“Zindagi toh bewafa hai…ekdin thukrai gi…. Maut mehboba hai aapne….saath lekar jayeege” pretty much sums up what the end of the road is for us doesn’t it?
Death is something most of us either don’t think about or perhaps fate has forced us to think about..So what exactly is Death??? Let us define death of a person as a state when the person as we know them ceases to exist.
Death has far greater influence on life than most of us realize. Imagine if we were to live forever… What would be dear to us?? What would a species which is eternal have to lose?? But hey…we are going to die..so how does death influence us?? It makes us desire a lot of things quite a few because of the fact that we may not have them forever. It is because we will die one day that everything in life has a meaning and place.... ha ha as Achilles said the gods must envy us!!
The Death of people has influenced our history far more than their births. The death of lal bahadur shastri supposedly changed the course of Indian politics. An untimely death in the family can suddenly make a dream turn into a nightmare…
So if death is the end of the journey of life…it should make us believe that life is futile…because whatever we have today will not be ours tomorrow…and yet we try with vigour to gain whatever we can and more and more…Perhaps that is why it is true that the greatest man is not one who has nothing to lose but who wants nothing fr gain??
Sometimes though death is probably welcome…the death of tyrants has been long wished for, a person suffering from acute pain and no hopes of misery might wish for death rather than such an existence…Still Euthanasia seems immoral to most people. A logic that only God can give life and take life seems flawed for there is always the “Free Will”.
What next??
Religion has influenced various ways in which we approach death. The eastern religions believe that we are in a continuous cycle of life and death and that the purpose of this cycle is to attain moksha. The Abrahamic Religions tell that there will be a day of judgement and people then will go either to heaven or hell. My speck of a life has not given me much hope to believe either claim.
I believe these were teachings given to govern the conduct of man and to create a civilization and that moksha would be when generation after generation of man will take a small step and ultimately find purpose for an existence, which because of death may otherwise seem futile. Behold Judgement day comes everyday when our conduct will determine how the future generations of man will live.
Mankind will never have an understanding of life unless we understand and change our approach towards death. Why do we consider suicide to be a crime/sin?? If anything it could perhaps be considered cowardice…If a person wishes to end their life..so be it..it is their choice..who are we to pass judgements???
If a person has control over the way he lives his life then why not over they way he chooses to die??
