Suppose you take an empty pot. Inside the pot there is space. Outside the pot also there is space. Now suppose you break the pot. The pot may be destroyed but the space that is inside the pot will not be destroyed. It will just disappear into the space that is outside the pot. The space that was caught inside the pot will disappear into the space that was outside the pot, over. Even the pot can’t be destroyed. It will exist in a different shape. You may change the shape, but you can’t destroy it.

In the same way, during death, the consciousness that is caught in your body relaxes into the consciousness that is outside your body. See, there is a space that is outside your skin and there is a space that is caught inside your skin. When your boundary is destroyed at some point, the space that is caught inside the body will simply relax into the space that is outside the body. Understanding this truth will liberate you from the fear of death. There is nothing in you that can be destroyed.

There is a beautiful incident in the life of Socrates:

Socrates was killed by being made to drink the poison hemlock. When the poison was taken to him, he was asked, ‘Don’t you feel the fear of death?’

He says beautifully, ‘Why should I be afraid? After death only two things can happen. Either I will cease to exist or I will exist in some form in some place, that’s all. Only these two can happen. If I cease to exist, then there is anyways no problem, because there is nothing to be afraid of, I am not going to even know anything. If I exist in some form somewhere, then again there is no need to bother. I am anyways going to exist. I am not going to die.’

These words of Socrates are a great mantra.

Just look back at your life. You may say life was either more joy or more pain. These are the only two possibilities. If you say life was more pain, then why are you afraid of death? If you have already had enough suffering then why don’t you try something new?

If you say life is more joy then again since you have lived so joyfully you must be ready for new things, new experiments. If your life was joyful at this level, naturally any further steps will lead to more joy, better experiences. So, from whichever side you argue, your fear has no base.

Understanding that the energy space caught inside your skin will merge into the energy space that is outside your skin when your body is destroyed and understanding that you are going to exist even if your body or mind disappears are the basis of the truth of what we call ‘transcendental reality’. A person who is established in transcendental reality constantly radiates joy and fearlessness. He radiates so much of bliss, so much of energy that he is in parama sthiti, the supreme state.

The moment you experience the cosmic explosion and cosmic dissolution happening within you, you transform yourself as the universal energy.

The same energy which manifested itself as the cosmic explosion constantly keeps exploding and manifesting within your body. Merge your awareness with the meeting point of inhaling and exhaling breaths, the confluence of the powerful and the powerless. When the inhaled air goes out, it will be full of energy, and your awareness as a whole will vibrate. One can touch and feel life energy. The place where the exhaled air returns will be totally vacant. One can touch and feel death. When the inhaled air comes in, one can touch and feel life direct. When the exhaled air returns one can touch death. If we merge our awareness with both these meeting points, we can experience within ourselves both the cosmic explosion and cosmic dissolution. The moment you experience the cosmic explosion and cosmic dissolution happening within you, you transform yourself as the universal energy.

source: Living Enlightenment