Demystifying Death

Demystifying Death argues that we can only live and understand life fully by accepting that death is inevitable and taking it consciously into account in how we live. The author builds his case on the idea that the universe runs on duality. Every entity and phenomenon is subject to it without exception, and a thing is only meaningful in relation to its opposite, as victory is meaningful only in relation to defeat. In the same way, death is hard to grasp until life is understood.

To accept life and death, the author says, we must first understand Nature, as it is loosely called, and its essential character. It is objective and impartial, treats everyone equally, keeps evolving, and is ruthless, forever creating and destroying while trying to preserve its pristine state. From this he concludes that Nature removes the old and decrepit and brings in the fresh and young, so death should be seen simply as the replacement of old by new. Every living thing Nature creates must work in order to survive and must eventually perish.

Vinod Malhotra retired from the Indian Administrative Service after a career of thirty-eight years, during which he headed several public sector organisations. He holds an MBA from the University of Leeds. Alongside his career he studied the Bhagavad Gita, and he has sought to make it accessible to readers, seeing it as one of very few books anywhere that join thought and action so well. His other works include an inquiry into the cause of genes and a study of the all-pervasive concept of cosmic energy.