Darshan with Swami Krishnananda during 1995

by Swami Krishnananda

5. One's Fate after Death

(Darshan given on May 15th, 1995.)

Swamiji [to an ashramite]: According to your idea, what will be the fate of a person when he goes to death?

Ashramite: I must be there, Swamiji.

Swamiji: Suppose you go, what will happen to you? It is not that you cannot understand, but only you are afraid to say anything. According to you, what will be your fate?

Ashramite: We cannot say the drop is not inside the ocean. It is inside the ocean.

Swamiji: It is not a question of 'inside'. Why are you using such words? Where is the inside? There is no inside. You are unnecessarily carrying the old troubles of life there also; the same luggage you are carrying there. 'Inside', 'outside' is your problem here in this world, and you are carrying that there also. The way in which we are living in the world, ultimately speaking, is a kind of disease. It is not a healthy state of affairs. You are able to understand it, so you are unnecessarily asking me the same thing. You know the answer very well because it has been told so many times by so many people.

When you become the All, what happens to you? That is the question, actually. There is no question of asking what happens. You have become the All, that's all. If you can appreciate this answer, you will become either a god or a fool in one minute. One of the two will be there. It will take you to the statehood of God in one instant if you can appreciate what this means; otherwise, you will be pulled down. That also can be. You can think of the highest or the lowest.

What happens to you when you become the All? The question itself has no meaning. You have already become the All, and again you are asking the question “What happens?” What is the meaning of that question? Unnecessarily you are asking a question which has no meaning at all. The ocean is the ocean. What happens to the ocean? Nothing happens.

But you have performed terrible karmas, and you have done great good karmas also; otherwise, you would not have come here. You would not have stayed here even for three days if your karma has not been good. That you have been here for such a long time, and are sitting here and putting a question like this, shows that you have done a very great karma. But there are also very bad things, which create disturbance and doubts and agitation and suspicion, and you cannot even sleep. That is due to some other karma that you have done. That has to be overcome by meditation, which has blessed you with good ideas.

Good company – your friends must be good people. You should not talk to anybody who is disturbing. You should keep quiet. Anybody who talks nonsense, you should not have any friendship with that person. If they talk of worldly things, you should not talk to them. Sometimes some difficulty is there. You feel there are many good things in the Ashram, that there are not all bad things in the Ashram. Very healthy forces are here. You must take advantage of it.

You are not meditating. You are hearing something, but the thoughts are not fully entering the heart. You are not stimulated by them. You must be stirred by the thought, stimulated. A jerk will come inside.

Ashramite: Sometimes it comes, but it does not continue.

Swamiji: That is because you are not persisting in it. You must sit for one hour.

A visitor: What is the difference between naishkarmya and akarma?

Swamiji: When there is no necessity to do anything on account of the fulfilment of everything, you have attained naishkarmya. All actions arise on account of the non-fulfilment of certain obligations of the personality. There is something remaining; therefore, you are impelled to do something. When nothing is remaining, everything has been fulfilled, all is complete, the necessity do to anything does not arise, and that state is naishkarmya. It is not actions of activity, but actions of the necessity to do anything. The impulse itself is not there.

Visitor: But yet you continue doing?

Swamiji: Nobody will ask you to do anything because that 'nobody' doesn't exist at that time, because the moment that somebody exists, you have not attained fulfilment.

Visitor: What was the need of Lord Krishna himself to keep acting?

Swamiji: What need has the sun to shine? Why is it shining unnecessarily? Why does he not stop shining? Tell me. You ask the sun, “What business have you got? Why are you shining unnecessarily?” What answer will you get from the sun?

Visitor: He has no choice, Swamiji.

Swamiji: Is he subject to somebody? Is he a servant of somebody that you say he has no choice? 'No choice' means 'helpless'. Do you think the sun is shining helplessly?

Visitor: Yes, Swamiji.

Swamiji: Who is commanding him?

Visitor: The Supreme.

Swamiji: There is no Supreme or anything forcing the sun to shine. It is spontaneous behaviour. Lord Krishna is actually a spontaneity; it is not action at all. It is non-action.

Visitor: So even that can be called naishkarmya, Swamiji?

Swamiji: No, it is much more than that.

Visitor: What can it be called?

Swamiji: It can be called nothing. It is not action at all. It is an absence of action.

Visitor: So it is not naishkarmya?

Swamiji: It is something more than that. No such words can be applied to it. You cannot apply any kind of definition to God.

Another visitor: Is it possible to become a yogi by doing meditation?

Swamiji: You can become a yogi by meditation; there is no other way. There is no other way at all. Only one way is there: meditation. What you want to become, deeply think on it and you will become that. That is called yoga. Do it.