Dying to be me: By Anita Moorjani
There was once a time in my life when I used to read 10-20 books a month on an average. Finishing 2 or 3 books in a day was a frequent feature. I had certain questions about life as a subjective phenomena and I needed an answer for them badly. This quest took me to a wide spectrum. From शेखर - एक जीवनी n नदी के द्वीप to erstwhile Paulo Coelho!...From Sigmund Freud n Erich Bern to M Scott Peck....from J L Nehru n Will Durant to Straight up to Spinoza..and finally from Paramhans Yoganand, Osho to Shri Shri....I tried to find solace and in the process got into Yoga and Spirituality. But the beauty is I didn't find any answers...instead the questions dropped themselves ! Life is to be lived and not to be understood! That's what came to me as a realization. As a consequence..hardly 4 or 5 books are read by me over an year these days. Some books beckon..as if they would love to come to me as much as I would love to go through them. One such book I finished yesterday night. Dying to be me by Anita Moorjani. Oh! What a wonderful book. It's her account on her NDE (Near Death Experience) when as a final stage cancer patient she went into coma and experienced "Dying" first hand! Oh! What a wonderful expression! Cogent, clear and free of any dogma whatsoever. Anita tells you lucidly exactly how the bigger picture is. How you are transformed fundamentally when you have tasted the energy in the other(?) realm. The real dimension...more real than our current dimension which we call life. Anita explains, without terrifying or sensationalizing how extremely loving , timeless, unconditional n all encompassing the reality is. I immediately recalled the word द्विज (the twice born) ..our philosophy says the real Brahmin is one who has reborn in this very life..that is one who has experienced death( through yoga) while living and thus reborn. I was also reminded of Baba Gorakhnath's famous quote म रौ हे जोगी मरौ, मरन है मीठा । तिस मरणी मर दीठो, जिस मरणी गोरष मर दीठा See the death the way Gorakh has seen.. It's joyful beyond your wildest expectations!
When Anita came back she was 'sorted', full of joy and hope personified. Doctors had in fact declared her 'over' already so her coming back was a miracle in itself. However what was truly spectacular was that the cancerous tumours spread all over her body simply vanished within a weeks time leaving no traces whatsoever. How could this be? People asked Anita , " what is that one fundamental change that you have exexperience that has brought you healing of this nature? ". Anita replied, " prior to my NDE, 'fear' was the centre from where I operated. However, after NDE,' Unconditional joy' is what drives me. That has brought all the change.
Please mind the word 'unconditional ' here. 80% of us are driven by fear as a motivator in life. Balance 20% find joy but that is also a conditional joy. As a result by n large we remain entangled. The real freedom is unconditional joy, which if you have experienced even once changes you forever. I think that is the reason why Buddha said, " enlightenment is end to all your sufferings".
Anyway, the final message from Anita is , " love yourself unconditionally and express yourself fearlessly!". And you get thoroughly convinced with this by the time you finish the book.
Highly recommended to all the fellow seekers. 🙆
There was once a time in my life when I used to read 10-20 books a month on an average. Finishing 2 or 3 books in a day was a frequent feature. I had certain questions about life as a subjective phenomena and I needed an answer for them badly. This quest took me to a wide spectrum. From शेखर - एक जीवनी n नदी के द्वीप to erstwhile Paulo Coelho!...From Sigmund Freud n Erich Bern to M Scott Peck....from J L Nehru n Will Durant to Straight up to Spinoza..and finally from Paramhans Yoganand, Osho to Shri Shri....I tried to find solace and in the process got into Yoga and Spirituality. But the beauty is I didn't find any answers...instead the questions dropped themselves ! Life is to be lived and not to be understood! That's what came to me as a realization. As a consequence..hardly 4 or 5 books are read by me over an year these days. Some books beckon..as if they would love to come to me as much as I would love to go through them. One such book I finished yesterday night. Dying to be me by Anita Moorjani. Oh! What a wonderful book. It's her account on her NDE (Near Death Experience) when as a final stage cancer patient she went into coma and experienced "Dying" first hand! Oh! What a wonderful expression! Cogent, clear and free of any dogma whatsoever. Anita tells you lucidly exactly how the bigger picture is. How you are transformed fundamentally when you have tasted the energy in the other(?) realm. The real dimension...more real than our current dimension which we call life. Anita explains, without terrifying or sensationalizing how extremely loving , timeless, unconditional n all encompassing the reality is. I immediately recalled the word द्विज (the twice born) ..our philosophy says the real Brahmin is one who has reborn in this very life..that is one who has experienced death( through yoga) while living and thus reborn. I was also reminded of Baba Gorakhnath's famous quote म रौ हे जोगी मरौ, मरन है मीठा । तिस मरणी मर दीठो, जिस मरणी गोरष मर दीठा See the death the way Gorakh has seen.. It's joyful beyond your wildest expectations!
When Anita came back she was 'sorted', full of joy and hope personified. Doctors had in fact declared her 'over' already so her coming back was a miracle in itself. However what was truly spectacular was that the cancerous tumours spread all over her body simply vanished within a weeks time leaving no traces whatsoever. How could this be? People asked Anita , " what is that one fundamental change that you have exexperience that has brought you healing of this nature? ". Anita replied, " prior to my NDE, 'fear' was the centre from where I operated. However, after NDE,' Unconditional joy' is what drives me. That has brought all the change.
Please mind the word 'unconditional ' here. 80% of us are driven by fear as a motivator in life. Balance 20% find joy but that is also a conditional joy. As a result by n large we remain entangled. The real freedom is unconditional joy, which if you have experienced even once changes you forever. I think that is the reason why Buddha said, " enlightenment is end to all your sufferings".
Anyway, the final message from Anita is , " love yourself unconditionally and express yourself fearlessly!". And you get thoroughly convinced with this by the time you finish the book.
Highly recommended to all the fellow seekers. 🙆
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