Dying instructions and guidance
Editors note, These instruction were provided by a friend who is steeped in the yogic tradition but I quickly recognized that they are universal. For those of different religions or traditions, substitute “prayer” for mantra, your religious saint or teacher for guru or deity, etc. Become absorbed in your particular faith. In addition, have others do prayers and readings from spiritual texts at the bedside. The room should be quiet, peaceful, free of disturbance, but keep it light, not overly serious!
To the person dying: Take up the name of God given by the guru or the mantra and repeat it with each inhalation and exhalation with deep faith. Recall and appreciate the Divine source and potency of the mantra, the meaning of it and it’s deity. Feel that the mantra is the vibration of the one true self. Recall that the mantra, guru and person repeating it are really one. Thou art that.
Hold on to this japa repetition wholeheartedly and constantly as if clinging to a life preserver while shipwrecked in the open ocean.
Visualize and feel the presence of your sadguru, the great Mother Shakti of the soul of the universe, as you relish your japa repetition. Hear and lose yourself in the nada, the inner music. Watch the inner lights. Go into the light and sound deeper and deeper. Lose yourself there. That place where you bow your head, (ego, personality), and lose yourself is the guru’s feet. Offer your “head” there, willingly leaving all concern for body identity and sensory experience, along with memories, imaginings and mental impressions. Let the mind empty its contents into the great void, filled with Divine Shakti, as a river flows into the great ocean.Let go of all mental conceptual and perceptual supports and frames of reference, worldview. Discard all identities.
Enjoy the Bliss (freedom from pain and pleasure) and let it expand and take you where it will. There comes a stage in a person’s life near the end when to pray for healing the body is not fruitful nor desirable. The urgency now is to leave the concerns of the body, along with the previous life experiences and recognize our true identity as Divine Light. Pray instead to be absorbed completely by the great light, the light that is brighter than a thousand signs!
Recall your beloved, your guru or ideal, the object of your devotion, with great fervor, with all your heart. Direct all your attention and devotion toward your chosen deity and your dear Sri gurudev your greatest benefactor. Trust in his promise to be there for you at the time of departure. Should you be confronted with any karma, good or bad, offer it immediately to the great ocean of Mercy, the Maha karuna cigar. Abandon all your karmas, good and bad- anything that would enable clinging to the physical plane. Discard it humbly and fully offered to the lotus feet of your beloved gurudev.
Otherwise, keep silent. Understand that experientially undergoing the various karmas throughout the dying process, the subtle body and causal bodies are being purged of their impurities. These are resolving as we are becoming free and purified once and for all. By the grace of the guru and shakti we are” getting off light” so to speak and, being thus fully detached, can have a good death.
