Death An Inside Story A Book for all Those who Shall die by Sad

347 Pages·2020·2.5 MB·English

SADHGURU
DEATH
An Inside Story

PENGUIN BOOKS
Contents
Death Blow: An Introduction
PART I: Life and Death in One Breath
Death
Chapter 1: What Is Death
Death: The Most Fundamental Question
Mortal Nature
Exploring Death
Is Death a Calamity
Stop Inviting Death
Chapter 2: The Process of Death
What Makes Us Tick
A Bubble of Life and Death
Understanding Life and Death
Pancha Pranas: The Five Vital Energies
The Sequence of Death
Chakras: The Gateways of Exit
Chapter 3: The Quality of Death
Types of Deaths
Predictions of Death
Negative Energies
Suicide: A Perspective
Succour for the Suicidal
The Consequences of Suicide
Chapter 4: Can Death Be Hacked
Cheating Death
The Dance of Death
Transmigration
Seeking Immortality
Seeking the Next Dimensions
Chapter 5: Mahasamadhi
Samadhi and Death
Enlightenment and Death
Mukti and Mahasamadhi
A Few Mahasamadhis
PART II: The Gracefulness of Death
Become Me
Chapter 6: Preparing for a Good Death
Does Death Need Preparation
Sleep, Ojas and Death
Why Do People Fear Death
How to Deal with the Fear of Death
How to Live One’s Old Age
The Wisdom of Vanaprastha Ashrama
The Practice of Sallekhana
The Significance of Dying in Kashi
Chapter 7: Assistance for the Dying
The Importance of the Last Moments of Life
Helping Suffering People Die
About Dying at Home
Rituals from Death to the Disposal of the Body
Is It All Right to Donate Organs
Dematerializing the Body
Chapter 8: Assistance for the Disembodied
Why Are After-death Rituals Needed
Runanubandha—The Web of Debt
Kalabhairava Karma—An After-death Ritual at Isha
The Scope of Kalabhairava Karma
Training People for Death Rituals
The Death of Infants
The Parent–Offspring Connection in the Afterlife
The Importance of Death Anniversaries
Ancestor Worship
Of Heaven and Hell
Chapter 9: Of Grief and Mourning
The Essential Nature of Grief
Going beyond Grief
Articles of the Dead
Empathetic Death
Large-scale Death and Its Consequences
Mourning Period
Memorials, Samadhis and Pyramids
PART III: Life after Death
The Dark One
Chapter 10: The Life of a Ghost
What Are Ghosts
Ghost Troubles
Ghost Solutions
Dissolving Frozen Beings
Nirmanakaya
Downloading Beings
Chapter 11: The Riddle of Reincarnation
Taking on a New Body
The Arithmetic of Reincarnation
Past-life Recollection in Children
Exploring Past Lives
Baby Hitler
Couples for Lifetimes
The Only Enduring Relationship
Life beyond a Thousand Moons
Birth: Always a Beginning
The Rebirth of Lamas
My Past Lifetimes
Will I Come Back
Chapter 12: Final Round
One Drop Spirituality
Once You Made a Mistake of . . .
Footnotes
Chapter 1: What Is Death
Chapter 2: The Process of Death
Chapter 3: The Quality of Death
Chapter 4: Can Death Be Hacked
Chapter 5: Mahasamadhi
Chapter 6: Preparing for a Good Death
Chapter 7: Assistance for the Dying
Chapter 8: Assistance for the Disembodied
Chapter 9: Of Grief and Mourning
Chapter 10: The Life of a Ghost
Chapter 11: The Riddle of Reincarnation
Chapter 12: Final Round
Glossary
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Copyright
PENGUIN ANANDA
DEATH
Yogi, mystic and visionary, Sadhguru is a spiritual master with a
difference. Absolute clarity of perception places him in a unique space,
not only in matters spiritual but in business, environmental and
international affairs, and opens a new door on all that he touches.
Ranked amongst the fifty most influential people in India, Sadhguru is
known as a speaker and opinion maker of international renown. He has
been conferred the Padma Vibhushan, India’s highest annual civilian
award, accorded for exceptional and distinguished service.
Sadhguru has initiated large-scale ecological initiatives, such as Rally for
Rivers and Cauvery Calling, to revitalize India’s severely depleted rivers.
These projects have found phenomenal support among India’s people
and leadership. They are internationally accredited and recognized as
game changers that can establish a blueprint for global economic
development that is ecologically sustainable.
Sadhguru has been a primary speaker at the United Nations General
Assembly and several other UN forums. He has also been regularly
invited to speak at establishments such as the World Economic Forum,
the World Bank, the House of Lords, the University of Oxford, MIT,
Google and Microsoft, to name a few.
With a celebratory engagement with life on all levels, Sadhguru’s areas
of active involvement encompass fields as diverse as architecture and
visual design, poetry and painting, aviation and driving, sports and
music. He is the designer of several unique buildings and consecrated
spaces at the Isha Yoga Center, which have received wide attention for
their combination of intense sacred power and strikingly innovative
aesthetics.
Three decades ago, Sadhguru established the Isha Foundation, a non-
profit human-service organization, with human well-being as its core
commitment. Isha is supported by over nine million volunteers in more
than 300 centres worldwide.
app.sadhguru.org
isha.sadhguru.org
facebook.com/sadhguru
twitter.com/SadhguruJV
youtube.com/sadhguru
Death Blow
An Introduction
We all want to live well, and when it is time, die well too. This is the
essence of most human aspirations. Within this, much, if not most, of
human endeavour is dedicated to living well, and the outcome reflects it.
Humans have achieved much in terms of living well. We have managed
to acquire more comfort and convenience than any other generation in
the past. However, when it comes to dying well, it cannot be said that we
die in any way better than our ancestors. Many factors explain why
humans were successful with living better but not dying better—the most
significant of them being the disparity between the way we treat life and
death in our societies.
Everywhere in the world, life is mostly considered a success that is to
be sung and celebrated, but death is considered a failure that is to be
shunned and mourned. Oddly enough, in the construed dichotomy of life
and death, it is ‘life’ that is a four-letter word, not ‘death’. Yet, in the
world, it is death that gets the bad press. Death is a word whose mere
utterance can hush dinner conversations. Children are taught never to
utter the word at home, unless the God of Death chooses to visit while
the adults are on a quest to invent overly woke euphemisms that try to
mask the bluntness of the event with vanity.
It is said that humans do not know much about death because they do
not know much about life in the first place. Death is a brief occurrence at
the end of a long life. But even after having lived a full lifetime, people
are clueless about simple questions about life—like, where did we come
from and where are we going. So confusion about death is
understandable. However, it must be acknowledged that in recent times,
humankind has indeed travelled far from its simplistic understanding that
‘Life is God’s gift and death is His wrath.’
Traditionally, it was only religion that people looked up to for the
unravelling of this mystery. Adjudication of matters related to death and