Desi talk

www.desitalkchicago.com – that’s all you need to know 4 OPINION February 27, 2026 Disclaimer:The views and opinions expressed on this page are those of the authors and Parikh Worldwide Media does not officially endorse, and is not responsible or liable for them. I t should not be newsworthy for the American Academy of Pediatrics to issue vaccine recommendations, as it did last week. The organization, which represents about 67,000 pediatricians, has done so every year since 1935, in close coordination with the federal government. Death is something that we all fear and yet can’t escape it. There is no one in the world who wants to die but still death is the common destination that we all share. Because of the uncertainty surrounding it, the subject of death evokes fear, avoid- ance, superstition in people’s minds. How- ever in complete contrast to these feelings of fear , the ancient Yogi’s & Saints were to- tally above it. As a result of this, there has been a deep curiosity among scientists to know more about the dying process ,especially the one experienced by Yogi’s because to understand the dying process, we must first understand who is undergo- ing the experience. It is said that before death, Yogi’s get to know that their time has come. Such an awareness gives one the opportunity to finish off all remaining attachments so that nothing can pull the mind back to the world at this delicate moment when the soul comes out of the body. Stabilized in soul-consciousness and in the loveful remembrance of Almighty Supreme, the Yogi feels numb- ness starting at the toes & then soul rises toward the forehead. There is the feeling of burning up the final remaining karmic accounts & the soul which is completely detached, experiences neither physical pain nor emotional confusion and just flies out from the forehead to the angelic regions. This refined and elevated way of departing is not a matter of chance, but the result of years, sometimes lifetimes of spiritual effort. The Yogis prepare them- selves mentally, emotionally, and ener- getically to embrace death as a natural transition, not a traumatic end. For such souls, death becomes not a doorway of darkness but an entry into light. Just as a skilled musician plays the final note of a symphony with awareness and grace, a Yogi concludes his role in this worldly drama with precision, peace, and poise. But! What about those who have no ac- cess to such preparation or who are not so elevated or spiritually aware? such a per- son would have a different experience al- together. The moment he/she realizes that time is up, a collage of images consisting of relatives, friends, unfinished business, unfulfilled desires, a vision of the entire life of actions, good and bad comes before his/her mind’s eye. There is often a feeling of confusion or regret, and in such an un- stable state the soul comes out from the body. Hence, the more one understands the process from a spiritual perspective, the easier it is to prepare oneself. Majority of us think that death is feared because it is unknown. However, we forget the fact that all souls have been leaving and taking bodies uncountable times, and hence the experience of leaving the body is well known in our subconscious mind. The process of dying becomes painful when we start thinking of the body as the self & start getting obsessed & attached to it thereby making it intolerable for the soul to leave it peacefully. Because of deep emotional involvement and at- tachment combined with the realization that “I will never see her/him again”, the karmic connection increases the sense of loss and the desire to have that person back. This is why spiritual detachment, practiced during life, becomes a priceless asset at the time of death. The more we live as souls, detached observers of this world drama, the more gracefully we can exit the stage when the time comes. Other- wise, unresolved emotions act like invisible chains, pulling the soul back into sorrow or confusion even after it has left the body. On the other hand, when a ‘Yogi’ loses a relative or a close friend, there is no sor- row, because of understanding exactly as to what has happened. Hence, instead of crying, he will meditate & give vibrations of peace to the departed soul to help him on his way to the next body quickly and painlessly. Remember! A natural death after a good life comes with the thought that now my part here is finished with this body and these bodily relations & hence now, I should go. According to ancient scriptures & religious books, death at the end of a karma cycle is the only death followed by liberation. Therefore, it is necessary to first of all renounce all forms of negative actions which create karmic bondage, and lead a pure life; so, all vices like anger, greed, lust, arrogance, fear and attachment, are de- feated. Rajyogi Brahma Kumar Nikunj ji is spiritual educator and columnist for publications in India,Nepal & UK. (The views expressed here are entirely those of the author) By Rajyogi Brahma Kumar Nikunj Ji The Soul’s Final Flight PHOTO:Provided The Vital Measure Of Senior Health That Medicare Ignores A s a physical therapist and rehabilitation director who oversees Medicare-funded nursing home care for patients recovering from serious illness or injury, I know what happens when an older adult enters a nursing home after a stroke or a hip frac- ture. The family expects recovery. The facility promises rehabilitation. Medicare pays for skilled care. And far too often, the patient leaves weaker than when they arrived. This is not an anecdote. It is a consistent pattern. Across thousands of facilities, countless seniors who walk in with assistance leave in wheelchairs. Patients who could previously stand up from a chair, move to a bed or walk short distances with help now require mechanical lifts and two staff members. The decline happens quietly, without alarm, in a system that measures almost every- thing but fails to make mobility measures consequential. The U.S. health care industry is failing at the most fundamental measure of recovery, and federal oversight has built a regulatory apparatus that makes this failure invisible. The problem begins with what Medicare chooses to measure. Medicare’s nursing home quality system tracks falls, infections, pressure ulcers and staffing ratios. These metrics matter. But when federal oversight prioritizes these measures above all else, it creates perverse incen- tives for nursing home operators and administrators. A facility can receive high marks for preventing falls while presiding over widespread mobility loss. Safety becomes defined as keeping people still. This dynamic plays out daily in nursing homes nation- wide. Therapy schedules get cut when Medicare coverage runs out. Walking programs end because staffing is tight. Residents spend long hours in wheelchairs not because they cannot walk, but because walking takes time and assistance that overstretched staff cannot provide. The result is predictable: Muscles weaken, balance deterio- rates and temporary impairment becomes permanent disability. What makes this failure especially clear is that the nec- essary data is already being collected. Every Medicare- certified nursing home documents residents’ functional status at admission and discharge through standardized assessments measuring walking distance, transfer abil- ity and independence in self-care. Medicare mandates assessment of whether residents can walk 50 feet, stand from a chair, move from bed to bathroom independently. These measures are publicly reported, but they rarely trigger the kind of investigation, corrective action or en- forcement that follows a fall or an infection. The data exists to answer the question every fam- ily asks: Did my loved one get better? Yet current policy frameworks do not require nursing homes or regulators to act on the answer. This lack of accountability has consequences beyond individual disappointment. Mobility loss is expensive. Residents who cannot walk require more intensive care and face higher hospitalization rates. They are far more likely to need permanent institutional placement rather than returning home. The mechanics of measurement are not the barrier. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has developed functional outcome measures that compare expected versus observed mobility at discharge. These measures are part of the Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting Program and are publicly reported through Medicare’s Care Compare. These tools work. But they carry minimal weight in federal nursing home ratings and almost no consequence for Medicare reimburse- ment. As long as mobility remains peripheral to quality measurement, facilities will optimize for what carries consequences: avoiding incidents rather than building strength. To be clear: Fall prevention matters. Infection control matters. Adequate staffing matters. These are not com- peting priorities. But safety defined solely as the absence of adverse events is insufficient. True safety includes the ability to move, to stand, to walk with appropriate sup- port. Keeping vulnerable seniors immobile in the name of preventing falls often creates the weakness that makes falls more dangerous when they inevitably occur. Federal policymakers and Medicare regulators could address this directly. Mobility outcomes should be weighted meaningfully in federal nursing home star rat- ings, in which functional recovery measures carry far less influence than inspection findings and staffing measures. Admission-to-discharge functional change should be publicly reported in plain language. Medicare payment should reward improvement, not just the absence of vis- ible harm. Functional decline should no longer be treated as an unfortunate and unmeasured side effect of nursing home care. The elderly U.S. population is growing rapidly. By 2040, more than one in five Americans will be older than 65, according to the Administration for Community Living. If nursing homes continue to measure process but ignore outcomes, to document function without demanding improvement, the result will be a generation that is ware- housed rather than restored. This is not about perfection. Some residents will not improve regardless of care quality. Cognitive impairment, advanced illness and end-stage conditions all limit recov- ery potential. But no one is served by pretending there is no distinction between unavoidable decline and prevent- able loss of function. Families discover too late that their father can no longer stand, that their mother has lost the ability to walk to the bathroom, that rehabilitation meant maintenance at best. They ask why no one warned them, why no one tried harder. Seniors entering nursing homes deserve better than the current standards. They deserve a system that mea- sures whether they leave stronger than they arrived. That is not a radical demand. It is the bare minimum a recov- ery system should provide.. Neha Sabharwal is a physical therapist and rehabilitation director. -Special to TheWashington Post By Neha Sabharwal