New Delhi: Veteran Bollywood actor-politician Vinod Khanna was battling bladder cancer and breathed his last in 2017, leaving behind his bereaved family and heartbroken fans. Years after his demise, the actor’s second wife Kavita Khanna shared a video on her YouTube channel, where she narrated how Vinod Khanna’s cancer journey and spirituality changed her.
Vinod Khanna’s second wife is battling cancer!
Kavita revealed that although Khanna died of bladder cancer, the actor was also diagnosed with lung cancer in 2001. He said, “It was 2001 when Vinod was diagnosed with lung cancer. He went for his annual checkup, and they saw patches in the lungs. He smoked 40 to 80 cigarettes a day. We went to the leading MRI specialists in Mumbai, and they said it was lung cancer.”
Add Zee News as favorite source
He actually told how doctors told him they would have to remove half his lung. However, he preferred to keep it private and even sought guidance from his spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (fondly called Gurudev) before proceeding with the surgery.
He shared how Gurudev advised him to first consult the head of oncology at AIIMS, Delhi and agree on whether the surgery could be done after 2 months or not because in the meantime Vinod Khanna could practice breathing. He said that after getting the ‘go-ahead’ from the doctor, Gurudev suggested that the actor go to the ashram in Rishikesh and practice Sudarshan Kriya there three times a day.
“Later, we went to Germany. One evening, Vinod had this terrible pain around his shoulder. He lay in pain for two days. Then Gurudev came and saw what his condition was, and then suggested we get an X-ray done. No ribs were broken, but the important thing was that there was no cancer. Incredible! We came back through London, he looked at all the reports, and could not accept that it was completely cured. He thought the reports in India were mixed.. No lung cancer has come back,” Kavita said.
However, the actor was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2010.
“The hypothesis was that if he did everything that allopathy did, there was a 25% chance he would be alive after two years. Then Vinod called Gurudev and said, ‘I have lived a full life. And if it’s time for me to go, I am ready to go. But I don’t want to torture my body.’ So Gurudev asked him to come to the ashram and do Panchakarma. The cancer was gone two years after he was first diagnosed. “We did a scan in America and he was gone.”
He also shared how the spiritual guru asked Khanna to give up alcohol, and revealed that he used to drink a glass or two of wine every evening. Kavita said, “He was still in very good health when it began to decline. He eventually died of bladder cancer.”
Poem on Vinod Khanna’s spiritual journey
He revealed how sSpirituality had always been a part of Vinod’s personality. “Vinod was very spiritual since childhood. When he was 17 years old, he bought the book ‘Autobiography of Yogi’ and at that time he said that he had not realized that Osho was also in the same book shop at the same time.”
Also read: Why did Akshaye Khanna’s father Vinod Khanna leave his family when he was just 5 years old?
“The turning point of giving up this incredible material life that he had… the worship that he had, and the success that he had… was when there were several deaths in the family within two years. So, when his mother passed away, he went to Osho and took sannyasa.”
He noted how life was different in the Oregon ashram. “He was Osho’s gardener. Osho’s house was private, and very few people had access there, but if you were the gardener, you were there. That was his service.”
He said, “In Oregon, Osho had these wonderful flowing ropes that were designed for him, and they were all tried on humor because of the similar shape of his shoulders.”
Kavita revealed that her spiritual journey had begun even before she formally joined the ashram. “Even when he was in Mumbai, before he went to the Pune Ashram, he used to meditate on the Chowpatty beach in Bombay, which is right in the center of this throbbing city, and everyone had taken off their clothes, and they were meditating naked in a circle on the beach.”
Clarifying his intention, he said, “I know Vinod was not there looking for the material part of it, I think his journey was a spiritual journey with utmost commitment and devotion.”
About Vinod Khanna
Vinod Khanna debuted in Bollywood in 1968 And played supporting and opposing roles. He was seen in Mere Apne (1971), Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971), Achanak (1973). Some of her other films include Haath Ki Safai, Imtihaan, Patthar Aur Payal, Prem Kahani, Qaid, Hera Pheri co-starring Amitabh Bachchan, Saira Banu and Sulakshana Pandit.
He then gave two more major successes with Shankar Shambhu and Nehle Pe Dahla respectively. The film Khoon Pasina with Bachchan and Rekha proved to be a superhit. Her second release was Manmohan Desai’s multi-starrer masala film Amar Akbar Anthony.
In 1982, at the peak of his career, Vinod Khanna took a five-year hiatus from films to follow his spiritual guru, Osho Rajneesh. He made a comeback in 1987 with ‘Insaaf’.
In 2018, Khanna was posthumously awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India’s highest cinematic award, at the 65th National Film Awards.
She was also seen in Wanted (2009), Dabangg (2010), and Dabangg 2 (2012) – all three starring Salman Khan. His last film to release was Guns of Banaras (2020), 3 years after his death.