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This question is continuation of What can one do to enjoy death or the dying process? . From answers I learned devotion can be the mArga to enjoy death process. Now my question is How to remain conscious while dying? because to enjoy anything one must be conscious.

TheLittleNaruto
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  • Recite Gajendra moksha stotra in early morning daily you will certainly be conscious when leaving the body and also you have taught of Srihari. This is assurance from sriman Narayana in the srimad Bhagavatam. – Prasanna R Apr 05 '19 at 09:07
  • @Prasanna Write that as an answer with valid reference. – TheLittleNaruto Apr 05 '19 at 09:34
  • @TheLittleNaruto Thats not in our hands .We can do just nothing except praying. –  Apr 05 '19 at 10:44
  • @TheLittleNaruto btw no such assurance i found from Sri Hari in His boon to gajendra as referred to in Srimad-Bhagavatam.@Prasanna R –  Apr 05 '19 at 11:55
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    @TheLittleNaruto if you see biographies of some yogis its said that they did it. Likes of Lahiri mahashaya and sriyukteshwar giri etc.... – Rakesh Joshi Apr 05 '19 at 12:02
  • Be it any marga - self-realized/one who knows Paramatma, even a devotee, path of devotion, never in history they have died. Either they have disappeared physical form and became light or left through Brahmarandhra. I suppose you are asking for second one - path of yogis? – Agamas Tantras Apr 05 '19 at 13:36
  • @Akshay What's first one ? – TheLittleNaruto Apr 05 '19 at 16:14
  • @TheLittleNaruto said above itself. Disappearing from physical form / become jyoti itself. – Agamas Tantras Apr 05 '19 at 16:22
  • You cannot. Can you write your exact time (with seconds) when you asleep? – Love Sharma Apr 10 '19 at 04:11
  • @Love Well! A Yogi can. – TheLittleNaruto Apr 10 '19 at 04:50
  • If he is conscious then he is not dead, and if he dies then he is not conscious. So as per your literal question - dying --> He is still living. Yogi or Anyone is conscious till dying and after death no one. The only thing what yogi can do it differently is he can volunterly reach the dying stage by his sadhana, i.e., Brahmarandhra process. – Love Sharma Apr 10 '19 at 05:39
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    A Yogi can leave their body at any point of time which is more or less equivalent to dying. @LoveSharma – TheLittleNaruto Apr 10 '19 at 06:30
  • What do you mean by dying? – Love Sharma Apr 10 '19 at 06:36
  • Many normal people have died with full consciousness.. If you visit any hospice center nearby you will know, my uncle left his body knowing the people around him chant vishnu shashranama.. similarly dyanand saraswati you have youtube video of him passing away in conciousness.. but the finall moment he losses or what he thinks in his closed eyes god only knows.. @TheLittleNaruto.. dying in conciousness is possible even for normal people but going through brahmadhara is a different story.. i have seen people leaving their body in accident they know they dying and donating organs and all.. – Prasanna R Apr 12 '19 at 06:57

1 Answers1

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The question is

How to remain conscious while dying?

It is easier said than done.

There are different meanings for this word conscious.

Dictionary meaning:

  • to notice that a particular thing or person exists or is present:

Spiritual meaning:

  • “sentience or awareness of internal or external existence”

As per the question, the conscious being referred to, cannot mean that provided in the dictionary. It must be understood with SPIRITUAL MEANING only.

What happens when one has reached consciousness?

According to Sri Ramana Maharshi, One's mind will get dissolved, leaving no desires, thus one enjoys an uninterrupted BLISS.

In that state, does it matter to One, who gained CONSCIOUSNESS, if death approaches? Certainly not.

For that one has to practice SPIRITUALITY under the guidance of an accomplihsed GURU.

If the OP is desiring to pursue the SPIRITUALITY in a TRUE sense, he/she has to understand the following issues.

There can be temporary phases in lives of many people, when the desire/itching to attain the GOD will be at peak level, temporarily. It may fade off after some time.

If it is a temporary phase, enjoy the that phase within certain limits, which may recur at a later date, and turn into a serious pursuit.

This is a warning because many novices, will be deceived by temporary phases and renounce everything in that phase, and repent later when that phase fades out.

Meditation is an approach to training the mind to hang on to a SINGLE idea. A single idea can be an image, a sound, a thought, etc.

There can be many a pitfall, while performing meditation, like mind getting distracted and engaging in noodling. It is but natural to the mind to get distracted.

The meditator has to bring back the mind to the single idea and start again. According to Sri Ramana Maharshi, it is battle royal, through which mind will slowly get attached to that single idea.

Finally, that single idea has to be rejected (according to Sri Ramana Maharshi) for attaining the ABSOLUTE BLISS.

The following is an excerpt from Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual practices in attaning Advaita State.

Totapuri asked the disciple to withdraw his mind from all objects of the relative world, including the gods and goddesses, and to concentrate on the Absolute. But the task was not easy even for Sri Ramakrishna. He found it impossible to take his mind beyond Kali, the Divine Mother of the Universe.

"After the initiation", Sri Ramakrishna once said, describing the event, "Nangta began to teach me the various conclusions of the Advaita Vedanta and asked me to withdraw the mind completely from all objects and dive deep into the Atman. But in spite of all my attempts I could not altogether cross the realm of name and form and bring my mind to the unconditioned state.

I had no difficulty in taking the mind from all the objects of the world. But the radiant and too familiar figure of the Blissful Mother, the Embodiment of the essence of Pure Consciousness, appeared before me as a living reality. Her bewitching smile prevented me from passing into the Great Beyond. Again and again I tried, but She stood in my way every time.

In despair I said to Nangta: 'It is hopeless. I cannot raise my mind to the unconditioned state and come face to face with Atman.' He grew excited and sharply said: 'What? You can't do it? But you have to.' He cast his eyes around. Finding a piece of glass he took it up and stuck it between my eyebrows.

'Concentrate the mind on this point!' he thundered. Then with stern determination I again sat to meditate. As soon as the gracious form of the Divine Mother appeared before me, I used my discrimination as a sword and with it clove Her in two. The last barrier fell. My spirit at once soared beyond the relative plane and I lost myself in samadhi."

Srimannarayana K V
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  • 1 for the point SPIRITUAL MEANING OF CONSCIOUSNESS. I think you can add some points from my answer to explain the term spiritual consciousness further if you like. - https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/28109/5620
    • – SwiftPushkar Oct 27 '19 at 12:27
  • @SwiftPushkar: your answer contains many aspects on the same issue. I prefer to remain with the present answer, as writing a precis on your answer will take much time. :-) – Srimannarayana K V Oct 27 '19 at 16:26