Sunday, July 25, 2010

In a blinding flash…

Two days ago, in the afternoon, my colleague rushed to me to inform me of the accidental death of one of my students.

News of death, though faced on several occasions, always comes as a bolt from the blue. A humbling reminder that we are, after all, only humans. It comes as a simple message from almighty God himself – “remember, your date is due. And no one shall be spared.”

It is only when one is put into this thinking process that one begins to question the fundamental assumptions on which life is conducted, and our daily affairs are managed. Some such simple assumptions are 
  • We are going to live for a long long time
  • We are not going to die in the foreseeable future
  • Our loved ones are going to be around for a long long time
  • The deepest of pain will never be part of our lives
  • The biggest of tragedies cannot happen with us
  • Life will continue to offer its bounties to us regularly
  • We can plan our lives, and can carry out those plans


As days pass by, and we age, we fondly look back upon the years on the footprints of time, and recollect the good moments we have enjoyed. Many of us must feel the sense of loss (having enjoyed those moments so much) and we long for those sunny days to return. But once gone, they are gone for ever.

So the lesson – Living for today’s sake is quite important. Perhaps as much as planning for tomorrow.

And then we start wondering – is all this action really worth it? By “action” I refer to the daily headaches that we encounter and the daily schedules that we set for ourselves. We really do not find a strong answer anywhere but the Bhagwad Gita. It tells us the route to salvation – and that’s fairly simple – to enjoy the karma of existence with full spirit. To devote oneself to selfless karma (now that’s quite tough in today’s Kalyugi times) is the route to salvation. This human existence (and other yonis as well) have no option but to dedicate oneself to the day-to-day tasks of existence and hope for ultimate salvation. The only difference perhaps being that as a human we are conscious of this cycle!

I add one thing to this – In addition to the day-to-day tasks of existence, let us strive for excellence as well. God surely will love us for that.

I remember various Insurance agents telling me about the fickle-minded phenomenon – “life”. In fact, the entire insurance industry works on the simple selling of the idea that death is for sure. How effectively do they sell it to us, depends on their individual skills.

So – Buy a lot of insurance. For yourself, for your loved ones.

We start wondering about the relationships we live with, the amazing web of give-and-take that we encounter every single day of our lives. Friends, children, parents, loved ones, relatives, colleagues, co-workers – every single interaction that we have is unique, never to be repeated ever. I particularly recall the last part of the seminal movie A.I. where the robot David asks the super-beings for just a chance to be with his human mother once, and they grant it saying that “the fabric of space time is such that once they recreate anything, it can live only through one day when it vanishes forever”.

So let’s respect each interaction as unique. A never-to-be-repeated experience.

As I spoke with the father of the departed soul, I got emotional and could feel the pain totally. It must be such a tearing pain for a father who is made to bear a loss like this one. I had tears in my eyes when I spoke to him, and I hope he has enough strength to bear this loss. Destiny can be so cruel to some! It's almost unimaginable how the family will cope with the tragedy. God be merciful.

Dear Proton Vivek Singh Yadav – rest in peace, dear friend. You will be missed always.

Life and love
Love and death
On the eternal footprints of time
Are temporary human constructs
To be savoured
Till they persist, till they exist
For the waves of time's irresistible push forward
Remind us without fail
That we are creatures frail
Not to last
But our unique images
Will live on
Forever
In the hearts of those whom we loved!
~

8 comments:

Krunal Gurav said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ritesh Sharma said...

"May his soul rest in peace and God my help his family "..

Respected Sir,

This blog really deals with the soft part of the life.In this kaliyug,people are just running for their own need or greed.They forgetting that ultimately they are common human being , they have to leave what they have today at the end of the game.

As I gone through Bhagwad geeta twice, Shri Krishna bhagwan said to Arjun" Be neutral in life : try to contribute as much as you can".

And really what I personally feel,the epic of geeta deals with all management perspective of human being, and should be follow in curriculum of students, being a human not just a man.

Regards,
Ritesh Sharma

Krunal Gurav said...

"May his soul rest in peace"
Sir, this blog for me is like answering questions that I have ever wondered about. If seriously given a thought quotes like "happiness and sadness are two sides of the same coin," raises a lot of questions again.
Some one has truly said that life has its own up and downs. Sir, Gita looks quite difficult to understand, I have tried twice to read it but could not go beyond 40 pages. Though your blog answers a lot of questions, can you please suggest any simple and interesting english version of Gita for further reading. - Krunal

Rhishikesh said...

Respected sir,
very true. death is terrible for those who havent read bhagvad gita. its such a wonderful teaching lord has given us.
that nainam chindanti shastrani and all....
that the soul remains intact and forever...the eternal truth! the wisdom which god himself share!! u talk abt the positive assumptions abt life we have...that we present a very happy picture abt our life and all...can we cal it sir as our hope to see good future. or we fear bad things so much that we dont even try to picture them! or is it a attitude which is natural...i.e. to be positive??
whtever it is sir it is being human to the last degree....!
sir i pls request u to do an art of living course for urself sir. its so fantastic. pls sir at least once meet my beloved guruji. it would be such a nice picture for me to see my 2 gurus meeting!! and then sir u may even conduct art of living classes in pt and proton too. sir guruji is such divine, such pure chetana, so lovely that u will forget every worry when u will enter in his ashram...its such a divine ploace.
jai gurudev1!

Rhishikesh Ambulgekar
PT nasik

Rhishikesh said...

Respected sir,
very true. death is terrible for those who havent read bhagvad gita. its such a wonderful teaching lord has given us.
that nainam chindanti shastrani and all....
that the soul remains intact and forever...the eternal truth! the wisdom which god himself share!! u talk abt the positive assumptions abt life we have...that we present a very happy picture abt our life and all...can we cal it sir as our hope to see good future. or we fear bad things so much that we dont even try to picture them! or is it a attitude which is natural...i.e. to be positive??
whtever it is sir it is being human to the last degree....!
sir i pls request u to do an art of living course for urself sir. its so fantastic. pls sir at least once meet my beloved guruji. it would be such a nice picture for me to see my 2 gurus meeting!! and then sir u may even conduct art of living classes in pt and proton too. sir guruji is such divine, such pure chetana, so lovely that u will forget every worry when u will enter in his ashram...its such a divine ploace.
jai gurudev1!

Rhishikesh Ambulgekar
PT nasik

Kanchan Pahuja said...

Respected Sir,

This is bitter truth of life but we cant deny that one day we all have to leave our everything here so we should always be kind to everyone.we never know whats lying ahead for us.

Manas said...

Very sad to hear this news... Having myself gone through some surgery this week and having had to rush my son to an emergency room last night (both of which events had perfectly good outcomes luckily) I can only say that each day we fret and fume over minor matters is a day criminally wasted, and the waste of which will further impair our ability to deal with grief when it comes - as it inevitably will.

Manas

SHREYA KHANDELWAL said...


Greetings sir,

Nature is explicitly beautfil and has a vicious cycle of life and death which is like day and night.
Everyone is born to eventually die.

In every day life nature provide us with tiny glimpse of death-sleep.
Death is like deep rest,it is like dropping the past.
Die every moment..you are born every moment.

This eternal truth of life and death let us embrace our death with grace.

We know no one can be spared of this cycle so we must strive for excellence.
Our purpose of life should be a life of purpose.

We must always take care of our loved ones and accept the uncertainties of life.

We must not take with us sand of old times..we must not build future air castles..we must live in today..and serve our purpose of day to day existence with full passion and rejuvenation.

THE TRAGEDY OF LIFE IS NOT DEATH..
BUT WHAT WE LET DIE INSIDE OF US WHILE WE LIVE..

We are meant to live with full spirit and we should always follow our heart.

We should live such a life that influences as many hearts as I can touch,spreading smiles and serving the needy.Everything vanishes with time all that remains is your actions,your imprints you left.

We must always remember-

PRESENT IS A WONDERFUL PRESENT.

Regards
Shreya Khandelwal