How to Help the Dying? Rajen Vakil

How to Help the Dying?

Rajen Vakil

Can we help a person who is dying? Just as we always want to improve the quality of our life, is it possible to improve the quality of death? Here the question we ask ourselves is that if there is some journey after death, then where does the energy to sustain that journey come from? The Vajra Nadi acts as a bow from which the soul is thrown out. The tension in this nadi, created at death, is the energy with which the soul journeys, normally for fifty-five days, in the after world. It is very important that at the point of death, this energy is not diminished or lost in any way. That is, we do not want to do anything that disturbs the speed of the arrow. When a person is dying, and if there are people crying in the room, then his or her attention would go to them and there will be a desire to remain, all this while the arrow is pushing out and a lot of thrust hence will be lost. So, at such a point, it would be right to not do anything or have anyone in the room that holds the attention back. The second thing is it would be beautiful not to go to sleep before death comes. The person dying may start feeling sleepy and so the proper way would be to keep that person awake by talking to him in such a way that is fully relaxing. If we want to drive a car the whole night, then we would ask a friend to come with us and keep talking throughout the night so we do not go to sleep while driving. Similarly, we keep the person awake but if he cannot resist going to sleep, then we let him do so because in fighting sleep too, a lot of energy will be lost. The first hour after death is the most important and the body should not be disturbed in any way. If the hospital asks us to empty the bed, please pay for an extra extended hour. It is in this first hour after death, that the soul experiences the state of pure light. We will talk about this next week. Attend a free 3SRB session at Thadomal Shahani Engineering College, in National College lane, off Linking Road, Bandra, on Sunday, August 5 from 9.30am to 11.30am. Entry is free.