Tulsi, Holy Water and prayers: Hindu tools for the dying

[Note: This is part of a series, told in first-person by local faith leaders, illuminating the rituals and traditions around dying.]

This is an edited version of a conversation Liisa Ogburn had with Dr. Ganga Dhar Sharma and his wife Mrs. Saroj Sharma the day after their 70th wedding anniversary, where they were awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by Governor Roy Cooper. They founded the Hindu Society of NC in 1976.

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When did I first visit someone who was dying? It was 1973. An NCSU professor told Dr. Sawhney, before I die and in my funeral, I want to listen to the Bhagavad Gita. The Bhagavad Gita is a collection of words from the Bhagwan, our God. So those words are very important. If you say or listen to the words as you are dying, they can help you have a smooth transition. At that time, there was no temple in Raleigh.

I don’t know how many visits I have made to the dying since then. So many.

When I visit someone who is dying, I take several things with me. We have a river in India called the Ganges—it is the source of our holy water. We put a few drops of holy water in the mouth because we believe, if they get holy water, then they may get salvation (what we call “Moksha”). Second, we put one leaf of a plant called Tulsi on the tongue. Tulsi is the name of the wife of Lord Vishna. We also offer “Sloka,” or a prayer to God, asking to please help the person pass away peacefully. If someone receives Tulsi and holy water while we offer prayers, then there is a good chance he or she will get Moksha.

I remember a case where I went to visit someone in the hospital. He had been trying to die, his daughter told me, but couldn’t.

I gave him Ganges and Tulsi and then told him, “say Narayan.” You see, Narayan is another name of our lord, just like your Lord Jesus. And Vishnu is another name. I told him to say it five times with me. He could not physically say it, but I believe he was saying it internally. I spoke it slowly with him. “Narayan, Narayan, Narayan, Narayan, Narayan.” And then afterwards, I was out in the hall about to go down the stairs and his daughter came out and told me her father had just died. I said to her, “if he dies at this time with the name of our God on his lips, then he will get Moksha. He will go straight to heaven.

We read the (Bhagavad) Gita before the person dies, during, and then afterwards in the house for thirteen days, every day. We read from the eighth chapter when they are alive, and then after they have died, the thirteenth chapter.

And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body remembering Me alone at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt. -B.G. 8.5

I’ve come to be able to recognize a look on a person’s face when they are going to die. You can see it.

After the death, we light a small lamp on the body, the same lamp we lit when they were first born and also when they married. In this way, it comes full circle.

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Read these other first-person accounts of different faith traditions:

"Becoming the Angel of Death" (Christian Account)

"It's Time" (Jewish Account)

"Souls in Transition--No Before, No After" (Buddhist Account)