24-06-2018
In the last few weeks, I lost two friends. Both deaths were deeply tragic and "untimely". First, my good friend from our apartment community, a wonderful tennis player, swimmer and human being - went in for a routine gall bladder surgery and about a week later died in hospital from complications, leaving behind his distraught family - his wife, 8 year old daughter, his sister and his aged parents. He was the anchor in the family. The last time I spoke with him, he was sitting on a bench next to our swimming pool, writing in a notebook. We chatted for a few minutes under the warm sun. The next time I saw him, his body lay cold at the cremation grounds.
Then a few weeks later, two members of a family - a family very close to my sister-in-law in Dubai - met with a tragic accident while they were on vacation in Georgia. A beautiful Sikh family of four. Two wonderful smart and confident young boys. A successful business executive married to a woman who spent an incredibly active life of service to her community and her Gurudwara. Last year, when I urgently needed help to reach out to students for our edu-tech venture, they invited me to their home and connected me with their friends. I remember the ride she offered me from the metro station to the Gurudwara and the coffee he had with me on a weekend - despite his many commitments. And then 10 days ago, he and his younger son died while on a bike in the mountains. They fell off a cliff. A distraught wife and older son, were with them at the time of the tragedy, left alone to cope with this unfathomable loss in a foreign country...
Discontinuity.
A few days later not a trace.. only thoughts that seem so real. You can see their face, you can hear their voice, their laugh.......so real and yet....
All the plans and dreams they had abruptly changed.
Families and close friends in a state of shock, grasping at straws to try and make meaning out of this.
The most common refrain, "how can stuff like this happen to the nicest people?".
The wiser seeking solace in the scriptures, "It's God's will. All we can do is surrender. The soul is eternal. The soul is at peace. Time will heal..."
In the Mahabharatha, Yamaraja, the Lord of Death asks the King Yudhisthira, "What is the most wonderful thing in this world?"
The wise King replies,
ahany ahani bhutani gacchantiha yamalayam
So foolish are we all then, to think that death is for the other and not for us. It is foolish for us to think that it can't happen today.
While these families are trying to cope with their loss, there are millions at the other end of this colorful carnival of life celebrating FIFA 2018. Ironically, as FIFA reaches a feverish pitch - Will, Era and Nicky tell us "One life, live it up, 'cos we got one life". So all we can do is live every moment to the fullest NOW (whatever that means to us) knowing it's going to end..... and the biggest mystery of it all is we just don't know when...
Peace Love Light
In the last few weeks, I lost two friends. Both deaths were deeply tragic and "untimely". First, my good friend from our apartment community, a wonderful tennis player, swimmer and human being - went in for a routine gall bladder surgery and about a week later died in hospital from complications, leaving behind his distraught family - his wife, 8 year old daughter, his sister and his aged parents. He was the anchor in the family. The last time I spoke with him, he was sitting on a bench next to our swimming pool, writing in a notebook. We chatted for a few minutes under the warm sun. The next time I saw him, his body lay cold at the cremation grounds.
Then a few weeks later, two members of a family - a family very close to my sister-in-law in Dubai - met with a tragic accident while they were on vacation in Georgia. A beautiful Sikh family of four. Two wonderful smart and confident young boys. A successful business executive married to a woman who spent an incredibly active life of service to her community and her Gurudwara. Last year, when I urgently needed help to reach out to students for our edu-tech venture, they invited me to their home and connected me with their friends. I remember the ride she offered me from the metro station to the Gurudwara and the coffee he had with me on a weekend - despite his many commitments. And then 10 days ago, he and his younger son died while on a bike in the mountains. They fell off a cliff. A distraught wife and older son, were with them at the time of the tragedy, left alone to cope with this unfathomable loss in a foreign country...
Discontinuity.
A few days later not a trace.. only thoughts that seem so real. You can see their face, you can hear their voice, their laugh.......so real and yet....
All the plans and dreams they had abruptly changed.
Families and close friends in a state of shock, grasping at straws to try and make meaning out of this.
The most common refrain, "how can stuff like this happen to the nicest people?".
The wiser seeking solace in the scriptures, "It's God's will. All we can do is surrender. The soul is eternal. The soul is at peace. Time will heal..."
In the Mahabharatha, Yamaraja, the Lord of Death asks the King Yudhisthira, "What is the most wonderful thing in this world?"
The wise King replies,
ahany ahani bhutani gacchantiha yamalayam
sheshaḥ sthavaram icchanti kim ashcaryam atah param
"The most amazing thing is that even though every day man sees countless living entities dying, he still acts and thinks as if he will live forever"
So foolish are we all then, to think that death is for the other and not for us. It is foolish for us to think that it can't happen today.
While these families are trying to cope with their loss, there are millions at the other end of this colorful carnival of life celebrating FIFA 2018. Ironically, as FIFA reaches a feverish pitch - Will, Era and Nicky tell us "One life, live it up, 'cos we got one life". So all we can do is live every moment to the fullest NOW (whatever that means to us) knowing it's going to end..... and the biggest mystery of it all is we just don't know when...
Peace Love Light
Poignant my friend poignant. Indeed a timely reminder of the final destination of our best laid plans. We are just bubbles waiting to burst any time. And while it is both natural and easier to live in grudge for what might have been it is expedient to live in gratitude and peace for whatever has been. Chasing elusive shadows running oneself to death is a sad way to live - if you can call that a life at all. So, stay in bliss (trust me it's free). There's more where it comes from. बी in the present moment and act on your inspirations as they occur. Think about giving up/away something You'd be amazed at how you feel for no real or apparent reason. For want of a better thought, I just wrote my reaction to my very dear friend Hemanshu's thoughts.
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