4. SORROW OF DYING:
The third greatest sorrow is that of dying. So far we have not experienced the sorrow of dying because we have not died so far and hence we have not experienced the sorrow of death.
Then why are we so scared of dying?
We get scared of that which gives us sorrow. But why are we afraid of that pain which we have not undergone or not experienced. It is natural that he who has been bitten by a scorpion and has experienced the excruciating pain of its sting will always be afraid of a scorpion. But so far we have not experienced the pain of death yet why is it that a being is afraid of it incessantly?
In reality the root cause of it is that every being has in previous births undergone the process of dying. In every birth he died, he had experienced immense pain therefore in this birth he fears death. All incidents of sorrow of death in various bodies, of various types and intensities he has forgotten, but the imprints of the excruciating pain have been recorded or computerized in his psyche and all these imprints induce fear of death in this birth.
As a man fears that he will drown himself while bathing in a river or pond, he sits on the shore and bathes very safely. This man in this life so far has never been drowned yet why does he fear of getting drowned? The reason can definitely be this that this man in one or more births previously might have died due to drowning and he must have experienced the pain of dying due to drowning. The fact is, if he had died due to drowning, he has forgotten the incident of the previous birth, but it is the imprint of the pain of dying due to drowning in his previous birth that has been recorded in his psyche and so in this birth he is scared of death while putting his foot in the river water.
A person gets scared of being burnt while lighting coals for a stove. This man in this birth has never been burnt and has had no experience of the pain of being burnt yet why does he get scared when he sees fire? Definitely the reason could be that this man in his past lives had died due to fire-burns, which he has forgotten. That incident he does not remember but the imprints of its pain are present in his psyche which scares him in this birth to death.
Man’s psyche is a wonderful automatic computer in which imprints of innumerable past lives are recorded. All these imprints manifest during various incidents in our life as a result of which man experiences joy/sorrow even in this life.
In the same way a being right since time immemorial till today, has taken infinite births and has died too. How does a child as soon as it is born know that it has to suck milk from a particular spot? And when a mother places her breast against the lips of the infant who teaches it how to suck the breast? The reason is this that this being in all its past births had sucked its mother’s breast. It has sucked so much milk that it could become a gigantic ocean and so it has the intuition of sucking milk. It does not have to learn the art of sucking breast milk. The imprints of infinite past lives are present in its psyche and that has taught him how to suck its mother’s breast.
In the same way a being has died for an infinite number of times right since time immemorial till today hence the imprints of the sorrow of death have been stored (computerized) in his psyche which induces fear of death in every consequent birth.

At the time of death, every individual undergoes four types of sorrow as mentioned below:
Sorrow of bodily pain.
Sorrow of attachment to relatives.
Sorrow of remembrance of sin.
Sorrow of future worries.