“Everybody dies as he lives.”

I’ve been reading the classic book “I Am That” by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. It’s full of spiritual conversations and insights, such as this sentence which caught my eye:

“Everybody dies as he lives.”

I’ve read that poignant line over and over because at first, it seemed almost like a warning, especially to those who may fear death. But there is nothing to fear because there is no death.

But for those bodyminds for whom physical death feels inevitably real, if we could choose, how else would anyone prefer to end their physical life, other than by simply being in the present moment?

Nisargadatta tells the story of how his guru’s guru died. This particular guru, Bhausaheb Maharaj, announced his impending death to his followers and stopped eating. He lived his life as usual and died days later in between claps as he sang his prayers. “Just like that, between two movements, like a blown-out candle,” Nisargadatta says.

“Everybody dies as he lives,” he continues. “I am not afraid of death, because I am not afraid of life. I live a happy life and shall die a happy death. Misery is to be born, not to die. All depends how you look at it.”

Yes, it all depends on how you look at it, and if you look for it.

Every medium taught the CERT method of providing evidence will have been coached to look for how the spirit person passed. Depending on our clairs, we may see a deathbed scene or an accident, get a feeling within ourselves for a health condition, hear the spirit communicator’s own words, or “just know” the reason.

I’ve found this ask frustrating because I’m not often given the cause of death by my spirit communicators. I don’t seek it, as that’s not how I see mediumship. Mediumship readings are loving, joyful reunions in present awareness. It’s about life: the eternal life we all share.

But the cause of death is what the sitter may vividly remember about the communicator. Once we’re familiar with our loved one’s passing, sadly it’s cemented into our memories as the most recent event associated with them.

For example, after I learned that a co-worker of mine hanged himself, that information was indelibly linked to my memory of him. Now, when I apply the Maharaj’s viewpoint, “Everybody dies as he lives,” I see the relevance of suicide to this former co-worker’s self-destructive behavior late in his life, behavior that wasn’t apparent at the time we worked together.

If a medium brought through this man’s energy to me in a reading and spoke of self-destructive behavior, I wouldn’t be able to accept it, unless it was put into the context of how he died. However, often mediums sense a suicide and bring up depression, or whatever their thinking minds associate with ending one’s life.

As mediums, we should be open to receiving detailed information about the communicator’s death, but personally, I wouldn’t focus on it for too long unless that is the communicator’s wish. After getting such information, instead of making assumptions, I might be guided to ask, “How was your death relevant to the way you lived your life? Did your body die as it lived?”

Be aware that the answer may resonate deeply with the recipient, but perhaps only later after they connect the dots. Always pass along information in the way the communicator speaks, through their emotions, in the current moment.

As mediums, we shouldn’t be concerned with how the content is accepted by the sitter because the intricate “how” of other people's’ lives is never meant for the medium to comprehend. Ideally, our purpose is to abide with the spirit energy and pass it along, receive more information, and pass it along, continuously like ocean waves until the communication comes to its natural close.

“Just as every wave subsides into the ocean,” Nisargadatta said, “ So does every moment return to its source.”