Friday, May 28, 2010

Death



“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??

4 comments:

  1. Here's the prob of us discussing the blog before writing the comment as I've already discussed it all with you. I'd repeat the fact that it is certainly a very interesting topic and I loved the ending- the question that I'm sure would make everyone contemplate.

    Death for me is a very tricky concept- it is an honour for a soldier if meant for the country, a respite for an incurable patient, an Everest for a coward, a mission for one who commits suicide but certainly a sad occasion for all the above cases.

    I'd state the cliche of live life each day as the last, not everyone is lucky to get an angel to explain the worth of their life before committing a blunder.

    A very interesting topic chosen which brings aboard your eclectic ideas on many aspects of death, only thing is many issues were just touched and left, it'd have been better if limited issues were touched and described more.

    The last question is a very powerful one for sure. That raised the entire post to brilliance. Overall, a highly interesting read that should find an instant connect with the thoughts of everyone. And the icing on the cake is the picture, though I wonder why u stuck to ur caricature :P

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  2. Very well written!!!!

    Although everyone knows life and death..
    bt people prefer to talk about life only not about death.

    We people understand how life is precious only when any accidents or untimely death of close ones happens in our life..

    Man is a social animal and he loves to be surrounded by family. But when it comes to talk about death everyone is scared..

    Whatever religious people believes whether life & death is a cycle to attain moksha or heaven or hell but the practical thing is when it comes to death the only sufferers are family and friends. Noone can replace that person evenif he/she is a twin.

    And one more thing, man chooses his way of living life but not death because those who chooses their way to die, i think those people are cowards as they don't have courage to live life facing the problems.They think death will solve all problems but thats not true.

    As in 'Bhagvadgita' Lord Krishna said Life and death is a cycle and after 84000 births our soul gets birth of Human and it is possible to get moksha in this human life only and if man ends his life in any way like suicide then he will have to face the cycle of life again.

    So Live life Today...

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  3. Its a matter of perspective and for the end, it depends on your degree of your selfishness if you will. Does running away from your pain outweigh the pain you cause your closed ones by dying?
    At the end, no one lives forever and as Stephanie Meyer said - When you can live forever, what do you live for? The uncertainty of life and passing circumstances in life is what makes memories and creates precious moments.

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  4. Well, to start with....... a very interesting topic indeed....... i love the blog.........

    Now....... coming to your question as to why shouldn't a person be given the choice to end his/her life or rather why is suicide considered a crime is that:

    right from the time we are born...... to the time we breathe our last.... we use the facilities provided to us by our parents, our country etc., Now, till the time we don't start earning and paying our taxes, we are in a way liable to the government of our country to pay back for all this........ by committing suicide one does nothing else but shatters all the hopes his/her family members have from him and also wastes all the money invested by the government on them.......... So, atleast for humanity sake one must be a good human being and pay off their debts and then say goodbye....

    Also, as you yourself said that committing suicide can be called cowardice...... which is not really a moral act..... so it automatically becomes a moral crime.......


    Cheers to life

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