The Memory, the Beloveds and the Death.
--
In the afternoon, I was sitting on the terrace in the cozy warmth of the winter Sun.
He came to me with two Questions.
He knew me since the times when I lived at Ujjain, where we were neighbors.
During last 5 years, he had changed a lot, like all of us who keep changing all the time.
Though we hardly notice exactly Who or What underwent the change that is assumed to have taken place. Neither we know exactly 'Who' is the 'one' that perceived this 'change'.
He went straight to kitchen and returned soon with the tea.
We always enjoyed this whenever he would come to see me.
Sitting on two molded plastic chairs, we were looking at the Hill of Devi Who too might have noticed us.
The majestic look of the Hill or rather the embodiment of Devi, soon seeped through our eyes and we sipped the tea imbibing the serene look as well.
"I have two questions today."
He began the conversation.
In anticipation, I looked at his face.
No.1 : Why this happened to us ?
(Incidentally, this is one of the titles from Some book of J.Krishnamurti,
possibly from 'The Commentaries on Living' )
As was the routine, He did n't go immediately for the next question.
Instead he waited for as long as I would take to answer his question.
The silence stretched over to several minutes.
"You see the difficulty in formulating a question?
You say something happened.
This implies there is a past when this happened."
"Yes ...!"
He was smiling. He had expected this.
"Is not the past, where-in that happened to you, is in memory only?"
"Yes. But how could I perhaps erase or discard it, when it is piercing my mind right now, like a nail that has been struck onto my heart?"
"Aren't there many much more other memories severely haunting too already?"
"Oh yes, but this one is quite a newer, a fresh one, as if has happened just yesterday only."
"Yes I see."
I kept calm.
There was a solitary cloud stuck upon the Hill, like a white swan with head held high, as if trying to kiss the sky just above him.
He too looked at that swan-like cloud.
"Do you see the swan?"
"Yes! Of course ! What a wonderful view!"
"You know this can go any moment ...!"
"Of course! I wish I had brought my camera ...!"
He had already took a snap of the view in his mobile camera.
The white swan looked even more majestic and graceful on his mobile camera screen!
"Wow !"
He exclaimed.
Presently he had put the mobile handset away and tried to remember what we were discussing about.
"So the swan is safely secured in your mobile!"
"Oh yes, ..."
" ... And you can live the experience as many times and as much long as you would like to re-live it!"
He took the hint and could see what I hinted at.
"Yes, this is all in memory only, and we just keep on remembering and repeating the same, though past never was and so was nor gone."
Meanwhile the swan was lying flat upon the Hill almost lost to the sight.
--
No.2 : "What happens after death?"
Nevertheless this question was closely in relation to the earlier one.
"Let us see ...!
Suppose I die.
What does this mean?
Suppose I commit suicide, hanging myself ....!
And I imagine there will be a world, those who know me, care for and about me, what will be their opinion, reaction ...!
But is it not in my mind only?
Is there really a presumed 'world' away there somewhere distinct from my imagination, existing independently in its own irrespective of my imagination?
But identifying with my own imagination, I forget this simple fact and begin to this many things and possible consequences.
I begin imagining that there is a world which stays even after my death.
And I can't even suspect that there couldn't be such a world in my absence."
"But what about now?"
He intercepted.
"Even now, at this very moment,
Is there really a world or is there only a thought of the world which overpowers my perception and I fail to see there is only this thought about the world which is no more stable than the thought of 'Death' itself."
"Hmm ..!"
"So what happens when I die?"
"Is there something like death, like the swan that was there on the Hill, which was though a truth for a while is no more there now? Just as the thought of the world is a temporary phase of perception, the thought of death is also the same."
"But then is not there a world who may possibly grieve upon my death?"
He insisted.
"Could we see that 'I' too is such a thought only, temporary, and not the truth?
We both just exchanged smiles.
Nothing else was needed.
--
--
In the afternoon, I was sitting on the terrace in the cozy warmth of the winter Sun.
He came to me with two Questions.
He knew me since the times when I lived at Ujjain, where we were neighbors.
During last 5 years, he had changed a lot, like all of us who keep changing all the time.
Though we hardly notice exactly Who or What underwent the change that is assumed to have taken place. Neither we know exactly 'Who' is the 'one' that perceived this 'change'.
He went straight to kitchen and returned soon with the tea.
We always enjoyed this whenever he would come to see me.
Sitting on two molded plastic chairs, we were looking at the Hill of Devi Who too might have noticed us.
The majestic look of the Hill or rather the embodiment of Devi, soon seeped through our eyes and we sipped the tea imbibing the serene look as well.
"I have two questions today."
He began the conversation.
In anticipation, I looked at his face.
No.1 : Why this happened to us ?
(Incidentally, this is one of the titles from Some book of J.Krishnamurti,
possibly from 'The Commentaries on Living' )
As was the routine, He did n't go immediately for the next question.
Instead he waited for as long as I would take to answer his question.
The silence stretched over to several minutes.
"You see the difficulty in formulating a question?
You say something happened.
This implies there is a past when this happened."
"Yes ...!"
He was smiling. He had expected this.
"Is not the past, where-in that happened to you, is in memory only?"
"Yes. But how could I perhaps erase or discard it, when it is piercing my mind right now, like a nail that has been struck onto my heart?"
"Aren't there many much more other memories severely haunting too already?"
"Oh yes, but this one is quite a newer, a fresh one, as if has happened just yesterday only."
"Yes I see."
I kept calm.
There was a solitary cloud stuck upon the Hill, like a white swan with head held high, as if trying to kiss the sky just above him.
He too looked at that swan-like cloud.
"Do you see the swan?"
"Yes! Of course ! What a wonderful view!"
"You know this can go any moment ...!"
"Of course! I wish I had brought my camera ...!"
He had already took a snap of the view in his mobile camera.
The white swan looked even more majestic and graceful on his mobile camera screen!
"Wow !"
He exclaimed.
Presently he had put the mobile handset away and tried to remember what we were discussing about.
"So the swan is safely secured in your mobile!"
"Oh yes, ..."
" ... And you can live the experience as many times and as much long as you would like to re-live it!"
He took the hint and could see what I hinted at.
"Yes, this is all in memory only, and we just keep on remembering and repeating the same, though past never was and so was nor gone."
Meanwhile the swan was lying flat upon the Hill almost lost to the sight.
--
No.2 : "What happens after death?"
Nevertheless this question was closely in relation to the earlier one.
"Let us see ...!
Suppose I die.
What does this mean?
Suppose I commit suicide, hanging myself ....!
And I imagine there will be a world, those who know me, care for and about me, what will be their opinion, reaction ...!
But is it not in my mind only?
Is there really a presumed 'world' away there somewhere distinct from my imagination, existing independently in its own irrespective of my imagination?
But identifying with my own imagination, I forget this simple fact and begin to this many things and possible consequences.
I begin imagining that there is a world which stays even after my death.
And I can't even suspect that there couldn't be such a world in my absence."
"But what about now?"
He intercepted.
"Even now, at this very moment,
Is there really a world or is there only a thought of the world which overpowers my perception and I fail to see there is only this thought about the world which is no more stable than the thought of 'Death' itself."
"Hmm ..!"
"So what happens when I die?"
"Is there something like death, like the swan that was there on the Hill, which was though a truth for a while is no more there now? Just as the thought of the world is a temporary phase of perception, the thought of death is also the same."
"But then is not there a world who may possibly grieve upon my death?"
He insisted.
"Could we see that 'I' too is such a thought only, temporary, and not the truth?
We both just exchanged smiles.
Nothing else was needed.
--
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