Death is a touchy topic with many. It's not always easy to know how to talk about dying. And it’s not only relatives and friends who might find it difficult to talk about what’s happening, those on their death beds too might find it hard to express what they are feeling or what they would like.
Social activist Maitreya Maitreyan, who celebrates his birthday today, posted a note on Facebook addressing his friends as to what should be done if he should contract a disease or meet with an accident that could be fatal.
In the ‘open letter’ Maitreya talks about organ donation, how he would like to be buried and how he would like to be mourned among others. Maitreya, who calls his birthday, “just another day on the calendar”, says over the phone: “I have led a fruitful life. I turn 68 today and have a foot in the grave. I wrote the letter as I did not want my family or friends to wonder what to do if I am mortally injured or when I die.” When asked why he thinks his letter seemed to have touched the hearts of many and is going viral, he says: “Maybe because I addressed it from my heart.”
Subject: What should be done if I contract a disease or have an accident, which could be mortal
Dear Friends,
68 years! I couldn't believe I have reached 68 years old, how time flies. I love life immensely for I am certain that it is the only ‘experience’ in the whole of the universe. Death brings the final curtain to this brief episode called personal life. I have already given the baton to the next generation and am watching the game from the side benches.
I love these billions of stars sparkling from horizon to horizon, the glorious sunrises and sunsets, the cool moon making me dizzy with love, the emerald green oceans, the roaring waves, the beautiful stretches of beaches, the misty blue mountains, the mysterious forest trails, the wet green grasses, the changing seasons, the gurgling streams, the chirping birds, the mooing cows, the incessant cicadas, the bustling crowds, the lonely deserts, the smelly streets, the delicious fruits, the magical mushrooms, the burning, intense love, the pain of separation, the heat of jealousy, oh! I couldn’t die thinking of anything life could cast over my path. Life is exhilarating, it is full to the brim. I couldn’t die and don’t want to die, I love life deeply and immensely.
Then, what all humans will invent in the future!! I couldn’t wait….they will travel to other planets, live under the oceans like fish, invent all types of robots to lift the common people from the dreary and heavy chores of mundane life, no more digging in the mines, work in the sewers or chemical industries. Clean cities of the future, electric cars and no carbon emitting exhausts. Food for all in all conditions, genetically suitable plants modified to suit the circumstances, answers to all genetic diseases, prosthetic implants of all sorts and varieties. Personal travelling machines without sound and making no pollution, no more accidents. They will make movies where as a viewer you can participate, will make music truly of the spheres...no, I couldn’t even dream of all the possibilities that can be achieved...what a brave new world it will be!. People free of mundane life will live peacefully without wars and violence, they will indulge in all creative endeavors where flights of fantasy will take you to, everyone truly will become the keeper of the other. Wealth concentrated in a few hands will have no meaning and hence happiness is no more chased; yes, it will be only adventure into space that will determine our life...all the dreams of the afterlife will be realized here. We may even conquer death…. Hmmm….yet I have to die because I am born too early....so let me prepare for the death waiting in the wings.
I had an in-depth discussion with my friend Dr. Santhosh Kumar on death and how as modern citizens we should prepare for death, never to leave our friends in the dark about what and how to act when death strikes imminently and decisively.
By accident or by fatal strokes if I die, I am giving permission to all doctors in all hospitals anywhere my body will be taken, will have the right to remove any part of my body, which can be of use to other humans. They don’t have to wait for any permission from my friends or relatives to ask. This is given solely because time in delay will render the organs useless, hence they have the right to remove it as early as possible.
An illness from which I have no return to normalcy, if two out of three doctors agree, they can stop all life supporting systems and start removing the useful organs from my body. All invasive operations can be avoided including the use of ventilators. I have lived fruitfully and I totally enjoyed living, there is no need to extend it without the quality I right now enjoy. I am totally satisfied with my life.
Till death comes, please administer painkilling drugs, don’t worry about the ‘consequences’ of the administered drugs. I don’t need or want to prolong life unnecessarily just to stay alive. I have done my bit and it is time to retire. Please help me die without pain, assist me to die, these are requests to doctors everywhere. Don’t waste useful, scarce resources to keep me alive, use it on young, healthy people. Life continues through the next generation, through the young, so there is no need for me to stay alive.
After removing useful organs, my body can be given to medical students to study, yes I know, in these times of virtual and augmented reality it is not much use, still if useful, please do the necessary. I know my body is food for other living beings, just as I was eating a lot of them, so don’t burn it but just put it in a pit deep enough, so that it won’t smell making trouble for others. Don’t cut a tree to make a box, just straight into a pit.
I would love someone to plant a tree there, but don’t make it conspicuous, any simple tree will suffice. Humans don’t want to die, so they live in myths of the afterlife and want to leave memorials all over the beautiful earth making it clutter. Please, my friends, never erect anything in memory of me either over the earth nor in the minds of the people. Just allow me to melt into the earth like all other living beings, like a drop of water joining the ocean, traceless...
With a lot of expectations that my friends and others will fulfill my requests, in hope and love let me disappear...
05-11-2020
Love
Maitreya
