YOU ARE NOT GOING TO
DIE
Almost everybody is afraid of death.
He knows that nobody lives in this world forever. Everyone’s life span,
including that of birds and beasts, is limited. There is no medicine or
religious mantra that can ward off death even by a fraction of a minute.
Yet, it is true that human beings
are immortal. They are a composition of body and soul. The body is perishable
and time-bound. The soul is not so.
Lord Krishna says in his divine song
the Bhagavadgita ,“ The soul is never born nor dies’ nor does it exist on
coming into being. For it is unborn,
eternal, everlasting and primeval; even though the body is slain, the soul is
not. “
The great Lord further says: “As a
man discarding worn-out clothes, takes other new ones, likewise the embodied
soul, casting off worn out bodies, enters into others which are new.”
The soul, which is the real self of
human beings, “is incapable of being cut; it is proof against fire, impervious
to water and undriable as well. This soul is eternal, omnipresent, immovable,
constant and everlasting.”
The essence of Lord Krishna’s description
about man’s life, which is not only perishable body but also the imperishable soul,
is that we are not completely mortal.
The Indian non-violent freedom
fighter Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948),
also known as Mahatma Gandhi, said in one of his daily sermons: A seer has
called us wayfarers. And so indeed it is. We are here for only a few days.
Therefore, we do not: “die” but only go home. What a beautiful and true
thought!
To
conclude here is a holy sonnet by the English poet John Donne (1572-1631). Its
title is ‘Death Be Not Proud’.
Death, be not proud, though some have
called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not
so;
For those whom thou think’st thou
dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst
thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy
pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much
more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do
go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou are slave to fate, chance,
kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and
sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep
as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st
thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake
eternally
And death shall be no more; Death,
thou shalt die.
********
G. R. Kanwal
5th October 2025
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