When we are told often to decide what we want in life, maybe we should decide how our death should be too. Though death is beyond our jurisdiction, the soul in us goes a long way to decide if we stay longer or go. For instance, when the family of a bedridden man was trying their best to keep him alive by consulting with Agathiyar in the Nadi, he eventually died. The relatives began to belittle Agathiyar and told the family who till this day are faithful to him that they had wasted their time on believing in Agathiyar and carrying out the remedies he gave. Never is there a Nadi reading for the dead but Agathiyar made an exception and asked the family what should he do? When he had asked them to relay the message that he stay strong while Agathiyar and the family carry out the remedies that obviously need time to bring the desired changes, the man or rather his soul had given up. Agathiyar had to listen to his soul.
In coming to a devotee Agathiyar asked her soul what it desired. She opted to stay longer. But she is in misery. When the mother of a newborn came to Agathiyar to help save her child, Ma Kali asked Agathiyar if he was sure he wanted to save the child. He is a healthy toddler running around now. When a mother sought Shirdi Sai's help in saving her child, he kept quiet. Once she went away his followers asked Baba why he did not help her. Baba answered that the soul was already born elsewhere and asked the followers who was to take responsibility if he saved this child.
When my mother was breathing her last, Agathiyar told us not to prolong these moments. He asked that she be discharged to pass away peacefully. He told us that a birth was already waiting for her. My mother had prepared well ahead for her death, saving whatever money she received from her children to take care of her last funeral rites. She wanted her body to be cremated. But as the electric crematoriums in the vicinity were fully booked she was placed on logs as in the the traditional funeral pyres. Her last words to us were that she was going to sleep.
Supramania Swami had told me he was leaving the mortal frame when he was 76. He had even written in his diary the exact date and manner in which to discharge his body. I guess only us who are caught in the pleasures of life are caught by surprise and battle to stay on longer. Those who are saints are prepared to leave at the earliest opportunity.
If the divine decides to prolong one's life should not he or she alter his or her life after he or she comes back from a near-death experience or is saved? Agathiyar asked us what use would it be to him personally and to society if he or she was going to go about his daily routine as before the life-saving moment? One should repent and reboot his or her life by giving himself/herself to the divine and mankind this time around. This is a second chance given. For others, they have to come back in another birth to make it good. I had a neighbor who upon discovering that she had cancer, being a Buddhist, began to serve others through the community programs. Let us make good use of the precious moments given to us to live a life fully.