Prabjyot Kaur
SPNer
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru ji ki fateh
With heavy heart, I share with the Saadh Sangat that a dear friend of mine has been pronounced ‘brain-dead’ after a brain stroke that she suffered Friday. After seeing her on the life-support many questions arose in my mind. I will really appreciate if Saadh Sangat can exchange their views as per Gurmatt.
Is the ‘brain dead’ person actually dead as per Gurmatt? If dead, the life support machines are not prolonging anything. If brain death is real death then person's soul is no longer there, just the body. Humans have spiritual soul, the body and soul are not separate. We are "embodied souls"; the body and soul are intrinsically united. How can the body continue to breathe, the heart beat, and blood flow to the organs, keeping them healthy, if the person is not alive? Machines cannot do all this work: they can pump air into the person and can stimulate the heart to beat, but they cannot cause the exchange of oxygen to happen at the tissue level. Eventually, when the person does die, no machine in the world can keep this process going. Does this not tell us that there is something more to death than mere "brain death"?
How can we, as family-friends, help the soul while the body is still on life-support? Is crying around her pains her more? She can’t hear us, so doing Simran/paath around her is still assisting her soul?
With heavy heart, I share with the Saadh Sangat that a dear friend of mine has been pronounced ‘brain-dead’ after a brain stroke that she suffered Friday. After seeing her on the life-support many questions arose in my mind. I will really appreciate if Saadh Sangat can exchange their views as per Gurmatt.
Is the ‘brain dead’ person actually dead as per Gurmatt? If dead, the life support machines are not prolonging anything. If brain death is real death then person's soul is no longer there, just the body. Humans have spiritual soul, the body and soul are not separate. We are "embodied souls"; the body and soul are intrinsically united. How can the body continue to breathe, the heart beat, and blood flow to the organs, keeping them healthy, if the person is not alive? Machines cannot do all this work: they can pump air into the person and can stimulate the heart to beat, but they cannot cause the exchange of oxygen to happen at the tissue level. Eventually, when the person does die, no machine in the world can keep this process going. Does this not tell us that there is something more to death than mere "brain death"?
How can we, as family-friends, help the soul while the body is still on life-support? Is crying around her pains her more? She can’t hear us, so doing Simran/paath around her is still assisting her soul?
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