Death: An Inside Story by Sadhguru (Book Review: 4.5*/5) !!!

21^st Book of 2020!

Picking up books to read in lockdown phase is quite a choosy task as we wish to read something which is very exciting as we are already sitting at home otherwise we generally tend to read light stuffs such as spiritual, meditational and peaceful pieces as we are already handling enough mess in our routine. Even after knowing this, I picked up the book I had been wanting to read since its release “Death: An Inside Story” by Sadhguru knowing that it could have been depressing. The book also has the tagline that says “A book for all those who shall die”. I have watched many interviews of Sadhguru and whenever people asked him queries on death, rebirths, past lives etc., he would joke on it and move to the next question. I always thought that Sadhguru doesn’t believe in all this but this full-fledged book has come up like a surprise to me hence I was very excited for the same.

Talking about Death, you would think that someone would end up explaining it within 40-50 pages and what else can be more about this thing which happens so suddenly that we don’t even come to know about it. Also, we think that Death is the end so why to think much about it. The most we want is to be healthy while dying. But Sadhguru here takes us to explain something about this one-word phenomena named “Death” in around 375+ pages. That’s huge!

I never believed that Living and Dying are two different experiences spiritually and I thought if we live well, our dying has nothing to do with it and our next life, if there is a thing like that, shall be on the basis of how we lived our previous life. Through this book, I have realized that how we even die and what happens to us immediately before that and even for days after we die, impacts our soul and energies and can be critical for it to survive peacefully post our death even if we have lived spiritually well. Sadhguru handles all the subjects with his humorous and awakening tone which makes It easy for us to go through the book even when few chapters are little heavy or depressing to grasp and digest.

I was amazed with the concepts of multiple karmas, koshas, type of bodies, Vayus, chakras and how death happens in one of the stages in each of these concepts which impacts our energies later on. Sadhguru also doesn’t shy away from talking about concepts such as rebirth, re-incarnations, samadhi, mahasamadhi, ghosts, spirits, suicide, murder, memory after death etc. He also discloses about how his wife and several other close people around him left their bodies just like that on their will. He also talks about how body vanishes just like that for some people who are at the higher level to manage such phenomena.

Jaggi Vasudev also lets us know about multiple other things such as how to identify if the person had a good death or not. How energies can be handled even after death. What rituals need to be performed in order to assure that the person who has died gets dissolved successfully. The great information that is shared is about how the person doesn’t completely die when he breathes his last but stays alive for few hours/days after that and hence can’t be called completely dead till then. Reading all this was very fascinating and knowledgeable. He also ends up talking about his previous lives and if he shall be taking rebirth again or not.

Now talking about few drawbacks- I must say that this book is specifically meant for people who have already read or heard Sadhguru before otherwise understanding his language shall be very challenging. Secondly, most of the times Sadhguru doesn’t go into detailing just for the reason so that people get curious and go to Isha Yoga center or start taking his courses to understand things better. I believe if you are a spiritual person – first of all your book should be free of cost – if not that, at least don’t use it as a brochure for the multiple programmes handled by your foundation. Thirdly, few events that Sadhguru talks about like people leaving their bodies or burning and then vanishing immediately in front of him sounds fake because there’s no proof and we have not heard anyone sharing such events happening in front of them. I understand we are not that spiritually advanced to know if it’s bluff or true but still, things like these should be spoken with proofs or references. Also, I couldn’t agree with many things that he speaks about himself in terms of past life and how he has already lived more than required and he shall not be on the planet again.

Overall, the book is thought-provoking and something that you have not read before- it’s like experiencing death before death. I give the book 4.5 stars out of 5. The book has information that shall really change the way you see Death- for yourself, your family or your closed ones. It shall not be scary anymore. Yes!

Thanks.

WRITING BUDDHA