Epilogue

Shortly after writing the final entry in her journal, Samadhi received a letter from her mother, in which she answered Samadhi's request of 6th May for information about her father. The information Samadhi received was minimal, and not really new to her. Its significance was that this was the first time her mother had directly spoken about her father, and as such, deeply touched "the heart of the little wounded girl". Samadhi copied into the final page of her journal three times the main paragraph of this letter:

"You have asked me about your father.
I knew him in 1939. He was doing his military service. As my mother did not wish me to marry when the Germans returned to France, he wished to return to Cannes, because he was from Cannes. And when the Germans occupied France, he was arrested by the German Gestapo. He was deported to Germany, and he died there."

A day or two later, Samadhi silently handed to Sat, her journal, her folders of notes, and her drawing book and pens. This phase of her life was now over.

The following week, on Tuesday, 26th June, on a beautiful winter day with clear skies and warm sunshine, Samadhi left her room for the last time. Bodha and Saroja drove Samadhi to the Byron Lighthouse, which is situated at the most easterly point of mainland Australia. There, in her wheelchair, she sat and soaked up the sun, and scanned the ocean for the whales and dolphins which frequent this area. She shared a small picnic of fish and champagne, and although physically weak, she just loved every moment, and made sure that photos were taken to record the outing.

By the next day Samadhi's health had very obviously deteriorated. Most of the time, she remained in a deep sleep, and over the next days gradually slipped into deeper levels of unconsciousness. She occasionally opened her eyes and said a few words, often in French, and sometimes quite confused. She took no food from this time on. She was still aware of people in the room, of talking, and of the door opening, etc, and most of the time gave every indication of being at peace.

During these days, her friends sat with her, holding her hand, telling her they loved her, and reassuring her that it was OK to let go, that she had nothing more to do, that she could just rest and trust in existence. Finally, at 3:15 pm on Monday, 2nd July, 2001 (six days after the lighthouse excursion), her breathing changed, she let out a sigh, and stopped breathing.