After Death, What?

We are born, we live and irrespective of who we are, what we have achieved in our lives, the same fate awaits all of us – death. So what’s the difference ?

As per Hinduism, we believe in rebirth, a cycle of births, from which we try to break free through our good deeds in life.

This morning i woke up to hear the news of the sad demise of a very close elderly relative of mine. It was long expected as she had been bed-ridden for quite some time. Her death, I accepted with sadness, but what i felt more was a strange kind of relief.

I do not know if it is correct on my part to express an emotion like relief with respect to someone’s death. But every time i thought of her bed-ridden, incapable of even sitting up on her own, i felt deep pain, especially since in her better days, she was a busy bee, always active and helping everyone around. i have never seen her without a smile on her face, whatever be the circumstances.

My relief comes, i guess, partly due to the knowledge that she no longer has to suffer. Her ordeal called life is now over. It is also partly due to my firm faith in the concept of rebirths (ie; she takes another birth, infact within a month the soul will find a new body to inhabit) and “Vishnuloka prapthi” (if a person has, through his good deeds, been successful in breaking the chain of births, then the soul becomes one with God.). So death is simply like a costume-change.

Its a remarkable way of consoling ourselves, coming to terms with Death and a great motivator to lead a chaste life. Death, here is not the villain waiting to seize you, but a compassionate lady waiting to introduce into a new adventurous world…