Embracing Our Limited Lifespan: Finding Consciousness Beyond the Body

Death is not morbid but a doorway to understanding our true nature beyond the body and mind. Contemplating our mortality helps us appreciate the beauty in everyday experiences while recognizing the boundless consciousness that transcends physical limitations.

• Consciousness is not bound to our body and mind but extends everywhere without limitation
• Contemplating death helps us escape the pattern of identifying solely with our physical form
• Understanding our finite existence enhances our appreciation for life's everyday wonders
• Death is merely the end of limitation, not the end of consciousness
• True awakening involves embracing death rather than fearing it
• Liberation while alive (Jivan Mukti) comes from recognizing that consciousness continues beyond physical death
• Spiritual realization requires personal effort yet paradoxically feels like grace when experienced
• The test of spirituality is being comfortable with mortality

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Death and Limited Lifespan
• 1:10 Consciousness Beyond Body and Mind
• 4:02 Finding Beauty in Life's Impermanence
• 6:08 True Awakening as Understanding Death
• 9:07 Liberation While Alive (Jivan Mukti)

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Bearded Mystic podcast, and I am your host, rahul N Singh. Thank you for taking out the time today to either watch or listen to this podcast episode. Now, today I want to talk about something rather morbid, but it's not morbid in my mind death, but it's not morbid in my mind. Death, and actually the more concise topic is the limited lifespan that we have in this body and mind. Now, I know Advaita believes we're not the body and mind and that's somewhat true, but obviously, on the Vihavadika level, the transactional level, the relative reality, we do live in the world, we do have a body and mind and we feel the sensations of the body, we experience the movements of the mind, whether that's through thought and emotion and sensations, and we also experience the intellect discerning between right and wrong and the permanent and impermanent or transient. So, and one thing it does see is life and death, and a lot of people make speculations about what happens after death and we seem to think that death is the end and that's because consciousness leaves the body. At that moment we say that person isn't conscious, yet what we're really talking about there is the concentration of consciousness being in the body or experienced in the body when you are a person, when you experience yourself as a name and form. But what is the spiritual take on this? Is one's consciousness just limited to this body, to this mind, or is this consciousness everywhere? Is there a time and a place where this consciousness is not present? And the whole point of self-realization is about understanding that consciousness is not bound to the limited framework of the body and the mind. Yet, while we have that ignorance that this consciousness is the body and mind, and only restricted to that, that's its limitation. Mind and only restricted to that, that's its limitation. But one method which can take us out of that thought pattern, that emotional pattern, is the contemplation on death.

Speaker 1: 2:59

And when we look at the limited lifespan, you just appreciate things very minutely, like the blue sky, the clouds that look like cities in the sky, the trees swaying, the leaves rustling, the bees buzzing cars, you know, driving around stuck in traffic, people walking with shopping bags, some walking with their headphones in. And what's true for each and everything, whether that's from the sky to us mere mortals, to the insects, is that this will all end for this particular form. One day the universe will implode, it will contract, it will be destroyed and then be made again, according to Vedanta. And yet this experience that we have right now is pretty amazing. And if we add a layer upon that, okay, there is this body and mind, but there's also this consciousness that is seemingly not attached or centered in the body or the mind. It doesn't seem to have a center, it doesn't seem to have a particular location, it doesn't have a particular form, it seems to even exceed the universe, and then you kind of experience yourself as something much faster, something more boundless. So what death is is just really the death of limitation.

Speaker 1: 5:23

And when we understand that for ourselves, while we are in this body and mind, and we understand that death is the death of the limitation of this body and mind, and we understand that death is, for the is the death of the limitation of the body and mind, we then see life differently. The sky that is blue is just exquisitely beautiful. Then it gets covered by these clouds and sometimes it bursts out with rain or thunder and lightning. And the trees, they change constantly. Sometimes they have leaves, sometimes they don't. Then the leaves have different colours. Some trees just keep growing. Birds, you Birds place their nests there and they relax and keep their eggs safe, their offspring safe.

Speaker 1: 6:26

And all you see in this beautiful tapestry of life, is everything continuing, yet there's an end, there's an expiry date, and, and so how do we live life fully? And, in my opinion, life is only lived fully when we understand. Life is only lived fully when we understand that all this is going to end for the body and mind, and it can end before the physical death. It can end before the mind starts fading away. And this eternity that's experienced in that single moment that does not end is the answer to everything, and this is something that is available right now. Nobody needs to make it happen for you, nobody can make it happen for you. They can only point you. But this realization has to be all your work and there's no two way about it. Now, afterwards, you may experience it to be grace, and that's also very true. It'sadoxical, it may seem that we put effort in only to realize its grace, and that's the way it is. But truly Awakening is really the true understanding of death. It's not running away from death, it's embracing it, seeing it as a beautiful end, whenever it happens.

Speaker 1: 8:21

And I was just thinking, man, I only have a limited amount of years left, my son was playing in the office, so I was just observing him and I was like you know, this is amazing, this experience is phenomenal and, yeah, it's going to end. He's going to grow, he's going to need me less and he's going to have his own life. And then, you know, he will decide what he wants to do with his future and, in the end, this body, this mind, is going to be in the casket mine that is. And how comfortable am I with that? And that's the test of spirituality. It's not about ending life, it's about knowing the life that ends. And if you see yourself as consciousness, then the expression is just through the body and mind.

Speaker 1: 9:36

But life itself does not end, and that is Jivan Mukti. That is liberation while we're alive, and that can be achieved. It can be achieved, it can be, and so this is a positive message about death, not a negative one. Yes, it's hard and difficult when we lose our loved ones, for sure, you know, I'm not diminishing that at all. But in the end, either they stay in the cycle, so they will continue to be in some form or another, or they transcend the cycle and therefore they're here as your own experiences, consciousness, your own exploration into consciousness. They are right here. So, really, what ends? And and that's a question for you to ponder about thank you very much for listening. Take care, namaste.