The Inheritance Of Loss?

(*To Grandpa, Pati & Thatha)

Courtesy: Arjun

There are, perhaps, a few people in this world who do not fear Death in anyway.  Nor do they view it as a great evil that steals our life or our loved ones from us or the chance we have to experience everything we can in this world.  No, they in fact view Death as a great change agent; the conveyor belt that takes away the old and brings in the new.  Death to them is not the end of who we are but rather is a transition from one state of being to another.  Death, simply put, is like walking through a door way and into a new room with new things to behold.  But I am sure that even they too, often wonder, about how exactly that transition will take place and what does indeed lie beyond this life. 

Courtesy: Jong

For a lot of us, our fear and resentment of Death stems primarily from three areas.  The first area is that we wonder about how we may die. For example, would we contract and suffer from a deadly illness for a very long period of time before our actual demise or be involved in a gruesome accident of some kind.  The second area is what tangible proof exists about the life or existence beyond this one.  Finally, the third area is, why do we have to have our loved ones and the people we admire, taken away from us.  For we do despair and wonder, if we will ever get to see any of them ever again.  

My photograph

Summed up together, all of these areas stimulate within us a deep sense of loss and bitterness.  For no matter how much we may prepare for Death, it always catches us by surprise.  I would compare it to be being locked into a dark closet.  After a while, when you know the door is about to be opened, you wait in anticipation.  Though when it does finally open, the shaft of bright light from the outside hallway causes our eyes to shut and our mind feel dazed.  It takes a while for everything to refocus and for our body to get readjusted to our new environment.  But once we do, we realize that the anticipation, adrenaline and darkness have all faded away and in its place is a scene that gives us a new sense of freedom to move about as we may choose and explore the world beyond.

Courtesy: Arjun

Death works in a similar fashion.  Our release from this life is considered to be the awakening to a new realm of existence.  All religious scriptures and spiritual guru’s describe it as the great reliever of suffering and the liberator of biological decay.  So, if we embrace the concept of Death rather than shun it, we’d find that there is a lot more to it than we might think.  True, when we die we leave behind so many loved ones or alternatively, we lose so many loved ones to it, but in actual fact, we do not lose them or ourselves.  We all may have different religious views, but, many of us can still feel the presence of those who have departed within our hearts and minds.  We also, according to various religious texts, have shared a deep karmic connection between everyone we know and have known, in our past lives.  So it is more than likely that we will see them again in our next existence.

My photograph

Personally, I have come to realize that though there is the supposed “inheritance of loss” that we feel when Death visits us, it instead reminds us that our time in this life is limited and we have to make the most of everything with regard to our family, our work, our relationships and our innate talent.  We have no way of knowing when that hidden clock above our heads will start beeping, when our time is up but we can surely live and experience life with a deeper sense of appreciation than before.  Death also shows us that being angry, holding grudges, feeling hopeless or even useless is just a waste of time.  If we trust in God’s reason for creating the concept of Death and give life our best, we will instead gain, when our time comes, “the inheritance of happiness, freedom, enlightenment and reward for all that we have done in the next life that awaits us.” Next Take please!