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1. Introduction
Rajiv Parti, MD (www.rajpartimd.com) – a Hindu and formerly the chief anesthesiologist at Bakersfield Heart Hospital in California – had a veridical (verified) near-death experience (NDE) that upended his worldview, priorities, and career. His best-known, full telling appears in his book, Dying to Wake Up (2016, with Paul Perry). Additional interviews and media pieces repeat and expand parts of the story. What follows is a description of Dr. Parti’s NDE testimony.
2. His Medical Crisis
Dr. Parti’s health crisis began with prostate cancer and difficult complications. According to his book-based narrative, he underwent placement of an artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) at UCLA on December 14, 2010. A severe postoperative infection led to an emergency procedure on December 24, 2010 to remove the device and drain the infection – this is the surgical setting in which he locates his NDE.
3. What He Experienced
a. Out-of-Body Awareness in the Operating Room
Dr. Parti describes floating “near the ceiling,” observing the incision being made and smelling pus as it spread. He recalls a nurse dabbing eucalyptus water on masks to counter the odor and later repeating a crude joke told by the anesthesiologist – details he cites as specific, verifiable markers of an OBE. Dr. Parti says he could look over surgical drapes and around the room as if unbound by his body’s line of sight. The feeling, in his words, was detached and lucid – no pain, clear thinking, and a calm, observational focus. He recalled the positions and movements of team members – who stood where, who reached for what – like a wide-angle time-lapse of the OR’s flow. From a patient’s position – he was sedated and behind drapes – he argued that those details should have been hidden from him. He emphasized that he saw, heard, and even smelled events while his physical senses were supposedly offline. The eucalyptus dabbing and the joke function, in his telling, as concrete anchors that others in the room could in principle verify. He felt weightless, typically above the foot of the table or near a corner light, able to shift position by intention rather than effort. His vision felt panoramic; he didn’t need to turn a head to change perspective. His clinical curiosity recognized the scene as his surgery but with the professional eye of an anesthesiologist surveying an OR. For Dr. Parti, the OR episode was the first crack in a materialist outlook he had held for years. The combination of specific sensory details, verbatim dialogue, and a bird’s-eye view under anesthesia convinced him that consciousness can operate independent of the brain, setting the stage for the transformative insights that followed.
b. Veridical Perception of His Family in India
Dr. Parti reported drifting to New Delhi, India, where he perceived his mother and sister deciding on dinner – rice, vegetables, yogurt, legumes – as they huddled near a small heater on a foggy winter night. He described a seamless “drift” or relocation – no sense of traveling through distance – suddenly finding himself present in his family’s home. The reason Dr. Parti considered this evidential is because the exact food choices and heater detail are the kinds of prosaic specifics proponents view as harder to guess. He portrayed himself as not dreaming but observing, with the same calm clinical focus he reported in the operating room. He described the scene as something family members could confirm or deny, positioning it as a potential veridical perception. In his tellings, the emphasis is on the internal clarity and specificity of what he witnessed; the narrative function is to illustrate awareness operating independently of his body and across distance. His India experience served as his paradigm of distant, sober observation – everyday details (heater, menu, fog) used to argue that consciousness can perceive beyond the body and beyond miles, and to re-center his values around family, simplicity, and love.
c. A Descent to a Hellish Realm and Moral Reckoning
After the remote perception of his family in India, Dr. Parti felt himself being pulled forward “as if on a moving walkway,” with no effort of his own – momentum carried him. He found himself at the edge of a flaming canyon – a chasm lit from within by fire, heat radiating upward, smoke drifting past. He recognized this place as the “lip of hell.” It’s geography was of a sheer drop, irregular rock ledges, flames rising from below. The horizon felt closed, with no visible sky – conveying confinement rather than distance. The heat is intense but not quite like physical burning; it is oppressive, pressing inward rather than sizzling the skin. He then perceived “screaming souls” – not so much individuals with faces as clusters of pain, anguish made palpable. The same conveyor-like force that brought him to hell seemed ready to draw him deeper, as if habits and choices have inertia. A voice condemned Dr. Parti’s materialism and lack of love, compassion, and forgiveness. It isn’t a list of exotic sins; it’s the ordinary omissions – moments of indifference, professional arrogance, transactional relationships – that carry weight. He interpreted the hellish realm as a moral “tutorial” – a place where the consequences of priorities are made undeniably clear. In Dr. Parti’s narrative, this “hell” was his turning point – a stark, sensory confrontation with the moral geometry of his life. The moment he embraced love, compassion, and forgiveness, hell’s grip loosened, opening the path to guidance, light, and a comprehensive life review that cemented his change.
d. Spirit Guides, His Deceased Father, and Past-Life Scenes
Two radiant figures – recognized (to his surprise) as archangels Michael and Raphael – and then his deceased father appeared as guides. He described having a telepathic exchange with them – complete ideas and feelings conveyed at once, without moving lips or audible words. They moved Dr. Parti out of the hellish realm and into successively cleaner, brighter spaces. They framed what he is about to see so he understands it as instruction, not punishment.
e. The God of Light and an Unexpected Answer
Escorted through a tunnel-like portal to a realm of exquisite beauty, Dr. Parti encountered a God of light, experienced as pure love. In God’s presence Dr. Parti asked, “Who are you, Lord?” A robed figure with a gold sash and a beard stepped from the light and said, “I’m Jesus, your savior.” Raised Hindu, he was confused by the specifically Christian form of the answer; later he concluded that the divine he met was not confined to any single creed – that God is the God of all nations. His takeaway from this is, “My religion is kindness and love. It welcomes all religions by looking for the sameness in them, not the differences.” He states that he explored Christianity but ultimately aligned with Unity/New Thought, describing God as a universal Spirit and Jesus as exemplifying “Christ consciousness,” not a boundary marker between religions. For Dr. Parti, a Hindu meeting Jesus isn’t a conversion story so much as a universalizing one – the encounter convinced him that love, compassion, and forgiveness are the core, transcending religious labels.
f. His Life Review and How Time Felt
Dr. Parti then underwent a life review often described by NDErs: a vivid, three-dimensional, panoramic replay where he saw “the way” his choices connected. Acts of kindness were highlighted with their ripples – how they affected others and the wider chain of lives – while hurtful moments had to be faced from the other person’s vantage point. As commonly reported, time felt different: some moments suggested no time at all, others that events still unfolded, yet with all the time needed; past, present, and future seemed to arrive together.
g. His Return and Its Aftereffects
Dr. Parti’s message on returning was succinct: practice compassion and forgiveness, let go of materialism, and serve others. He reported that his recovery set him on a wholesale life change: he left his anesthesiology practice, sold his luxury cars, downsized his lifestyle, founded a wellness practice, and began speaking and writing about what he learned, culminating in his book, “Dying to Wake Up.” Initially, he says, medical colleagues were skeptical, mirroring his own former stance toward patients’ NDE anecdotes.
4. Why This Case Draws Ongoing Attention
a. A Physician’s Narrative
As a long-time anesthesiologist and department chief, Dr. Parti’s NDE testimony attracts interest in both popular and professional circles.
b. His NDE Has Multiple Common NDE Elements
Dr. Parti’s NDE includes multiple common NDE elements: his OBE, his apparent veridical perception, his hellish experience that resolved through moral insight, his encounters with guides and his deceased father, a God of light, a Jesus encounter, a life review, and enduring aftereffects.
c. His Public NDE Documentation
Dr. Parti’s account is laid out at length in his book, “Dying To Wake Up,” and echoed across interviews and media summaries.
His website, www.rajpartimd.com, includes summaries and other materials.
Co-author Paul Perry’s essay summarizes Parti’s NDE.
Fox News has a video segment about Dr. Parti sharing how he was impacted by his NDE.
The NZ Herald reported on Dr. Parti’s NDE.
News.com.au’s video/article on Dr. Parti’s afterlife explanation.
Dr. Parti’s YouTube channel with talks/interviews about his NDE.
Interview of Dr. Parti on YouTube discussing his OBE, his hell experience, and lessons learned.
“Dying to Wake Up with Rajiv Parti” on IANDS website.
An IANDS conference archives listing Dr. Parti as a 2014 speaker.
IANDS Vital Signs magazine (Dec. 31, 2023) mentions Dr. Parti’s NDE and book.
The Mirror website has an excellent article about Dr. Parti’s NDE entitled, “Doctor says everything changed after he died and saw hell.”
d. Specific Verified OBE Perceptions
Dr. Parti’s verified OBE perceptions include: the eucalyptus water, the joke, and the New Delhi dinner scene. His descent to hell, the archangels Michael and Raphael, the fatherly guidance, his life review, the Jesus encounter, and the post-NDE life changes all appear across his book/summary materials and subsequent interviews.
5. Conclusion
Dr. Parti’s veridical NDE serves as anchors for the claim that consciousness can transcend the body and distance. His lessons learned include that the only measures that endure are love, compassion, forgiveness, and service. Theologically, a Hindu physician meeting Jesus forces a larger view: that the light he encountered is not the property of any creed. By his own report, Dr. Parti left a prestigious job, simplified his life, and aimed his work toward healing beyond his work as an anesthesiologist.
