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"It's like a man is in a car and the car is old and the man gets out of the car and rolls the car into the water into a lake."

By Ann Althouse

The filmmaker David Lynch talks about death on the occasion of the death of his guru, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi:

What does it mean to you that Maharishi is dead?

Well, Maharishi dropped his body. It's like a man is in a car and the car is old and the man gets out of the car and rolls the car into the water into a lake. Do we feel sorry for the man? The car is gone but the man is there. No problems for Maharishi. People are sad because that voice of wisdom is gone.

Did that car image come from the Maharishi himself? It made me think of this song lyric (audio) from George Harrison, another devotee of the Maharishi:

I got born into the material world
Getting worn out in the material world
Use my body like a car,
Taking me both near and far
Met my friends all in the material world...

I?m living in the material world
Living in the material world
I hope to get out of this place
By the lord Sri Krishna?s grace
My salvation from the material world

Do you think of your body as a car that you're driving, and death as a matter of getting out of that car? When you see a dead body, do you think of it as a car wreck or an abandoned car from which the driver emerged unscathed?

Do you hope they got a new car, or do you ? like Harrison, apparently ? hope they took to walking from then on?

Full post as published by Althouse on February 07, 2008 (boomark / email).