Introduction
a. Title and Author: Death – An Inside Story by Sadhguru
b. Genre and Context: This is a Non – Fictional, Spiritual Book and was Published on 1st January, 2020 by Penguin. This book is based on the context to understand the mechanism of death while changing the way we look at it socially.
c. Initial Impression: The line on the cover page, caught my attention which said – A book for all those who shall die. I smiled, but at the same time I realized the eternal truth of death is inevitable and still we don’t take it seriously as if we am immortal, I got curious and began reading.
II. Summary
We know, that birth is a nine-month long process even we celebrate birthdays as a particular day, it actually did not happen in one day similarly – death is a process and is not a single day occurring, and with the mechanics of this book we try to understand it from the perspective of a yogi who knows it better that what we do.
The author, Sadhguru, explores death by visiting the meaning of death, the process of it, assistance for the disembodied beings, grief and mourning, the life of a ghost, the riddle of reincarnation and many other mysteries around death.
The author’s writing style is descriptive with proper illustrations and poems wherever necessary. The pacing of the book is quick and before you understand, the book has transported you from one dimension to another.
The book effectively conveys the message of how humans explored the realms of life but failed to do so with death and the confusion has lead the entire humanity to misinterpret death as the end and with this realization the book begins to explore death, its types, impact, energies, where does one come from and where are they heading, the Runanubandhas, why people fear death and how to deal with it gracefully.
The emotional impact that the book left was, I no longer mourned on the death of a loved one, something within me was settled and my perspective of looking at it was changed completely. It made me realize how well you lived is irrelevant rather how you die is extremely important.
III. Strength & Weakness
The strengths or the parts that I enjoyed were types of deaths, the predictions of death, Suicide: A perspective, the consequences of suicide, what are ghost, ghost troubles and solutions, past life recollection in children, exploring past lives, Rebirth and a drop of Spirituality.
The areas that could have been emphasized more in this book according to me were, Pancha Pranas: The five vital energies, sequence of death, Chakras: The Gateways of exit, as there were terminologies, which coming from an urban non-spiritual background, I did not quite understand and it could have been elaborated a bit more for people like me to understand.
IV. Personal Reflection
I connected with the book very deeply as the topic is such that has an impact on each one our lives. I have lost a few loved ones and I was always curious about what happens after death, how it ends etc. In almost all cultures and religions a concept of afterlife is always mentioned, Heaven and Hell, Swarga and Narka exists, but this concept never did satisfy my questions completely. This book was one that answered my burning questions about death and what happens after it. The book was an intense experience and is relevant to everyone who is alive and wants to explore the mechanisms of life including death.
V. Conclusion
a. Recommendation: I recommend this book to all the seekers out there irrespective of their age.
b. Rating: I firmly believe that this book was a turning point in shaping me so I would give it 5 stars.
c. Final Thought: Sadhguru lead the path and made it very easy to walk through this unknown terrain with short anecdotes, giving logical reasoning to why we believe in what we believe through generations, the book dissected the process as science and not as morality, it revealed certain things that blew my mind. The book even spoke about the ultimate liberation or Mahasamadhi and the author’s attempt to offer One Drop of Spirituality to all the beings as he says “If we cannot teach everyone how to live blissfully atleast they must be able to die well.” The book explores death as a topic in its full depth and dimension and is a must read.