Death is an interesting affair

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Death is an interesting affair

Sunday, 17 January 2021 | Kumar Chellappan

Death is an interesting affair

 PREPARING FOR DEATH

Author - ARUN SHOURIE

Publisher - Penguin/Viking, Rs 799

DEATH: AN INSIDE STORY

Author - SADHGURU

Publisher - Penguin/Ananda, Rs 299

Preparing For Death by Arun Shourie & Death: An Inside Story by Sadhguru speak of death in a manner that is matter-of-fact and yet eye-opening at the same time, writes Kumar Chellappan

Karthiyayani Kunhamma, my mother, passed away peacefully on November 6, 2020. Her departure from this world was as uneventful as she lived for 90 years. There were no theatrics or high drama accompanying the event. She was there alive one moment and then the other she was gone. My long-time friend and physician Dr Rajiv rushed home upon hearing the news and certified that Amma was no more.

Death was not a painful event as far as my mother’s departure was concerned. On the seventh day, we completed the the last rites immersing the ashes in Poorna River flowing through Perumbavoor. Within the next two days, I was admitted to the ICU of Kochi Medical College having tested positive for Covid-19 and diagnosed with pneumonia. Two books that gave me company during this period were Preparing For Death by Dr Arun Shourie and Death: An Inside Story by Sadhguru.

The books were an eye opener for me, surrounded as I was by more than 25 Covid-19 patients who were in various phases of the pandemic. Some of them highly critical while others in an aggressive mood, testing the patience of doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff, working round the clock taking care of the patients.

It was the stay in ICU which made me think about my own death for the first time. I was worried only about whether my demise would be painful, suffocating or peaceful. The only time I have read about a person’s last minutes in this world was about Sir C P Ramaswamy Aiyer, the former Divan of the princely State of Travancore who was also a member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council and the Constituent Assembly. Sir CP, as he was addressed had the “most sudden, painless and peaceful end,” according to his biographer Saroja Sundararajan.

“A journalist who came to the National Liberal Club where he was staying in London at 11.30 am on 26 september 1966, enquired if he was not well , thinking Sir CP had a cold. CP laughed loudly at this and replied in a cheerful voice, “My dear lady, I have never been ill a day in my life .” So saying he leaned back in his upholstered chair when his head drooped and he was no more,” writes Sundararajan. Prof TMP Mahadevan, eminent philosopher, has been quoted as saying in his tributes: “The world envies various aspects of the life of Sir CP, from his birth with a silver spoon in his mouth , through a multi-faceted career. I envy him his death. What a wonderful way to die!”

With the oxygen mask connected to my face, I had nothing else to do other than ‘scanning’ the pages of Preparing for Death, Dr Shourie’s account of the final hours of some of the great men and a woman in the sub continent. He recounts the last days and last moments of Lord Budha, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Ramana Maharshi, Kasturba, Mahatma Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave. What makes the book unique is Dr Shourie’s description about his own life and how fate had been cruel to him throughout this life.

Even if one is born great or becomes great through his/her deeds, death follows us from the moment we come into this world as an uninvited friend. But the tragic truth is that none of us think or worry about this eternal and omnipresent character shadowing us all the from mother’s womb.

The pain and sufferings undergone by Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Ramana Maharshi in the prelude to their samadhi should be read to be believed. These great men never prayed to God Almighty to lessen their sufferings and tribulations. The reminiscences stand out because of the unique Arun Shourie style.  Dr Shourie is brilliant in his description of the final hours of Ramakrishna, Ramana, Kasturba and Gandhiji. The books he refers to, the quotes he uses and the way he projects the events on a wide canvas... only a master story teller could do the same.

Add to this his sense of humor even in the face of adversities. “Just like those whom we don’t know, our closest relatives, among them those whom we have loved the most and our friends die ever so often-some months it seems as if we have to set up a camp office at the Lodhi Road crematorium. Fed up, a relative has declared, “I am not going to any more cremations. If possible, I will skip my own too.”

Thus begins Dr Shourie his latest work that also includes his recent brush with death in Pune. The collage like articles have everything that elevates the readers to new levels of thinking. While there are ever so many books and articles about life post-death, the sad thing is that we are ignorant about the complex nature of death. This is a subject one should be thorough and knowledgeable to condition us about our own final hours.

When it was time for me to be discharged from the ICU and transported to Ernakulam Medical Centre, I had graduated to reading Death: An Inside Story by Sadhguru. I don’t have words to describe this pathbreaking book, full of humour and one which opens the windows to the world of death. “You must understand that what you refer to as death is a unique happening. It is the very last moment of your life. Almost everything in your life may happen many times over, but the final moment when you transcend the limitations of your physical body will happen only once in your lifetime. It is the last thing that you will do in your life. Moving from the physical to non-physical is the greatest moment in your life.

A lot has been discussed about life after death, rebirth, salvation and post-death phenomenon. But we are yet to discuss in detail the mysteries associated with the final moments of our life. Sadhguru, in his own inimitable style, asks hitherto unasked questions on death and explains in a scintillating style facts associated with death. I have seen Sadhguru demolishing and destroying the arguments of “self-styled intellectuals” who dared to challenge the Indian system of knowledge. But this is the first time I read a book authored by him and that too about death. What I feel after reading the book, especially the chapters, Preparing For a Good Death and Assistance For The Dying, is that I understood that death is an interesting and entertaining phenomenon and it’s not something bad as propagated by the Abrahamic religion. All one could feel after going through the book is, fine, here I am, waiting happily for me rendezvous with the person whom I was born with but yet to see face to face with him.

Vayalar Ramavarma, a leftist poet in Kerala, had written a poem way back in the 1970s spitting venom at death. “Oh death, get lost. I am not willing to join you in your solitude as I don’t have death and I am immortal” he had written in the revolutionary song. Had Ramavarma read what Sadhguru has to speak about death, I am sure, he would have simply welcomed death for that enlightening encounter. Yes, Death is beautiful provided you learn the basics of its science.

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