their body, they must be booked under ecological laws because if all of us rise with our bodies, what will happen to this earth? There is no such thing. The material of the earth has to go back to earth. It's perfectly fine. Today this is a man, tomorrow it's manure and good manure. Flowers will come, you know? Mangoes. And it's perfectly fine. At least when you're dead, you could turn sweet. Isn't it nice? When man goes, he becomes a mango. So the fear is not even about losing the body. If only you had a clear cut knowing or an insight, as to what will happen after you die, you would come to terms with it. You would check how the accommodations are out there. If it's a little better than here, you say, why not? And you don't have to check whether it is Indian food or Chinese food out there because you left the body here. You don't need food. You don't have to worry how's the food up there because you left the body here. Food is not your problem. You just have to check. They're accommodation a little bit. How will you be? And where? But the problem is, no matter what stories they tell you, in the last two, three years, it's become a trend in America. Lot of people writing books of how they died and came back. If they say, my post-death experience, it'll be laughed at. So they're saying it's my near-death experience. Near-death is not death. Yes? All of us are near-death right now. Yes or no? It can happen anytime. We're near-death. Once you're alive, you're near-death. How near? Who knows? Who knows if the mountain comes down today? Hmm? No, it's not. But no guarantee. There is no... It's a beautiful mountain, okay? It has... It has no bad reputation of erupting in fire. But suppose, suppose it chooses to erupt today, what to do? We enjoy it. Being at the foothills of a mountain, if she decides to erupt, what can we do? No, it's not going to happen, that's different. But what you call as life is such a frijail process. Just inhalation, exhalation, inhalation, exhalation, inhalation, exhalation. Next inhalation did not happen. Gone. Just... just watch it. So frijail. Gone. Yes or no? Very frijail. It's... it's like this. Little like this, pfft, gone. At the same time, see how sturdy it is, how many things a man can do. But so frijail. Oof! It can go away. Don't think you have to be shot in the head to die. Many people drink water and poof, die. Eating noodle, they die. Yes. Simply somebody goes to bed and they die right there. Yes or no? Every day. Don't think every day an earthquake has to happen, a volcano has to erupt, a bomb has to come, no. Simply sitting here poof. People die, just like that. So we are all near death. But there are a few entrepreneurs who write books which sell millions of copies about near death experience. So, though all kinds of things have been written about it, next moment if you're going to die, you know nothing about it. When you think you're not going to die, you can make up all kinds of stories. Suppose you're going to die at the next moment, stories won't stand, they will fall. So when all the stories that you believed in considerably melted away, fear arises. Because the next step, you can't see where you're putting your foot. You don't know what it is. So, death is not the mother of all fears. Not being able to sense what is next is the mother of all fears. And death kind of epitomizes that experience. But you will see in this culture, people choose to die at a certain time, they fix their times, they sit down with a very blissful smile on their face, they die. Because they have realized the nature of life. If you know the nature of what this is, then there is no death. Death is a fiction, in a sense. Did you ever die anybody here? No, I'm not asking near death, I'm saying real death. Did you ever die anybody? No. Did you meet anybody who died and came back? Hmm? No. Have you ever seen a dead person? Where? Where? You saw a dead person? Where? No, no, you've seen a dead body. Have you seen a dead person? No. You only saw a dead body, not a dead person. So you have not seen a dead person, you have not met somebody who died and came back, nor have you any personal experience. So how did you conclude that you will die? How did you conclude that you will die? This is why when you're alive, you must look at the nature of this life. If you know what is the nature of this life, if you are living here, thinking that you are this accumulated body, if you are deeply identified with the body, then death looks like a dead end. If you know something in your experience, not in your thoughts, in your experience you know something beyond the body, then a dimension beyond the body is not a scary one, not a fearful one, it's a welcome one in many ways.