It is not length of life, but depth of life
“The trouble is, you think you have time”. Lord Buddha must have said these immortal words years ago, but they stand true in every sphere of life today. We all think that we have a lifetime to build castles and dream endlessly to live life king size. Hence we remain buried in our own thoughts and idiosyncrasies without paying much heed to the rest of the world. We grow old every year, every day. Our body starts to decay every minute after a certain age. We die every moment, yet we don’t live it and when we are gone, we regret having not lived life enough.
Only a select few are remembered posthumously as the ones who lived a fulfilling life. The rest belong to the same genre of mortals trying to make both ends meet and vanish during the journey. Time is transient and something that never waits for anyone. There comes a time, uncertain and sudden, when one stands confronted with the stark reality of life. It’s something inevitable, yet we somehow tend to forget about it.
Death is the only truth that we all fear to acknowledge. But when it strikes, it comes and goes as glibly as a rainbow appears and vanishes, as silently as the sun rises and sets, leaving behind a trail of thoughts for the survivors.
Survivors we all are of life per se, wandering around to find its purpose. And we realise that this search never ends when a loved one parts to traverse the universe. Some accept the situation as a challenge, some learn to overcome this fear of death and the rest give in to the test of time.
Noticing a gathering at someone’s funeral, I realised how strong emotions are at play during such times. We get to witness the epitome of human bonding during such times. We tend to forgive those at fault, forget the flaws and imperfections and find our belief in existence somewhat shaken. We wonder what life really means and are we reflecting it in the right manner? Yet, we have to move on as if we are going to live forever.
Napolean Hill, a prominent American author, has listed six basic fears that everyone should try and overcome in life to succeed. Top on the list is the fear of death, which if overcome, can propel us to put in our best to succeed. When we train our mind to think positive and not be afraid of taking risks in life, we find the contentment levels soar. I saw death close enough recently when Panchkula was in the limelight for wrong reasons and there were gunshots being fired right outside of my house to control the unruly mob.
It is grim that some don’t get to live but mere exist and yet some who live, fail to exist for long. Perhaps, the permanence of life lies in its impermanence.
DEATH IS THE ONLY TRUTH THAT WE ALL FEAR TO ACKNOWLEDGE. HOWEVER, WHEN IT STRIKES, IT COMES AND GOES AS GLIBLY AS A RAINBOW APPEARS AND VANISHES