On Death

I think of death very often but I don’t lose sleep over it. I think of those gone, keep wondering where they are? Where have they gone? Where will they be? I don’t know the answers. Where you go, what happens next?

            Omar Khayyam says:

            Into this universe, and why not knowing

            Not whence, like water willy-nilly flowing...........

            And, there was a door to which I found no key

            There was a veil through which I could not see

            Some little talk a while of me and Thee

            There seemed and then no more of Thee and me   

            Iqbal Says:

            “Baaghe bahisht sey hukme-safar diya tha kyon

            Kaare Iahaan daraaz hai, at mena tera intezaar kar”

           

Why did you order me out of the garden of paradise?

            I have a lot left to do; now you wait for me.

            Tennyson:

            Sunset and evening star

            And one clear call for me

            And may there be no moaning of the bar

            When I put out to sea.........

            Twilight and evening bell,

            After that the dark

            And may there be no sadness or farewell,

            When I embark ...........

Yas Yagna lines:-

“ Khuda me shaq ho to ho, maut me nahi koi shaq.”

You may or may not doubt the existence of God, you can’t doubt the certainty of death. Dalai lama says meditation is the best way to face death. Death is inevitable while I think about a lot, I don’t brood over it. I am prepared for it.

 Ghalib put it so aptly:-

            “Rau me has rakshe-umar kahaan dekheeye thamey.

            Nai haath bag par na pa hai rakaab mein”

            Age travels at a galloping pace,

            Who know where it will step

            We do not have the reins in our hands

            Nor our feet in the stirrups

In the Jain philosophy death ought to be celebrated. Whenever I am upset or low I visit the grave yard. It has a cleaning effect, and it worked like therapy for me. In fact I have already written my own epitaph. I feel burial is best disposal of the body because with a burial you give back to the earth what you have taken.   

I don’t believe in rebirth or reincarnation.  I accept the finality of death. We do not know what happens to us after we die but one should help a person go in peace at peace with himself and with the world.

Above all, when the time comes to go, one should go like a man without any regret or grievance against anyone.

What is true Happiness ?

When the Prophet (SAWS) came with new religion, one of the Central Components of the religion was to try to humanize people, to make the already difficulties circumstances of the world more tolerable, and one of the central ways of doing that was to help people get outside of their ego-centrally, because not only there is benefit for yourself when you are less egocentric, but it is making life a lot easier for other people.    

And so when the more people do that, the better life becomes, that what is so ironic about egocentricity, egocentricity makes life miserable for everybody. And you begin to get out of yourself and actually start thinking about other people, if you get a critical mass of people doing that, then you really begin to create paradise on earth, it is not the “double shot” triple cappuccino” .......... you know.......it’s like (here you go)..... Can I get you something? .....can I help? ...... that is what makes life much more enjoyable as an experience, it is not the satisfaction of the self that is apparent ....... that is illusion of happiness, is it if I just can’t satisfy myself I am going to be happy? That is the illusion of happiness.

The real happiness is actually serving others, that’s where real happiness is, in fact, in philosophy they actually call it the, “Hedonistic principle” because it’s a paradox why people feel good about. I mean ...... they just did a study on brain about giving charily and all the pleasure zones were fired of when people were giving charity. Because people feel good about helping other people. It’s the way we are designed but the nafs (ego) is there to present that .........nafs,shaitan,Hawa (desire) and Duniya, the enemies of the human are there to prevent that and that why, the beauty of the prophetic      way is that the Prophet (SAWS) said. “I did not see any good but I guided you to it.” He has already given you all the guidance, and then it becomes a matter of,”are you going to follow it or not?”

Are you going to practice these things and they are amazing principles and one of the examples that I use many times, that the Prophet (SAWS) said. “That none of you will enter paradise, unfit you believe, until you love each other” and then he said, “Can I tell you something that if you do it, love will begin to grow amongst you”. And they said, “Yes, indeed ya Rasool-Al-Allah,” and he said, “Spread peace amongst you”. Now the primary meaning of this is actually to give the greetings of peace but it also obviously has just  what it means to spread peace amongst you.      

You have to work to break human icicles. And people have reasons why they are, the way they are, and a lot of it is just they didn’t get enough hugs when they were kids. There is a lot of reasons why people have lack of trust for other people. This aspect of the religion of Islam is so ignored. This aspect of just treating people with respect, with human dignity is so ignored, and then the people wonder, why nobody treat us with respect. It is because; we don’t treat others with respect. Why God should grants us that gift of being respected if we don’t respect each other.  

Zahid, as I Know Him

You have only one life to make the best use of it. Don’t waste time, for time is worship and not a minute should be wasted. I have never been concerned with my outward appearances. What lies beneath the cloths is real me, confined by emotions of love and hate, general irritability and occasional equipoise, angry denunciations and tolerance of another’s point of view, rigid adherence to self prescribed regimen and accommodation of others convenience.

Am I a likeable man? I don’t know. I’ve had very few close friends because I’ve never set much store by friendship. I enjoy the company of intelligent people and would r read a book or listen to music when not in company of nice people.  My love for Urdu poetry   has grown so much that besides Quran, I read only Urdu poetry. I keep Ghalib   on my bedside table and an anthology   of Urdu poetry on the table besides me where I sit the entire day on Sunday and holidays.

I have always had great interest in nature, in flowers in trees and in birds. I enjoy identifying the different birds that visits the terrace in both my village house and where ever possible.  

I have an image of a person with a glad eye, which come from the fact that I have always talked openly and frankly about sex. Most of the sex in my uttering’s just fantasies after all; I am not much of a lover. But I do love the company of women especially beautiful women’s who are lively, intelligent and they seem to enjoy my company.   

I have been wiling in my blog for four years. My purpose is to inform, amuse, provoke and share my thought. I am also somewhat of a missionary preaching secularism. My mission is to warn people, readers against the dangers posed by the communal forces. I will continue to oppose fundamentalists of all religious till I live. May be my efforts will be futile but I will persist no matter what the outcome may be.

When asked if what I have been doing will be worthwhile, in my reply, I quote an Urdu couplet:

“Kya puchte ho haal mere kaarobar ka

Aaeeney bechta hoon andhon ke sheher me”

You ask me about my business what I have is mind

I sell mirrors in the city of the blind.                         

I would like to be remembered as someone who made people smile. 

Black Holes

In space anything that comes to black hole is immediately pulled into it and it disappears from the world.  Similarly there are white holes too.  If everything goes on disappearing into the black holes, one day everything will have disappeared.  

But every day new stars are being born, meaning these black holes do - create.  It is a death. Not only do you get tired and old now they say even metal gets tired, even for machinery, working twenty four hours a day is too much.  You are creating too much tension in the metal.  It needs a little rest to recover itself; otherwise soon it will not be functional anymore. Even machine becomes old just as people do.  Stars similarly get old and disappear into black holes.

The function of black holes is to disperse all constituents of the planet or star- to return them to their original form.  The original form is electricity, energy, so mater melts into electricity, into energy which cannot be seen.  No energy is visible. The universe is continuously renewing itself in the same way as every individual is born, grows old dies and then somewhere is born in a new form, fresh going this is the process of regeneration.