IN LOVE WITH DEATH, INNER HAPPINESS and THE ART OF DYING; with guest SATISH KUMAR MODI
SMITTEN BY FAITH ISSUE # 007 18th September 2021
My Special Guest today is my good friend SATISH KUMAR MODI, the author of the best-selling book with an intriguing title, ‘IN LOVE WITH DEATH’ (www.inlovewithdeath.com) which has been launched all over the world - USA, UK, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and there is also a Thai version in Bangkok. Next month on 19th October, Harper Collins will launch a special edition of this book in India. Congratulations Satish!
Satish Modi Satish with his wife, Abha
In this week’s article, we are honoured to have a special slide presentation by Satish on his book, ‘IN LOVE WITH DEATH’ and also his thoughts on INNER HAPPINESS and THE ART OF DYING. However, there is nothing morbid about this subject at all. Dying – just like living – is all about our faith and trust in God. You will see this when you read on below.
‘IN LOVE WITH DEATH’ ( see book cover above) was the first and only book which Satish Modi ever wrote. As he likes to say, he is definitely not a writer. He is in fact a busy billionaire businessman and as the Chairman of Modi Global Enterprises, Satish runs a family business conglomerate in India and around the world with interests in various fields. He started India’s first offshore mutual fund – J.F. India Fund, that is now part of J.P. Morgan Chase. He also started India 's first private airline, ModiLuft, in partnership with Lufthansa and is credited with re-launching this airline as SpiceJet, a leading private airline of India.
But Satish is more than a businessman. Satish walks the talk. He practices what he preaches, in his book : ‘In Love With Death’. Satish and his wife Abha Modi are great humanitarians. Satish is President and Managing Trustee of the Shree Durga Charitable Society, which owns and manages the Laxmi Narayan Temple at Modinagarand and for the comfort of pilgrims set up Dharamshalas in various places in North India, including Haridwar, Kedarnath, Mathura, Vrindavan, Jwalamukhi and Badrinath. Being a champion of peace, Satish Modi is planning to establish an inter-faith spiritual centre in Modinagar, the small city founded by his father.
Satish is President of the Dayawati Modi Foundation for Art, Culture and Education. Mother Teresa was one of the first to receive its annual awards and so did His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In 2000 Satish and his wife Abha established the International Institute of Fine Arts (www.iifaindia.org) to provide quality education to students in the fields of art and creative design and organizes art shows in various countries with the aim of promoting contemporary Indian art. They established a charity, 'Arts for India' aimed at raising funds to support underprivileged, yet talented artists from India. I was privileged to assist this Charity when, as its Chairman for Asia at a Hong Kong gala event some years ago, I helped with the fund-raising and best of all, raised awareness of Arts for India’s mission to lift disadvantaged young Indian people out of poverty through the provision of education in art and creative design.
So, how did this billionaire tycoon and super philanthropist come to write a book about dying? Satish says, “…the aim of ‘IN LOVE WITH DEATH’ is to help people overcome their fear of dying; to make them look at death positively, motivating them to live their lives filled with goodness, love and compassion.” As a result of the success of his book, Satish has recently created the ‘Inner Happiness Foundation’. Satish says, this is to “…bring inner happiness to people, empower them to overcome the fear of dying and enable them to live a meaningful life of goodness, love and compassion. Inner happiness in individuals will eventually contribute towards universal love, peace and harmony.” The Inner Happiness Foundation is partnered with the East-West Philanthropy Forum, based in Honolulu,USA. (www.innerhappinessfoundation.org)
SATISH KUMAR MODI will now share with us his thoughts by way of some amazing slides.
IN LOVE WITH DEATH, INNER HAPPINESS and THE ART OF DYING
By Satish Kumar Modi
New Delhi and London; 18th September 2021
INNER HAPPINESS IS VITAL FOR MENTAL, EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL WELL-BEING. TOWARDS A PURE, BEAUTIFUL LIFE FOREVER
A RESTLESS MIND LEADS TO SERIOUS AILMENTS. TO ATAIN INNER HAPPINESS, WE NEED TO REIGN IN THE MIND. SMILE AND LET IN THE HAPPINESS
FOCUS ON YOUR BREATH AND CALM YOUR MIND. WE NEED TO NOURISH OUR SOULS. INNER HAPPINESS CAN BE ATTAINED THROUGH THE ART OF DYING
THE GOAL – TO DEPART WITH A PURE SOUL. THIS IS THE PATH. KEEP DEATH IN MIND AT ALL TIMES. REMEMBER YOU ARE IN THE DEPARTURE LOUNGE.
IT’S NOT THE LENGTH OF OUR STAY ON THIS EARTH, BUT THE QUALITY OF OUR STAY THAT COUNTS. KEEP YOUR WORD AND DO NOT BREAK YOUR PROMISES. GRIEF IS A GATEWAY TO ENLIGHTENMENT.
EVEN THOUGH MONEY IS REQUIRED TO LEAD OUR LIVES, HOWEVER, EXCESS MONEY CAN LEAD TO MULTIPLE PROBLEMS AND EVEN CAN MALIGN THE SOUL. DEATH IS A GREAT EQUALIZER – BILLIONAIRE, BEGGAR, BEAUTY QUEEN. LIVE IN GRATITUDE; NOT IN BITTERNESS.
ACCEPTANCE AND GRATITUDE – FOR INNER PEACE AND HAPPINESS. DETACHMENT IS THE KEY TO HAPPINESS. WHAT YOU HAVE WILL BE LEFT BEHIND BUT WHAT YOU GIVE WILL GO ALONG WITH YOU.
THE SOUL IS IMMORTAL – the only permanent factor that we have. Therefore, it is extremely important to keep it pure - the ultimate Goal of our life. WE DIE EVERYDAY – EVERY DAY IS A NEW LIFE. DEATH IS ESSENTIAL.
DEATH SHOULD BE CELEBRATED; NOT MOURNED. THE ONLY CERTAINTY IN THIS UNCERTAIN WORLD IS DEATH. This is what I wrote in my book – ‘IN LOVE WITH DEATH’.
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