Hi! Is it ok to donate organs like eyes, kidney etc after you die? Would you incur bad karma for doing this? I have also heard that if you donate eyes in this life you become blind in next life. Is it true?
—SP, India
Dear SP,
I doubt you would incur bad karma for donating organs.
I thought an answer from Swami Kriyananda on this topic would be most helpful here. This quote is from the book Religion in the New Age.
Q. Is it a good thing to donate one’s organs for the use of other who are still living?
A. Of course it is a good thing, in a somewhat abstract sense. Because death is such a holy occasion, however, I must say that I wouldn’t want anyone “mucking” with my organs at that time. One’s consciousness doesn’t withdraw immediately from the body. If those organs are still alive enough to be useful to someone else, the life force, probably, has not yet fully withdrawn from them.
Really the essential point is that the moments just before death, and at death as the soul passes from the body, are very sacred. Our entire life is a journey in raising our consciousness. The consciousness we have when we leave the body will determine the consciousness that we bring into our next life. It is beautiful to have people around you chanting and praying for you, seeing you surrounded and uplifted in light during the time just before you pass, and chanting Om in your right ear as you pass. The helps the person leave with the highest possible consciousness.
As I understand it organ donation would require medical professionals being ‘at the ready’ with their surgical instruments waiting near you and immediately commencing their procedure as soon as you take your last breath, because the organs must be fresh and viable for transplant. It would interfere with the holiness of the moment.
Many blessings,
Nayaswami Mukti
