Hi! friends, I am Dr Milind Pimprikar. And you are listening to fighting fit Fridays with Dr. Pimprikar. Today we are going to decipher the relationship of death and wellness. By and large wellness means an effort towards remaining healthy and young and it rests on a relentless effort to do so. It is absurd to have incorporation of death in definition of wellness. But it is a fact that the death as a phenomenon needs to be rethought as it is inevitable milestone of a healthy life. For example, if you have just finished watching a new movie and in discussion with the friends about the movie you put forth your thoughts as, “Arrey accha tha but they could have changed the end. End accha nahi kiya”
On the similar lines a very well led healthy life cannot and should not have a pathetic end and hence wellness in death needs incorporation.
This is a psycho-spiritual phenomenon to fitness. We as human beings are constantly living under conscious or sub-conscious threat of death. This was very aptly described by Sheldon Solomon in 80s. that wellness in 21st century is to believe in the conspiracy that following a particular diet and exercise pattern will keep you away from aging and perpetually alive. This also means that, it is making us unprepared for this inevitable truth called death. This might catch you napping as what you are nurturing is a never die frame of mind. And hence, we start taking death as something evil and failure of the modern medicine or lifestyle. Even natural deaths due to aging are not very well accepted.
In global wellness summit 2019, Beth McGroarty stated the funda of “Death positive” movement where, better death is an integral part of well led life. One needs to understand that the death is the final destination and we need to remind ourselves of this fact with each passing day. Acceptance of death definitely makes one take rational decisions in day to day situations.
Presently there is a lot of research going on to find solutions to cure the death to extend the life and on the other hand the wellness industry trying to challenge the phenomenon of aging and dying.
I feel both processes are pathological and abnormal. People are also working on artificial intelligence to put one’s personalities in the computer brain to enjoy immortality. One really does not know how far and worthwhile this could be but, this all erupts from anxiety of death and this surely is not health. Dr. Deepak Chopra has stated that fear of death is one of the greatest stresses of human health and accepting our inevitable mortality is as essential as good sleep, exercise and good nutrition for our wellbeing.
What modern world is trying to achieve now is being stated in Hindu Vedanta philosophy way back in 13th century. Saint Dnyaneshwar Maharaj conquered and embraced death at a young age of 21 after completing his works on Dnyaneshwari. He took Sanjeevan Samadhi to contemplate death. His samadhi was a blissful way to part from the mortal body and was celebrated though was mourned by the bystanders. This made people think differently about death and varkari sampradaya still believe him to be alive. This scholar then talked about relationship of higher awareness and electromagnetic radiation. Thus, lived in perfect spiritual health.
There are different concepts emerging worldwide to create death awareness and not to live under the fear of one. There are death cafes, which was a formal movement started in the UK in 2011. Here people gather and talk freely about death and options of funerals over a cup of tea and cakes. This movement is also taking shape in India with about 5 of them in Mumbai, Bengaluru Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad. There are professional “death Doulas” (death coaches) who are professionally trained to nurse the dying and has emerged as a part of wellness in death.
Thus, we speak of spiritual health in this concept the scholars and the religions worldwide have preached and have dwelled in the quest of eternal bliss. Which in Hinduism and Jainism is “Moksha”. In Buddhism it is Nirvana and in Christianity it is Salvation. According to Hinduism attainment of a state where soul is liberated from the physical body and it comes out of the cycle rebirth is said to have attained the Moksha and this is pursuit of human life.
So, one has to die to gain this eternal bliss and we need to have a conscious death awareness and not fear or anxiety for death. This spiritual health of an individual is a state of mind and can be achieved if one is physically and psychologically fit. The social health of an individual also impacts the spiritual health.
To conclude friends, it is not only the diseases which can be our friends but the ultimate truth death and then moksha can be achieved via these disease friends who give us a reason to die. When it comes to me, I always feel, let me live with death awareness and not fear of the same. I don’t want to be immortal not physically nor spiritually. Something which is born has to end the only thing is, it should be with dignity and that is what is being “Death positive.”
To conclude I can say “one cannot conquer the death but, can conquer the fear of death and be what is called as MRUTYUNJAYA.
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