How Grief Becomes Light: remembering grief as a sacred art

“Grief, when given space, becomes the deepest expression of love.”
-AmarAtma Singh Khalsa BCC MTCM
Author of the Forward of How Grief Becomes Light

In a world that urges us to “move on,” to stay strong, to return quickly to productivity, grief is often treated as something to overcome rather than something to honor. Yet grief is love- love responding to loss.

Suren and Ruby Shrestha’s new book, How Grief Becomes Light, invites us to remember something ancient: grief is not meant to be rushed, suppressed, or endured alone. It is meant to be held with ritual, reverence and community until it transforms.

About the Book

When Suren Shrestha’s beloved father passed away, his family returned to Nepal to honor him through the sacred Newar traditions of their people. What unfolded was more than a farewell; it became a luminous journey revealing how grief, when held with ritual and love, can transform into healing, connection, and even joy.⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ 

How Grief Becomes Light is both a heartfelt memoir and a gentle guide. Suren and Ruby Shrestha weave intimate storytelling with practical wisdom, offering warmth, humor, and tenderness for anyone navigating loss. Each chapter includes simple, meaningful practices- rituals for cherishing final moments, parting with the body, tending the soul’s journey, planting seeds of remembrance, and even preparing for one’s own beautiful passage.⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ 

For those walking through grief, this book is a compassionate companion- filled with timeless insight, cultural richness, and tender encouragement- showing a way to walk with grief until it becomes light.⁣⁣⁣⁣

Remembering What Modern Life Forgot

Grieving was once a communal, sacred act. Across cultures, death was marked not only by sorrow, but by ceremony- songs, prayers, and ritual practices. These rituals did not attempt to erase pain but rather provided the space for it to move.

Today, many of us have lost access to these containers. Grief is privatized, medicalized, or spiritually bypassed. We are encouraged to “be positive,” even when our hearts are breaking. In this forgetting, grief becomes stagnant- love with nowhere to go.

How Grief Becomes Light helps us to restore what has been lost by grounding grief in ancestral wisdom, lived experience, and embodied practice.

Part Companion, Part Memoir

While deeply personal, How Grief Becomes Light is also a gentle guide. Each chapter includes a Guidance for Mourners section which includes simple, accessible practices that can be adapted to any culture or belief system. These rituals offer ways to cherish final moments, part with the body, tend the soul’s journey, plant seeds of remembrance, and even prepare consciously for one’s own eventual passing.

In a world that seems quite familiar with the darker side of grief, Suren and Ruby shine its light without bypassing the human experience.

Grief as a Journey Through the Chakras

Suren and Ruby treat grief not as an abstract concept but as something that lives in our bodies. It shapes us, moves us, and asks to be felt. The book details rituals and ceremonies that are based in the Himalayan six-chakra system, a lesser known system than the Vedic seven-chakra system.

Through the lens of the Himalayan chakra system, grief isn’t something to be transcended. It’s about both the descent and ascent.

• Muladhara (Root Chakra): Because loss can impact our sense of safety, we ground here to restore stability.
• Svadhisthana (Second Chakra): Grief awakens waves of emotion and the practices in this book allow feeling to flow rather than freeze.
• Manipura (Solar Plexus): In mourning, we confront powerlessness and embrace surrender.
• Anahata (Heart Chakra): This is where grief reveals its true nature- that it is also love.
• Vishuddha (Throat Chakra): Through chanting, prayer, storytelling, and sound, grief finds its voice.
• Ajna (Third Eye): As ritual deepens, perspective shifts. The focus becomes less on the pain and sorrow, and more on the transition of the soul from Preta (ghost) to Pitri (ancestor.)

In this way, grief is an initiation- a transformation that happens not just in those of us still incarnated on Earth but for the soul who is being guided to unite with the Ancestors.

What Readers Are Saying

The response to How Grief Becomes Light has been deeply resonant:

“The more sacredness, ritual, and intention we bring into saying goodbye, the more peace we can find in our hearts. This book offers loving guidance and meaningful practices from the Newari-Nepali tradition to help us create that sense of closure and healing.”
–Deva Premal & Miten, Grammy-nominated sacred mantra musicians

“A multi-dimensional treatise revealing the Newari tradition of grieving- esoteric, heartfelt, and deeply human. Timely. Important. And oh-so-necessary.”
–Andi & Jonathan Goldman, co-authors of Chakra Frequencies

“A must-read for anyone who grieves any loss. With Ruby and Suren’s stories as our companions, we will never get lost in life, nor in the afterlife.”
–Rebecca Jane, author of She Bleeds Sestinas

“Ancient Vedic wisdom illuminated with charm and humor. Joyful as well as sorrowful rituals shared with warmth and accessibility.”
–Donna GuruBachan Wong, creator of Ganesha Gems

“This unique work invites reflection, imagination, and intention- qualities nurtured by ritual itself.”
–Dr. Barbara Nimri Aziz, anthropologist and author

Walking With Grief Until It Becomes Light

How Grief Becomes Light reminds us that grief isn’t something to rush through; it is something to walk with. When given time, structure, and love, grief becomes a teacher. It becomes a prayer. 

It becomes light.

Are you interested in having your very own copy of How Grief Becomes Light? We only have a few advance copies available.

Be one of the few to read the book now and order your copy of How Grief Becomes Light here: https://nownzen.com/product/how-grief-becomes-light-book/ 

How Grief Becomes Light will be distributed by Simon & Schuster and available at major bookstores worldwide beginning on November 10, 2026.