Namaskar Oct 2012

Book Review
Dialogue with Death
by Eknath Easwaran
When the gods want to
punish us, they grant us
our desires
Tia, a yoga teacher,
writes from India.
Reviewed by Tia Sinha
We begin to take life seriously when we take
death seriously. Otherwise, as Thoreau said, we
run the risk of discovering, when we come to die,
that we have never lived. Eknath Easwaran
Dialogue with Death is not really a book
on death and dying. It is a book about life
and living: what life is for, who we are as
human beings, why we are here.
Easwaran says the first part of our lives
merely sets the stage for the drama we were
born to play. This is the time for
experimentation, when we play with life’s
toys – money, pleasure, power,
possessions, prestige – and learn for
ourselves what they are worth.
Many never go beyond this phase. Nothing
in modern civilization, with its cult of
youth, encourages us to look further. But it
is only when we throw these toys away and
begin to search for answers to those
essential questions – Who am I? Why am I
here? What is life for? – that we really begin
to live.
For these are the years in which each of us
is meant to grow to our full stature as a
human being. These are the years when
profound personal discoveries and great
contributions are made, which can only
come when a person turns inward. For
those who take up this challenge, life holds
unique promise - the fulfillment of living
for a lofty goal, and of finally discovering
within themselves, a deathless presence.
Dialogue with Death is a commentary on
the Katha Upanishad. It also carries the late
Eknath Easwaran’s translation of the
Katha Upanishad into English.
The dialogue is between a teenager in
ancient India called Nachiketa, and the King
of Death, Yama, whom he approaches to
learn the meaning of life. Nachiketa was a
seeker of tremendous courage, keen
intellect and rare discernment. He could see
right through superficial behavior and the
passing pleasures of this world that
promised satisfaction but only brought
pain. He was willing to go all the way in
search of truth.
to liberation in a way that is easy to relate to
and often humorous. Only by learning to
meditate can we actually get inside the mind
and begin to clean things up. On the other
hand, when we live in a world of
appearances, we think appearance is the
whole of living. Easwaran also touches
upon the pitfalls encountered in
meditation and discusses ingenious ways
to overcome them.
Easwaran points out that we live in a sea
of media conditioning that reflects back to
us what we value, and the false message we
are saturated with is: “You are your body.
The human being is a purely physical
creature whose needs can be satisfied on the
physical level.”
The Katha Upanishad talks of the struggle
between preya (worldly desires stemming
from the false self) and shreya (aspiration to
discover our true divine nature).
Modern civilization believes the purpose of
the body is to enjoy pleasure. The idea
pleasure brings security is a cruel illusion.
The ancient Greeks had a saying: “When
the gods want to punish us, they grant us
our desires.” Where has the religion of
pleasure taken us? Has there ever been a
time in history when it was followed with
greater fervor? Yet there has never been a
time such as now when human beings felt
more alienated, more desolate, more cut
off from those around them. For the same
force that fulfills man’s desires, points out
Easwaran, brings also all the fruits of
selfish craving: loneliness, alienation,
broken relationships, the inability to love.
It is of utmost importance, therefore, that
we have some control over what we desire,
and the key to desire is will.
Real higher education, according to
Easwaran, should develop the higher
mind. It should teach us how to choose,
how to master desires and strengthen the
will, how to protect the mind from
insecurity and the body from stress.
Instead, the young still leave universities
essentially the same as they were when they
arrived – the will no stronger, vision no
clearer and no better idea of how to
transform anger into compassion and
hatred into love.
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Peppered with examples from modern
living, this book lays down the entire path
Dialogue with Death is eminently readable
and thought provoking.