Death is an inevitable part of life. We are born, we live for some time and then we die. When anyone close, a dear one or near one dies, all the family weeps and cries. The wife wails about what would happen to her without her husband; the son mourns as he now becomes the bread winner with additional responsibility of taking care of the home; the daughter weeps as there is no one to lavish love on her and get her married off well; the old parents cry as there is no one to take care of them in their old age. No one thinks of the dead person or where his soul is travelling or in what condition the departed soul is in. Each one weeps only for the loss of his or her comfort and happiness and added burdens.
All relatives of the dead person mourn his death with bitter tears and promise to do anything to have him back alive. But when it comes to actual action of sacrificing self in return, all hesitate and refuse. All cling to life and fight to live. No one is bothered about the dead person and his soul. Of course life goes on, millions have been born and have die and will be born and will die. The daily routines go on and with time, the pain eases and wounds heal. We must understand the truth that as long as we are alive, we have our duties to do and must do them cheerfully and willingly as an act of worship of God. We have been given time to complete our duties and must utilize this time in the right manner. The story below illustrates this truth:
There lived a good man called Sethdas. He loved his family and relatives and had a large circle of friends. He had a thriving business and earned immense wealth. He was generous and kind to all. One day, he suddenly fell sick and died in a short period of time. His parents, wife and ten year old son were crying bitterly next to his dead body. The news of his death spread quickly and a steady stream of visitors came in with their condolences.
Sethdas and his family were disciples of a great Guru. When the Guru heard of the death of his disciple, he immediately came to visit the grieving family. Seeing the Guru, the wife began to sob inconsolably: O Gurudev, my husband has died at such a young age. I am feeling so helpless and miserable. What will happen to all of us, to our child? I will do anything to make him alive again. The Guru tried to console the weeping woman and the old parents. But the loss was too recent and too much for them to accept his comforting words.
Eventually the Guru said: Get me a glass of water. He sat near the dead body and placed the glass of water next to it. He said: Anyone who wants that Sethdas come back to life may drink this water. Sethdas will come to life, but the person who drinks the water will die instead. The silence was deafening. The Guru looked at the wife, young song and the old parents and said: Sethdas was the sole breadwinner. One of you can easily die instead of him and allow the whole family to live in peace and prosperity.
The old father said: I have a responsibility to my old wife. Who will take care of her ? The old woman said: My daughter is pregnant and comes for delivery soon. I have to take care of her. The young widow wept aloud and said: I have to live for my son and he is to young to die for his father. My son has his whole life in front of him.
The Guru replied: It seems all of you have a long list of duties to do in this world. It seems only Sethdas could be spared. So God took him away. Now shall we proceed with the final rites? It is getting late.
Death comes at any time of its choice and it does not announce its arrival. Those of us who are spared and given time to live for more time to live have duties to fulfil. Let us live in the right manner by doing the SitaRam mantra, meditation and following the teachings of the Guru. If death has spared us today, it means we have some work left to do. Let us do our work well and offer the fruits of our efforts to God and Guru.
