Death...

Death... Who knows what it is.. and why it happens...

Is there something to look forward to after death...?

Everyone says that only the lucky few gets to meet death very early in life coz' after that you move on to bigger and better things... Are we sure there are better things there? Is there a heaven? Is there really a Hell? What happens if you reach heaven or hell? Who welcomes you? Who looks after you? Are we entitled only to a lonely existance from then on?

Why have the families of the departed been left to suffer sorrow... were they really bad people in their last lives... were the mistakes commited by them before so grave that they have to suffer the pain of the loss of a dear one....?

I had seen a movie recently ,"What dreams may come" in which Robin Wiliams portrays a very nice man who loved to paint...who had a wonderful life as a doctor and and a beautiful wife to live with. In the backdrop of the story we understand that their two children had died in a horrible accident. And suddenly the nice doctor also has an accident and he moves on to heaven. There he sees heaven to be exactly like his paintings... full of color and vibrance.. even the water is paint...He meets his son and daughter as people they had once admired when they were alive... And he passed his existance till the day he found out that his wife had reached death as well.. But even as he waits to see he realizes she was not coming to his heaven... His wife had commited suicide... And there was no heaven for such deaths... they had a hell like existance where they are unable to remember anyone but only their miseries that led them to their death...

Last night I completed reading the condensed version of MAHABHARATHAM.... The ending of the book is with the description of how all the Pandavas and Draupadi went on a Pilgrimage to all the holy places. And somewhere along the way a dog also joined them...

As they were moving up towards a peak of a mountain one by one the they perished starting from the weekest... Daraupadi, Nakula and Sahadeva first.. Then Arjuna, and then Bhima.. Yudishtira was left alone to live.... but the dog never left his side... Finally one day Indra appears before Yudhishitra and tells him that he is pleased witht he way he had led his life so far...and that he was allowed to come to heaven with his body...Indra asked yudhishtira to step onto the chariot in which Indra had come...the dog also followed... when Indra says.. " No ..no dogs are allowed in to heaven!" Yudishtira immediately says If the dog doesnt come I will not come either as he had been my only company throughout all my loneliness! The dog was actually dharma and was just testing Yudishtira on his Faith in Dharma.... The dog disappeared and Indra and Yudhishtira went to heaven...

Here in heaven he could see all the kauravas in royal garments.. he saw Duryodhana seated on a jeweled throne... But nowhere could he find his family.... Finally he refused to stay in any place where Duryodhana was as he was the cause of all their troubles on earth..

Indra led Yudishtira through a dark passage... they travelled a long distance... There were bad smells and terrible creatures moving on the floor... And he could hear his brothers and wifes voices, but could not see them... Yudishtira asked Indra.. "why am I unable to see my family... and why do they deserve this hell when Duryodhana inspite of being the bad man has recieved heaven... Indra says, "If this place upsets you, we can turn back... But Yudhishtira tells Indra that he will stay with his family no matter what... And the minute he says this all the darkness and murkiness disappears.... And he sees every single member of his family happy and sound...

Yudhishtira is made to abandon his body and he also reached higher states of existance...

Today Im writing about death bcoz a ver close family friend has had an accident and is no more... He has a lovely wife and a small child... May god give them atleast the strength to suffer this loss...

Prayers!