View source for They say it is impossible for any man to know what will happen to him after death. It is not possible, so why think about it?

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{{terms|"They say it is impossible for any man to know what will happen to him after death. It is not possible, so why think about it"|"They say it is impossible for any man to know what will happen to him after death. It is not possible, so why think about it"}}
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{{compiler|MadhuGopaldas|Rishab}}
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[[Category:Questions asked to Srila Prabhupada]]
[[Category:Questions asked to SP... 1976]]
[[Category:Questions On... Knowledge]]
[[Category:Questions On... Reincarnation, Afterlife, Transmigration of the Soul]]
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<div id="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="section" sec_index="5" parent="compilation" text="Conversations and Morning Walks"><h2>Conversations and Morning Walks</h2>
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<div id="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="9" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1976 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1976 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
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<div id="MorningWalkJuly111976NewYork_0" class="quote" parent="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="206" link="Morning Walk -- July 11, 1976, New York" link_text="Morning Walk -- July 11, 1976, New York">
<div class="heading">But after all, there is death. So why you are afraid of death? Why you do not die peacefully? Why you protest against death? Huh? If I want to kill you, will you peacefully die?... Why you scream? Why don't you want to die?... Why you are so much attached to live? That is the question. Now die, "I'm dying, let me die." Why you protest? That means your nature is that you shall live. But you are being interrupted by death. That is the...
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- July 11, 1976, New York|Morning Walk -- July 11, 1976, New York]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, a man sees that his father has died—everyone is dying—why does he believe that he will not die?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: That is the wonderful thing. Kim āścaryam ataḥ param. Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja said. He was asked, "What is the most wonderful thing in this world?" So he replied, "This is the most wonderful thing, that everyone sees that everyone is dying, he's thinking 'I shall not die.' This is the most wonderful thing."</p>
<p>Bali-mardana: But the hedonists, they say that "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you will die."</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No, he knows that he'll die, but still he does not prepare, because he's foolish. Pramattaḥ tasya līlānāṁ paśyann api na paśyati. Pramattaḥ, mad, crazy. He sees that everyone dies, "I am also dying," but he does not know what is after death.</p>
<p>Bali-mardana: He does not know what to do to prepare.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: That is ignorance. So this education, this civilization is so dangerous that everyone is kept in the darkness. And when he dies, this everything is finished, he's going to accept. Whatever body nature gives him, he has to accept.</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sometimes people criticize us that we are talking too much about death.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Because we are not fool like you. Because as sure as death. But you are so fool you do not think of it. So we are not rascal like you. This is the difference. We take practical reality, but you are such a fool you don't care for the reality. So we are not so fool like you are.</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But even though you are making so many arrangements to prepare yourself, still you have to die.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: That's all right. I'll die, but I am... Just like one has to go somewhere, he'll know everyone has to go. Man..., suppose a building has to be dismantled. So the tenants or the residents, they make arrangement "Where shall I go next?" And the foolish rascal, he doesn't care. And when the times comes for dismantling the house, he becomes busy, oh, he does not know. That is the difference between you and me. I know this house is to be dismantled, so I'm making preparation where to go and stay. But you are such a fool, you are thinking that we'll stay here.</p>
<p>Bali-mardana: It's like on the ship they have a drill in case the ship is going to sink, so you know where to go. But they make no preparation where to go after death, which is certain.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: That is dog's life—the dog does not know.</p>
<p>Bali-mardana: They are two-legged dogs.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes.</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But there's a popular philosophy now that actually the dog is happy.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes, ignorance is bliss. It is folly to be wise. Fool's paradise. Anyone, like a child is happy. There is danger, but child does not care for it. But therefore it is called foolish. That is the difference between child and the child's father.</p>
<p>Bali-mardana: They may say that he is happy, but he may kill himself at any moment.</p>
<p>Rāmeśvara: They say it is impossible for any man to know what will happen to him after death. It is not possible, so why think about it?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: But after all, there is death. So why you are afraid of death? Why you do not die peacefully? Why you protest against death? Huh? If I want to kill you, will you peacefully die?</p>
<p>Rāmeśvara: No.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Why you scream? Why don't you want to die?</p>
<p>Rāmeśvara: Give up my life, my body?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Why you are so much attached to live? That is the question. Now die, "I'm dying, let me die." Why you protest? That means your nature is that you shall live. But you are being interrupted by death. That is the...</p>
<p>Rādhāvallabha: The doctors say they have seen death, and it looks very much like a very peaceful sleep.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Huh?</p>
<p>Rādhāvallabha: My mother told me this. She was a nurse, and she's seen many people die, and they all look very peaceful when they die.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Nobody dies peacefully. (laughs) They shall cry.</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You have described it very vividly in the Bhāgavatam, how horrible it is.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: I have seen one of our relatives, she's dying, and his (her) second son, she's calling, "My dear such and such, I give you in charge, I could not do." Like that. And died.</p>
<p>Bali-mardana: She was attached.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Everyone is attached. I have seen one of my nephews, young man. So his young wife and children, when he was... He began to strike his head like that, that "I am dying without any provision for my wife."</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What is his future?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Future means he'll have to come back again, either in the same family or in the dog's family, dog's life. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate ([[Vanisource:BG 8.19 (1972)|BG 8.19]]). In this way, he'll take birth and die. Yes.</p>
<p>Rādhāvallabha: You were saying they take rest for seven months and wake up a dog.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Maybe dog or maybe somebody else; that doesn't matter.</p>
<p>Svarūpa Dāmodara: In the last, about three years ago or so, there is a new branch of study, it is called biomedical ethics, that deals with the symptom of death: How can one define when a person dies? What are the symptoms? and How can we judge that this man is dead? It is a great controversy in medical science.</p>
<p>Bali-mardana: They went to the Supreme Court to question when does death occur.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: So what Supreme Court will decide? (laughter) What you nonsense judge know? He's also as good a rascal as the person who put the question.</p>
<p>Bali-mardana: Actually they admitted that they could not decide.</p>
<p>Rāmeśvara: The argument is that by medicine or by injecting some, inserting some apparatus, some machine, they can keep the heart beating.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: You rascal, he's another rascal. And one who believes in it, he's also a rascal.</p>
<p>Hari-śauri: I was reading the other day that at one university they started a course where they take the students through a course of death. They study death and then they try to get them to...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: If it was possible to keep them by medicine, then no rich men would have died. You have got sufficient means to pay for medicine, and he would have kept his relatives, son alive. Bālasya neha śaraṇaṁ pitarau nṛsiṁha nārtasya cāgadam udanvati majjato nauḥ. Prahlāda Mahārāja has said. It is not possible.</p>
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