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.