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Yama Thangka

http://www.indianmuseumkolkata.org/

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As an astrologer and an incarnate human, I recommend intelligent preparation for death. Since very few people in our era possess the spiritual knowledge necessary to transcend physical death, the answer to death questions for most of us is not "if" but "when".

Death is a strange & wonderful aspect of Life. An essential guarantor of creative differentiation in the universe, death is the great housecleaner. Without death, things would get pretty stale, pretty quickly!

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All the major religious traditions offer time-tested wisdom on the death process. Practitioners skilled in facilitating this passage can be found worldwide in church, synagogue, mosque, mandir, temple, and gompa. Within the world's religious literature on death, certain texts are particularly accessible.

Sogyal Rinpoche's now classic commentary entitled The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, exemplifies the clear, intelligent information on the natural reality of death and dying which is now available to English language readers.  It is possible to be well-prepared for death. 

Jyotisha treats human death with the respect & admiration due an awesomely creative life force.  This page offers a tiny snippet of what Vedic astrology tells us about death and rebirth:

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"Wise men say that death is natural state, while life is a change or effect."

- Raghuvansha, 8.87

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Timing of Death by Maraka Graha:

• death of self = 

  • period of L-2 or L-7, 

  • possible timing = period of L-8 if and only if the Kharesha is in lagna

  • material conditions of death not timing are normally seen from domain-8

• death of mother = 

  • period of L-2 or L-7 from Chandra

  • period of 8th-from-domain-4 =  period of L-11

• death of father =

  • period of L-2 or L-7 from Surya

  • period of 8th-from-domain-9 =  period of L-4

• death of child =

  • period of L-2 or L-7 from Chandra

  • period of 8th-from-domain-5 =  period of L-12

• death of spouse =

  • period of 2nd-from-domain-7 =  period of L-8

  • period of 8th-from-domain-7 =  period of L-2

If the lord of Rahu or Ketu is a temporal maraka i.e., plays one of the house-lordship roles above, then Rahu-Ketu can give the death effect of their lord or their co-occupants (most frequently their lord).

Deaths during Rahu periods are shocking and create considerable disruption. However although the outcome may ultimately be favorable for the native. 

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What is a "Maraka" Graha?

A "maraka" planet signifies the separation of the spirit from the fleshly body.  

1. Lords of house-2 and house-7 are the maraka planets. However, not every bhukti of L-2 or L-7 gives death!  

2. Rahu-Ketu can be virulent maraka graha when they occupy domain-2 or domain-7

3. Shani and Kuja are called "natural marakas" but in practice they are not killers unless they are already L-2 or L-7. If a malefic is also L-2 or L-7, the malefic requires very little additional triggering by transits or drishti to do the job.

4. Rarely, bhukti of either L-2-from-Chandra or L-7-from-Chandra can trigger death of the native.

5. Periods of L-2/L-7-from-Chandra do frequently give death of mother. Similarly, L-2/L-7-from-Surya do frequent give death of father.

6. The Kharesha = lord of the 22nd drekkana (decanate) has major "badhaka" powers. When the Kharesha interacts with lord of domain-8 and the radix lagna, periods of L-8 can give sudden death of the physical body.

7. "Marana karakas" (see table below)

8. the graha which rules the 64th navamsha from Chandra can function as a maraka (= graha ruling the 8th rashi from D-9 Soma)

9. lord of Gulika or Mandi can function as a maraka

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KHARA DREKKANA: The 22nd decanate from the ascendant will denote the nature of one's death. For example, by the nature of its lord, (i.e. the humor, place etc. )

 ~~ Saravali, Ch 47, shloka 22

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Natural Marakas:

• Saturn = material reality, laws of the natural world

• Ketu = separation, alienation, dissociation; 

• Mars = quick actions, conflict, violence

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Periods of maraka planets signify death ONLY when the maraka planet is especially death-empowered during His bhukti. 

The minimum conditions for death empowerment of marakas are: 

• Shani or Kuja must rule radix L-7 or L-2. 

• Ketu must occupy domain-2, or domain-7

Empowerment to effect death is most frequently created when:

• L-2's navamsha sign is ruled by radix L-7/L-8 --or--

• L-7's navamsha rashi is ruled by radix L-2/L-8

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"To keep company with those whom they do not like and to be separated from those whom they like as also to deal with the wicked is the agony which people with long life have to suffer."

 ~~ Mahabharata, Vana Parva, 193.18

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Prediction strategy:

The natural marakas Shani & Kuja have extra natural malignancy. 

The likelihood of physical death occurring during their bhukti periods is characteristically stronger than the likelihood of non-maraka L-2/L-7 causing physical death. 

The Jyotishi will of course confirm the prediction by checking navamsha, gochara nodes, and other supporting factors.

However if either Shani or Kuja = L-2 or L-7, it is easier to predict death during their periods. 

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Metaphorical or symbolic forms of death (acutely felt):

When Shani and Kuja are neither L-2 nor L-7 or if the supporting evidence from nodes etc. which would suggest physical death is simply lacking, it is reasonable to expect that as natural marakas they will create a symbolic type of death, such as:

• separation from loved ones through conflict (Mangala) 

• forced isolation or rejection (Ketu)

• death of an important professional project, death of pride, death of illusion, other forms of ego-death through reduction of personal importance wtihin the big system (Shani)

• divorce (from the L-2 function only)

Sometimes these metaphorical deaths are so psycho-emotionally painful that the person wishes they were dead, and they may be suicidal.  But actual physical death has stricter rules than these admittedly painful "poetic deaths" (including death of spouse/divorce under period of L-8).  Death's strict rules almost always require the action of L-2/L-7 confirmed by a temporal-malefic navamsha lord.

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Rahu-Ketu can signal tragic, premature or accidental deaths -  but only when they occupy the house of L-7 or L-2. 

If Rahu-Ketu are crossing a key axis, especially axis of Chandra, and they are also conjunct L-2 or L-7 (i.e. "giving the effect of L-2 or L-7) then physical death during a Rahu-Ketu bhukti becomes as likely as it would be during a period of L-7 or L-2 .

Except when Rahu-Ketu are the current bhukti lord AND they occupy a rashi of L-2 or L-7, the movement of  gochara Rahu-Ketu provide essential supporting evidence for catastrophic change in a person's life. 

Nodal movements to key points can trigger big scary psychological changes that don't actually kill you (but seem like they might).

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The lord of house-8 is not a maraka, per se.  

• L-8 defines the circumstances of death, not the timing. 

• Timing involves domain-8 only when Kharesha in lagna

• Nevertheless a maraka gains empowerment by occupying the navamsha of the radix L-8.  

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"The female born will murder her husband if

• the rising Trimsamsha or the Trimsamsha occupied by the Moon be that of Saturn,

• while the Ascendant or the sign occupied by the Moon at the time of birth is Karkata."

~~ Bhrigu Sutram Ch. 4 Shloka 48-56

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"The death is the gift, not the curse. The curse would be eternal life here on Earth." 

 ~~Das Goravani  

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Maraka Houses

• House-8 and House-3 contain information about circumstances of death (see below).

• House-2 and House-7 contain information about timing of death.  Note that the timing *agents* are the lords of 2 and 7.

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Should Dhana Bhava be occupied by Rahu, Budha, Shukra, Surya and Shani, the child's birth has been after its father's death, while even the mother will face early death. 

~~ BPHS, Ch.9, shloka 25

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Timing of Physical Death:

"The Usual Suspects" for timing of death are the "Maraka" or "Death-inflicting"  planets, L-2 and L-7.

Uncommonly, timing of death may occur in the period of one of the "natural marakas": Kuja, Shani, or Rahu.  These three natural marakas do have the power, with no other planetary assistance, to effect the physical death.

However, it is rare that a natural maraka works alone.  Death is much more likely in a period of Kuja, Shani, or Rahu if these natural marakas also play the role of L-2 or L-7 in radix.  In the case of Rahu, where He gives the effect of radix L-2 or L-7.

Vimshottari dasha-bhukti periods of L-2 and L-7, and occasionally periods of  Kuja, Shani, or Rahu, signify the physical event of death.

• In order to signify death, bhukti of Maraka planet must coordinate with other key required Jyotisha events such as a significant transit of Rahu-Ketu.

• Maraka bhukti must also respect the overall longevity parameters based on lifetime conditions of house-8 and house-3 (see below).

Death is also more common when the bhukti of the maraka graha is ALSO the final bhukti of the mahadasha.

For example for Mesha lagna where Shukra being L-2 /L-7 is a powerful makara, the Surya/Shukra period where Shukra is the final bhukti of the entire 6-year Surya mahadasha, has more maraka potency.

For a Mesha lagna nativity, if Shukra is yuti the amplifying maraka Rahu, and the Surya/Shukra bhukti occurs while simultaneously gochara Rahu-Ketu cross a key axis (radix Moon, radix lagna, radix nodal axis) then the likelihood of death is much increased.

Shani being the Great Separator, He must play some role in the death.  If not as L-2 or L-7, then He must transit the temporal L-2 or L-7, or transit a key point such as lagna.

Normally there are four or five dramatic Jyotisha factors at work at the time of death.  Except for birth, death is the most traumatic experience of the lifetime - so, reasonably, death indicators should be highly marked, and vividly suggestive.  

Certainly, *not* every occurrence of the bhukti of a maraka planet will trigger death, because several necessary factors must occur simultaneously to satisfy all the rules.

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Maraka timelords:

• Lord of Radix 2nd house [from radix lagna or Chandra lagna] completes sensual saturation, the body can't absorb any more experiences

• Lord of Radix 7th house [from radix lagna or Chandra lagna] creates perfect balance in the body, there is no need for further motion

• Lord of 2nd navamsha signals death of [first] spouse.

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Non-physical types of death:

• During His bhukti, Lord of 12th house [from radix or Chandra lagna or from Shani] dissolves the ego, the spirit wants to separate - can cause of terrible loss and the person does feel like dying, desires to die perhaps, but L-12 will give only the grief & loneliness, not the physical release from earthly vale.

• During His bhukti, Lord of 8th House [from radix lagna or Chandra lagna or from Shani] turns the wheel of birth & death, sometimes very fast.  L-8 causes transformation, not physical death. 

  • Ideally this transformation in the form of divorce, legacies, tantric and magical changes, psychotherapy, emergency surgery, or catastrophic health event will invoke conscious healing, but it may just as often be the agent of unconscious karma.

• Randhra bhava, its lord and its occupants describe the conditions of death (not the timing) (see below) and thus 8th house describes one's longevity.  Bhukti of L-8 can cause shocking "death of balance" such as divorce or radical surgery, but L-8 does not cause actual physical death.

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Circumstances of Physical Death

Domain-8 = "The Departure Lounge"

There are three primary indicators for environmental conditions or circumstances  of death. (Not timing, just environment) 

• house-8/L-8

• 8th-from-8th: house-3/L-3

• karaka Shani.

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Domain-8:

Look first to randhra sthana, house-8, for details of departure conditions.  

Auspicious planets occupying house-8 or good drishti to house-8 usually signify a gracious or honorable ending.

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Shani in domain-8

Shani in randhrasthana nearly always indicates a long life, and consciousness until the last moment.. 

"...keeps you alert till the last breath: gets premonitions, esp. if 4th or 5th house is occupied by malefics. A benefic in these houses will keep you unconscious in your last moments." (Das)

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Domain-3:

Look to 8th-from-8th sahaja bhava for additional details about environment - including the psycho-mental state - at time of spirit's departure from the physical shell (death). 

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Consciousness will prevail at the time of death if Guru or Shukra are placed in Sahaja Bhava.

-- BPHS Ch. 33

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Wounds, weapons, fire, and thirst will cause death through Mangala in Sahaja Bhava 

-- BPHS Ch 44, Shloka 25

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Chandra in Sahaja Bhava will cause death due to tuberculosis ... 

Guru in Sahaja Bhava or giving a drishti to Sahaja Bhava will cause death by swelling or tumors" ... 

If Sahaja Bhava is occupied by a benefic, death will be in an auspicious place (like a shrine); 

if Sahaja Bhava is occupied by a malefic death will be in sinful places

Mixed occupation of Sahaja Bhava will yield mixed results with regard to the place of death.

-- BPHS  Ch. 33 

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Shani and Ketu:

Look to the karakas for separation, Shani and Ketu, for more information about circumstances of death.  

Shani's aspect to house-8 or house-3 signifies some degree of separateness at time of death.  This might be very desirable if the person wishes to depart in a calm, meditative state. However it also suggests that family may not be present at the separation.

Shani's overall contribution to the circumstances of death depends on His house lordship.  If Shani is L-8 or L-3, His separative & cooling properties may increase the factor of isolation.  

If Shani resides in house-8 or house-3, the native generally enjoys a long life.  Shani prevents and delays.  In house-8 or house-3, Shani prevents the circumstances of death. Sometimes Shani in house-8 indicates that the karma of wanting to die but prevented.  E.g., native becomes very elderly or profoundly ill but survives unduly. 

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8th-from-Shani:

... both the 8th and 12th from Shani stand for consideration ... of death. 

-- BPHS Ch.7, shloka 39-43

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Ketu in domain-8:

Ketu in randhra bhava signifies numbness or ego-dissociation at time of death. The native may die in a coma, or under sedation, or in a state of shock. He may be unaccompanied at the time of death. 

Domain-8 being the realm of secrecy, and also associated with sexual practices, in some tantric settings the native may induce death through sexual practice: either by intentionally preventing the flow of life force through the physical body, or by creating conditions of death through sexually transmitted disease. Other scenarios are possible.

The ideal implication is to die in a state of meditation, when the awareness has left the body and is focused on spaciousness or another disembodied, liberating view of reality. Similarly, Ketu in domian-8 indicates death in the body-dissociated state of deep sleep, or under conditions of memory loss through aging.

As always, Ketu's planetary lord has a definitive influence. The type of dissociation, and whether death is accidental or expected, may be assessed through examination of the role of Ketu's planetary lord. 

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Conditions of the next life 

are knowable by rotating the D-1 (radix) to see next-life lagna.  

Use D1-dhana bhava and/or 2nd-from-Moon as the next-life lagna.

• Your next-life physical appearance & stigma if any, will be defined by your current-life house-2

• your next-life children will start with current-life house-6

• your next-life father will be what is now house-10

• etc.

• you can do the same rotation to the navamsha to see next-life lagna for the first spouse: that is generally D-9's 2nd house

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Death of Parents and Children: Chandra, Surya, & Guru

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Chandra is karaka for mother. Generally death of mother is timed by bhukti of L-2 from Chandra, or L-7 from Chandra.  

Death of mother can also occur in bhukti of 

• L-5 (2nd-from-house-4 which is house of mother) 

• or L-8 ( = 2nd-from-4th-from-house-4)

Karakas for early death of the mother  = 

• Kuja, Shani, or Rahu in domain-4, 

Configurations (yogas)

• lord of domain-4 = Shani +Rahu or Kuja + Rahu, in hostile rashi. 

• Parivartana yoga of maraka L-2-or-L-7 with the L-4 is also an indicator of early loss of mother and destruction of integrity in the childhood home.

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Surya is karaka for father. Generally death of father is timed by bhukti of L-2 from Surya, or L-7 from Surya.  

Death of father can also occur in bhukti of 

• L-10 (2nd-from-house-9 which is house of father) 

• or  L-6 ( = 2nd-from-9th-from-house-9).

Karaka for early death of the father = Kuja in domain-9, in an unfavorable rashi.

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Early & troubled will be one's father's death, if Mangala is in Karma Bhava identical with his enemy's Rashi.    

~~ BPHS Ch.9, shloka 38

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Guru is karaka for children.  Death of children may occur during bhukti of L-2 from Guru, or L-7 from Guru.  

Death of child can also occur in bhukti of 

• L-6 (2nd-from-house-5 which is house of children) 

• or L-10 ( = 2nd-from-5th-from-house-5).

Karaka for miscarriages or stillbirth (depending on malignancy of Kuja) = Kuja in domain-5.

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"A girl born in Jyeshta Nakshatra destroys (is the cause of death of) the elder brother of her husband, and a girl born in fourth quarter of Vishakha Nakshatra destroys (is the cause of death of) her husband's younger brother. Therefore, a cow should be given in charity at the time of the marriage of such girls to wipe out the above mentioned evil effects."

~~ BPHS Ch. 94, shloka 10

"A boy or girl born in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th quarter of Ashlesha Nakshatra destroys his/her mother-in-law and a boy or a girl born in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd quarter of Mula Nakshatra becomes the destroyer (cause of death of his/her father-in-law. 

Therefore, suitable measures, as may be possible within one's means, should be taken at the time of the marriage of such boys and girls. There will be no evil effect if the husband has no elder brothers."

~~ BPHS Ch. 94, shloka 11-13

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Notes on Sickness & Death

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Active Maraka planets don't always snap the cord between body and spirit. Sometimes they weaken the will, making a person very sick. 

Sickness shows that the spirit is ambivalent about staying in this particular body. Prolonged sickness or slow recovery from an injury, is often spiritually required to bring the system "down for maintenance." After the spiritual forces regroup and the physical body rebalances, the current incarnation may proceed unimpeded.

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Near-death sickness has spiritual, mental, emotional, & physical meaning. A combination of prayer, clean mental health, emotional healing & good medicine, will often cure even quite severe illness under the influence of maraka planets. 

There is usually no need to fear when maraka planets dominate -- but on the other hand there is healing work to be done!

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Q:  Thanks for your Jyotisha advice on handling the loss of my life partner.  However, despite your advice that things can be expected to go fairly well in my remaining earthly future, I continue to experience a terrible sense of anxiety & grief for my irreplaceable loss.  Do you have any suggestions for my regaining my inner peace?

A: TongLen practice works beautifully to alleviate fear/anxiety about almost anything!  I'm sure you know the practice from your Vajrayana background.

• Breathe in from the astral plane, the psycho-emotional food will assuage your hunger.

• For example, breathe in love, breathe in health, breathe in trust, whatever medicine is needed. 

• When invoking the help of the higher intelligence, make a special compassionate effort to include in your prayer all other beings who currently share your experience of that particular absence/lack/scarcity/pain. 

• For example, "may all the ignorant beings who crave wisdom gain access to teachings" or "may all the mothers caring for their dying children be consoled in their grief" or "may all the world's lonely people be loved & cherished".  Ask for whatever help is needed.

• Breathe out the suffering of all beings.

The rishis say, one's karma ripens so that one may eat.  TongLen often helps one to step forward into the future, allowing one to eat one's karma and enjoy the meal!!  

By releasing attachment to one's own particular suffering and replacing that narrow concern with a larger awareness that countless masses of other beings undoubtedly suffer similar karma in this very moment, Tonglen helps the compassionate heart to heal itself by simultaneously healing others.  

And because TongLen allows one to replace a narrow, relatively ignorant self-concern with a wider, relatively wise awareness of the suffering of others, it burns off karma very quickly.  (Karma gets permanently burned off when we transform ignorance into wisdom.)

So, any anxiety, at any time, is fair game for TongLen.  Bon appetite!

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Also, we often feel bitterly disappointed and even spiritually vandalized when a partner, parent, or child has died.  It may be very helpful to walk through an empowering forgiveness exercise, to forgive the partner for dying. 

You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay (orig. 1984) is the forgiveness classic.  I recommend the practical, spiritual tools she presents in the book. Hay's affirmations & insights work very effectively in those moments of terrible anxiety & grief when we get "stuck" in the loss.

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  Remember to Practice Dying so that you are alert and peaceful when the time comes!

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When Mozart passed away, he was buried in a churchyard. A couple days later, the town drunk was walking through the cemetery and heard some strange noise coming from the area where Mozart was buried. Terrified, the drunk ran and got the priest to come and listen to it.

The priest bent close to the grave and heard some faint, unrecognizable music coming from the grave. Frightened, the priest ran and got the town magistrate.

When the magistrate arrived, he bent his ear to the grave, listened for a moment, and said, "Ah, yes, that's Mozart's Ninth Symphony, being played backwards." He listened a while longer, and said, "There's the Eighth Symphony, and it's backwards, too. Most puzzling." So the magistrate kept listening; "There's the Seventh...the Sixth...the Fifth..."

Suddenly the realization of what was happening dawned on the magistrate; he stood up and announced to the crowd that had gathered in the cemetery, "My fellow citizens, there's nothing to worry about.

It's just Mozart, decomposing.

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"I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth; and truth rewarded me. " 

 

~~ Simone de Beauvoir, A Very Easy Death

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"It is not the end of the physical body that should worry us. Rather, our concern must be to live while we're alive – to release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living behind a façade designed to conform to external definitions of who and what we are. "

~~ Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

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The ashes of the average cremated person weigh nine pounds.

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A minister, a priest, and a rabbi die in a car crash. 

They go to heaven for  orientation. 

They are all asked, "When you are in your casket, with friends, family, and congregants mourning over you, what would  you like to hear them say?"

The minister says, "I would like to hear  them say that I was a wonderful  husband, a fine spiritual leader, and a great family man." 

The priest says, "I would like to hear that I was a wonderful teacher and a servant of God who made a huge difference in people's lives." 

The rabbi replies, "I would like to hear them say,  'Look, he's moving!!'"

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updated: 11 May 2009  

Copyright © 1994-2015 by Barbara Pijan Lama - Contact - Sitemap - How to Request a Jyotisha Reading - www.barbarapijan.com

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