Tryst with inevitable

During the Yaksha Prashna episode in the Mahabharat, a Yaksha, an apparition, unleashed volley of questions to Yudhishthir. The key question being, what is the greatest wonder in this world? Yudhishtir replied, 'The greatest wonder is that irrespective of a countless people dying everyday, still the living wish to live forever.'

Death, indeed, is one of the worst fears that haunts us either consciously or subconsciously all the time. Though we know that birth and death are two sides of the same coin, what we are worried more about is its uncertainty. All the more if we are emotionally attached to the person, it is its sudden occurance that leaves us shattered.

A spiritual outlook, however, may provide a bit of succour.


On death, it is only the physical body that becomes non-existent. The spirit, the soul, never dies. Emphasising this, Krishn says in Sankhya Yog of the Bhagwad Gita that weapons cannot shred the soul, nor can fire burn it, water cannot make it wet, nor can the wind dry it, therefore, the wise, that is, the spiritually enlightened beings, lament neither for the living nor for dead.

Death is just a comma, not a full stop, like the Sun, which never sets but always shines in its full glory in some part of the universe or other.