The Greatest
Unawareness

Death without doubt is running towards everyone. For one who is deeply conscious of death, life will be the herald of death. Wise are those who become aware of this sudden onslaught of death and make full preparation before death actually comes.

The dead have left this world—this reality is known to everyone. But there is something of which many people are unaware and that is that they too have to die one day. They too are going to face the same fate as that faced by others. It is strange that people see others die every day, yet they exempt themselves from this happening. It is as if everyone is silently agreeing that others had to die and they have died but that death is not going to come to them.

This lack of awareness is most fatal. This is that strange unawareness which is known as the ostrich habit. Whether or not anyone thinks about death, death without doubt is running towards him.

Death is like an earthquake at an individual level. The earthquake comes without any warning. Similarly, death too comes without prior announcement. Everyone is helpless in the face of an earthquake. Similarly, everyone is helpless in the face of death. Death comes all of a sudden. Like the earthquake it shatters man’s castle of illusions. Man may want to prevent the approach of death, but he will never succeed in doing so. Death is governed by its own laws and proceeds without man’s consent. This situation demands that man should be extremely sensitive about death. He should feel every night that the next morning he may not see the light of day. Every night when he goes to bed, he should feel that his eyes may not open again in this world. If man is thoroughly conscious of this fact, he will be shaken to the core. Life for him will not mean living in the simple sense. It will rather be the herald of death. Fortunate are those who become aware of this sudden onslaught of death and make full preparation before death actually comes.