What is death ?

The Upanishadic story of boy Nachiketa that we started with, opened up a fundamental question, namely “what happens when we die?”. 

Actually, that was only a pretext. The main aim of this story, like all stories in the Upanishads, is to talk about ultimate truth and ways to attain that truth. But let us move systematically to that end, as the Upanishad does.

First let us understand what exactly is death.

Most of us assume that when someone stops breathing, he or she is dead. Some, a bit more informed, feel the pulse or heartbeat before declaring someone to be dead. If both breathing as well as heartbeat have stopped, we conclude that the person is dead.

But people who are familiar with modern medical science know that, it is actually the brain that has to stop, to conclude that someone is dead. If the brain has stopped functioning, the person is dead for sure.

If the brain is still functioning and breathing and heart beat have stopped momentarily, it is possible to keep the person alive by putting that person on a ventilator for example. Of course, this has to be done within a safe time limit.

But if the brain itself has stopped functioning, there is no way the person can be kept alive.

So, it is the brain functioning ,or rather stoppage of it, is actually death?

Not really, there are cases when some one who is kept alive for days or even years artificially never returns to normalcy. His body may be alive in terms of breathing, pulse and some brain activity, but he is dead for all practical purposes, irrevocably so.

So what exactly is death?

The Upanishad says that

“It is not the breathing or the heart beat that keeps the person alive. They are just some signs of being alive or at best they are the means to sustain life. It is the force that operates behind these mechanisms that actually keeps one alive. And when that force ceases to function, the person is dead for sure.”

What is that force that keeps us alive? Or what actually is death?

Let us discuss that in the next episode.

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A story of Nachiketa from Katha Upanishad, which is part of Yajur Veda. Upanishads are concluding parts of ancient Indian Vedic scriptures believed to be at least 5000 years old. The interpretation is by Dr.King (Copyright © 2019 Dr. King).