Even the best of doctors will not be able to save a man when death calls. Man has to respond to that call, whether he is on a pilgrimage to Kedar or Badri or Rameshwaram, whether he is a bridegroom in the ceremonial seat before the ritual fire. Death brooks no delay; death accepts no excuse. Tears do not move its heart, nor can threat of 'birth-death continuum.' The bridge called nishtha or discipline of an unflinching kind is essential. It must be a sturdy safe bridge. Or else, you will fall into the raging waters and be drawn into the sea, infested with sharks---lust and anger.
Each one from ego takes birth and clad in ego dies and comes and goes, gives and receives, earns and spends, and deals in lies or speaks the truth, in ego all the while. Those who do away with their ego attain salvation.
When once Brahma asked the sage Naarada, what was the most amazing thing he noticed on earth, Naarada replied, ' The most amazing thing I saw was this: The dying are weeping over the dead.' Those who are themselves nearing death every moment are weeping over those who have died, as if their weeping has an effect, either to revive the dead or prevent their own death!
