Grief is understood as not just sadness but a very great sadness, especially at the death of someone or a great loss. In some cases it can deeply affect how one lives their life from that point.

In the ancient Sanskrit language, one of the words they use is śocaḥ which not only means grief or sorrow, but can also be used to describe burning or a flame.

In this talk, we explore how in many cases grief has arisen out of an unrealistic expectation, like holding on to the false hope that I and others who are dear to me will never die. Yet death (or things/situations coming to an end) is the only thing that you can dependably rely on that will happen in “life”.

The ancient Vedic texts address what is the natural course of things and the crucial knowledge that we, the spiritual beings, residing within the body, never die. We exist eternally..

Some of the verses I quoted:

Just as the fruits and flowers of a tree in due course of time undergo six changes -- birth, existence, growth, transformation, dwindling and then death -- the material body, which is obtained by the spirit soul under different circumstances, undergoes similar changes. However, there are no such changes for the spirit soul. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 7.7.18

Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor the dead. - Bhagavad-gītā 2.11

It is said that the soul is invisible, inconceivable, immutable, and unchangeable. Knowing this, you should not grieve for the body. - Bhagavad-gītā 2.25

O descendant of Bharata, he who dwells in the body is eternal and can never be slain. Therefore you need not grieve for any creature. - Bhagavad-gītā 2.30

Yet there is another unmanifest nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is. - Bhagavad-gītā 8.20