A New Lease on Life
Guess What? You're Not Going to Die Yet!

Author's note: The following article makes the most sense if you've already read "Death Is My Friend."    

    In December 2006, I was given an update about my predestined death timing. It appears that I'll live another 12 years beyond the original 2009 timing, thanks to a rare astrological anomaly that has only recently been revealed to a few American astrologers.

    Perhaps I should have waited until 2009 ended before writing this follow-up article, in case the original timing turns out to be correct. But that wouldn't be nearly as interesting--or nearly as much fun--as talking about the update now, in the Spring of 2009, long before the year has passed. 

Here's the Scoop

    The master Vedic astrologer I've been working with since 1995--called Rishi in "The Death Series," aka Robert Koch--has studied for many years with the grandson of India's "Astrologer of the Century" (for the 20th century).

    In India, there are thousands of astrologers and the profession is deeply respected. Many of India's astrologers are also practitioners of other more conventional disciplines, such as science and medicine. From this vast array of professional astrologers, only one is selected every 100 years to receive India's coveted title of "Astrologer of the Century."

     In India, as in many other cultures around the world, sacred knowledge is often passed down though families. Some knowledge is kept secret within the family lineage for centuries, with each successive generation of wisdom-holders deciding if, when, how, and to whom to disclose these teachings.

     In Robert's case, he was given some previously undisclosed information by the aforementioned grandson of India's most recent Astrologer of the Century, including information about some of the so-called "wild cards" I mentioned in "Death Is My Friend."  

    As a result of Robert's deepening studies, he learned that some of the astrological anomalies related to death timing can actually be discerned in advance. Not all of them, of course. There will always be mysteries that preclude human perception and understanding.

    My Vedic astrological chart has one of these rare and discernible wild cards, whose job it is to protect me through 2009 and give me another dozen years to live. Thus, my "exit date" appears to be 2021 instead of 2009.

After the Update, Then What?

     The first thing I did after getting the update was tell my longtime partner, John Giovine. Needless to say, he was happy to hear he wasn't going to lose me in 2009. After I told John, I told my "inner circle" one by one over the next few months. Eventually I shared the updated timing with other friends and a few longtime clients who knew about and respected my work with Vedic death prediction.

     The next step was to share the updated information with people on my confidential "death and dying" e-mailing list--those brave souls who are not only interested in death and dying in general, but who are also interested in my personal work with death. These people have requested and receive my free online newsletter called "Dancing with Death."

    In the first issue of "Dancing with Death" (published January 21, 2008), I informed people of the updated death timing and invited them to ask me anything they want about my personal work with death, including questions about the 2021 update.

    This follow-up Q&A article grew out of everyone's questions.

     1. How did you feel after you found out about your "extended" lifespan?

     I was happy about it, because I love life! No matter what happens or doesn't happen after death, life is a wild adventure and Earth is an interesting schoolroom.

     It's a challenge and a privilege to be a "human student," and I want to learn as much as I can about compassion and grace before I "graduate." If I have more time to do that, plus serve a little longer in my own small way, that would be great!

     2. Can other people find out about their death timing from Robert?

     Robert stopped doing Vedic death prediction for other people years ago. His original teacher (in India) gave Robert permission to use this skill in whatever way he was guided, and Robert used to offer Vedic death prediction to clients by request.

     Over time, however, he realized that people who thought they were ready to know about their death timing often felt differently after they actually found out. But once the cat's out of the bag, there's no going back.

     Some people who learn about their predestined death timing get so upset that they lose their ground and blame Robert for their distress, even though they requested the information. As anyone who is terminal can attest, working with the concept of death is a lot different from facing a real-time end date.

     In some cases, people would even launch verbal or written attacks on Robert, either personally or professionally, in an attempt to "kill the messenger." Their intent, however misguided, would be to deny the validity of their death prediction by discounting Robert or Vedic astrology in general.

     Needless to say, those kinds of responses are not very helpful for either party. As a result, Robert decided to follow his original teacher's example in regard to the issue of telling or not telling, which is to say, he no longer tells.

     Robert still offers general lifespan information to clients who request it within the context of a full astrological reading. However, he will no longer provide specific details about anyone's actual death timing.

     3. In "Death Is My Friend," you said that when the 2009 death timing was first revealed to you, your body "remembered" and you felt a jolt of electricity confirming this revelation. Now you say certain astrological ''wild cards''' indicate that you'll live longer. Does this mean the previous information was wrong even if your body affirmed it?  Or does it mean that your body was wrong to validate an incorrect death time?

     I've wondered the same things myself, and the truth is, I don't know. All I can tell you is that I've thought a lot about these questions and I still ponder them occasionally.

     Sometimes I wonder if that wild jolt of electricity happened just so I would take the 2009 date seriously enough to act on it, as opposed to my original perception of the jolt as a confirmation of the end date's accuracy.

     Of course, there's no way I can know for certain what that body-blast of electricity meant. Even still, I can understand why it was important for me at that time to regard it as a confirmation of accuracy.

     This may all sound like a game of semantics, but for me, there's something more in play. On the one hand, I'd be coming from a place of "I don't actually know what's true about my death timing, but I'm going to act as if it's true in order to grow."

     On the other hand, when I chose to perceive my body's electrical response as a confirmation of the 2009 timing, there was an element of needing to know the "Truth" (with a capital "T") before charting a course of action.

     There's no question that Vedic death prediction is a very controversial topic for most Westerners (including me). In addition, I've worked for decades to learn how to trust my body and my own knowing.

     As a result of these two things, I can definitely understand why I initially sought multiple ways to confirm the timing--not just from my body, but also from various "outside" sources who could vouch for Robert's skill level or uphold the validity of Vedic death prediction in general.

     In the end, I realized that my need to confirm the accuracy of my death timing--before choosing to use the information as a tool--was simply a reversal of the "kill the messenger" position. That is, I wanted to "kiss the messenger," so to speak--and thereby justify my decision to trust the information--by verifying Robert's skill and Vedic astrology in general.

     Ultimately, I realized that if the "kill the messenger" people were misguided in their attempts to discount their death timing by discounting the source of the information, then I was being equally misguided in my attempt to confirm my death timing by validating the source of the information.

     If this all sounds crazy-making to you, it sometimes feels that way to me, too! These days, when the internal and external arguments about Vedic death prediction--and my own death timing--threaten to overwhelm my puny human brain, I remember two of my favorite quotations:

"The sign of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function."  --F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Neurosis is the inability to tolerate ambiguity."
--Sigmund Freud

     God knows, I don't want to be any more neurotic than I already am, and I like to imagine myself as having a first-rate intelligence. But hey, I realize that my work with Vedic death prediction puts me in a sparsely populated category of humans, so you'll have to decide for yourself what you think about what I think!

     There is one thing I can say for certain about this work. Prior to learning about my predestined exit date, death was always somewhere "out there" in the future--which by definition will never be now.

     After I started working with an actual end date, I noticed that a whole layer of denial around my own death disappeared. In fact, until that specific layer of denial was torn away by the death prediction, I hadn't even known that I was keeping death at a distance by remaining ignorant of any particular timing.

     Knowing about a likely exit date in advance keeps Death breathing down my back, and that's exactly what I want. I don't want to go unconscious about the impermanence of life. I want to stay awake.

    4. Why do you think you were given two different death predictions?

    I bet one reason was just to keep me on my toes! The ruler of my Vedic astrological chart is Rahu (the north node of the moon). Rahu is not actually a planet. It's a point in space where the orbits of the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth intersect. Vedic astrology treats Rahu like a planet and attributes a great deal more importance to it than Western astrology does.

     Basically, Rahu is the ultimate "shadow teacher" whose job it is to kick butt in a big way to accelerate the evolution of the soul. Robert has often joked with me that Rahu is all about chaos, confusion, and uncertainty. Oh boy! What a great choice for a ruling planet, huh?

    The low side of chaos, confusion, and uncertainty is pretty obvious, and I've had my share. But there's a high side to Rahu: If I'm willing to use adversity to grow, there's no better teacher, because Rahu's abundant supply of chaos, confusion, and uncertainty provides endless opportunities to transform those qualities into order, clarity, and conviction.

    The fact that I was given not one, but two death predictions seems appropriately "Rahuvian," to coin a term. What a soulfully ingenious way to stimulate more chaos, confusion, and uncertainty when I got the updated timing and questioned myself, my body, and Vedic death prediction all over again!

    One thing I find it curious is that I was given the original exit date in 1995, which was 14 years before 2009. Then, two weeks shy of 2007, I was given the 2021 update, which allowed 14 years to contemplate that death timing. This made me wonder if my soul or my guides or the Great Cosmic Muffin thinks I can only deal with 14 years of advance notice at a time!

     Joking aside, I want to share something more tender. It's hard to explain, but I noticed that I somehow felt deeply loved by the powers-that-be when I was given the updated information, because I received it two years before the arrival of 2009. This gave me a chance to live 2007 and 2008 with a different "graduation" date in mind, which in turn altered my mindset and some of my choices about how to use my time.

     For example, I returned to work on a few major projects that I had abandoned when I realized they would take more time to complete than I probably had left. I also went ahead and scheduled a much-needed but grossly unpleasant surgery to restore nasal breathing function for the first time since childhood. It was a surgery I had avoided for years and planned to skip if I wasn't going to live past 2009.

     Some people would point to these course changes and say I was silly to ever put any credence in the 2009 timing, if it turned out to be wrong in the end. I can see their point. However, my decision to honor the 2009 end date served me well all those years, because it helped me hone my priorities and stay on path in a much deeper way than ever before.     

     One of the most powerful gifts of Vedic death prediction was that it helped me make a life-changing decision in 1995 (when I first learned of the original 2009 timing). That is, I completely gave up marijuana and caffeine, which were the last two hold-outs in my two-decade dance with substance addiction.

     After finding out about my death timing, I no longer wanted to zone out, avoid my feelings, dull my senses, or alter my consciousness in ways that hurt my body or my brain. Because life felt more precious, my ability to be aware of life became increasingly more precious. I didn't want to miss anything!

     It's not that I didn't realize before how limited and therefore precious life is. It's just that I previously understood this in a more intellectual and spiritual way. On the other hand, advance notice of my death timing has made this knowing more real and visceral, more grounded and heartfelt.

     Some people would point to this change of course and say I was silly to ever put any credence in the 2009 timing, if it turned out to be wrong in the end. I can see their point. However, my decision to honor the 2009 end date served me well all those years, because it helped me hone my priorities and stay on path in a much deeper way than ever before.     

     If this were the only blessing that came from my work with Vedic death prediction, it would be more than enough. As it is, the blessings are still multiplying.

    5. If you've been given two different death calculations, how do you know which one is right?

     Well, if I live through 2009, I guess we'll all know that timing was wrong! Beyond that, there's no way for me to know whether the honed timing is correct until 2021 comes--and goes.

     Because there is always the possibility of rogue astrological anomalies and divine intervention and God knows what else, I've noticed that the whole idea of death prediction becomes increasingly absurd for me the more I obsess about "right" or "wrong" timing, instead of focusing on how I can use the information to grow.

     I realize it might sound crazy to say that I lived my life for several years acting as if the 2009 death timing was correct. Then, having received the 2021 update, I'm now choosing to act as if 2021 is my most likely year to die.     

    Granted, I may seem weird to a lot of people, but as far as I can tell, I'm stone cold sane. I'm simply making a conscious choice to act on information that feels helpful to my growth and development. I also give myself perpetual permission to change course and act on new information if and when it seems more helpful to me.

     Frankly, I think everyone lives their lives based on some chosen belief system. That includes atheists, agnostics, and true believers alike. It also includes people who accept a particular belief system by default, because they were raised that way, or because their family or their culture or their religious community would shun them if they dared to think for themselves.

    As I say in Dr. Cat's Helping Handbook, my deepest foundational belief is that I KNOW NOTHING. Beyond that, I make choices and act as if I know a few things in order to function as a human being. After all, if I didn't have some degree of faith, how could I even drive to the store, if I didn't trust that the road would continue to open before me?

     6. Doesn't your updated death timing contradict the original calculation in a way that completely discounts the validity of Vedic death prediction?

     Imagine that you want to go for a swim in the ocean. No doubt you're smart enough to check the tide tables first, to be sure the tide is coming in--not going out--when you swim.

     Now, let's say you've consulted the tide tables and found a good time to swim. You go down to the beach and jump. Alas, something is amiss and you get pulled out to sea.

    Luckily, you're a good swimmer and you realize right away that something's wrong. You muster up all your strength, break free from the undertow, and make it back to the beach safely. But you wonder what the deal was with the ocean that day. Did you read the tide tables wrong or what?

     Any number of variables could have caused the problem. Perhaps the tide tables you used were for the general vicinity, but they didn't list specific areas with dangerous riptides strong enough to override the incoming tide. Or maybe there was a typo in the tide tables. Or perhaps you were in a hurry and didn't read things right.

     Maybe there was just something weird happening in the ocean that day, and you were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Who knows?

    If you consulted the tide tables and went for a swim based on what you read, but the actual situation at the ocean was different from what you expected, does this mean that tide tables in general are a bunch of bunk? Does it mean that the ocean is so unpredictable that it's pointless to even try to honor its rhythms and swim accordingly?

     I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this.

    For me, Vedic death prediction is like an advanced version of tide-table reading, only there are a lot more "tide tables" to consider than a single one related to the Moon.

     In Vedic astrology, there are about 150 different "dasa" (or "dasha") systems, which can be used to identify, understand, and/or predict various personal qualities and proclivities, life experiences, and/or actual events.

     These planetary dasa systems are like the tools in a carpenter's tool pouch. Good carpenters know which tool to use for what purpose, and they also know how to apply the right tool with mastery.

    In the same way, Vedic astrologers trained in death prediction know which dasa systems to use in determining death, and they are masters at utilizing the appropriate dasas to narrow down the exact timing.

     For death calculations in particular, an astrologer must not only know which dasa systems to employ and how to employ them effectively; he must also be sure that all relevant dasa systems, planetary transits, and other astrological indicators all agree with each other. Otherwise, death will not occur.

    This is obviously a gross oversimplification of the principles of Vedic death prediction, but I hope it is helpful in answering your question.

     If you're fascinated by this topic and want to learn more, feel free to contact Robert and ask him to notify you when his second book comes out, because it will focus specifically on longevity and Vedic death prediction. His first book, The Spiritual Dimensions of Vedic Astrology, was published in 2005.

     Getting back to the tide table analogy, I think about Vedic death prediction in the same way I think about tide tables. After consulting the local tide tables, I might confidently "predict" that low tide will occur at 3:44 p.m. this afternoon. Similarly, after consulting the listings on the local newspaper's weather page, I could "predict" that dawn will come at 5:15 a.m. tomorrow.

     If I talked like that, you'd probably think I was nuts--and rightly so--because my so-called "predictions" would not be predictions at all, but rather, an indication that I can interpret the available information accurately.

     Of course, this isn't a perfect analogy, because tide tables and newspaper listings provide information about physical-world events, as opposed to personal events unique to one individual. Even still, humans are part of the world order, and each person's life (and death) is inextricably woven into the fabric of physical-world events that affect everyone in ways both mysterious and mundane.

     Robert's teacher in India can accurately predict death down to the day. In 1995, when Robert gave me the 2009 timing, he was able to give me a four-month "window" in 2009 during which I was likely to die. In 2006, when he gave me the updated timing, he was able to narrow it down to a particular week in 2021.

     It's still my goal to know and even celebrate my "death day" in the same way I know and celebrate my birthday. Why? Because the more specific the date, the more it blasts away any remaining vestiges of denial about death, which in turn helps me deepen my awareness of life's finite preciousness.

     Robert has promised me if/when he's able to predict death down to the day, he'll let me know. But if he did predict my death down to the day, and if I didn't die "on time," would that mean Robert was wrong? Or would it mean that Vedic death prediction is a bunch of baloney?

     Or would it simply mean that there was an unexpected and unpredictable riptide operating in the ocean of time that day?

     Your guess is as good as mine on that count. But no matter what you or I might think about these questions, I suspect that death will always have the last laugh.

    7. Do you think the planets actually cause death?

     I'm a big believer in the "Principle of Ambiguity," as my favorite shaman, Michael Harner, calls it. That is, I don't believe it's possible to know for certain what causes what.

     It's easy to make assumptions about what causes what, and it's even possible to do complicated scientific experiments to "prove" a particular cause and effect. However, there are countless variables in the cosmos, and even those so-called "decisive" scientific experiments cannot consider every possible variable.

     As one of my friends put it, "How do they know that those men in the study didn't get cancer because their wives kissed them goodbye in the morning, as opposed to thinking it was because they took a particular supplement or ate a particular food?"

     I don't know--nor do I think it's actually possible to know--whether planets actually bring about death, or if they simply serve as guideposts that light up when all the right conditions are in place to allow a transition between worlds.

     Either way, I find it interesting that most people take it for granted that the Moon governs the tides, not to mention women's menstrual cycles (unless disrupted by artificial lighting). Many reputable people also associate the Full Moon with an increase in traffic accidents or certain kinds of unusual human behavior. Yet the notion that larger planets could affect us in any way remains a controversial notion, at best.

     A while ago, I read something interesting in a book called The Hidden Messages of Water. In one of the chapters, it talks about the potential effects of planets on the human body. As you know, our bodies are primarily composed of water. In case you're not familiar with The Hidden Messages of Water, it's by Masaru Emoto, the Japanese scientist famous for his photographic experiments with water crystals.

     On page 71 of The Hidden Messages of Water, Emoto shares an anecdote from another "water scientist," Joan Davis, whose words are quoted below:

     "A physicist conducted an experiment in which he studied how the positions of the stars affected water. Using water containing various minerals, he tested how easily various paper soaked up the water when the stars were in certain positions.

     "What he found was that when Saturn has a large influence on Earth, lead responded by being soaked up by the paper, while other elements such as copper, silver, and steel showed little or no response.

     "We can deduce from this that there is a close connection between Saturn and lead. Metals resonate the emotions and moods in people....Perhaps the relationship between the constellations and personality talked about by astrologers and others may have something to do with the relationship with metals."

     Obviously, emotions and moods are not in the same category as death prediction, which involves an event. However, Emoto's (and Joan Davis') point is still worthy of consideration. If Earth's comparatively small moon can affect the oceans and our bodies so profoundly, then perhaps it's not implausible to suggest that far bigger planets may affect us as well.    

     To me, Vedic astrology is like electricity. I don't need to understand electricity in order to flip a switch and turn on a light. In the same way, I don't have to understand Vedic astrology in order to use it effectively.

     Is that a cop out? Or is it simply the logical conclusion of a mind that makes choices and acts on them even though deep down, I realize that I know nothing?   

    8. What do you think about the New Age idea that "you create your own reality"? How can you be sure that your foreknowledge of death timing won't just become a self-fulfilling prophecy?

     As I mentioned before, I can't say for certain what causes what. Therefore, it's completely possible that knowing about my death date in advance is the very thing that will cause my demise at that time.

     Do I personally believe that? No. To again quote Michael Harner, "I think that the human mind is not necessarily the biggest thing in the universe."

     In 2002, I wrote an article that conveys in more depth what I think about the "you create your own reality" idea. If you'd like to know more, please check out "New Age Fundamentalism: New Words, Same Old Song." 

    9. What about free will? Don't you think you can change your "date with destiny" and live longer?

     The question of fate and free will is big one, with more avenues of exploration than I can possibly conceive. However, I love playing around with these concepts, so I'll share a few of my thoughts here.

     The short version of my answer to your question is that yes, it's theoretically possible that I could change my death date and live longer. I've been instructed in the use of a powerful Vedic mantra that is specifically used to stave off death, and I've also used my shamanic "power song" to help me in life-threatening situations.

     There are also plenty of stories of avatars and other holy people who have chosen to "postpone" their exit from Planet Earth, and even "regular folks" have been known to delay their demise for various reasons.

     Of course, from an astrological perspective, the question of whether someone's chosen death timing matched his or her predestined timing, or if it was truly a postponement, would need to be calculated by a master astrologer trained extensively in death prediction.

     On the flip side of living longer instead of dying "on time," I could try to kill myself in an attempt to die sooner. But there's always that pesky little possibility that my predestined death timing could override my suicide attempt, and I'd end up living with a damaged body or brain from whatever method I'd employed to kill myself.

     Hypothetical situations aside, I have had six life-threatening emergency hospitalizations in my adult life. Two of them occurred during one week in December 2008, when several of my major "kick butt" planets moved into a particularly dangerous alignment with each other. Any one of those six emergency situations could have killed me had it been my time to die, but again, I'm still here.

     I'll tell you this: It was pretty wild lying there on a gurney in the hospital, knowing it was probably not my time to die, but also knowing there are always cosmic wild cards. In my case, it's possible that the astrological wild card operating for me during December's medical events was the protective one mentioned above, which is supposed to get me through 2009.

     Whatever the case, the scenarios of living longer or dying sooner both presuppose that I would want to mess with my destiny. True to my nature, I'm more interested in meeting my destiny than messing with it, because I trust the wisdom of my soul!

     I'm drawn to the challenge of living my life in such a way that fate and free will become one and the same. I'm not there yet, and I may never get there, but I aspire to be so attuned to life that the issue of fate versus free will becomes a moot point.

     Along these lines, Ram Dass used to tell a great story about traveling in India on a big bus with a bunch of his friends many years ago. Their plan was to go see Ram Dass' longtime guru, Maharaj-ji (Neem Karoli Baba). There was no particular timetable involved, and no one had informed the ashram about their plan to visit.

     Ram Dass and his friends meandered around here and there in the old bus, stopping along the way to pick up anyone and everyone who wanted to go to the ashram. Eventually the bus was full, so they stopped meandering around and headed off toward the ashram.

     As they drove onto the grounds to park, Maharaj-ji came striding out to meet the bus as if he was expecting them. He greeted Ram Dass warmly and invited everyone to join him for a welcome feast in their honor.

     When the group entered the building and sat down for the feast, they realized that tables had been set for exactly the number of people who arrived on the bus that day. As you can imagine, Ram Dass said that when this happened, it really did a number to his ideas about fate and free will!

     I don't know about you, but I've heard a lot of stories about people who knew about certain events in advance, including people who knew when they would die.

     My own grandfather, in a state of good health at Christmas dinner one year, informed everyone that he would not be present at the following year's holiday celebration. A few months later, he dropped dead while working in the woods on his property.

     Information about future events can come from many sources. If foreknowledge of future events is possible at all, then perhaps it is possible in general. Whether or not humans can reliably access this information remains a question, but my hunch is that the information is available.

     Personally, I've always thought it was rather limiting if not downright shortsighted to view time in the Western way, as a linear function. Instead, I think time is more like an ocean, with each drop of water representing a point in time. Thus, any given point in the ocean of time is accessible from any other point.

     With fate and free will, I prefer to think in terms of "and/both" instead of "either/or." To me, arguments about fate or free will are similar to the arguments about "nature versus nurture." Can't it be both?

     Even the most die-hard advocates of free will would have a hard time convincing me that anyone can escape--or even control--the fate of death. And even the most ardent proponents of fate-based thinking would have a hard time persuading me that it was the personal destiny of countless thousands to die in the same tsunami.

     Granted, it may have been the destiny of some of those people to die in a massive geophysical disaster, but I bet there were a few "riptides" operating in the cosmic flow that day, which overrode not only fate, but any degree of free will as well. There are bigger things going on in the universe than human life!

     All things considered, I wonder if it's possible that fate and free will are simply different sides of the same coin, and people are just driving themselves nuts by insisting that both can't operate in human life?

     As the Jewish philosopher Isaac B. Singer once said, "We must believe in free will; we have no choice!"

    10. Since you could get another update anytime, and since there are always cosmic wild cards in play, what's the point of talking about Vedic death prediction at all?

     I believe that death--like birth--will always remain a mystery in the ultimate sense of the word, whether or not anyone knows about its timing in advance. Knowing when you were born doesn't make birth any less magical and mystical, does it?

     In regard to death timing, there will always be cosmic wild cards that cannot be discerned in advance or even fully understood in hindsight. Even still, I find it fascinating that a few master Vedic astrologers in the world can accurately predict death, and I find it doubly fascinating that I've been given the opportunity to work with my own death timing in advance--no matter when I actually end up dying.

     In other words, my work with predestined death timing is not about trying to "control" my death. Nor is it about the actual timing itself, although the end date obviously adds power to the punch. Generally speaking, predestined death timing is most valuable to me as a tool to help me work on myself in relation to death. That is to say, it's about using this ancient and powerful tool to become increasingly present to life.

     Beyond my personal work with death, the point of talking about Vedic death prediction at all is to talk about death itself. As far as I can tell, I am playing a very small role in the growing atmosphere of openness around death.

     If I can help people feel safer to share their own thoughts and feelings around death by exposing my personal work with it, then that seems like a win-win for everyone.

     11. Why do you think people get so upset when they hear about your work with Vedic death prediction?

    Vedic death prediction--and death in general--is a very loaded topic, so my published writing about these subjects can sometimes trigger a "kill the messenger" response from those who don't want to face their own mortality--or even someone else's mortality!

    Obviously, it's no fun to get caught in the crossfire. However, various mentors have taught me that people's comments about my death work have more to do with them than with me. This has helped me become more detached from people's opinions about my death work, which in turn allows me to respond to their comments and concerns with more compassion and less defensiveness.  Needless to say, this is a bonus for everyone!

     Fortunately, most people who read about my work with death are open-minded and genuinely curious. Like me, they enjoy learning about other perspectives on death because it stimulates their own thinking about the subject.

    As long as people's communications are sincere and respectful, I'm more than happy to consider any and all questions, comments, and concerns. My thoughts and feelings about death are constantly evolving, so other people's insights provide me with valuable grist for the mill.

     12. Doesn't it freak you out to know about your death timing in advance?

     Sure, sometimes I get freaked out about my death timing. But sometimes I get freaked out about the economy, or some weird pain in my body, or the fact that I've agreed to go on TV and talk about my personal work with death.

     Being freaked out isn't a bad thing unless it becomes a continuous state. If that happened, I would seek professional help to restore balance in my physical, mental, emotional, neurological, and/or spiritual functioning.

     Otherwise, an occasional "freak out" about my death timing--or about my death in general--is simply a sign that I'm a human animal. As such, it's appropriate that I don't want to die. This means my survival instinct is working, and that's good!

     It's been said that even a Samurai quakes in his boots at the moment of death. If I never got freaked out about death, I'd better check to be sure I still have a pulse!

     13. Why do you share such intimate information about your personal death timing with the public?

    I write about my death work because I'm a writer, because I'm a diehard personal-growth junkie, and because writing publicly about intimate topics is one of the best ways I know to push the remaining skeletons out of my closet--and invite them to dance!

    Another reason I write publicly about my death work is to encourage others to share more openly about death. No matter what you think about my work or about death in general, I'm just glad that you're willing to think about death at all. If you're willing to talk about death with other people, so much the better.

    Someday--and I hope it's soon--the subject of death will no longer be relegated to backroom conversations in hushed tones. Death will instead be freely discussed by anyone and everyone, both privately and publicly, in the spirit of compassion and with deep respect for each person's individual choices, perceptions, and needs.

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