Helping Hands Helping Hands: What about the physicians and the caretakers? There are two important aspects here apart from supporting those who are left behind. The first issue is regarding disclosing the grave prognosis or diagnosis to the terminally ill. The issue is not simple and somewhat controversial. It is known for instance that denial of a terminal illness tends to somehow prolong the life expectancy. On the other hand, not informing the implications based on present knowledge may amount to breach of trust and also make the patient indifferent and delay his seeking timely help or completing some last minute unfinished acts such as executing a will. Beside

The Question of Ghosts Modern mind discourages such queries and there is some advantage in doing so. For is not our ignorance a kind of safety? But a greater safety is truth, not the half-truth mixed with superstition and imagination, but the full truth which accounts for everything and finds the right place for all human and other experiences of life. To deny a phenomenon is easy. Far more difficult is to discover and unite each piece of truth in the jigsaw puzzle of life. To deny blindly is as much of a dogma as a blind acceptance. So let us try to see through the eyes of those who truly 'observe' since their vision is 'whole', of not just the gross m

A Prophetic Poem Strange Attachment - A Prophetic Poem The letter reproduced below was written by a 16 year old girl to her father on his birthday. It proved prophetic as she died of an accident five years later, at 21 years of age. The letter raises several questions (or perhaps answers them) for instance a certain capacity to foresee the moment of death, the disparity in the reactions of the outer human mind and the inmost soul and how one part feels sorrow while the other feels happy as it rises to the beyond. Of course this may not be the immediate experience of everyone but it is most certainly the essential experience. The letter is reproduced in its

The Seal of Ignorance If we follow the clue given to us by life we shall see that death is a grim and a last reminder of our imperfect state. This imperfection is due to Ignorance; ignorance of who we truly are and of the true nature of things, of the oneness and unity underlying this world of apparent division and multiplicity. It is this ignorance born from the womb of a false and illusory sense of the ego-self that constitutes the pain of life and much of its struggle. However, this ignorance itself is not a uniform thing but a continuum with necessary stages of growth. Death and its darkness prevent too rapid an efflorescence, an early tearing of the veil

Organ Transplant Viewed from a certain standpoint organ transplant is not only ethically justified but spiritually laudable. After all is it not an act of compassion and inner detachment? However although it may be justified as an act of compassion, it may not necessarily be an enlightened compassion. The spiritual view is not confined to the outer and practical Page-231 momentary good of an individual, but more importantly the inner good. Spiritual vision is not cabined within the confines of outer life as our rational mind is but looks at the complex play of forces in and around. Therein comes the difficulty. Should the body organ of an in

Violent Deaths Violent deaths as in accidents or mass catastrophes form a separate category from an inner point of view. The suddenness of the event may create confusion in the individual who is violently thrown out of the body. He may not realize at once that he is dismembered thereby making a part of his most elementary physical-vital consciousness linger in the earth atmosphere for a longer time. Sometimes these vital formations can hover around the spot of the disaster, enacting the scene over and over again, what some people perceive and label as ghosts. This formation can grow and prolong its life by feeding on the fear of people, thereby prolonging its own mis

Wisdom from the Tibetan Book of the Dead (The following are extracts taken from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, followed by the author's comments) "The state of mind at the time of death is regarded as extremely important, because this plays a vital part in the situation one is reborn into. This is one reason why suicide is regarded in Buddhism as very unfortunate, because the state of mind of the person who commits suicide is usually depressed and negative and is likely to throw him into a lower rebirth. Also, it doesn't end the suffering, it just postpones it to another life." This is very similar to what is proscribed in other fait

The Return to Earth - Rebirth Not soon is God's delight in us completed, Nor with one life we end; Termlessly in us are our spirits seated And termless joy intend. 6. Sri Aurobindo: Letters on Yoga, p.437 Page-136 Our souls and heaven are of an equal stature And have a dateless birth; The unending seed, the infinite-mould of Nature, They were not made on earth, Nor to the earth do they bequeath their ashes, But in themselves they last. An endless future brims beneath thy lashes, Child of an endless past.7 If life after death is a mystery and a cont

Resuscitation and Artificial Life Support Resuscitation is about reviving those who have technically died. It is also sometimes about prolonging life in those who are living on the edge of life and death. Revival within a certain period of time before the cord of life is snapped is very much possible. Yogis in India have always known the art of returning from the land of the dead. What the ancient mystic knew how to do consciously through spiritual and occult means, the modern scientist does semi-consciously through material methods. However, a yogi may not wish to interfere with the processes of nature since he knows that in the strange a

Euthanasia Euthanasia is a paradox of sorts. The traditional role of the physician is to save life. But here he is expected to take away life. The justifying rationale is that a very important task of the physician is to relieve the patient of the burden of suffering and pain. Just as one of the means that nature uses to relieve our miseries of one life at least is to send us for a while into the sleep of death. So also when the doctor is aware that there is no further hope to live and that prolonging survival would only mean to prolong the patient's agony and pain, then it would be better to assist him in his departure or at least deny any active support that would be m