Life, Health And Fear Of Death
Yuba Nath Lamsal
It is said that saints in all faiths are not afraid of death. They just take death as a journey to salvation-free from all worldly and material sufferings. According to them, life is just a test case of human being and one who does good to humanity attains divinity after death. One continues to undergo sufferings until salvation and the salvation depends on the performance of human beings on their lifetime. But death is just a transition to another form of life for those who take life with complacency.
Saints and sages are of the view that one gets into suffering right from the birth. When a baby is born, he/she cries. Perhaps the newborn baby has still the divine hunch that he/she is getting into the heap of troubles and sufferings. But the rest of others around the new born baby laugh and get delighted. Once they enter into the material world, they lose sense of divinity and get entrapped into the worldly sufferings.
One can see a stark contrast at the time of death. The dead one is in solemn silence as though he/she seems to have embraced death with supreme bliss but the alive around the dead one cry. The great sages describe it as the lack of understanding of life and death.
Life is precious gift of nature. The biggest fear of a human being is death. No living being ever wants to lose life. But death is inevitable. Once born, one has to die and there is no escape from it. This is a law of nature.
Human life undergoes many stages, childhood, adult period and aging. When one gets sick, it has direct impact on physical, mental and intellectual faculties. Good health is additional endowment to human being. It is only in sound health of human being, creation flourishes.
The craving for life does not always keeps one alive and in good health. Sickness is also a phenomenon of life. Ailing is a part of human like birth, aging and death. One undergoes these natural phenomena in his or her lifetime.
There is a thin border between life and death. It appears as through death always peeps into life through a tiny hole. When a human being becomes weak and is unable to resist, death so suddenly pounds at life like a wild predator attacks at its prey. Death is always with us and around us looking for an opportune time to attack us.
Right from the birth, death accompanies life. Life and death are twin brothers-so close but often rival. If there is only one absolute truth, that is death. Life is an accident but death is universal truth. One does not know about the birth but once born, it is certain that he or she would die one day no matter how rich, mighty and influential one is. So death is other side of the coin of life. In every second, life is slipping away. But never do we realize that we are getting closer to death and bidding farewell to our life. One has to eventually take a dirty nap, whose name is death.
Our religious faith teaches us that death is a step towards salvation and entry into other form of life. We are in a transition period from one form of life to another. However, we human being are so afraid of death-the incident we cannot avoid but can only prologue for certain period. Death is the most painful incident for the alive.
I used to boast as a healthy person until I fell badly sick and was hospitalized in hospital for treatment three months ago. Even a mighty person turns out to be vulnerable when ailment creeps into his body. I went through this kind of experience for the last three months. I spent two weeks in hospital beds-one week in Medicare Hospital in Chabhil for the treatment of infection in gallbladder and one week in Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Maharajganj to have gall stoned removed through surgery.
It was my first experience to be admitted in hospital. I saw closely how a person becomes so weak and vulnerable when he is fallen sick. His/her ambitions, arrogance and pride suddenly evaporate as disease attacks. In such a situation the only craving of a person is to get better and win over disease. I saw how doctors have failed to save life ever after their ferocious struggle against disease and I also saw how a person, who is close to death, has won the battle against death due to efforts of doctors.
It was chilly December morning when an ambulance came blowing sirens and stopped just outside the Medicare National Hospital. A couple of desperate men rushed in carrying a stretcher with adult woman in the emergency ward of the hospital. Already pale and exhausted, the woman was flailing, floundering, screaming and complaining of pain in chest. "I am dying, save me" were the words that repeatedly came out of her on the bed, next to me. A team of doctors rushed in and zeroed in their efforts on a lone mission of saving her from the jaws of death. Unfortunately, doctors were unable to save her. The death came dancing and chewed her life like a hungry tiger makes a feast on a frail lamb. Although the age of 47 was not the time to die, doctors pronounced her death within half an hour of her arrival. In no time, the atmosphere turned into an eerie silence, even doctors and nurse were unable to speak a word. Desperate relatives and family members started sobbing and crying while all others in the ward kept just watching in solemn silence. This was a close look at how a moving and crying person lost a battle against death in a flash of time.
But the world does not end there. One person dies another is born. The craving of a person to survive does not come to an end with a particular sad event. As new civilization begins from the ruin of decadence, a person’s desire to live gets stronger even after the loss of a nearest and dearest one. This is how the civilization keeps on. The moment of grief that had engulfed the hospital by the death the woman evaporated soon after her body moved out of the ward. Life returns to the ward.
I have already lost several of my relatives including my father and aunt, whom I loved more than my mother. But this incident has had a greater impact on my life and thinking about life. Every time this incident keeps coming into my mind. It even scares me even when I pass through this hospital.
It is said that saints in all faiths are not afraid of death. They just take death as a journey to salvation-free from all worldly and material sufferings. According to them, life is just a test case of human being and one who does good to humanity attains divinity after death. One continues to undergo sufferings until salvation and the salvation depends on the performance of human beings on their lifetime. But death is just a transition to another form of life for those who take life with complacency.
Saints and sages are of the view that one gets into suffering right from the birth. When a baby is born, he/she cries. Perhaps the newborn baby has still the divine hunch that he/she is getting into the heap of troubles and sufferings. But the rest of others around the new born baby laugh and get delighted. Once they enter into the material world, they lose sense of divinity and get entrapped into the worldly sufferings.
One can see a stark contrast at the time of death. The dead one is in solemn silence as though he/she seems to have embraced death with supreme bliss but the alive around the dead one cry. The great sages describe it as the lack of understanding of life and death.
Life is precious gift of nature. The biggest fear of a human being is death. No living being ever wants to lose life. But death is inevitable. Once born, one has to die and there is no escape from it. This is a law of nature.
Human life undergoes many stages, childhood, adult period and aging. When one gets sick, it has direct impact on physical, mental and intellectual faculties. Good health is additional endowment to human being. It is only in sound health of human being, creation flourishes.
The craving for life does not always keeps one alive and in good health. Sickness is also a phenomenon of life. Ailing is a part of human like birth, aging and death. One undergoes these natural phenomena in his or her lifetime.
There is a thin border between life and death. It appears as through death always peeps into life through a tiny hole. When a human being becomes weak and is unable to resist, death so suddenly pounds at life like a wild predator attacks at its prey. Death is always with us and around us looking for an opportune time to attack us.
Right from the birth, death accompanies life. Life and death are twin brothers-so close but often rival. If there is only one absolute truth, that is death. Life is an accident but death is universal truth. One does not know about the birth but once born, it is certain that he or she would die one day no matter how rich, mighty and influential one is. So death is other side of the coin of life. In every second, life is slipping away. But never do we realize that we are getting closer to death and bidding farewell to our life. One has to eventually take a dirty nap, whose name is death.
Our religious faith teaches us that death is a step towards salvation and entry into other form of life. We are in a transition period from one form of life to another. However, we human being are so afraid of death-the incident we cannot avoid but can only prologue for certain period. Death is the most painful incident for the alive.
I used to boast as a healthy person until I fell badly sick and was hospitalized in hospital for treatment three months ago. Even a mighty person turns out to be vulnerable when ailment creeps into his body. I went through this kind of experience for the last three months. I spent two weeks in hospital beds-one week in Medicare Hospital in Chabhil for the treatment of infection in gallbladder and one week in Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Maharajganj to have gall stoned removed through surgery.
It was my first experience to be admitted in hospital. I saw closely how a person becomes so weak and vulnerable when he is fallen sick. His/her ambitions, arrogance and pride suddenly evaporate as disease attacks. In such a situation the only craving of a person is to get better and win over disease. I saw how doctors have failed to save life ever after their ferocious struggle against disease and I also saw how a person, who is close to death, has won the battle against death due to efforts of doctors.
It was chilly December morning when an ambulance came blowing sirens and stopped just outside the Medicare National Hospital. A couple of desperate men rushed in carrying a stretcher with adult woman in the emergency ward of the hospital. Already pale and exhausted, the woman was flailing, floundering, screaming and complaining of pain in chest. "I am dying, save me" were the words that repeatedly came out of her on the bed, next to me. A team of doctors rushed in and zeroed in their efforts on a lone mission of saving her from the jaws of death. Unfortunately, doctors were unable to save her. The death came dancing and chewed her life like a hungry tiger makes a feast on a frail lamb. Although the age of 47 was not the time to die, doctors pronounced her death within half an hour of her arrival. In no time, the atmosphere turned into an eerie silence, even doctors and nurse were unable to speak a word. Desperate relatives and family members started sobbing and crying while all others in the ward kept just watching in solemn silence. This was a close look at how a moving and crying person lost a battle against death in a flash of time.
But the world does not end there. One person dies another is born. The craving of a person to survive does not come to an end with a particular sad event. As new civilization begins from the ruin of decadence, a person’s desire to live gets stronger even after the loss of a nearest and dearest one. This is how the civilization keeps on. The moment of grief that had engulfed the hospital by the death the woman evaporated soon after her body moved out of the ward. Life returns to the ward.
I have already lost several of my relatives including my father and aunt, whom I loved more than my mother. But this incident has had a greater impact on my life and thinking about life. Every time this incident keeps coming into my mind. It even scares me even when I pass through this hospital.
Comments
Post a Comment