"There is no death." Death is an extinction of what
previously existed. Death of Consciousness is an impossibility, for
Consciousness is presupposed by every mode of existence. What appears to be
cast off is the layer of objectified consciousness or materialized thought,
called the physical body. But even this removal of the physical sheath is only
a state of the changing of individual consciousness. It is the shock felt by
the individual at the loss of a sheath which was cherished with the belief that
it is an eternal entity since long that makes it feel the apparent death of its
existence. That aspect of the physical consciousness which feels its inability
to fulfill certain orders of diverse desires in a particular state of existence
changes its mode of consciousness into that of a different category which is
suited to the fulfillment of its desires. This process of change is termed
"death." Hence death is only a stage in spiritual evolution and not
to be considered a dread spectre which is hard to be exorcised.
Moksha Gita - Commentary by Swami Krishnananda, Ch. 1
