Instructions from Adi Da Samraj on Serving the Dying Process

Bhagavan Adi Da's Instruction on assisting the dying process has opened me to a level of experience in life that I deeply value. I have had the honor of numerous times offering spiritual guidance and psychic support to both family members and friends in their death processes, both during their approach to death, and after the physical death has occurred. Click here to read my account of some of these occasions.

In the excerpt below, Avatar Adi Da responds to a woman who asks how she can help her mother in her dying process.

"How to Serve the Dying Person" from Easy Death

AVATAR ADI DA SAMRAJ: You should do for your mother all the things that I recommend and that you know to do in the company of someone who is dying. . . .

You should speak to her, even if she does not speak to you, and give her the feeling that there is nothing negative between you. If there has been anything negative between you in the past, you should, through your conversation, make it clear to her that you forgive her and that you feel forgiven by her. Make completely clear to her that you no longer feel any limitations in your relationship.

If you like, you can read to her what I have Communicated about the process of death and about simply surrendering — that she should have no fear that death will destroy her.

She should know that death is simply a transition into other experiences that also pass, that (eventually) she may resume a human existence and that, as she passes through these stages of experience after she leaves this world, she will be given help.

It is true that, after your death, people come to help you — telling you where you are and what is happening to you — just as people do in this realm. Try to bring to her a sense of the reality of her situation — not the dismal downtown expectation that "when you're dead, you're dead", because that view is completely untrue and worldly and a terrible vision.

When the present body becomes too weak to go on, it is quite naturally abandoned, but the process of abandoning the body is not the destruction of the individual being. Light cannot be destroyed. Light is always conserved. Because human beings are essentially forms of Light, they continue to exist after death — but they also continue to undergo transformations.

The purpose of your existence is to surrender to the Divine Conscious Light, until (instead of realizing only the changes and the transformations) you Most Perfectly Realize the Divine Conscious Light Itself.

Your mother, then, should surrender to the One Who is Living her, knowing that the Divine Being Is Light and Love and Fullness and Happiness and Purpose and Creative Will — and she should let herself be Carried without fear from this world by that Great Influence.

______________________________________________________________________________


Adi Da Samraj gave the following instructions on preparation for, and serving the dying process. Each individual's ability to surrender to the Divine at death will either be enhanced or limited to the degree they are able to surrender to the Divine Love-Bliss-Consciousness while alive. This is one of the reasons why it is so important that our orientation in life is to find an authentic spiritual path and learn to live it with strength.

Click on the links to read further on each of the following points.

1. If anyone has received advance notice of the approach of death, such as receiving a terminal diagnosis, one should simplify all aspects of their life as quickly as possible, and begin to orient themselves to a life of spiritual practice and contemplation.

2. As people approach death, they should be assisted to handle business and resolve relationships with others so they are free to participate in the necessary process of surrender at death. They should be given instruction in how to participate in the dying process according to their beliefs.

3. Adi Da Samraj discouraged extraordinary, life-prolonging measures (such as respirators and feeding tubes, for example) for someone who is terminally ill.

4. Death is a process, not just a moment in time. It takes time for the etheric body(of energy) to completely separate from the gross physical body. During this time, the body should be kept undisturbed to encourage complete release from the physical. The most important time for the body to be undisturbed is the first two to three hours after death. After this time the body may be moved to a place where a vigil will be held, ideally for three days.

5. A vigil of service is recommended to serve the transition of the one who has died. This assists them to fully release identification with and attachment to the body and mind, all his or her relations, friends, possessions and even all of this conditional world.

6. The purpose of the vigil is to assist release, so any form of holding onto, or clinging to the deceased as they once were, should be discouraged. Instead encourage the one in the midst of the dying process to move on with the necessary transition. People who are grieving heavily should do so away from the body, and be well supported by those who are close to them.

7. After three days the body should be cremated. This further serves the release of attachment to the physical body. Ashes should them be scattered (preferably in moving water).

These summary points are taken from "Death Is a Living Process" which is a handbook for practitioners of the Way of Adidam, and is based on the Wisdom Teaching of the Ruchira Avatar, Adi Da Samraj.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Go to my Death and Dying page

Return from Serving the Dying Process to Home Page

Return to the top of The Dying Process page