What is Life?

What is life? Is the question echoing my mind as I am standing next to a funeral pyre of someone I had known for some time. May god bless his soul.

Both sons, teary eyed, light the pyre and off he goes. But, to where? Where will he go now? Is there life after life? As put forth by religious babbling in almost all religions across the world or is it as science says; now he is nothing but ash and he can’t feel anything and that probably is the end of the story.

Today, the morning started differently, with a different emotion. But, now it’s different.

Call it my emotional babbling because of losing someone known to me in the same month in which I lost my dad seven years ago. But, I felt compelled to write this confusing piece. So, reading it will probably confuse you as well, as I am now. So, read it at your own risk.

His death came as a shock because I would meet him every day in the morning ever since his son bought a plot next to my house.

Every morning he would walk to the plot from his house, nearby, and work on the plants. He would water them, pluck the weed and plant seeds.

We would smile and greet each other & that’s pretty much how I remember starting my mornings every day for the past few months. And, now, he’s suddenly gone because someone decided to be reckless and hit him with his or her car while he was walking on the road at night.

The morning today felt: empty, smile-less, and greeting-less after I came to know about this unfortunate incident. I can go on and on but, let’s get back to my original babbling; what is life?

Is life about:

          -  Buying a piece of land, or buying pieces of land and making huge buildings on them (Knowing  

             very well that when you die your family will bury you or cremate you on a piece of land you 

             never bought)? Or
          -  Making a huge house or earning so much money that now your money is no longer counted as 

             per your bank balance but is now calculated as per the share market value of your shares 

             (Knowing very well that when you die those shares will not be able to guarantee a decent burial 

             or cremation for you)? Or

          -  Buying expensive clothes (Knowing very well that when you die your family will buy new 

             clothes that will not be of your choice and put them on your body, whether you like them or 

             not)? Or
          - Buying expensive cars (Knowing very well that when you die your family will not transport your 

            body in any of those expensive cars to a crematorium or a burial ground. Your body will be 

            moved in a vehicle which you didn’t buy and have probably despised all your life).

If all the above is life then why can’t we take all of the above with us into our afterlife? The answer to this is best left to religious experts because every religion has an answer to this question in their own way.

In some way or the other, in every religious text, it is said that all of the above is just lust and craving for them is bad because ultimately everything that you fought for (legally or illegally) will be left behind after your die. May be not in the same words, but this is explained in all religions (and if it’s not there in your religion, then remember; change is the essence of life J; food for thought)

So, what baffles me is that why, in a world where everything is guided by religion, which has all the so called answers about life, do we live and actually are willing die for everything mentioned above.

The answer to this is that, probably, we have all been misguided by our elders, teachers, society and religious experts, because most have misinterpreted their respective religion and hence the definition of life. So, we in all probability never actually understood the real meaning of life. You may agree or chose to disagree with me but this is just me babbling.

We have all been nurtured to fight for something we cannot possibly take with us but we have not been taught to fight for something which we can definitely take with us when we die. It’s called ‘LIFE’. By taking ‘LIFE’ with us, I mean the essence of life; memories, happiness, smile, gratitude, and satisfaction.

Let’s face it we have all been taught to shape our life as per a standard: lower, middle or upper class, but, we have never been taught how to actually fight for the ‘LIFE’ in our ‘LIFE’.

‘Life is not about how long you lived, but it’s about being actually ALIVE when you lived?’ – A thought from my confused brain.

So, again, what is life? Life is simply the space in this universe that we carve for ourselves between being alive and being dead. Throughout our life we fight this selfish battle to fill the space with things we possibly won’t need after we die.

Let’s face it, everything that we do in our lifetime is for only the little old ‘ME’; the self.

So, no matter how much charity we do to help others, the ultimate goal is to satisfy something inside of us. We feel bad when we see someone in pain. So, we want to help them, only to satisfy our own pain and nothing else.

Life, simply, is about deciding to satisfy self by making an even simpler choice; do I satisfy self by hurting others or by helping others?

‘Life is the phase in this space time continuum where we satisfy ourselves either by hurting others or helping others and when our time is up nothing matters. Not the properties we have built, nor the money we have saved, or the clothes we have bought.’

Once our life ends we will be left at the mercy of others connected to us when we were alive. They will use whatever it is we have left behind; our money, our property, our name, our legacy to satisfy themselves and make their life, ‘LIFE’.

So, now that we know, to a certain extent, that life is nothing but our selfish attempt at satisfying self; decide on what you want to leave behind.

This person left his smile, his calmness, and his love for nature with me and I will always remember that.

*****End of my emotional babbling*****