Eat, pray, live without fear of mortality

The other day I was walking past an infirm old man, with his legs infested by sores. No one paused to give him a thought. On the other side of the road was a beautiful young lass, with her long, jet black hair shining in the rays of the sun, causing all around to admire her. It recalled to my mind those immortal words of W B Yeats, “An aged man is but a paltry thing, /A tattered coat upon a stick…” Verily old age is far from golden to many who land up in old age homes.

In this context, I am reminded me of the Dalai Lama, “Right from the moment of our birth, we are under the care and kindness of our parents, and then later on in our life, we are again dependent on the kindness of others…” Why, indeed, are we so hesitant in extending a hand in support for those who need us so? Why the trepidation when confronted with the spectre of age or death?

When we age, we wish for little…the love of those near, and dear to us. Is that too much to ask for? We may no longer be shining instances of youth and beauty, but love should conquer over all this, and more, shouldn’t it?

At this point, if we look into our Holy Books for comfort, consider how the Quran says, “…None of you should wish for death because of a calamity that has afflicted him, but if he must do something he should say: O Allah, keep me alive so long as life is good for me and cause me to die if death is better for me…”

And the Guru Granth Sahib says, “Through devotional worship of the Lord, and service to the Guru... one is not born again…’’

Even the Bhagavat Gita remarks upon the transitory nature of life: “This self is never born, nor does it ever perish… It is eternal, ever same.” So too does the Bible profess: “And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”(John 11:26)

If that be the case, why fear mortality? After all, in this journey of life, we are all travellers/explorers of mortality…” in the words of Thomas S Monson. So, let us learn to eat, pray, live with true sincerity.