Death - An Inside Story - A book for all those who shall die by Sadhguru: A Review

Death - An inside story by Sadhguru is a must read by all those who shall die. Sadhguru opens up profound aspects of death. The author dwells upon issues such as what is death?, the process of death, the gracefulness of death, life after death and the riddle of reincarnation.

Sadhguru starts with a question which is fundamental in nature, what is death? To explain this, he narrates an incident from our History, the Mahabharata. When Yaksha confronts 4 Pandavas, they ignore him and they all drop dead. Only Yudhisthira, the eldest of them answers the questions posed by Yaksha.

One of the question being, "What is the biggest Wonder of life?" Without hesitation, Yudhisthira, answers, "Thousands of living beings meet death at every moment, yet the foolish man thinks himself deathless and does not prepare for death. This is the biggest wonder of life."

Sadhguru reminds, 'जननं सुखम, मरणं करुणम' - Life is pleasure, but death is compassion because it relieves us and hence death is not a calamity. The Human mind is essentially  against Death and that is the biggest calamity. 

Living dead is a fantastic experience but to be death like when alive is horribly painful.

While explaining quality of death, the author distinguishes between Suicide and Samadhi. It is an interesting perspective, suicide is a result of disturbed mind, injures the body and is an experience of pain, whereas Samadhi is a result of peaceful mind, body is in a best possible condition and it is an experience of bliss. He narrates few Samadhi experiences where people chose to leave the body at their will. It sends shivers down the spine while reading.

Sadhguru observes that except man, every creature in the world seems to know how to die gracefully. He say, “If you walk in a forest, even one that is rich with wildlife, unless it is an animal that has been killed by a predator, you will not find a carcass just lying around like that. Why the Forest, even in the cities, where the birds are mostly crows these days, you will not find a dead crow just like that. They all know when it is a time to die, so they withdraw to quite place and gracefully die. It is human being that is becoming increasingly graceless.”

Finally Sadhguru advises all to live well so that we can die well. Living well is about knowing our internal system and of course being healthy.

This is truly a book for all those who shall die.

Death is the only fundamental truth everything else is myth.

Dr. Sushant Joshi