Untimely Death

A question was posed in a forum where the focus is non-dual Śaivism: Is there such a thing as an untimely death? 

Most of the responses were that there is NO untimely death. Kālī (the goddess of Time) takes everyone at the perfect time. There are no coincidences. Or that if it’s your karma for your lifespan to end early, then how can it be untimely? While this is partially accurate, it is not completely correct. To understand this fully we have to explore certain concepts of time, truth and death more deeply.   

When we ask whether death can be untimely, there are two levels to answer this question. We are dealing with two different perspectives called krama and akrama in the Tāntrik literature, or ultimate and relative truth in Buddhism. On an existential level (akrama kāla), everything is always perfect timing because it is the divinity of Time (Kāla) that makes everything happen (kalanā). This level of timing is called great Time (parakāla). There is also subtle time, known as sūkṣma kāla (often called Niyati) which governs the ‘time’ of fructification of karmas. Then there is gross time (sthūla kāla) in which we live our lives, and which are ticking away on a clock. Abhinavagupta references Svacchandatantra in this regard in Tantrāloka 6.6-7, 36-41.  

In the realm of great Time, we all die at the exact perfect time, which is an exalted state of mind. That concept also infers the Tibetan country and culture is being destroyed at the perfect time, that Hitler killed 6 million Jews at the perfect time, that 400 years of slavery was perfect and George Floyd’s death was at the moment it was supposed to be. If someone loses their child to leukemia, it can be seen as what was meant to be because of that person’s karma. While this works from an existential perspective it does not work for the relational world of human interaction and could be called a type of spiritual bypassing. 

In Mādhyamika Buddhism, there is a differentiation between the relative truth (saṃvṛti­-satya) and ultimate truth (paramārtha­-satya). [1] Relative truth perceives the phenomena of the world as they appear and discusses it through language in the realm of gross time. Ultimate truth perceives reality as it is beyond word and thought and thereby transcends all conventions. Ultimate truth exists in the realm of great Time. The yoga-mediation practitioner diligently applies themselves to the ultimate truth not to the relative truth [1.­16]. From the perspective of the spiritual path, the ultimate truth is what matters. Yet the same text that teaches this states that the bodhisattva does not discard the truths of saṁsāra on a relative level [1.­30]. And the bodhisattva supports all sentient beings and engages with great compassion [1.­32]. 

While intending to attain non-dual consciousness, we perceive death from the place of parakāla. For interacting with humans, it is important to understand the impact of untimely death (duḥṣṭha maraṇa) from the worldly time (sthūla kāla) perspective and to engage with compassion.

In the relative realm of worldly time- multiple classical texts say that 120 years is the full longevity of the human body. There is terminology specifically for dying at different times within this cycle of time. In the Jyotiṣa texts, there are said to be seven categories of lifespan, which indicate that there is an understanding for the karma to die at different periods of time. Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra states,

bālāriṣṭaṁ yogāriṣṭamalpaṁ madhyañca dīrghakam |
divyaṁ caivā'mitaṁ caivaṁ saptadhāyuḥ prakīrtitam || 52||
It is stated that [1] bālāriṣṭa, [2] yogāriṣṭa. [3] short, [4] middle, [5] long,
[6] supernatural and [7] immeasurable (amita) are the seven-fold [lifespan]. 

bālāriṣṭe samā aṣṭau yogāriṣṭe ca viàśatiḥ |
dvātriṁśad vatsarā alpe catuṣṣaṣṭistu madhyame || 53||
[The lifespan of] bālāriṣṭa is till eight years, yogāriṣṭa till twenty, [2]
short life is till thirty-two years, middle life till sixty-four, 

viṁśādhikaśataṁ dīrghe divye varṣasahasrakam |
tadūrdhvamamitaṁ puṇyairamitairāpyate janaiḥ || 54||
120 for long life, a thousand years for supernatural (divya) lifespan, and
anything above that is immeasurable (amita) lifespan,
which is acquired by those who have immeasurable virtue (puṇya). 

There is a word for an untimely or a negative situation death called ‘duḥstha māraṇa’. It relates to vehicular death, or death in war or falling in a well etc. All things that take you sooner then a natural death/disease and in a difficult way. Astrologically, this is associated with death caused by Rāhu, a factor associated with trauma. 

Like birth, death is impacted by time and place. Abhinavagupta discusses spiritually beneficial times and places for dying in his text Tantrāloka. Dying in a sacred place helps the soul transition to a more beneficial rebirth [28.237-9]. Similarly, death in the wrong way can create issues in transmigration. Jyotiṣa discusses how the transmigrating being can become trapped or have other issues when there is a duḥṣṭha maraṇa, and specific rituals are prescribed to help. The place and time of death creates a chart (called puṇya chakra) which indicates the nature of the transmigration situation. I have seen the death chart of a married couple that died in a motorcycle accident on the way home from their wedding- and the combinations for the souls being lost and suffering in the transmigrating process were sad to look at. This is quite different from the puṇya chakra of BKS Iyengar which I have a blog post about because it was so incredible.   

On top of the impact of the nature of death on the individual transmigrating being, there is the impact of death on those left behind. When a person’s grandmother dies of a disease that people tend to get when they are old, we mourn for some time but then move on- the death was timely. It is easier to integrate. When a schizophrenic half-brother kills his father in front of his half-sister, there is huge trauma that harms the psyche. Not only is the transmigrating being traumatized by the death, but the trauma of the loved one left behind makes the transition more difficult. People who have had close relatives commit suicide can sometimes even have psychological episodes on the anniversary dates of the suicides or other duḥstha māraṇa. 

The real key here, is that if you try to tell these people that it was perfect timing, then it is spiritual bypassing. The perfect timing concept can be very detrimental in the psychological world and does not respect the need for trauma processing of an untimely death. This can lead to later mental health issues such as anxiety and depression and difficulties in future spiritual practice.  

In discerning ultimate and relative truth, the Buddha teaches that ultimately all phenomena are unborn, unarisen, and unreal. Yet, through the relative conventions of the world, they are perceived and designated in a conventional manner as form, sensation, perception, volition and consciousness [1.­153]. The human being is a functional sensory feeling consciousness in which duḥstha maraṇa has a very negative impact on the transmigrating being and upon those left behind and needs to be handled with great care in the relative world. 

From the level of ultimate truth, all death is perfect and at the perfect time, as the unfolding of karma. This perception is important for the yoga-mediation practitioner. This perception can be cultivated after the digestion of an untimely death, but not before the trauma of the death has been integrated.  

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[1] Saṃvṛti­paramārtha­satya­nirdeśa  https://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-060-008.html

[2] Bālāriṣṭa is when a child dies before 8 years of age (some calculate till age 12). Sadyoriṣṭa is an aspect of bālāriṣṭa which is when an infant dies soon after birth (or within the first year), this includes Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Yogāriṣṭa where death happens before 20 (some calculate till age 24).