‘Death and Awareness’ book review: Samyak views life with the taste of science

‘Death and Awareness’ by Dr Mohan Prasad Joshi contains one hundred poems that worship awareness, and invoke death to teach the mystery of mindful living. In every poem, one can symbolize that a deep-meditative sage, who has acknowledged his future way precisely, is inspecting every incident consciously. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the book is a collection of hymns of awakened spirits that establishes the correlation between awareness and death. As many poems are enriched with philosophies, a reader needs a philosophic mindset to comprehend them.

The poet believes that theories and techniques bring no peace but create an illusion in the minds. The reality/ truth that we call is the immediacy of the moment. True awareness is when we look at ourselves inward and realize we are inhaling and exhaling. It is an actual self-realization. This miracle can happen unknowingly anywhere, but we should sense it. The days we decide to listen to the true self, we feel we are living our purpose and honoring our true nature. ‘You are two sides’ and ‘Rise’ are some of the prominent poems that expound awareness significantly. 

The poet says that we should live in the present and know ourselves. Each day upon waking we have a choice to be human beings or to be a caterpillar. Humans should not get jailed by the past and haunted by the ghost-like future. He believes blissfulness and the feeling of godliness are always in the present. Even enlightenment is in the present because enlightenment is not the goal. He further supposes that life is a false dream. As Heraclitus says ‘No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man,’ one cannot live in the moment twice. 

Once this acceptance arises in the heart, it becomes clear that living in the past and the future is a huge mistake. The poems ‘Why Wait,’ ‘Rise,’ ‘This and next rock n Roll’ and ‘Live Fully while Alive’ are prominent poems under the philosophic realm of living in the present.

Human beings have millions of possibilities. The poet believes our physical existence is a mysterious gateway that can transcend ourselves. In his words, ‘just like dispersed pollen makes thousands of flowers bloom, we have those potentials too.’ However, we are in such a hurry that we have already missed the opportunities to sense them. Being shielded by our materialistic virtue, we all want one another upon the achievement of one. This has pushed us into the vicious cycle of craving. He believes that to let our potential bloom, it needs adequate space. 

Thus, we must evade our endless thirst to see a new version of ourselves. That is the true purpose of human beings in the world, and we also have this possibility. Poems ‘Expound a new definition,’ ‘Antivirus Thoughts’ and ‘Miles and Miles’ are some of the poems under this theme.

Everything in the universe is a Guru because one can learn something from it. For example, the Shrimad Bhagavat narrates the story of the deity Dattatreya who accumulated knowledge from the 24 Gurus. The poet looks upon many things for lessons. The more we subtly observe ourselves, the more we find everything livable. He believes that we all have the same strings despite our different forms that provide a distinguished approach to our journey of awareness. 

Above all, death is a great guru that teaches us the fragility of our existence and helps erase our toxic memories. Some representative poems in this category are ‘Lost my reference Point,’ ‘A River’s Journey,’ ‘Everything is Alive,’ and ‘Despite Differences’ are some of the poems that speak the heart of the poet.

The poet shows a correlation between death and awareness. Death is inevitable, and this is the truth. Many of us are afraid of death. However, he stands out differently in the case of death. The poet is quite conscious of it and asks death to be his friend. He profoundly believes acceptance of death's inevitability leads human beings to consciousness and awareness escorts humans to liberation.  He further writes that death is not that furious, horrible, or dark- ending. 

Death becomes a celebration when there is awareness. We all are in all-time through several memories from many generations in the form of DNA that hurdle our journey of consciousness. Death is the only tool that robustly cleanses and completes us. If one remains awake consistently, s/he will admire that voidness. ‘The Letter from Death,’ ‘The Art of Dying’ and ‘Be Friend of Mine' are prominent examples of glorification of death. 

As a reader, I have found the smooth writing style in poems. He sings the songs of awareness and death with the melodious flute of consciousness. Unlike the contemporary writers and poets, he has a different taste in poetry. He does not have lamentation, grievance, or complaints but has glorification of every little thing. Being inspired by the Samyak view, he accepts the lively grandeur of nature. In some poems, there is the taste of science. It feels like each poem is a masterpiece itself. Overall, the poet is successful in making us wake up from deep sleep transcending our minds.