The last day of October is observed in many countries of the West as Day of the Dead, or on a far less serious note as Halloween. Many believe that on that day, the impenetrable wall that separates our world from the “otherworld” is at its thinnest. Hence, our chances to glimpse to the “other side” or even make a “contact” with those who are no longer a part of our life. The fact that this is the popular meaning accepted by the millions, doesn’t make it one that should be embraced by spiritual practitioners. It is useful to recall teachings of the Buddha and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, and understand the way they saw death and dying.

“There’s no birth, there’s no death.” – Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. He said, all states are temporary, or to use Buddha’s word, impermanent. When we start experiencing our body as temporary, our thoughts as temporary, our emotions as temporary, our perspective on life changes.  If you experience not only your body, but also the earth, the solar system, and the universe as temporary, you’ll experience this what you call your body, as feeling more “spacious” and fluid. At the same time, you need to remember that both: a perceiver or perceived are temporary. All states are consciousness-dependant, and because of that, temporary.

If they are temporary and they occur in time, they need to be discarded, Maharaj said. Why is it important to discard anything that is temporary and hence “not this”? Because according to Buddha, if you latch to anything that is not permanent, you’ll suffer. Maharaj said: “Give up the desire to improve yourself. Stay in the ‘I am’. Do not give action or the fruit of it. Give up the desire for the action or the fruit of the action.” Meditation, an important part of spiritual practice, is seen as a path to realization of that perceived as being you. Maharaj said: “Give up even the desire for the fruit of meditation.” Wherever you, your ‘I’ is, there are feelings and there’s suffering.

As Buddha said, there’s no individual self or soul. Maharaj said: “There’s no person, you are not a person. It’s all a concept, it’s all an illusion.”
And if there’s no person, you have nothing to let go off. What your spiritual path, according to Maharaj, should be? Start looking for what you haven’t discarded yet, and discard it. In practice, anything that occurs in time, that you can remember and forget, is not you. Here, I’m following teachings of the Buddha and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, remembering at the same time, that when one follows a guru, one needs to understand that he has realized in his unique way, following a specific path – his own. Students and followers join the guru and embrace his teachings, instead of going deeper within themselves, trying to find their unique path. The problem with following “someone else’s” system is that the religion belongs to the teacher; it is his practice. And for somebody to come along and follow his (the teacher’s) practice… it doesn’t work. Instead, you have to go in, and focus on being in the consciousness, as a window to finding out who you are. But, even the words and teachings become a distraction, Maharaj said.

There’s no “self” in Buddhism, and Maharaj taught: “You are not a person; you are not the ‘I’”. And when you try to make the desire to improve yourself a center point of your life, consider what Maharaj said: “Give up the desire to improve yourself. Your self is not you, it’s an object. See your ‘I’ as an object and never as a subject. Anything your are, you are not.”
He pointed out that your true ‘I’ has no connection to your body. Why? Because your body – the self is temporary, and the true ‘I’ – the Self is eternal. Maharaj said: “The state in which you were 8 days prior to conception or thousands of years prior to that state is that state ever prevails. Whatever the beingness is there all the beingness disappears. This is the eternal state of yours.”
If we remember AND live his words not only on Day of the Dead, but in every minute of our lives, we will free ourselves from the shackles of death. Forever.