How To Recognise A Jivanmukta Sri Swami Sivananda It is very difficult to judge a Jivanmukta. A Shakespeare only can understand a Shakespeare. A Jesus only can understand a Jesus. A man of experience who has mixed with Sadhus and Sannyasins and lived with them for a number of years may arrive at certain definite conclusions and infer something. But he may or may not be accurate. Only a Jivanmukta with his eye of intuition (Divya Drishti) can directly see and understand a Jivanmukta. A Sadhu may be physically nude. He may not keep anything with him. He may use his hands as the begging bowl and live underneath a tree. He may live in a forest. Yet he may be the greatest scoundrel; he may be the most worldly minded man with internal and external attachments. He may dance in joy when he gets an eight-anna piece for his opium-smoking. His mind may be full of distractions and disturbances. Whereas a man may live in the bustle of a town or city. He may lead the life of a Big Babu. He may wear fashionable dress. He may eat dainties. Yet he may have the least attachment and craving for anything. Sri Ramanuja lived amidst luxuries. He preached a life of enjoyment. Raja Janaka had his royal pleasures. And yet he said: “My Wealth is boundless, yet I have nothing. Even if the whole of Mithila were burnt to ashes nothing of mine will be burnt.” Householders make wrong judgments in deciding the nature of Jivanmukta. They take into consideration only the external conditions of a Jivanmukta. Even educated people commit mistakes in this regard. One cannot estimate the advancement of a Jivanmukta by a simple casual talk for an hour or two. One has to live with him for a long time and then alone one will be able to draw some accurate conclusions. There had been instances of realised persons who had elephants, horses and all royal paraphernalia without being affected in the least by these external objects. They had always Jnana Nishta and Svaroopa Stithi (established in knowledge of Brahman) amidst multifarious activities. This is the integral development. This is the gist of the Bhagvad Gita. This is the central teaching of Lord Krishna. What is wanted is mental nudity. Jnana is purely an internal state. The external marks are no sure criterion. So do not look into the external things of a Jivanmukta. A man may take any kind of food, he may dress in any way he likes, he may part his hair in any manner he finds it convenient. These are all non-essentials. Always look into his internal mental state. Do not judge a man by his Siddhis (psychic powers). Another great blunder people generally commit is that they judge the enlightenment of Jivanmuktas by the Siddhis they display. Siddhis are side-lights. They are invitation from Devatas. They have nothing to do with Atmic realisation. A Sadhu may manifest Siddhis due to strong passions and intense desires, and if that be the case he is undoubtedly a big householder only. But this does not mean that a person manifesting Siddhis is not a Jivanmukta. There are several instances of such persons who have exhibited several Siddhis purely for the elevation and uplift of the world, but never for selfish motives. The ways of a Jnani are mysterious. Many do not recognise a Jivanmukta. Real aspirants know him at once without any difficulty. They follow him. They live in close contact with him. He who has mastery over the mind and Indriyas, he who always dwells on the inner Atman is the real Jivanmukta, Nityamukta, a great master, the real hero indeed. He who is calm, collect, controlled and contented, he who dwells in solitude, he who has given up seeking pleasure outside in sensual objects but seeks bliss and peace inwardly in Atman that shines in the chambers of the heart by constant and intense meditation after withdrawing the Indriyas, is really a Jivanmukta. Such a man must be adored. He who comes in contact with such a person is a blessed soul indeed. Verily this man also will be spiritualised and elevated quickly. A Jivanmukta is the Sun of Suns, the Light of lights. Sun shines only during day. But the Jivanmukta shines day and night. Glory, glory to such awakened inspired high souls! May their blessings be upon us all. The great soul who does not offend anybody in thought, words or deed, and who is not hurt even a bit by the taunts, censures, insults and injuries by others is the real Jivanmukta. He who dwells or lives in the Supreme Self only, he who delights and rejoices within the Atman cannot hurt others and cannot be hurt by others. He who is homeless, who is free from all cravings, yearnings, longings, passions, desires, love of society, lustful feeling, and who calls nothing his own is really a Jivanmukta, who has attained freedom or emancipation from births and deaths. Hail, hail to such a great Mahatma! He who is above good and evil, virtue and vice, who has transcended the mind and seed body (Anandamaya Kosha or Karana Sarira) who has knowledge of the Vedas and wisdom of the Self, who finds no faults in others, who is free from all kinds of doubts, who bears reproaches and insults, who never gets angry even under extreme provocations, who is always gentle and mild, and who always speaks the truth and utters sweet and instructive words is really a Jivanmukta. He who has broken all ties, who has subdued all Indriyas, who is free from all kinds of temptations, who has renounced Trishna, Vasana, Kamana and egoism and who is dwelling in Atman and Atman alone is the greatest of all men. He is a Jivanmukta. Even Indra and other Devas are envious of such an exalted personage. Even Lord Vishnu follows the feet of such a great saint to

The Basis of Success in all Human Endeavours Sri Swami Chidananda Introduction I want to bring to you a little message that holds the central secrets of success in attaining the goal of life. As a matter of fact, it contains the basis of success in all human endeavours, no matter in which area it might be. An effort will succeed if these secrets are utilised–even if the effort is pointed in the wrong direction. If you want to become the Al Capone of the underworld and shine as the Number One Crook, if you apply this method you are bound to succeed! If you apply it in any direction, it will give you success. However, we are more concerned about using this to find success in our spiritual life than we are in becoming Number One Crook! Two great laws are at the back of this secret, and the first one is: What you think, that you become. This is a universal law. You should always ceaselessly affirm that which you want to become, and then one day you will end up becoming that. This law is inevitable and nothing can hold it back. The second great law is: Persistent effort in any one direction overcomes all obstacles. No obstacle can withstand the assault of persistent effort. That is why in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, when Arjuna tells Krishna that it is impossible to control the mind, Krishna replies that if one keeps on persisting in this effort, one will overcome, and the mind will be subdued. Persistence overcomes all obstacles and ultimately reaches its goal. Whatever it is you are pursuing, you will get it with persistent effort. The first law is once again: what you think, that you become. Think you are good for nothing, and you become good for nothing. But, how could you really be good for nothing? It is an insult to God to think that you are good for nothing. Maybe your goodness is temporarily covered up, but it is in fact there. If you think that you have got the potential for everything beautiful, then you will become that. Think like God, and you will become like God. Think like a sinner, and you will become like that. Think that you are unhealthy and weak, and you will always be in a mess regarding health. Think that you are full of health and strength, and you will end up becoming healthy. Because you are thinking that way, those conditions become actualised. This is the law that Vedanta invokes in its approach. It rejects the assumption that you are only this conglomeration of flesh, bones and organs. It asserts that you are the Atman–ever-pure, ever-perfect and divine. At any stage, if there is a wave of anger or jealousy, you assert that you are not this anger or jealousy. You have nothing to do with it, for you are the Atman, which is always full of peace, joy and light. Reject the different conditions of mind and intellect, and affirm your all-full divine spiritual nature. If you are always fearful of things, you will attract to yourself conditions of fear. Have firm trust in God, and all conditions will correct themselves. They come and then they go when you do not respond to them. You do not allow them to hold onto you, because you have made yourself a centre of faith and fearlessness. This great law very much governs your entire life. Invoke this law and think of what you want to become. “I am the Atman; I am a child of God; I am shining with divine radiant spirit.” These thoughts should occupy your mind day and night, waking, dreaming and sleeping. We must affirm this truth by repeating it, visualising it in our mind, writing it down, and by practising it. We must try to bring this feeling into our daily lives–even in the midst of the most adverse conditions. You must persist in being what you are. This great law is the secret of success in your spiritual life. This practice requires no previous background, so start right now from where you are. One day success and fulfilment will be yours. The Law of Persistence The second great law is, once again, that persistent effort overcomes all obstacles. As an example, I could describe a situation found at the public water taps in rural India. The entire locality has to fetch its water only from that one tap, because there is no proper water supply in most parts of the country. Sometimes these taps go out of order and cannot be completely closed, and the faucet keeps dripping on the granite stone, and a hole is made in the stone just from the accumulated effect of these drops of water! There is another phenomenon observed with the wells used in India. When the rope is used to pull the bucket up out of a well, the rope rubs against a granite slab that serves as the wall of the well. After a few years, the constant rubbing of the rope causes a groove to be formed in the granite. Taking this as an example, one can say that nothing can withstand the power of persistent effort. No matter how difficult or how slow the process seems, don’t despair, and be sure to keep on persisting. Bondage does not easily give way, but one must continuously keep trying to get free of it. One day it will give way. Long, long ago in ancient India the forest-dwelling sages had to make a fire sacrifice every day. They did not have matches, so the only way to have fire available whenever they wanted it was to have the fire burning twenty-four hours a day. However, on very special occasions they did not make use of this ordinary fire, and a new fire needed to be started and used specifically for that purpose. To start the fire, they used a block of heavy wood with

Thoughts To Ponder Sri Swami Shivapremananda Most of us are creatures of beliefs that are convenient to justify our desires and longings, allay the basic fears and uncertainties, and fulfill a sense of belonging. Their usefulness is to the extent they help to make us better human beings and bring a deeper meaning to our being alive. Lofty words like altruism, transcendental truth, God, eternal love are only indicative of how inadequate our life is and how insecure our identity in relationship. Their ability to lift our spirit is in their translation as duty, honour, feeling for and understanding of each other. Philosophy is meant to form principles and shape criteria. If you have no principles then you have no philosophy. Religion is meant to promote spiritual fellowship among people, not merely within a particular faith. This is possible only through an understanding heart and freedom from prejudice. The bigot can never be religious, much less spiritual. Justice is meant to promote respect for the rule of law, and a law can be respected only when it gives equal legal protection to all, while striving to promote mutual responsibility for social security and welfare. Moral norms are not merely social habits but spiritual ligaments in the body of society and represent not just the outlines of social behaviour but are meant to appeal to the better side of human nature. They are not merely to hold people together through a balance of self-interest but to sustain spiritual responsibility to each other. People should ask themselves the following basic questions: How can you expect respect from others if you have no self-respect in your own eyes? How can you have self-respect if you lie, deceive and act as a coward and a weakling, if you are arrogant, vain and selfish? How can you have peace of mind if you are self-centered and have no basic integrity of character? How can you be happy if you are a slave of passion and keep being attached to those who do not really care for you? How can you expect the love of others if you are selfish and full of yourself? How can you expect success if you do not work hard and try to acquire the necessary talents to get what you want? How can you have inner harmony if you have no devotion to spiritual ideals? What worth is all the effort to keep yourself and your family in material comfort if you have failed to find harmony in your heart and give peace and love to your family and friends? Spiritual life does not consist in singing the glory of God and chanting mantras but in the practice of integrity, compassion, fulfilling of duties and obligations, acceptance of personal responsibility, selfless service for a common cause that does not enhance the ego of anyone in particular, and in the sublimation of passions. A tree can remain standing in spite of stormy weather only if it has deep roots. Likewise, the tree of life can be stable only through the deep roots of actions motivated by love, a sense of justice tempered by compassion and understanding, and unselfish support of those you care for when they are in need. The tree of life can have many branches of knowledge and many leaves of prayers, but without its deep roots it will fall down with its branches and leaves when the storm comes.

Vedanta is Living Experience Sri Swami Sivananda VEDANTA is today a much abused term. All sorts of vanity, hypocrisy and self-conceit have been masquerading in its name. It has become the fashion of the day to pass for a Vedantin as it is then convenient to give up all sorts of responsibilities, rituals and restrictions of the Varnashrama Dharma and enables one to lead a happy-go-lucky life of ease, lethargy and inertia. The Punjab is full of dry, lip-Vedantins. Punjabi women have also taken to Vedanta and they take great pride in calling themselves Vedantins, whether or not they understand the philosophy, whether or not they do any practice. All retired officers who have not done any selfless service or any Sadhana or worship or charity take to Vedanta as a sort of fancy. Thus Vedanta has become a very comfortable philosophy, because one can do whatever he chooses and eat whatever he likes. Licentiousness is mistaken for a life of expansion. If a man can eat anything in any hotel in any part of the world, if he can move socially with any man or woman, that does not mean, he is a Vedantin. There is much tall talk of Vedanta nowadays. There is idle Vedantic gossiping. But there is no practical Vedanta. Nobody wants to do any real solid Vedantic Sadhana. Man feels ashamed to call himself a Bhakta, but he takes great pride in calling himself a Yogi or a Vedantin, because he foolishly imagines he will be respected by the public. Many ignorant Vedantins have mistaken the body for Brahman and hence there is corruption amongst the so-called loose Vedantins. This is not only lamentable but also highly deplorable. Wholesale preaching of Vedanta to the Masses is not advisable. It will result in chaos, bewilderment and stagnation. Grasping of Vedantic principles and a right understanding of the philosophy and Sadhana are very difficult. Vedanta is for a select few who are equipped with the four means of salvation or Sadhana Chatushtaya and who have removed the impurities of their minds and mental oscillation through constant practice of Nishkama Karma Yoga and Upasana. The path of Vedanta is not so easy as it is generally supposed to be. It is a sharp razor-edge path. Therefore, those who preach Vedanta to the masses do more harm than any good. They are misleading the people. It is very, very easy to say, “Soham–I am He, Sivoham–I am Siva, Aham Brahma Asmi–I am Brahman” like a parrot, but to live in the very spirit of Vedanta, to feel the oneness or unity of consciousness, to become ‘That’ in reality and to radiate the Brahmic Bliss, Joy and Peace is an extremely difficult affair. While repeating ‘Soham’, if his mind is easily upset when another utters a single harsh word, and if he begins to fight with that man vehemently, there is no use at all in that repetition. It is mere hypocrisy. He will not be able to influence others. People will take him for a cheat. Vedanta is not merely a concept or a dogma. It is neither a theory nor a dry philosophy for contention and argumentation. It is the actual life of perennial joy in Brahman or Truth. A single practical Vedantin like Sankara could move the whole world. A practical Vedantin will outweigh a thousand and one Sandows when weighed in a balance. A practical Vedantin possesses tremendous inner spiritual strength. The whole world rejoices at the sight of a real practical Vedantin. Practical Vedanta is a living experience, the melting of the individual self in the ocean of consciousness or the Supreme Self. The experiencer exclaims with inexpressible joy, “All indeed is Brahman. All differences, distinctions, qualities have vanished. I see Brahman and Oneness everywhere. I am Brahman.”

The Lofty Ideal Of Renunciation Sri Swami Chidananda The glorious Sannyasa Diksha anniversary that we have the privilege and joy to celebrate this day, which marks the supreme occasion of H. H. Sadgurudev Swami Sivanandaji’s renunciation of a secular life and his early entry into the holy order of sannyasa, commemorates such lofty action. Master has taken to this ancient order and lived his noble life of increasing good works and innumerable services of humanity all over the world. In him, I see a unique and amazing confluence of two trends: (1) Renunciation and all the inwardness and detachment. (2) The thrilling dynamism with all the outwardly activity and active sympathetic interest in human beings. Our holy Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj’s act of tyaga and sannyasa carries the message: “O man! Give up thy little ‘I’ and thy petty selfish life; and let thy selfless life flower into cosmic love, world brotherhood and service unto all. Give up thy little self, and give yourself in body, mind and spirit to the whole world. To renounce is verily to offer yourself as a gift unto the noble cause of human welfare.” Such was the exemplary life of our holy Gurudev! His renunciation represents, as it were, a fertile seed out of which has sprung forth a great tree. The giving up of his secular life has come to mean the bestowal of a lofty new Divine Life to countless thousands. The power that sprang out of his renunciation has outspread into the world, and has brought new life, hope, solace, light, strength, joy and inspiration to literally countless millions of souls. His renunciation can rightly be said to be an offering to God, to appease the spiritual hunger of His soul-famished children. It has indeed become transformed into the spirit of Divine Life to pervade the modern world in the form of a divine urge, a divine impulse towards virtue, goodness and godliness. In renunciation lies the end of all strife and hatred. In renunciation lies the source of true peace and progress. By his life, the modern Maharshi has given to humanity the new law of welfare: “O modern man! Know ye that renunciation is the law of life. It is the path that leads to friendliness, cooperation and unity. Renounce selfishness, greed, hatred and egoism. Embrace love, humility, contentment, and charity. You will have the Kingdom of Heaven on this earth” May the Master’s radiant life inspire one and all!

Precepts for Practice Sri Swami Sivananda Worldly life is a bed of roses till a thorn pricks yon in your feet. When the thorn starts pricking you, then realise that the world is a bed of thorns. The man then awakens to the reality. The world is an illusion. Friends are hypocritical cheats. Relatives are selfish bugs. There is none on whom you can depend except God. Beloved aspirants! Awake! Arise! Realise! Resort to the feet of the Lord. Practise Yoga. Come, start today. Follow my Twenty Instructions. I will serve you nicely and guide you. Waste not a minute. In spiritual Sadhana nothing is of so much importance as regularity. Whatever you do, even though it is very little, do it regularly. The mind will tempt you in various ways. It will try to keep you away from Sadhana but never yield. Mind is a crooked mechanism, agitated, wavering and wandering. It is always unsteady. Control the wandering nature of the mind. Sadhana is the means to control the mind. Withdraw yourself from the external world. Control your emotions, sensations, activities. Constantly dwell in the Atman. Give up external show. Do not be attached to the flesh. Develop the eye of wisdom. Look with your inner third eye. The aspirant realises immense joy when his third eye is opened. Fear, sorrow, doubt and delusion take leave of you. Unfold all the latent faculties and powers. They are lying hidden within you. Keep the ideal always before you. Do not forget it even for a second. Examine within yourself how far you have progressed at the end of the day. Make fresh resolves the next day for better progress. Repent for the mistakes you have committed. Diabolical forces are within and never outside you. It is only the mind that is reflected in front of you. Change the angle of vision. Everything will be good. You will see only His hand in everything. Do not blame God for your having failed in maintaining the Spiritual Diary. Give your mind a good shoe-beating. Resolutely start the practices once again from today. Do not strain yourself beyond your capacity. Relax completely the moment you feel that there has been something wrong with the normal movement of the Prana. Dash cold water on your face when you feel sleepy. The breathing gets controlled during meditation. It becomes very thin. Merge the mind in the Atman. Take it away from the body and its associates. The goal of life is Self-realisation. Mere seeing of some lights and hearing of sounds during meditation is not the final state of Self-realisation. They are, no doubt, encouragement to the Sadhaka. You have had your rebirth in God. By gradual degrees try to forget the past, its successes and failures, its sins and virtues. You are not concerned with any of them now. You are a new man altogether. Bury the past deep and cover it up nicely with the Lord’s Names and Yoga Sadhana. Develop self-surrender to the Lord. Asanas are as necessary as Pranayamas. One goes with the other. Please practise Asanas at least for fifteen minutes daily. This is the best insurance for good health. All energy must be conserved and utilised for purposes of spiritual Sadhana. All the time that you have should be spent for spiritual practices and Nishkama Seva. If you use your time nicely in spiritual pursuits, you will be able to achieve the goal of life in this very birth. I shall be pleased to accept you as my disciple. The ‘fees’ I demand are very costly. They are Vairagya, Viveka and Mumukshutva. If you have these, you can be my disciple. Go to the temple daily and pray to the Lord to give you more and more devotion to His Lotus Feet. Pray to Him to enable you to remain perfect Brahmchari. Go to a secluded place daily and introspect. Intensify your Sadhana and Vairagya. Do not take onions. You need not object to tamarind, salt and sugar now. Fast on Ekadasi. Take milk and fruits. Take saltless diet on Sundays. If you want to know God then know yourself. Find out who is the seeker. Then you have known everything. You are that Eternal Self. For this you have to put up a course of Sadhana but a strenuous one. Then you will be able to clear all the doubts. Nothing will satisfy you by the explanations. Only when you taste the sweetness of the sugar you are satisfied. So also till you have realised God you cannot have any satisfaction. Doubts after doubts will be mounting over your already heavy shoulders. The western psychologists start and work from the physical and go to the mental plane and stop there, whereas the Eastern philosophy proceeds from the top and then looks at the bottom with the knowledge of the highest. Knowing the One Imperishable, you know everything else. This is the gist of our philosophy. You can have your godhead through your physical mechanism provided you acknowledge its perishable nature. Look at the perishable nature of the body and all that we see around us. Just see how within a few years great wars were fought. Thousands perished. What does it show? You must go in after that Imperishable–that is God. The Lord permeates everything. To realise this Imperishable it is not enough if you simply sit quiet expecting a miracle from Him or the Guru. You should strive for yourself, by incessant practice of Sadhana. By one strong determination of the will, get rid of all evil qualities like smoking, taking tea and meat-eating. These weaken your nerves. You will be easily irritated. You will not be able to control your emotions. Tea is stimulating no doubt, but does harm ultimately. When you are harassed by the tea habit, it will be difficult to leave it in the beginning. Use milk as a substitute for some time. You are simply alarmed. You imagine that you will have

Light into the Darkness Introduction Yoga is an ancient and unique system of unfoldment of the personality at all levels. However, especially in the West, people are only accustomed to doing yoga in order to derive some health benefits. Ninety-nine per cent of the people who practise yoga do it merely as a physical exercise. Steadiness of body can calm the mind, and for this reason many people are also interested in yoga, but another dimension to yoga needs to emerge; namely, the desire to meditate on something beyond body and mind. In my own opinion, these aspects of body and mind alone have a lesser place in yoga when compared to the spiritual aspect. What is the relevance of spirit to yoga? Maybe I am just more accustomed to speaking about spiritual life, but regardless of the kind of retreat with Swami Chidananda you intend to participate in, you will get a spiritual retreat, because Swami Chidananda and the spirit are inseparable. What exactly is the connection between yoga and the spiritual life? You are practising yoga as a human being, but in reality you are an immortal spirit. When an immortal spirit is practising yoga, it is impossible to separate spirit from yoga. The question about the connection arises only when you have forgotten that you are an immortal soul and not a cage of flesh and bone. When you wisely remember this fact, the question of the relationship between yoga and spiritual life does not arise. It arises when you forget the truth and cling to falsehood. In addition to its being a psychological and physical system, yoga is the science of attaining the experience of your innermost Reality. Hatha yoga, or the practising of yoga asanas, is not the whole of yoga science. The word “yoga” is a Sanskrit word implying a union with the eternal, universal source of Being. The attainment of union with the universal Being is the supreme good for a human being. In this world we try to avoid sorrow, pain and suffering. Even the most uneducated person with limited understanding does not want pain, sorrow or suffering. High and low, great and small, everyone wants happiness, joy and peace–this instinct is universal. In the ultimate analysis, all life as well as all human activity is only a striving to eliminate pain and to attain happiness. The will to joy, peace and satisfaction pervades the life of everything in this world. A little reflection will make this point very evident. Even subhuman creatures wish to avoid suffering and to get bodily satisfaction. You might have noticed that if the summer is very hot, animals try to remain more in the water. Even birds and insects take shelter from cold and rain, but their capacity to attain this universal desire of God-realisation is limited by the absence of greater intelligence. It is the human individual alone who tries to consciously and intelligently achieve this objective and who can devise ways to attain this goal. Right from birth men strive to attain happiness and to avoid pain and suffering, so naturally one could expect that they would succeed in getting what they want. But in today’s world, do we find human beings full of happiness and completely free from any suffering or misery? What is our observation of life and the human beings around us? What is the report of the world’s condition that we get from the media? What is our own personal experience? I am not asking just about the outer facade or the mask we are putting on in the drama we are playing. I do not refer to the relative happiness of our outer life. What is our frank observation of our own lives based on our honest experience? I don’t necessarily need an answer from you, but I want you to answer these questions for yourselves. What is your observation of life and the people around you? Are they full of joy with no sign of pain, suffering or any other negative experience? Day after day, what are we being told about the state of the world? People throughout the world are facing starvation; hundreds of thousands of people suffer hell due to political and social upheaval; an entire generation of Palestinians has never known a real home or a peaceful condition in their lives; people are being massacred in African countries. It is like this in all the directions of the compass–a constant tale of human agony. What do you make of this paradoxical situation? If all people want happiness and joy, why do they not get it? We are able to possess thousands of things that our ancestors never had, due to science and technology, and so many things today are convenient and easy for us that were extremely difficult in the past. We have achieved a standard of living hitherto never achieved by human society, and yet, are we free from pain and suffering, old age, disease and decay? These inexorable experiences seem to be unavoidable. Old age is painful, disease is painful, and the decay of the senses and the weakening of one’s faculties are painful, but these problems have not been solved. Many of the current solutions create worse problems than the initial ones. Cancer is an ever-growing menace in human society because modern life is so full of chemicals, and toxins are on the increase. Destructive therapies like cobalt, radiation and chemotherapy are being given for cancer, and the patient goes through hell. Teeth and hair can fall out and terrible changes occur in the entire system, but often in spite of all this, the cancer patient may not survive. Life becomes so much of a torture that it would seem more desirable to let the patient die a natural death. To die of cancer seems preferable to dying of the treatment for cancer. It is not just I who says this, but also families, patients and physicians who have borne witness from their own experience.