Quest for Immortality
 

Man has always longed to live forever. He has continually pushed the frontiers of science in his attempt to reach this goal. But does science have the solution? Is his search in the right direction? Perhaps, a different understanding is necessary to fulfil man’s quest...

Death. It is the only certainty of life. For all life-forms disability, disease and death are natural consequences of life. But, throughout creation the life mission of every creature has been to extend life and delay the inevitable. Above all, man has been the most vigorous in this pursuit.
 
God has endowed man with what scientists call potential intelligence– an abundance of extra brain power to help him adapt to the infinite challenges of life. For example, man does not need to develop a fur coat to remain warm in cold climates. His use of fossil fuels keeps him warm. Also, man does not need to bud wings to fly in the sky like birds. His intelligence has helped him to develop aeroplanes to achieve the same result.
 
This potential intelligence is being used by man to expand his comforts and to extend his physical existence on earth. In fact, he has dared to defy death and ventured to quest for immortality.
 
Through the ages, as man's scientific knowledge and skills have developed, his life-expectancy has increased. Developments in personal and public hygiene, healthy diets and lifestyles, and medicines and other treatments have gradually raised man's average life-expectancy from the time of Neanderthal man to the present day.

Humans by Era	Average Lifespan (Years)
Neanderthal	20
Upper Paleolithic	33
Neolithic	20
Bronze Age	18
Classical Greece	28
Classical Rome	28
Medieval Britain	33
End of 19th Century	37
Early 20th Century	50
Current	80

And as knowledge and techniques advance, expectations grow. The recent decoding of the human genome has fuelled hopes for miraculous cures to all manner of diseases. Gene-based treatments are in high demand. Scientists are even searching for an ageing gene which they can switch off to stop the process of ageing.
 
The precursor to death is ageing. That presumably is why man is so obsessed with staying young. It is no surprise then that according to the American Academy of Facial, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS), one of the foremost reasons men and women opt for plastic surgery is to look younger. People fearlessly travel vast distances to take advantage of plastic surgery offers.
A 2003 survey by the AAFPRS noted that:

Also, figures released by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons reveal that in 2005 over 5.9 million cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery procedures, such as, nose reshaping, liposuction, cheek implant, chin augmentation, eyelid surgery, ear surgery, facelift, laser hair removal, hair transplantation, laser skin resurfacing and others were performed.
 
Another avenue explored by man in his attempt to ward off disability and disease is reflected in the growth of medical tourism. With the growing costs of and wait for medical treatment in developed countries, many patients are travelling, as medical tourists, to South Africa, Malaysia, India, Iran, the Middle East and other such places to receive priority treatment at greatly reduced costs. However, one of the dark sides of this trend is the exploitation by middlemen who sell the kidneys, corneas, lungs, etc. of impoverished people in developing countries to rich recipients. Although such transactions may enhance the recipient's health, they often diminish the donor's health and merely serve to enrich the middleman.
 
Progress in the field of biomedical engineering has helped to replace worn out, damaged or diseased natural body parts with functional artificial parts. Advances in bionic surgery have seen the use of specially engineered artificial replacements for heart, eyes, lungs, kidneys, muscles and even the brain. And with the increasing shortage of donated natural body parts, the demand for bionic surgery is likely to grow. Future development of intelligent artificial implants will enable them to respond to the body's continually changing needs. This will further enhance quality of life and extend survival.
 
Despite man's best efforts, nobody has yet escaped death. But man has not lost hope. In anticipation of future success, the Alcor Foundation– A life extension foundation in Arizona, USA – provides a postmortem freezing service. At a cost ranging from $ 28,000 to $ 200,000, the Alcor Foundation will freeze those who are interested when they die. Alcor clients are issued bracelets detailing the post-death procedures. They warn that no autopsy or embalming should be performed. Also, immediately upon death a large dose of heparin is given to prevent the blood from clotting. The blood circulation is maintained by a mechanical device beating on the chest. At the Alcor headquarters, the blood is replaced by anti-freeze before the body is preserved in a large stainless steel container filed with liquid nitrogen. This process is known as cryonics.
 
But is it possible to revive someone who has been frozen after death? The answer lies in what happens to the body cells, which are enveloped in a cell wall to keep them intact. Cooling solidifies the fats inside the cells and breaks down the cell wall. Water leaks out and turns into ice crystals, whose sharp edges cause further cellular damage. At a temperature of around -95 degrees C major body organs begin to crack. In the words of one scientist, “Everything is crushed… complete pulverization and destruction. There is not a single salvageable piece of anything… inside those cells.”
 
So, despite the virtually non-existent possibility of revival after such freezing, people still invest in such techniques, clinging to the hope that the probability of revival is greater than after being cremated or buried. Currently, over 550 people, ranging in age from 21 years to 100 years, have had their body preserved by cryonics.
 
Why is there such fear of disability, disease and death? Because it causes pain, suffering and misery. Driven by such fears man has developed a multitude of methods to overcome them, but they merely delay the inevitable. The reason for this failure is that Nature dictates the necessarily finite existence of all life. So man's quest for physical immortality is doomed to fail since it is against all natural laws.
 
However, there is hope for man to fulfil his cherished wish for immortality. By focusing on and understanding his true spiritual nature, man can attain the knowledge of immortality. All life-forms are permeated by an atma, or jiva, or soul. The presence of an atma in a life-form gives life to that life-form. Although the physical body occupied by an atma perishes with time, the atma lives on. All Hindu shastras describe this immortal nature of atmas.
In the Bhagwad Gita, it is said:
 
That which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul” (2-17).
 
Only the material body of the indestructible, immeasurable and eternal living entity is subject to destruction” (2-18).
 
For the soul there is never birth or death. Nor, having once been, does it ever cease to be. It is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. It is not slain when the body is slain” (2-20).
 
Summarizing the nature of the jiva, Bhagwan Swaminarayan reveals in the Shikshapatri (Verse 105): “The jiva, which is very subtle, resides in the heart. It is the form of consciousness and by virtue of its sentiency, it pervades the entire body. It is unpierceable, indivisible and eternal.”
 
Thus, it is plainly obvious that the atma survives the death of the physical body. When this knowledge is perfected all fear of disability, disease and death, together with the fear of pain, suffering and misery, is overcome. Such knowledge is called atma-realization, the nature of which Bhagwan Swaminarayan describes in Vachanamrut Sarangpur-4, I am the atma, and not a single one of my characteristics can be found in the body. Moreover, not one of the characteristics of the body – which is non-sentient, full of misery and perishable – can be found in me since I am chaitanya.”
 
Emphasizing the spiritually elevated state of such a person, Bhagwan Swaminarayan says in Vachanamrut Sarangpur-12, “Once a person has clearly understood the distinction between the body and the ãtmã, it cannot be forgotten. Even if he believes, I am the body, he can no longer accept himself as the body. Also, once he has firmly established the conviction of God, even if he tries to discard it, it cannot be discarded. Furthermore, the notion that his realization of himself as atma has been lost and the belief that he is the body has begun to prevail is simply a misconception of his mind; the belief never actually returns. Such a devotee with perfect gnan is conscious only of his atma. Also, he believes his atma to be brahmarup and that Purushottam Bhagwan – also known as Parabrahman– forever resides in that brahmarup atma. Also, hisconviction of God remains forever steady.”

Written by: Sadhu Amrutvijaydas