(A summary of this article has already been posted in Tamil)
Hindu saints never fear death. They believe that the soul is eternal. Hindu holy book Bhagavad Gita says “Just as man casts off worn out clothes and puts on new ones, so also the soul casts off worn out bodies and enters others that are new”. The goal of every Hindu is to get out of the birth and death cycle and liberate oneself. Let us look at how great people died in India.
Tamil poet Bharati sings about how the greats met their death:
“-------------------it cannot do good
To pierce a painful sore; the great Buddha
Died of illness; Sankara the Brahmin-sage
Also died; so too Ramnuja great.
The Christ died crucified; Kannan
Was by an arrow killed; Rama by many praised,
Had a watery grave; in this world “ I ”
Will thrive deathless, for sure...........” (Translated by Dr T N Ramachandran)
The Hindu Book of Fables “Panchatantra” has a similar verse on the death of great names of ancient India:
A lion took the life of Panini
Grammar’s most famous name;
A tusker madly crushed sage Jaimini
Of metaphysic fame;
And Pingal, metric’s boast, was slaughtered by
A sea side crocodile;
What sense for scholarly attainments high
Have beasts besotted vile?
(Panchatantra ,translated by Arthur W Ryder)
1.Gautama Buddha died at the age of 80 of acute dysentery after eating at a disciple’s house. But there is another version about his death: When he was fed with pork it blocked the way and he stopped breathing.
2. Advaita philosopher Adi Shankara died at the age of 32. It is said that he disappeared after entering the Himalayan caves. Another version is that he attained Samadhi (died) in Kancheepuram near Chennai.
3. Proponent of Vishistadwaita ,Sri Ramanuja is believed to have lived for 120 years.
4.Another great philosopher Madhwa lived for 79 years.
5. Saivaite saint Thirugnana sambandhar- 16 years- walked in to a celestial light with his bride and wedding guests at Thirunallur immediately after the wedding.
6. Another great Saivaite Appar died at the age of 81. He remained a bachelor and died at Thiruppugalur.
7. One of the 12 Tamil Vaishnavaite saints Nammalvar died at the age of 35 years while he was meditating under a tree.
8. Another Vaishnavaite saint Andal entered sanctum sanctorum at Srirangam temple and the physical form dissolved.
9. Gurugovind sing was stabbed by Muslim servants and he, after a few days, entered a tent and sat in meditation. The tent went in flames.
10. Manikkavasagar merged with the divine light after many of his devotees did so.
11. Tiruppanalvar one of the 12 saints, also went in to flames and people believe he merged into divine light.
12. Great devotee of Lord Krishna ,Mira died at the age of 67. She survived all the persecutions.
13. Sri Ramana Maharishi (1879-1950) of Tiruvannamalai died of cancer.
14. Swami Vivekananda attained Samadhi at the age of 39.
15. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836-1886) died of throat cancer at the age of 50.His wife Sarada Devi died at the age of 67.
16. The greatest of the modern Tamil poets Subramanya Bharati (1882-1921) died at the age of 39 years after stomach infection and dysentery. A few months before this sickness, he was attacked by an elephant at a Chennai temple.
17. Tamil saint Nandanar, one of the 63 Shiva devotees known as Nayanamars, also went in flames.
18. Tamil saint Ramalinga Swamikal (1823-1874) known as Vallalar entered a room an disappeared. He was said to have merged into Light/jothy.
19. Tirumalai Naicker , the greatest of the Madurai Nayak Kings, went in to a tunnel and disappeared. Historians believe he was murdered.
20. Bogar ,one of the 18 Tamil Siddhas, went in to a cave at Palani and disappeared
21. Tamil saint Manikkavasagar’s disciples merged in to divine light/ jothy at Thirupperundurai
22. Tirumular, Tamil mystic and Siddha, had several magical powers. One of the eight great magical powers is to enter another one’s discarded body and live as long as one wants to live.He was believed to have done this and lived for 3000 years.
23. Trilinga swamikal of Kasi (also known as Benares and Varanasi) lived for 500 years – says Tamil saint Swami Chidbavanandar.
24. Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and her son Rajeev Gandhi were all assassinated.
25. Among the foreign leaders Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King were all shot dead in the USA.
26. Sri Sathya Saibaba (1926-2011), who had millions of followers around the world, had died of sickness on 24[SUP]th[/SUP] April 2011.
27. Netaji Subash Chandra Bose (1897-1945?) was said to have died in a plane accident in Taipei. But his followers believed he survived the plane accident and disappeared later.
*********************
also read: The Mysterious disappearance of Great Hindu Saints
