A chat WITH LIFE AND DEATH…. ( Leaf – one)

 Covid-19 kills over 3000 people…and more..

 Tornado in Nashville kills over 17 people…Several Injured

 Delhi Violence over 38 people died… a few hundreds injured.

The average death in road accidents every year crosses 1.5 lakhs….

Beyond the natural processes that govern life and death, the news pertaining to people losing their lives in tragic modes is indeed very painful. No body wants to embrace death and more so, through any unnatural ways. Yet, death, as a potential negotiator with human life never seems to look for bargains. It has its own ways of hitting people, sometimes so hard, that it takes centuries to forget such events.

The long queues reported in Australia mall for purchase of toilet papers and sanitary supports consequent to the fear of Covid-19, the extraordinary precautions taken by Governments to ensure that the disease doesn’t impact their own country are but the narratives of human thirst for life and living better.

Imagine of an expensive car in United States being run over by a train and smashed completely, yet the driver comes out safe. Imagine of a young man in Japan applying for a driving licence and gets it; and in the next ten minutes communicating his joy of having got the licence to someone else over a mobile phone, he drives the car and falls into a nearby river .. one doesn’t know how death will negotiate with life, where and when.

Along with it, comes its paraphernalia… sorrow, pain, pessimism, disappointments, loss of self-esteem.. not to the victims, but to an entire eco-system which is impacted by its arrival. The very idea of death, even under natural circumstances, brings a sense of fear – fear of the unknown, fear of loss of possessions, relationships and a host of other things. No wonder Yudhistra, the eldest brother of Pandavas, remarks  “ It is indeed most surprising that humans fully realizing that nothing is permanent in life and everything goes along with death, chase possessions thinking they have a full authority and control over them.”

 One could never predict how it arrives or embraces…  The fear of death is oftentimes, more killing than death itself.  “Death is a fearful thing” claims Shakespeare, yet on the other side he says “All that live must die, passing through Nature to Eternity.”

Epicurus takes a very pragmatic view on this “Death does not concern us. Because as long as we exist, Death is not here. And once it does come, we no longer exist.”

Many have had the courage to face it with wisdom, with a sense of humor, or with a conviction. It is said, Lewis Carol, the author of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ called the people around him and said “Take away those pillows – I shall need them no more.” The famous economist John Keynes, on his deathbed, was asked whether he regretted anything. His last words, it is said “I should have drunk more Champagne.”  Aristotle, known for his unparalleled wisdom said “Everybody knows death is unavoidable, but nobody thinks about it, if it is not close yet.”

Sir Winston Churchill, known for his punch and humour, appears to have said on his 75^th birthday “ I am ready to meet my maker. Whether my maker is ready for the ordeal of meeting me is another matter.”

With all the wit, humor and wisdom associated with death and its philosophical and spiritual interpretations, it is indeed painful to witness. No wonder, the Sanskrit prayers often start with the saying, “ Lead us from Death to Immortality.”

 The Indian scriptures take the travelogue of life beyond death claiming what dies is only the body and not the soul. These ideations tend to relieve human of some latent fears and imminent threats the mind articulates during their life time. Says Gita, detailing the nature of the soul, “Weapons cut it not, fire burns it not, water wets it not and wind dries it not.”  So, why fear death?

The fact that neither death could be anticipated nor could be largely predicted, puts the entire thrust on the process of living. Why care about death so long you are living? And thus, the need to live healthy, happy, productive and performing. Say Norman cousins “Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.”

A dialogue with life, hence, appears more important than a dialogue with death. Any dialogue with death, oftentimes, comes with negative sentiments, with a sense of helplessness, a sense of surrender to unseen and unimaginable. A dialogue with life could be more purposeful, more authentic and more positive that ushers in energy

“The Meaning of Life is to find your gift. The purpose of Life is to give it away” says William Shakespeare. How do we find that gift in our life? If someone examines closely, every morning we wake up, is the gift that we have received from the Almighty. We are bestowed everyday with the power of life. The power to be with the elements of Nature, the power to celebrate Nature both internal and external, the power to communicate with limitless organisms that surround us, the power to co-exist with harmony and what not. In short, we are born everyday with innumerable resources around us for experiences that would be exclusively personal, the experiences that make us rich every second. The wealth that is all around, the wealth that comes through such experiences cannot be equated with other formats of perceived riches which have a transient value.

Can we try to find what is the gift of life that we have in store?