Tuesday, July 27, 2004

"I Intend to live forever - So far so good"

This is one thing that has always been intriguing for me as far as human lives are concerned. People seem to bother more about what will happen to them in the...should I call it "After life" than in the "Present life". There are a various flavours in which they come:

1) "If I donot do this, will I be born as an insect in my next life?"
1) "If I do this, then what shall become of me during Judgement day?"
1) "Is there something called as hell where some i-have-nothing-else-to-do-but-fry-you guy sits all day with a cauldron full of cooking oil, waiting to fry me once I die?"

Let me share with you a conversation I had a few days ago with someone interesting

Me: "In case you donot live forever, bother about it after you ACTUALLY die. How about something more constructive for now, like not letting others die?"

Him : "But When I do die, who will tell me what to do? Right now I listen to you, but who will be there later on?"

Me: "Hellooooo, is somebody listening to me? I just said that you wont die. So just quit asking that question please"

Him: "But what if..."

Me: "Shush...shush... No more. I wont have any more of your drivel"

Him: "But I can see that a lot of people are dying around me. So I am pretty sure that I will die"

Me: "Pretty Sure? How can you be pretty sure of something. Have you seen yourself die? If not have you heard that you have died? Have you fealt death? All these years all you have felt was that you were alive. So what if you see someone die? How do you know what he is doing? Huh? How do you know if you yourself, if you pack this stupid idea of dying, get to some more constructive work and find something that will prevent you from dying? Huh? How do you know for that matter, that there is such a thing called as death, and all the people around you are acting as if they are dead, while they just want to see how you react to it?
Me: Let us see once we die what we are going to do about it. Consider this, supposing there is something called as the "Live Land" and something called as the "Dead Land". Now, we are presently in the "Live Land". Once we die here, we go to the "Dead Land" (wherever it is, if at all it is). And once we die there we come here. Just assume for now that this is true. (We never really know what is true and what is not, and as long as you cannot Prove that I am wrong, you have no choice but to listen to my story as well). Now, don't you think it would be Utterly foolish if we were to sit in the "Dead Land" and wonder what we would be doing in the "Live Land" once we die there? We know what we do in "Live Land" don't we? That is for us to sort out when we are in the "Live Land". Similarly, what we do in the "Dead Land" is for us to sort out once we go there. So for now, just get back to your work and don't waste time on thinking what Might happen to you. Rather Make things happen for you.

Reason

I am a Believer/Follower of the following Sanskrit Quote:

"Yukti Yuktam Vacho Grahyam, Baladhapi Shukadhapi    
Yukti Heenam Vachasthyajyam, Vrudhdhadhapi Shukadhapi "

(Forgive me if you donot know Sanskrit. Neither Do I. But this was one beauty I could not pass up. You want to know what it means ??? Read on...)

Essence : Anything if told(Vachaha) with(Yuktam) proper reasoning (Yukti), even if the speaker is a small child(Balaha) or a parrot(Shukaha), should be accepted/ingratiated (Grahyam). At the same time, anything if told without sound reasoning, must be abandoned(thyajyam), even if given by an old man(Vrudhaha) or by the Great Sage Shuka (Supposed to be a very wise man in Hindu Myth with the face of a parrot).