Even if it's only at the very end of one's life, everyone should take at least a moment to investigates the hidden wisdom of the oldest literatures on this planet, namely the Vedas.
It is in these ancient words of wisdom that all of us can get a better understanding of ourselves and our real identity here in this point on time.
After a lifetime of refining and perfecting our existence in this material body, it is understandable that we might totally identify with and become very attached to our physical material body and the mind and personality that accompanies it.
It is only those who care to look more deeply who will find in the texts of the ancient Vedas a deeper understanding of our real identity.
Here we discover that this material body is only a temporary vehicle for the Eternal spirits soul. Therefore human life is gently prepared with a system by which one transitions from identification with the body to rememberence of one self has eternal spirit soul.
The ancient Vedic texts not only remind us of our eternal true identity but also provide the means by which we can liberate ourselves from this material condition.
Part of that includes living a healthy life and at the end retireing from one's material duties to contemplate and meditate on the time of transcendence.
In this way one can prepare for the moment of leaving this body so that one is in the right state of consciousness to make the best use of this moment of transition.
In preparation for this moment everyone is recommended to retire from active duty as a parent for example or a career person of any sort.
With this perspective in mind one can adequately prepare oneself years in advance for a healthy retirement from everything, including identifying with the body and mind and personality.
This of course is a gradual process and thus step by step, year by year, one can prepare oneself in such a way that the ultimate perfection of life is achieved, namely to leave this body and never take birth again but rather to return back to our original eternal blissful and fully conscious identity.
Bhagavad Gita ch3:5
न हि कश्चित्क्षणमपि जातु तिष्ठत्यकर्मकृत् ।
कार्यते ह्यवशः कर्म सर्वः प्रकृतिजैर्गुणैः ॥ ५ ॥
na hi kaścit kṣaṇam api
jātu tiṣṭhaty akarma-kṛt
kāryate hy avaśaḥ karma
sarvaḥ prakṛti-jair guṇaiḥ
SYNONYMS
na—nor; hi—certainly; kaścit—anyone; kṣaṇam—even a moment; api—also; jātu—even; tiṣṭhati—stands; akarma-kṛt—without doing something; kāryate—is forced to do; hi—certainly; avaśaḥ—helplessly; karma—work; sarvaḥ—everything; prakṛti-jaiḥ—out of the modes of material nature; guṇaiḥ—by the qualities.
TRANSLATION
All men are forced to act helplessly according to the impulses born of the modes of material nature; therefore no one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment.
PURPORT
It is not a question of embodied life, but it is the nature of the soul to be always active. Without the presence of the spirit soul, the material body cannot move. The body is only a dead vehicle to be worked by the spirit soul, which is always active and cannot stop even for a moment. As such, the spirit soul has to be engaged in the good work of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, otherwise it will be engaged in occupations dictated by illusory energy. In contact with material energy, the spirit soul acquires material modes, and to purify the soul from such affinities it is necessary to engage in the prescribed duties enjoined in the śāstras. But if the soul is engaged in his natural function of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whatever he is able to do is good for him. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam affirms this:
tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujaṁ harer
bhajann apakvo 'tha patet tato yadi
yatra kva vābhadram abhūd amuṣya kiṁ
ko vārtha āpto 'bhajatāṁ sva-dharmataḥ.
"If someone takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, even though he may not follow the prescribed duties in the śāstras nor execute the devotional service properly, and even though he may fall down from the standard, there is no loss or evil for him. But if he carries out all the injunctions for purification in the śāstras, what does it avail him if he is not Kṛṣṇa conscious?" (Bhāg. 1.5.17) So the purificatory process is necessary for reaching this point of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore, sannyāsa, or any purificatory process, is to help reach the ultimate goal of becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious, without which everything is considered a failure.
Ref: Bhagavad Gita As It Is, translation and commentary by Swami A. C.Bhaktivedanta, original MacMillan 1972 edition
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