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“What is the strangest thing you
have met with on earth?” one of the gods asked Narad Muni.
“On earth, which is a place where people are dying every
minute, I have observed a very strange thing indeed,” said
the celestial sage. “Those who are living are under this
illusion that they will not die. Even those who know that
death will come and snatch away everything, continue to
produce children, hoard wealth and do other things without
giving a time to reflect on the nature of that thing called
death.”
Today
you are mourning on the departure of a close relative, the
next day others will come to do the same for you. Very rarely,
do people give a little time to the ultimate fact of this
earthly life. The earth is also called mrityu lok, that is,
the world of the death. Is there a place on this earth where
people have not been buried? We are like corpses walking in a
cemetery. Yet, we are proud and think that we have achieved
something great by making material progress. We are not going
to talk about God, religion or any spiritual practice. But let
us stop to reflect a little: are we not missing something very
sublime? What if we really have a soul and have not known it?
What if we come to know that all that we have done during our
whole life was nothing but a repetition of a previous
incarnation, and that we will come again and again to do the
same thing!
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Albert
Camus was right from that angle. “Life is absurd,” he
said. Should we take a pen and boast about it? It is meant to
expose our thoughts on paper, but what if we start making a
collection of pens and become a passionate pen collector! A
pen is helpful only when we use it to write, or else it has no
value beyond that. Similarly, life is a means. If we stop at
it, then it is mere foolishness, it becomes absurd and from
absurdity are born evil and more absurdities. There are
innumerable absurdities in modern society, but one cannot
accept that they are, unless one sees beyond them. When
enlightened beings come to show us the absurdity we have been
dealing with for so long, we cannot bear this. Instead, we see
them as stupid and absurd. For example, when Jesus said he was
the son of God, this created disturbance in the Jewish
society.
People
are spending billions to explore and even colonise other
planets, when people here are dying of malnutrition and all
kinds of diseases. The human mind conceals infinite
possibilities: shall we then explore them one by one? Or shall
we tackle the essential ones, that is, those that can make us
become a god? People do so many absurd things that the day
they realise this fact, they may get scared and think they are
mad. My own observation of life is that most people are mad to
different extents. Is anger not a degree of madness? Now
imagine how many things people do that are condemned by the
law. Is rape not a mad affair? Are genocide and other crimes
against humanity the result of a sane mind or of a mad and ill
mind?
People
refuse to stop and look beyond the routine of life. There is a
fear that if really there is something beyond the body, mind
and heart, then life has been wasted. People are stuck at
three levels: the body, the mind and the heart. Those who are
in the body know nothing more than seeking for food, clothing
and shelter plus a little sensual pleasure. They simply
vegetate and do nothing more than those in the animal kingdom.
The
mental people are in search of knowledge or philosophy. Most
of the time they find pleasure in hoarding knowledge - they
are called philosophers or pundits. These people discuss for
the sake of discussion and also like to acquire more and more
certificates. Another category of mental individuals consists
of those who are aggressive after power, name and fame: they
are the politicians and the businessmen. Thirdly are the
sentimental people who are carried away by feelings. They are
the poets, artists, singers, lovers and many others.
All
these people are stuck at their respective levels and they
sincerely believe that they are perfectly well where they
stand. What is wrong to be a poet? Absolutely nothing! But
poetry is not the end of life, though it certainly gives a
faint glimpse of it. Anyone can be a poet; in fact, everyone
is a poet to some extent. Similarly, there is nothing bad in
being a politician, a scholar, a businessman or a
body-builder. But the tragedy lies in the fact that people
stop there stubbornly like the child who would not let go of
his toy. Is it not absurd for an adult to continue to play a
toy piano and to get attached to it while he is ripe to play a
big one? It is not wrong, but to a grown-up and enlightened
individual, it certainly is ridiculous.
Life
does not stop at the reach of the senses and the mind. There
are many in the past and a few in the present who have gone
beyond them. The beauty, life, bliss, power and love of the
beyond are eternal and infinite. Are you ready to cross the
bounds imposed by the old society?
Let
us stop to reflect a little: are we not missing something very
sublime? What if we really have a soul and have not known it?
What if we come to know that all that we have done during our
whole life was nothing but a repetition of a previous
incarnation, and that we will come again and again to do the
same thing!
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