IV.

Death in Life and a new Birth

The contact with the Divine Link, as described above, comes only when the soul rises from the plane of the senses to above body consciousness, and comes into its own on the super-sensual plane, for true knowledge is the action of the soul without the aid of the senses:

Here, one sees without eyes and hears without ears, walks without feet and acts without hands, and speaks without tongue. O Nanak! it is by death-in-life that one understands the Divine Will and. stands face to face with the Reality.


For this experience, the soul has temporarily to disconnect itself from the body and its different sense organs, the mind and the vital airs, all of which are too gross to contact Truth. In other words, an embodied soul has to disembody itself and become depersonalized, before it can come into contact with the Master Power, which is subtle and rarefied. Therefore,

Guru Nanak says:


Unless one rises to the level of God, one cannot know God.


The Divine Power can neither be comprehended nor apprehended by the lower order of things. With all our righteousness, we are but filthy rags and when in the flesh, none are righteous. The soul, as it rises above body consciousness, shines forth in its pristine purity, rises into Cosmic Awareness and feels, as it were, the efflorescence of the microcosm into the macrocosm. It is this which is called Duaya Janma or the Second Birth i.e. Birth of the Spirit as distinguished from the birth of the flesh.

The Bible tells us:


Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.

John 3:3


Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.

John 3:5

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.

Cor: 1:47


Thereafter, a person walks not after the flesh but after the spirit. As the process of soul withdrawal is akin to actual death, one gains victory over death, which is the last enemy of mankind. The daily dying at will takes away the sting of death. We may find references to "death-in-life" in the scriptures of all religions.

Kabir, an Indian Saint of great repute, says:


Death, of which the people are so terribly afraid, is a source of peace and joy unto me.

Dadu, another Saint, affirms:


Oh Dadu! learn to die while alive, for in the end, all must die.

In the Quran also, great stress is laid on Mootu qibal az Mootu or death before the final dissolution of the body. The Sufis lay much store on Fana (death to the life of the senses) for gaining Baqa (life everlasting). 


Maulana Rumi speaks of it as:


So long as a person does not transcend the sensual plane, he remains an utter stranger to the Life Divine.


Similarly, in the Gospels, words like I die daily and I am crucified in Christ, occur.

Christ's own exhortation to His followers, If ye love me, take up your cross daily and follow me, all point to one and the same thing; viz., a true resurrection from one life to another.